The New School Street Bridge Is Also Wolcott's First Sewer Main
On Saturday, October 3, Wolcott Mayor Jax, the Selectboard and a crowd of residents met at School Street to open Bridge #6 over the Lamoille River. Mayor Jax is the orange tabby who lives at the town offices. Voters elected the cat honorary, unofficial mayor by voice vote at the March 3, 2020 town meeting. Bruce Wheeler was scheduled to talk about the first bridge on this site, built in 1928. Linda Martin was set to cover the new one's funding and planning. After a ribbon cutting at about 10:20 a.m., cars, bikes and people on foot were to cross from School Street onto Route 15.
What the bridge carries matters more than who crossed it first. The new span sits on new abutments a few yards upstream from the old one, and it carries the pipe that will link School Street to Wolcott's first municipal wastewater system. The bridge, the trail closures in the Wolcott Community Forest and the dug-up field behind Wolcott Elementary all belong to that one system. The town has sized it to keep the village it already has.
The sewer took a long time. Town materials trace it to a 2005 feasibility effort. Village wastewater became a 2018 Town Plan priority, and in 2019 Wolcott joined the state's community wastewater pilot. Voters approved the bond on June 11, 2024. After a petition forced a revote, they approved it again on September 10, 2024, 312 to 221.
The reasons were already in the ground. The village had no municipal sewer, and its individual septic systems dealt with restrictive soils, ledge, high groundwater and river setbacks. An earlier town survey found that few of those systems had permits and many were old or of unknown age. The Flood of 2023 caused severe septic backups at several homes on School Street along the Lamoille River, and News & Citizen reported that some of those owners went on to seek state buyouts.
The bridge replacement and the sewer were scheduled together, so one river crossing does both jobs. Selectboard chair Linda Martin described the project to News & Citizen this way:
"It's a bit of a dream come true. I mean, it's really something that I can see in the future is going to be worth it."
The system doesn't use a treatment plant. Each connected home or business gets a filter tank on its own property, and effluent leaves that tank through a low-pressure force main. Here is the route, in order:
That route explains the disruptions of the past few weeks. From August 24 to August 31, the town closed the main forest parking lot on the east side of East Elmore Road, the "Ease Up" trail up to where it meets "Study Hall," and the stretch of "Leon's Lightning" between "Link Up" and "Ease Up." While those were closed, visitors could park on the west side of East Elmore Road by the gated bridge and use the "Float Tank" or "Mobius" trails instead.
The trails are new, and so is the forest. The town has owned all 735 acres since the land was permanently protected on September 5, 2024. According to the town's 2025 report, the Morrisville trail-building company Sinuosity finished the multi-use network in August 2025, with funding from a Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative grant. Martin told News & Citizen that the forest played a key role in getting the sewer from the village up to the field.
The school field fell behind. The plan was to finish the dispersal field before classes started on August 26. Crews found large rocks in the top layers that had to be trucked off, screened and brought back. Equipment compaction and the need to truck in mound sand caused more delays. Soccer moved to the rec fields on School Street, physical education went indoors, and recess moved to the parts of the school grounds not under construction.
The system is designed for 30,000 gallons a day. Tasha Wallis, executive director of the Lamoille County Planning Commission, called that a "Goldilocks" size: much smaller than what larger Vermont towns run, with some room left for new customers and expansions. Martin described the goal more simply: "It's more about retaining what we already have."
The service area is limited, too. The 40 connecting properties are a few short of the most the district could hook up, because some homeowners chose not to join. Residents outside the village have asked about connecting, but the state and federal grants are meant for village improvements, so the system stays within a small area.
Grants cover construction. News & Citizen put the system at about $4.5 million, funded by $4 million from the state, $750,000 from the Northern Border Regional Commission and $640,000 from the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. That total is more than the construction cost. The Wastewater Committee says it has raised about $5 million at no cost to town residents. The contractor, N.A. Manosh Corporation, bid below the committee's own estimate. Ongoing operation is where users pay. Town guidance puts residential rates at $25 to $40 a month and bases business charges on estimated wastewater use. Every taxpayer shares the operating cost for municipal buildings on the system through property taxes.
Even a system built mainly to keep what's there opens a few possibilities on Route 15. In 2024, property owner Fred Martin told a local TV station that a sewer connection could allow sit-down seating, or possibly a diner, at the Wolcott Store. News & Citizen also listed indoor dining at the store as a possibility once the system is running. The store, at 4076 Route 15, now operates as JJ's Country Store, and the Selectboard approved its liquor and tobacco licenses on April 1, 2026. On the industrial side, Clean International Inc., which makes hemp-derived beverages, opened a factory this spring in the old Buck's Furniture warehouse. The plant could support as many as 15 employees, and the company counted the sewer as one factor in choosing Wolcott.
The town is building in two phases. Phase one runs from this summer to about Thanksgiving. Phase two starts next spring, when work moves along Route 15 and individual homes and businesses get connected. Here are the dates on the calendar:
The manhole covers are the one piece of this system residents will see every day. Most of what the town is building is buried tubing, filter tanks and a line carried across the new bridge. The two winning designs will go on the street.
The places the sewer passes through are open for regular use this fall. The forest trail network is open dawn to dusk. The 2026 map marks which trails are multi-use and which are for walkers only, and parking at the school is allowed only outside weekday school hours. The 2026 trail map is on the town's Community Forest page.
The Lamoille Valley Rail Trail's Wolcott trailhead is at the Town Offices on Railroad Street, the same building that will connect to the new system. On the state's late-September closure list, the only Lamoille County closure was in Hyde Park. Nothing was listed for Wolcott. More trail work is planned. The state's anticipated project list for fiscal year 2027 includes parking and access improvements at Fisher Covered Bridge, plus a rest stop and kiosk at the Wolcott Rail Depot site.
At Wolcott Town Hall, 4176 VT-15, the Wolcott Arts Collaborative is putting together its second October-to-April season. Residents formed the group in 2025. Last season it brought in The Eames Brothers, the Dave Keller Band and Wild Leek River. It also ran free art workshops for people 60 and over, funded by a Vermont Arts Council grant, which drew more than 70 participants. The season opened October 2 with the Charlie Millard Band. A contra dance with Turning Stile is on the group's list of hoped-for events but isn't booked yet.
Contractors expect to be off School Street by Thanksgiving and back on Route 15 next spring. Until then, the new bridge is the only finished part of the sewer route anyone can use.
If you own property in Wolcott village and are wondering what a sewer connection, the $25 to $40 monthly rate, or the 2027 hookup schedule means for your home's value or a future sale, the team at Carlson Real Estate Group follows these Lamoille County projects closely and can walk you through it. Speak with a Local Stowe Expert.
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