Berlin to expand waterlines and make sidewalk, road repairs; session on Feb. 7

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Feb. 1, 2018) Town of Berlin officials on Wednesday, Feb. 7, will host a meeting to discuss upcoming Gay Street water and roadway enhancements.

Engineers from Salisbury firm Davis, Bowen & Friedel, Inc. will also attend the meeting, scheduled from 6:30-7:30 p.m. inside the council chambers at Town Hall.

Town Administrator Laura Allen said water improvements would expand the size of the lines on Gay Street, while roadwork would include installation of a sidewalk and some paving.

The Town Council in October approved a $36,000 design and construction proposal by Davis, Bowen and Friedel Inc. for water main upgrades.

Construction was estimated to cost $240,000. The town budgeted $40,000 for street and sidewalk work on Gay Street and the remaining cost will be taken from the water fund contingency.

Officials at the time said existing infrastructure could not meet the demands of new construction, namely a mixed-use building with storefronts on the ground floor and apartments on the second story. Accommodating fire-suppression systems was also said to be an issue.

“We are going to be having a meeting with the business owners and residents along Gay Street to give them a sense of the project and what we’re planning to do. We’ll also be prepared ato talk about the feasibility of converting it to a one-way street,” Allen said on Monday. “It’s not something the town is proposing as part of this project, but it did come up as a question from a couple different people – would we be able to have some additional parking if we converted it to a one-way street?”

Allen said there was no timetable yet for construction to start. That could depend on how the meeting goes and if any alterations need to be made to the project.

“The way these projects work is typically you do the design, in our case we’ll have the community meeting … then go out to bid, then you get the contractor and then you know when the schedule is,” she said. “It’s kind of hard to say at this point.”

Because Gay Street is relatively small, Allen does not expect a large number of people to attend, but said residents and business owners on neighboring streets were also welcome.

“We are including a wider group than just the few folks on Gay [Street], because the road is connected to other roads … and, plus, people might want to know what’s going on,” she said.