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Wilton Board of Selectmen updated on projects

WILTON – Several projects are progressing, Town Administrator Scott Butcher told the Board of Selectmen on Monday, Oct. 2: the Safe Routes to Schools program, the new scales at the Recycling Center, and repairs to the Stage Coach Road Bridge.

Butcher said he discussed the crosswalk near the police station with the Department of Transportation as part of the Safe Routes project. Because of the sharp corner around the Wilton Falls Building, which limits sight distance, it is considered unsafe.

“Maybe adding a pedestrian-activated crossing light,” he said. A warning sign on Island Street of an upcoming cross walk was suggested.

The object is to get more students to walk to school, he said. “Getting a sidewalk across the bridge on the other side of the street would help. It is all part of a redesign of the bridge at some future point.”

That redesign could be as much as ten years away, Selectman Kermit Williams said. “It has to be on the ten-year plan.”

The proposed pedestrian bridge from Forest Street to the River Walk Park was also a possibility.

Selectmen agreed that having safer sidewalks was a part of the recent design charette, and having the plan in place “could help get future grants.”

The new scales are at the Recycling Center, Butcher said, but the installation is not complete. The electrical work has been completed but the aprons leading to the scale are still being considered, whether to use concrete or asphalt. It is planned to have the work completed “before cold weather sets in.”

The Stage Coach Road bridge was found “to be a little rickety,” Butcher said. “The Wilkins Mill has cut the planks and some timbers,” he said. Next week, if all goes as planned, the deck will be stripped and replaced. “It’s on the list of short-term projects to be completed.”

Asked what would be done if the under pinning turns out to be worse than expected, Butcher said, “they will put in some steel.”

In other business, the board voted to sign an agreement with Nashua Regional Planning Commission to complete an economic study project and finalized a map of the proposed revitalization zones. The map was changed last week to remove development from the aquifer zone along Route 31 south. The plan only affects future development.

Selectman Kelli-Sue Boissonnault asked if “anything is being done about collecting unpaid ambulance bills.”

Butcher said, “We’ve talked to a few companies. We need to sit down and work things out – what direction we want to go. We need to find a new avenue.”

The uncollected money has been a concern of the Budget Committee.