By Lisa Loomis
The only thing all members of the Waitsfield Select Board agree upon is that Joslin Hill Road is seriously degraded and in need of reconstruction. Board members do not agree on what should be done to the road and when it should be done.
The board will hold a hearing to take input from the public about the road on December 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Waitsfield town offices.
The board, at its November 24 meeting, discussed the road with road foreman Rodney Jones. At issue is whether the town will ask voters to approve bonding for a total reconstruction at Town Meeting 2015 or whether the board will propose a short-term fix.
The cost of total reconstruction has been discussed at previous meetings with a price tag of $1 million to $2 million. One of the short-term fixes being considered is to shim the road for $75,000, which will last between three and five years.
Earlier this year in September, the board voted to reject a state grant to assess the feasibility of improving pedestrian and bike access on the road by a tie vote that board chair Paul Hartshorn broke after stating his dislike of engineers. Board members Scott Kingsbury and Chris Pierson voted to reject the grant and board members Sal Spinosa and Logan Cooke voted against rejecting it.
"We've been telling people we're going to get to Joslin Hill Road for years and now the budget committee is recommending that we shim it and let it go another five years. We're going to throw money away on a shim that is going to break down in three years," Kingsbury said.
"Does the town have the money to rebuild that road right now with all the other things going on? If the answer is no, the shim is an option to give you five more years to get in a better financial position to do the job," Jones said.
"I think we have an obligation to fix that road and get it out to bid late this winter. We've got to step up our paving program. If we had paved Joslin Road 15 years ago maybe we wouldn't be looking at the need for a total rebuild," Kingsbury said.
"We have other expenses to consider and projects that are in the pipeline. Let's not dismiss this shim idea out of hand. The upside is that the road gets safer, it can be done fairly soon and be better maintained. We'll get a more usable road at a lower cost and in the meantime we can get some of these other projects behind us," said Spinosa.
"This is not the same as not rebuilding it. It was discussed as an option. It is dumping money down the drain because it is not a permanent fix, but it might be what the town is in a financial situation to do," Jones said.
Pierson asked about the option of tilling and plant mix to buy time, but Jones said that was not a viable fix.
"What confuses me is that we have the shim idea on the table, spending $15,000 for five years for a temporary fix of the road. It seems to me that spending that money for five years means that the last few years, the road is going to be rough. Then we're tearing up $75,000 to rebuild the road. Seems to me that we should just rip the bandage off and get the project done," Cooke said.
"We have to take a little consideration of those who are paying the tax bill," Hartshorn said.
"These people vote in a million-dollar town office and have all these elaborate sidewalks on both sides of the street. Our first priority is having safe roads. If we can have sidewalks and streetlights, we can have roads," Kingsbury said.
Town resident Pete Reynells said that fixing Joslin Hill Road has been discussed for the last 14 years.
"We were talking about this road before there was any discussion of the town offices," Reynells said.
Town administrator Valerie Capels reminded the board that the decision to pursue the grant to study the feasibility of improving pedestrian and cyclist safety had to do with neighbors concerns about possibly widening the road or shoulders as well as the safety issues. That work was wrapped into the grant which would have given the board some answers and projected costs in time for this year's budget work. When the board rejected the grant in September a citizens committee was supposed to work with Capels on the feasibility of improving safety while balancing the concern of the neighbors.
That committee's work had just barely gotten started and two members are gone for the winter.
"Here it is the end of November and the reality is that two key people are gone for the winter. How do we handle moving forward with a committee that can't meet?" Capels asked.
Kingsbury asked what would happen if he asked that North Road be widened, suggesting that only a handful of people expressed a desire to widen Joslin Hill Road to improve the safety.
"If I speak up and say I'd like bike lanes on North Road, are we going to have a committee and a plan? If I get five or six people to ask for North Road to be widened, will we get a committee?" Kingsbury asked.
Capels responded that the concern about safety on Joslin Hill Road was much more significant than five or six people.
"The decision was made to reject the grant and have a committee and a public process to agree on what would be done. It is the end of November and two key members of the committee are leaving," Capels said.
"Let's drop the steps and put the thing out to bid," Kingsbury said.
Cooke spoke up and suggested that the board hold a public hearing as soon as possible to discuss how to fix the road with those who live on it and are concerned about stone walls and trees, as well as those who are concerned about safety.
"It's a simple dirt job. I don't know why we're making it into such a big deal," Kingsbury said.
"You're going to have a problem if you widen the road and start cutting trees and removing stone walls," Reynells noted.
Kingsbury said one of the reasons he voted to reject the grant was because he felt it didn't take into account the concerns that people had over trees and stone walls. Capels noted that the grant was specifically written to include those concerns and to look at whether it was feasible to improve the safety by widening shoulders.
"That was included in the grant. Those people weren't going to be left out. I don't think it's appropriate to say that," Spinosa said.
"Let's move forward. Rehashing the past isn't going to get us anywhere. We need to leave here with some steps. We need a public hearing and we need to incorporate the ideas we get there and get it out to bid," Cooke said, which became a motion that was seconded and approved.
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