Special Town Meeting

The special fall town meeting has not yet been scheduled, as of this writing. A sub-committee is working on the logistics and date. For up-to-date information, visit the town website, www.ashlandmass.com.

Yard Waste Pick-Up: Through November 23

Waste Management will pick up yard waste (grass clippings and leaves) on Mondays from the homes of Ashland residents that are enrolled in the town’s solid waste and recycling pick-up program. Collections begin on Monday, Oct. 5 and end on Monday, Nov. 23.

Yard waste should be placed in brown paper leaf bags or barrels that are clearly marked “YARD WASTE” and should be out at curbside by 7 a.m. on the morning of collection.

Downtown Construction Begins in November

Over the summer town officials have been working on closing a significant funding gap when bid proposals for the downtown redevelopment project came in over $3 million more than the estimate provided by the engineers from BSC Group, according to Town Manager Michael Herbert.

“Strategies to reduce this gap include removing some items from the scope of work and performing them in-house, similar to what we did with Mill Pond Park,” Herbert said. “We are also looking at non-taxpayer funds to help close this gap. One of those funding sources is an additional MassWorks grant, which we submitted earlier in the fall and which we hope will be funded later in October or November. Our state delegation consisting of Senate President Karen Spilka and State Representative Jack Lewis are important allies in this endeavor, and I want to recognize and thank them for their support of this project.”

Herbert added, “Our target is to still break ground on the undergrounding part of the project in November. While weather is always a factor during the colder months, the reduction in traffic due in part to COVID make it the ideal time to do this work as it will have minimal impacts to both residents and businesses.”

Ashland’s Public Safety Building Design

The Public Safety Building Committee (PSBC) met in early October with consultants and Bill Savage of the Design Review Committee. The purpose of this meeting was to review construction plans. 

The building concept has a traditional design, similar to Southborough’s public safety building. The building materials include light red masonry brick for the lower portion, with lighter red brick throughout the remainder of the building. Metal standards will also be used throughout the building, along with black trimmed windows. 

According to the town manager, the PSBC was dismayed to learn that Fafard Real Estate has still not transferred the deed for the donated property to the town, despite the town meeting all of its obligations under the Gift/Donor Agreement signed in 2018 and accepted by town meeting in November of that same year. 

Select Board member Steve Mitchell said he anticipates the PSB to be on the upcoming town meeting warrant. For updates, search @ashlandpsb on Facebook.

Joint Public Forums Held

The Public Safety Building Committee and the Mindess School Building Committee held a joint public forum on Oct. 10 at the Stone Park Pavilion to discuss building updates. This was the second forum to be held. For more information on the public safety building, visit www.ashlandmass.com/756/Public-Safety-Building-Project, and on the Mindess School building project, which is scheduled to break ground in late fall of 2021 and open to students in September 2023, visit mindessschoolbuildingproject.ashland.k12.ma.us, or email [email protected].

Uses for the Valentine Estate

The Valentine Property Committee, according to Town Manager Michael Herbert, has taken ideas from similar projects in neighboring communities over the year and from the October 2019 community forum to come up with a list of uses that the property could serve, such as a performance space, a farm-to-table homestead and restaurant, a bed-and-breakfast, and a community farm. “After costing out alternatives, these plans are prohibitively expensive for the Town of Ashland to do alone, as just restoring the property structurally would be a multi-million dollar endeavor,” Herbert said in a written statement.

The committee will try to put together a public/private partnership, joining with the not-for-profit or for-profit sectors to create a viable and self-sustaining community asset. To that end, the committee will enlist the help of Assistant Town Manager Jenn Ball and Economic Development Director Beth Reynolds to draft a request for proposals to see if there is interest from outside entities to help develop the partnership.

“As practically all the proposed uses are commercial and educational, the property will require a zoning change as the current zoning allows residential only,” Herbert said. “An ‘overlay district’ for the Valentine property is being drafted to help achieve that vision. Both the zoning change and potentially the disposition of the property will require town meeting votes.”