{"id":41077,"date":"2022-10-20T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=41077"},"modified":"2022-10-20T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T10:00:00","slug":"sterling-looks-to-avoid-redoing-paving-utility-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2022\/10\/20\/sterling-looks-to-avoid-redoing-paving-utility-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Sterling looks to avoid redoing paving, utility work"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Jan Gottesman <\/b>
\nLandmark Correspondent<\/i><\/div>\n

STERLING \u2013 The downtown renovation project has been around for so long that Town Administrator Bill Caldwell felt it was necessary to update the Select Board and the public on where it stands.<\/p>\n

At the Oct. 12 Select Board meeting, Caldwell said that while Weston and Sampson was awarded a contract in February to engineer some of the sidewalk and street upgrades near the park, at a kickoff meeting May 18, the conversation turned to drainage and the water main.<\/p>\n

No one wants to do work, like burying utilities and repaving, and then have to dig it up to make other needed work.<\/p>\n

So officials have applied for a grant through MassWorks to help pay for engineering to replace the aging water main and \u201cfigure out where drainage goes, where things might have to be moved, and maybe get out of the rights of ways and easements on private property,\u201d Caldwell said.<\/p>\n

The contract awarded to Weston and Sampson in February was for $119,000. The added design work could cost an additional $135,000, he explained.<\/p>\n

There is already a survey for the plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cSterling Municipal Light is holding off on burying utilities so they don\u2019t get in the way if we have to do water main or any other drainage,\u201d Caldwell said. \u201cIt does not matter as much in certain areas, but it is going to matter in other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caldwell said if the town does not get the grant, it might use some of its federal ARPA money for the water main work.<\/p>\n

Once it comes time to bury utilities, Caldwell said they have the money to bury the Verizon lines, but not Comcast. The local light department will work on the electrical lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe purchased light poles for when we get to that,\u201d the administrator said. \u201cWe have conduits, but don\u2019t have money if we have to do the water main, the road and the sidewalks. Some things can happen quickly. Other things will take some time and more money to fully complete the project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Select Board member David Smith said he wants it \u201cone and done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s do it once and do it right,\u201d Smith said. \u201cNothing gets me angrier than having to rip some some freshly\u201d paved work.<\/p>\n

Select Board Chair Maureen Cranson said that while the project has been \u201ctalked about forever,\u201d and there is still work to do, there is now a strong team working on it, including Caldwell, DPW Superintendent Ryan Mouradian, Sterling Municipal Light Manager Darren Borge, Patty Page from the planning department, and the new planner coming on board in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a great team, and I have faith moving forward,\u201d Cranson said.<\/p>\n

In other business, Cranson noted the passing of 105-yearold resident Ken Day.<\/p>\n

Day died Oct. 5. \u201cHe was the vibrant heart of town,\u201d Cranson said. \u201cHe was the most interesting man to sit down and talk to over the past few years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STERLING \u2013 The downtown renovation project has been around for so long that Town Administrator Bill Caldwell felt it was necessary to update the Select Board and the public on where it stands. At the Oct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}