This story by Jason Starr was first published in the Williston Observer on March 6
The Chittenden Solid Waste District’s new recycling center project is back on track and back on site at Redmond Road in Williston.
The district is under contract for a $3 million purchase of 38 forested acres currently owned by Hinesburg Sand and Gravel at the northern end of Redmond Road. The parcel is across the road from the district’s Williston drop-off center and composting operation.
The Hinesburg company, which operates a sand excavation pit on the east side of Redmond Road, offered the parcel to the district last year after previous attempts to find a parcel suitable for construction fell through, according to district Executive Director Sarah Reeves. She expects the deal will close by the end of March. The district’s board authorized the purchase in February. An independent municipal entity, the district handles recycling for 18 member communities in Chittenden County.
“We’re grateful to (Hinesburg Sand and Gravel owner) Tim Casey for approaching us and for working with us,” Reeves said. “We’re very excited to have this opportunity on Redmond Road because our other main facilities are there.”
The district’s existing recycling facility is off Industrial Avenue and currently processes roughly double the recyclables it was built to handle in 1993, Reeves said.
Chittenden County voters passed a $22 million bond in 2022 to help fund a new recycling center, one that would automate sorting and increase capacity to handle the area’s anticipated residential and commercial growth. The district had identified a 27-acre parcel it owns on the east side of Redmond Road to build the facility, and obtained construction approval from the Williston Development Review Board in 2023.
But last summer, regulators with the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources flagged the parcel as unbuildable wetland, prompting district leaders to undertake a countywide search for a new site.
“We haven’t done a lot on this project, except to find a new location, since June,” Reeves told the CSWD board in February. “We’ve been pretty stuck in a holding pattern until we could secure a site.”
Construction cost estimates have ballooned since the passage of the 2022 bond. The initial estimate was $27.5 million, but that was amended up to $31 million as of last year. The cost of construction on the new parcel has not yet been estimated.
In addition to the $22 million bond, other funding sources include state grants and district reserves.
If the sale closes as planned on March 31, the district would draw up new applications for consideration by the Development Review Board. The parcel has already been deemed buildable by wetland regulators at the Agency of Natural Resources, according to Reeves.
The building and parking lot footprint would account for about 6 acres of the 38-acre site. Reeves said Hinesburg Sand and Gravel has never built on or extracted material from the site.
“We’re looking to leave as much of it forested as we can,” she said.
She hopes to break ground this fall.
Casey, the owner of Hinesburg Sand and Gravel, did not respond to a request for comment.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Chittenden Solid Waste District finds new site for recycling center in Williston.