Select Board delays vote on cutting plow service to 13 private roads

WAYLAND -- October 23, 2017, Wayland Select Board defers action on dropping 13 private roads from town plow list. The Board of Public Works, led by Chair Woody Baston, presented a draft policy limiting winter plowing to private ways that connect two public roads or serve more than three homes and can be plowed with no backing up. DPW Director Tom Holder cited driver safety, saying operating large trucks in reverse on narrow ways is "truly unsafe." Town Counsel Amy Kwesell of KP Law said state law bars spending public funds on private property except under Chapter 40, Section 6C. More than a dozen residents pushed back; Gil Wolin told the board, "Either no private roads or all private roads should be plowed." Ken Chase of High Rock Road said his neighborhood has paid about $1,200 per household each winter since losing service in 2015. The board separately voted 4-0 to extend the River's Edge due-diligence period to Dec. 31 after asbestos was found in a soil pile.