MONSON BOARD OF SELECTMEN
TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2003
The Board of Selectmen convened at 6:05 p.m. in the Conference Room at 110 Main Street. Ms. Norbut made a motion to go into Executive session for the purpose of discussing collective bargaining. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED. At 7:00 p.m. the Board of Selectmen returned to Open session for their regular meeting. In attendance were Richard E. Guertin and Kathleen C. Norbut. James R. Manning was absent. Also present were the Town Administrator and the Media. Town Counsel did not attend this meeting.
Ms. Norbut made a motion to accept the meeting minutes of July 29, 2003 Open and Executive sessions. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.
A hearing commenced at 7:05 p.m. for pole petition #7844 – Wales Road – for the installation of two new poles. Ms. Norbut read the petition into the record. There was no public comment or input. The Water/Sewer and Highway Departments expressed no objection to the pole locations. Ms. Norbut made a motion to accept pole petition #7844 as presented. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.
A public hearing commenced at 7:07 p.m. to consider the abandonment of maintenance on Howlett Hill Road. John Morrell, the Monson Highway Surveyor, Dana Pixley, the Hampden Highway Superintendent, Frederick Markham, the sole abutter who owns land on the Monson and Hampden sides and his nephew Patrick Markham who lives on Stafford Hollow Road here in town approached the Board of Selectmen. A son-in-law of Frederick Markham was also in the audience. Ms. Neggers stated this hearing has been advertised in the newspaper and the abutters have been notified.
Mr. Guertin reiterated for the listening audience that Monson owns 800 feet of Howlett Hill Road. The road runs from Hampden through Monson and into Stafford, Connecticut. There is no way to access this road from Monson without going through Hampden. Connecticut has recently abandoned maintenance on their portion of this road. Monson hasn’t maintained this road in over 30 years, however Hampden has graded Monson’s portion of it in order to reach a spot where their grader could safely turn around. Hampden thought they actually owned more of this road then they do due to a recent survey they had done on the boundaries. Because Hampden owns less than previously thought, they are no longer willing to continue with the upkeep of the portion that officially belongs to Monson, which is 800 feet and not the 200 to 300
feet they had previously thought, and are considering the abandonment of their portion as well. The Hampden Board of Selectmen have scheduled a hearing for the abandonment of maintenance on September 9th. There are no homes on the portion owned by Monson. A man who purchased land on the Connecticut side of Howlett Hill Road has approached both Monson and Hampden asking to either keep the road passable for him year-round or allow him to care for it due to the abandonment on the Connecticut side, allowing him access to his property. Mr. Pixley stated the road is maintained by Hampden seasonally with grading being done once during the summer and is only passable in the warmer months, as this road is not plowed during the winter. Mr. Pixley added that the Town of Hampden does currently maintain the culverts under their jurisdiction on this road. Mr. Guertin stated Monson has never done anything in regard to the upkeep of this road and therefore, Monson isn’t doing
anything differently than it has ever done.
Mr. Markham’s nephew, Patrick, stated he has worked for the Hampden Highway Department for the last 35 years. His understanding of the situation is there was a long standing agreement between Monson and Hampden years ago that Monson would maintain the lower portion of Stafford Road for Hampden by plowing up to Howlett Hill Road. This was a short distance of road that Monson would maintain for Hampden. Monson would plow it and grade it and in return Hampden took care of the short portion of Howlett Hill Road owned by Monson. Mr. Pixley added, for years neither Hampden nor Monson knew just where the Monson/Hampden town line was. It was generally believed that Monson owned 200 to 300 feet. Hampden recently paid for the engineering services needed to pinpoint the boundary so if there were an accident they would know
just which jurisdiction they were in. This survey told them that Monson actually owns 800 feet of roadway and Mr. Pixley said this became an issue, as this is a budgetary problem now. Mr. Pixley said Stafford Connecticut has agreed to abandon their portion of Howlett Hill Road due to liability reasons.
Mr. Markham stated for the last 53 years he has owned 50 landlocked acres of land located on both the Monson and Hampden sides of Howlett Hill Road, he is the sole abutter and added that this road does see a lot of traffic. Mr. Markham stated if Monson abandons the maintenance of this road, he would have to bring the road up to subdivision standards in order to build two houses there, one in Monson and one in Hampden, as he plans on doing in his retirement. Mr. Markham stated he has paid over $100,000.00 in taxes over the last 53 years to the Town of Monson on this property and that the Town hasn’t spent one penny on this road. Ms. Neggers stated according to the Assessors Field Card, the 50 acres of property are valued at $30,000.00 of backland. He has been paying taxes on backland, as it has not been valued as
land with frontage on a public way. Mr. Pixley added these lots might qualify as estate lots where maintenance would only be needed up to the house.
Ms. Neggers stated Monson has abandoned the maintenance on a number of roads. Sand Hill Road is one of the roads where maintenance was abandoned and subsequent to that vote it was developed and brought up to the town’s satisfaction and does not meet sub-division standards by any means. Therefore, Ms. Neggers said she would question if it would actually need to be brought up to sub-division standards or just to the towns’ satisfaction. Ms. Neggers stated Mr. Morrell has set the standards in the past that the developer must meet in order to bring the road up to town standards.
Mr. Markham’s son-in-law questioned if building could be done now as it stands. Ms. Neggers said this would be an issue for the Planning Commission.
Ms. Norbut asked Mr. Morrell if there are any other roads in Monson that are landlocked. Mr. Morrell stated no, not that he is aware of.
Mr. Morrell opposed the notion of maintaining this road, as maintenance there would be costly and nearly impossible to take care of during the winter. There are no guardrails by a very steep drop off making this extremely dangerous for his employees and equipment as well as any other vehicles passing on this road. Mr. Pixley stated Hampden and Monson could be liable for damages from a car accident if both towns don’t abandon the road and if not cared for properly by the Stafford landowner. Mr. Guertin added that dirt roads require constant maintenance. Ms. Neggers further added that the Town of Monson may have to pay tens of thousands of dollars on improvement on this road for a development that hasn’t yet occurred.
Mr. Markham’s nephew, Patrick, questioned if a chain could be placed across the road without actually discontinuing the maintenance, so as not to create a hardship for his uncle as bringing the road up to subdivision standards is financially beyond his means.
Ms. Norbut said she would like to know if Mr. Markham would actually need to upgrade the road to subdivision standards in order to build two houses there before she made any decisions. Ms. Neggers said she believed the road would just need to meet less-stringent town road standards, but advised the Board of Selectmen to seek Planning Board input for verification. Ms. Neggers also stated if the Town of Hampden votes to abandon the maintenance of Howlett Hill Road, Monson Board of Selectmen would probably have to follow suit. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to get there from here and you’d have a public way in the middle of the woods.
At 7:43 p.m. this hearing was closed from any further public comments and was discussed amongst the Selectmen. At 8:50 p.m. this hearing was declared closed.Ms. Norbut made a motion to table this discussion until such time when the Board of Selectmen will have written comment from the Planning Board regarding the standard the road must be maintained at for it to be buildable. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Guertin added he felt as though they were between a rock and a hard place, because if he seconded the motion it is delayed and if he doesn’t second the motion it is still delayed. So it is delayed either way. He wasn’t sure if he really saw the benefit of doing this as he doesn’t feel it is relevant to all of the issues discussed as to the maintenance expense, the liability the town would be taking on, etc. Mr. Guertin said the Selectmen’s Office will send a letter to the Planning Board stating if we abandon the maintenance of Howlett Hill Road, would Mr. Markham be subject to bringing the road up to sub-division standards if he wanted to build a couple of houses or would it be some other standard. Once the Board of Selectmen receive their answer, this will come back before the Board of
Selectmen for another vote.
The next item on the agenda was to approve the Green Street Infrastructure bid award. Ms. Neggers stated this is a Community Development grant funded project. Craig Jalbert, John Morrell and Paul Bracciotti have reviewed this and the recommendation is to award the bid to Jack Goncalves & Sons Inc. of Ludlow. Their bid was $423,805.00, which includes a 5% contingency fund of $21,190.00. The project will replace 2,700 linear feet of water mains and service connections on Lincoln, Green and Bridge Streets as well as Squier Avenue. New catch basins, sidewalks and curbs will also be installed along Lincoln and Green Streets and five fire hydrants will be added.
Ms. Norbut made a motion to award the contract for the Green Street infrastructure improvement project to Jack Goncalves & Sons Inc. of Ludlow for the sum of $423,805.00. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.
Ms. Norbut made a motion to commit up to $13,000.00 in program income, toward the contingency of funding for the Green Street Infrastructure Improvement Project. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.
The next item on the agenda was to approve the issuance of a letter of intent, to the DEP, regarding the Water Supply Protection District Zoning By-law. Ms. Neggers stated this is essentially at the request of the Water Department. The Water/Sewer Department and the town are in the process of submitting a monitoring labor application for the public water supplies, as currently this doesn’t meet the Source Protection criteria. The Water Department needs to submit a letter of intent from the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Health, stating the Town of Monson intends to adopt or amend, as needed, their water supply protection zoning and non-zoning controls to be consistent with Massachusetts well head protection regulations 310 CMR 22.21 sub-section 2. Changes to local controls must be accomplished by October 2004.
Ms. Neggers spoke with Linda Hull on Tuesday, August 26th, and the Planning Board is in the process of working on this. They have prepared the water supply protection district bylaw amendment and it is ready to go froward to a public hearing in October for subsequent Town Meeting acceptance or denial.
Ms. Norbut made a motion to develop a letter of intent from the Town of Monson stating we intend to adopt and/or amend as needed, our local water supply protection zoning and non-zoning controls to be consistent with Mass Wellhead Protection Regulations 310 CMR 22.21 sub-section 2, with changes to local controls accomplished by October 2004. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Guertin said the School Department has entered into an agreement with the Scantic Valley YMCA to lease space at Hillside School for the YMCA to operate a before and after school program. Mr. Guertin said the Board of Selectmen had hoped to review and sign the leases tonight, however there were some changes being made and they are currently being reviewed by Town Counsel. Mr. Guertin said the Board of Selectmen are going to wait for the leases to be finalized, have a chance to look at them and wait for Town Counsel to bless them. Then they have every intent, as Selectmen, to sign these leases prior to September 1st, the effective date of the leases. Ms. Neggers stated she received an e-mail from Mr. Albano this afternoon stating they have finalized the language on the leases.
Ms. Norbut made a motion to authorize the signing of the leases for the YMCA, which will be housed at Hillside School, contingent upon the final approval from Town Counsel and no objections of the Board of Selectmen after reviewing said contracts, prior to September 1, 2003. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.
Correspondence was read and completed.
At 8:20 p.m., Ms. Norbut made a motion to adjourn the meeting from Open session to go into Executive session for the purpose of discussing pending litigation and CDBG confidentiality matter (Housing Rehab. Recipient), not to return to Open session. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.
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Kathleen C. Norbut, Clerk
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