Owners of vacation homes around Joe’s Pond in West Danville have been complaining for years about fluctuating water levels and flood conditions caused by a dam at the pond’s southeast corner. Now the Public Service Board has ordered the dam’s owner, Green Mountain Power, to carefully monitor and control water levels until the dam can be rebuilt.
But the Agency of Natural Resources has objected to the board’s order, saying that reducing pond levels before expected rains could hurt wildlife habitat. A board hearing officer found that flood control around the pond should take precedence over the wildlife concerns.