HUNTINGTON – Jill Gaitenby Eldredge of Tucker Road in Huntington came before the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday to ask if the town was committed to maintaining its historic scenic roads.
Jill Eldredge of Tucker Road in Huntington asked selectmen to recommit to its historic scenic road designation.
Eldredge said that she grew up on Tucker Road, and had ancestors in the area going back to the 1700’s. Her father, William Gaitenby started the Huntington Historical Society, of which she is a member. She said that Tucker Road and Sampson Road, both dirt roads, were designated as scenic roads at the Annual Town Meeting in May, 1994.
According to Article 19 that year, which passed 42 to 24, the designation was given “to preserve the natural character and physical appearance of said roads; and to instruct the Planning Board, in exercising its responsibilities hereunder, to take into consideration sound planning principles, aesthetic considerations and preservation of natural resources, as well as public safety.”
Eldredge said no other discussion was recorded. According to Mass General Law 15C, after a road has been designated as a scenic road any repair, maintenance, reconstruction or paving work done shall not include the cutting or removal of trees, or the tearing down or destruction of stone walls except with the prior written consent of the planning board, after a public hearing to be held prior to the work being done.
Eldredge said her two main concerns involved the widening of Tucker Road at her property frontage and stone wall, and whether the town is committed to maintaining its historic scenic roads. She said in the 1990’s, she moved the stone wall above ground and five foot back. She said the highway department under the previous superintendent gouged into the base of the former stone wall and removed stones from it, and widened the road for trucks.
Eldredge said she was concerned about her 200 feet of frontage and that the recreational value of the road has been diminished for walkers, joggers and horseback riders due to widening.
She said that more recently the DPW removed another two feet of bank in front of her wall, along with the fill that she had placed in it, in order to install a ditch for drainage.
Huntington Highway Superintendent Charles Dazelle said he did not take two feet of bank from the road, and there was still 5-6 feet from the stone wall to the ditch. He said the road has been the same width all the way down. He also said the road is all rock, and needs a good foot of gravel . “It’s complicated to do anything on the road,” Dazelle said.
Selectman Darlene McVeigh asked if the regulations would allow the road to be tarred.
Eldredge said the regulations state that scenic roads can be tarred, but half of the residents living there don’t want it, due to increased speeds. She said the speed limit should be no more than 15mph on the road.
McVeigh asked Dazelle when he was planning to go back up to Tucker for more work. He said the soonest would be in April of 2018. He told Eldredge he would be happy to get together with her then, and move the ditch out.
Chair Edward Renauld suggested that Eldredge get together meanwhile with the Planning Board to create a town bylaw for scenic roads, similar to one from Weston, MA that she had shown them. Selectman Karon Hathaway said she would be tagging onto Article 19 that was approved in 1994.
Renauld asked Eldredge to make sure she worked with the DPW on the bylaw. “It’s not just going to be for Tucker Road,” he said.
