Woodstock Early Bird The Early Bird Gets the Worm: earlybirdtips@gmail.com

Woodstock Post-Irene Flood Response meetings are still being hosted at the Town Hall on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9am.

This morning’s Flood Response Meeting included the following:

1. We love FEMA, but stick a fork in FEMA’s Woodstock center: The FEMA Recovery Center in West Woodstock is packed up and gone as of  yesterday. For those wishing to file FEMA claims or to follow-up with appeals of  FEMA decisions in person, you’ll  need to go to two to remaining open centers in Southern Vermont — Ludlow and Rutland.  In addition, another FEMA site remains set up for SBA requests in Springfield. A FEMA mobile unit will be in Royalton this weekend.  Deadlines for business assistance is coming up fast — say in 24 hours.   Deadline for FEMA individual assistance applications is October 31st.

2. Work was delayed but has resumed in filling in “The Hole” in the Frost Mills area off of Pleasant Street. This has traditionally been a FREE parking area much-used during the Foliage Season. Woodstock Roads Manager Dave Green says the area should be accessible for this coming weekend. “The Hole” caused by Irene just off of Kedron Brook turned out to be bigger than expected and high water prevented completion of work last weekend and earlier this week.

3. Volunteers are still needed this weekend to help with digging, trail work, gravel removal. Check in first thing at the Town Hall on Saturday morning if you’d l ike to help. Rep. Alison Clarkson is still coordinating and, in the absence of our lost “General”  Hasse Halley, Marian Koetsier and Jackie Fischer have stepped in to assist. 

The other piece of good news, related to volunteers,  is that Kat (Coons)  Robbins, who works both with the National Park and Woodstock Union High School, will be coordinating a University of New Hampshire  crew this weekend helping put in insulation under mobile homes at Riverside Park. Another volunteer crew will be working to dig out culverts and fix up some Mt. Tom trails. 

One Mt. Tom area trail that needs full-on professional FEMA-funded help is the trail up to the “Girl Scout Cabin” that starts at  the back of River Street cemetary. That trail was washed deep (four to six,  even eight feet deep in some places) and the Town of Woodstock is working to get federal funding for its restoration since it is a public park covered by FEMA. It also happens to be  adjacent to  and provides access to the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park.

4. For anyone who believes their home or homes are threatened or may be potentially threatened  by continued riverbank erosion following  Tropical Storm Irene: State of Vermont help (i.e. financial assistance)  MAY be available through a special program.  Town Manager Phil Swanson says contact Bill VanFossen at 802-295-7942 ext. 22

5. Street Sweeping in Your Future: Get ready, we’re gonna’ clean it up….Dave Green says the schedule includes street sweeping during the day and Thursday night around the Green. Yes, it will temporarily add to some traffic delays since some sweeping will be done during regular business hours.

6. An update from Rep. Alison Clarkson that a Carhartt  and Lennys  donation program last weekend worked well and was well-received,  providing Riverside Park and other flood victims with warm pants, jackets and boots for the cold weather ahead. Clarkson says she saw smiles on some folks faces for the first time in five weeks.

From Tuesday’s evenings Selectboard meeting:

1. Taftsville Bridge — While there was already  a project already underway to restore the bridge before Irene, the State of Vermont has taken a look and determined the bridge now has  some major structural defects that make is quite dangerous even for walkers and bicyclists. It’s wooden buttresses are essentially separated from its stone base.  The Town of Woodstock has put up fencing for a reason: It’s dangerous and unstable. The State says it will consider the winter ahead, wind load, snow load and its hoped will make some tempoary fixes so that there is a bridge standing next Spring. Town Manager Phil Swanson says he’ll also be asking about how to mitigate chunks of ice coming down the Ottauquechee River.

One interesting item of  pocketbook note: The Taftsville Bridge  fix should not cost the Town anything — Swanson says, “We’ve been told not to worry,”  since a State of Vermont  program is in place meant to preserve all the historic  covered bridges in Vermont. Many towns such as Woodstock,  even before the flood,  had given over the rights-of-way to their covered bridges to the State  so they could be universally maintained and protected.  Now, the program is certainly needed and will be much appreciated.

During discussion of the Taftsville Bridge issue Swanson said, “We want it to come back bigger and better…”  Rep. Alison Clarkson added, “With bumpers, too!”

Hmmm….what do Vermont Historic Preservationists have to say about bumpers to prevent the next load of propane tanks, ice, trees, picnic tables, fencing, vehicles and ice machines from hitting the bridge on the way downstream?  

As always, more as we know it…WEB