The Town of Southborough Trails Committee on March 20 discussed next steps for the Peninsula Veil project, including scheduling paving for Phase 1 and preparing a bid for a bridge in Phase 2.

The committee heard that Phase 1 “is the master’s grama project: update signage, and a grant extension and paving. So it’s actually no longer a grant extension. I need to fix that on the agenda,” Trails Committee member Kat McKee said. McKee told the committee a paving contractor has reached out to set a schedule and the committee is aiming for work in late March or early April, subject to contractor availability and temperature conditions discussed when the initial work began.

McKee said the grant supporting the work must be completed this year and “no extensions” are available, so the committee is moving to finalize scheduling and signage quickly. She said she will ask the paving contractor about required ground- or air-temperature thresholds before confirming dates and will notify the relevant town staff.

On Phase 2, McKee reported that engineer Dave LaPointe of Beals & Thomas had responded to a previous question about providing a bridge sketch but that the municipal contact (identified in the transcript as “MWA”) had not yet replied. “He’s going to… send one more email that says, hey, MWA, we are ready to move forward with the bid, and we’re going to do so unless we hear…,” McKee said, relaying LaPointe’s recommendation. McKee also said she contacted town staffer Melody to request the standard terms and conditions that must be embedded in the bid documents and that she has alerted Travis, the recreation director, and procurement staff to prepare for the formal bid posting.

Committee members said they expect a draft bid to be released within a few weeks and that the bid package will include the town’s contract language and posting timeline. McKee said she will follow up with engineering, Melody, Travis and procurement staff to confirm the posting and legal-notice schedule before the committee’s next meeting.

The discussion included outreach about signage content; McKee said she has not yet received historical material from a contact about local Native American history and plans to follow up by phone and email to integrate that material into signage copy.

The committee did not take a final vote on construction contracts at this meeting; members focused on scheduling, documentation and next steps for procurement and signage.