Driscoll Lane Upton Blizzard 2015 “Juno” – photo provided by John Lindi
Driscoll Lane residents found out during 2015 Blizzard Storm “Juno” their street status went from town plow to private plow.
John Lindi of Driscoll Lane was frustrated when he realized the plows were not coming. In an email sent to town officials he wrote, “Thank you for living up to your promise to notify residents of Driscoll Lane of your decision regarding snow removal this winter. I’m guessing you let Mother Nature deliver that notification resoundingly overnight and throughout the day today.”
The town had plowed and sanded Driscoll Lane for years before the change in status.
Lindi said with snow totals 38 inches in places one would need a piece of DPW equipment to remove the snow from the lane. “Thank goodness there haven’t been any situations requiring emergency response,” he wrote to the Town.
This past fall Upton reviewed and updated which private ways are within the guidelines of Town plowing.
Town Manager Blythe Robinson said all property owners of involved streets were notified of the hearing but letters were not sent after the final decision to tenants or residents . “What we said at the meetings was that we would post everything to the website, which was done after the final decisions were made in early October. We did not send out individual letters,” she said.
“If there were tenants and they didn’t inform them they might not have known. We are not necessarily aware of landlord /tenant relationships. We send notices to the address of record for the owner,” Robinson said.
Lindi said he never found the final decision, ” I scoured both the town pages and Upton Daily for updates after the August 27 meeting (which I attended) and wasn’t able to find anything in the way of follow up.”
Robinson advises residents to sign up for town emails, “I would encourage anyone wanting to follow our news and announcements to subscribe to our website. Any news we post automatically gets emailed.”
Here is a link of private ways and their plow status http://www.uptonma.gov/Pages/UptonMA_BComm/bos/Snow%20Plowing%20Private%20Ways/Private%20Ways%202014%20Official%20List%2010%202014%20Final.pdf
UPTON DAILY 
Also, my landlord doesn’t maintain any kind of online presence, email or otherwise. I would say that email or website notification does not constitute fulfillment of the town’s responsibility to address the needs and rights of the taxpayers and citizens at large.
Ms. Robinson’s statement about notifications to property owners is grossly inaccurate. I have a very open and communicative relationship with my landlord, who is a lifelong resident of Upton, and he was only made aware of the final decision when he went to the town hall and spoke to the Town Clerk.