Montgomery Flood Study
Montgomery Flood Resilience and Hazard Mitigation Study - 2024
Throughout 2024, the Franklin County Natural Resources Conservation District, in close partnership with the Montgomery Conservation Commission, Selectboard, and other groups such as the Vermont River Conservancy, Upper Missisquoi and Trout River Wild and Scenic Committee, and VT Dept. of Environmental Conservation Rivers Program, is working with an engineering firm, SLR International, to better understand the flooding patterns and impacts of the Trout River, Black Falls Brook, and West Hill Brook in Montgomery, VT. Using this information, the team will identify possible flood risk reduction alternatives and locations where floodplain restoration, buyouts, infrastructure upgrades, etc. may be beneficial for hazard mitigation and watershed health.
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This webpage will continue to be updated with additional collected data, model results, and reports as the project progresses.
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Get Involved
Community input throughout this process is important and strongly encouraged. To receive regular updates and invitations to future public meetings, please send a note to lauren@franklincountynrcd.org or call 802-582-3133 to get on our list, or if you have any comments or questions at any time!
The Project Team will host another public meeting on Thursday, December 12th at 5:30 pm at the Public Safety Building - Conference Room, 86 Mountain Rd. / VT-242, Montgomery Center, VT 05471. We hope to see you there! Please spread the word and invite your neighbors and friends to attend!
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Kickoff Meeting
On March 18th at 5 pm, there was a project kickoff meeting where all community members were invited to bring their knowledge of flooding in the area, discuss potential mitigation ideas, and ask questions. At the meeting, we reviewed existing conditions, previous flood and erosion damage, and confirmed project goals.
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Existing Conditions and Initial Alternatives Meeting #2
On August 7th at 5:30 pm, there was a meeting to provide an update on the existing conditions flood model that SLR has created to try to get feedback about the accuracy of the model. There were also the proposals of 15 different potential locations for future flood resilience implementation projects. 32 community members attended and provided history, ideas, and knowledge about these locations and expressed interest in seeing how much benefit each option might provide to Montgomery. The results of a future analysis of these potential projects will be presented in October 2024.
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View the Presentation - PDF version
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Review Existing Flood Mapping for a Small Sized Storm
Overview // Center Close Up // Village Close Up
Review Existing Flood Mapping for a Medium Sized Storm
Overview // Center Close Up // Village Close Up
Review Existing Flood Mapping for a Large Sized Storm
Overview // Center Close Up // Village Close Up
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Watch a recording of the meeting below:
Potential Alternatives Meeting #3
On November 7th at 5:30 pm, there was a meeting to provide an update on the potential flood resilience and hazard mitigation alternatives (16 projects plus combinations of projects). The result of the meeting was the selection of 5 projects for SLR to develop conceptual designs for. There will be a meeting in early December 2024 to review those designs and keep the project moving forward.
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Read the Minutes
View the Presentation - PDF version
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Watch a recording of the meeting below:
This video was taken by Jean Jenkauskas, a Jeffersonville, VT resident who has been very involved with flood mitigation planning for the community as a citizen. She took this video during the November 1, 2019 flood. Flood waters are going through a flood bypass culvert that was installed under Route 15 following extensive flood damage in 2011 when flood waters were trapped on the Village side of the Route 15 road embankment. This is an example of what might be possible to install at some locations in Montgomery.
Funding Source
This project is being funded by the FY 2023 Flood Resilience Communities Fund.
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Overview of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding for the State of Vermont: Vermont was awarded $1.05 billion in Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (Recovery Funding) as part of the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The Governor’s Recovery Plan is focused on transparent
investments in key infrastructure needs including housing, broadband, wastewater and sewer systems, climate change prevention and mitigation, and economic development. The explicit objective of this Plan is to provide long term economic recovery opportunities to communities statewide, with a focus on
those regions or counties struggling the most with job losses and declines in demographics and income levels.
The explicit objective of the ARPA funding through the Flood Resilient Communities Fund (FRCF) is to improving landscape and community resilience and reducing the future public safety and water quality impacts of climate-related flood hazards in Vermont, focusing on buyouts of flood-vulnerable properties and floodplain restoration.
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Read the Grant Application for the project
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