The Flood Resiliency Task Force was established by the Select Board after the devastating July 2023 flood.  The focus of the Task Force has been to find solutions to the flooding in Cabot Village on the two tributaries of the Winooski River coming off the steep hills – the south tributary that passes under the Cabot Garage via culverts and between the hardware store and village store, and the north tributary, located by the bridge at the northern end of the village.  The Task Force received a grant to model storm flows on these two tributaries and identify alternatives to address these problem areas.  In 2024, the Select Board chose engineering alternatives to fix these problems – a larger elevated bridge on the north tributary and a bridge to replace the culverts across Main Street and the south tributary.  The south tributary alternative will require removal of the Cabot Garage to an alternate site.  The Task Force then received another grant for preliminary engineering of these alternatives and cost estimates for construction. 

In 2025-26, we applied for a FEMA Hazard Mitigation grant to implement these projects, however, we were not successful.  In 2026, we were awarded a Community Development Block Grant to implement bridge replacement on the north tributary. This grant will allow us to proceed to final engineering design and construction.  We also received a grant for work related to relocating the Cabot Garage and have evaluated preferred alternative sites.  Future grants will be necessary to implement the south tributary project.