Erving Select Board takes conservation parcel, advances road bid by eminent domain vote

ERVING — May 11, 2020 — Erving Select Board votes unanimously to take Mount Grace conservation parcel by eminent domain and approves $40,000 culvert engineering contract. The three-member board, chaired by Jacob Smith and meeting remotely under pandemic open-meeting rules, closed out a multi-year effort to transfer parcel 4-0-79 from Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust to town ownership for conservation and recreation purposes, with both legal teams agreeing the Chapter 40, Section 8C taking provided sufficient protection. The board also signed a $40,000 agreement with Weston and Sampson for Wheelock Street culvert retrofit design and permitting under a previously secured $64,000 Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant. A final review of bid documents for the River Warner and Stretching Street roadway and ADA improvement project — carrying a base estimate of $745,035 against a bid-document figure of approximately $823,000 — was deferred one week pending cost clarification. The board additionally voted to reopen its Annual Town Meeting warrant to add special legislation authorizing a formal name change from Board of Selectmen to Select Board, describing the move as "more inclusive of everyone who may and will serve on the select board in the future."