Cannery conundrum one for the books
It's been a long – and now paved – road to completion for Milton's Cannery Village, but town officials are preparing to accept the development’s streets by the end of the year.
Before that happens, developer Chestnut Properties and contractor Urban Dirt of Milford have one more item to address: Curb work on Fulham Drive, one of the partially undeveloped areas of Cannery Village.
At one point, hundreds of items had to be addressed, said Carlton Savage, an engineer with the town's contracted engineering firm, Pennoni Associates Inc. “We have done a walk-through, and that huge list of items got reduced down to about 27 items.”
Travis Warnock, owner of Urban Dirt, said Pennoni conducted a final walk-through of the community in July and five items were reviewed by town officials Sept. 12. A below-grade manhole in a crosswalk that posed safety concerns was repaired by Sept. 15, Warnock said, while three other items were found to be acceptable as is.
The final item, which relates to low curbs on Fulham Drive, awaits engineering designs from Pennoni. Warnock said once he gets the drawings, he'll begin repairs, which he expects to be complete by the end of September.
“We want to get this done,” Warnock said. “This is the goal here.”
Those work items are a small feat compared to the original punch list of more than 300 repairs that for years had been juggled between the developers, engineers, town officials and attorneys.
When Cannery Village was approved in the early 2000s, the developers were not required to post a performance bond, which would have given town officials leverage to force Chestnut Properties to finish the project. Instead, a back-and-forth battle over streets and repairs has raged on for nearly a decade.
“The residents have been patient, but we had to wait until the majority of the homes were built,” said Joseph Reed, one of Cannery's three developers, adding that since the roads have been paved, there has been a lot more interest from homebuyers.
Roads in the winding community were paved earlier this summer.
About 180 homes have been built, and Reed said 220 homes are planned for the main part of the community next to Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. In 2011, Dogfish purchased a 43-acre portion of the planned development, nixing 150 homes in the original plan. Land for 138 units along Cave Neck Road is for sale, and the fate of the future commercial space for the development is yet undecided, Reed said.
“We're happy to have it behind us, and we're happy for the residents of Cannery to have the roads top-coated,” Reed said.
Chestnut Properties and Urban Dirt are expected to come back to Milton for council's Monday, Oct. 3 meeting, and possibly again in November, to review the remaining work before the streets are officially handed over to the town. To dedicate the streets, Town Solicitor Seth Thompson will perform a title search, review releases from subcontractors and draft a deed for the streets. Once the streets are turned over to the town, Milton will be responsible for repairs and maintenance, including snow removal.
