DUMMERSTON – The Putney Rowing Club hopes to convince the District 2 Act 250 Commission that its new boathouse “must” be located next to the Connecticut River.
At the June 15 meeting, the three county commission members and administrative staff from the Springfield office of the Natural Resources Board met with members of the Putney Rowing Club to discuss its plans to move its boathouse from its current location in Westminster to a five-acre riverfront property at 405 Dummerston Station Road in Dummerston.
Four years ago, the rowing club purchased a five-acre property and a house at 405 Dummerston Station Road to relocate its boathouse from a flood-prone boathouse in Putney at the end of Putney Landing Road.
Concrete was poured for the building’s base slab and foundation, but as members were erecting the structure’s framework, they learned that the club would need to apply for an Act 250 permit because the boathouse was located within the river’s 100-foot buffer zone.
A year ago, the Act 250 Commission held a public meeting in Dummerston to hear testimony from rowing club representatives and state officials.
In July 2023, the commission adjourned, saying it was “not convinced” that the boathouse should be so close to the river. However, the Act 250 commission offered the rowing club the opportunity to “make a supplementary argument that the boathouse and parking lot must be on the river bank. This argument should be based on facts and case law.”
Shortly after the adjournment order was issued, the PRC responded to the Commission’s request for adjournment.
“The boats must be stored in a location that is close to the body of water on which they will be used,” Huessy wrote. “This proximity is critical to the purpose of the boathouse. To place the boathouse outside of convenient walking distance to the river would completely undermine the purpose and usefulness of the boathouse.”
Huessy noted that the boats used by club members were large, heavy and fragile.
“As a result, it is practically impossible to transport them over long distances. The boats can be up to 45 feet long and weigh up to 150 pounds. The boats have thin wooden hulls that are very susceptible to damage. Transporting the boats over long distances increases the risk of damage from falling or hitting an obstacle.”
Last week, Putney Rowing Club submitted a second response, complete with a professional site plan (not one drawn up by a club member), as requested, detailing plantings, erosion control measures and the location of the dock at the bottom of a scour channel that the club plans to use as a walkway to the river.
“All of the stormwater and erosion control approaches outlined (in the plan) serve the purpose of meeting shoreline protection requirements,” wrote Hamilton Hodgman of Hodgman Engineering & Permitting, which prepared the required site plan. “Erosion control and vegetative cover in particular are critical to maintaining the shoreline and water bodies in their natural state. Shorelines will be protected from erosion by a combination of crushed boulders and vegetative cover. The vegetated slopes of the access path will be planted according to the PRC planting plan after the grass is fully bonded to the 3-year erosion control cover that protects the development from the water.”
The PRC also responded to the Act 250 Commission’s concerns regarding parking and soil compaction by vehicles.
“My client strongly recommends carpooling but cannot mandate it,” wrote Hans Huessy, legal counsel for the PRC. “There is no location from which a shuttle could operate. People use the facility at different times of the day and live in a large area surrounding the facility. Often, people use the facility alone or with one other person, making a shuttle impractical. The Putney School, which will use our facility, regularly uses a bus to take its students to the river.”
The Act 250 Commission also questioned why the 100-foot boathouse requires an entrance at both ends.
“The boathouse will have two aisles separating the boat racks on either side,” Huessy wrote. “These aisles will be as narrow as possible while still allowing a boat and its outriggers to be transported without colliding with the outriggers of the boats on the racks. If there were only entrances at one end of the building, it would be extremely difficult to routinely transport a boat the 100 feet from one end to the other without striking the outriggers on both sides.”
Huessy also noted in his document last week that the Natural Resources Agency had signed off on the plan.
Huessy told the Reformer he did not know when the Act 250 Commission would respond.
“Could take weeks,” he said. “Could take months.”
