Commmittee: Bissanti, Kelly, Padula, Vallee
Planning Board: Halligan
Planning Dept: Taberner
Town Administrator: Nutting
Beta Engineering - did a revision to the traffic studies done previously
Greg Lucas - presenting
found earlier studies had under represented traffic
there is a problem today with the intersection and left turns into Pond St
so no matter what goes into the area will only increase the problem
option to increase the turn from single lane to double lane
explored option of using Old West Central St but it doesn't help the situation
the most viable solution to address existing problems and future development
would be to widen the left turn to two lanes
there is a PM peak problem, page 6
2020 base is the current traffic including the Starbucks study
2020 base w/Development is the study plus the scenarios for the Pond St options
Starbucks assumptions
- 45% would come up to turn left into the site
- 35% would be moving west to turn right
- 20% would come on Pond St to Starbucks
The State owns the intersection and would be in charge of the widening and any other adjustments
Q on lengthening the single lane
A - it would be better to do the double lane turn to handle the traffic, you'd get more cars through the turn
Q - question on taking out the media divider
A - the three options were the MPO recommendations. They use crash data to look at areas for traffic improvement. It could be eligible for funding due to the high crash location at the intersection itself.
The signalling should be adjusted, they should all be implemented.
Q - How do we get the State to get this moving
A - Nutting - We would have to call MassDOT to see
We have an established need and given the development there is an increased risk
Q - do the Starbucks numbers account for freeway traffic
A - Good question, doesn't specifically address that
Q - was Pond St traffic included
A - Pond St traffic was not included in the current studies, it would need to be depending upon whatever would be going into the Pond St site
Table 1 - on page 5
trip generation numbers changed from prior studies
previous studies were general office not a medical office; traffic differs significantly not so much in the peak hours but in the overall traffic by day
assumed 86% occupancy for the hotel but the traffic is not reduced by the volume expected by the hotel
There would need to be some study depending upon what goes in there, there may be some treatment, i.e. a left turn lane into the Pond St property. Pond St is a 60 ft right of way so there is plenty of room.
Discussion on the potential of a left turn lane, not a light. If a light was there it would need further study and could help traffic coming out of Rolling Ridge to Pond St
Discussion on utilization of Old West Central, it provides some relief to two of the traffic flows but would not help the overall intersection as it would also degrade a couple of other traffic flows.
Q - Nutting - When does the intersection fail beyond what it is already doing? what could go in to the property to see what could 'live' within the traffic service levels
A - It is a balancing act with signal timing and turning lanes
Even without Pond St, we should be calling MassDOT to get this started?
Yes
Q - Padula - this was an F prior to this?
A - yes, it was an F prior to Starbucks coming in (in afternoon)
Thanks to Greg, good presentation
Discussion on whether to consider the RFP
Bissanti looking to move it forward
Nutting, no consensus of the committee on use other than no apartments
Kelly - I would like to include some solar interest for the space
Nutting - if you're going to do solar, you might want to lease the property rather than sell the property for a hotel. Are you suggesting putting out a separate solar? You may lose a few months but the mix-match can get confusing
Bissanti - where this was going and I thought it had more steam, with a residential component; I think it is too small to fit all three uses. I think we should go with the existing RFP and the residential component
Padula - I am not in favor of the solar piece, it is too late and not enough for what we need. The traffic study doesn't talk about this.
Note: Vallee had moved to the back of the room for a private conversation and missed the discussion points. Vallee returns as Kelly speaks for solar
Kelly - I wouldn't be so fast to count the solar out. I don't want to be left with I wish we had
Bissnti - We did put it out for solar and we got someone coming in with an aerobic digester
Williams - you have not yet decided the percentages of what the space would be designated as
Bissanti - would another study be needed?
Lucas - we did not have data from Pond St, that study would need to be done depending upon what is proposed
Halligan - if you put the RFP out the Council doesn't have to accept anything that is proposed
Kelly - if we put anything out, we can like it or not. I am not the smartest guy in the room and someone might come back with something we haven't talked about
Williams - you as a committee haven't decided that, if we know we want less traffic there shouldn't we spell it out?
Bissanti - there are specified uses in the RFP, we got to get something going
We wanted to restrict the develop to the number of units that could be built, if you leave it open, we have lost what we came to agreement on
Dellorco - I don't know why we can't limit it
trying to wrestle with the balance between revenue and impact
the community understands the biggest money maker for the Town, so scale back the residential component. the last time we were together, there were a number of suggestions made but we haven't seen those implemented
two of the other recommendations were already in the RFP, the only one not there was the set back from Pond St
I would appreciate it if you looked at it with an open mind, the community would be more supportive
Let's move this to the April 8th meeting. The only way we'll know is to see what we get back. I would love to see a general RFP and that can't be done
6:00 PM at April 8th
meeting adjourned
