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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDAC 03/26/1984DOWNTOWN ADVISORY COMMITTEE IOM&USI NDF9 March 26, 1984 Present: Chairman Seifert, D'Onofrio, Tartufo, Jackson, Carpenter, Kertgen, and McNatt Joseph Zeneski, Town Engineer; and Pat Brennan, TAMMS Engineering. 1. Meeting called to order at 7:30 P.M. 2. Underground Utilities The Light Commissioners met with the New England Telephone Company approximately two weeks ago. They were given the opportunity to put the underground utilities in if the Town will pay for it. If the Town pays for this, it would result in an additional 2 percent charge on the telephone bills. The community will have to decide this. The Light Commissioners were concerned with the lack of sensitivity the telephone com- pany had towards the Town's needs. The telephone company has a 560 million dollar budget for expansion, and they can't justify putting these utilities underground even though the Town was going to do the trenching, ect. John Larch will be advising the Light commissioners of firm numbers for putting the utilities underground so they will have a much better idea of the actual cost. The 2 percent charge would be added to all 339 exchanges; however, it was noted that some businesses in Mansfield have outside exchanges. Mr. Coleman, Vice President of New England Telephone, will be attending the Board of Selectmen's meeting to be held on Wednesday, April 18, 1984, to discuss this matter. It was pointed out that there may be an additional cost to residences and businesses downtown to relocate the wires. 3. North Main Street/Route 106 In reference to the High Hazard funding, Chairman Seifert informed the committee that the review board for high hazard intersections has not met in 18 months, nor have they scheduled a meeting in the near future. Therefore, at a previous meeting, the DAC voted to request that William Vernon write to Fred Salvuchi, Head of the State Department of Public Works, which he has. However, to date, Mr. Salvuchi has not yet responded. 4. Court Street/North Main Street/Old Colony Way Joseph Zeneski, Patt Brennan, and Kevin McNatt went out Saturday and walked the Old Colony right-of-way and looked at the driveway openings, street openings, and dumpsters. They are trying to obtain a design that will meet everyone's DAC Minutes Page 2 March 26, 1984 needs. They will be putting in boundaries to distinguish between Town land and private land. They have also met alot of concerns in the McNatt Report. At this point, everyone reviewed the plans. Chairman Seifert informed the public that this is the first time the DAC has seen these preliminary drawings. Pat Brennan of TAMMS gave a little background information stating that they were given a concept plan, drawn by Everett Associates, which was the basis of the grant appli- cation to obtain the funds. TAMMS is making sure the design will work and makes sense as far as traffic flow, ect. They also have to conform to State standards. The State will require a letter from the Town certifying that the State standards were conformed to. Joseph Zeneski said that there will be an island constructed at the N. Main/Old Colony/ Church Streets intersection. The street will be widened along N. Main Street between High Street to Church Street by approximately 4 to 5 feet. From High Street to Church Street up North Main, the sidewalks will be widened. They will also be correcting the intersection of Samoset and N. Main Street. At this time, Kevin McNatt informed the committee of the outcome of discussions he has had with abutters. They are as follows. Mr. Lombardi would like to have a buffer zone; Mr. Ameci would like to have parking behind his property; and Mr. Fales would like an entrance to get his tanks in. One point of concern is what to do with the dumpsters. Presently, they are on town land. Two alternatives are: To construct pads on town land for the dumpsters to be placed on, or require that they are placed on private property. A concern was expressed to keep the area cleaner when the walkway is completed. Pat Brennan, TAMS Engineering, pointed out two flaws in the plan. They are access to Fales and the walkway near Mr. Willis' building. In reference to the access to Fales, the loading pad for the dumpsters adjacent to the entrance will be con- structed such that you can drive over it to make the turn. It was also the concensus to construct the walkway on the easterly side; thereby eliminating the second flaw. Kevin McNatt will also talk to Mr. O'Malley and the owner of Schofield Hardware regarding the parking. It was the con - census of the committee to define the Town owned property using curbing. This curbing will be construct up to Mr. Willis' building, and begin again at the end of this building. In another discussion, it was suggested to post "No parking from here to corner" signs on Church and Bristol Street. Presently, there is parking on both sides of the street. Another suggestion was to eliminate the sidewalk near Catalano's from N. Main to Bristol and use that for parking. DAC minutes Page 3 March 26, 1984 5. Train Shelter Request to GATRA Richard D'Onofrio reported that this project consists of constructing 400 feet of shelter on the inbound side of the tracks, along with the involvement of the other parking lot. This is going into the last stages to see if funding will be received from GATRA. 6. Train Schedule Richard D'Onofrio said he gave the Board of Selectmen 460 signatures requesting that the after 11 P.M. train be returned. William Vernon spoke to Jean Sullivan who said they are willing to put a train back at this time if all the political problems could be worked out. 7. Spaulding School Chairman Seifert passed out a listing of all the uses that were suggested for the Spaulding School. These ideas came from the suggestion box which was at the exhibition. He `i requested that the committee review this. 8. Date of Next Meeting is Monday, April 23, 1984, at 7:30 P.M. It was noted that the plans for downtown have not been finalized yet and some of them have not even been reviewed by the committee yet; and the project has to go out to bid in April. Therefore, it was the concensus of the committee to call an emergency meeting to review the plans as soon as they are received. 9. Adjournment 10:30 P.M.