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Council backs $163,125 local share for Smelt Brook fish ladder project
Summary
Weimoth moved to fund its 12.5% share ($163,125) of a $1.3 million Smelt Brook fish ladder project designed to restore rainbow smelt passage; the Army Corps would cover most construction costs and local park staff would handle maintenance.
The Weimoth Town Council on Oct. 6 recorded support for a Community Preservation Act appropriation to cover the town’s 12.5% share—$163,125—of a $1.3 million Smelt Brook fish ladder project aimed at restoring passage for rainbow smelt.
Conservation Administrator Andrew Hton said the project is a next‑phase construction, permitting and design effort that follows a previously funded feasibility study conducted with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Hton said the Army Corps is expected to fund roughly 75% of the construction phase, with local sponsors covering the remaining 25% split between Weimoth and neighboring Brainree.
Hton described the problem as a perched culvert on Smelt Brook that creates a roughly three‑foot elevation barrier, blocking upstream spawning habitat the species historically used prior to 1970s flood‑control infrastructure. He said the town and partners plan to build a concrete fish ladder to create the flow conditions smelt need to move upstream.
On funding, Hton said, "The total project cost is $1.3 million and the town's portion of that, the 12.5%, would be $163,125." The clerk and councilors discussed the appropriation from the unrestricted account noted in the committee report; the Budget Management Committee recommended favorable action and the full council approved the committee recommendation on the meeting record.
A resident, Moren Golden, asked who would maintain the ladder after construction and who would pay for maintenance. Hton said Pawn Meadow Park staff currently manage the watershed and would be responsible for maintenance, which he described as likely periodic sediment removal and routine checks.
A councilor flagged a typographical error in the committee memo and clarified the target species is rainbow smelt (not rainbow trout), a correction incorporated into the record.
The measure was advanced with committee recommendation; the transcript does not include a roll‑call vote tally for the appropriation in the meeting minutes.
