(Host) The town of St. Albans may repeal a program that was designed to speed up repairs to flood-damaged homes and businesses.
The select board is scheduled to vote on the repeal tonight, just two weeks after it was adopted.
Bill Walker is the chair of the select board. He says the initial idea was to make it easier for people to make quick repairs to their property without going through what can be a bureaucratic process.
(Walker) "The reason behind this was that normally to do such things it’s required that you go before the development review board and that process tends to be overly long for some of the simple things."
(Host) But Walker says the measure has only complicated town review. He says the plan has required the town to figure out what damage was caused by the record flooding – and what was not. Walker says there should be enough leeway in the town’s current procedures to shorten the process.
Last week, Lake Champlain dropped below flood stage for first time in more than two months.
St. Albans has a long lake shore and the town suffered some of the worst flood damage in the state. Some buildings had minor damage with a little water. Entire first floors of other buildings were submerged.