Concerns raised over culverts, road damage

SHARON — A discussion that became heated at moments took place between  residents of West Woods Road No. 1 and the Board of Selectmen at the board’s meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 13. The discussion involved issues the residents had with work the town recently completed on the road.

Earlier in the summer, the town installed culverts and drainage ditches along the road to allow for better drainage of water that frequently collects on it. 

Ice and water issues had become major problems and were creating safety issues as well as costing the town significant amounts of money on a yearly basis to maintain the road. 

With these issues in mind, the board met with an engineer early in 2014 to determine a plan of action. After review, the engineer recommended cutting away the sides of the road to give the water someplace to go instead of collecting on the road. He explained that while the road would initially look like it was widened, eventually vegetation would grow back along the sides, returning the width to that of the original road. 

He also explained that the road currently had between 20 and 30 culverts, of which six had completely failed. The failed culverts were allowing water to flow down the road, which created massive amounts of erosion along it. This erosion was in turn creating extra work for the town each year to properly maintain the road.

At the Jan. 13 meeting, John Carlson was designated as the spokesman and representative for the residents and presented the board with the group’s issues with the town’s work. 

The problems, he explained, fell into four categories: compliance with the Scenic Roads ordinance; road hazards; compliance with Inland Wetlands and waterways ordinances; and drainage on private property. Pictures taken on Dec. 27 of the problem areas were also shown by John Van Der Tuin, to support each of the issues

The first set of issues involved the town’s compliance with the Scenic Roads ordinance. The basis for a road to be designated a scenic road was determined by the Board of Selectmen in April 2000. To qualify, a road should have surroundings that include stone walls and/or mature trees and should be no more than 20 feet wide. 

Carlson said the objective of the Scenic Roads ordinance is to “preserve to the highest degree the aesthetic, historic and rural characteristics of the road.” 

In the process of installing the culverts and drainage ditches, he said, the town widened the road in some places to as much as 22 to 35 feet. With this widening, significant portions of vegetation that were growing along the side of the road had been removed. 

The work had also exposed roots of bordering trees. 

This created a greater challenge for the trees to survive as well as a potential safety hazard for passing cars with the threat of these trees falling down across the road.

The next set of issues involved road hazards that had been created by the installation of the new drainage systems. Carlson explained that the culverts and ditches that had been dug were immediately adjacent to the road and were extremely deep. 

This created the potential for safety issues with cars possibly driving into them. 

Van Der Tuin illustrated the depth with pictures of people standing in the ditches. He then explained that, according to state statute, the town is liable for improving hazards that are created along or on the roads.

The third set of issues pertained to compliance with Inland Wetlands ordinances. The majority of the road falls into the jurisdiction of the Inland Wetlands Commission due to its proximity to surrounding brooks. Carlson explained the new drainage had directed water in a way that caused erosion past the culvert as it flowed across land before flowing into a nearby brook. A picture of the eroded land was shown to illustrate this point.

The final issue involved drainage of water onto private land. The direction of the drainage system had caused a surrounding piece of private farmland to become flooded.

After hearing a response from the members of the board on their reasoning for the work done, Carlson then explained that the group was not looking for immediate solutions but to acknowledge the problems and discuss them with the three members. He then presented several requests from the residents.

The first request was for the scheduling of a meeting between the selectmen and a small group of the concerned residents. The purpose would be to recognize and discuss the issues and possible solutions going forward. All three selectmen agreed to meet; however, Selectman Jessica Fowler expressed the desire that the meeting be public, explaining the board would not meet privately with the group.

The second request was that the board refrain from any further alterations to the road until a meeting could be held and solutions could be determined. The three selectmen explained that continued maintenance to the road was required to ensure public safety. All three then expressed an inability to comply with the request due to differing definitions of alterations to the road.

The final request was for each selectman to “go and see” the site and the issues that were being discussed. Carlson asked each member to walk the road and seriously look at the problem areas for themselves.

The discussion concluded with the agreement that a date for a special meeting in which the residents and the board could meet would be determined in the near future.