ADAMS -- Town officials are moving ahead with projects at the Albert's Hardware property, as well as with a road improvement plan for Kearns Lane, according to Director of Community Development Donna Cesan.
"We're working with town counsel and an attorney representing the property owner, and want to have an easement plan ready to go for a Selectmen's meeting in early April," Cesan said. "Now the bidding documents are being finalized and readied for the demolition project."
The project calls for more than $200,000 in remaining 2011 grant funds to be used to tear down three dilapidated buildings at the site -- a two-story frame house, a barn and a three-bay brick and wood garage -- and install a 14-space 6,100-square-foot parking area there.
"Basically, since it's private property, the tentative agreement we've made with the owner is he will grant the town an easement for a period of thirty years, and the town will provide grant funding to demolish the three condemned buildings and use the funding to rehabilitate the property and create public parking."
Some of the project funds will go toward hiring a subcontractor specializing in remediation, due to hazardous materials, like asbestos and lead paint, that need to be cleared from the site.
Cesan says the owner of Albert's Hardware, Ronald Clark, of Cheshire, favors the proposition and is working with the town to be included as a project in the 2012 Community
Clark declined to comment on the project Tuesday.
According to Cesan, the town has discussed potential uses for the building with Clark, and two ideas include dividing the former store into three separate retail spaces, or making the entire building residential.
The parking lot is slated for completion by early this summer, and the town is working with the Department of Public Works to coordinate a Kearns Lane road improvement project for around the same time.
"We want to use Chapter 90 money to improve the street by repaving and doing some drainage upgrades," DPW Director Thomas Satko said. Hill-Engineers, Architects, Planners, Inc., of Dalton, is engineering the project, Satko said.
"It's intended to be a very attractive improvement, and an asset for the surrounding neighborhood," Cesan said.
Font Resize
