Business owner asks for historic bollards at 53 Main Street after curb-jump crash

The Chair brought forward a citizen request for "historically appropriate safety measures" at 53 Main Street, the Town Pool location, after a vehicle jumped the curb and damaged a building. The business owner, Sean Du, supplied a late-19th-century photo showing posts in front of the site and asked the board to consider installing similar bollards at that single location.

Commissioner (Speaker 4) said she would not support installing bollards along the entire street but found the historic design in the photo preferable to modern horse-style posts: "I do like the design in the historic picture much better than the horse. Much, much simpler." Commissioner (Speaker 5) cautioned that many locations along Main Street are similarly vulnerable and that placing barriers everywhere would be costly; she suggested multiuse options such as concrete benches that could double as seating and vehicle barriers. "You could have monuments all the way up and down Main Street," she said, noting the risk of proliferating hardscape measures.

Speakers agreed that targeted measures at high-risk locations could be appropriate, but they expressed concern about precedent, equity and cost if bollards were applied widely. The Chair and commissioners discussed next steps rather than taking immediate action; no motion or vote was recorded. Burns noted that staff had sought design funding at the recent town meeting for a related section of Pleasant/Main Street and that the county process previously selected a two-way option through public outreach.

The board did not make a final determination. Staff will consider the request and may return with design options and cost estimates for specific vulnerable locations along Main Street.