The Town is served by private utilities that are robust, resilient and adequate to meet the demands of projected commercial and residential growth.
Chapter 9
Utilities
Introduction
The utilities sector is a foundational element of Williston's infrastructure, providing essential services that support daily life, enhance public health, and drive economic growth. These services, which include the provision of water, wastewater disposal, solid waste disposal and diversion, electricity, broadband, and others, are not only necessary for the functioning of households and businesses but also for fostering sustainability, resilience, and a high quality of life. As the town continues to grow and evolve, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that utility systems are not only reliable but also efficient, affordable, and environmentally responsible.
This chapter will delve into the various utility systems that serve the town, examining their current conditions, existing challenges, and forecasting future needs. It will also discuss these utilities' role in supporting the town's goals for livability, resilience and equity. The strategies outlined here will offer a roadmap for addressing future challenges, adopting innovative solutions, and building a resilient utility network capable of supporting the town for years to come.
Goals: In 2050, Williston is...
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Livable
...because Williston continues to provide sewer service and high-quality, safe potable water to households, businesses and institutions within the Sewer Service Area, at an affordable cost. The town is well served by fixed and mobile broadband, and all households and businesses are able to access and afford this service.
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Resilient
...because the town's water, sewer, stormwater and electrical infrastructure is well-maintained and has redundancies to cover outages. The Sewer Service Area remains constant and does not expand, so as not to encourage sprawl. Utilities are largely run underground to avoid outages from windstorms. Electricity is powered by renewable, local sources (solar, wind). Stormwater infrastructure is robust and adequately sized to be resilient to withstand the predicted increased frequency and intensity of storms.
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Equitable
...because high-speed fixed broadband is available throughout town at an affordable cost. Mobile broadband (cell service) is available throughout town with no "dead zones." The town recognizes that not everyone can be served by municipal water and sewer, and lack of suitable septic capacity and/or potable water may prevent development in much of rural Williston. That inequity results from intentional town policies and goals to conserve open space in rural Williston.
Three Things to Know
1
SEWER CAPACITY IS LIMITED BUT CAN SUPPORT THE ACHIEVEMENT OF MANY LONG-RANGE GOALS.
Sewer capacity is the most limited utility needed to support new development in Williston. The remaining capacity can support the achievement of many long-range goals, but the town will have to carefully prioritize the allocation of remaining capacity in a way that maximizes public benefits.
2
UNIVERSAL BROADBAND COVERAGE IS FUNDAMENTAL TO ENSURING EQUITABLE ACCESS TO OTHER CRITICAL SERVICES
Broadband is essential for supporting economic and educational opportunities, strengthening health and public safety networks, and reinforcing freedom of expression and democratic, social, and civic engagement.
3
UTILITIES SUCH AS WATER, GAS AND ELECTRICITY ARE LARGELY CONTROLLED BY OTHER ENTITIES
Water is provided regionally by the Champlain Water District, but the town is responsible for its distribution. Electric transmission and distribution is handled by regional utility companies VELCO, Green Mountain Power and Vermont Electric Cooperative. These entities, along with Vermont Gas (VGS), are overseen by the Vermont Public Utilities Commission.
Three Things Public Engagement Told Us
1
SOME AREAS OF WILLISTON EXPERIENCE POOR CELLULAR COVERAGE AND SOME ARE UNDERSERVED BY BROADBAND COVERAGE.
We received many comments from residents and local business owners about poor cell coverage and internet service in various parts of town.
2
SOME WOULD LIKE MUNICIPAL SEWER AND WATER SERVICE TO BE EXTENDED TO AREAS OUTSIDE THE SEWER SERVICE AREA.
Some people commented they would like to see municipal water and sewer service expanded, to allow more homes to connect.
3
AS WILLISTON CONTINUES TO GROW, INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS (NEW AND MAINTENANCE OF EXISTING) WILL INCREASE.
The Williston Department of Public Works noted that as the infrastructure gets older and as more is added the demands will increase exponentially from both a cost and crew size perspective.
Sewer Capacity is Limited but Can Support the Achievement of Many Long-Range Goals
Figure 1: Sewer capacity sales and actual sewer flows, 2003-2024.
Williston provides sewerage in the service area shown on Map 5. The town's sewer service area is an expression of the town's land use plan to minimize sprawl and concentrate growth within its designated growth center. There are some additional areas currently served by municipal sewer service and these are also identified on Map 8. Properties in these locations were allowed to connect to the town's system either under the Pollution Abatement Provision of the town's Sewer Service Ordinance, or they pre-date the town's current policy.
Sewer capacity is the most limited utility needed to support new development in Williston. The remaining capacity can support the achievement of many long-range goals, but the town will have to carefully prioritize the allocation of remaining capacity in a way that maximizes public benefits.
The sewer collection system was initially constructed in the early 1980's and has expanded within the sewer service area as new development has occurred. The Town owns and operates ten (10) wastewater pump stations, and there are several smaller pump stations that are privately owned and operated. Some of these private pump stations are operated and maintained through the Cooperative Maintenance Agreement administered by the Town.
All of the wastewater collected in the sewer service area is transported north to the River Cove pump station and is pumped in a 10" force main under the Winooski River to the Essex Jct. wastewater treatment facility. Sewage treatment is provided through a Tri-Town agreement with the Essex Treatment Plant. The treatment facility has a capacity of 3,300,000 gpd of which the Town of Williston currently owns a total of 1,040,000 gpd (31.52%). The remaining capacity is owned by the Village of Essex Junction (35.15%) and the Town of Essex (33.33%).1
Factors affecting capacity include:
* The town can and should purchase additional capacity. Williston has made several purchases of capacity from the Tri-Town over the last 30 years. In FY 2025 Williston finished the purchase of an additional 50,000 gpd of capacity. In FY 2026, Williston has approximately 1,130,000 gallons per day (gpd) of wastewater treatment capacity reserved for its use at the plant, representing just over 33% of the plant's overall design capacity of 3.3 million gpd.2
• The Selectboard typically makes more capacity available than is sold.
• Developers have historically held capacity indefinitely for future use, however, that is no longer allowed beyond a four-year limit.
• Capacity actually used is significantly less than capacity sold. In the last 20 years, only 40% of the gpd sold have shown up as increased flows into the treatment plant from Williston.
• Sewer flows are affected by rainfall, suggesting there may be inefficiencies to address, such as system leaks or unauthorized discharge of stormwater into the system.3
The amount of unused sewer capacity held by the Town today is enough to support the buildout of Taft Corners, if the town allocates it wisely and addresses the inefficiencies in the system. As the amount of available capacity becomes more limited the Town may wish to consider several strategies to increase available capacity and to maximize its use of what it has. These strategies are included in the Objectives/Strategies/Actions table below.
Aldrich & Elliot, Water Resource Engineers. Town of Williston, Vermont Sewer Capacity Analysis. October 2017.
Matt Boulanger, Town of Williston Planning and Zoning. Memorandum Re: Wastewater Allocation Ordinance Attachment A Amendment, March 5, 2025.
Matt Boulanger, Town of Williston Planning and Zoning. Memorandum Re: Wastewater Allocation Ordinance Attachment A Amendment. March 19, 2024.
Universal Broadband Infrastructure is Fundamental to Ensuring Equitable Access to Other Critical Services
Broadband is essential for supporting economic and educational opportunities, strengthening health and public safety networks, and reinforcing freedom of expression and democratic, social, and civic engagement. Vermonters who cannot access broadband face challenges with respect to distance learning; remote working; accessing telehealth services; and accessing government programs and services. Robust and resilient broadband networks are critical to our economic future as a whole and provide a foundation for our educational, health care, public health and safety, and democratic institutions.
Existing providers are not providing adequate service to many rural areas, including some locations in Williston, where fewer potential customers reduce the profitability necessary to justify network expansion. Accordingly, reaching the last mile will require a grassroots approach founded on input and support from local communities.
Act 71 established the Vermont Community Broadband Fund to support policies and programs designed to accelerate community efforts that advance the State's goal of achieving universal access to reliable, high-quality, affordable, fixed broadband, and established the Vermont Community Broadband Board to coordinate, support, and accelerate the development and implementation of universal community broadband solutions. Act 71 enabled the formation of Vermont Communications Union Districts (CUDs), to further coordinate and facilitate these efforts.4
In 2022, Williston along with four other Chittenden County municipalities (Essex, Essex Junction, Shelburne, and South Burlington) formed a Chittenden County Communications Union District (CUD). Subsequently, three more municipalities joined (Westford, Underhill, and Jericho). A Communications Union District (CUD) is a municipal organization made of two or more towns for the purpose of building, or causing to be built, communication infrastructure together. CUDs may plan, contract, build, and manage the infrastructure that will provide high speed internet. The main function of the CUD is to deliver public funds to the providers to build the network and to provide public oversight to ensure broadband service is provided to unserved and underserved locations at speeds of at least 100/100 Mbps in accordance with Act 71.5
There are roughly 500+ addresses that are considered under or unserved in the CCCUD.6
Since its inception, the CCCUD developed a strategic plan to accomplish universal coverage in the 8-municipality district. In 2023 the CCCUD was awarded a $300,000 Pre-construction grant for planning work and in 2024 the CCCUD was granted a $2.1M Vermont Community Broadband Board Construction Grant to partner with Consolidated Communications (CCI) to accomplish phase 1 of reaching all the unserved and underserved locations in the 8-municipality district.7 8 It is anticipated that service will be available for all phase 1 customers (~100 households) by the end of 2025. Phase 2 is funding dependent, so it has no definite timeline yet, but is anticipated to be completed by end of 2026.9
Mobile broadband (cellular service) is notably poor in some areas of town, including in the Village. The Old Brick Church was proposed as a site to house Verizon communications infrastructure, which would have provided the Village and school area with much improved cellular service. However, in June 2024 the Old Brick Church Trustees voted against the proposal and subsequently passed on this recommendation to the Williston Selectboard, which has yet to make a decision on the matter.10 The town should seek future opportunities to collaborate with private cellular service providers to lease municipal buildings or properties for cellular signal transmission.
Act 71 as Enacted. Accessed 12/27/24 at https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2022/Docs/ACTS/ACT071/ACT071%20As%20Enacted.pdf.
What Is a Communications Union District (CUD)? Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. Accessed on 4/3/2025 at https://www.ccrpcvt.org/our-work/broadband/.
Email communication with Michael Vance, Chair, Chittenden County Communications Union District. December 30, 2024.
Email communication with Ann Janda, Energy Project Manager, Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. December 30, 2024.
CUD Agendas and Minutes. Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. Accessed on 4/3/2025 at https://www.ccrpcvt.org/our-work/broadband/.
Email communication with Michael Vance, Chair, Chittenden County Communications Union District. December 30, 2024.
Town of Williston Selectboard July 2, 2024 Meeting Minutes. Accessed on 4/3/2025 at https://www.town.williston.vt.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={BF873E20-7A5D-432F-9028-9939B81C0A9B}&DE={0BB0EFBD-8B91-43F1-813E-2C4EEBF98010}.
Other Utilities (Water, Solid Waste, Gas, Electricity) are Largely Controlled by Other Entities
Water is provided regionally through the Champlain Water District and distributed by the Williston Public Works Department. CWD is a nationally award-winning provider of water, sourced from the deep underwater canyon of Shelburne Bay in Lake Champlain, at 75 feet of depth and a half mile from shore.¹¹ This water supply is an abundant resource and will serve Williston adequately for years to come. While the town purchases water from the CWD, Williston is responsible for maintaining the infrastructure that is needed to distribute the potable water in town and planning for additional capacity. The water infrastructure includes valves and over 71 miles of pipe and 1 pump station. Objectives and strategies focus on Williston's role in maintaining its water infrastructure.
Solid waste collection, disposal, diversion and recycling services are provided by private haulers and Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD). Williston is, however, the host community for CSWD facilities located on Redmond Rd. The site, shown on Map 11 – Public Facilities, includes a former town landfill that is now monitored by CSWD, CSWD's headquarters, a solid waste and recycling drop-off center, and a regional composting facility. Construction of a potential future regional landfill has transportation and land use implications that must be addressed during the regulatory process.
CSWD is authorized to operate its solid waste facilities under the provisions of 10 V.S.A § 6604, also known as Act 78. Solid waste facilities operators are considered to be quasi-independent local government entities regulated by the State of Vermont. CSWD has operated its facilities under a Host Town Agreement that defines the nature and extent of CSWD operations and provides a mechanism for CSWD to make appropriate payments in lieu of taxes to pay its fair share of the costs of using town services and infrastructure. The town will continue to require CSWD or any other solid waste facilities operator to enter into a Host Town Agreement prior to locating or operating any new or expanded solid waste facilities in Williston and ensure that that agreement is included as a condition of any solid waste certification.
Electric transmission and distribution is handled by regional utility companies VELCO, Green Mountain Power and Vermont Electric Cooperative. All lands north of I-89 are served by GMP. The majority of the land south of I-89 is served by VEC, though some lands near Meadowridge and Exit 12 are served by GMP.
VELCO transmission lines traverse Williston and have an impact on the built environment. Most notable, the transmission lines bisect the Taft Corners Growth Center including Blair Park, Finney Crossing, and Maple Tree Place. No development, aside from parking lots and low-growing trees and shrubbery, are permitted by VELCO under the transmission lines and within the VELCO-easement. Other transmission lines bisect low density rural areas and forest blocks, where vegetation is kept from growing into a forest. The VELCO Easement Corridor, among other constraints, was incorporated into the Form-Based Code Regulating Plan Map. The VELCO transmission lines and surrounding easement are in tension with Williston's land use goals for a compact, pedestrian-friendly town center at Taft Corners.
These entities, along with Vermont Gas (VGS), are overseen by the Vermont Public Utilities Commission and the town has no regulatory authority over electrical distribution and transmission. The objectives and strategies outlined below underscore this relationship and are focused on ways in which the town can exert influence through the PUC process.
Objectives, Strategies and Actions
Objectives
9.A
9.B
The town and utility companies coordinate to ensure the best outcomes for Williston. The town shares data on growth trends to inform long- range planning and decision-making processes. The town monitors and comments on utility companies' long-range plans for their compatibility with the town's goals.
9.C
The town maintains its water and sewer infrastructure so that it is resilient and sustainable.
9.D
The town has wastewater capacity that is adequate to support the estimated "build out" of commercial and residential structures and support Williston's fair share of housing in the region.
9.E
The town achieves universal coverage of fixed and mobile broadband service, that is accessible and affordable to all.
Strategies
9.1
Reevaluate the town's Sewer Allocation Ordinance to make sure that it supports the town's development priorities within the current capacity constraints.
9.1.1
Evaluate whether the town's current allocated capacity will support the estimated "build out" of commercial and residential structures and support Williston's fair share of housing in the region. Decide what percentage of "buildout" is desired in different geographic areas and prioritize allocation of capacity based on those decisions.
9.1.2
Evaluate revisions to the Sewer Allocation Ordinance so the methodology accurately reflects the existing capacity and the town's priorities for development. The current Sewer Allocation Ordinance divides up available capacity based on type of use. Whereas adding spatial prioritization (Growth Center vs. Residential zones Vs. Industrial Zones) may be more directly in line with Town Plan goals.
9.1.3
Fund the purchase of additional capacity if available.
9.2
Pursue avenues to increase sewer capacity at the Essex Sewer Plant, through changes in permitting or physical changes to the plant, or by other means such as distributed wastewater solutions.
9.2.1
Evaluate with the Tri-Town (Essex, Essex Junction, and Williston) and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources how to increase the permitted capacity of the Sewer Plant.
9.2.2
Evaluate funding sources including state grants, zero interest loans or other funding sources for upgrades to the physical plant as needed.
9.2.3
Evaluate the feasibility of distributed wastewater solutions.
9.3
Monitor usage and plan for sewer, water, and stormwater system maintenance and upgrades in alignment with Town Plan land use goals and growth trends.
9.3.1
Evaluate uses of GIS software to track the condition of infrastructure assets.
9.3.2
Develop training schedule for staff on the use of mobile software to collect data on infrastructure.
9.3.3
Maintain an up-to-date geodatabase of infrastructure assets.
9.3.4
Develop a projection of needs for future upgrades by incorporating information from asset inventories and include these estimated upgrades into the capital improvement plan and annual operating budget.
9.4
Pursue ways to implement universal fixed and mobile broadband service throughout town, with the goal of no "dead zones."
9.4.1
Maintain participation in the Chittenden County Communications Union District (CUD) to provide universal fixed broadband coverage.
9.4.2
Evaluate how to leverage existing CUDs and electric utilities to expand and reduce the costs of broadband.
9.4.3
Evaluate properties and structures that could house cellular communications infrastructure, and partner with service provider(s) to expand service.
9.5
Mitigate the impact of VELCO transmission line and the easement corridor on Williston's land use goals in Taft Corners.
9.5.1
Evaluate creative ways to activate the otherwise undevelopable places within the VELCO transmission easement in Taft Corners (pollinator gardens, pocket parks, etc.).
9.5.2
Support the public process for the Vermont Long-Range Transmission Plan as it pertains to infrastructure maintenance, improvements, or expansion of the transmission system within Williston and especially the Growth Center.
9.5.3
Develop an advocacy plan for the undergrounding of the VELCO transmission line in Taft Corners Form Based Code district.
9.6
Monitor utility companies' long-range planning and participate in the public process.
9.6.1
Maintain monitoring of the work of the VELCO Vermont System Planning Committee (VSPC) and Technical Working Group.
9.6.2
Maintain review of GMP and VEC's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), filed every three years with the PUC, for consistency with Williston's land use and energy equity goals.
9.6.3
Support the Public Utility Commission (PUC) as it pertains to the goals of the Williston Energy Plan.