Neighbors Oppose Improvements

To Wildcat Road

By Steve Bigham

Residents in the Plumtrees section of town turned out at Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting to voice concerns over a proposed subdivision off Wildcat Road.

Builder David French recently purchased 20 acres of land along an unimproved section of Wildcat Road and is proposing to build six homes there to be accessed off nearby Sturges Road. Under that plan, the majority of Wildcat Road would remain as is.

An alternative plan, however, calls for the paving and upgrading of an old section of Wildcat Road, which is used by residents as a nature trail. Some town officials, who hope to extend Wildcat Road as a through road to Plumtrees Road, favor this second plan, according to Mr French.

Mr French favors the first plan and in a September 5 letter to residents, he suggested that they might want to get involved.

“It would appear that the selectman’s proposal might have a detrimental impact to your property and may be of concern to you,” he said.

He was right. Many residents attended this week’s meeting to urge town officials not to recommend a plan that would adversely affect the existing properties. First Selectman Herb Rosenthal assured residents that the selectmen had not taken a position on the issue at this time, pointing out that neither Joe Bojnowski nor Bill Brimmer were even aware of the proposal prior to this week’s meeting.

Monday’s meeting was only to discuss a road improvement agreement. No action was taken. The proposed plan will ultimately need the approval of the Planning & Zoning Commission.

“We as a neighborhood value and use this unimproved portion of Wildcat Road as a recreation trail for hiking, biking, and horseback riding,” said Bob Eckenrode of 7 Wildcat Road. “It currently contains a variety of native plants, trees, and old stone walls. We feel now is a good opportunity for the town to preserve this portion of Wildcat Road as a scenic trail and incorporate it into the town’s current greenways plan of development,”

An unimproved road is one that is no longer plowed or maintained by the town. The section of unimproved road at the upper part of Wildcat Road is said to have trees growing in the middle of it and has never been traversed by motor vehicles.

Mr Rosenthal said the town has not taken an official position on the matter at this time, although Public Works and town engineers say they favor paving the old section of Wildcat Road for safety reasons.

“We don’t want another cul-de-sac up there,” explained Town Engineer Ron Bolmer.

The Board of Selectmen is expected to reexamine the issue at its next meeting October 1.

Residents of Sturges, Wildcat, Plumtrees, and Taunton Hill roads attended this week’s meeting.