As the mercury has risen in recent weeks, so too have the tempers of residents living along Bolton Valley Road near the Bolton Potholes. The usual crush of summertime visitors to the popular swimming hole has brought with it an unusual amount of public annoyances and safety concerns, including broken bottles, uncollected trash, illegal parking, fireworks and public urination and defecation. Several residents living near the falls have even reported been sworn at and verbally harassed by swimming hole visitors.
In response, the Bolton Town Selectboard is putting its foot down. According to newly appointed town selectman David Parot, the board has scheduled a special meeting for Monday to discuss ways of closing access to the swimming hole, which is located on private property.
“All of us on the selectboard, our phones have been ringing off the hook through this heat wave,” says Parot. “It’s been a disaster.”
According to Parot, traffic along Bolton Valley Road is now down to one lane of traffic every day due to all the cars parked on the town’s right of way. Last week, Parot says, he nearly T-boned another vehicle as it was turning around on a blind curve. However, he says state police can’t be expected to spend all their time trying to deal with this problem.
Photo credit: Matthew Thorsen.
The selectboard is looking for creative solutions. One proposal to be discussed on Monday is to rent concrete “Jersey barriers” that would prevent drivers from parking along the town’s right of way, and urging swimming hole visitors to park in the Smilie Memorial School a stone’s throw from the falls. However, Parot points out that at an estimated cost of $15,000 to rent those barriers, that solution may be impractical.
Likewise, the prospect of towing cars, though not off the table, is less than desirable, as it’s costly and less effective at keeping visitors away.
There are no plans to consider designating the falls as a town park due to safety and liability concerns.
In the meantime, the board is appealing to the public to be more considerate to Bolton property owners and if they pack it in, pack it out — be it dirty diapers, cigarette butts, beer bottles or other debris.
“We don’t want to play the heavy, but at some point you have to lay down the law,” Parot adds. “We have an obligation to our taxpayers to not see their quality of life diminished.”
This article appears in Jul 7-13, 2010.
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“You sir, are in a fantasy land and I said earlier, get real.”I’m in a fantasy land, Mr. T? You are reading things in my comments that aren’t there. You say I “seem” to be saying things, or that I’m “implying” things that I’m not. There’s nothing I fail to realize, and if you think I’m an outsider “on the fringe throwing barbs” then why do you care if I acknowledge the points in your post or not?Well, many people do display pitiful behavior. Sadly that’s true. However I feel like beautiful places like the Gorge or the potholes are irresistible in the summer and will always draw visitors. If you want to just tell them to get out, then good luck with that, but it seems like trying to fight gravity. People want to be there. Maybe a sign would help. “No Sex, No Pooping, No litering, Park at the School Next Time.”Good luck Town of Bolton. I hope it all works out.
Haik,BV-Local seems to be a bit confused. In one post he/she claims that we need to create a parking area….guess what the school is right there. In another post he/she claims all we need is garbage cans…guess what local members in the community have already done that and it hasn’t helped.The point is that all of these suggestions are at a cost to the taxpayers of the town and why should we incur the cost when we could just as easily say “get out”?By the way what does a political party affiliation have to do with attending a select board meeting?
Haik,I think the “anger is ‘effecting’ you negatively,” as you seem to not acknowledge the most important points in my posts. You never answered if you would like people: having sex in front of your kids, defecating in your yard or holding up emergency services from reaching you. What you have implied is that you enjoy being on the fringe throwing barbs, you do not live in town and you like to swim.Unfortunately, you seem to suffer from what many people who attend the potholes suffer from, INCONSIDERATION. See, you are “just a swimmer,” but what you fail to realize is that there are people who live around where you like to swim. Those people pay taxes in the town you like to swim in. When those people’s quality of lives suffer as a result of your interest in swimming, (or in others instances, publicly defecating, having sex in public, littering, blocking traffic, drinking in public/public intoxication, etc), you then become the problem.I fully understand people wanting to congregate and have a good time… but don’t you see an issue with the things I have listed? Are these actions o.k. with you, with others? You sir, are in a fantasy land and I said earlier, get real.
You did nominate a selectboard member Am I a political party in Bolton? You get real.I thought BV_Local presented a smart opinion on the matter. So what?I’m a swimmer. And I swim at the Huntington Gorge, not the potholes, but I’m concerned about access to swimming holes in general. That’s my only interest in this matter. Thanks for the invitation, but I have no desire to attend a Bolton select-board meeting.
The Bolton Potholes are not a park, and our town should not bear any obligation to create amenities for visitors. Labeling somebody a “NIMBY” only means that you don’t pay taxes in our town. We tolerate more than most communities and it isn’t unreasonable to ask visitors to have respect for the community and its residents! Simply put just park at the school people and pick up after yourselves!
Haik,your comments insinuate an interest in the town’s matters that go beyond just a swimmer. You did nominate a selectboard member and you do disagree with the downhill blockage of parking, (that was never legal in the first place). I simply invited you to a selectboard meeting to air your grievances in a way that would get you heard, but in all your enlightenment you accused me of being angry. I am very far from angry Haik, as you do not know me. So you are not a taxpayer in Bolton and therefore cannot comment at meetings or have any bearing on the financial direction of our small town, it figures one like you would comment so heavily.If you did live in my town and if you did have to deal with this on a daily basis, you would be fed up. How about I take a crap in your yard? Do you want your kids seeing me have sex? How about I block emergency vehicles from reaching your neighborhood?Get real.
You have misunderstood and Mischaracterized my comments, Mr. “T.” Did I say I was a taxpayer in Bolton? Did I “thrash” a decision, or did I simply ask that a question about the decision be addressed?Anger effects perception negatively. Take a breath and re-read my comments, Mr. T.
Ally,f-16’s don’t shit in my yard, leave used condoms for my kids to find or break glass everywhere. You do make a valid point about not living near an airport but not for living near a natural area. The abuse of the potholes has increased tenfold over the last 5 years and that is due to an entitled generation thinking that everything is owed to them. Do you own a home or condo? At Bolton? Probably not or you wouldn’t be trashing “NIMBY locals.” You would be appalled at what goes on at the potholes and the parking situation.”Ask people to contribute…” Are you high? You must be, because you missed the part where parking at Smilie was suggested and you used it as a threat… “People will always find a way to enjoy the potholes, no matter what limits are put on the access. People will just walk further and bushwack through the woods behind Smiley School…” Another invite for you to attend a selectboard meeting, if you care enough and you do live here.
Mr Bedrosian,you are more than welcome to attend a select board meeting in the town of Bolton. Please, come down and participate. As a taxpayer in town, I am sure you would care enough to make an appearance. You already nominated BV Local for selectboard and thrashed the decision to close off downhill parking, you must have opinions relevant to how we spend our tax dollars. So instead of being a fringe player throwing barbs, get yourself known and heard. I am and I do, see you at a selectboard meeting.
As a resident of Bolton Valley, I have seen an increase in popularity over the years of the “potholes.” There is a contingent of people who use the area as their garbage can, toilet, place to have sex and home for the summer, this response is geared towards them. There is a SERIOUS LACK OF RESPECT for the land and the neighboring property owners at the hands of the potholers that no amount of my town’s tax dollars is going to remedy. Port-o-Sans and garbage cans only work for people who are housebroken. I have friends who longer live adjacent to the potholes, not because of the traffic and parking but because of the disrespect of pothole goers defecating, having sex and leaving condoms in their back yard and then being indignant when caught. This is not an embellishment, this is happening right now.Do you think the neighbors want beater green subie guy living there all summer? Hell, no joke, every morning I leave for work, there is the beater green subie with the bed head grabbing stuff out of it. Let’s talk parking. Yesterday, Sunday, cars parked 4 tires on the pavement up past Hummingbird lane leaving ONE TRAVEL LANE through a narrow, twisty part of the road. Then there are the drunk people with open containers standing in the road, or leaving their doors open in the ONE TRAVEL LANE or letting their toddlers run into the road. The state police want no part of this, residents up and down this road have called and they still don’t tow. If you think I want those uneven, ugly lane markers on the downhill side and proposed jersey barriers on the uphill side, all at my (the taxpayer) cost, you are sadly mistaken. Unfortunately, it may have to be a reality due to the inconsiderate nature of a good portion of the current pothole goer. How hard is it to walk a few hundred feet from the Smilie school? How hard is it to find a suitable place to poop? How hard is it to not bang your tramp in public? How hard is it to pick up your own garbage? How hard is it to not break glass all over the place? NIMBY my ass, it’s ALL IN MY BACKYARD… CragVT, Holbrook, Skiing, it’s why I live here. Some of you people behave like animals and need to learn manners, then you will be welcome here. I for one do not have to tolerate it. Go smash a bottle in your parents driveway and see where that gets you.