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06/10/2015 12:00 PMSummer Open Space Work: Again this year, the Conservation Commission will use the summer months to maintain trails and improve access to the town’s open spaces.
Tom ODell, chairman of the Conservation Commission (CC), said the CC has hired two seasonal interns to help with this work. Starting on May 18, one college student started working for Stuart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge on projects that are jointly planned and managed by CC and refuge staff. The refuge staff also plans to help train the college intern.
The projects on which the intern will work include these:
1) “Coastal Birds…Getting the Word Out! Sharing Habitat with Wildlife in Westbrook, CT”, an education program to raise awareness of coastal bird species and public understanding of the need to share coastal habitat.
2) Serving as an island keeper on Westbrook’s Salt Island, a project sponsored by Friends of Westbrook’s Barrier Islands to protect nesting shore birds.
3) Develop a management plan for Salt Island.
Both CC interns will also work on trail management and invasive plant control tasks in the town’s open spaces.
ODell said the Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District is currently developing a management plan for the 186-acre Russo/Miele addition to the 35-acre Horse Hill Woods open space area. The current plan will serve as a model for the addition’s plan.
Now that Westbrook has received a $57,000 grant to improve multi-use access to Chapman Mill Pond Open Space from the state of Connecticut’s Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, ODell and Town Planner Meg Parulis are meeting with the town engineer on implementation. The Conservation Commission is optimistic that the new parking access the grant will fund will be done in advance of the fall hiking season.
Selectmen Approve Mulvey Roof-Repair Funding: At last month’s Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting, the BOS approved up to $9,000 for Silktown Roofing to make repairs to the Mulvey Center roof flashing, as well as to some shingles and to some masonry areas with the goal of eliminating roof leaks that developed this winter.
An inspection of the roof by Silktown Roofing found that, once these repairs are completed, the roof should have about 10 more years of life before it would need to be replaced.
Selectmen Approve Funding for Seaside Avenue Repaving: The town project to repave both lanes of Seaside Avenue was to have started and been completed this week.
Funding for the repaving work was contributed both by Southern Connecticut Gas (SCG) and by the Town of Westbrook.
Last summer SCG installed a new natural gas line along one side of Seaside Ave; as required, SCG paid to repave the one lane of the road that was disrupted by the gas line work. But this left Seaside Avenue, a road that was fully repaved by the town just five years ago, uneven and unsightly.
Through negotiations between the town and SCG, the two parties reached an agreement to repave both lanes of Seaside Avenue this summer. SCG agreed to contribute $166,500, and the Town of Westbrook agreed to contribute $29,960.
Paving equipment was supposed to arrive and work to begin last week. However, forecasts of rain were to delay mobilization of the paving equipment to Seaside Avenue until this week.
According to Public Works Director John Riggio, the paving contractor planned to be on site completing the repaving work earlier this week, starting on Monday, June 8.
The repaving project will extend from the Pilots Point end of Seaside Avenue to the Elks Club, where the road takes a sharp, 90-degree turn.