Selectmen’s Corner

By Matt Riiska

We are finally starting the reconstruction of two bridges, the Mountain Road bridge over Norfolk Brook and the River Place bridge over the Blackberry River.

The Mountain Road bridge work will have started by the time you read this article. Mountain Road will be closed from Route 272 to the Battell-Stoeckel Estate’s Gridley Gate during construction. The ball field and the Gridley Gate entrance to the estate can be accessed from Westside Road. Please obey the rules for the Battell-Stoeckel Estate. No cars are allowed on the estate except during performances, and please walk only in designated areas. Also, please do not walk in or around the construction site. The Mountain Road bridge project has a planned completion date of Sept. 30.

Construction of the River Place bridge will start on April 1, with a planned completion of Nov. 30. The work will allow for one-way traffic over the bridge during the construction process.

There have been a lot of questions regarding the acceptance of household organic waste at the transfer station, and we are working on this. As we get closer to an agreement on the solar array at the landfill site, we are looking into moving the area where brush and leaves are dropped off. When we establish a new location for those items, we will be working on incorporating an area to drop off organic household kitchen waste that can be composted.

Starting in mid-April, we will accept textiles that can be recycled. There will be two bins next to the trailers for appliances, electronics and other items. The bins are being placed there by Baystate Textiles. Please check out their website for more information. Textiles account for 4 percent of the items going into landfills by weight. By removing our household kitchen organic waste and textiles, we will be making a significant reduction in the number on tons of waste we ship out of Norfolk each year. At a cost of $111 per ton to dispose of our municipal solid waste from our transfer station, this could add up to significant savings, and we are helping our environment.

The work on the new plaza and decking over City Meadow is progressing nicely. The City Meadow Committee will be disbanding once the work is completed in late spring, and a new group, Friends of the Meadow, will be formed. The new group will oversee the maintenance and upgrades going forward. To kick this off, there will a meeting on Saturday, April 16, at 9 a.m. at Town Hall. If you are interested in helping to shape the future of the meadow, please attend.

Spring is here, and we all know there is always a lot of cleanup to do. Norfolk cleanup day is scheduled for Saturday, April 23. Meet at the Hub at 9 a.m. It never ceases to amaze what kind of stuff gets discarded along the sides of our roads.

Take care & stay healthy.