Spring Street, formerly known as Phase 4 of Marion’s Village Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan, was bumped up to be the next phase the town will tackle, putting Spring Street ahead of Main Street, formerly the very next phase of the plan.
Jennifer Francis, on behalf of the Planning Board’s Transportation and Circulation Task Force, asked the Marion Board of Selectmen on April 3 to consider revising the scheduled order of the village infrastructure plan in order to put to good use some grant money Francis says the Planning Board intends to pursue stemming from that board’s progress towards acceptance into the MassDOT Highway’s Complete Streets Funding Program.
With up to $400,000 in grant money, the plan for Spring Street is to install a “multi-use” path with a section of road carved out from the wider road of Spring Street, connecting Tabor Academy with Sippican School and the library, and eventually possibly all the way to the bike path slated for the other side of Route 6.
“There’s room to have a multi-use path,” said Francis, adding that it wouldn’t interfere with traffic or with parking. “[There are] a number of benefits that would make this project, I think, really attractive for the town.”
Francis proposed combining the Spring Street project with the Town’s existing infrastructure plan for the village, which could include further funding of up to $1 million at some point when the town is once again eligible for that particular grant after having received it three years ago.
“In addition to ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) related opportunities, we think that we can put a lot of money from a lot of different sources together to make this project work,” Francis said. “We think this project would benefit pretty much the entire town…. People would really enjoy it.”
Francis said this would be the first major transportation project resulting from the Town’s new Master Plan.
Board of Selectmen Chairman Jody Dickerson voiced some concern over further putting off Main Street, but he understood that the timing of the proposal would make sense.
Both selectmen approved the request.
In other matters, Town Administrator Paul Dawson said the Town would be submitting a proposal for a grant for $191,650 to establish a stormwater monitoring program, a regional effort with other area towns in the Buzzards Bay region.
The Town would have to locate all stormwater outfalls into the bay and conduct sampling tests to monitor water quality.
“We think we have a pretty comprehensive and good application here, and we’re hopeful that we’ll be invited into the next step,” Dawson said.
Dawson also reported that the FY19 budget would have to be adjusted to accommodate a $41,400 shortfall in the estimated payment on a new fire truck the Town purchased three years ago.
Dawson said the initial estimate in the budget was $31,000, but just that afternoon the real number came in: $75,500.
Dawson recommended simply adjusting the budget since the loan was a debt exclusion. Spreading the difference out another ten years to cover the discrepancy was less feasible than altering the budget to absorb the cost.
“It’s a simple fix,” Dawson said, before the selectmen voted to approve his request.
Also during the meeting, resident Sherman Briggs asked Dawson and the selectmen about construction debris that over time was allegedly illegally dumped at the transfer station on Benson Brook Road, a topic that had come up in past Carver, Marion, Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District committee meetings and brought up this night during Dawson’s CMWRRDD update.
Briggs asked who owned that particular part of Benson Brook, and Dawson confirmed that it was the Town of Marion. Briggs then asked how much it would take to clean up the debris, and Dawson said he did not yet know.
“We’re just beginning to scratch the surface to that,” Dawson stated.
When Dawson again referred to the dumping as “illegal dumping,” Briggs argued that the dumping was not illegal, but allowed by the Town. Briggs said all the debris dumped at that site originated from various Town projects, including the Converse Road project and various water and sewer projects over ten years.
“That’s where it all came from,” said Briggs, “and those spoils were up to the contractor to own and dispose of,” Briggs continued. “We didn’t make a very good decision to take those spoils … and now take thousands of dollars to clean it up.”
Briggs suggested some transparency, adding, “The taxpayers are gonna have to pay for that. That’s transparency.”
In a follow-up after the meeting, Briggs claimed that the Town had actually received an estimate on the cost to clean up the contractor waste – for $115,000 – despite Dawson’s denial. Briggs asserted that contractors were “allowed” to dump the waste there, even though the waste disposal was part of the project bid.
During the meeting Briggs also asked the selectmen, who are also the Water Commissioners, what was happening with the Town’s water at Perry Hill. Dickerson said he wasn’t aware of any issues, and Briggs suggested the board look into any rumors about issues with the water and then bring it back in two weeks for discussion.
The next meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is scheduled for April 17 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.
Marion Board of Selectmen
By Jean Perry