Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1 What is the Northfield Municip= al Plan?

The Northfield Plan is a comprehensive long-range guide to the future of both t= he Town and Village of Northfield. This plan builds upon – and expands – the previous municipal plan adopted in 2000. The plan is intended to:

· Identify significant trends that have shaped Northfield’s rich and varied history;

· Document current conditions regarding a variety of topics, including housing, transportation, the local economy, community facilities and services, and l= and use;

· Predict, to the extent practical, the trends that will affect change in the future; and=

· Define the goals, policies, and implementation strategies for addressing community cha= nge in a way that will benefit current and future generations of Northfield residents.=

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1.2     Consistency with Vermont Statute<= /h1>
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The Northf= ield Plan was prepared by the Northfield Planning Commission under the authority= of 24 VSA, Chapter 117, The Vermont Municipal and Regional Planning Act (the “Act”). While towns are not required to ad= opt a plan, those that do must include specific elements required in the Act ('4382). This plan includes a= ll required elements. This plan = also addresses the twelve general state planning goals also listed in the Act ('4302). Although the plan is consistent with these goals, the background information, goals, and policies presented throughout the document were carefully prepared to meet the uniqu= e conditions and needs of the Town of North= field.

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1.3     Regional Coordina= tion

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Due to its geography, it makes sense for Northfield t= o work with adjacent communities to better serve its citizens – especially Roxbury and Berlin and those located alo= ng the Route 12 corridor in the = Dog River Valley. Northfield cooperates with neighboring communities to provide education, emergency services and services for families, youth, and seniors. That day-to-day cooperation is less common – and less practical – with neighboring Waitsfield and Warren, which are separated by the Northfield Range to the west, and Williamst= own which is separated by Pai= ne Mountain and the I-= 89 corridor to the east.

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Despite physical and geographic barriers, Northfield also participates in several regional organizations to address such issues = of local concern as solid waste management, transportation and transit service, and a variety of social service and economic development functions. Nothing in this plan anticipates s= caling back participation in any of these regional organizations or severing exist= ing inter-municipal arrangements with neighboring towns.

Compatibil= ity with neighboring towns is particularly important with regard to land use, w= here incompatible policies could result in conflicting development activities and land uses along town boundaries. Northfield’s land use plan calls for agriculture, forestry, lo= w to moderate density residential development and very limited non-residential u= ses along the boundaries with Roxbury, Waitsfield, Moretown, Williamston and mo= st of Berlin. A portion of the s= hared boundary with Berlin – adjacent to historic Northfield Falls – allow= s a greater mix of uses and higher densities befitting the traditional settleme= nt pattern of this historic growth center.&nb= sp; These uses and densities are not incompatible with those allowed in adjacent towns which have adopted zoning, although both Williamstown and Roxbury have not implemented their respective land use plans through development regulations.

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In additio= n to land use, a brief review of neighboring municipal plans does not reveal any notable incompatibility of plan goals or policies. Likewise, no areas of incompatibil= ity between this plan and the Central Vermont Regional Plan have been identified. Thus, it is the position of Northfield that this plan is compatible with all of the adopted plans of neighboring communities and the region.

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1.4     Planning Process<= /span>

In some respects, the preparation of this plan was a direct outgrowth of the Northfield Community Visit conducted by the Vermont Council on Rural Development in association with several state and regional agencies. This visit involved a series of community meetings held between November 2001 and January 2002 that involved dozens of community residents and municipal officials. The key community priorities outli= ned over the course of that process were carried forward into this document. An overview of the community visit= is available in a Final Report dated January 2002.

In addition, the Planning Commission circulated early draft chapters of this document to a variety of interest groups and potential stakeholders to soli= cit comments on specific issues of likely interest. Three public informational meeting= s were also held to address housing concerns and community and economic development strategies.

The plan also benefited from a variety of issue-specific planning and developme= nt projects that have been undertaken by the community in recent years (e.g., Downtown Study, Gray Building Feasibility Study). Those efforts are cited in appropr= iate locations of the draft.

Finally, through a Vermont Municipal Planning Grant secured by the Planning Commission, the Commission hired the services of Burnt Rock Inc., Associates in Community Planning, of Waitsfield who assisted with all aspects of the plan update.

š A Brief History of Northfield ›

From 1785 through the 1820s, largely Yankees from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the older Vermont towns settled Northfield. Next to arrive were the Irish, att= racted in the 1840’s by jobs on the railroad. The Welsh arrived after the Irish = to work in the slate quarries in the 1850’s and 1860’s. Stonework also brought the next wave. Starting about 1890, Italians, Spaniards, and Scots joined the workforce in the granite sheds. From the 1880’s onward, Cana= dians of French descent came seeking opportunity, many buying up hill farms aband= oned in the decades after the Civil War.

The years from 1785 to 1825 saw the development of Northfield’= s four villages. The first settlemen= t was on East Hill (now Mill Hill), close by Elijah Paine’s grist and sawmills. As the population g= rew, boundaries crept up the hill and northward along Route 12. Clusters of houses became villages= , each with its own personality and name: <= /span>South Village, Center Village, Factory <= st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">Village, and the Falls.=

First to have a distinct identity was South Village<= /st1:PlaceType>, which had numerous small businesses and manufacturing operations through the nineteenth century. Next was = Center Village, where the first p= ost office, town clerk’s office, and churches were established, and which= for many years was the social and political center of town. After the Center came Factory Vill= age (the present Village of Northfield) named for the woolen mill located there. Last to develop was Northfield Falls, and by the late 1820’s it, too, was a thriving community.

With the arrival of the railroad in the 1840’s, Factory Village and Depot Square increasingly became the hub of local activity. Residents there beg= an to demand lighted streets, sidewalks, fire and police protection, and they then petitioned the legislature to establish a separate Village of Northfield. The Village of Northfield was inco= rporated November 14, 1855.

Over the next fifty years, village residents voted taxes= on themselves for a variety of services. Sidewalks were laid down, the water department was established and the first electric plant was built (both in 1895), and the first sewer li= nes were laid (1901-1904). Around= 1900 the police department was set up, = and the two independent fire companies= , which existed from the 1860’s, came under village control.=

The price of such amenities was high; consequently, as t= hey were increasingly needed outside the village, police, and fire services were taken over by the town. The t= own and village highway departments were supported by taxes levied separately on the grand lists of the village and town.

Once settlements were established, people turned their attention to making a living. Of necessity, almost everyone was a farmer first, and most lived by barter (goods and services were paid for with other goods and services). Eventually people needed hard cash= , and it was this quest for individual and collective economic security that has = been the paramount concern in Northfield for two centuries.

Until about 1814, residents made potash on their farms a= nd sent it to mills in America and abroad which used it for everything from finishing wool cloth to making glass. About 1812, as the demand for potash was waning, Elijah Paine built a huge woolen mill on the site of the now closed Cetrangolo Finishing works (which closed in 1999). Paine’s woolen mill employed between 175 and 200 workers and w= as for years the town’s largest employer.

When wool prices declined in the 1840’s, Elijah Paine’s son Charles came to the rescue. As President of the Vermont Central Railroad, Charles Paine pushed the line from Windsor, Vermont to Burlington, finishing construction on the last day of 1849, and locating the railroad’s headquarters in Northfield. For fifteen years the Vermont Cent= ral Railroad meant prestige for Northfield and prosperity for its citizens R= 11; hundreds worked for the line.

In 1852, Paine lost control of his railroad. Over the next decade the new owners gradually moved operations to St. Albans.&= nbsp; John Gregory Smith, the new president, said he would “make the grass grow in the streets of Northfield.” He very nearly succeeded. The town’s population, one o= f the largest in Vermont at the time, dropped precipitously and over fifty houses stood vacant. It took 25 year= s to recover from the loss.

Slate quarrying and finishing, which started early in the nineteenth century, provided some respite.= In the 1860’s and 1870’s some two hundred men worked for= the slate companies, but by the 1880’s this industry too was in decline.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>

The next savior was granite. In 1889 investors built a spur lin= e and a small finishing shed on railroad land and arranged to have granite brought down from the Barre quarries. Several more sheds were eventually constructed, and by the outbreak of World War I, over 525 people were employed in the sheds.

Times changed, and by 1954 only the Rock of Ages plant w= as left, and that too was closed when the head office decided it was too expen= sive to ship the rough stone here. In 1999 Cetrangolo Finishing Works, founded in 1955, was the last to close. As of August 2000, the Cetrangolo Finishing Works building has been demolished and the site is vacant.

In the end, economic rejuvenation came from what at first might have seemed an unpromising source.&n= bsp; Late in 1886, the faculty and student body of Norwich University arr= ived in town. Their arrival follow= ed acceptance by Norwich trustees of a bid by a group of citizens to have the college relocated here. It is doubtful that anyone seeing the four teachers and fourteen students arrive imagined that the college would become the town’s largest employer.

Beside the large industries, small-scale manufacturing operations and retail businesses of many kinds flourished here in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.&= nbsp; This diversity was common in Vermont, and Northfield was no exception. Collectively these= stores and manufacturers gave employment to many, and economic health to the commu= nity for decades.

The Great Depression hastened the end of many businesses. Henry Ford and his competitors made the demise of other businesses certain. Mass production of the automobile = and a revived national economy after 1945 put Vermonters on wheels and took them = out of town to work and shop. The importance of the automobile as a bringer of change cannot be overstated. In Northfield, as elsewhere, it me= ant workers no longer had to depend on local businesses for jobs and shopping opportunities; they could drive anywhere employment was available and goods were for sale.

As manufacturing jobs declined, the importance of Norwich University increased. About 1= 950, Norwich, Rock of Ages, and the Nantanna textile mill each employed approximately 140 people. By = 1963, Rock of Ages went out of business. Though the college has seen ups and downs over the past 125 years, i= ts presence has been an economic force for the community and a social and cult= ural life Northfield probably would not otherwise have seen.
Since World War II, population growth has been slow but steady. The town has seen none of the large-scale tourism that has brought mixed blessings to other Vermont towns. While no large industr= y has come to town, a number of small businesses have sprung up. Slightly more than half of the Northfield labor force worked out of town.= Over two centuries, Northfield evolved from farming to manufacturing= to a mix of small businesses and a college town economy.

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[Northfield Historical Societ= y]

References:

McIntire, Julia. (1981 Fall). History of Northfield. Central Vermont Views, 3, No. 1, 2= 8-33.

McIntire, J. W., and Cleveland, R.L. (1985). Picture Northfield: A Photographic Study.

The Northfield Town Committee (1974). Green Mountain Heritage: The Chronicle= of Northfield, Vermont.

Chap= ter 2. Natural & Cultural Res= ources

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2.1     Overview

Northfield’s physical character and identity, its unique “sense of place,” is defined by both its natural setting and its built environment. Local topography and natural featu= res helped shape historic patterns of development, which in turn offer a framew= ork for future growth. Many of Northfield’s most significant natural and historic features remain remarkably intact, and contribute much to the attractiveness of the communi= ty and to the overall quality of life in town.

Northfield does not have to go the way of many communities that are losing their sense= of identity and place to nondescript, homogeneous forms of development. Such development can adversely imp= act the natural environment, and is inconsistent with the historic character of= the built environment. Giving due consideration to the town’s natural and historic features, and the potential impacts of development on these resources, is critical to protect environmental quality and community identity, and to preserve that which ma= kes Northfield a special place to live, work and visit.

2.2     Topography & Drainage

Northfield lies in the heart of the Dog River valley, defined by the Northfield Range = to the west, and the Irish Hill ridge, including Paine Mountain, to the east.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The Dog River, fed locally by a nu= mber of tributaries within the local drainage area, flows northward into the Winooski, west of Montpelier, and eventually into Lake Champlain. Elevations in town range from arou= nd 650 feet where the Dog River crosses into Berlin, to over 2500 ft along the town’s western border in the Northfield Range. Prominent peaks to the east include Paine Mountain (2411 ft.), Turkey Hill (1888 ft.), and Shaw Mountain (1820 = ft.). Around 62 acres of land are located above 2,500 feet – all in the Northfield Range – and are subjec= t to Act 250 review if developed.

River valleys provided natural transportation routes for prehistoric populations,= and early settlers. The “Pa= ine Turnpike” (now called Berlin Pond Road) connecting Brookfield and Montpelier, was fir= st constructed up the Dog River valley in 1799, opening up the town to settlem= ent and trade with the outside world. The Vermont Central Railroad, completed through the valley in 1847, established Northfield Village as an important regional commercial and industrial center.

Historically, settlement was concentrated in the narrow confines of the valley floor in locations where the power of the Dog River and its tributaries could be eas= ily harnessed. Northfield’s= four historic villages – South Village, Center Village, Factory (Northfiel= d) Village, and Northfield Falls – all developed first as mill sites. Some of these areas lie within the= flood plain of the Dog River and as such have been subject to periodic flooding o= ver the years.

As farms extended into the surrounding hills, much of the forests were cleared= for agriculture and potash production – the town’s earliest industry. Upland areas suppor= ted subsistence farming, and for a time commercial sheep and dairy farms. The clearing of steeper slopes, ho= wever, also resulted in accelerated stormwater runoff and soil erosion, which depl= eted local soils.

With the abandonment of the hill farms over the last century, most of the town’s uplands have reverted to forests. These areas now support logging operations and wildlife populations, and provide a highly visible and scenic backdrop to the valley below. They are also increasingly attractive for low-density residential development, a= nd high elevation uses such as telecommunications towers and wind generation facilities. If poorly sited a= nd developed, such uses can adversely impact upland headwater and groundwater recharge areas, timber stands, critical wildlife habitat, and scenic views.=

Recent changes in the state’s regulations now allow septic systems to be bui= lt on slopes up to 20%, opening up more upland areas to development (see map). Site preparation and development on steeper slopes (15% or more) should be carefully managed according to accepted management practices to minimize runoff and soil eros= ion. Development on slopes in excess of= 25% (estimated at 6,570 acres or 21%of the town’s total land area) should= be avoided.

Development in areas that are highly visible from public vantage points also should be sited and designed to minimize visual impacts – by siting development below prominent peaks and ridgelines, minimizing site clearing, screening development from view, and using colors and materials that blend into the surroundings.

2.3     Natural Resources=

Northfield has a wealth of natural resources that contribute to a healthy and diverse environment, and support local economic and community development. The protection and sustainable use= of the town’s natural resource base is necessary to maintain the quality= of life for existing and future Northfield residents. Many of the resources noted here a= re shown on accompanying maps.

Earth Resources

Geologic Features & Hazar= ds. Northfield’s many quarries supported a thriving slate industry= in the mid- to late 1800s, rescuing the community from economic decline follow= ing the relocation railroad operations. These quarries, which extend over several acres, are no longer operational; however several quarries have been reopened in recent years elsewhere in the state. Other= rock and mineral deposits are found locally, though not in commercial quantities. Avid recreational panners may find small amounts of placer gold in local streams.<= /span>

Geologic hazards are minimal, though isolated rock falls and slides are common on st= eep or unstable slopes. Regional = earthquakes, typically centered in the Adirondack Mountains or southern Quebec, occur wi= th enough frequency and strength that public infrastructure, buildings, and utility systems should incorporate basic seismic standards for earthquake resistance.

Sand & Gravel<= span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-b= idi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>. Sand and gravel deposits, located mainly along the Dog River and its tributaries, su= pply commercial extraction operations.