To hear the homeowners of Bennington Street tell it, last summer’s five-month long project to improve the storm drains and replace the water main on their street was a testament to the truth of Murphy’s Law. The construction crews cut through every kind of utility line, from the dangerous (gas lines) to the miserable (one family suffered a sewage backup that required a professional remediation team to clean and reconstruct their basement) to the almost ludicrous (low water pressure in the temporary water main meant interrupted showers and, in one case, an irrigation system that caused interior water damage because the sprinkler heads puddled when they should have sprayed). “It got to the point,” said one homeowner, “where you wonder, ‘Have these guys ever done this before?’”
The worst thing about it all, according to about a dozen homeowners who gathered last Thursday to share their feedback with town DPW officials and Select Board members, wasn’t the danger, or the inconvenience, or the fact that in an old road, construction crews cannot know the exact placement of 100 years of utility infrastructure. The worst thing was that they didn’t know what was happening when. “We had no communication after an initial letter,” said Tom Epolito. “We never knew which part of the street you’d be working on on any given day,” said Chris Lalonde. Homeowners didn’t know which days they wouldn’t be able to drive down the street, which days they wouldn’t have water, which days they couldn’t work at home because of the noise.
To the credit of the town DPW leaders who requested the meeting, it was clear they were there to take the feedback with the intention of changing the way these projects are managed and communicated. “It was not the greatest job of communicating our project and the status of the work,” Shane Mark, assistant director of public works, told the group. “We want to hear your take on what happened and what we could have done better.” The town engineers, along with Select Board Chair Kevin Keane and member Marianne Cooley, who is also an abutter, heard a good hour and a half of gripes, feedback and suggestions:
“My husband was told to drive on someone’s lawn to get out.”
“You should tell people if you have services such as trash pickup, those services will not be able to operate during the project.”
“When they hit a gas line, we found out from the neighbors.”
“We lost water at 9 one night. I thought it was just our house, but I went outside and other neighbors were out.”
“There’s a school bus stop at the corner, and the construction equipment would block the bus stop. The kids didn’t know where to go, and neither did the bus drivers.”
The project was one of the first of many planned as the town works to reduce the potential for flooding by improving the storm sewer system. Mark said there had already been staff meetings at which they discussed how and when to communicate with homeowners.
Marianne Cooley summed up what she was hearing: “Anytime a project is longer than maybe four weeks, there should be a community meeting. What will be happening should be laid out.” And as the project progresses, there should be regular updates — daily for those who opt in to regular communication.
“Don’t hold back,” one of the homeowners said. She suggested it’s better to know if something will be challenging or if there might be unforeseen issues. “And then thank us for living through it and taking one for the team to help the town with our flooding issues. It brings in the human element.”
If future projects show improvement, other Needham residents can thank Bennington Street homeowners for enduring the learning and offering the feedback. As one homeowner said, “It was a very inconvenient — dare I say miserable — summer.”
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