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Berlin, Ocean Pines News Worcester County Bayside Gazette Logo Berlin, Ocean Pines News Worcester County Bayside Gazette

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Berlin staff, residents meet about Baker St.

(Aug. 17, 2017) Five residents attended a public meeting last Thursday about the upcoming repairs to Baker Street in Berlin, according to Town Administrator Laura Allen.
Allen said the meeting went well overall and included specifics on the proposal from engineering firm Davis, Bowen & Friedel Inc. (DBF).
“We got some good questions about how the property owners are going to be notified, how they’re going to be able to get in and out of their driveways, and I got an email list of the folks that were there and that’s how we’re going to be notifying them, in addition to having the contractor knock on their doors to give them a heads up,” Allen said.
She said some residents had concerns about drainage on Baker Street, which the project will address.
“Portions of [the roadway] aren’t pitched to drain correctly, so what they will be doing as part of this project is fixing that. Drainage should work better as a result, but there is no additional impervious surface that’s being added,” Allen said.
As for the oyster shell portion of the road, Allen said the town and DBF are doing the best they can. Few, if any, contractors work with the archaic mixture of oyster shell and concrete.
“There are some portions of the cement that are in better shape than others,” Allen said. “In the areas where  we can simply put in a sealant, we’ll do that. The idea is the sealant, over time, will take on the color of the adjacent segment. And then, there are some areas that will need to be cut out.
“From my perspective, there were not a lot of concerns expressed about the cement,” she continued, adding that whatever contractor is eventually chosen will take a gentle approach to repairing the road, including removing several areas of “slapped down” tar.
DBF finished design work and will handle the bidding process on behalf of the town. Allen said town Wastewater Superintendent Jamey Latchum would help coordinate the project.
“[The residents] said thank you several times, which is really nice,” Allen said. “My assessment is they felt like their questions were answered. I told them we would be moving to go out to bid pretty quickly, we just wanted to be opportunity to show them what we are planning to do, to see if they had any questions.”
Allen said the renovations were estimated to last 60 days and would start at some point after Labor Day. The town budgeted $200,000 for the project.