Team robotics
Into the woods
Varsity, JV teams take top honors at competition
Changes to a species can destabilize forests
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March 2, 2023
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Weekly news coverage for Charlotte and Hinesburg
thecitizenvt.com
Hinesburg residents near landfill demand more water testing
Pet stop
COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
A hike up Mt. Philo wouldn’t be complete without a puppy meet and greet.
Janet Francis, a Forest’s Edge Road resident in Hinesburg, had been getting her drinking water tested for some 20 years — up until 2009, when annual water monitoring of residences near the town landfill ended. Then, in the fall of 2021, when news broke that drinking water contaminated with high levels of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances — or PFAS — was discovered in her neighbor’s home, she and other residents nearby started testing their drinking water out of their own pocket. “We needed to know whether our water was clean for us and our kids,” she said. “It would’ve been nice if the town would have done it, but we could not afford to wait.” Those tests came up clear. But now, 18 months later, residents like Francis are calling on the city to expand drinking water testing to all properties in the vicinity of the town landfill, following news last month that contaminated drinking water above state accepted limits was detected in two more residential homes. “In light of the recent report of increased levels of contamination from the landfill affecting a
growing number of residences, we request that the town arrange and pay for testing of our water sources for PFAS and other contaminants on a regular basis,” reads a letter sent on Jan. 25 to the Hinesburg selectboard, signed by 18 residents living on North, Beecher Hill, and Forest’s Edge roads. “Obviously, it is of high importance to anyone living near the landfill to know the status of their water supply.” Stone Environmental, an environmental consultant group hired by the town, has confirmed that the 38-acre parcel of land on Observatory Road is leaching dangerous contaminants like PFAS and methylene chloride — both carcinogens, the former which has been linked to human endocrine disruption and kidney and testicular cancer. “The downward hydraulic flow ... the steep overburden hydraulic gradient, and the lack of a confining layer is allowing the leachate contamination to migrate significantly from the landfill,” the report says. The report also noted that “based on chloride and sodium concentrations, it appears that leachate is migrating from the landfill in both a southern and southeastern direction,” and that See LANDFILL on page 16
Developer submits plans for historic Charlotte property LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Jonathan Maguire wants to build a restaurant and affordable elder housing multi-unit at a historic property on Spear Street in the East Charlotte Village. Maguire, owner of the devel-
opment and design company ADT, presented a sketch plan last week to the town’s development review board. The Baptist Corners district, where his 15-acre property at 2760 Spear St. sits, has been identified by the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation as having local and
state historical significance due to its virtually undisturbed structures. According to the Charlotte Historical Society, the white Federal-style house on the property, known as the “Sheehan house,” is listed as one of the significant structures. Records of this property and
others at Baptist Corners date back to the early 1800s and, according to findings from the town’s historical society, the district is historically significant as a business and social center. Charlotte Historical Society president Dan Cole explained that the house was originally intended to be an inn on the stage route
that was being established between Middlebury and Burlington. “For at least 50 years, from approximately 1830 through 1850, Baptist Corners was the nucleus of commercial, social and religious activity of this community,” reads a See HOUSING on page 7