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Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes

MINUTES - SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN
JUNE 28th, 2001
Any and all corrections to the following minutes will be made at the 07/19/01 Board of Selectmen's Meeting and are considered unapproved until then. Corrections will be noted in the minutes of that meeting.

PRESENT:
Selectmen: Mike Rohan, Jesse Anderson, Fred Bacon, Lynn Bedell and Richard Marek.
Also Present: Neil Daniels of VT Society of Covered Bridges, Eric Gilbertson and Nancy Boone of Div. for Historic Preservation, Roger Whitcomb, David Hoyne and Warren Tripp of VAOT Structures Division, Bob McCullough of Historic Bridge Program, Laura Bacon of Conservation Commission, David Clarkson, John Spicer, Norma Shaken, Myra Fassler, Ellen Darrow, Dan Darrow - Rep. for Windham-3, and Doris Knechtel, Administrative Assistant.

1. CALL TO ORDER
The Special Meeting was called to order at 3:03 p.m. by Chairman Mike Rohan.

2. VTRANS HISTORIC BRIDGE COMMITTEE
Chairman M. Rohan indicated that the town has been working with the state, in particular Roger Whitcomb of VAOT, on a new-covered bridge to replace the existing-covered bridge in Williamsville. The proposal is for the current bridge to be dismantled and moved to another location. There has been $50,000 allocated to dismantle the bridge. Even though the Board has discussed various options for the use or relocation of the current historic structure, the Historic Bridge Committee was asked to attend this meeting to discuss viable options that may be available for a new location and use of the current bridge.

Robert McCullough, Historic Bridge Program, presented a document, prepared by the committee, entitled Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Plan to be used as a guideline. Participation of the town in the process is key. There are five basic goals that the committee established in developing the plan.

The main goals are to preserve the historic structural integrity of Vermont's covered bridges to the maximum extent possible and to have them be a part of Vermont's network of roads. In the event that the bridge is dismantled and stored for future use, there are concerns that it will never be reconstructed or reused. There are statutes relating to the removal and preservation of covered bridges. (19 V.S.A. S 316 & S 317) If the decision is to repair and preserve the current covered bridge in the current location, at sometime in the future, the decision is reversible, whereas it the bridge is dismantled, the decision is final. There is also the matter of costs and available funding for whatever decisions are made. The estimated costs to reconstruct the bridge at another location, according to Neil Daniels, could be as much as $200,000.

Board members spoke of options that have been discussed for the relocation of the bridge. One would be to have it reassembled at the town garage site easterly of the current access onto the property, for pedestrian/bicycle use over the wetland area to connect to the Town Forest hiking trail on the town property. The site is approximately 1.5 miles for the current bridge location. Another suggestion included for it to go to the Bennington Covered Bridge Museum, which according to committee, is not a viable solution at this time.

Members of the Selectboard, the Historic Covered Bridge Committee and members of the public participated in the overall discussion of the type of "rehabilitation" of the covered bridge to be considered.

With the current bridge, there are essentially two bridges, the glu-lams which carry the weight capacity and the historic bridge which carries itself and the snow load. There was discussion about keeping the current glulam beams, which belong to the state AOT, within the structure to carry the load capacity. Board members expressed more than once that they do not want the current glulam system to remain. The glu-lam beams certainly do not add to the aesthetics and they reduce the amount of light within the bridge. There has been a substantial amount of money used for the repair and upkeep of the bridge, most recently approximately $10,000 for new decking. A new covered bridge, which was voted on by the residents, and designed by the VAOT Structure Division, would have less continued maintenance costs that a rehabilitation of the current structure.

The priority for the Historic Covered Bridge Committee is to retain existing materials that have not deteriorated beyond the point of repair. Existing damage should be replaced with materials of like species, quality and dimensions. There may be a way to add glu-laminated beams under the structure to obtain the desired weight capacity of H20 or 40,000 pounds. The state will work on a possible design to repair the current structure without the current glu-lam beams. The bridge may have to be raised to allow for the glu-lam carrying capacity to be under the structure as there is limited space between the Rock River and the bottom of the bridge during high water, especially ice jams. Work that was done on the repair of the bridge in 1982 destroyed the true historic value of the bridge by the cutting of the lattice work and the cords. Holes were drilled and more bolts were added to hold the structure together.

The Dummerston Covered Bridge was mentioned as a structure that is essentially a new structure with very few original materials remaining.

It is still the decision of the town as to the final determination of the method of "rehabilitation" to be used for the covered bridge, a new covered bridge or the repair of the current structure with a load carrying capacity of 40,000 pounds to accommodate emergency vehicles, school busses and town maintenance highway equipment. Costs and funding sources will also be a factor to consider. A new covered bridge structure and dismantling of the current bridge is expected to approach the one-million dollar mark, while the "repair" of the current bridge will be less. The state will prepare cost estimates for the "repair" option. The town costs for a rehabilitation are 5% of the total cost. The cost to reassemble the current structure on another site would be an additional cost with some funding sources available depending on the intended use.

No conclusions were reached at this time. The Historic Covered Bridge Committee members were thanked for their willingness to come to Newfane to meet with the Board on this matter.

3. OTHER BUSINESS
A. VTrans Structures Program Grant - The Grant Application/Agreement between the State of Vermont AOT and the Town of Newfane has been completed for Bridge #51 on Vic Benjamin Road (TH#64). The project cost will be $60,500, of which the local share is $12,100 and the State's share will not exceed $48,400. Motion was made by M. Rohan and seconded by J. Anderson to have the Board members sign the Town Highway Structures Program Grant Application/Agreement for the town for Bridge #51 for the State's share of $48,400 and the town's share of $12,100. Unanimous.

B. Fiscal Year 2002 Tax Rate - The proposed tax rate was presented as two different options with the proposed revenues being the only difference. After some discussion, the Board decided to stay with the original anticipated revenue figure presented at Town Meeting of $224,500. Motion was made J. Anderson and seconded by L. Bedell to set the Newfane Tax Rate for the 2002 Fiscal Year at $3.05 of listed value divided by 100. Unanimous. The total town tax rate is $0.60 and the total School Tax Rate is $2.45. For Fiscal Year 2001 the rate was $3.03; $0.59 for the town and $2.44 for the school.

C. M. Rohan indicated that G. Katz spoke with him about the possibility of the town Lister doing the town-wide reappraisal. T. Schreyer and G. Katz met with the Listers in Westminster who have done their own reappraisal for Westminster. The Listers will put together a proposal for the Board to review for the meeting of July 9th.

D. M. Rohan drew the Board's attention to a letter written by Bud Bergmann to Richard Thibodeau of the USPS expressing Mr. Bergmann's views of the South Newfane/Williamsville Post office. There will be a special meeting of the Board with Richard Thibodeau at the South Newfane/Williamsville Post Office to review the traffic safety and other concerns on Tuesday, July 10th at 2:30 p.m.

E. A reminder that the Planning Commission and ZBA will be meeting on Tuesday, July 3rd with a site visit at the Newfane Town Garage site to review the Zoning Application for the town to give permanent status to the parking area for the people using the town forest hiking trails. Hearing to follow at the Town Office.

F. L. Bedell would like to have Piet van Loon look into the commercial status of the gravel pit on Depot Road (TH#2) on the Thrower property that is currently being used.

G. F. Bacon reviewed the concerns of Roger Sandes regarding the water and swimming rights, the property description, and Mr. Sandes rules for use of the swimming area. The Board also discussed the matter at the meeting of June 21st.

H. F. Bacon indicated that the minutes have not been updated on the town web site. The completed minutes will be put on a disc and J. Gardner will be contacted.

4. ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by J. Anderson and seconded by F. Bacon to adjourn the Special Meeting at 5:30 p.m. Unanimous.

Doris A. Knechtel
Administrative Assistant
Newfane Board of Selectmen

Posted: Town Clerk's Office, Newfane Store, Lessing's Family General Store and South Newfane General Store & Deli. www.newfanevt.com

 


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