http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051219/NEWS/512190346/1002

Rutland Town seeks trade with Omya

December 19, 2005
By BRENDAN McKENNA Herald Staff

Rutland Town is hoping to revive a deal to preserve a local farm by trading flood rights on the property owned by Omya Inc. for town land the company wants for a recreation area.

Recently, Omya officials told the Select Board that the deal is dead in the water, but town officials are hoping the swap can be revived.

David Dickinson was on the verge of a deal with the Vermont Land Trust in May when it was scuttled by the discovery that the now-defunct Vermont Marble Co. owned easements dating from 1923 to 1941 on his 175 acres.

The easements grant Omya, the successor to Vermont Marble, the right to temporarily or permanently flood the Dickinson's land through the operation of their hydroelectric dam, though the company would have to compensate the family if it exercised those rights.

Elise Annes, vice president for community relations for the Land Trust, said last week that Omya's ownership of the flooding rights made it impossible for the trust to buy the development rights to the farm.

"We are not able to conserve it with that option there," she said.

David F. Dickinson, who is in his late 70s, hasn't farmed the property since he suffered a stroke 15 years ago. His daughter in law Anne-Marie Dickinson managed the farm on her own after her husband's death in a tractor accident in 1997 until two years ago.

They rent the farm now to Matt Harvey, who grows corn and soybeans to support his dairy herd on the land.

But now that Omya is coming before the town with a request for some town land on which the company hopes to build a recreation area as part of its federal permit requirements for the dam, town officials hope the conservation deal may be revived.

At a Select Board Meeting last week, Omya officials presented their plan to use a small stretch of town land, combined with parcels the company owns to the north and south, to set up a viewing area and canoe launch along the Otter Creek.

Barbara Cosgrove, legal affairs manager for Omya, hoped the town would deed the property over, recognizing the benefit of an area with picnic tables a kiosk and signs highlighting the nearby waterfall, all of which would be maintained by the company.

"The recreation area would be a benefit to the community at large," she said in response to a question about what the company would do in return for the land from Stanley Rhodes III, the chairman of the Select Board.

But Rhodes had other ideas, suggesting that Omya might consider trading the flood rights for the town land between the Otter Creek and Simons Avenue.

"Horse trading is horse trading," Rhodes said. "I'd like to see a deal go through for the Dickinsons."

He added that the Select Board didn't oppose Omya's plans for the recreation facility.

"We're just looking to do something for our residents … the Dickinsons specifically," he said.

But Cosgrove wasn't particularly receptive to that idea.

"We're not in a position to release the riparian rights," she said. "That's a totally isolated issue from the recreation area. … We're just not in a position to release those."

Cosgrove added that because the farmland is prone to flooding she didn't think there was much danger of the farm being developed and said she was surprised that the Land Trust thought those rights had any value. The Dickinsons had hoped to sell the development rights to their property to get the farm out of debt.

"Who knows, in 50 or 100 years there may be such a need for water power" that Omya will need the rights, Cosgrove said.

She added that Omya was open to compromises that didn't involve giving up their flood rights, which are a requirement of federal permits for hydro-electric dams.

"We looked for a compromise with the Land Trust," she told the Select Board. "If there's some alternative absent us signing over those rights we're open to it."

William Matteson, the chairman of the town Planning Commission, told the Select Board he was disappointed at Omya's seeming unwillingness to deal.

"I'm really disappointed that Omya isn't in a position that they might even consider it," he said. "I think Omya ought to take a fresh look at the riparian rights."

Rhodes said he hoped the town could meet with company officials to work out some agreement that would help Dickinson preserve the farm.

But Cosgrove ended her session in front of the board with a comment that didn't seem to offer much hope of a compromise.

"We thought the recreation area was something for the town," she said. "We still look at this as two separate issues."