Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure Wright Road topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Wright Road residents press town over drainage, bond and winter plowing after developer walks away
Summary
Residents of the Wright Road development pressed the Brookline Select Board to explain reduced bond funds, a drainage failure that left storm ponds clogged with silt, and who will shoulder winter maintenance and emergency access while the road remains unaccepted.
Chair of the Brookline Select Board summarized a yearlong dispute over Wright Road, saying the developer walked away before finishing drainage and paving and the town called the road bond to finish the work. The town engineer previously reduced the bond to about $55,600 after assessing completion needs; the drainage problem — sediment and debris in retention ponds — was identified later and has raised new costs and questions about who must maintain the road this winter.
Residents said a town attorney’s letter that asked them to arrange winter maintenance has left them concerned about liability and emergency access. “If the road is not cleared, who is responsible?” asked resident Steve Mullen, urging the board to clarify how emergency vehicles would reach the neighborhood. Fire warden Bill Atkinson warned that a cistern at the top of Wright Road is a life‑safety priority and asked whether the town can guarantee access if it refuses to plow the road.
The board said the bond funds are currently segregated and can be used only to finish the road. The chair told residents the town has an estimate of just under $21,000 to restore drainage function but that estimate does not include dewatering or full paving; the full cost to bring the road up to town acceptance standards remains to be determined. The board pledged to provide documentation on the bond reduction and the drainage assessment to residents and to seek additional cost estimates for both drainage repairs and paving.
Board members described the legal constraint that plowing or maintaining a road implies acceptance of that road. “If the town plows a road, we therefore accept the road,” the chair said, explaining why town crews will not perform winter maintenance until the drainage and paving deficiencies are corrected or until a formal acceptance process is completed. The town outlined the formal acceptance path: planning board review followed by select board action; acceptance can occur between town meetings and is not limited to a town meeting vote.
Residents asked whether litigation to force the developer to perform could be pursued; the board said that is an available but longer path. In the short term, officials said they will prioritize producing the engineering records that underpinned the bond reduction, solicit additional contractor estimates for drainage and for paving, and improve communication to residents about next steps and timelines.
The board closed the item by promising a packet of documentation to be shared with Wright Road homeowners and committing to more frequent updates.
