The Monkton Selectboard voted at its Tuesday, April 14th public meeting to authorize Dubois & King – a private engineering firm – to conduct the initial survey, design, and permitting work required to evaluate the cost of opening the closed section of Piney Woods Road. Dubois & King was selected by the Selectboard through a public bid process given their reputation and extensive experience with FEMA projects. This is important, because FEMA projects have a number of specific technical requirements to receive grant funding. After the state-required culvert designs and surveys have been submitted to the Agency of Natural Resources for approval, and assuming the permit is approved, the Selectboard and Dubois & King will then post a public request for proposal (RFP) to solicit bids from contractors to estimate the cost of repairing and re-opening the closed section of the road. Given sensitive habitats, streams and wetlands present on Piney Woods Road, state regulations require that construction be conducted only between July 1st and October.
This was a difficult decision for the Board. This initial step was reached after a significant amount of research, analysis, and input from the community over many weeks as well as extensive consultations with experts at the Agency of Natural Resources, Vermont Department of Transportation, and Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT). We want to thank the Monkton community for their input and engagement on this topic at town meeting, during the two informational sessions held after town meeting, and through direct outreach to the Selectboard. The Selectboard also attempted to hear from every resident and landowner on Piney Woods Road directly and anonymously. We successfully received feedback from 80% of property owners who live or own property on the road. The majority supported pursuing opening the road (60%), while 20% supported either converting the road to a class 4 road, decommisioning the road or making it a legal trail, and 20% did not respond or could not be reached. The Selectboard also consulted the Monkton Town Plan in making its decision.
Vermont law imposes a mandatory duty on towns to maintain Class 1, 2, and 3 highways in good repair. This obligation exists independently of whether voters appropriate funds for that purpose. The Selectboard has general supervisory authority over town highways and must ensure repairs are made even when funding is insufficient, or voters decline to raise money. After town meeting, the Selectboard took the concerns expressed about the impact of repairs to the road to FEMA and our state emergency management contacts. Importantly, we were informed that projected road widening requirements were actually more limited than previously thought. Widening is largely limited to safety improvements made at the discretion of the Selectboard and leading up to the large culverts at the end of the road.
We will continue to keep the public informed of updates as the process unfolds, particularly with respect to the construction and culvert replacement bid amounts proposed once we get to the request for proposal (RFP) process in the coming weeks. We thank the community for your patience and engagement on this important issue.