Franklin Matters

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Live reporting - Town Common update

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
DPW Director – Town Common
Robert (Brutus) Cantoreggi

Jeff NUtting provided an intro on the walk through held last week to look at the trees, the power and the common overall. Looking to move the power from under the gazebo.

108 trees currently on the Town Common. Good representation of some species
Did take down the 12 trees recommended by the prior consultant
11 tree proposed to be removed this time to provide better growth opportunity for the other trees.

tree 91 - large spruce surrounded by sugar and norway maples
5 conifers around the Civil War monument, proposed to take down the two in the middle to allow the others to maintain their conifer growth

Tree 103, wind storm, broke this tree and it should be removed.

would leave 97 tree on the common

a lot of the trees that would be removed are being blocked from the sun by other trees
do more pruning as time allows

As public warden did hold a hearing for the prior cutting

nothing really to say or do, just trying to make folks aware of this

the electricity would be moved from under the gazebo to a box on the Union St side

A couple of these are fairly large, 21" diameter for some

Benches are about $2000 per, would be expensive to replace
don't have much of a budget for this, can't do it all in one year
many of the benches and lights were donated by Rotary for citizen of the year, these plaques would be moved if either the benches or lights are replaced

Live reporting - Town Council - Oct 3, 2012

Present: Mercer, Kelly, Powderly, Vallee, Pfeffer, Jones, Bissanti, Roy
Absent: Dellorco

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
September 5, 2012; motion to approve, passed 8-0

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS
This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 11 and Verizon channel 29

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
none

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS
none

E. APPOINTMENTS
none

F. HEARINGS
none

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS
none

Rezoning from residential to business

Coming up for the second reading tonight is a proposal to rezone some parcels along King St at the i495 interchange.

7. Zoning Bylaw Amendment 12-689:Changes to Chapter 185 §5. Zoning Map: Single Family III to Business Zoning District- 2nd Reading

The last 10 pages of the agenda document for the Town Council meeting provide the map views for these parcels.

These photos were taken of the parcel frontage along King St as I ran by Sunday morning.

The power lines run right through the property being reclassified so that will be something to work around as the developers figure out how to maximize the space being rezoned.

You can find the full agenda for the Town Council meeting here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/09/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-oct-3.html

and the agenda document with the maps can be found here (the last ten pages cover this rezoning change)
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_CouncilAgendas/2012%20docs/100312.pdf

"Improving public education would be a major focus"

Continuing to mine the recent meeting the Milford Daily News arranged with the 10th Norfolk candidates, they have posted this article where the candidates agree one issue at least: education.

Roy and Eustis expressed similar views on the state of the state’s education system — K-12 to four-year and two-year colleges — during a recent meeting with the Daily News. The Nov. 6 election is 34 days away.

In general, they both want to help the state’s education system continue to improve, and each sees a growing problem in escalating college costs.

Democrat and Republican agreed that tuition at state colleges has to be reined in, to prevent the high cost from dissuading prospective students and to make college a realistic option for more families.

Trail Walk Scheduled - Oct 13

In case you missed talking with the folks at the Franklin and Bellingham Rail Trail Committee tent at the Harvest Festival, here is the flyer about the Oct 13 Rail Trail walk that is scheduled.

The event is free, sponsored by the Franklin and Bellingham Rail Trail Committee and the MA Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Please register at www.franklinbellinghamrailtrail.org/oct13

The trail walk is scheduled for Saturday, Oct 13 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM
Rain date is Sunday, Oct 14 in the same starting time

More information on the Franklin and Bellingham Rail Trail Committee can be found on their web page
http://www.franklinbellinghamrailtrail.org/

Federal Funds Boost 10 Regional Transit Authorities

Some Federal money can be coming to GATRA according to this

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Federal Funds Boost 10 Regional Transit Authorities

via Commonwealth Conversations: Transportation by Klark Jessen on 10/2/12

Governor Deval Patrick and MassDOT announced today that MassDOT will award $13.2 million to 10 Massachusetts Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs) to make needed capital investments including new bus purchases and facility repairs.

The funds are available as part of the Obama Administration's "We Can't Wait" initiative that allows states to repurpose unused federal transportation earmarks (from 2003 to 2006) for use on highway and transit projects that are able to obligate the funds by the end of the year.

Projects selected represent RTAs across the Commonwealth and are focused on state of good repair including bus replacements along with customer service improvements, such as Real-time customer information signs for the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, above, and major projects already underway such as the Gallagher Terminal Garage in Lowell.

"The Obama Administration has made a smart decision to put unspent dollars into necessary projects that create jobs," said Governor Deval Patrick. "These projects reflect our commitment to improve public transportation for residents across the Commonwealth."

The repurposed earmark funds are 100% federal funding, require no state match and must be used for capital needs. MassDOT selected the 11 projects from a list of 28 project requests totaling $45.6 million from the state's 15 RTAs.

The 11 projects were selected based on the likelihood of the individual RTA's ability to obligate funds by the end of December and spend all funds in the near-term. The funded project list includes the following:

Berkshire RTA- Four 14-passenger vans w/ fare boxes, $420,000
Berkshire RTA- Maintenance facility roof, $250,000
Brockton Area Transit- Three 35' Hybrid transit buses and two 35' diesel transit buses, $2.6 million
Cape Ann Transportation Authority- Maintenance facility roof, $408,179
Greater Attleboro-Taunton RTA- Two 30' transit buses, $740,000
Lowell RTA- Gallagher Terminal parking garage replacement, $2.5 million

Martha's Vineyard RTA- Three 27' buses and one 30' bus, $1,085,000
Montachusett RTA- Wachusett Commuter Rail Extension, $3.6 million
Nantucket RTA- Four 25' transit buses, $749,000

Pioneer Valley Transit Authority- Real-time customer information signs, $450,000
Southeastern Regional Transit Authority- Parking deck resurface, fireproofing replacement, $370,000