Published on August 5, 2009

Because they fought so long and so hard to protect the interests of their village against the mayhem that Vermont Wind’s 16 turbines could have caused on their way to Sheffield, the Barton Village Trustees should be forgiven for taking the matter one step too far.

They should also be congratulated for leaving the door open to a dignified retreat.

The extra step is the ban on ordinary, personal vehicles that workers and contractors will drive to the construction site.  To protect the residents of Duck Pond Road as much as possible, the trustees told Vermont Wind to tell their workers how to get to the job.

A Barton resident who gets a job on the project would be told to drive to Sheffield and approach work through the back door at the other end of Duck Pond Road.

Workers looking for a quick lunch would forego any of Barton’s restaurants in favor of their counterparts in Caledonia County.  They might as well gas up while they’re at it, and pick up a few groceries.

Construction workers looking for a place to rent while they put up the towers might logically stay clear of a community that so annoyingly isolates them from their job by closing a short stretch of public road that remains open to a better class of  citizen.

Part of Barton’s grumpiness about the project, surely, has been due to the fact that we suffer the consequences, personal and financial, of its effect on our views, but reap none of the rewards.

The business so many construction workers could bring to town is just such a benefit, however temporary.

In passing the ban, the village trustees reflected the interests of people they do not represent, residents of Barton Town who live along Duck Pond Road.  They did so at the expense of people they do represent, the businesses of Barton Village.

In urging the trustees to exercise the right they reserved to change their mind, we must acknowledge that we have an interest in the matter.

The Chronicle is part of the Barton business community.  We grow as our advertisers thrive and shrink as they languish in this swamp concocted of equal parts national recession, terrible milk prices and rotten weather.

Be that as it may, the trustees said they wanted to hear from their business community before they made a final decision.

That community was heard from Tuesday, its message was clear, and the case against the traffic ban is compelling. — C.B.