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Planning board recommends acceptance of abandoned road and debates $100,000-plus request for Peter Street repairs
Summary
The board recommended acceptance of an abandoned road after Graves Engineering’s review and spent much of the meeting debating whether to ask town meeting for roughly $100,000–$130,000 to bring Peter Street to subdivision standards or instead use a remaining $30,000 surety and new DPW equipment to do limited repairs.
The Town of Uxbridge Planning Board voted to recommend acceptance of an abandoned road (Duane) and discussed how to address needed repairs on Peter Street, where engineering estimates put restoration to subdivision standards at roughly $110,000–$130,000.
Speaker 4 told the board Graves Engineering found several items that must be corrected and that the Selectmen want the road accepted; town meeting had earlier granted $10,000 for a survey and Graves provided an acceptance plan. Graves’ letter and discussion with Ben Sherman produced an estimated budget in the low six figures. "Ben is gonna itemize it," Speaker 4 said, adding the board will have to bring any required additional funds to town meeting.
Several members pushed back on requesting a large appropriation for a dead-end road used infrequently. Speaker 1 noted about $30,000 remains in a surety for the development and urged the board to consider using DPW’s recently purchased milling and paving equipment (capital purchases described at 'over a million dollars') to grind and patch the most damaged sections rather than asking taxpayers for a larger sum. "We're gonna ask the town for a 100 and something thousand dollars to improve the small cul de sac," Speaker 1 said, adding that in his observation the stretch sees very little traffic.
Board members discussed tradeoffs: whether to accept a larger, Graves-specified rebuild to subdivision standards (which would likely require a town-meeting appropriation) or to authorize a narrower, lower-cost repair funded with surety and DPW resources. Speaker 4 said he would seek a detailed budget from Ben Sherman for the next meeting so the board can make a recommendation to town meeting.
Speaker 1 moved that the board recommend acceptance of the road and the motion was seconded and carried. The recommendation will be forwarded to town meeting for final action and any funding requests beyond the available surety will require a town-meeting vote.
