Swansea lawn irrigation policy approved

SWANSEA — The selectmen last Tuesday approved of a lawn irrigation policy that does not allow for irrigation systems to be installed in town right of ways or easement areas.

The policy says that the town is not responsible for damage to private irrigation systems that are in town right of ways. Town right of ways can go anywhere from two feet to 20 feet into private properties, depending on the road configuration, but people do not always realize that.

Highway Department Director William Anderson asked for the policy to be approved because of a lot of private sprinkler systems that were being damaged by the Highway Department during snow plowing or pavement work. In some cases, the town has repaired the irrigation system and in other cases, it has not.

The policy does allow for waivers to the requirements if a property owner must install lawn sprinklers in the town's right of way or easement areas. But the waiver goes along with three conditions that include filing a copy of a schematic of the irrigation system with the town's Highway Department, a road opening permit being obtained by a licensed installer and a waiver holding the town of Swansea harmless for any and all liability from work by the installer and any future damage to the sprinkler system by work performed by the town within the the road right of way or easement must be signed.

The selectmen did not have much discussion about the irrigation policy before approving it last Tuesday. They had a lengthy discussion about it with Anderson at their previous meeting.

Since that last meeting, the town had a 10 day comment period when the public could give any input they wanted on the proposed policy to the selectmen's office. Anderson said the town did not receive any comments about the proposed policy.

Selectmen Derek Heim said the irrigation policy was vetted very thoroughly.

Selectmen Steven Kitchin said the town should do everything it can to communicate with vendors and new applicants about the irrigation policy. He said the town should do everything it can to gently implement the policy and should understand if an irrigation system is only six inches or a foot into the right of way. He said he appreciated Anderson's work on the policy.