Selectmen Address Neighborhood Concerns Over Shopping Plaza Fencing and School Safety-September 8, 1971

Alongside discussions regarding local commercial establishments, the Board of Selectmen addressed a wide-ranging series of citizen grievances concerning neighborhood safety, pedestrian routes to a new library branch, and protective fencing around a newly developed shopping plaza.

Fencing Disputes and School Safety Measures

Most of the evening’s civic discussion centered around a required security and privacy fence that developers Roger T. Eysie and his brothers were mandated to construct around their commercial development under a previous Board of Appeals ruling. Abutting residents along Alandale Parkway argued that there had been a verbal agreement requiring a 10-foot stockade-type fence. Resident William E. McCoy of 61 Alandale Parkway warned that residents might resort to picketing when the stores in the new shopping plaza officially opened if a proper six-foot or taller fence was not erected.

Mr. Eysie told the board that while he felt a four-foot fence was sufficient, he was willing to compromise on a six-foot barrier in sections lacking existing fences, though he questioned the necessity of building new fences directly against existing residential ones. With negotiations and compromise attempts temporarily stalemated, selectmen advised residents to bring their grievances before the Board of Appeals.

Furthermore, residents expressed deep anxiety over children walking to a new branch of the Morrill Memorial Library scheduled to open in the plaza. Abutters highlighted severe safety hazards, including unpaved sidewalks, soil erosion from brook riprapping, gangs of teenagers congregating near Hawes Pool, and stray .22-caliber shotgun shells striking their homes from a nearby legal shooting area. Selectmen pledged to investigate the reported shootings and ordered the Department of Public Works to immediately cover an open, hazardous gas pipe excavation on Alandale Parkway with plywood. Additionally, the board voted to station a police officer temporarily at the shopping center crosswalks during peak morning and afternoon hours (7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and 2:15 to 3:00 p.m.) to guarantee student safety.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger