Project Summary

The City of Vergennes is a small Vermont community that has aged, undersized and partially obsolete wastewater collection, conveyance and treatment systems that together contribute to sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) into a receiving stream near Lake Champlain. Hoyle Tanner was selected as the City’s wastewater engineer through a public, competitive QBS process to complete the Long-Term Control Plan (LTCP) to address elimination of the SSO and finalize the preliminary engineering study for addressing needs at the wastewater treatment facility.  Hoyle Tanner is working closely with City staff to define a cost-effective path to upgrade their infrastructure, become more climate resilient, and allow for future growth all while doing their part to make Lake Champlain healthy for decades to come.  Through coordinated efforts with Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VTDEC), Senator Leahy’s office, and USDA Rural Development, we have assisted the City in securing loan and significant grant funding for the identified infrastructure improvements. 

In advance of the City vote, Hoyle Tanner partnered with City officials to develop an informational postcard flyer that was mailed to every resident, created the project messaging strategy for officials to speak to when discussing the project needs, drafted the presentation materials for the public informational meetings series, presented at several public meetings and developed website content to provide a single source of relevant, accurate project details. After a multi-month outreach campaign, this project overwhelming passed City vote and is now identifying additional funding sources for the necessary upgrades.