SWAMPSCOTT — The Department of Public Works will soon feature a new $100,000 salt shed, which will provide more storage space for salt in preparation for winter storms.
The Zoning Board of Appeals last week approved a request from the Department of Public Works (DPW) to remove the existing salt barn at the DPW facility at 200 Paradise Road, and construct a new, larger salt shed, farther away from the street side lot than the existing structure.
Gino Cresta, DPW director and assistant town administrator, said he inherited the existing salt barn at the DPW yard. He said the shed was dilapidated when he started working for the town — there are multiple holes in the roof, which is ready to collapse.
Cresta estimated the shed is about 40 to 50 years old — his oldest DPW employee has been with the department for 33 years and the shed predates him.
To make matters worse, Cresta said the current shed’s storage capacity only gives him the ability to salt roads for the entire town three times, or for about three storms.
He said that worries him, as with a winter like 2011, or even snowy winters from two to three years ago, the department was out salting two to three times a week — he is always really close to running out of salt. When there are big storms, Cresta said the department will salt or sand prior to do some treatment and then after the storm.
“I wanted to repair it years ago, but I didn’t think it was worth the investment to put money back into it,” Cresta said. “There’s always a lot of stress involved so Town Meeting in 2016 appropriated close to $100,000 to fund a new salt shed.”
Cresta said although it’s about four times more expensive to build a new shed, versus repairing the existing one, he’s able to put the new structure off the street to the back of the lot and triple his storage capacity. The new shed’s dimensions will be 40 feet by 42 feet, and it will be about 24 feet high.
Cresta said moving the shed to the back of the property will make it easier for trucks to get in and out.
He is hoping to put the project out to bid within the next week or so, and is hoping to start construction by the beginning of October.
