1988-01-BOS-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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i ril I FI h Y . 0./ A� SELECTMEN'S MEETING �r 1 January 25, 1998 . A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held on Monday, January 25, 1988, in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building at 7 :30 p.m. Chairman Eddison, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Dailey, Mrs. Smith, Mr. McSweeney; Mr. White, Town Manager; Mr. Cohen, Town Counsel; Mrs. Snow, Executive Clark, were present, PUBLIC HEARINGL PHILIP ROAD A public hearing on the petition for acceptance as a public way was held for the purpose of discussing the Selectmen's intent to lay out Philip Road, as voted on Dec. 17, 1987. Mr. White explained that a vote to lay out Philip Road would be necessary in order for the proposal to be brought to the Town Meeting for decision on the expenditure of $80,004. This vote is scheduled for February 1st. Frank Fields, Town Engineer, explained construction needs necessary to bring the road up to Town standards which would involve repairs to a portion and removal of pavement and reconstruction of a portion which has failed. He referred to the Selectmen's vote on October 19, 1987, to allow a betterment rate of $28.44 per frontage foot. At that time, it had been decided that the rate would be lower than would be charged under the usual formula since Philip Road is an old subdivision street, never formally accepted by the Town. Mr. White cautioned that this lower betterment rate may create a precedent with respect to other old subdivision streets never accepted. There was explanation and discussion of the bonding procedure. Mr. Marshall questioned why the bond provided by the developer had not assured satisfactory completion of the road, He felt that final release of the bond had implied that in the judgment of the Town, the road was up to standard and could be accepted. Mr. Shangold said that he and other residents had always assumed that Philip Road was an accepted street, referring to planting by the Town and provision of Town services, such as plowing. Mrs. Buchfirer, 237 Worthen Rd. East, recapped other efforts to have Philip Road accepted, noting that in 1985, when the Selectmen voted to lay the street out, no betterment assessments had been mentioned. Mr. Marshall explained that at that time in the process, the betterment issue would not have been brought up. In response to Mr. Mahlowitz' question as to why the street had not been accepted after completion in 1971, Mr. Fields said that deficiencies in construction had caused pavement deterioration at that time. Vicky Schwartz, 2 Aerial Street, felt that residents were being penalized by the charging of betterments at this time when Philip Road could have been accepted in 1985 with no charges to residents. Mr. Marshall said he would be willing to make an exception regarding assessment of lower betterments for Philip Road since he saw the case as unique because of its use by school buses. He felt that the Town bears some responsibility for the deterioration.