Middlebury Capital Plan projects abound

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Roofers install slate tiles on Shepardson Community Center. They also repaired and repointed the chimneys. (Marjorie Needham photo)

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

Work on Middlebury Capital Plan projects approved by voters in November 2016 got off to a quick start this year and has continued throughout the summer. In almost every part of town, residents can see projects under way. The most obvious projects are the roofing of Shepardson Community Center and Town Hall. But roads are being repaved and, in some cases rebuilt, and improvements also are being seen along the Greenway and in town parks.

As can be seen in the photo above, workers have nearly completed installing the slate tiles on the roof at Shepardson Community Center. Removing the old roof and carefully preparing the roof for the new tiles took a month or so, but now they are laying the tiles, the work seems to be going quickly. The same company rebuilt the two chimneys on the building and also are cleaning, repointing and sealing brickwork there.

The picture below shows the same roof just a day earlier and gives a feel for how rapidly tiles can be installed. Black roofing paper shows where workers have yet to place the tiles.

Public Works Director Dan Norton reported Aug. 1 that resurfacing projects on Freedom Road, Green Hill Road and Bristol Drive were complete. He also reported nine streets had been micropaved: Senior Drive, Woodside Avenue, Richardson Drive, Larchmont Avenue, Highwood Road, Curtis Farm Road, Cross Road, Abbott Farm Road and Breakneck Hill Road, and work on rebuilding Porter Hill Road and Waters Drive had begun.

Perhaps the most visible smaller projects are those along the Greenway and at Middlebury parks. They started with removal of a number of problem trees and undergrowth. When this was done at Volunteer Park at the corner of Regan and Middlebury Roads, the area initially looked somewhat bare, but Parks and Recreation Director Betty Proulx assured people the work would open the area up and highlight the park itself. She cautioned folks to wait and see the finished work.

She said in an interview earlier this week, “It’s opened it up. It’s not as secluded. It made the whole area brighter.” And what initially was a bare area on the Regan Road side of the park has been planted and mulched. Proulx said George Hale of Hale’s Woodland Gardens planned and installed the plantings.

Over at Meadowview Park, the pathway from the front parking lot that meanders by the ponds has undergone extensive improvements. Trees and undergrowth were removed there, too, both along the path and on the other side of the brook. Roots from the trees closest to the paved walkway had grown under the pavement and caused it to buckle and crack in places, making the pathway hazardous for walkers.

The bridge crossing the brook was removed and a new one put in its place. With the old paving removed, contractors are preparing to install new pavement on the walkway.

At Ledgewood Park, the Veteran’s area is being repaved. The tennis, skate park and basketball court resurfacing is underway and Proulx said that is about three-quarters complete.