FARMINGTON – Installation of new granite curbing for the Church Street project has started this week, Town Manager Richard Davis told selectmen Tuesday.

A final coat of asphalt will have to wait until spring, he said, as will planting 14 trees. Richard Bjorn has donated trees, Davis said. The project also includes concrete sidewalks.

Meanwhile, on the High Street end of Church Street, new concrete flooring for the Old North Church has been completed. Crews are working on insulating walls and putting up Sheetrock in the 150-year-old church.

The church is owned by the Farmington Historical Society, which looked to the town to administer federal money it received through a community development block grant.

The second phase of the project will include hardwood flooring now that the building has been stabilized and straightened, Davis said.

The first phase included renovation of the first floor, which sustained serious water damage in 2000. Along with a new foundation and flooring, historical society members planned to put in a new heating system and update the electrical and plumbing systems.

The Walton Mill Dam project has been completed, Davis said. Expenses went up when contractors started to erect a retaining wall and found it was standing on sawdust, forcing construction of a solid base. They also had to rent a pump to keep water out of the area, he said.

Repairs to the west side of the dam were started in August along with construction of a gate system that will control the water level in the pond.

The reconstruction project on Bailey Hill Road has also been completed, Davis said. More signs need to be put up and fog lines are needed, he said, but overall the work has made the area at Bailey Hill and Osborne roads “much smoother and safer.”

Approximately 1,300 feet was reconstructed with a significant grade change to the road. In May, the board accepted a small parcel of land, at no cost to the town, to help create a 90-degree turn onto Osborne Road.

In other business, the board unanimously approved a 2.8 percent wage increase for town employees during 2008.

The board also approved naming the road in Kevin and Judy Vining’s Maple Heights subdivision. The new road that will loop off Maple Avenue just before Granite Heights will be called Stone Hill Road.