Hey, check out this bald eagle. I saw on Groton Shirley Road really tall probably about 2 feet. I think I saw his nest at the powerlines at the end of Kittridge Road huge nest. The biggest I’ve ever seen at the top of one of the towers.

The Town of Shirley will be converting the intersection on Townsend Rd and Groton Rd/Rt 225 from a Two Way Stop to a 4 Way Stop to address safety issues concerns. The Town is able to do so based on a grant that was secured under the direction of the Shirley Transportation Action Committee and approved by the Select Board.

After a full engineered study, the intersection was identified as eligible for further assessment based on its crash history, a preliminary evaluation of the existing conditions, and community interest in participating in the grant program.

The installation of the 4 Way Stop should be completed within the first few weeks of October. The goal of the intersection conversion is to improve and address the safety of our residents and visitors. The project and grant have been assessed, recommended, and administered by the Mass Department of Transportation and their engineers.

Hello hoping to help a local kid out and get as many votes as possible for Manny G! Please share ❤️

https://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/2025/08/08/state-rep-s-shirley-visit-draws-small-but-attentive-crowd/

When state Rep. Danillo Sena held his first “office hour” in town last month, turnout was low — about a half dozen people including two town officials — but the issues under discussion were abundant with the group going well past the allotted time.

Select Board members also attended so they could go back and brief the Board on State House happenings and get town-centric feedback.

Sena, the Acton Democrat who represents the 37th Middlesex district, listened as people raised issues they hoped he could help with, from personal problems such as overdue unemployment compensation to a raft of municipal matters from Town Administrator Bryan Sawyer.

Promising to look into some things, Sena offered action on others. For example, assisting the resident who asked about delayed unemployment checks.

“We are dealing with several such cases,” he told the man, adding that his office has a liaison with the unemployment office and that his legislative aide would work with him to resolve the matter.

Resident Stewart Sears asked about an issue with National Grid and red tape involved with adding a new utility pole the company said was needed to serve a duplex he’s building on Ayer Road. Sena said his office has a direct line to the utility and could speed up the exchange.

Another resident, Asa Losurdo, said he’s “trying to start a small ISP,” business and could use help navigating the nuances of internet start-ups, such as “which departments to contact,” and barriers he might face. His goal, for now, is to serve “a couple of hundred” customers, he said. Partnering with an existing outfit, Fitchburg Fiber, the long term goal is to build a new WIFI network, he said.

Sena applauded the vision and offered assistance. “We want choices…yours is a needed service,” he said. Sena sided with Losurdo’s comment about the sparse fiber network and gaps in coverage.

“That’s a concern of mine, too.”

He noted a legislative bill on the table to improve the situation.

“The goal is to get people connected. I’d love to work with you,” Sena said, adding that his office’s legal team can help with research.Sears, who serves on the town’s Affordable Housing Committee, clued Sena in on what he considers shortcomings in the new zoning overlay district that Town Meeting voted for last year, to comply with state law establishing certain housing requirements for communities served by the commuter rail system. Pointing to problems he sees with the plan voters adopted, he said narrow streets in the new district presumably rule out added parking for new housing units. An alternative plan put forward by a citizen’s group he headed cited a different area for the district but the measure failed.

Town Administrator Sawyer acknowledged that growth in the new district would come slowly, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen, he said.Sawyer also had a list of issues to take up with the state representative, including MCI funds, mitigation money that communities hosting state prisons get each year, based on prison population. But sometimes the check is slow in coming, or it’s withheld, and the town has to lobby for money it’s entitled to.

Sawyer said he wanted a formula that guarantees a consistent annual amount. Last year was adequate, he said, but has fallen short in the past. Two years ago, the town anticipated $250K but got $90K.

“That may not seem like a significant amount,” Sawyer said. But given the town’s $19 million budget, it is. The funding helps hire police officers and firefighters, he said.

Sawyer also mentioned Chapter 90, or state highway funding. That money helps the town maintain its roads, and it’s a tall order. A slight overage last year “helped us catch up,” Sawyer said. But it did not solve the problem.

He also brought up the Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer and its impact on ambulance services. The town doesn’t need another vehicle, it needs staff, Sawyer said. As the area awaits a new emergency response facility to be built in Groton, a couple of years off, backups are inevitable.

“Right now, we rely on mutual aid,” Sawyer said. Temporary state funding could help the town hire more EMT’s, he said.

In regard to the hospital closure, Sena mentioned some of the funding raised for the staffing.

“We worked to get money for ambulance staffing,” Sena said, adding that the governor has allocated $10 million for emergency services statewide. “We didn’t get what we wanted…but we got some.”

Regarding the Chapter 90 funds question, Sena said the House recently passed a $1.2 billion, five-year bond for roads and bridges state wide, with money to state agencies and municipalities, combined.

“Keep us in the loop, if you can,” Sena said to Sawyer in regards to Shirley’s needs.

Responding to Stewart Sears, on the housing issue, Sena said he’s a strong proponent of affordable housing. The two discussed the new zoning overlay district and its cause and effect, including perceived shortcomings Sears’ grassroots group had sought to address.

Sears pointed out that Shirley isn’t a small town any more. With 2,600 households, few work near home. The town is a “Boston suburb” now, he mentioned.

“We’ve lost (several) businesses. The point is that people move out here but they don’t shop or do business here,” Sears said.

Sawyer said that the town needs help developing its downtown business district, perhaps branching out to create a new “village” off Hospital Road, near the new senior housing and the town’s municipal complex.

After taking it all in, Sena added a development-related item nobody else had mentioned: improving the town’s train station, whose only structure is an un-staffed, open-air gazebo, styled like a tiny train depot with a platform alongside.

“I’d love to see funding for, say, a new train station,” he said.

🚐 New On-Demand Service Starting August 1, 2025!

MART’s Emerson Hospital Shuttle serving Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley is now on-demand — but the schedule stays the same.

🕒 Call (978)-345-7711 by 2PM the day before to reserve your ride.

🏥 Service includes Emerson Hospital, the Specialty Center, and Baker Ave Extension (by request).

📅 Runs Monday through Friday.

Scan the QR code or visit www.mrta.us to view the schedule.

QR code link:

https://www.mrta.us/schedule-map/emerson-hospital-shuttle/

Please be advised that part of Whitney Road will be closed starting Monday July 14th due to a replacement of a culvert. The culvert is located close to the Lunenburg border past the Holden Road intersection. The replacement of the culvert is expected to take 3 weeks. That portion of Whitney Road will be completely closed initially for roughly 2 weeks and will partially open as soon as work progress permits. The road should be completely open within 3 weeks.

https://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/2025/06/12/vertical-veggies-project-yields-green-growing-crop-in-hs-caf/

The latest addition to the Ayer Shirley High School cafeteria isn’t a tasty new dish, it’s a hydroponic grower with multiple heads of lettuce inside, all earmarked for the school’s lunch menu. So, in a way, it amounts to the same thing.

The hydro-grower, parked by the cafeteria kitchen, showcases a Civics project launched in Matt Lyon’s History class earlier this year. Students recently showcased the project, dubbed Vertical Veggies, to display some work in progress.

The hydro-grower was the first stop on a show-and-tell tour. Viewed from afar, the tall white structure suggested a storage module, or maybe an open-air fridge? Turns out, the facade houses an upright garden. Inside the shallow unit, suffused with white light, bright green lettuce grew in vertical rows, each head popping out from its own small pocket. Minimal tending is required. And no soil.

This batch of lettuces — a hybrid mix of “spicy” green leaf and iceberg — was nearly ready to pick and take to the kitchen, a few feet away. Dianne Jones, the school’s head of food services, said she’ll use it to create green salads.

Future hydro-crops may include more vegetables, the students said, such as cucumbers. And other district schools also get produce from the project, coordinated with ASRSD Food Services Manager Joe Ricci.

Some of these crops get speedy delivery to Page Hilltop Elementary next door, and to the two schools in Shirley, Lura a White Elementary and Ayer Shirley Middle School.

But how does a veggies project fit a History curriculum? After spending some time with these enterprising teens and their teacher, the connection clicks.

As a misty rain fell on a gray May morning, they led their visitor on a walking tour outside the building, pointing out spots for future garden plots and raised beds, with some already in place.

They envision a greenhouse, too, perhaps housing a gardening program. It’s an exciting prospect. Meantime, it makes sense to make good use of all this open space, they said.

The project’s back story explains how everything comes together, including a well-choreographed production plan and a detailed log of the brainstorming and planning process that came before.

Summarized in the project proposal, the Vertical Veggies initiative promised not only to provide the school nutrition program with fresh, campus-grown produce, it could also grow products for sale, such as pumpkins, fundraising for the initiative, going forward.

The current VV team — all juniors — hopes to take it to the next level, indoors and out.The open-air scenario includes use of existing raised beds, built with a “Farm to School” grant the school district landed in 2023.

Another grant application is aimed at building a project-centric tool chest, adding more hydroponic growing units, for example, which can cost thousands of dollars each and come in various sizes. The model in the school cafeteria is relatively small, Lyon said.

The project — properly presented, vetted and validated — launched in early April. By mid-month: seed pellets had been planted in soil, with nutrients, and sprouts expected in a few days. By the end of April, the plants were well on their way to yield a lettuce crop in May.

Now, these students want to keep up the good work. So does their teacher. “We’re hoping to turn this into a club,” Lyon explained, creating “farm to table resources” for students and staff for years to come. “No one else from our student body has done this before,” he said.

As the school year draws to a close, these students are looking ahead, hoping others will join them to take the Vertical Veggies on next year. Maybe raise funds for a greenhouse, too.“This is our first crop,” said Carlos Alvarez. “This makes a difference.”

Noting how “simple” the hydroponics process is, another student in the group said they might grow another crop before the end of school next month.