VERNON — Saving Sweet Pond State Park in Guilford by repairing the condemned dam is estimated to cost just $130,000 more than removing it ($330,000 versus $200,000), according to a recent report by DuBois & King, consulting civil engineers commissioned by the state of Vermont.
A dry hydrant could be added for neighborhood fire protection.
Surprisingly, dam-safety engineers in the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Facilities Engineering Division, who condemned the dam, have not visited Guilford to answer concerned citizens' questions and offer advice.
Instead, concerned citizens have been required to deal with Vermont Department of Forests & Parks employees, not civil engineers, who warn that the dam-safety engineers might act unilaterally and soon.
It is time for Vermont dam-safety engineers to visit Guilford, meet publicly with concerned citizens and our consulting engineers, and negotiate repairing Sweet Pond Dam with public and perhaps private funds or in-kind donations.
All southern Vermont lakes and sizable ponds depend on dams. Sweet Pond can be a demonstration project for preserving them when their times come.