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Downtown plan altered as Complete Streets grant scope is renegotiated
Summary
The Downtown Development Committee told the Board of Selectmen the Complete Streets project scope shifted off North Main, prompting negotiations with MassDOT and a plan to split work between Complete Streets and Shared Streets grants to preserve sidewalks before paving.
The Board of Selectmen heard an update May 20 from the Downtown Development Committee on a change in scope for the town’s Complete Streets project and ongoing negotiations with state transportation officials.
Sheila Als Orsi, a member of the Downtown Development Committee, told the board the town holds two grants for downtown improvements: a $200,000 Shared Streets award and a $400,000 Complete Streets award, and that the town had been informed it could receive an additional $100,000. “The shared streets grant we got $200,000 for and the Complete Streets we got $400,000. We requested an additional hundred and we were told that we were able to receive that as well,” Als Orsi said.
The committee said the project as engineered originally was to run down the north side of Main Street from in front of Hannaford’s to Central Street, but the scope has been narrowed in earlier phases. Because the project now includes work along the park and School Street (referred to interchangeably in the update), the committee proposed separating the work into two scopes so the Shared Streets grant would cover the School/Summer Street piece while Complete Streets funds would be used on the originally planned Main Street section. Als Orsi said BSCG Group’s project manager, Bill Pallet, is negotiating a scope change with MassDOT and that if MassDOT approves, the town would need to renegotiate the contract with BSCG Group to add the extra phase and ideally keep the contractor JNL on the follow-on work.
Als Orsi warned the extra $100,000 is temporary: “If we don't use it by the end of the year, it goes away,” and urged the board and highway department to review any scope-change proposals once MassDOT signs off. She said the committee is also pursuing a separate “one stop for growth” grant and has had preliminary conversations with Vibram about possible matching funds for a parking-lot project behind the police station on Grove Street.
No formal vote was taken; the update was informational. The next steps described were continued negotiations between BSCG Group and MassDOT and a future presentation to the board if MassDOT approves scope changes.
If the state approves the scope change, selectmen would be asked to approve renegotiated contracts and any change orders before work proceeds. Als Orsi said the town is coordinating with highway staff and regional planners on timing so sidewalk work could be done alongside planned paving.
