WINDHAM – The state’s plans for Hamilton Falls drew sharp criticism Thursday night from local residents who said the plans could ultimately destroy the area’s natural and special beauty.
The Windham Meeting House was standing room only on Thursday night, but most people left when they learned that the state’s proceedings would be an “open house” rather than a public meeting about the three-stage master plan for the remote 125-foot waterfall on Cobb Brook, which is in Jamaica but near the Windham city limits.
People said they wanted to ask questions and hear what their neighbors had to say.
Jeff Dube, a landscape architect with the state-owned consulting firm VhB in Burlington, relented and allowed some residents to speak for about 15 minutes, but said he wanted residents to put their concerns in writing on poster boards in four different locations around the space.
However, many left the event when they learned that there would be no open discussion about the various scenarios, which could include building new trails, observation decks and more parking. Few people left comments on Dube’s poster boards, and those that did exist were mostly critical of the plan.
Hamilton Falls is a state “natural area” and therefore enjoys special wilderness protections. In addition, Cobb Brook is a Class A watershed, which offers even more protection.
The master plan outlines three scenarios: high use, medium use and low use. Low use seems to be the most popular, with residents expressing concern that if the state builds the infrastructure, more people will come and use it.
There is a three-mile bike and hiking trail from the park to the falls, but many people use West Windham Road to get to the falls. The state’s plan calls for more people to use the trail at Jamaica State Park, which is currently closed due to a landslide.
The waterfall has been the property of the State of Vermont since 1979, when The Nature Conservancy gave it to the state. The Nature Conservancy in turn received it in 1979 from the Conservation Society of Southern Vermont, which purchased it from Margaret and David Newton in 1972. The Newtons purchased it in 1933.
Many members of the Newton family who still live near the falls spoke during the brief public portion of the open house, saying the proposed master plan does not meet the special protections of a state natural area. It is not a state recreation area, but a natural area, they said.
Those who were allowed to speak Thursday said the temporary pandemic-era problem the master plan was supposed to solve no longer exists. Several people pointed out that there were no cars at the falls on July 4.
Charlie Peck of Jamaica said the state’s plans do not follow Windham’s city plan for Hamilton Falls and urged state planners to start from scratch.
The state says it wants to address concerns from residents concerned about people blocking West Windham Road because there isn’t much off-street parking there and the danger that this poses, especially in the middle basin of the falls.
Residents said creating a new trail through the ancient pine and hemlock forest would exacerbate the erosion problem and run counter to conservation goals. And creating more parking would only encourage problematic behavior, residents said.
The state plan indicates that 12 people have died at Hamilton Falls, with the most recent death occurring in 2016 when a 17-year-old out-of-state teenager slipped and fell about 100 feet from the upper pool into the middle pool.
There was a problem in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, residents said, but the overcrowded conditions of 2020 no longer exist, and they said measures taken by the state to alleviate those problems have worked, including stationing a ranger at the falls on weekends and putting up signs with parking instructions.
And while the falls can be dangerous, there have only been two deaths there in the past 20 years, said Ilana Newton of Jamaica. Another person mentioned that it was a much more dangerous place in the 1970s and 1980s.
A petition on Change.org rejecting many of the state’s proposals for Hamilton Falls received about 200 signatures on Friday, with more than 80 people signing on Friday alone.
The Windham Select Board has publicly opposed most of the proposals, saying it would favor the “lower impact” option and urging the state to put its resources into reopening the trail at the state park.
“The Windham Select Board greatly values the natural beauty and impressive features of Hamilton Falls. The board believes that Hamilton Falls is a sensitive natural area that should be enjoyed as undisturbed as possible and will only support a proposed management scenario that establishes the integrity and most natural state of this resource as the top priority in any proposed management plan,” a July 16 letter to Dube said.
Dube said the public comment period on the plan is Aug. 18, and then the state will propose a preferred approach to managing the waterfall area.
Information on submitting comments on the plan can be found at https://fpr.vermont.gov/jamaica-state-park
