Ayer Select Board Calls July 13 Special Town Meeting on Bridge Easements

AYER -- June 24, 2026, Ayer Select Board calls Special Town Meeting to advance West Main Street Bridge Project. The board voted unanimously Wednesday, June 24, to hold a Special Town Meeting on July 13, 2026, at 7 p.m. in the Ayer Shirley Regional High School auditorium. The single-warrant-article meeting asks voters to authorize the Select Board to acquire, by gift, purchase, or eminent domain, permanent and temporary easements on land near Nonacoicus Brook needed for the bridge project, and to grant a billboard easement on town-owned Assessor's Map 26-31, in an arrangement that may benefit the Sullivan Investment Trust, the private landowner whose West Main Street property was the subject of a closed executive session held earlier the same evening. A town official told the board that legal access to the north side of the bridge is essential to moving forward with "this critical public infrastructure and public safety project." The warrant was to be posted Thursday, June 25, with the referenced May 5, 2026, easement plan filed simultaneously with the Town Clerk.