Political morass over Franklin St. drainage
Published on January 5th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - John DeGeorge says the town looked the other way as illegal dumping changed the grade of his land and led to repeated flooding of his property.
In the past selectmen approved and spent $4,000 to investigate drainage problems on DeGeorge's 148 Franklin Street property.
DeGeorge asserts the town has a legal and moral responsibility to rectify damage the town should have prevented.
The town denies this, but selectmen voted Tuesday night to add one of the alternatives proposed in the $4,000 study into the plans for the state Franklin Street reconstruction project.
The sticking point is that the state will not cover the work, and neither DeGeorge nor the town is willing to foot the bill. "I already spent $11,000," DeGeorge said.
For now the drainage system DeGeorge desires will go on the plans to be submitted to the state at the Jan. 11 selectmen meeting.
Who will pay and whether even more work will be needed to solve the problems DeGeorge alleges are the fault of the town will be determined down the line.
The problem started in 1973.
For further information see the 1/12/00 edition of the Independent.
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