Access Road Feasibility Under Study

An ad hoc committee looking at building a temporary access road from Rockwood Road to the Freeman-Centennial School grounds off Boardman Street has divvied up tasks among members to see if it’s feasible to build the road.

Selectman Jim Tomaszewski, who ran the first meeting of the committee this past Wednesday night, emphasized that whether to build a permanent access road isn’t on the committee’s agenda.

“We’re here to look at this purely as a construction access road. This is not a permanent road. If anything happens with that a year or so from now, that’s a different story. We’re chartered just with trying to look at the possibility of coming up with an access road for this construction process, which would be up to about two years in length,” Tomaszewski said.

The access road has stirred up a storm because some town officials say it’s necessary and some residents are dead set against it.

Supporters of a permanent access road say an alternative access to the school grounds is needed in case of an emergency and that such a road could help divert traffic from Boardman Street, which is heavily congested in the mornings and afternoons.

Supporters of a temporary access road during construction of a new elementary school to replace Freeman-Centennial worry about the safety of children and others while hundreds of trucks are coming in and out of the work site off Boardman Street.

Residents of Ware Drive, Malcolm Street, and Geneva Avenue are against both a permanent and a temporary access road out of concern over the effects on their homes and neighborhood. If the access road were connected to Geneva Avenue, it could make the neighborhood a cut-through instead of a cul-de-sac. Residents are also worried that existing flooding would get worse.

Town officials have gotten a cost estimate of $110,000 to build a temporary gravel road during construction. Tomaszewski said he was impressed with the level of detail the architect provided him recently to justify the cost estimate. The amount covers site preparation, earth work, grading, and about $15,000 for fencing and gates so the road can be closed off.

But it remains unclear where the money would come from.

Town officials say they don’t have money in the town’s operating budget that could be used to build either a temporary or a permanent access road.

It’s theoretically possible that local officials could use a portion of the $36.9 million appropriated to build a new school for the access road.

But town officials would need permission from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which is providing about half the money for the project and which has oversight over it.

The Norfolk School Building Committee’s consultants have said it’s unlikely the state authority will approve the access road because the school project is already at the 8 percent maximum cost for site work the state has set for the project.

During a selectmen’s meeting July 13, Selectman Jim Lehan floated the idea of approaching state officials to reconsider allowing the school appropriation to cover the cost of the access road. Lehan said the right pitch might persuade state officials to allow a way “that would create the funding source to be able to provide an access road.”

Lehan suggested that Town Administrator Jack Hathaway could be authorized to make the approach to state officials, though he noted it’s a decision for the Norfolk School Building Committee.

“What is the harm to making that approach?” Lehan said.

Since school building projects often include generous budgets for contingencies, it’s not uncommon for school projects to come in under budget, which in the past has allowed school building committees in many towns to make substantial additions to a project as it nears completion.

But Beth Gilbert, a member of the School Building Committee, noted during the ad hoc access road committee meeting this past Wednesday night that the building committee was planning to cut on the order of $1 million from the project late this week. “So the notion that there would be sufficient funds at the end of the project, or at the beginning of the project, to commit to that is highly unlikely,” Gilbert said.

Tomaszewski acknowledged the money problem alone could kill the access road.

“I think our charter is to find is there a possibility of doing this. If we can’t, we can’t. One of the toughest things to do is find the $110,000,” Tomaszewski said. “… We don’t have $110,000 sitting around anywhere. So we’re going to have to be very creative in how we try to do something.”

Access road committee members are also studying whether the frontage on Rockwood Road is wide enough, what the effect on public safety would be of building versus not building the access road, estimates of truck traffic from the construction project, the groundwater and water table in the area, and the costs and other practical considerations of maintaining the road.

The committee includes a Boardman Street resident who supports the access road as a way to relieve pressure on Boardman Street and a Malcolm Street resident who opposes the access road over concerns on the effect to her home and neighborhood.

The access road would go through Bicentennial Park between Norfolk Grange Hall and a home on Rockwood Road.

Among the items committee members are studying are the impact of an access road to the Grange and the home on Rockwood Road; and the impact to homes on Boardman Street if the access road isn’t built.

Town officials for the most part are in favor of at least a temporary access road during construction, chiefly out of concerns for safety.

Robert Bullock, the town’s building commissioner, said during the access road committee meeting that an access road is needed during construction because of the tremendous amount of material coming onto the site.

“I’ve expressed from the beginning that I think there’s going to be a lot more traffic than a lot of people realize through this neighborhood,” Bullock said.

He estimates that close to 22,000 yards will be brought onto the site just for the building and 4,000 to 8,000 yards for the septic system.

“You’re talking about an awful lot of material that’s going to be coming into this site,” Bullock said. “The tractor trailer trucks are going to be coming in pretty much nonstop at least for the first few months. So given that — and these trucks are going to be rumbling past all the classrooms — I think it would behoove us to get it away from the school as much as possible, even though the construction of this is going to be right up tight to the back section of the school anyways. But there’s a lot of material to be brought in there. And to be bringing it all through that neighborhood I think is going to be excessive.”

Remo “Butch” Vito, the town’s public works director, said he expects the “hundreds and hundreds” of trucks needed for the school project would worsen the condition of Boardman Street and also jeopardize the old water main that runs under the street.

“I think the deterioration of Boardman Street might be speeded up by this project, and then that’s going to be a cost back to the town to repair it when it’s all done,” Vito said.

The next meeting of the ad hoc access road committee is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, August 5.

The committee is expected to meet a third and final time in mid- August to finalize findings and recommendations to selectmen.

Town officials are hoping to make a decision about the access road in time to include it or rule it out for contractors bidding on the school project, which they hope gets under way in earnest in October. The new elementary school is projected to open in September 2012.