Voters at the annual Town Meeting will be asked to make Falcon Crest, Pine Knoll, Deer Run and Lauren Lane official town roads.
SOUTHWICK – Voters will be asked to accept four private roads as public ways at the May 17 annual Town Meeting so that the town will be able to make $50,000 to $75,000 in repairs to the drainage system with state road maintenance funds.
The four roads – Falcon Crest, Pine Knoll, Deer Run and Lauren Lane – are located in the Pine Knoll 2 and 3 subdivisions constructed by Anthony Liquori.
Department of Public Works Director Jeffrey A. Neece said during a recent selectmen’s public hearing that storm run-off from Deer Run cascades onto the property at 21 Pine Knoll Road creating “big problems.”
“The only way to fix it is if we accept the roads and use Chapter 90 funds to do the work,” he said.
Planning Board Chairman Douglas A. Moglin also said during the same hearing that one of that board’s goals is to get the roads accepted because “the developer is not willing to fix (the problem) at this time.”
He added that the board met with Liquori, and both agreed that to take the case to court would further delay the much-needed repairs because the issue would then be tied-up in litigation, costing more money than what is needed to complete the work.
“We’re looking at this economically,” Moglin said. “It would be long and costly to litigate. The more we looked at it, the more it didn’t make sense to litigate.”
The Pine Knoll subdivision, he said, is “more than 15 years old, and it’s hard to go back and ask the developer to fix the problem.”
“One of my missions is to move these along, so later on the Planning Board and Board of Selectmen are not in the same position we’re in now,” Moglin said of road acceptances in general.
The original performance bond posted by Liquori, said Town Planner Marcus Phelps, was “several hundred thousand” that was returned in increments as work was completed.
“As roads get built and pipes get put in, the bond is reduced,” Phelp explained. “It should only take a couple of years to get a road accepted.”
A town bylaw, Phelps said, requires a new road to be in place for one year “to make sure it stands up to the elements. Then the developer can request that the road and other infrastructure by accepted.”
“As time goes by, things change,” he said. “Regular wear and tear, traffic and freezing and thawing (damage the roads).”