SALEM -- Selectmen have voted against supporting a pair of citizen petition projects to repair a bridge and a road at a price of nearly $600,000.

Residents of Ball Avenue pressed selectmen at their Monday, Feb. 11, meeting to support paving and drainage work on their street, saying the project has been on the town’s road work schedule for many years.

“It’s been quite a while, so it’s due,” said Philip Cammarata of 21 Ball Ave. “Overdue.”

Cammarata, a 13-year-resident of the street, said he was reluctant to petition for the $167,900 project but the road’s “deplorable” shape warranted attention. “It looks like it hasn’t been paved in 40 years,” Cammarata said.

Before unanimously voting not to support the petition, selectmen told Cammarata and other residents that the Ball Avenue work is scheduled for 2009. Cammarata was happy to hear the road had been pushed up in the schedule but said he would still like to see voters approve the petition in March.

“I’d like to see it pass this year, but I’m satisfied they moved it up to 2009,” he said.

Selectmen also voted against recommending a $430,000 petition project presented by Dianne Paquette of 58 Pelham Road to repair the culvert at Pelham Road and Commercial Drive.

The culvert, which was part of a $3.8 million town-wide bridge repair bond article that failed to garner support last year, has contributed to flooding on neighboring properties, Paquette said.

“Our properties, because of the bridge, become catch basins as water sits there for days,” she said. Since the Mother’s Day flood of 2006, Paquette said, the town has been better about clearing debris from the small culvert but a permanent solution is needed.

While selectmen Patrick Hargreaves and Arthur Barnes supported the project, other officials were reluctant to see the culvert expanded, which may cause a rush of water further down the waterways in town. Without a hydrology study of the town’s waterways, Selectman Michael Lyons said he didn’t want to rely on “instinct” while solving the problem.

Paquette, however, said the project’s need was intuitive and that it shouldn’t have to wait since there’s no guarantee of a water study in coming years.

“I just need to know how many floods I need to be prepared for,” Paquette said. “I’m sure you are thinking a year may not be a long time, but we just look at it as three or four more floods we have to endure.”

Though Paquette’s plan would enlarge the culvert to bridge specifications to qualify it for state aid, there was no confirmation that the town would be reimbursed for the project.

“It isn’t a bridge now so it’s not going to qualify,” Selectman Everett McBride said.

Selectmen voted against recommending the article, 3-2, with selectmen Patrick Hargreaves and Arthur Barnes voting in the minority.