BARRE, Vt. (WCAX) – The Granite City has given the green light to a sweeping plan to prepare for flooding. After three massive floods in the last year, Barre’s City Council this week approved an action plan to make the city more resilient, representing a big shift in how the community is preparing for the next flood.
The Granite City has given the green light to a sweeping plan to prepare for flooding. After three massive floods in the last year, Barre’s City Council this week approved an action plan to make the city more resilient, representing a big shift in how the community is preparing for the next flood.
“Life has been surreal since July of 2023,” said Barre City Councilor Amanda Gustin, describing the whirlwind year of back-to-back floods and the disaster response, recovery, buyouts, and emergency communication.
“When we have these flooding events, people are curious about what’s next, and I think this plan helps answer that,” said Barre City Manager Nicolas Storellicastro.
The plan will serve as a framework for the city to prioritize 21 flood resiliency projects, including upgrading a flood-prone railroad bridge, home buyouts, floodplain improvements, and new flood-resilient housing. It also creates neighborhood groups and education on how to make rain gardens, a way for everyone to be part of the solution.
“How do we get better as a staff in responding to these events? How do we get better in prioritizing events like this and how do we tackle the issues that come out of these events like housing?” Storellicastro said.
“I didn’t want us to build a plan that says ‘We did a plan and now it’s fixed.’ I wanted to have a plan that has pieces of accountability and transparency,” Gustin said.
Like many Vermont towns, Barre’s downtown is in the middle of a floodplain along a river, making it prone to disastrous flooding. The council’s unanimous approval of the plan marks a shift in how communities are planning and investing to prevent the next flood. But even as Barre charts a path of how to coexist with the Stevens Branch of the Winooski River, there are still questions about how to fund these initiatives.
Leaders say the city ideally would set aside a quarter of a million dollars annually earmarked toward flood resiliency projects. But they say they’ll also lean on hazard mitigation grants from the state and from the federal government. “It does give us that clear strategic vision when we seek funding, wherever that may be,” Gustin said.
Timelines for these projects vary — some can happen this year while others will take decades.