Salisbury considers road safety audit

SALISBURY — In response to a petition from townspeople about speeding in town and other road safety issues, First Selectman Curtis Rand told the Board of Selectmen that he will be asking the state Department of Transportation to perform a road safety audit.

Rand made the remarks at the regular selectmen’s meeting Monday, Sept. 9.

Rand said the last audit was done eight years ago, and concentrated on sidewalks and pedestrian safety.

He threw out some ideas for consideration, including median islands on Main Street (Route 44) in Lakeville west of the Route 41/44 intersection and at the other end of town, by the Lion’s Head housing complex.

He also floated the possibility of extending sidewalks around Lake Wononscopomuc on Routes 41 and 44.

On trucks and noisy brakes, Rand said “No one is against trucks.” He said the majority of trucks go through town quietly and lawfully, but “then there are these cowboys.”

Selectman Kitty Kiefer said she was about “ready to stand out there with a hair dryer and a piece of paper” to get drivers to slow down.

Rand announced that Jada Wilson has joined the Town Hall team, training to be the assistant town clerk to replace the current assistant, Kristine Simmons, who will be taking over as Town Clerk when Patty Williams retires later this year.

Rand said the elm tree in front of the Salisbury post office suddenly lost its leaves.

He said he sent samples in for testing and the tree does not have Dutch elm disease.

“So we’ll leave it until next spring and see if it leafs out.”

The Grove Street affordable housing proposal is not ready for town meeting yet, Rand said.

Another item for a future town meeting is an encroachment issue on Housatonic River Road, where a stone wall built by property owners Jane and James Cohan is sticking into the town’s right of way.

Rand said the town crew said “that’s a nice wall, it’s not in our way at all” and the solution will likely be for the Cohans to pay $10,000 for an irrevocable easement.

But the matter has to go to the Planning and Zoning Commission before town meeting.

The selectmen appointed Howard Sobel as a regular member of the Historic District Commission, and Arek Feredjian as an alternate, at the commission’s request.

Kiefer said she attended a recent meeting with local and state officials and experts on hyrdrilla. She said she was “horrified” at how easily the invasive plant spreads.

Rand, who also attended, said he had recently kayaked around Long Pond and saw no hydrilla.

He did see a lot of dog droppings by the car-top boat launch and tennis balls floating in the vegetation.

He asked the public to clean up after their dogs and to refrain from chucking tennis balls where dogs won’t go to retrieve them.