Treasurer visits Tri-Park as flood recovery, bridge plans advance

Thirteen of the 18 homes scheduled for delivery to Tri-Park have already arrived, and residents are expected to move in by August.

State Treasurer Mike Pieciak wrapped up a statewide flood recovery and resilience tour on Tuesday in West Brattleboro with a stop at Tri-Park Cooperative Housing, where local and state leaders are working on relocation, rebuilding and infrastructure fixes tied to repeated flood damage.

The visit came as Pieciak’s office gathers information for a cost estimate under the Climate Superfund Act, the 2024 law that allows Vermont to seek recovery costs from fossil fuel companies tied to climate change impacts. Pieciak said the goal of the tour was to see how disaster damage affects communities on the ground, not only in technical reports.

He said one of the clearest lessons from the trip was that many residents are already under strain before floodwaters arrive, with housing costs, health care, food bills and other pressures making disasters even harder to absorb. He also noted that Vermont communities often depend heavily on volunteers, town employees and local leaders who take on extra responsibilities after storms, but he warned that such a response model is not dependable over the long term.

Pieciak said the state needs more organized regional and statewide systems for disaster response, along with more investment in prevention. He said projects that reduce future flooding could spare residents, businesses, towns and nonprofits from severe financial loss and emotional stress.

At Tri-Park, that prevention effort is already underway. The housing cooperative sits near the meeting point of the Halladay and Whetstone brooks, and 19 homes have been moved out of the floodway. Dan Ridlehoover, director of project development for M&S Development, led Pieciak through the site and described how the relocation program works.

Residents moving into the new homes will not pay out of pocket for the project. Ridlehoover said each household will sign two mortgages, including one deferred loan that will never require repayment and another loan from Tri-Park that is forgiven over 10 years. He said the structures are being built as zero energy ready homes.

Funding for the project has come from several sources, including the treasurer’s office, state programs, private partners, the Town of Brattleboro and a Congressional Directive Spending Award from Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Ridlehoover said the effort still faced setbacks. Although local, state and federal environmental approvals were secured for 26 units, an older Act 250 permit from the 1980s created stormwater restrictions that prevented some homes from being placed in the river corridor buffer. He said that reduced the number of units that could be relocated, leaving some housing in the floodway.

He also said FEMA reimbursement fell far short of what the project needed, pushing organizers to rely more heavily on state support.

Separately, town officials briefed Pieciak on a bridge replacement project connected to Tri-Park. The property is served by two bridges that are nearing the end of their useful life. The town took ownership of the Dettman Drive bridge in 2024 and plans to replace it.

Planning Director Sue Fillion said the project has secured $1.7 million of the $1.83 million total cost. She said the new span will be longer and higher, with stream restoration work on both sides and upgrades intended to better withstand flooding. Demolition of the current bridge is expected in mid-2027.

Thirteen of the 18 homes scheduled for delivery to Tri-Park have already arrived, and residents are expected to move in by August.