Input needed on street improvements

To All Residents of Brookfield:

A Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) in the amount of $800,000 has been received by the Town to construct a new water tank adjacent to the existing standpipe on Draper Street. The contract for the construction was awarded to Natgun Corporation and will begin as soon as the weather allows.

An application for a new CDBG grant is currently being submitted to make major improvements to Central and River Street with Merrick Avenue as an alternate.

The proposed projects are as follows:

Central Street from Route 9 to River Street: Installation of granite curbs for the entire length; new water mains where needed; new drainage manholes and catch basins; new top coat of pavement; re-building of the driveway entrance at the Elementary School and new asphalt sidewalks with curb ramps for wheelchair accessibility.
River Street from Route 9 to the end of the recently completed road to Lower River Street: Project installation of new water mains; new drainage system; resetting of old granite curbs; the addition of new curbs where none presently exist; removal of buried cisterns; widening of the travel way by the Mall and reconstruction and repave the road.

Merrick Avenue (entire length if funding permits): Installation of new water main, new drainage system; new top coat of pavement
Your comments are sought. Please address them to the CDBG Advisory Committee, in care of the Board of Selectmen, 6 Central Street, Brookfield, MA 01506. Thank you.

Brookfield Board of Selectmen

Library land feedback wanted

To the Editor:

The Board of Selectmen and the Board of Library Trustees would welcome input regarding the following property purchase.

The Board of Library Trustees is very interested in the purchase of 4 Lincoln St. property which is adjacent to the Merrick Public Library at 2 Lincoln St. The asking price for the property is $225,000 for .38 acres with an 1,800-square-foot house.

In 2000, the Library Building Committee, after gathering statistics of library usage, established the need for Brookfield’s public library to expand. We then submitted a Construction Grant to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) in 2002. The architect’s plan was for a new building with an estimated cost of $1.7 million. The Advisory Committee then informed the Library Building Committee the town could not afford to fund this project. The Construction Grant was then withdrawn from the state. This process cost the town $20,000. A matching grant of $20,000 from the MBLC brought the total to $40,000 spent on plans. This procedure was dictated by State formulae or requirements.

The need for the library to expand has not diminished, in fact, usage continues to increase. On Tuesday, the library average gate count is 95 patrons with 150 outgoing items circulating in a six-hour period. This count has doubled since 2000. The opportunity to expand the library’s services to an annex is very appealing and a fraction of the cost of expansion or building new.

Reminder—A Town Meeting vote is required to purchase or sell property.
The Board of Selectmen and the Board of Library Trustees invite your comments and opinions. Please send them to the Selectmen’s attention at 6 Central Street, Brookfield, MA 01506

Brookfield Board of Selectmen
Board of Library Trustees

Wetlands, the Un-fragile Buffer

To the Editor:

The most valuable asset that wetlands have is the fact that they are
extremely resilient, contrary to the way that the Department of Environmental Protection would have us all believe.

Controlled tests have proven that burning a wetland does not harm it. In fact the plants and animals in a wetland area that has been burned are healthier and more diverse than in similar wetlands that were not burned. The "poor, ignorant" Native Americans knew this hundreds of years ago when they habitually burned the swamps. The small amount of ash generated by these fires made the water slightly less acidic than it was before-which is also good.
Cutting brush and trees in a wetland also does no harm since it lets in the sunlight promoting new growth that is fodder for a myriad of creatures that live in these areas. Note that an old tree is a rarity in a swamp and mature brush that is ten feet tall furnishes no fodder for anything except beaver. Burning this cut brush in a wetland again slightly reduces the acidity of the soil and water.

The regeneration of vegetation in a burned or clear cut wetland takes place in the first growing season so rapidly that it is hard to believe. In fact, by mid-season hardly a trace of burning is visible and we have all seen that happen.
However DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME because you will most likely be assessed a fine by our protectors, namely DEP.

Wilfred A. Steadman
Brookfield