TOPSHAM

New development has created a dilemma for three Topsham roads that are now connected as one.

Selectmen will discuss the extension to Home Place at their meeting tonight, particularly with regard to emergency calls.

Approved in 2016, the 13- lot subdivision at 19 Home Place created a through street, connecting Home Place with Somerset Place and Brookside Drive. The new development is in the Arbor Avenue subdivision off Middlesex Road.

“We are bringing this to the board, not as a recommendation, but merely as an issue to consider,” said Town Manager Rich Roedner in a memo. “ We now have a single road, that has no major points of deflection that starts at Brookside, becomes Home Place and then becomes Somerset. The numbering also changes based on which street you are on.”

The extension means numbering of houses isn’t consisten with protocols for the town’s E-911 system, which is used to help emergency responders easily identify addresses. Typically, there is one stretch of road with one name and consistent, progressive numbers.

One possible solution would be settling on one name for the new road, which would mean homes on that would have to be renumbered. The concern with not making a change is that it could take longer for emergency responders to locate the correct address.

Also on tonight’s agenda, selectmen could accept a bid for demolition of the town’s old fire station Green Street. The town went to bid in June to demolish the station after Public Works Director Dennis Cox estimated a $21,800 price tag for his department to do the job and pull his personnel away from other projects.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. in the meeting room at the Topsham Municipal Building.

chris@timesrecord.com