Land clearing in
Cambridge & Jeffersonville, Vermont
Clearing work around Cambridge & Jeffersonville runs to mountain terrain, trails, slopes, rural homes, and farm access.
Estimate clearing cost↗The surface around Cambridge & Jeffersonville is valley alluvium, with steep till and ledge on the mountain flanks. Two extremes on one property is normal here: flat river ground and a mountain flank behind it, needing different machines and different seasons. Notch roads and mountain approaches limit transport size. A machine that fits the job may not fit the route to it. The Town of Cambridge has no zoning regulations at all, so a clearing job outside Jeffersonville village answers to subdivision review, the state, and Act 250 rather than to a local zoning permit. Elevation spreads the season across a single parcel. The valley thaws weeks before the flank does. Mountain access and steep terrain make transport, approach width, overhead clearance, rock, and downhill exposure part of feasibility. The town's planning page is direct about it: there are no zoning regulations in the Town of Cambridge.
How is mountain-flank and valley ground cleared differently around Cambridge and Jeffersonville?
Checked 2026-09-01
| Factor | On the ground here |
|---|---|
| Landform | Lamoille valley floor under the north end of the Mount Mansfield range |
| Elevation of workable ground | roughly 400–1,200 ft |
| Watershed | Lamoille River and Brewster River |
| Mobilization zone | Regional: Lamoille County |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Snowfall per year | 139.3 in |
| Highest named summit | Bear Head, about 3,930 ft |
| Named rivers | Lamoille River, Brewster River, Seymour River and North Branch Lamoille River |
| Named lakes and ponds | Lake of the Clouds, Bear Pond and Sterling Pond |
| Soils with bedrock within 40 in | 49% |
| Hydric (wetland-type) soil | 7% |
| Most extensive soil | Tunbridge-Lyman complex (20%) |
| Seasonal high water table within 20 in | 16% |
- Cambridge's 2018 Town Plan describes the 2017 Cambridge Greenway Trail Bridge replacement over the Brewster River, which fixed a low, flood-prone crossing that had been reducing flood risk to the Jeffersonville village core. — Town of Cambridge, 2018 Town Plan (adopted November 8, 2018; last plan on file as of 2026-09, past the 8-year statutory review window)
- Cambridge's 2018 Town Plan says the Village of Jeffersonville's population climbed 28%, from 568 in 2000 to 729 in 2010. — source
- Cambridge's 2018 Town Plan says as of 2016, 58% of Jeffersonville village's housing units were renter-occupied, versus 48% in Cambridge Village. — source
- Cambridge's 2018 Town Plan says Cambridge Elementary's three connected buildings, ranging from 15 to 80 years old and totaling about 51,600 square feet, sit on the School District's 6.15-acre Jeffersonville parcel. — source
- Cambridge's 2018 Town Plan says flooding is a perennial problem at Route 15's 'Wrong-Way-Bridge' and Pumpkin Harbor Road, whose surface sits below the two-year flood elevation. — source
- Almost 18% of Lamoille County's housing stock was built since 2000, among the highest shares of any Vermont county, per the 2024 Lamoille County Housing Assessment Report. — Lamoille County Planning Commission, 2026 Regional Plan, Housing Chapter
- About 68% of Lamoille County's housing units are single-family homes, per the 2020 U.S. Census. — source
A town with no zoning: what still applies in Cambridge
Subdivision regulations have been in full effect since September 1, 2006, and require a permit to subdivide a parcel, create a right of way to one or adjust a boundary line; properties inside the Village of Jeffersonville are not reviewed under them. For a landowner clearing an existing lot, that means no local zoning permit, no town steep-slope or clearing bylaw, and no Development Review Board hearing unless the work is part of a subdivision.
The rules that remain are the state's. Vermont's Act 250 page on one-acre and ten-acre towns explains that a municipality without both zoning and subdivision bylaws can trigger an Act 250 permit at a smaller project size than a town with strong bylaws, so a clearing that is the first step of a commercial or multi-lot project should be checked with the district coordinator before it starts. Wetland, stream and stormwater permits apply here exactly as they do in a zoned town, and the missing local review is a reason to check them yourself rather than a reason to skip them.
Class II wetlands carry a 50-foot buffer zone
The Lamoille and Brewster corridors carry floodplain wetland along the valley floor, which is exactly the flat ground people want to clear.