Select Board allows residents to repair class 6 stretch of Moose Club Park Road under liability waiver; denies upgrade

The Goffstown Select Board on June 8 voted to allow residents to perform maintenance and paving at their own expense on the class 6 section of Moose Club Park Road, conditioned on a recorded waiver of municipal liability, and declined to pursue upgrading the road to town standards at this time.

DPW Director Adam Jacobson told the board the full upgrade for the entire stretch could be roughly $1.2 million for eight houses, while bringing the initial class 6 segment to town standards would likely run about $150,000, noting that a large portion of earlier estimates involved retaining-wall and wetland mitigation costs. "Probably talking about 150,000 to bring that first class 6 section to town standards," Jacobson said.

Board discussion highlighted the tradeoffs among four options staff presented: (1) petition to lay out the private portion as a town road with a betterment assessment, (2) declare an emergency lane (which limits cost recovery), (3) record a liability waiver allowing owners to maintain the class 6 section at their cost, or (4) do nothing. One resident said the public road appeared to end at one house and the private portion began at the next, and homeowners are unsure whether they would agree to pay a betterment.

Select Board member Josh moved "to allow the residents to perform maintenance and/or paving on the class 6 portion at their expense in exchange for recorded waiver of municipal liability" and also recommended denying the request to upgrade Mush Club Road to town status; Allison seconded the motion and the board approved it by voice vote.

The motion directs staff to prepare the recorded waiver and set clear standards for what maintenance work will be allowed under the agreement. Staff said they would bring a list of recommended standards and any necessary waivers back to the board for approval.