Brentwood committee backs $500 DOT application to seek second Route 125 driveway as design advances

The Brentwood Municipal Complex Committee voted to recommend that the select board authorize a $500 application to the New Hampshire Department of Transportation to seek a second driveway right on Route 125, a move aimed at preserving options for the proposed municipal complex and police station.

The committee heard a preliminary design update from the Turner Group and civil engineers, who said the immediate next steps are a property survey and geotechnical borings to clarify site grades, soils and seasonal high groundwater. Aaron Lambert, civil engineer with Wilcox and Barton, said the primary site issues the team will address at the concept stage are "site circulation, pedestrian safety, ADA accessibility, and storm water." The designers advised the committee to plan alternate site orientations depending on whether a second Route 125 access becomes available.

A town presenter who summarized a call with Roger Appleton, the District 6 New Hampshire DOT engineer, said Route 125 is a DOT-controlled limited-access right-of-way that currently carries one granted curb cut for the parcel. The presenter said DOT allows a process to acquire an additional access that begins with a $500 deposit and, if DOT is willing, proceeds to an appraisal and potential purchase of the access right. "It can be a significant sum of money," the presenter said, noting recent comparable access approvals of roughly $70,000–$132,000 as examples and characterizing the larger administrative/planning timeline as roughly eight to 12 months.

Committee members asked whether applying for a second access could trigger mitigation requirements such as turn-lane construction. The presenter said the driveway-permit review requires a survey, a trip-generation memo or traffic-engineer input, and a DOT scoping meeting that determines whether a full traffic study or specific mitigation (for example, a left-turn lane) is necessary; some mitigation could be required even if the town re-permits an existing access rather than adding a new one.

Given those uncertainties, the committee voted to ask the select board to file the DOT surplus-access request so the town can determine whether acquiring a second access is feasible and what costs or mitigation DOT will require. A motion to request that the select board move forward with the driveway application process was made, seconded and approved by voice vote (three 'Aye' responses recorded).

The designers and committee also discussed documentation already on file: earlier test pits reportedly reached about 9 feet with no ledge and seasonal groundwater roughly 8 feet down, but the team advised locating and reviewing any existing soil/test-pit records to decide whether to re-do borings or test pits. The design team is aiming to have an estimate by the end of the year to support a warrant article and the town's deliberative schedule; the plan would reserve November–December for bidding and seek administrative reviews in January, a deliberative session in February, and a vote in March.

Next steps the committee recorded include scheduling the survey (Fieldstone was named as the surveyor under contract), pursuing any needed geotechnical borings, confirming the legal status of existing access via town records, and asking the select board to approve the $500 application fee so the DOT process can begin. The committee also agreed to prepare a brief newsletter blurb soliciting volunteers to fill a committee vacancy and to add Chuck, the town building inspector, to the committee email chain.

The committee is expected to revisit project information at its July meeting as the design team develops concepts and the survey work proceeds. If the town proceeds with the surplus-access request, it will still need to complete a separate DOT driveway-permit process that evaluates sight lines, traffic generation and any mitigation required.