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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-3-19Town and County of Nantucket COMMITTEE ON ROADS AND RIGHT OF WAY N Meeting of 19 March 2013 v°r, 4:00 pm in the Training Room of 2 Fairgrounds Road y -o A m APPROVED FINAL MINUTES ,�„ a C, m 1. Call to Order, Approval of the Agenda, and Approval of Minutes rn z A. Chair Allen Reinhard called the meeting to order at 4:03 pm. In attendance were Anne Atherton (4:07 pm), Nat Lowell, Sylvie O'Donnell, Allen Reinhard, Bert lk"derN Lee Saperstein, and John Stackpole; a quorum was present. Not present was Joe Marcklinger. B. There were no changes to the published agenda. C. Approval of minutes from February 19, 2013: John Stackpole moved to approve and Bert Ryder seconded the motion. After Secretary Lee Saperstein explained that he had omitted one street in reporting Andrew Vorce's presentation, Item 2.D. on Warrant Article 79 for the taking of four streets, namely Francis Street, and that it had been fixed in the draft, the committee voted unanimously to accept the Minutes. D. An opportunity for comments from the public was given in the public notice of the meeting but no guests were present at this meeting, hence no comments. 2. Installation of Six New Public Way Monuments. Chair Reinhard announced that, following on -site inspections by him and Lee Saperstein, a recommendation is made to install the six granite monuments, three posts similar to those installed previously and three flush markers, donated to the Town by Neil Paterson. One of the upright posts should go at the intersection of Nosegay Lane and Sankaty Road (at Zero Sankaty Road) and the other two posts should go on either side of Eel Point Road to mark the shore- to-shore footpath that has been created on Town and Land Bank lands. A small parking area has been marked on the south side of Eel Point Road and it is due to be cleared and fenced in a few days. The north -side path goes to a set of new steps down to Dionis Beach; these were damaged in the recent storms but repairs are underway. The Planning Department, PLUS, has asked the original builder to fix their foundations. The three flush - with- the -ground monuments will mark those lateral ways from the `Sconset Bluff Footpath that have clear permission to do so: one marker will go along the path at its intersection with Nosegay Lane and two markers will go at either end of the way between 65 and 67 Baxter Road, i.e. one at Baxter Road and one on the footpath. This way is the effective northern end of the Footpath. When the Town obtains clear permission on the other lateral ways that have been nominated by the subcommittee, Ann's Lane and Rosaly's Lane, we will recommend installation of additional flush markers. D. Anne Atherton volunteered to add these six markers to our table of monuments and asked the Chair to ensure that photographs were taken during the installation. A short discussion on how and by whom installation should be done led to the offer from John Stackpole for staff from the Nantucket Land Bank to do it. Lee Saperstein mentioned that the gap in the hedge between 65 and 67 Baxter was not four feet wide and we should ask the owners to cut it back rather than have them discover that it had been done for them by the Town. D. Anne Atherton volunteered to contact the owners. 3. Taking of Woodbury and Barnabus Lanes; also Winn Street for a Bike Route. The Town has been asked to take Woodbury Lane, Bamabus Lane, and Winn Street, to make them into public ways and assume maintenance for them. The Town Manager referred this request to the Committee for its advice, hence this agenda item. Woodbury, which connects North Liberty Street to New Lane, and Bamabus, from Woodbury to New Lane at its intersection with Upper Main Street, are in the privately developed Woodbury subdivision. By report, they are paved with paver blocks and are in fair condition; no one from the committee had inspected them prior to this meeting. Winn Street, from Milk Street to Vestal Street, is unpaved and is a Town -owned public way. From Vestal Street to the Madaket Road, it is paved but is a private way; the request for taking is for the privately owned portion. In 2008, the then Director of the Department of Public Works recommended against these takings because of the increased maintenance burden that would be assumed by the Town. In opening the discussion on this request, Sylvie O'Donnell asked if these ways were on the list of priority takings that had been developed by the Committee and revised as recently as 2008. Criteria for putting a private way on this list included need for emergency access, use by the public as a connector (i.e. not a dead -end road) including access to subsidiary ways, and an expressed interest by abutters. Chair Reinhard indicated that none of the three ways in this request is on the list. It became apparent to the Committee members that the issue should be divided with Woodbury and Bamabus to be one request and Winn Street another. A general issue for both sets of streets is parking and whether or not it is permitted on private ways. There was a presumption that it is permitted but it was felt that this opinion should be checked with the Director of Planning. There was a general reluctance to make a recommendation on the Woodbury St./Bamabus Lane question until more information was obtained. In particular, the wishes should be sought from the affected homeowners about their willingness to have the ways taken. Also, the Town's transportation planner, Mike Bums, should be asked if there was any public interest in taking these ways so that they could be incorporated as a bike route leading from Town Center to the ways to the Beach (Hummock Pond and Madaket Road bike paths). The consensus was to defer this question until more information can be obtained. Winn Street, however, partly public and partly private, does present an opportunity to add a safe bike route that avoids Prospect Street and Quaker Road. John Stackpole moved and Sylvie O'Donnell seconded a motion to recommend that the Town take the remaining portion of Winn Street. The ensuing discussion included a suggestion that Winn Street should be tied to the plans for bike route connectors from Town center to the ends of the beach bike routes, particularly along Hummock Pond and Madaket Roads, and to the plans for sidewalks along Prospect Street and Quaker Road. John Stackpole also suggested that the Town consider reversing the one -way direction on nearby Saratoga Street so as to reduce the danger to traffic as it exits onto the Milk Street. The Committee concurred unanimously with the motion to recommend the taking of Winn Street. 4. Nantucket Railroad Trail Project Update. Lee Saperstein reported that the Railroad project is progressing, with the bulk of the work being done by Joe Marcklinger as he perfects the map of the route. He had shared with us the information that he obtained from the files in the Office of the Town Clerk and is now putting it on the map. When asked about a proposed meeting with directors from the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and the Land Bank, Allen Reinhard said that both organizations are interested in marking new trails. It is likely that they would have time in the fall to embark on the cutting and marking of trails. Lee Saperstein said that, when ready, we would share the Railroad map with interested parties; he also said that he would try to entice the Nantucket Historical Association into giving us an opportunity to talk about this project at one of their "Food for Thought' brown -bag lunch talks. 5. Update: Publication of "A History of Road and Ways." Allen Reinhard gave an update on the progress toward publication of Fran Kartumen's book on a history of Nantucket's Roads and Ways. This publication is supported by Harbor Fuels. Allen indicated that new sections have been written and that a selection of pictures from the archives of the Nantucket Historical Association has been made. John Stackpole suggested that Joe Marcklinger's map of the railroad route be considered for inclusion. Editing, formatting, and printing are under review and it is hoped to have it published by this summer. 6. Greenway, Dionis Stairs and Earth Day Walk, April 22Md. The new Shore-to -Shore Footpath, part of the Committee's Creenway Project, will be featured in a public walk in celebration of Earth Day on April 22nd. Walkers will meet at the Dionis Beach public parking lot at 10:00 am and then take a circular walk of about 3.5 miles, with return to the parking lot by noon of that day. The theme of the walk will be to illustrate how the town and conservation groups throughout the island work together to provide access to Nantucket's open space and conservation lands. 7. Old, new and other business A. Under new business, the Committee discussed the placement of posts at the end of Cathcart Road. Originally informed by an e-mail from D. Anne Atherton that she had read a Facebook posting by a local fisherman who was deeply upset by not being able to drive onto the beach at the end of Cathcart Road, the Committee learned that efforts to resolve the issue were underway even before we met. In response to her e-mail, there was an exchange of a -mails among Kara Buzanoski, DPW, and Jeff Carlson, DNR, and the Committee that explained that steps had been taken to protect private land to the east of Cathcart Road and that these steps — placing poles in the ground at the end of Cathcart Road — were a little more aggressive than intended. The posts have since been relocated. The beach at the end of Cathcart Road is accessible to the public because the portion to the west of the end of the road belongs to the Nantucket Land Bank, who has located a kayak/dinghy rack there. With a shortage of places in Nantucket Harbor for fishermen to access their boats and land their catch, this has become a popular site for those, scallopers for instance, who work inside of the harbor. Unfortunately, instead of driving onto the beach to load and unload and then parking their vehicles back in the provided parking area, a number were leaving their vehicles on the private land. A complaint from the land owner precipitated the action. It was suggested that a few discreet signs indicating where vehicles might enter the beach and where they might not would help to resolve the dispute. B. Sylvie O'Donnell asked about Warrant Article 74 for the purchase of 2 Bartlett Road and whether or not it was needed. The response from Chair Allen Reinhard and several others was that it was essential to ease traffic congestion and potential future accidents. Sylvie O'Donnell then asked if connecting the two ends of Cato Lane would not achieve the same result and the response was no on two counts. The fast is that there is no public consent to make this connection and the second is that traffic on Bartlett Road would not turn to use Cato Lane even if it were opened. C. Lee Saperstein mentioned that one of the Action Items in the Harbor Plan that had been assigned to the Committee on Roads and Right of Way was to keep a watching brief on potential new Public Access points to the Harbor. He is a member of the HPIC and told them, during a conversation about implementation progress, that our Committee was very aware of its responsibility in this regard. He did suggest, however, that this commitment be made visible by including it in our list of Outstanding Projects. D. Nat Lowell asked if there was any progress toward implementing the Sidewalks' Advisory Committee recommendations on crosswalks and curbs disturbed by the recent sewer renovation project. Allen Reinhard said that cost over -runs suggest that there will be no money for work not explicitly described in the contract. S. Adjourn at 5:34 pm. Having reached the end of the agenda, adjournment was by acclamation. Next meeting: Apri116, 2013, 4:00 p.m., 2 Fairgrounds Road training room. R &ROW Committee Outstanding Projects List: • Nantucket Open Space Plan Update • Nantucket Greenway and Footpath System • Nantucket Town Sidewalk Survey with recommendations • Railroad ROW trail project • First Way Pedestrian/Bike Access and Road Improvement Safety Project • Installation of sidewalk from Prospect St. multi-use path to Upper Vestal Street • Bike path linking Surfside, Hummock Pond & Madaket Bike paths via Mill Hill • In Town Bike Path from Washington St. Ext to Rotary • Spruce Street viewing platform • Harbor walk • Publication of "A History of Roads and Ways" • Chapter 91 Public Access License Enforcement: Harbors Plan Implementation Com. • Identify new Public Access points to the water. • Surfside paper road/abutters way takings • Update Priority Takings List and process used to evaluate priority for takings Completed projects needing implementation and follow up: • Access to Sconset Footpath, maintenance and signage • Work with DPW on maintenance plan for public way monuments and trails • Oversight of maintenance West Chester St. Ext., Crooked Lane and Cathcart Road Submitted by Lee W. Saperstein, Secretary