Expansion of Sewer Depends Upon Sale of Town Land

A view down mainstreet Bradford.

 In the North Country, people often feel that their land and forests are part of their roots- but for Bradford, the sale of their Municipal Forest could allow them to sink those roots in even deeper.

The story of Bradford's Municipal forest is both colorful and somewhat controversial. The land that makes up the forest is located in Fairlee and West Fairlee and comes out to nearly 600 acres of land in total. While it was bought by the Village of Bradford to act as a backup water source, the town of Bradford is technically defunct due to the fact that it merged with the Town of Bradford some time ago.

Regardless, the land belongs to Bradford, and the Trust for Public Land is very much aware of that. They've offered the town of Bradford approximately $850,000 for the land, money the town needs for the expansion of its sewer system. Downtown Bradford (otherwise known as the Lower Plain) has no sewer system that's connected to the town. Since that area of town is home to many of its restaurants as well as Hannaford supermarket the fact that there is no decent sewer system in place has been a problem for quite some time. By selling the land, which isn't very useful when it comes to serving its original purpose of providing water, the town will gain the money they need to improve the Lower Plain.

Of course, a sale this large doesn't come without controversy. The offer has been floating around for around a year now and last fall the select board decided to approve the sale so long as the voters agreed. Issues have arisen when people concerned with timber rights clash with those who promote land conversation, and the town and sewer commissions are also have some disagreements. The fact is that the money from this sale would greatly benefit the town- but at what cost? Some believe that improving part of the town doesn't outweigh the loss of part of the town's heritage.

The Trust for Public Land has already anticipated the sale and are making offers for West Fairlee to take control of the land. A list of questions and answers given to the townsfolk can be found here.