City Set to Take Over Maintenance of Developer-Built Streets

Haverhill city councilors are being asked Tuesday to formally accept five streets, serving subdivisions, as public ways.

Following October recommendations by the Haverhill Planning Board, City Engineer John H. Pettis III is seeking acceptances of Mayflower Lane, Hammond Farm Road, Ruth Circle, Old Yankee Road and Crystal Court. Planning Director William Pillsbury Jr. also recommends acceptance of the streets as construction bonds “have been reduced to a zero balance.” According to city orders submitted to the council, to accept each street is “appearing that the common convenience and necessity require it.”

“(The) Roadways were part of new subdivisions approved by the Haverhill Planning Board and were constructed in accordance with an approved definitive plan. A bond was posted as surety that the improvements were constructed in accordance with the approved plan,” Pillsbury said. “By virtue of the fact that the bond has been reduced to a zero balance as recommended by the city engineer and that all as-built plans have been reviewed and approved by the city engineer; and that the legal description of the roadway to be accepted have been approved…then as required by the state subdivision control law the city council has been requested to the (above) streets as public ways.”

One criteria the state uses to provide annual road aid to communities is the total number of miles of streets under the city’s control.

Council action was postponed on Nov. 10. Mayflower Lane and Hammond Farm Road are located off North Broadway and Broadway, respectively. Ruth Circle is located off Crystal Street. The acceptance of Old Yankee Road falls within “Phase II A” of the Village Woods development.

Also the council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on a special permit modification request to add more apartment units under a “partial renovation” to ground and first floor levels at Viewpoint at Bixby Crossing, 170 Washington St. Plans include three new ground floor studio units and another four on the first floor, by renovating two existing units, according to documents from architecture and planning firm Cube 3 Studio LLC, Lawrence. The plan would also add a one-bedroom unit and remove a sole three-bedroom unit from the existing 120-unit, 12 story structure.

The Haverhill City Council meets at 7 p.m., Tuesday, in Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. Council Chambers at Haverhill City Hall.

2 thoughts on “City Set to Take Over Maintenance of Developer-Built Streets

  1. Things aren’t looking so great for the viewpoint. Having to renovate and construct new units..I’d say that the luxury living in downtown will be going the way of the “great Renaissance”
    Management tried to keep it upscale but it appears that it will become rental property… Yikes