Rugged town parking lot due for repaving

The town’s main municipal parking lot, which runs in front of its office building and the Public Safety Building, is going to be torn up and replaced.

At several Selectboard meetings in recent months town officials expressed concerns about the parking area, which is old and has severe dips and curves in it.

Most significantly there is no space in front of either building for ADA-approved parking spaces, Selectboard Chairman Andrew Livernois said Saturday. “A lot of the grading has to be changed because we have handicapped spots that aren’t wide enough or level enough, and you need to have a path to the door that doesn’t have too much grade.”

At several recent Selectboard meetings both residents and town leaders have spoken about the dilapidated parking area with a touch of humor. But it was no joke two years ago when the town office building was flooded after a severe rainstorm. At first officials feared it was due to a major pipe collapse in the building but workers eventually figured out that a drainage pipe at the rear of the structure that was meant to move water off the steep hill behind the building into a drainage area, was simply plugged up. The pipe was unplugged and a temporary correction was installed to redirect the water flow around the building and on to the road drainage system, Livernois said.

At about the same time a culvert that runs underneath the parking lot which was also designed to drain water flowing off the hill collapsed, creating a “sink hole” directly in front of the Fire Department garage bays, Building Committee Chairman Jeff Jenkins said Saturday.

Livernois said the town was able to “patch” a repair for the problem to put the area back together but officials would like to do better while the paving project is ongoing.

“We repaired that (culvert) but what we’re starting to see is another one of the pipes that runs between the two buildings is developing problems,” Jenkins explained. “So it’s probably a good idea to replace that (drainage) system as well.”

When the problem was first seen in front of the Fire Department some people thought the whole culvert system beneath the parking lot had collapsed, Town Administrator Bruce Kneuer said. “But I don’t think it’s failed. Otherwise you’d have a collapsed parking lot.

“But we’re thinking we’ll have it replaced while it’s dug up,” he added. “It’s 17 years old.”

The entire paving and drainage project will cost the town about $60,000, Kneuer reported.

“And some of that is just to remove all of the old asphalt we know of today, and re-grade the areas to comply with handicapped parking space for each of the buildings,” said Jenkins.

At a recent Selectboard meeting, Town Administrator Kneuer said that with all the other major projects the Department of Public Works (DPW) has on its schedule at this time — most importantly, improving town roads that were also severely damaged by the harsh weather in recent years — it was unlikely DPW Director John “Hub” Hubbard and his crew would be able to take on the parking lot project this fall.

“Hub has been authorized by you (selectmen) to get H.E. Bergeron Engineers (of North Conway) to have the land survey work done — to set the grades and then have them designed and have them put together a set of plan,” Kneuer said.

He asked the board for permission to follow through by contracting paving firms that would bid on the work.

The members agreed unanimously.

Later the administrator said he understood the project to include all the paved areas the town complex facing Rte. 132 — about 300-feet long — back to the rear of both buildings. “It’s for every bit of asphalt from the edge of where the police cars are parked to the other side of our (town office) building,” he explained.

Kneuer said he hoped the project could be started before the winter. “Our goal is to try and get to try and get it done by the fall. At least put on a base coat of asphalt and maybe a top coat next spring.”

But on Saturday Livernois said he thought the town would be unable to meet the deadlines necessary to make that happen. “I’m thinking now it will be done in the spring.”

The $60,000 estimated costs for the parking lot project was approved by voters at last year’s Town Meeting so no additional tax money is expected to be needed at this time.