The New Ipswich Select Board will continue discussion next week on a request to make Jalen Drive an emergency way.
According to Board Chair Jason Somero, the request was made by residents of the road to designate the private road as an emergency way.
According to state RSA, a town may raise, appropriate and expend money for private ways or Class VI roads for maintenance such as removal of brush, repair of washouts or culverts, or any other work to make the road passable by emergency vehicles.
Somero said residents along the road have asked for an emergency designation for at least one year. There are about 10 houses on Jalen Drive and it is not a through-way.
According to the law, the town must find an “identified public welfare or safety interest which surpasses or differs from any private benefits to landowners abutting such lane.”
The town must hold a public hearing before designating a road as an emergency way. Somero said the board has yet to determine whether it wants to hold a public hearing, and has requested additional information from residents of Jalen Drive.
The board continued the discussion to its next meeting on March 24.
In other business on Tuesday, the board awarded bids for two contracts, one for lawn care and maintenance for town properties, excluding cemeteries, to Hannu Landscaping, and the other for a new epoxy coat for the pool house floor, awarded to ArmorCrete Floors. The work on the pool house is expected to take place this spring and be complete by the time the pool is scheduled to open for the summer.