The orange cones and gray gravel around Town Hall will soon give way to greener options. The Town Hall and Hildreth House Construction Committee discussed plans for landscaping the Town Hall grounds at its Feb. 22 meeting, and the consensus was to plant shrubs and flowers at the Town Hall entrance and exit and to plant grass around the base of the building. At its next meeting, the group plans to configure a request for proposals for the work, which will include installing a drainage system behind the building. Town Administrator Tim Bragan told the committee that the final cost of Town Hall will be known in the next few weeks, and he said he is confident enough money will be left in the budget to cover the landscaping and drainage work.
Fixing the paving around Town Hall will also be scheduled for the spring, and the committee hopes that the Department of Public Works will be able to do that work. When the paving is repaired, said Bragan, striping will be added to denote parking spaces and travel and fire lanes. He explained that parking next to the Town Hall ramp may be possible if the Fire Department does not need that space. The Fire Department moved its boat from the vault building next to Town Hall to the Quonset hut behind the fire station, and the vault is now housing a truck that requires a smaller turning radius than the boat and trailer did.
Bragan said that more signs and striping will be added to the large expanse of asphalt between Town Hall and the fire station to direct traffic flow, and a sign will be placed at the Ayer Road end of the Hildreth House driveway to designate it as the entrance to the Town Hall, Hildreth House, and fire station.
