Franklin St. residents get some assurance
Published on August 19th, 1998
STONEHAM,MA - Franklin Street residents got some comforting news at Tuesday night's Board of Selectmen meeting as a representative from New England Telephone and Telegraph assured that work on the roadway would be done within the week.
Some residents had appeared before the board last week, explaining their worries over further cuts to Franklin Street and the timetable of the proposed project, possibly coming after the repaving of the street.
"There's so much trouble there right now that we wanted some assurance," board Chairman Al Conti told the representative. "We don't want to have to pave it and then have you come through. We're concerned about that."
Everett Bryan, representing New England Telephone and Telegraph, told residents that, since permission was given by the board to do work on the roadway, a rush order would be put into affect by his company with regards to their concerns.
DPW Director Robert Grover explained that repaving work on the road is scheduled to be completed just prior to the opening of schools in the first week of September.
Board member Cosmo Ciccarello has been a firm supporter of Franklin Street residents in past meetings and continued to question the contractor for the Benjamin Terrace subdivision which has requested the installation of the telephone lines. He said that the contractor should have coordinated installation of cable television, gas and water mains, telephone lines and other utilities in a tight time frame. This would allow all work which needed to be done on the street to be completed at one time and would have required only one cut.
As it is, several cuts in the Stevens Street vicinity have taken place for this one project.
"The disruption on Franklin Street is ridiculous," Ciccarello said. "I feel for these people."
Bryan backed the selectman by saying that most contractors do coordinate the utility efforts.
He also assured the board that work could be done within the week. After that time, Franklin street in the Stevens St./Highland Ave. area will be repaved by the town.
oIn other board news, Grover told the board that three firms should be submitting bids on a study of drainage problems to the Sweetwater Brook.
Bids should be returned within 30 days, he said, at which time the board could decide whether it would like to appropriate a portion of the DPW budget to pay for it and recover the money through a reserve fund transfer, or ask for Special Town Meeting support. In a past meeting, it was theorized that such a study could cost upwards of $30,000.
"We want to have somebody on board here by October 1," Town Administrator Nutting ex-plained, possibly excluding Special Town Meeting action. "We want to get started on this ASAP."
Once the designs, intended to ease drainage problems incurred in areas adjacent to the Sweetwater Brook and to neighbors of the Bear Hill Country Club, additional funding would need to be appropriated in order for work to take place. Nutting estimated that the entire project could take three to four years.
"It's not going to be solved overnight," he said.
oDirector of Community Development Steve Sadwick and Interim Building Inspector Gene Argiro addressed the board and explained that they would be taking steps to clear up zoning bylaws and increase enforcement efforts.
They explained that new state mandates require the inspection of all buildings which are home to three or more families. About 270 such buildings presently exist in the Town of Stoneham, Argiro explained, which means a lot of man hours and a lengthy process.
Other code enforcements which the Building Department is already taking action on are requests for commercial vehicle owners to park outside of residential neighborhoods, requests for removal of fences and shrubs on corner lots which exceed 42" in height, requests for conformance with commercial sign bylaws and requesting that contractors renew building permits once they expire.
Sadwick explained that discussions are being held on wording changes in order to make the bylaws more specific and said these revised bylaws could appear in the October Town Meeting.
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