By Tess Hunter, Managing Editor
Pomfret has followed suit with Woodstock in making plans to close Cloudland Road for foliage season this year. Pomfret selectboard chair Benjamin Brickner attended last week’s Woodstock selectboard meeting to advocate for the closure. The road, which runs through both Woodstock and Pomfret, requires the participation of both governing bodies to close and enforce the closure. The road will be closed Sept. 25 through Oct. 16.
The day after the Woodstock selectboard meeting, the Pomfret Selectboard met on Wednesday, July 17 and unanimously agreed to their own closure, which is effectively identical to what took place last year as a response to the overwhelming tourist traffic along the road, and in particular near the instagram-famous Sleepy Hollow Farm.
According to Pomfret meeting minutes, Woodstock will explore placing a sign on Route 12 at River Road, informing travelers that the road ahead is closed. Pomfret’s traffic management plan approved by the board says, in part, that (1) Cloudland Road will be closed from Barber Hill Road to the Pomfret town line; (2) all of Barber Hill Road will be made one-way to westbound traffic only, in each case with exceptions made for all town residents; guests and contractors of residents within the closure area; agricultural use; and emergency vehicles; (3) parking will be prohibited (a) on both sides of Cloudland Road from immediately north of the driveway to 3655 Cloudland Road to immediately south of the driveway to 2763 Cloudland Road, and (b) on both sides of Barber Hill Road from immediately east of the driveway to 1178 Barber Hill Road to the intersection with Cloudland Road, (4) the town will redirect 60% of its existing Sheriff’s patrols during this period to the closure area, subject to more specific direction by the neighborhood working group; and (5) the highway crew will be asked to install and remove the temporary signage and barriers at the start and end of the closure period.
There was some debate among the Pomfret board about the number of Windsor County Sheriff hours per week to allocate to the enforcement of the closure. The board eventually settled on six hours, the same as last year, with vice-chair John Peters Jr. explaining, “This can’t go on forever. We’ll know after this year with less hours and that kind of stuff if we actually made progress last year with getting it off social media. That’s the hope. And hopefully it does work.”