Proposed Projects Aim to Solve Marblehead's Drainage Woes

At a Selectmen's meeting Wednesday night, members of Marblehead's Water and Sewer Commission presented board members with a step-by-step plan aimed at preventing the kind of flooding and ponding that local residents dealt with during .

The presentation, entitled "Pleasant Street Drainage Study," outlined the commission's three-year plan to increase pipe capacity, replace aged or leaky culverts and reconfiguring pipe layouts along the highly-trafficked roadway.

After a short PowerPoint presentation from commission representatives, board members unanimously approved a motion to endorse the proposal when it appears on this year's Town Meeting Warrant.

Althoug they approved the motion to endorse the proposal, Town Administrator Tony Sasso clarified that it would be up to commission members to sell the expenditures and necessary street closures to the town.

"This is up to you," Sasso said. "You're going to be the ones going up there and giving the presentation at Town Meeting."

Here's a break-down of the spending planned for commission's Capital Improvement Plan.

The figures below were formulated after factoring in the anticipated increase in material costs over the next four years, according to commission members.

Fiscal 2013: $2.56 million

• Atlantic Avenue Replacement
• Washington Street/Atlantic Avenue Intersection Rerouting
• Spring Street/Essex Street Reroute
• Site Upstream Storage
• Permit and Purchase Storage Sites

Fiscal 2014: $1.44 million

• School Street Replacement
• Sewall Street/School Street Regrading
• Autobody Shop Catchbasin Reset
• Bessom Street at Pleasant Street Inlet Capacity Increase
• Build Upstream Storage

Fiscal 2015: $552,000

• Evans Road Reroute
• Garfield Road Reroute
• Cement Line Sewall Street Easement