The Town of Woodstock has received a $200,000 community development block grant (CDBG) to study flood-mitigation opportunities at the Riverside Mobile Home Park.
The grant will go toward engineering studies to figure out how to best reduce the mobile home park’s flood risks, including one that will look at relocation sites for homes deemed most at risk of being flooded, Woodstock municipal manager Eric Duffy said in a press release last Friday. The grant only funds planning and not the implementation of strategies that may emerge from the engineering studies, the statement from Duffy noted.
The disaster recovery grant to Woodstock was part of a $49 million package of grant awards in response to the disastrous July 2023 flooding that struck a wide swath of Vermont. The first round of grants was announced by Vermont Gov. Phill Scott, U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch, and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint on Dec. 11. The funds are intended to benefit communities most impacted by the floods in regions designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in consultation with state officials, according to a media release from Scott’s office. The areas designated as the most adversely impacted by the 2023 flooding include Lamoille, Washington, Caledonia, Orleans, Rutland, Windham, and Windsor counties, the governor’s office reported.
Addressing the CDBG disaster relief grant to Woodstock, Duffy offered, “This project reflects Woodstock’s commitment to protecting our residents and planning responsibly for climate change. Riverside is an important part of our community, and every household deserves to feel supported as we navigate long-term flood recovery and beyond.”
In announcing the first round of disaster recovery grants tied to the July 2023 floods, Scott, Sanders, Welch, and Balint noted that there will be a second round of CDBG funding available early in 2026, totaling $14.46 million.
For more on this, please see our Dec. 18 edition of the Vermont Standard.
