BELGRADE — The Select Board on Tuesday agreed to sign onto the state Department of Transportation’s reconstruction of a half mile of Main Street in Belgrade Lakes Village.
Selectmen saw the agreement previously, but requested another meeting with the Ernie Martin, senior project engineer with the state.
The Municipal/State Agreement for the improvements to Route 27 calls for the town of Belgrade to provide an estimated $502,420.
That includes an estimated $60,600 for the municipal share of the work plus $441,820 — already raised by the nonprofit Friends of Belgrade Lakes Village — for 1,800 feet of brick sidewalk rather than bituminous and 37 sidewalk lighting fixtures.
In March 2017, Belgrade residents voted to accept nearly half a million dollars from the group for this project.
The Friends group conducted a fund-raising campaign and said that contributions came from “generous summer residents as well as year-round residents, not only from Belgrade, but from surrounding communities like Rome and Oakland.”
The municipal costs are to be paid in two installments, with half the money due in April 2018 and the remainder due at the end of the project in June 15, 2019.
At the selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday, Town Manager Dennis Keschl reminded the board that $40,000 had already been approved for the town’s share and that the balance would go before the voters at the 2019 annual Town Meeting.
Selectman Rick Damren said he was concerned about signing the agreement now when all the town’s share had not been approved.
“We’re talking taxpayers’ money,” Damren said.
However, another selectman, Ernie Rice, said there was no opposition to the $40,000 last time, and he did not anticipate seeing any the next time.
“I think the voters will more than likely approve $20,000,” Rice said.
Selectman Michael Barrett, who ran the meeting in the absence of the Board Chairman Gary Mahler, said, “Personally, I’d be willing to take that chance.”
Damren concluded, “If no one’s got a problem with it, I’m fine with it.”
The board then voted 4-0 to give Keschl authority to sign the agreement once Martin gets the precise numbers. The project went out to bid last week, and the bid opened in early March. Martin said the final amounts will be calculated shortly after that.
The road work is to begin early this spring, go on hiatus for the summer months when tourists and summer residents flood the village, and then pick up again after Labor Day.
The entire project, including preliminary engineering and right of way work, is expected to cost about $3.1 million.
Under the agreement, the town “will be responsible to keep new or replaced/rehabilitated pedestrian facilities in usable condition including snow and ice control” and replace or repair the filters in seven permanent stormwater treatment structures. The state is to be responsible for removing sediment from the structures, known as SiltPrisons.
Also on Tuesday night, selectmen approved an agreement with the Belgrade Lakes Association and the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance in which those groups agreed to purchase any filters needed once the 10-year warranty expires.
Charles Baeder, executive director of the conservation alliance, spoke on behalf of both groups Tuesday and urged selectmen to accept that agreement.
He said the filters are estimated at $1,000 each.
Route 27 becomes an isthmus when it runs between Long and Great ponds, an environmentally sensitive area.
The town also is responsible for operating and maintaining the sidewalk lighting.
Resident Jack Sutton asked who was responsible for shoveling sidewalks, and Martin told him that would be up to the town to create ordinances governing both that and parking rules.
Martin said the state would be responsible for striping the designated parking spots, something Belgrade has not had.
The reconstruction of a half-mile of Route 27 is one of two projects slated to begin this year in Belgrade. The other involves rehabilitation some 3 miles of Route 8/11 and is to take place this year.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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