MINUTES
December 18, 2023 South Hero Wastewater Committee Meeting
Present: Present: Peter Zamore, Robert Buermann, Nate Hayward, George Harwood, Sue
Arguin, committee members, Greta Brunswick and Sara Gatz Northwest regional planning
Committee, , Robert Clark, Otter Creek Engineering, Andy Julow, Lake Champlain Islands
Economic Development Corp., Emily Hackett, and Achouak Arfaoui, Vermont Department of
Environmental conservation, Robert Fireovid, member of the public.
The meeting was called to order by the chair, Peter Zamore at 4:34 pm
On motion of Buermann and seconded by Nate Hayward, the minutes of the October 2, 2023
meeting were approved unanimously.
We then welcomed out newest committee member, Sue Arguin, town administrator, who was
approved by the Selectboard last week. We skipped the agenda item relating to the Selectboard
presentation of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan agreement amendment.
Robert Clark then discussed the results of the test pits dug at the end of November at the Ta-
Kum-Ta, Robinson and Allenholm properties. The Ta-Kum-Ta property water table was too
high, and the Robinson property soils were clay. But the Allenholm property looked promising
and might support a system of up to 6400 gallons per day. This could support roughly 1/5 of the
expected needs of the village centers. He discussed a potential phased approach, starting with a
system on the Allenholm property and exploring other properties for additional systems. Robert
intends to complete a draft “60%” Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) for circulation to the
committee in the next few days. We planned to have another meeting either January 8 or 15 to
discuss it.
Emily Hackett then discussed the ARPA-related deadlines and expressed concern that, due to
delays in getting clearance for test pits, we were behind schedule. Greta agreed to circulate a
revised schedule for the committee to review, including meeting the April 15, 2024 deadline for
a final PER.
We then discussed the need for public outreach as soon as possible after the 60% PER was ready
for distribution. This would include a community meeting in mid-February and a potential set of
revisions to the wastewater web site.
We also discussed plans to discuss with the Vermont Land Trust an amended conservation
easement on the Allenholm property to accommodate a wastewater system. We agreed that
several subgroups would be created to plan for those discussions, to review of the PER, and to
plan outreach and possible changes to the web site.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 PM.