During their 3/17 session the Board of Selectmen heard received an update from the MWRA on the status of water main work. The good news is the work from Adams to Squantum is done and they will be repaving the road. The bad news is that there is plenty of work left to do going north on Adams through Milton Village, Lower Mills, and stretching west on Washington and River Streets as well as east on Adams past the Dunkin Donuts. “It won’t be pretty,” according to MWRA representative Mike Hornbrook.
“But this work has to be done,” he continued. He also thanked Milton residents for their patience to date. He acknowledged that the work was an inconvenience. He said the work to date was a “warm up” to work to be done in Dorchester. The work will be done in staged sequences commencing on or about 4/18. The work in Milton Village is targeted to be complete in May. Traffic heading south will be detoured; traffic heading north will pass through. This is due to the side of the street they need to work on the lay the new pipe.
It is the Dorchester side that will more troublesome. Washington Street will be closed completely in both directions from Adams to River Street which will result in traffic being rerouted over to Eliot and looping through Milton Village. The precise schedule is unclear but the MWRA will only work on one leg of the project at a time. Their goal is to have all the work done in this construction season (i.e. by November).
The MWRA will be holding an information session at 88 Wharf. (I did not hear them give a date but the community relations manager for our area is Len Cawley, 617-660-7972 – leonard.cawley@mwra.state.ma.us. You can find MWRA work here.) Town Administrator Mearn commented that the MWRA has been very receptive to public concerns and responsive to them. A related article, Lower Mills residents hear latest on water line rehab, recently appeared in the Dorchester Reporter.
Other business includedbut was not limited to:
The Board of Selectmen will submit an article for Special Town Meeting that would initiate the process of obtaining a liquor license for a new restaurant being proposed for 95 Eliot Street (Fallon Building). Given its history as a dry town, Milton needs to file a Home Rule Petition for any establishment that seeks a liquor license. The intent it to “get a six month jump” as Chairman McEttrick put it. This will be a single article in a warrant that will be dealt with in a special town meeting in concert with annual town meeting.
The restaurant is being proposed by Dan Kerrigan who was most recently General Manager at Chiara in Westwood. The restaurant would be in the large garage that is alongside / behind Cakes. The door faces the small parking lot off Eliot and the preliminary concept calls for the doorway to remain and would be open weather permitting. The restaurant will feature casual with seating of between 100 – 110.
The co-chairs of The Clebration for Education appeared to annucen their upcoming event, The Big Backyard Bash. You can learn more here.