TOPSHAM
Selectmen will hear details from the Maine Department of Transportation on plans to demolish the Black Free Bridge between Bridge Street and Mill Street in Brunswick during the board’s 7 p.m. meeting tonight at the municipal building.
Joel Kittredge with the MDOT bridge program will be on hand to share details of the demolition, said Town Manager Rich Roedner.
The town has received several calls from residents asking that the bridge be maintained rather than demolished, he said. The MDOT plans to tear down the bridge no longer deemed safe for vehicle or foot traffic, as a cost-effective alternative to repairing it.
Selectmen will also consider approval of the Topsham Fair Mall Watershed Plan that the town has developed with the help of consultants and a grant from the Department of Environmental Protection. There is a stream within the mall that has been identified by DEP as an urban impaired watershed and the town voluntarily decided to do the plan before it is made to develop one by the DEP or through a lawsuit, Roedner said.
The plan is expected to go to a town meeting vote by next fall or the following spring for voters to consider adopting as part of the comprehensive plan but selectmen’s approval tonight would let staff start to implement some of the less expensive recommendations in the watershed plan.
Roedner said the main issue found is chloride, or salt from the many paved surfaces, in the stream. Solutions could include better salt management, working with vendors who do salting and sanding, or catch basin work and redirecting roof draining into the ground.
The board will also consider approving the “Ice Storm Resolution” which would be sent to the federal and state emergency management agencies, asking FEMA to return to change federal disaster assistance rules, after Maine communities lost out on assistance after the last ice storm due to a change in interpretation of the rules, to a tune of about $11,000 in Topsham.
Selectmen will also consider approving a design for the 250th anniversary Commemorative Landscape at the municipal building, consider closing Elm Street during a controlled training burn of the former Amenity Manor building currently scheduled for this weekend, allowing the fire and rescue department to apply for a grant from Fire House Subs, and authorizing the town to submit a grant application to the Citizens’ Institution of Rural Design.
Topsham Development Inc. is also seeking board approval to redesign its website, at a cost of about $3,000 and it’s money TDI has. This work would allow staff to update the site themselves rather than just by the vendor, and add some features TDI has wanted to implement, such as a directory of available facilities.
There is also an update scheduled from the Memorial Day Parade Committee and a presentation by the American Cancer Society’s Brunswick Relay For Life committee.
A public hearing is scheduled on a general assistance ordinance with updated numbers set by the state.
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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