Land clearing in
Fairfax & Georgia, Vermont
Clearing work around Fairfax & Georgia runs to pasture, rural lots, private roads, fence corridors, and overgrown acreage.
Estimate clearing cost↗The surface around Fairfax & Georgia is till over clay, with stony ground on the higher rolls. Stone. The higher rolls here are genuinely stony, and it shows up as head wear and taller residual, not as an obvious obstacle. Private roads, many of them unmaintained in mud season, which closes access to whole neighbourhoods for weeks at a time. Fairfax treats slopes of 25 percent or more as unsuitable for buildings, roads and utilities and does not allow its board to waive riparian or wetland buffers. Mud season genuinely stops work here, not because of the parcels but because of the roads to them. Mud-season road closures should shape the scheduling conversation as much as the reclaimed-pasture acreage does. A private road here can cut off access for weeks regardless of how ready the site is.
What should a Fairfax or Georgia landowner know before clearing reverting pasture?
Checked 2026-09-01
| Factor | On the ground here |
|---|---|
| Landform | rolling farmland between the Lamoille and the lake plain |
| Elevation of workable ground | roughly 200–700 ft |
| Watershed | Lamoille River and direct Lake Champlain tributaries |
| Mobilization zone | Regional: Franklin County |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Frost-free window | May 1 to October 12 |
| Snowfall per year | 79.9 in |
| Highest named summit | Buck Hill, about 939 ft |
| Named rivers | Lamoille River, Mill River and Browns River |
| Named lakes and ponds | Fairfax Falls Pond, Saint Albans Reservoir North, Saint Albans Reservoir and Silver Lake |
| Soils with bedrock within 40 in | 24% |
| Hydric (wetland-type) soil | 28% |
| Most extensive soil | Woodstock-Rock outcrop complex (20%) |
| Seasonal high water table within 20 in | 54% |
- Fairfax's 2018-2026 Town Plan puts 120% of Fairfax residents' median household income at $84,954, higher than the $75,906 MSA-wide figure, meaning households earning under about $62,000 can face a homeownership affordability gap. — Town of Fairfax, 2018-2026 Town Plan (adopted September 24, 2018; 2026-2034 update still in draft as of 2026-09)
- Fairfax's 2018-2026 Town Plan says the Maple Street Covered Bridge, also called the Fairfax Covered Bridge, was the only structure in town on the National Register of Historic Places as of the plan's writing. — source
- Fairfax's 2018-2026 Town Plan puts the 2015 median gross rent at $1,193 a month. — source
Steep-slope and buffer rules in the Fairfax development regulations
Fairfax's 2024 development regulations say in section 5.07.C that steeply sloping land of 25 percent or more is prone to severe erosion when disturbed and unsuitable for structures, roads and public utilities, so lot layouts and building envelopes must avoid it. Plans submitted for review have to show slopes in excess of 25 percent measured on the natural grade before any site work, along with the special flood hazard area and river corridor, and the board may not approve a waiver that reduces a riparian or wetland setback or buffer. The clearing consequence is that a hillside lot in Fairfax may be sold and cleared with a building site limited to its gentler part.
Georgia's rules are its own. The Georgia zoning bylaws on file with the state (April 2010 text, so confirm the current version) say areas with slopes of 25 percent or more shall not be developed for roads, driveways or buildings, and its site-plan criteria tie erosion control to the standards in section 4050.5(5) of the same bylaws. Both towns land at the same practical rule for a landowner: map the 25-percent ground first, then decide where clearing is worth paying for.
Clearing enrolled land can trigger the Land Use Change Tax
Mixed farm and forest parcels here are commonly enrolled in both categories on the same property, and the boundary between the enrolled agricultural and forest portions is where clearing decisions get complicated.