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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Let me tell you about the potholes. I lived next to the potholes, literally in the last house before them. For years we put up with people trying to park in our driveway, or turning around in our yard, which caused the level of our driveway to drop. Big deal right? Well it is if you have a tiny low riding vehicle. We also put up with constant defecation in our yard. Finding poop, tampons, condoms and diapers was a daily thing. Our personal trail to the potholes was pissed on so much that the vegetation turned yellow and stunk. We stopped using our own trail. One day,as I was doing dishes, I looked out my kitchen window to find an old couple having sex in my backyard. We put up with screaming and yelling from about 8 in the morning till the very wee hours of the night. People allowing their dogs to run free was always a stressful time for my dog on her own yard. You say put up a sign, well we put up several over the years and each one was ripped down in a matter of days. Signage DOES NOT work. As for the trash, WE picked it up for a long time, and when we got tired of doing so, my neighbor piled it on the rocks for all to see…..know what? People thought….that must be where the trash goes, and they added to it. Where do you think that trash went when it rained real hard that night? Down to the Winooski in to your backyard. As for being NIMBY’s, well, it’s in your back yard too. O. and seven days…..you brought so many more people to the potholes with your article last year….thanks, this little community really needed that. You guys need to think about the impact you will have before you run another secret swimming hole story. The solution to this mess is to yes, block traffic on the road, for the safety of everyone. Move the parking to the school and charge a couple bucks for parking, supply a port-o-potty and a dumpster, HIRE someone to police the area a few time a day. The money made for parking will cover the costs. These people are trashing VERMONT. This problem belongs to all of us, not just the folks in Bolton. Keep Vermont Beautiful. Keep Vermont Green!
ted, it’s taking everything in my power not to call you an idiot. Are you kidding me? The BV residents love the pot holes and use them, they aren’t talking about anything more than fundamental repect for your fellow man. This little blog is just another example of the much greater problem, which is a feeling of entitlement that a whole generation of people seem to have. This isn’t rocket science here. Its easy, if you carried it in carry it out. Go ahead and pee in the woods, but if you have to take a crap-go home or to the gas station down the road. Are we really going to argue until the property owners put up a fence and completely stop all access. To the BV residents I say keep up the struggle and work toward a solution. To everyone else I say post your address so I can come crap in your driveway!
Ted,I’ll bite, I mean after-all it’s very apparent your intent is to antagonize. What exactly does it being the year 2010 have to do with respect for other people’s property? Did I miss the memo where is now legal to park in the road, litter and harass people? Just so we’re clear, can you complain if somebody shits on your lawn or will that make you a cry baby? Evolution… thanks for the laugh. FYI name calling won’t resolve anything but it may fuel the flames to cut off any access.
Bolton residents are sounding like total cry babies. NIMBY to the max here! Someone peed in the woods; whaaaa. Someone left their beer bottles behind; whaaa. The road is narrow because people are parking on it; whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. You either embrace evolution and change or it hits you like a brick over the head. Clearly Bolton residents are feeling the pain of this. What to do now? How about a solid plan to deal with the problems, rather than just a bitch session? This is when true leadership shines above all else. This is when embracing change and adapting to it win out. The residents sound like old cogers, sitting around on the front porch, reminicing about old times and how it ‘used to be’. Time to start living in year 2010 Bolton people.
Only the west side of the pot holes is on private property. The east side is on school property.I have lived in the affected neighborhood for over 35 years,owning a home here for 28 years. When i first lived here both sides of the potholes were owned by one person. He had a few simple rules for using the property-no glass containers – no dogs -take you trash with you.It was mostly local people and they respected his rules. Then the original owners of Bolton Valley used pictures of the place in there advertising-without asking the property owner if it was ok. The disregard for this property and the surrounding neighborhood has been going down hill ever since. From what was discussed at the July 12th Bolton select board meeting the town may be pursuing local parking ordinances with hopefully some large fines.
Ally,The neighbors around the potholes are constantly cleaning up after the hoards of visitors. Should those very same people be subject to abusive behavior and disrespect by said visitors? No, but rather than addressing the issues at hand you choose to tout your sense of entitlement and belittle members of our community for expecting a certain level of common sense and decency. What you fail or refuse to realize is that just because something exists doesn’t mean you have a right to it and just because you want something doesn’t mean you get it. The reality is that people owned land and homes here before it was ever popular to swim here. Unfortunately some articles regarding swim holes made us a popular destination in recent years. Places evolve and change over time, so with any luck a shopping mall will pop up next to you soon.
@ JOHN T… you make some very good points above. I especially like the suggested set of rules, and would love to see them posted at the potholes (with some minor revisions to the language to make things G rated).I totally agree that things are out of control at the potholes, and have been getting worse over the years. The parking situation is sketchier than ever, and I do think part of that has to do with half the available parking being gone this summer. I don’t know how much was spent to put in the pickets that currently block the downhill shoulder, but I personally don’t think that was money well spent. I also drive through that mess every day, and I don’t like seeing sketchy Subaru guy any more than you do.I do think improvements to the existing parking area (shoulders), the addition of signage, garbage cans, and restrooms would help with some of the current problems (in an ideal world where the town budget was not an issue), but fully realize those things might not be an option. I just don’t think spending more of the town’s tax dollars (which I’ve been paying for over 10 years) should be spent on temporary ‘solutions’ like rented cement barriers that I don’t think will do anything to help with the problems we currently face.Some people are inherently stupid, lazy and disrespectful. Lots of people who go to the potholes fit this bill perfectly… and this does suck for the locals. When it gets hot, people like to swim, and they’ll keep coming to the potholes regardless. We just need to figure out a way to make it work for everybody.
Ally,you also miss the point. This small town of 900 does not have the financial depth to support putting in toilets, parking and refuse removal for a handful of entitled brats, who do not spend a dime here, from out of town. Did you also know that the “potholes” fall entirely on private property? We, as a community have no right to direct people to park somewhere to access someone else’s property. Even if we wanted to, we have no right to put a toilet or a garbage can on this person’s property. See, in your cloud of utopian bliss, you fail to realize people OWN THINGS, and this chunk of land is one of them. If the owner wanted to install these amenities, that is entirely their choice. I do not live at the potholes, but have to drive through the mess every day. Answer this… can I shit in your yard, leave condoms for your kids to find, swear at and threaten you when you ask me to leave your property? Block traffic from getting to your home? How about I camp out in front of your house for the summer? That is currently happening at the hands of your fellow swimmers to my neightbors. Do not bother to write back unless it involves an answer to my questions above.Long story short, people who behave like animals are not welcome. We have no desire to shut it down, we just want attendees to RESPECT the neighbors and the land. And if that cannot happen, then maybe the worst case scenario comes to fruition and the land owner shuts it down under pressure from the state police who are constantly drawn from “important” work to deal with schmucks at the potholes. Very simple set of rules that would alleviate this mess….1) Don’t park in the road. end of story, stop being lazy and walk your sorry ass from the school if the shoulder of the road is full.2) Don’t abuse the neighbors, stay off their property and be polite, YOU ARE IN THEIR FRIGGING COMMUNITY AFTER ALL.3) Carry in, carry out.. that includes all garbage, recycling, the poop in your bowels, the condom you HAD to bang your girlfriend with, cigarette butts, EVERTHING YOU ARRIVED WITH.4) NO FUCKING GLASS, how hard is that? Good beer comes in cans theses days.. Harpoon, Saranac.. Shitty beer too.See, it’s pretty simple, it almost sounds like COMMON SENSE, like a little simple housetraining.
Ally, you must live in the People’s Republic of Burlington. There is a BIG difference between being an invited quest in a city that advertises for people to come and enjoy it’s activities,And people that come to a town to poach on private property, park illegally, make a mess ,then leave not spending a plug nickel in town. Burlington collects a 1 percent sales tax and has many more taxpayers to help pay for your little nirvana you call Burlington.I for one do not spend 10 cents in that city unless it is out on the lake or for a show, or play that i am dragged to kicking and screaming.The folks in Bolton are under no obligation to give you a refund because you have not spent any money while you were enjoying someone else’s property.This situation is like in Plattsburgh New York, Canadians will come on to your lakefront property move your stuff out of the way and have a picnic on your lawn and think absolutely nothing of it. When you confront them and ask “what the hell are you doing on our beach” they say looking bewildered “it is such a lovely spot we thought we would stay awhile” You meet all kinds and you Ally are one of them by the sounds of it.I will tell you the same thing “the PUBLIC PROPERTY AND BEACH IS DOWN THE STREET BEAT IT”
John T, I do in fact own a house. When I shopped for one, I thought to myself, ‘ is this house around an airport, a bar, a dorm, a college rental house, a busy road, a large factory, a meth lab, a brothel, or a jackhammer factory?’ I did my research, hung around the house I eventually bought for days and hours on end, and found out that it was calm, peaceful, and relaxing at most times of the day and year. Apparently you bought your house sight unseen. Like I said before, the potholes were there before you arrived, and they’ll be there long after you’re gone. You are just slow to admit that you bought a house in a very busy summer spot, that thousands of tax-paying vermonters love to enjoy. Last time I checked John, you could come to Burlington, take a walk down church street and enjoy the waterfront without yourself being a Burlington taxpayer. No one is asking you to chip in to help take the trash out or light up the street lights in Burlington. Your delusions are clouding your judgement.