GUILFORD, Vt.—Guilford residents plan to work together to try to find a way to replace the Sweet Pond dam that must be removed because engineers fear it could fail.
The town Conservation Commission held a meeting Thursday to look for ways to restore the pond, which has played an important piece in the town's recreational history for decades.
People at the meeting suggested producing a local documentary about the Sweet Pond State Park it with a team of students from the Guilford school.
"Guilford people are not ones to sit back and relax about something like this," said commission chairwoman Linda Hecker.
State officials started lowering the level of the 18-acre pond this week because of fears the dam could fail and threaten people and property downstream.
The current dam on the Keets Brook was built in 1922 on the site of a 19th century sawmill.
"The future of the dam is not decided yet," Hecker said. "What they decided right away is that it's not possible to save the dam."
Volunteers at the Thursday meeting offered to review funding options. Others established a working group for alternative designs to the dam.
Earlier this month the selectboard asked the forest department to restore the pond once the dam is dismantled.
"We don't have a lot of spots like this in Windham County," said Republican State Rep. Michael Hebert of Vernon. "But the dam has got to come out, there's no two ways about that."
One the pond has been drained it will be a minimum of two years before a state permit can be obtained to remove the dam.
He said he was waiting for a study to review the best options for its removal, replacement and cost estimates.
