Clarksburg Board Trying to Settle Private Road Issue
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The Select Board is hoping to bring the users of a private road together next week to work through getting it fixed.
The half-dozen households along Gravel Bank Road say they don't have the wherewithal to make the repairs demanded by the town last month before it will plow.
And the early arrival of snow has them worried how it will affect their lives and businesses.
"I think this was not enough notice," a frustrated Sarah Klein told the Select Board last Wednesday. "In June, we could have come up with a plan but not in October."
Klein runs a daycare in her home and said the town's refusal to plow would have a direct effect on her customers. "I have parents coming in at 6:30 in the morning," she said.
Highway Foreman Kyle Hurlbut said he had sent letters two weeks earlier than usual to the residents informing them that the town would not plow if the road wasn't fixed by Dec. 1.
"We're asking you to patch the culvert and road," he said. "I've asked for two years for you to fix it."
Hurlbut said the town plows only two private roads, Gravel Bank and Demers Avenue.
Sarah Klein and her husband, Mark, said the burden of repairing the road or finding a private plower would fall on them because it would be difficult for their fixed-income neighbors to come up with the money.
"Why isn't the woman who owns the road fixing the road?" asked Klein. The Kleins say the road was fine when they bought their house two years ago.
Gravel Bank Road runs up over a hill from near the Senior Center off West Cross Road to near the four corners on Middle Road. The road is owned by Mary Krutiak and it runs up to the gravel bank and near her home on the west side. The homeowners have a right of way on the east side.
Town Administrator Carl McKinney said the late Ron Krutiak used to maintain the road but it's the responsibility of the owners of the rights of way.
"This year it should be on her," Mark Klein said, adding that the trucks running up and down on the Middle Road side to the gravel bank are what are ruining the road. "Why should she make money off the road and not pay to fix it."
The residents also said large trucks for the solar array at the top of the hill also go up and down the road. They pointed out that if the road wasn't plowed, the solar array operators couldn't get to their property.
Select Board Chairman Ronald Boucher said he didn't think the repairs would be as costly as the residents thought. However, he and board members Karin Robert and Kimberly Goodell voted to send a letter to all the residents, Krutiak and the solar array company advising them of the need for repairs to the road and asking them to attend the Nov. 28 meeting to come to a resolution.
Boucher said the town will also seek an opinion from legal counsel on the matter.
Robert also thought the town should no longer be plowing any private roads and suggested a decision be made in the spring to allow homeowners on those roads time to make arrangements. Boucher agreed: "I don't want the town to be plowing private roads anymore."
Boucher is Sarah Klein's father and will have to recuse himself from any vote.
In other business, the board opened the bids for new boilers for the school. The town is using its state Green Communities to pay for the heating system.
The only bidder was Adams Plumbing and Heating, which offered a price of $189,000 for a propane system and $129,000 for an oil system. The school currently uses fuel oil. The oil-fired boilers could be installed over March and April vacation, the company said. The board will review the bids before making a determination.
Tags: gravel bed, plowing, private road,
