Billerica Select Board endorses $20 million town center design in 3-2 vote

BILLERICA -- August 14, 2023, Billerica Select Board approved a preliminary $20 million town center reconstruction design 3-2 and loaded a fall town meeting warrant with more than $70 million in capital placeholders. Town Manager John Curran presented the Beta Group design, which would convert the current one-way rotary around the town common into a two-way street system with eight signalized crosswalks, buried utilities, and a net gain of more than 11,000 square feet of green space, up from one signalized crossing today. Selectman Michael Rosa and Selectman Mike Burroughs voted no, with Rosa arguing that a prior traffic analysis showed 31 of 56 measured data points worsening and that parallel parking on the commercial side of the street is unsafe. Before the design vote, the board resolved two action items unanimously approving angled parking on the library side and endorsing flush brick crosswalks over a raised platform intersection. The warrant also includes a $50 million DPW headquarters borrowing placeholder and a $700,000 water main extension. Bear Hill Road residents described severe basement flooding and total-loss vehicles from an August 10 storm that dumped 7.2 inches in three to four hours, and Curran told the board the town is collecting damage estimates to pursue FEMA natural disaster designation.