Take time to appreciate Vermont waters

BY PAT SUOZZI

Do you love to spend time at a nearby lake or pond swimming, fishing, boating or just enjoying the peace and serenity of the water?

July is Lake Appreciation Month and a good time to take a moment to appreciate the value and importance of the over 800 lakes and ponds dotting our landscape.

Vermont’s lakes attract tourists and visitors, providing important economic benefits to the state, and many have public beaches and boat launches providing unparalleled access to recreation for all Vermonters. In addition, lakes and ponds provide vital wildlife habitat, are a source of drinking water and help to replenish groundwater aquifers.

Although we still have some of the cleanest and most pristine waters in the country, Vermont’s lakes and ponds are under increasing pressure from climate change and the spread of aquatic invasive species. Warming temperatures, more intense storms and rising nutrient levels from polluted runoff contribute to toxic algae blooms, while the spread of aquatic invasive species squeezes out native species resulting in destruction of habitat for native fish, amphibians and birds.

Volunteer lake associations around the state are working hard to protect Vermont’s public waters, to reverse rising nutrient levels, prevent the further spread

Williston’s Community Newspaper Since 1985

ADVERTISING

Rick Cote, Associate Publisher rick@willistonobserver.com

802-373-2136

EDITOR

Jason Starr editor@willistonobserver.com

PRODUCTION & DESIGN

Jan Kenney jan@willistonobserver.com

PUBLISHER

Susan T. Cote susan@willistonobserver.com

BILLING INQUIRIES

Michael McCaffrey office@willistonobserver.com

MEMBER: of aquatic invasives, reduce or eradicate existing aquatic invasive infestations and restore and maintain Vermont’s lakes and ponds. This work takes not only these dedicated groups of volunteers but all who love and appreciate our vital water resources.

During this month, take some time to appreciate Vermont’s lakes and ponds and to consider ways you can help to preserve them. Here are a few things you can do:

• Visit your local lake and take a minute to enjoy and appreciate the resource.

• If you bring a boat, kayak, canoe, paddleboard or any aquatic gear, be sure that it is cleaned before entering the lake to help prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.

• If greeters are on duty, make sure to have them check your gear when entering and leaving the lake and have them wash your boat if there is a decontamination station available.

• Support your local lake association: become a member, join the board, donate. These volunteer lake stewards do an enormous amount of work to protect and improve the health of our public waters.

• Let your local selectboard, senators and representatives know how important healthy and clean lakes are.

• If you are a lakefront property owner, use native plants and shrubs to prevent shoreline erosion and keep polluted runoff out of the lake. Learn more about lake friendly landscaping and shoreland protection at www.vermontlakes.org/shoreland-protection/.

• Stop using fertilizers and pesticides on your lawn or garden to reduce polluted runoff into streams and lakes.

• Join the Federation of Vermont Lakes and Ponds in our work of public education and advocacy for all of Vermont’s lakes and ponds. Find out more about what we do and how you can help at www.vermontlakes.org.

This July, appreciate the beauty and quality of life that our lakes and ponds provide, but also recognize that these vital resources are fragile and need our care. With all of us working together, we can protect and preserve Vermont’s lakes and ponds for now and for future generations.

ADVERTISING SPACE DEADLINE

Friday at 5 p.m. for the next Thursday issue rick@willistonobserver.com, 802-373-2136

CLASSIFIED ADS

Deadline is Friday 5 p.m. There is a fee for business, real estate, help wanted and legal ads. Free classifieds must be 25 words or fewer and are printed on a space available basis.

SUBMISSIONS & LETTERS

Deadline is Monday noon for Thursday issue. News/ story tips are welcomed. Letters to the Editor must be 300 words or fewer and should include your name, address and a daytime phone number so that we can verify the letter’s author.

The Williston Observer reserves the right to edit or refuse submissions or advertising. Opinions expressed in the paper are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the paper.

A publication of Twin Ponds Publishing LLC www.willistonobserver.com P.O. Box 1401, Williston, VT 05495 | 802-489-5499 B A NG

Burlington Area Newspaper Group

July Fourth festivities in Williston bring out amazing creativity, generosity and sense of community, and this year was no exception. I second the gratitude expressed by Parks and Recreation Director Todd Goodwin in the July 6 edition of the Observer for the town employees and volunteers who made Williston’s July Fourth activities so successful.

I was the honorary parade Grand Marshal this year (reluctantly), and the good will shown to me was an extension of the spirit of the Fourth. I insisted on marching with the Williston Town Band, and Todd Goodwin said “fine — we will make it work.” Kathy and Bob Schaw and all the band members accommodated the special circumstance, including a “Grand Marshal” sign and a spot on the band float.

Special thanks to Marcy Kass for making creative signs to identify this unusual Grand Marshal situation, to Sarah Showalter and Noah Jeter for carrying those signs along the route, and to all for the kind comments.

I’m grateful for the wonderful spirit shown by all.

When I look around Williston, I see employees, residents and volunteers doing good work in acts of personal, environmental and community support. Disasters like the current flooding make that especially visible, but it shows all year in other ways.

Let us celebrate the spirit of volunteering and community. Let us honor the land and creatures around us. Finally, let us give each other the benefit of the doubt when we disagree.

May the spirit of the Fourth last all year!

Chapin Kaynor Williston

We would like to encourage our neighbors to support bylaw changes that will promote the creation of more affordable housing in Williston. Our families include young adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. They’ve grown up in Williston, gone to school here and want to continue to live here.

Throughout their lives they’ve

been welcomed into the community, for which we’ve been immensely grateful. They’re known here and have friends here.

We appreciate that our sons and daughters have been very well supported in their education at Allen Brook School, Williston Central School and Champlain Valley Union, and while working in the community. We’re asking for that support to extend to changes in town bylaws that will allow for the creation of many levels of affordable housing, so that our adult sons and daughters can continue to live here once we can no longer care for them.

Submitted by Developmental Disabilities Housing Initiative (DDHI) families: Sue Dodge; Bryan, Michelle and Angelina Gagne; Joe and Caroline McNamara; Tim, Marla and Justin McQuiston; Patrick, Donna, Jack and Shea Savage; Theresa Soares; Ed, Jennifer and Bennett Townley; Jeff, Beth and Jackson Wilson

The Finney Crossing Condo Association is not well served by its board of directors.

The association fails to meet the requirements of Vermont state law (Title 27A) and to comply with its “declaration” to do so. The association is not properly maintaining its common interest property and continues to inappropriately collect association dues in support of a 2020 capital reserve plan that is unlawful.

The association’s board of directors has not met to conduct business in 2023 and has refused many requests to meet and act on neglected maintenance and on the improper and illegal capital replacement reserve plan.

This neglect has been supported by the president of the Finney Crossing Master Association Board of Directors with uninvited recommendations to the condo association that are not founded in fact and are contrary to the requirements of Vermont law. These have misguided the condo association’s board of directors.

Specifically, the 2020 Reserve Study, which was created at a cost of $2,500 for the condo association, includes many elements that, by law, must be excluded from reserve plans. These are “limited common elements” for which the repair and replacement costs are charged to the unit owner. The result of this mistake is an inappropriate, unfair and illegal payment plan. Many other mistakes in the reserve plan impact on the budget and should be fixed. The reserve plan should have been rejected in 2020.

Vermont law requires: “The executive board shall establish a reasonable method for unit owners to communicate among themselves and with the executive board on matters concerning the association.” This has not been provided for either of the Finney Crossing associations. This must be done.

Finney Crossing is not the community that The Snyder group promised Williston. The leadership’s willful non-compliance with state law and with its association’s bylaws results in a community heading toward mediocrity, or something less.

Les Allen Williston

Next Week: Our states: Maryland