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Velco Says “Aesthetics” Not Reason Enough To Bury Lines On Unique Brandon Farm

Tuesday April 4, 2006

By Ed Barna

    In the last three years, the 1,256-acre former Dean farm south of Brandon village has been the subject of major rescue effort, funded by Maine businessman Scott Mitchell and undertaken mainly by on-farm manager Jeremy Smalley.

They have removed a phenomenal amount of trash and debris, stabilized the decay in what could be Brandon's two oldest houses, and turned fields abandoned for 10 years into a certified organic haying operation. The long-term plan calls for the place to become an organic dairy--using the Randall cows that were popular in the earliest days of Vermont settlement--and to set up a guest house where agritourists can stay.

Also, Mitchell said when interviewed that he wants to bring back Brandon's agricultural heritage to go along with the current artistic revival--an effort in which he sees a potential ally in Chuck Johnson, the California (and eventually Vermont) builder who has sketched out a sub-village, organic vegetable farm and ecological teaching center for the former Steinberg Farm south of town. Not only will townspeople be welcome to come to the farm, they will be able to access a trail that will loop from Union Street back to Carver Street via the farm, which has spectacular views of the Green Mountains, a rich bird population (Audubon people have identified more than 300 species there, Mitchell said), and deep historical connections (a side trail leads to the 1759 Crown Point Military Road down which Gen. Jeffrey Amherst brought his troops to the Battle of Quebec in the French and Indian War).

The biggest problem is not money. Johnson said he owns several businesses, one of which, having to do with antique cars, will provide one source of visitors through an old car rally on the farm. Already he has put a half million dollars into the place, he said, which have stabilized one of the state's biggest barns (242 feet long), paid for 30 large dumpsters worth of trash hauling, and supported Smalley's family.

A sidelight here: the name “Transfiguration Farm” was chosen partly because the place has truly been transformed (neighbor Charles Jakiela backed up Mitchell's characterization of the work) and because Mitchell happened to think of it on the day in the church calendar when Jesus was transfigured on Mt. Tabor before His disciples. He is indeed Christian, and part of his optimism comes from that faith, he said, but other than perhaps bringing occasional retreats from his Maine diocese to the place he has no exclusively Christian plans for the farm.

The big downside, as far as he is concerned, is the VELCO power line, which cuts right through the farm, crossing hayfields in a way that will greatly lessen the view from his planned trail. With help from Sen. Harold Giard, Mitchell has talked with VELCO officials, explaining to them his belief that burying the lines would be a long-term investment in the state's future that would in a couple of decades pay for itself through increased electrical usage.

Mitchell sees growth in Vermont as inevitable, but wants to do all he can to make sure it is done right, in a way that preserves the agricultural side of Vermont life. Things are close to a tipping point, he said-- “We haven't got much time”--and we need to be planning what kind of growth will preserve the best of the state. (In his personal opinion, if Vermont buried 2 percent of its power lines every year for half a century, the resulting landscape would be unique--even better than it is from not having billboards.)

VELCO rejected his unofficial appeal on March 30. A letter to him from the company's president and CEO John Donleavy called Mitchell's efforts “truly impressive” (there was a site visit), said “I applaud your vision,” and wished him “success in this endeavor.” However, three things made burying the lines out of the question, he said:

--Getting regulatory approval for it would mean reopening the process and getting both Public Service Board and Independent System Operator of New England go-aheads. The likely delay and the existing system reliability concerns may it unlikely that they would give approval.

--The PSB found that putting lines underground “would have a significant potential to adversely affect system stability and reliability.” (At one hearing, former VELCO spokesman David Mace said underground problems are much harder to locate and to get to, especially in winter, so outages could be much longer.)

--It would cost 8 to 10 times as much as an overhead line, in part because each end would need in effect a substation ($2.5 million each), each enclosed by a 150- by 230-foot fenced area. Most of the millions of dollars of expense would have to be borne by Vermont, not paid 95 percent by New England ratepayers, because this would be an aesthetic matter. “This is an expense that VELCO cannot authorize or justify.”

Contacted for comment after the decision, Mitchell said that as technological change continues, the day may well come when the power towers go down--and the farm will remain. “We'll continue on and do the best with what we've been dealt. I was terribly discouraged over the last 24 hours--ask my wife--but I'm an optimist, and my faith leads me to be an optimist.”

VELCO has been very cooperative in not using herbicides to maintain the power line zone, Mitchell said. Instead, the company brings a huge machine that the Smalleys have dubbed “The Brontosaurus,” which gobbles up the brush and turns it to mulch.

Smalley said that if anyone gets hold of a description of the farm and its needs that some of Brandon's Select Board have discussed--which seems to say that without the power lines being buried the old houses and barn would have to be torn down--they shouldn't take it seriously. That was thrown together overnight so Mitchell would have something to present to people in Montpelier, he said. Mitchell, too, said “I'm not going to tear down anything.”

Mitchell's reaction was far calmer than Giard's. He's livid that a mile and half of that power line will be buried in Chittenden County--whose power needs have made the project necessary--but not a foot in Addison County or Brandon. Yet when he went to the Burlington area in the winter, he found malls with all their lights on in the daytime, stores the same, houses on Spear Street that way in the evening--waste that would be brought under control with any sense of self-discipline.

“I am so sick of the Public Service Board and the Department of Energy,” which “should be looking out for like Harley Grice (who is fighting VELCO because his farm in Middlebury would be so severely affected) and Scott Mitchell,” Giard said. When the time comes up for appointments to the PSB to be approved by the Legislature, “I'm looking forward to the day when I can vote them out.”

“I find this immensely frustrating,” Giard said. By burying lines, “Vermont could get paid back in the long run.” When people visit the state from places like New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut, which are endlessly crisscrossed by wires, “they don't come to look at power lines.”

From the way tourists used to marvel at his dairy farm and sometime stay all day so they could help with milking, he knows Mitchell's ideas for Transfiguration Farm aren't unrealistic, he said. Landowners, not big companies, should have priority. “The values of Vermonters are being trashed by this,” Giard said.

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