King Hill runoff project scheduled to be completed

SHARON — A project to mitigate runoff of water onto a property on King Hill Road is scheduled to be completed this week, ending a saga that began two years ago and which included legal threats and emotional Board of Selectmen’s meetings.

At a selectmen’s meeting in November 2008, Margaret Keilty and Mark LaMonica, who co-own property on King Hill Road, threatened to take legal action against the town because of the runoff.

They believe that the water descends onto their property from Sharon Hospital.

While neither Keilty nor LaMonica followed through on that threat of legal action, they both appeared regularly at selectmen’s meetings, beginning in November 2008.

At a board meeting in May, First Selectman Bob Loucks (who was elected last November) reviewed a project developed by Lenard Engineering that should, once completed, mitigate the runoff.

And at the board meeting  Sept. 14, Loucks announced that the end is in sight: the project should be finished by the end of this week.

As part of the project, a drainage system has been set up from the top of King Hill Road. The system will carry the water down along the road to its curve, then take it into a retention basin to slow the flow. The water will then be directed into Mudge Pond Brook.

The total cost of the project to the town is estimated to be $69,656 and will come out of the town’s Bridges and Culverts budget line.

Sharon Hospital will pay $39,000 for the trenching portion of the project.

At the meeting on Sept. 14, Keilty said she is grateful and thankful to the town for the project.

“I just would like to thank the selectmen for helping me,� she said. “You have no idea how much it means to me to actually have the water off the land.�

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