The Board of Selectmen during its most recent meeting approved an approximately $20,0000 contract for more “bumpouts” on Elm Street.
The elected body voted 3-0 in favor of the $19,943.75 with Williams Stone Co. for the purchase of granite curbing.
The material will be used for sidewalk widenings or “bumpouts” on the southern side of Elm Street, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann.
It wasn’t clear from the meeting whether the work would be done directly opposite The Playhouse, where the sidewalk has already been widened and there’s a bumpout at the northern side of the crosswalk, or further down Elm Street near where Dunkin Donuts has moved. Mann did not respond to texts and emails seeking clarification and the selectmen did not ask follow-up questions of Mann.
A 2021 diagram showing the bumpouts (above) shows them on the southern side of Elm Street opposite the Playhouse and on both the east and west sides of the intersection at South and Elm.
Asked when the new bumpouts work will take place, Mann said “April, May.”
“And then we can come back in and pave, because it seems like everyone’s done on the street, thankfully,” Mann said during the Board’s regular meeting, held Jan. 28 at Town Hall and via videoconference.
He referred to utility companies that repeatedly dig up Elm Street.
The selectmen noted that Elm Street seems to get re-cut for some project or other as soon as it’s repaved.
Mann said in response, “The moment we pave it is the moment they’re going to cut it again.”
During the meeting, Mann said that the town went to two different suppliers of granite curbing for estimates, and noted that larger companies are starting to buy smaller ones.
“You’re starting to see a consolidation in granite curbing,” he said.
Elm Street has seen sidewalk bumpouts on the northern side, a result of positive response to increased outdoor dining during the pandemic.
First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of the contract with Otis, Mass.-based Williams Stone Co.