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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNINGbrd_1162013Planning Board Minutes 7p November 6, 2013 b Present: Tom French, Chair; Beth Ashman- Collins, Clerk; Michael McClanajiata. {%o��, Cleary, Ralph Penney, Richard LeBlanc; Alternates Mike Feck and Rod Oreste Jennifer Crotty Davis, Administrative Secretary 1. October 16, 2013 Minutes Motion: To approve (Cleary -Feck) Four in favor. McClanahan, Aslunan- Collins abstained. PASSES 3. corm A (ANR) Plans Ken Petraglia introduced Bill McGrath, Mike Wasielewski and Don Mr. McGrath explained they have looked at four of the six options outlined in the RFP for access into the train station parking area. They are looking at origin/destination information for people coming to and going from the train station area, which will help determine how best to reassign traffic. Mr. Penney asked if the origin/destinations are the same for most people; Mr. Petraglia said it usually is. Mr. Cleary asked if creating a new access would add additional origin/destination numbers. Mr. McClanahan said he is concerned about relieving traffic on Route 106. Mr. Petraglia said they will look at all of the options, but said it will be difficult to work with CSX on grade crossings. Mr. Penney said the town owns sites on either side of the tracks and would like to get access to the landlocked parcel on the west side. Mr. French said that property could be used for industrial or recreation. Mr. Wasielewski said they will look at all the options, but at this point, they have focused on the east side of the tracks. Mr. Penney said the freight line used to carry a lot of materials, but those businesses are gone now. Mr. Petraglia said they will address the geometry, physical characteristics and levels of service for each of the options. He explained levels of service at intersections are graded A -F, and higher grades mean longer delays. Mr. Wasielewski said they conducted traffic counts at the existing intersections in the morning and afternoon peaks. The Chauncy /Highland /Winth op intersection got an "F" during morning and afternoon peaks. The intersections off of Route 106 got As and Bs during the morning and afternoon peaks; however, Mr, Wasielewski said he knows those intersections are also congested. FIe presented a plan showing queues of traffic leaving the train station and building up on Allen Street, Howe Street and Highland Avenue. Mr. McClanahan said Chauncy Street backs up when the traffic officer stops the flow to allow cars to exit the station. 11/6/2013 Mr. Wasielewski presented a plan showing a signalized Chauncy /Highland /Winthrop intersection, which he said would help to alleviate the queue. Mr. McClanahan said he thinks that could back up traffic more on Chauncy Street than the traffic officer does now. Mr. Petraglia said the signal could be adjusted to coordinate with the lights at the Chauncy /Copeland the Chauncy/North Main intersections. Mr. Penney said the traffic backups from the train station clear relatively quickly. Mr. Wasielewski said they did the traffic counts in five - minute intervals. Mr. Penney said whatever changes are made in that area should take the train schedule into consideration. Mr. Feck asked if the traffic signal can be scheduled to be green most of the day and go red as needed for train traffic. Mr. Wasielewski said that is effectively what would happen. Mr. Wasielewski said they looked at firture no -build traffic conditions, and the service level grades do not change. However, the delays at the "F" intersection would get worse. [Mr. Oreste arrived at this time] Option 1— Chauncy Place Extension Mr. McGrath said this includes the reconstruction of the Chauncy /Highland /Winthrop intersection and a five -phase traffic signal, using Chauncy Place. One of goals would be to keep traffic out of the neighborhood, and this option would be a geometric challenge because it would require quick turns on short streets and into the parking areas. Mr. Wasielewski said the intersection would be service level "C" during the morning and "D" in the afternoon peaks. He said the geometry of the intersection would require each of the side street approaches to have a separate signal phase, resulting in a five -phase traffic signal. Mr. Petraglia said they looked at each approach separately, and each turning movement separately, to arrive at the level of service. Mr. Penney asked if they looked at what will happen with Route 106 over the next 20 years. Mr. Wasielewski said they have. Option 2 — Allen Street Extension at Draper Avenue Mr. McGrath explained this would include the reconstruction of the Chauncy /Highland[Wintlrop intersection and a four -phase traffic signal, not using Chauncy Place. The existing businesses could have frontage on Allen Street. Mr. Wasielewski said there would be additional traffic on Allen Street, but by eliminating one phase in signal, the service level at the intersection would improve. Mr. LeBlanc asked if pedestrian activity was considered. Mr. Wasielewski said they have looked at both pedestrian and bicycle activity. Mr. McGrath said they plan to look at other opportunities for pedestrian and bicyclist access to the station. He explained their numbers are based on five -year projection. The resulting level of service would be similar to Option 1 with a five -phase signal on Chauncy Street. 11/6/2013 Option 3 — Chauncy Place to Draper Avenue to Allen Street and Howe Street The intersection of Chauncy /FIighland/Winthrop /Cliauncy Place would be reconstructed with a five -phase traffic signal. Allen Street would be either dead -ended or one -way to help keep traffic out of residential area. The plan includes a note of a possible one -way segment on Howe Street, which would improve Highland /Allen and Allen/Draper intersections to service level "A." Mr. Penney said the town looked at acquiring the former Cleveland Twist property in the 1990s, which is still vacant and for sale, and asked if acquiring that parcel would help. Mr. McGrath said it could help with some of the options, but in and of itself, acquiring that parcel would not help with traffic. Option 7 — Option 3 with modification of Allen Street west of Draper Avenue Under Option 3, it was assumed that 80% of exiting traffic would continue to use Allen Street to access Highland Avenue. To discourage traffic from using Allen Street, this option would modify Allan Street between Highland and Draper to make it one -way eastbound (toward the parking lots). All traffic exiting the parking lots would be routed to Chauncy Place. Option 8 Mr. McGrath said this would involve a road parallel to Draper Avenue for station traffic with a buffer area in between, which would prevent train traffic from entering the neighborhood. The road would be on a portion of the Cleveland Twist property. Mr. Penney said Cleveland Twist has frontage on Chauncy Street, but cannot access Chauncy Street because of elevation differences. Mr. Wasielewski said the service level of the Chauncy/Highland intersection would be "B" in the morning, "D" in the afternoon. Option 9 — New Signal at Draper Avenue /Chauncy Street Mr. McGrath said this would create a new signalized Draper Avenue /Chauncy Street intersection by extending Draper Avenue out to Chauncy Street and lowering Draper Avenue to match the elevation of Chauncy Street. Traffic on Highland and Winthrop would be restricted to right -turn in and right -turn out only. Retaining walls would wrap around the corner. Allen Street would be blocked off or made one -way. The advantage would be keeping the station traffic out of the neighborhood and funneling it directly from the station to Chauncy Street. Mr. Wasielewski said the intersections would improve to service level `B." Mr. McClanahan said traffic backs up beyond Highland Avenue now, and this option would add additional traffic. Mr. Wasielewski said the lights could be synchronized here, at Chauncy /Copeland and at Chauncy/North Main Street to help move traffic through the area more efficiently. Option 10 — Roundabout at Draper Avenue /Chauncy Street In this option, Draper Avenue would be extended to intersect with Chauncy Street, all parking lot traffic would be served by the new roundabout intersection and traffic on Highland and Winthrop 11/6/2013 would be right turn in, right turn out only. Three different geometries were analyzed, including: 1 OA) single lane approach on all legs ( "F" during morning and afternoon peaks); I OB) double lane approaches on Chauncy Street legs and single lane approaches on the side street legs ( "C" during morning and afternoon peaks, but southbound approach would be 'T" during afternoon peak); IOC) Option B lane use plus additional right turn lane on the Draper Avenue southbound approach ( "C" during morning peak and "B" during afternoon peak). Mr. Azinheira said grading would be a problem with Option 10. Mr. Wasielewski said they also looked at leaving the side streets single lanes and increasing Chauncy Street to two lanes. Mr. Pemiey said that would add another level of difficulty. Mr. McGrath said this option would be severe from a land impact point -of -view on both sides of Chauncy Street. Mr. McGrath said a short-term option would be to get some of the traffic off Chauncy Street by adding turning lanes up to Copeland Drive. He said it would be a relatively simple fix because the pavement width is there now, the lanes would just need to be defined. Mr. Azinheira said a lot of that is in the MassDOT layout, but with the proper plans, the town should be able to get MassDOT support. He said this intersection was on the TIP list for years. Mr. Azinheira asked if this option would strictly be sniping changes; Mr. McGrath said it could probably be done, but with a little more room the curbing could be pushed back. Mr. Penney said that would only help alleviate traffic in the afternoon. Ms. Ashman- Collins said the existing sidewalks around the station are not wide enough for pedestrian comfort. Mr. Penney said he thinks Copeland Drive is the most important intersection for a turning lane, with Central Street of secondary importance. Mr. Petraglia said it doesn't take many vehicles trying to turn left to block westbound traffic. Mr. Cleary said he would like to see a right -turn lane at Chauncy /Copeland, but said lie understands that would involve more land. Mr. McGrath said they will be working on the options on the other side of the tracks, then will look at ranking all options by cost and level of service. Mr. LeBlanc asked about making Highland Avenue one -way into the neighborhood. Mr. McClanahan said that would inconvenience the residents. Mr. French said that might be helpful, but there still has to be a second way out. Mr. McClanahan said Options 4 and 6 would cross the tracks. Mr. McGrath said a crossing would have to be as perpendicular as possible. Mr. Pemney said the area around the Rumford River on the west side of the tracks was used as a dumping ground by industries, so the town would not want to put a road through there. He said there is a crossing further up the tracks, but no official easement. Mr. McGrath said the town needs a plan before it can start talking to landowners about crossings. Mr. Wasielewski said CSX owns the property parallel to the tracks. Mr. McGrath said he thinks ownership is less important than getting permission from CSX to cross the tracks. Mr. French said the board has discussed a "back way out" exit from the station to Central Street. Mr. McClanahan said there are a lot of wetlands areas there. 11/6/2013 Mr. McGrath said they plan to have looked at all the options by the December 4 joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen. Mr. Penney said there is merit to showing the Board of Selectmen and the public all of the options, even if they are discounted early on, so everyone can understand what has been considered. Mr. Penney said the board has discussed access to the east through Pratt Street, where the town is planning a small rotary, and suggested BETA look at that. Mr. Azirilneira said he is planning a presentation on the rotary for residents, Board of Selectmen and Planning Board soon. Mr. Leighton showed the board an ownership map of parcels in the area. He said BETA needs to understand the impact on traffic at maximum development and parking, so they are building a 3- D model with both existing conditions and potential future development. Mr. Penney said the plans he has seen for redevelopment of the Clemmey property have included an elevator -type system to get pedestrians across the tracks. Ms. Ashman- Collins asked about the possibility of a second parking garage on the east side of the tracks. Mr. Azinleira said long -term, a second way out of the train station is necessary. He said he doesn't care for the roundabout idea; the options with lights would be better. He said the simple striping changes on Chauncy /Copeland would be helpful in the short -term. Mr. Aziiilieira said he will plan to attend the December 4 joint Planning Board /Board of Selectmen's meeting. He said he will be doing a presentation on the DPW facility that night. Mr. Penney said it is great to see plans coming out of the discussions the board has been having over the last few years. He said lie would like to have a plan the town can use to move forward with both short -term and long -term improvements. He said he is happy with what BETA has developed in a very short time. Mr. Penney said ridership has gone up in the last few years, possibly because the parking rate has been reduced. Mr. Azinheira said both the resident only and out of town spaces are filling up quickly in the morning. 3. ZBA application for Variance — 2 Short Street — Distance from accessory structure (pool) to house. The house and deck were built around the same time. When the pool was installed in 2013, the plan submitted with the building permit application did not show the deck. When the building inspector went out to inspect pool, he discovered only about 4' between deck and pool where 10' is required. Motion: To end the ZBA a positive recommendation (McClanahan -Feek) All in favor. PASSES 4. September 24, 2013 memo from Mr. Burke re: Medical Marijuana Dispensaries 5. September 25, 2013 memo from Mr. Burke re: Final Environmental Impact Statement - South Coast Rail Project 6. September 27, 2013 memo from Mr. Burke to Mr. Ross re: meeting notes from September 26, 2013 South Coast Rail meeting 11/6/2013 7. October 15, 2013 letter from Mr. Burke to Perry DiMascio re: Forest Heights 8. October 22, 2013 letter from Mr. Burke to Mr. DiMascio re: Forest Heights 9. October 29, 2013 memo from Mr. Burke re: Open Meeting Law Workshops 10. October 29, 2013 memo from Mr. Burke re: E.O. 525 (South Coast Rail) 11. Public Hearing notices Attleboro, Easton, North Attleboro, Norton, Plainville, Sharon 12. The Beacon 13. October 8, 2013 Economic Development Incentive Program (EDIP) Presentation 14. November 2, 2013 request for release of surety — Stanley Village 1 November 4, 2013 memo from Mr. Ahern recommending the release of $5,722.44; the new balance will be $84,157.50. Motion: To release $5,722.44 from the Stanley Village subdivision bond (Ashman- Collins - Cleary) All in favor. PASSES G. Items not Anticipated by the_Chair 48 Hours in Advance - Mr. McClanahan said he liked the BETA presentation and hopes they look at all of the options. Mr. French said he thinks they will look at all of the options in an effort to do a complete study. Mr. McClanahan suggested contacting the residents and businesses in the train station area about the December 4 joint meeting. The Planning Department has contact information for many of those people. The board discussed posting the BETA presentation for the December 4 joint meeting on the town's website prior to that meeting, making sure it is clearly labeled "draft" or "proposed." Mr. LeBlanc said he will be interested to see the levels of service with a CSX crossing. The board discussed the fact that Mansfield is a regional station and improving access will result in more traffic. Mr. French said we have to keep in mind the station is in a residential area. Motion: To adjourn at 8:45 p.m. (McClanahan- Penney) All in favor. PASSES Next Planning Board Meeting: November 20, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. Signature of Clerk Date of Approval' 11/6/2013