CHESTER, Vt. – On Aug. 7, the Chester Selectboard held their regularly scheduled meeting in the Chester Town Hall. Chief among their concerns for the evening was the enforcement of two structure violations against Julian Materials LLC, who operate a quarry near Gassetts commonly known as the “Julian Quarry.”
Before the discussion of the quarry, however, the board met in their capacity as water and wastewater commissioners, to increase water and sewer rates. Town manager Julie Hance noted that Chester has not increased rates in several years, and was therefore “playing catch-up” with the current increases. The board approved a water base rate increase of $3, and a water consumption rate increase of $0.25. There was no increase to the wastewater consumption rates at this time.
Moving on to the discussion of the Julian Quarry, planning and zoning administrator Preston Bristow briefed the board on two structure violations, and sought permission from the board to proceed with enforcement action against Julian Materials. The structures in question were described by Bristow as “a house that is partly in floodplain,” and “a shed…that doesn’t meet setbacks.” Bristow explained to the board that Julian had agreed as part of a notice of violation appeal several months ago to remediate these violations, but had yet to do so. Because taxpayer money would inevitably need to be spent to enforce these provisions, Bristow needed to come before the board and seek approval to proceed with legal enforcement of the violations.
The board was generally in agreement that enforcement was needed, and gave Bristow approval to proceed. Hance noted that, if possible, town attorney Jim Carroll will seek to recover his legal fees as part of any case against Julian, though she was not certain that this was possible in environmental court, where the Julian case will be heard.
While the quarries have been the subject of ongoing concern from residents over noise and pollution, some of which is allegedly in violation of their use permits, Bristow explained to the board that “structure violations are much clearer to enforce than use violations.” Hance also noted that Carroll felt the other violations not relating to the structures were less legally clear-cut, and riskier to attempt to enforce in terms of their probability of success in court.
Mike Leclair, a resident of Gassetts who said he has been dealing with the quarry situation for several years, rose to address the board, unsatisfied that they were only enforcing certain provisions of the previous agreement, and not its entirety. He claimed that Julian was still trucking materials between their two quarry properties, as well as operating the quarry after 5 p.m., both of which he said are also violations of the previous notice of violation settlement. “We can’t afford to give them one inch, because they take a mile,” Leclair emphasized to the board.
Board Chair Arne Jonynas sympathized with Leclair, and expressed frustration with the fact that, while Julian can act with “total disregard for the law,” the selectboard must follow all laws and procedures necessary to avoid “compound[ing] and making things worse.”
Finally, Hance reviewed the town’s quarterly financial reports, during which time she noted that, of about $2.5 million in flood-related expenses stemming from the July 2023 flood, Chester had received only $400,000 in reimbursement. She conceded that this is a statewide issue, though she was confident that Chester would eventually see the full amount it was owed. “It will get reimbursed, it’s just that [FEMA’s] timing is less than desirable,” Hance told the board.
Opting to skip their second meeting of the month unless an urgent issue arises, the Chester Selectboard’s next scheduled meeting will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 6:30 p.m., at the Chester Town Hall.