Public forum to be held on reuse of highway barn site
By Caitlyn Kelleher Journal Reporter

The Central Street location was once used as a railroad station depot for the train running between the center of town and South Ashburnham. The site now houses the highway department.

Bob Fitchel, the chairman of the Focus Group, is hoping to gather a group of interested parties for a few hours on a Saturday morning to design a future for the Highway Barn area of town.

The Focus Group is hosting a two and a half-hour session on Saturday, March 17, from 9:30 a.m. to noon to help determine the future of the 4.5- acre parcel. The session will be held at the Joseph R. Curry Academic Center at Cushing Academy.

"We have a member for the Boston Society of Architects coming to facilitate this," Fitchel said.

The goal after the meeting is to draft a request for proposals for the land to give to developers, Fitchel said. There are many options on the table at the moment including housing, businesses, a recreation area, or any combination of those.

"It is a unique piece of property," he said. "It's the largest undeveloped land in the center of Ashburnham."

The meeting is being held as part of collaboration with the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance. Town officials have already met with alliance members and are now ready for public imput.

The meeting will allow everyone to walk the site during the first 30 minutes, then participants will break into small groups before reconvening as a single group.

Town officials have been working for years to determine whether to relocate the highway department's headquarters, which is located on Central Street in the center of town.

Fitchel said the group has completed a rough drawing/plans of what the facility will need to look like and house. Those plans are now being reviewed by DPW director/Town Engineer Don Ouellette, Fitchel said.

Officials and voters haven't yet made a decision about where the department will be relocated.

"We have a couple of pieces of property but they both have their problems," he said.

The Focus Committee's goal is to bring plans for both the relocation of the building and the new use for the site to the annual town meeting in 2008.

"We don't want to have any surprises for the voters and the taxpayers," he said. "We're trying to do all the homework."