By Theresa Knapp 

The bid process will begin on Nov. 11 for the rehabilitation of the Factory Pond Dam on Woodland Street. 

According to the Oct. 21 Fall Town Meeting warrant, “During the process of engineering the dam rehabilitation, MassDOT determined that the bridge (over Bogastow Brook) and roadway (Woodland Street) connected to the dam infrastructure were unsafe and the Town closed Woodland Street to through-traffic, which impacts many road users, including public safety routes and bus routes to the Middle and Elementary Schools.”

At a meeting of the Select Board on Oct. 15, Town Administrator Travis Ahern explained the town had applied for a $1 million grant to do the work but the grant was not awarded. He said, “We were hoping, based on the timeline of the seawall and dam repair program, that we would have the money lined up without having October Town Meeting. When that grant was not awarded…that’s when we added the article.”  

Article 4 on the Oct. 21 Fall Town Meeting warrant seeks to appropriate $1 million from the town’s Capital Expenditure Fund for the project. The meeting occurred after Holliston Town News’ deadline. 

Ahern said, “The date of the project was always set by the determination from the state that we could not go through the permitting process on the bridge and roadway to get Woodland Street open until we completed the permitting on the dam and the spillway under the bridge, which is the MEPA process which we completed earlier in the summer. So once the MEPA process was complete, that’s when everything else started to fall in line and the date for Nov. 11 [opening bid date] came into focus.” 

If approved at Fall Town Meeting, officials will reapply for state funds in the spring.  

Ahern said, “We will put up the million dollars ideally in October, and we will look to not spend that million dollars by getting money allocated by the state.”