CHESHIRE, Mass. — The recent increase in rain has exacerbated an ongoing issue of flooding in the neighbors of West Mountain and Curren Roads. 

 

A few months back, a resident of West Mountain Road, Michael Lemanski, adjacent to Curren Road, complained about the runoff from Curren coming down the hill and into his yard. 

 

Over the years, the area's drainage system has changed. Initially, runoff would flow into the woods through a pipe on the right side of Curren Road, which then connected to a pipe on the left side, channeling water across the road and into the woods, said Corey McGrath, Department of Public Works director.

 

Then a garage was built and a pool was put in, so this system changed to a "strict 90" and ran it along the edge of the road, underneath the driveway, another 60 feet, then daylighted the runoff into a privately owned field.

 

"It's never worked. It's always been a problem. It overflows. It's not big enough. It goes down the driveway, and it cuts across his lawn, and washes out everything," McGrath said during the Select Board meeting on Tuesday. 

 

Now, McGrath is proposing installing a storm basin on the right side of Curren Road, pipe it farther down the road on the town's right of way, totally surpassing Lemanski's property, directing the water across the road, and then daylight it into that field. 

 

"Now, I don't know if we're removing one headache and getting another one, dumping it into that property," he said. 

 

Although previous owners of the private property agreed to have the water flow into the field, town officials raised concerns that the new owners will not, directing McGrath to obtain written consent from them agreeing to allow the runoff entering the property.