FLOOD RELATED ZONING REGULATIONS

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Unified Development Bylaws with integrated Flood Hazard Area Overlay and River Corridor Overlay – effective April 9, 2026

Understanding Floodplains, Floodways, and River Corridors (2025)

HISTORIC STRUCTURES IN THE FLOODPLAIN

Guidelines on Flood Adaptation for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings – 2021

Guidelines for Reducing Flood Risk to Residential Buildings that cannot be elevated – 2015

AFTER A FLOOD

Prioritize Your Health and Safety – 2024 (Neighbor to Neighbor)

Mental Health Resources for Flood Recovery – 2024 (The Vermont Department of Mental Health)

Guide for Cleaning up Mold After a Flood – 2015 (FEMA)

Four Ways to Reduce Flood Insurance Costs (FEMA)

Flood Resistant Materials for Rebuilding After a Flood – 2024 (State of Vermont)

Repairing Your Flooded Home – 2010 (FEMA)

Protecting Building Utility Systems from Flood Damage – 2017 (FEMA)

Flood Damage Resistant Materials – 2008 (FEMA)

Post Flooding Technical Assistance Toolkit for Agriculture – 2024 (State of Vermont)

FLOOD RELATED PLANNING DOCUMENTS

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Understanding Flood Storage and Floodplain Restoration (2025)

Recommended Actions to Improve the Safety of Vermonters During Major Flooding Events – UVM – 2024

Lamoille River Tactical Basin Plan – 2021

Lamoille River Tactical Basin Plan – Story map – please note that this link takes you away from our website to a story map – Lamoille River Tactical Basin Plan Overview

Basin 7 Lamoille Assessment Report -2016

A Strategy to Protect Communities and Ensure Clean Water by Mike Kline – 2016

Notes from the Draft Tactical Basin Plan – 2016

Upper Lamoille River Geomorphic Assessment – 2009

River Recovery in the Wake of Large Floods – 2024 (Jordan Fields at Trout Unlimited) (YouTube Video)

LAMOILLE RIVER and COOPER BROOK HYDRAULIC STUDY – SLR

Funding provided by the Economic Development Administration (through Lamoille County Planning Commission) – EDA grant.

Presentation Slides from SLR – December 3, 2025 at Hardwick

Overview of next steps from the study – 12/18/25 – created for the Select Board

HCTV video of the presentation – recording was inadvertently damaged. No video will follow

BRIDGE 31 – EAST HARDWICK/GREENSBORO BEND

Bridge 31 Community Survey Overview – Created for the Hardwick Select Board – 3-9-26

Bridge 31 – photographs from the impacts prior to demolition in April 2024

Engineering Reviews – To be added – Verdantas

JACKSON DAM

Jackson Dam Memo from SLR – 3-13-26

Power Point Slides from SLR for 3-26-26 meeting

Act 250 Documents for the Ice Breakers

Associated Documents for the 2-27-26 Memo

Who Gives a Dam?! – Understanding the Difference Between Flood Control Dams and Run-of-River Dams (2025)

Hardwick Lake Dam 2019 Visual Inspection

Hardwick Lake Today and Tomorrow by the Northern Rivers Land Trust – 2013

Report on the Jackson Bridge Dam by the Vermont Natural Resources Council – 2001

Hardwick Lake Dam 2024 Visual Inspection

From the Watershed: Five Collected Articles based on the SLR Jackson Dam Memo

ADDITIONAL DAMS IN THE LAMOILLE WATERSHED NEAR HARDWICK

EAP for East Long Pond, Nichols Pond and Mackville Pond – 2012

EAP for Mackville Pond Dam – 2016

Mackville Dam 2022 Visual Inspection

East Long Pond Dam 2022 Visual Inspection

Nichols Dam 2023 Visual Inspection

Ripple Effects – Watershed Forum in 2025 and 2026

Ripple Effects 2025

Ripple Effects is Hardwick’s annual public watershed education series, bringing together scientists, practitioners, and community members to better understand how water moves through our landscape and what that means for flooding, erosion, natural systems, and community resilience.

The 2025 series explored several of the questions that came up repeatedly in Hardwick following the floods of 2023 and 2024, including dredging, beavers and natural infrastructure, dams and river connectivity, and the relationship between droughts, floods, and a changing climate.

Dredging Rivers

September 3, 2025

Roy Schiff of SLR International Corporation and Shayne Jaquith of The Nature Conservancy discussed sediment movement, floodplains, river corridors, and the role and limitations of dredging as a river management strategy.

Resources:

Watch the HCTV recording: HCTV video link

SLR Slides

The Nature Conservancy Slides

Understanding Flood Storage and Floodplain Restoration

Understanding Floodplains, Floodways, and River Corridors

Dredging Makes Floods More Dangerous

Beavers and Natural Infrastructure

September 10, 2025

Tyler Brown of Vermont Fish and Wildlife, Meg Carter of the NorthWoods Stewardship Center, and Erin Rodgers of Trout Unlimited discussed the role beavers can play in watershed health and natural infrastructure, along with practical approaches for managing conflicts between beavers and people.

Resources:

Watch the HCTV recording: HCTV video link

Beavers and Natural Infrastructure Slides

Beaver FAQ

BMP – Beaver Conflicts Factsheet

BMP – Beaver and Human Conflicts Factsheet

Dam Removal & Rivers

September 24, 2025

Karina Dailey of Vermont Natural Resources Council and Kassia Randzio of Vermont River Conservancy discussed how dams affect rivers, the differences between types of dams, river connectivity, and what happens when dams are removed.

Resources:.

Watch the HCTV recording: HCTV video link

Dam Removal and Rivers Presentation Slides

Who Gives a Dam?! – Understanding the Difference Between Flood Control Dams and Run-of-River Dams (2025)

The Four Dimensions of River Connectivity

How a Dam Affects a River

Let Them Flow

Droughts and Floods: Climatology

October 1, 2025

Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and Vermont State Climatologist, discussed drought, flooding, precipitation, and the importance of community observations in understanding changing conditions across Vermont.

Resources:

HCTV recording was not able to be completed.

Here is the link to CMOR:

https://droughtimpacts.unl.edu/tools/conditionmonitoringobservations.aspx

To join the CoCoRaHS precipitation observing program, please have folks send a note to Seth Kutikoff at the National Weather Service Burlington Seth.Kutikoff@noaa.gov

Lessons Learned from 14 Years of Strategic Wood Addition in
Northeastern Vermont

August 2026

Jud Kratzer discussed the use of strategic wood addition to help restore natural river processes. The program looked at how carefully placed trees and large woody material can improve habitat, influence water and sediment movement, reduce erosion in some locations, and help streams reconnect with their floodplains.

The discussion also covered how sites are evaluated, where this approach may or may not be appropriate, and how projects are designed with river function, infrastructure, and public safety in mind.

Resources:

HCTV recording – Available Now! September 14, 2026

Presentation slides from the 8-26 presentation

Additional resources – Vermont Strategic Wood Addition Handbook

Ripple Effects 2026: How Water Moves Through Our Landscape

Ripple Effects is Hardwick’s annual public watershed education series, bringing together scientists, practitioners, and community members to better understand how water moves through our landscape and what that means for flooding, erosion, natural systems, and community resilience.

The 2026 series followed water through the watershed, beginning with hillsides, moving through wetlands, and ending in rivers.

When Hillsides Move: Landslides and the Start of the Watershed Story

September 9, 2026

Emma Myrick and Ben DeJong of the Vermont Geological Survey discussed how geology, soils, drainage, and heavy rainfall contribute to landslides, what we are learning about landslide risk in Vermont, and how material moving from hillsides becomes part of the larger watershed system.

Resources:
Recording link: https://hctv.us/ripple-effects-public-forum-when-hillsides-move-september-9-2026/

Presentation and/or supporting materials: Presentation Slides from Emma Myrick – 9-9-26

Landslide Inventory of Caledonia County, Vermont – June 30, 2021 by George Springston

Holding Water: Wetlands, Floodplains and Natural Flood Storage

September 16, 2026

Wetland Scientist Lauren Sopher, Floodplain Manager Alexis Nevins, and River Scientist Sacha Pealer explored how wetlands store and slow water, improve water quality, provide habitat, and connect with our water bodies and floodplains.

Resources:
Recording link:

Presentation and/or supporting materials: Presentation Slides from the DEC team – 9-16-26

Where the River Carries It: Sediment, Gravel, and the Dredging Question

September 23, 2026

River Scientist Staci Pomeroy and River Engineer Evan Fitzgerald discussed how rivers move sediment and gravel, why material accumulates where it does, how sediment affects channel and flood behavior, and the role and limitations of dredging as a river management tool.

Resources:
Recording link: https://hctv.us/ripple-effects-public-forum-holding-water-september-16-2026/

Presentation and/or supporting materials:

Presentation Slides from Staci Pomeroy – 9-23-26

Presentation Slides from Evan Fitzgerald – 9-23-26

Dredging Makes Floods More Dangerous

About Ripple Effects

Ripple Effects is intended to help residents better understand the natural systems behind many of the issues Hardwick is working through following recent floods. Rather than looking at flooding only where the water ends up, the series looks across the watershed at how water, sediment, land, and rivers interact.

Ripple Effects 2026 was presented by the Town of Hardwick, Jeudevine Memorial Library, Hardwick Community Television, and Caledonia County Natural Resources Conservation District.

FLOOD RESILIENCE PROJECTS

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Town of Hardwick – Flood Recovery and Resilience Update
Understanding Our Five Neighborhood Approach

As Hardwick continues to recover from the July and December 2023 and July 2024 flood events, the Resilience & Adaptation Office has adopted a five-neighborhood approach to guide response, recovery, and future resilience investments. This method recognizes that different areas of town face different risks and levels of engagement and allows us to better match our time, capacity, and available funding to each area’s unique needs.

The five neighborhoods currently include:

1. East Hardwick Village Center
2. Granite Street Historic District and Cooper Brook Area
3. Vermont Route 14 South Corridor
4. Wolcott Street and Commercial District
5. North Main, Mill Street, and Core Downtown

This structure helps ensure that less vocal or more dispersed areas are not overlooked and resources are distributed in a way that reflects both the severity of flood impacts and the realities of community communication and capacity. This approach also allows the Town to align engineering, land use decisions, emergency response, and community engagement within the same geographic frame, improving coordination while respecting limited municipal capacity.

TOWN-WIDE INITIATIVES (updated 6/19/26)

*EDA grant for Flood Models of the Lamoille River and the Cooper Brook. SLR International Incorporated recently concluded the modeling work and is finishing the analysis. Two presentations on the Lamoille River were held on December 3, 2025. A presentation on the Cooper Brook was held on June 10, 2026

*The Hardwick Plan – 2026 has been adopted and includes a Volunteer Amendment with four local categories: Emergency Volunteer Mobilization, Emergency Communications, Emergency Shelter, and the Supply and Support Center. This local management plan provides guidance to each component of the community, including businesses, farms, and residences.

*Hardwick Neighbor to Neighbor Supply and Support Center is a sustainable and ready-to-go element of emergency response.

*The Town Flood Resilience Website pages at Hardwickvt.gov have been updated and have more information for the public.

*The Hardwick Unified Development Bylaws were updated in September 2024 and the Flood Hazard Area Overlay rules now match the requirements from the State of Vermont and FEMA and will be ready for the anticipated update to the Floodplain maps.

*The Hardwick Unified Development Bylaws were updated in 2026 with the addition of a River Corridor Overlay to further improve hazard mitigation funding matches and advance conversation around erosion-impacted properties.

*Six bridges have engineering under way for permanent replacements/upgrades.

*Eleven damaged roads will have updated culverts by the end of 2026. Additional mitigation projects are ongoing on all roads in town.

*The expanded Emergency Alert notification system (TextMyGov) and VT Alert system have been implemented.

*High-water Mark Documentation Project documenting July 2023, December 2023, and July 2024 flood elevations across multiple neighborhoods to support public education, engineering calibration, and future mitigation design.

*Atkins Neighborhood Conversation Series (Summer 2026) focuses on floodplain processes, insurance, mitigation options, and household-scale resilience strategies.

*Emergency Volunteer Training Series (Winter-Spring 2026) aligned with the Volunteer Amendment to the Hardwick Plan, including communications, supply center operations, and neighborhood-based response roles.

*Neighborhood-Based Resilience Coordination piloted through Granite Street Neighbors and extended to other impacted areas to strengthen communication, preparedness, and recovery capacity.

*Historic Flood Documentation and Archival Coordination has occurred in partnership with the Hardwick Historical Society to support public understanding of long-term flood patterns and risk.

*Coordinated sequencing of buyouts, infrastructure upgrades, and floodplain restoration has been designed to avoid isolated investments and maximize cumulative risk reduction.

*Lamoille River Watershed Forum in September will feature presentations on Landslides, Wetlands, and Sediment. An additional presentation is scheduled for August 26 with Jud Kratzer – Strategic Wood Addition.

*Former Buyout Property Planning and Stewardship Framework acknowledged by the Select Board as the Town’s guiding approach for evaluating, maintaining, planning, and seeking funding for former buyout properties.

Neighborhood priorities are sequenced based on flood impact severity, readiness of property owners, availability of matching funds, and the Town’s capacity to advance projects responsibly and effectively.

FLOOD AREA SPECIFIC INITIATIVES

Hardwick Buyout Information

Former Buyout Property Planning and Stewardship Framework – June 2026

Hardwick Floodplain Acquisition List – May 2026

Buyout Myths versus Facts – December 2025

The Story of a Flood Buyout in Hardwick – November 2025

VT Digger article on the Civic Standard’s building and possible floodplain acquisition

Granite Street Historic District – Municipal Planning Grant and Flood Resiliency Planning

Granite Street Neighbors – Winter 2026 Update

Granite Street Historic District Utility Elevation Assistance Project – Overview

Granite Street Historic District Utility Elevation Assistance Project – Intake Form

Overview on the project from the State Climate Office: https://climatechange.vermont.gov/centering-community-flood-emergency-management

DRAFT – Flood Resilience Plan from SLR – June 2026

Flood Mitigation Projects in Hardwick

Hardwick Recovery and Resilience Portfolio – June 2026

Hardwick and the Five Neighborhoods of Flood Impact (2023 to 2026) – updated 6-1-26

Overview of Hardwick Resilience Approach – created for the State Climate Action team

Understanding Flood Storage and Floodplain Restoration (2025)

Hardwick Future Flood Resiliency and Mitigation Projects – March 2025

Hardwick Flood Resiliency Projects – 2023 and 2024 (Town Report Version) – January 2025

Hardwick Projects from 2023 and 2024 – October 30, 2024

Hardwick Projects from 2023 and 2024 – August 13, 2024

Hardwick Projects from 2023 and 2024 – August 1, 2024

Hardwick Projects from 2023 and 2024 – July 26, 2024

Community Meeting – 9-16-24 – Slides

Adaptation for All: How to Build Flood Resilience for Communities of Every Size (American Flood Coalition – pdf) – page 36 has the Dog River Park in Northfield, Vermont. Stay tuned for a local version!!

Flood Recovery and Resilience Updates – provided to the Select Board in 2025

Flood Recovery and Resilience Update (SB) – 4/17/25

Flood Recovery and Resilience Update (SB) – 6/26/25

Flood Recovery and Resilience Update (SB) – 8/7/25

Flood Recovery and Resilience Update (SB) – 10/31/25

Flood Recovery and Resilience Update (SB) – 12/18/25

Flood Recovery and Resilience Update (SB) – 5/04/26

HELPFUL LINKS

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Neighbor to Neighbor – Hardwick Area Neighbor to Neighbor – Need anything? Want to help? Get in touch. Call or text 802-441-3301 or hardwickneighbors@gmail.com

New England 511 – State Road closures and construction information

Vermont.gov/flood – Vermont Flood Resources

The Hardwick Plan – 2025 (our Local Emergency Management Plan with a Flood Annex)

The Volunteer Addendum to the Hardwick Plan – 2025

Tips for Flood Safety During National Preparedness Month – September 2026

By Alison Spasyk, Flood Resilience Educator, Lake Champlain Sea Grant

September marks the start of many things – back to school, the changing of leaves, and the promise of cooler days. September is also National Preparedness Month. Although emergencies and natural disasters can happen at any time of year, now is as good a time as any to think about how well you are prepared for the unexpected. 

In the Lake Champlain basin, flooding is the most common and costly natural hazard. As extreme precipitation events become more common, there are some basic steps you can take to be better prepared for future flooding. See below for tips on flood preparedness.  

Where to get emergency alerts and flood information 

1. VT-ALERT is a mass notification services that allow you to receive alerts on your phone and email about situations such as severe weather, unexpected road closures, missing persons, or evacuations. Notifications can be tailored to specific locations and types of alerts you would like to receive. Sign up for VT-ALERT by visiting the website. 
2. The National Weather Service (weather.gov) issues weather alerts and weather forecasts. Search for your town to get the latest forecast.  
3. The United States has a network of river gauges that provide information on current and forecasted water levels, which can be found at https://water.noaa.gov/. The circles and squares represent locations where there is an official NWS gauge. The color of the circle represents current conditions, and the color of the squares represents the water level forecast. If you live along or near a river, check whether there is a river gauge near you. Click on the circle or square to view the current water level, and if available, forecasted water level and flood impacts at a given level. 

4. If there is a storm forecasted, pay attention to local news stations on TV and radio, and heed instructions about when to take action.  
5. In the event of a power outage or when internet is not available, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio with NOAA weather tone alerts can provide information about life-threatening weather 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Weather radios can be purchased at most hardware stores and come in battery-operated and hand-crank models for use during power outages. 

Make a plan for flooding for your household 

Think about the following questions with your family and household needs: 

• What belongings will you move to a higher floor if flooding is imminent?  
• If you are told to evacuate, where will you go? Can you stay with someone you know? What about any pets? 
• Where are emergency shelters in your community? 
• Do you know the best roads to take that likely won’t be affected by flooding or washouts? 
• What will you bring? Do you have a Go-Bag (an easily movable bag with the items you need for a few days away from home)? 
• Do you know how to safely turn off your utilities in advance of a storm (electricity, gas, and water)? 

If a flood is forecasted in your area:

• Move important items to upper floors or high shelves. 
• Keep your cell phone charged. 
• Bring outdoor equipment inside (trash cans, lawn furniture, toys, hanging planters, grills, etc.) or tie them down securely. 
• Fill bathtubs, sinks, and jugs with clean water. This water can be used for drinking, washing, and cleaning the toilet. 
• Gather your emergency supplies and stay tuned to local radio or television stations for updates. 
• Before a storm arrives, fill up your gas tank or fully charge your electric vehicle to prepare for potential evacuation. 
• If possible, relocate vehicles to higher ground. 

Lake Champlain Sea Grant will be sharing other helpful tips throughout the month of September on our Instagram. Learn more about flood preparedness and community resilience on our webpage.