TM voters asked to abandon Freight Shed Road

TM voters asked to abandon Freight Shed Road
Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer

TEMPLETON With town and state officials locked in a tug-of-war over the ownership of Freight Shed Road ahead of the official closure of the Templeton Developmental Center, the Planning Board has submitted a Town Meeting article asking local voters to abandon the road entirely.

“There is no benefit to the town whatsoever,” said chairman Kirk Moschetti. “The Planning Board took a stance and put forward we revert it back to state ownership.”

The article covers not only Freight Shed Road, but several others that wind through the sprawling TDC complex off Route 202 on the Phillipston line. For years, Mr. Moschetti said, the area was under state jurisdiction with its own campus police force and maintenance crew. With the state essentially relinquishing control of the developmental facility, Mr. Moschetti said officials have changed their tune on who owns the thoroughfare.

“Now, all of a sudden, they’re saying it’s a town road,” he said.

Throughout several meetings between town officials and representatives from the facility, as well as the Department of Developmental Services and Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, the state’s main piece of evidence to support its stance has been a map from the Worcester County Registry of Deeds dating back 250 years depicting Freight Shed Road. While the road may have existed two centuries ago, Mr. Moschetti said there is no proof the town ever accepted and incorporated the road.

The state has been clear in its intentions to turn the road, and all associated maintenance costs, back over to the town. While the state may plow and maintain the roads for the next year or so, eventually the town — and its already taxed Highway Department — will assume responsibility for the eight lane miles running through the TDC campus.

As part of the facility’s closure, the TDC Re-Use Committee has been working with the state to identify land that may be deemed surplus by the DDS and could be picked up by the town for redevelopment. That process, Mr. Moschetti said, has dragged on for months and will likely not prove fruitful for the town because the buildings would be on state land and may not generate local tax revenue.

“The town has nothing to gain and everything to lose by taking the road,” Mr. Moschetti said.

Abandoning and discontinuing the road, Mr. Moschetti said, will cause it to revert back to the abutters. As the state owns the TDC land, Freight Shed Road would remain the state’s responsibility.

There will be a public hearing on the matter Tuesday, April 14, at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Hall conference room.