Quechee
But no one — drivers, walkers, residents or tourists — seemed upset to see the nine or 10 cars waiting in stalled traffic on Wednesday as a piece of heavy construction equipment trundled out into the roadway so that another worker could hook its heavy chains to a concrete barrier at the edge of the Quechee Main Street worksite.
“That was nothing,” said Richard Watts, who was driving one of the cars held up by the construction of the small two-tiered park between the Simon Pearce building and the Quechee Covered Bridge.
Watts, a retired insurance salesman from Florida, was visiting the area for the first time to enjoy Vermont’s leaf season. He was carrying a bag of locally grown apples, and had plans to splurge on a dinner at the Woodstock Inn with his wife in the evening. With all that going on, the traffic delay was barely noticed.
“It didn’t bother me at all,” he said. “It’s gorgeous here, and we absolutely love it.”
“I’ve been coming up since 1980,” said Jim Ronemus, who also was nonplussed. “It’s always either construction season or ski season. We still love it here.”
Town officials say they hope to complete the $415,000 public park sometime in the next couple of weeks, concluding a six-year saga that bruised feelings within the town.
Hartford Town Manager Leo Pullar, who drives by the construction site on his commute to Town Hall every day, said on Wednesday that the project is removing “a blight” from the community.
“We’re probably just a couple of weeks from finishing,” he said. “It’s going to be beautiful.”
The site’s exposed rebar and graffiti-covered concrete have been jarring eyes since 2011, when Tropical Storm Irene destabilized the property and heavily damaged the bridge and a real estate office next to the Ottauquechee River.
Efforts to remediate the site have run into a series of obstacles, including disagreement within Hartford over how much to spend, and gaining permission from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to build a small “pocket park” that would not only stabilize the site, but provide benches and landscaping so that the public could take advantage of the view of the nearby waterfall.
The fallout of the delay impacted the entire community, as the Quechee Lakes Landowners Association sought to compel speedier town action on the site by calling into question long-standing arrangements that allowed Hartford residents to enjoy some of the development’s amenities, including Lake Pinneo, the ski hill, the polo field and the golf courses.
Those concerns all faded away after the Selectboard formally committed to the project last year. After signing a contract in May with Windsor-based Willey Construction to do the work, town officials initially hoped to complete the project before peak leaf season drew thousands of visitors to the area. Those hopes were undone when large gaps were discovered in the foundation beneath a set of old concrete stairs that predated Irene.
After the long, winding path to get the project started, Quechee residents this week said any pangs from the disturbance of construction were minor compared to the relief they feel at seeing ground broken.
“I’m very glad it’s finally getting finished. It was a long time coming,” said Joyce Baldwin, who was walking her dog nearby. Baldwin suggested that the term “pocket park” created an image of luxury that overshadowed the project’s utilitarian purpose.
“I wish it had been called stormwater remediation, or tourist development,” she said.
Tony Laker, a retired professor of sports sociology who moved to the community last year, said it hadn’t taken long for him to hear that the eyesore was a sore spot for many of his neighbors.
“They’re certainly tidying it up,” he said.
Other recent residents also gave the project a thumbs-up.
Katie Boardman, who moved to the area recently with her husband and six kids, said that compared to traffic she’s experienced in Utah and North Carolina, the construction delays were inconsequential.
And Molly Paturzo, a Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center worker who also moved to the area a few months ago, said she was eager to enjoy the park once it opens.
“It’s such a beautiful spot, so anything they can do to make it safe to enjoy seems like a good thing to do,” she said.
The project originally received a construction estimate of $470,000, but Pullar and town staff worked to “value engineer” the project by combining two sets of stairs into one, foregoing an irrigation system, using shorter, prefabricated concrete retaining walls, and maintaining, rather than replacing, the existing sidewalk and curbing, which brought the price tag down to $415,000.
Because some of the project cost is being borne by federal grants, the town’s out-of-pocket cost is $250,000.
Pullar said staff members are beginning to plan an opening ceremony for later this fall.
“It’s something that the community has been waiting for, for five or six years,” he said. “Let’s take a minute to dedicate it properly.”
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.