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Residents urge board to preserve dirt roads, cite wells and livestock risks
Summary
Multiple residents urged the Hillsdale board to pause chip-seal work and to include road-surface decisions in the town's comprehensive plan, citing groundwater, wetlands and livestock-safety concerns and asking for independent technical review.
Several speakers used the public-comment period to urge the board to delay pavement or chip-seal authorizations and to include road-surface policy in the town's comprehensive-plan review.
"If there are enough residents that are interested in keeping some roads unpaved, that would be a part of that comprehensive plan," said John Barone, an attorney for the Hillsdale Dirt Roads Association, who recommended postponing board action until the master-plan process concludes. Other commenters raised technical and environmental concerns: "Pumpkin Hill Road is a...walk through nature...it neither justifies nor necessitates a paved surface," said Joshua Horwitz.
Vanessa Johnson, whose property adjoins part of Lockwood Road, said chip-seal oil could leach into fields and wells and that faster traffic on sealed roads would threaten cattle. "This is gonna not only be dangerous, it's completely unnecessary," she said, asking the board to preserve Lockwood Road in its current condition.
Residents and commenters requested more detailed engineering plans, vendor quotes, and audits of previous work on Texas Hill Road so the board can assess impacts before approving further surface work.
