FERRISBURGH — The potential sale of a 34.91-acre parcel of town-owned Ferrisburgh land to the Addison County Solid Waste Management District, which is interested in using the parcel at the intersection of Routes 7 and 22A as a transfer station to serve northwestern Addison County, is currently in limbo.
On Dec. 4 the Ferrisburgh selectboard said no to a district offer of an undisclosed amount for the parcel, a decision made after a seven-minute closed-door session. Selectboard Chairman Rick Ebel said the board did not choose to make a counteroffer for a parcel that is on the market for $375,000.
“They made an offer,” Ebel said. “We reviewed it and refused it. It is back in their court.”
Waste management district Manager Teri Kuczinski said she does not know how the district board of supervisors feels about the situation. The board did not and will not meet in December, but would almost certainly revisit the question at its Jan. 17 meeting.
The board has not met since that response so I don’t know what they are planning to do,” Kuczinski said. “We’ll have to see what the board wants to do come the 17th of January.”
The solid waste district has been interested in the Ferrisburgh land or another site in the area to serve the region because the future of the Vergennes recycling center is uncertain, although the city plans to contract with a private hauler to keep it open on an interim basis. Fees will be higher under that arrangement, according to Vergennes officials, although the city and its surrounding towns will no longer subsidize it with their taxes.
Ebel said the Ferrisburgh selectboard would be open to considering another offer for its land from the county solid waste district.
“We’d have to see what it is,” he said. “We have land for sale.”
That land has been for sale since 2011, and three deals have fallen through when buyers have triggered contract contingencies, most recently early this year when Monkton’s Peterson Quality Malts said it could not go through with a proposed $337,500 purchase.
Ebel said there were also some signs of pushback against a transfer station on the prominent parcel at what some consider to be Vergennes’ northern gateway. The selectboard received one email in opposition and has heard from at least a few other area residents.
“They question if it is a good location,” Ebel said.