Edgartown selectmen voted unanimously Monday to support a three-year pilot project on a short section of Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, that will include relocation of drainage systems, paving, and other improvements. Highway superintendent Stuart Fuller asked the board to endorse the project.
The preliminary plan is to use $500,000 in state highway funds in the first year, or Phase 1 of the project, to move drain covers out of the travel lanes, where they were positioned in a previous project to widen the roadway. The work will begin at the Edgartown town line.
Mr. Fuller said that most of the roadway’s structural defects stem from the drainage system, which are a driving hazard as well.
“Those drain covers, it makes you want to drive toward the middle of the road to get away from them,” selectman Michael Donaroma said.
Phase 2 of the project will be repaving about a mile of the roadway. Phase 3 will involve improving the adjacent bike path, and landscaping.
Mr. Fuller said refurbishing the entire roadway could take more than a decade, and cost more than $5 million, Mr. Fuller said. Selectmen voted unanimously to support the plan.
Also Monday, the board voted unanimously to tax residential, commercial, and open space property at the same rate, a continuation of the current policy.
Just an hour before the selectmen met, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue certified the town’s valuation at $7 billion, a $400 million increase over the previous valuation three years ago, principal assessor Jo-Ann Resendes told town leaders. Selectmen approved the new tax rate at $3.47 per $1,000 of assessed value, down from the current tax rate of $3.70.
The board presided over an unusual tree hearing at Monday’s regular meeting. It was a fairly routine request to cut down a shade tree and replace it with a new tree, except the property owner who applied for the permit was highway superintendent Stuart Fuller, who is also the town’s tree warden.
Selectmen must approve any removal of shade trees on public ways, and usually it is Mr. Fuller who advises them on the pros and cons of cutting down a tree, the health of the tree, and the species chosen to replace it.
Instead, Mr. Fuller asked an independent expert, Owen White of Beetlebung Tree Care, to evaluate the Norway Maple at his Cooke Street home. Mr. White described the tree as having multiple defects, including a thin canopy, insect damage, and dead limbs.
Selectmen quickly approved the request to replace the tree with new one of appropriate size.
“It’s always good to have an applicant who knows a lot about trees,” chairman Art Smadbeck said with a smile.
“Somehow, I think we’ll be better off,” added selectman Margaret Serpa.
Mr. Fuller was sad to see the old tree go. “I learned to climb trees in that tree,” he said.
Before adjourning, selectmen agreed to cancel next week’s regular meeting, originally scheduled for December 22.