Flood Update

The increasing flood impacts of climate change continue to affect AHW properties. This time, the event of 7/10 and 7/11/24 dropped an unprecedented 5" of rain over Hinesburg and Starksboro, causing Hollow Brook to jump its banks and course through Lazy Brook MHC, completely undermining one home and damaging several others while submerging the road and cutting off access to the park.

Photo Credit: Elise Shanbacker

The park roads received minor damage; last summer, AHW partnered with the Lewis Creek Association and Addison County Regional Planning Commission to conduct flood hazard mitigation work in Hollow Brook that hopefully prevented the damage from being much worse.

Photo Credit: UVM Spacial Analysis Lab

Thankfully, AHW has been able to repair much of the damage, and we've been able to deploy our Family Support Program staff to help residents apply for relief funds through CVOEO, the Red Cross, and the Manufactured Housing Improvement and Repair program. Residents are back in their homes for the time being, but there remains much work to do to make sure the park is safe and flood resilient against future events. Volunteers from UVM are helping AHW assess the feasibility of long-term infrastructure repairs and improvements that would be necessary to protect the park from permanent lot closures and displacement.

Meanwhile, in positive news, we received a $2,500,000 Congressionally Directed Spending award from Senator Sanders to upgrade the septic infrastructure at all our Starksboro parks including Lazy Brook, Hillside, and Brookside. This award recognizes the critical importance of preserving our state's Manufactured Housing Communities as vital affordable housing resources and making sure they have equal access to safe and sanitary wastewater treatment systems. We at AHW will continue to work tirelessly to engineer solutions that keep our MHCs safe for current residents and permanently affordable for future generations.

Photo Credit: Kristen Underwood