FARMINGTON — Selectmen sought a plan for regular grading of the town’s nearly 20 miles of gravel roads after the owner of a Webster Road home business described her situation Tuesday.

Robin Jordan of Robin’s Flower Pot said she hears complaints about the road from customers, her 12 employees and delivery trucks who won’t travel on the “closed” gravel road.

Her business is ready to open for the season Saturday, but the road is not in shape for opening day, she told the board Tuesday. It’s a viable business with customers from all over the county and beyond. The seedling, plant and gardening business is now open from April to Christmas, but her intention is to keep it open all year, she said.

“I feel neglected,” she said, asking the board “to take our business seriously. I’m not asking for a super highway but a little help.”

Selectman Andrew Hufnagel said he had requested that the board discuss maintenance of gravel roads, reviewing the town’s current plan and brainstorming how to improve it based on resident comments.

Another Webster Road resident wrote a letter to the board, including photos of the road Jordan had described as having potholes that are so bad “it’s bump, bump, bump … shaking your guts out going home.”

Town Manager Richard Davis and Public Works Director Denis Castonguay agreed to organize a plan for regular grading of gravel roads, including Webster, Osborne, Stanley and Holly. The roads receive grading at least a couple times a year.

The town currently uses calcium chloride to stiffen the road, and fabric and gravel to maintain the roads, Davis told the board.

The roads need fabric and at least a foot of good crushed gravel, Castonguay said, describing three places on Webster Road that still need work. Crushed gravel is twice the cost of the screened gravel normally used on the roads.

When the department works on one road, that means the other gravel roads don’t receive much maintenance, he said. They are not included in the town’s recently adopted five-year road plan.

“We need to up our ante … take on a road a year and totally rebuild it,” Castonguay said.

Selectman Joshua Bell suggested setting up a regular schedule of grading, taking a proactive approach. A resident shouldn’t have to come ask us to fix a road, he said.

Davis and Castonguay agreed to work on a schedule for grading, including work on Webster Road once it dries.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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