We had a great meeting last night with Roger Hill, the Town’s DPW director, Gordon Greene and John Rhoads from the Planning Board, and three residents.
Roger began by explaining the various Public Works material and services contracts available to the Town through the Southeastern Regional Services Group (SERSG) [see www.sersg.org]. SERSG is a consortium of nineteen cities and towns in southeastern Massachusetts including Foxborough and through group/bulk purchasing and joint procurement of services, communities are able to do work beyond the capacity of their individual DPW (and other) department at costs which are lower than what they could receive as a single community. Roger discussed the refinements to the Cross Street intersection, widening the road a little to make turns easier and said that there are paint marks on the base coat of asphalt that are 3 feet from the final location of the new curbs.
Roger explained that there is about 2600 feet between where the sidewalk ends next to the Public Safety Building and where the sidewalk will end for the Payson Road work. The new sidewalk will have a 4 foot wide grass strip that will be loamed and seeded, then a 4 foot wide bituminous sidewalk. There will be sloped granite curbing on the side of the road with the sidewalk and bituminous cape cod berm on the side without. There will need to be some drainage work, mostly to raise drainage structures.
The Board members, Roger, and neighbors then discussed which side of the street the sidewalk should be on. On the east side, there will need to be a wall towards the southerly end of street and there are more trees that need to be removed, although the trees are not planted street trees but the second growth red oaks and pines. On the west side, construction is a little easier, but the houses that front on North Street are on the east side. One of the neighbors noted that if the sidewalk was on the east where the houses are, it would create a loop around the big block – otherwise, you’d have to be crossing North Street at both ends to use the sidewalk, which wouldn’t be safe.
Roger said the cost of the materials and labor should be about $200,000. Other work included would be relocation of mailboxes. The Town Planner explained that the trees on Payson Road between the Ernie George Field driveway and the intersection are planned to be eliminated since the existing trees on the slope down to the field are being saved and the new trees would be planted under the wires, which is only creating conflicts. These trees could be planted within the same total project area, which includes North Street. Roger explained that the trees will be planted behind the sidewalk and not in the grass strip. They are probably going to be on the neighbor’s lot and the neighbors would need to consent to that and agree to water the tree until it is established (the first year or so).
Roger then discussed his thoughts about slowing down the traffic. He has designed what he’s named “road bubbles” and plans to use them on Oak Street too. The road bubble is a 4 foot wide, 250 foot long lozenge-shaped widening of the center double yellow line. They would be spaced 500 feet apart, so there’s 250 feet of “bubble” and then 250 feet of double yellow line. The bubbles visually narrow the apparent width of the road causing drivers to move more cautiously (i.e. “slow down.”) Roger will be installing these on Oak Street before North so he’ll have a chance to see if they work.
Because the state grant must be used before June 30, 2012, this work will be done probably during May. We will have a post with more schedule details as they get worked out.
There were also questions about the Payson Road recreation fields. The Planning Board members said that they are continuing discussions with the remaining developers and the bank that foreclosed on the Intoccia land, and that because of the economy, the plans were being scaled back a little, but it will get done eventually. As more details get worked out, the Board will have a meeting to discuss what’s happening.
If you missed the meeting and have any questions, please call the Planning Board at 508-543-1250.
