Town proposes new access to Crocker
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

The town is working to take the next step in the development of the Crocker Pond Recreation area, which is the construction of a new road for the property.

The Board of Selectmen is overseeing the approval process of a new road for the recreation area, which will run behind TRW off State Road East.

"We can't put a cost on it right now until it goes through the Conservation Committee so we can see what they want," said Selectman Thomas O'Toole.

The proposed road, which was engineered under money appropriated in 2005, is before the Commission for review.

The proposed road will run close to the discontinued Depot Road at a close to parallel track to the railroad tracks before cutting towards the pond near the Frog Pond and entering the parking lot from the north.

"The town doesn't own the access that is there now," Town Coordinator Karen Murphy said. "Bob Francis retained ownership of the dam and the bridge. Everyone agreed it was better as an emergency access. It was always the intent of the town to pursue that other access."

Residents currently access the recreation area from the south on a small road that runs off South Ashburnham Road.

The town is deeded the rights to use the bridge in perpetuity but O'Toole said a "gentleman's agreement was made" that the town would be a second access, which would be used as the main access road. He said a timeline was not established in the deed because the timeline for the permitting process is undeterminable.

The road and the bridge are too narrow to have an emergency vehicle pass a car.

O'Toole said the town has been in contact with the state Department of Environmental to make sure all of the requirements are meet. There are also discussions with the rail company to determine if the town can get an easement across some of their property so less wetlands are disturbed.

Murphy said in the past there have been discussion about funding the project through gravel removal along one of the hills located on the property. She and O'Toole agree this could still be a possibility but no details of it have been discussed yet.