Crash fence plans in place in Saugus

SAUGUS – The engineering plans are in and Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said he expects construction to begin soon on a crash fence behind the homes on Hesper Street.”I have the plan and will execute it hopefully right after Thanksgiving,” Bisignani said Monday. “I would like to start construction. I do think it’s an emergency.”The emergency situation has been hanging around precariously since July when a retaining wall on Hitchings Hill Road gave way last summer. The fault sent tons of rubble cascading down a steep 40-foot slope toward homes on Hesper Street.A lawsuit has been filed against the property owners and the construction company, which Building Inspector Frederick Varone feels is responsible for the debacle. In the suit, Varone asks that the homes and the wall be demolished or the homes moved and the wall replaced.Either solution won’t come soon enough for the families along Hesper Street, however. Bisignani said with the cold and possibly snowy weather on the way, he feels its imperative that the town do something to help out the neighbors.He admitted, however, that the fence is not a cure-all. The idea is the fence will be enough to stop any further rubble that might slide down the hillside.”It won’t be a big, ugly thing,” he said. “We’re trying to design it to blend in with the background, although with the leaves off the trees it will stand out a little more.”Bisignani said the neighbors are reportedly comfortable with the idea of a fence, which according to specifications, should not cost more than $6,000.While the town will have to pick up the cost of the structure up front, Bisignani said he expects to recapture the money on the other end. A lien has been placed on the property and no one can do anything with the land until they pay off everything owed to the town, including the cost of a new crash fence.