East Lyme to vote on road work

$990K for street repairs, bonding for basketball courts upgrade on tap

East Lyme — Residents will vote at a town meeting Wednesday on improvements to town roads, basketball courts, and rowing docks, among other items.

The special town meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

Residents will vote on bonding $150,000 for projects to upgrade the basketball courts at Samuel M. Peretz Park at Bridebrook and replace the rowing docks by the boathouse on Pattagansett Lake.

First Selectman Mark Nickerson said the town has patched and filled cracks on the highly-used basketball courts to extend their life, but they are now at a point where they need upgrades. The project entails installing new hoops and resurfacing the basketball court to last 20 to 30 years.

The docks by Pattagansett Lake, which are used by the high school crew program as well as commu-

nity members, have also aged and are deteriorating, he said.

Another item on the agenda is to bond $990,000 for repairs to town roads. Nickerson said the town typically sets aside $900,000 each year to repair roads and extend their life, but this year the town increased the amount to also cover projects that include rebuilding part of the parking lot at McCook Point Park and installing a sidewalk to join Lillie B. Haynes Elementary School and East Lyme Middle School.

Nickerson said the sidewalk would improve safety, since many students walk in the area, for example, to reach the youth center.

An appropriation of $34,405 for a dust collection system at East Lyme High School will also be up for a vote. The system is intended to better regulate temperatures and remove wood and dust particles created during shop classes, he said. He said the dust can get into the air and linger in the building and also reach computers in the vicinity.

The town is further proposing to replace the two police cars with the highest mileage for a total of $110,000 using money left over from the town’s 2016-17 vehicle acquisition program and transfers from other accounts.

Nickerson said the town realized significant savings this year when it purchased vehicles, so it now has leftover money that was appropriated in this year’s budget but hasn’t been spent.

Residents will also vote on a $50,000 grant from the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation to study shoreline resiliency, flood maps and infrastructure.

The Board of Selectmen will hold a public hearing, following the town meeting, regarding an ordinance to create a nine-person school building committee for the project to upgrade the town’s three elementary schools.

The committee will be comprised of the seven members of the Town Building Committee and two members of the Board of Education, according to the agenda. The school superintendent and the three elementary school principals will be ex-officio members.