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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-11-19 Final MinutesTown and County of Nantucket COMMITTEE ON ROADS AND RIGHT OF WAY 'I U Meeting of 19 November, 2013 4:00 pm in the Training Room of 2 Fairgrounds Road FINAL APPROVED MINUTES 1. Call to Order, Approval of the Agenda, and Approval of Minutes` s A. Chair Allen Reinhard called the meeting to order at 4:24 pm. In att(Warl�2i were Joe Marcklinger (4:24 pm), Allen Reinhard, Bert Ryder (4:46 pm), Lee Sapptste' ankoohn Stackpole (left at 5:07 pm); Kara Buzanoski, Director of Public Works, a o Icio m member, was also present; a quorum was present from the onset of the foima�reeg. o Guests included Mike Burns, PLUS Transportation Planner, Silvio Genaot TdQ, Engineer, and Elise Linscott, Staff Reporter, "Inquirer and Mirror." r*, N F Not in attendance: D. Anne Atherton, Nat Lowell, and Sylvie O'Donnell Chair Reinhard, as he called the meeting to order, noted that we almost did not have a quorum and hoped that people who would not be able to attend would notify him in advance. B. The agenda was approved but with a rearrangement of order to provide the guests an opportunity to leave the meeting after matters of interest to them had been covered. No one had a public comment on any issue not presented in the agenda. C. Approval of minutes from July 16, 2013: John Stackpole moved to approve the Minutes and Joe Marcklinger seconded the motion; the committee voted unanimously to accept the Minutes. 2. Core district sidewalk survey project: Recent coverage and Response. Chair Reinhard said that a story by Elise Linscott, reporter for the "Inquirer and Mirror," who had attended our last meeting as well as the current one, was on the front page of the I &M and had elicited a lot of response from the public, many of whom approached Allen Reinhard with examples of sidewalks in poor condition and needing repair. Chair Reinhard also recounted the outcome of the article in Town Meeting that led to approval for the taking of five abutters' ways from Hulbert Avenue to the water. He indicated that the Town is in negotiation with the abutters to James Street and their attorneys and it would appear that an amicable arrangement will be made with that way. Meanwhile, the abutters have promised to re-form the way so as to provide for public access to the Harbor. James Street is the middle one of the five ways slated for taking. Negotiations have not begun on the other four ways. Returning to the sidewalk survey, Chair Reinhard indicated that the Committee should consider how to conduct it. Waiting for random public inputs may not be the most consistent way to proceed nor would it give us a sense of priority. He has been walking downtown streets to get a sense of conditions. He also said that the first priority should be the downtown region; while there are plenty of streets with sidewalk needs at the edge of Town, such as Quaker Road or a section of Pleasant Street, he felt that they should be dealt with separately. He introduced Joe Marcklinger, who has created a templated form to record information about each property along a street scheduled for review. Joe Marcklinger explained that the form is set up with space to record dimensions and a property sketch map that can be used to locate driveways and curb cuts; it also has space for observations on materials, i.e. brick, granite, asphalt, etc., and conditions. He developed a page of instructions that would help bring consistency to the records. The item on curb cuts would be useful input to a parking survey. Allen Reinhard asked about his proposed density of observations. Joe responded with, yes, every house on a subject street; to which Allen Reinhard said, maybe we should deal only with problem areas, i.e. deficient walks and encroachments. Lee Saperstein suggested that we develop a sampling scheme for areas with condition issues. Kara Buzanoski explained that the DPW was interested in a broad picture of problem areas and was hoping to develop a process for identification of problems. This is similar to what is intended for areas with encroachments, which are obviously one potential problem area for sidewalks. She also reminded the Committee that the survey of sidewalk conditions done in advance of the sewer project is available and should be folded into our new survey. Joe Marcklinger said that some photographic examples of good to poor should be included in the instructions. He thought that a range of three from poor to good would be enough; Allen Reinhard thought that the range should go up to seven. He also said about the survey that, "we want it to be constructive." Lee Saperstein asked and Kam Buzanoski responded that the Town owns sidewalks. She also reminded us that downtown may be more problematic for sidewalk issues caused by historic structures than newer neighborhoods. Allen Reinhard said that the point of the sidewalk survey is to identify problem areas; we may not want to do a total property survey because we could get a large percentage of the information from a sampling. He hopes to have a project process outline ready for the December meeting. [ACTION: Develop an outline of the survey process] Joe Marcklinger asked if we can do a trial to help us smooth out our process. Lee Saperstein agreed that this would be a good idea Lee Saperstein also asked about the status of John Wagley's questionnaire and petition for people living on historic streets, mainly in the Wesco Addition. Kam Buzanosld said that he had met with her and she urged him to confine his first effort to Quince St, particularly if replacing asphalt with cobblestones is the goal. 3. Encroachment Policy Review and plan for implementation (Agenda Item 6.). Because the proposed encroachment policy is related to the previous item on the sidewalk survey, Chair Reinhard asked for consent to move Agenda Item 6 to number 3. It was granted willingly. Kara Buzanoski said that her concern for encroachments is with broad traffic safety issues. She has asked Silvio Genao to examine the Island for regions with higher levels of encroachment that might lead to safety issues. She recognized the coincidence of sidewalk safety and encroachments in the downtown and, indicating that they should be addressed in time, felt that a higher priority is for traffic safety. She described a process that is being developed for presentation to the BOS. It will include observation of the encroachment, recording of the observation, notification to the landowner of the need to remediate the encroachment, follow up, and abatement by DPW if the owner does not fix the problem. The encroachment policy drafted by the Committee is being reviewed and amended by the DPW to incorporate the process; she will bring the amended policy back to us in December [ACTION]. 4. Open Space Plan (Agenda Item 3.). Allen Reinhard reported that a first draft of the up -dated Open Space Plan prepared by the consultants, Brown Walker Planners, Inc., has been sent to Town officials and members of the advisory committee for an initial review. He has seen a draft of the text but is hopeful that he can also see the map files that are meant to accompany the text. He asked Mike Burns if he had seen the map files and Mike Bums replied that he has access to the map files but has not yet reviewed them. Kara Buzanoski said that she has access to a set and offered to help Allen get access. Once the consultants get the preliminary comments, they intend to edit the draft to incorporate appropriate comments and corrections and then release it as a publicly available draft. This should happen in December or no later than January. The final report would then be prepared for release early in 2014. Mike Bums noted that several well -used walking trails, particularly at Sanford Farm and Tupancy Links, have had improvements to their walking surfaces. He asked if the report will identify trail conditions. Allen Reinhard noted that the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, who own and manage the lands noted above, have been working to improve those trails but that he doubted that the Open Space Report will get to that level of detail. He was optimistic that the report will identify gaps in the trail system that keep it from being a genuine shore- to-shore greenway system. 5. Railroad Trail Project: Walkway behind new Cape Cod 5 building (Agenda Item 4.). Allen Reinhard reported on the status of Dave Street property behind the newly built and landscaped Cape Cod 5 Bank. This is a section of the former Nantucket Railroad road bed over which the Town has retained an easement for public access. A proposal to the Community Preservation Committee, CPC, for the development of a pocket park has been submitted. Accompanying the proposal is a plan for development of this park. Kara Bu=oski noted that this includes the moving of a small building from the old Maria Mitchell aquarium to the park to provide a shelter for NRTA bus passengers; this building may have begun life as a ticket office for the raihoad. She is hoping to mark the route of the railroad from Washington Street Extension over the Goose Pond to the Dave Street park. Mike Bums reported that work on the In -Town bikeway, which will be part of this route, is on schedule. Allen Reinhard reported also that the Nantucket Conservation Foundation will clear brush on that part of the roadbed that crosses their land in the moors. Allen shared a book of photographs of the railroad that he had found in the Atheneum. 6. Halbert Avenue takings approved at Special Town Meeting (Agenda Item 5.). In addition to the announcement made under Item 2, Allen Reinhard noted that Neil Paterson has offered to supply us with new granite "public way" markers for these five ways once they are taken. Allen reminded the Committee that we had looked at these ways for years but did not perceive public sentiment needed to pursue a taking. This Town meeting showed that there is strong public sentiment for access to the Harbor along these ways. 7. Old, New, and Other Business. Joe Marcklinger asked if we could we start at 4:30 pm instead of 4:00 pm because it would fit better with his schedule. Allen said that he would poll the membership in time for December meeting [ACTION: poll membership on starting time]. Allen Reinhard talked about his visit to Block Island and insights that he gained on the development of their Greenway system. 8. Adjourn at 5:17 pm. Next meeting: December 17, 2013, 4:00 p.m., 2 Fairgrounds Road. Submitted by Lee W. Saperstein, Secretary Appendix: R&ROW Committee Outstanding Projects List: Nantucket Open Space Plan Update; First Way Pedestrian/Bike Access and Road Improvement Safety Project; Update Potential Takings List and process used to evaluate priority for takings Railroad ROW trail 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. East to Rotary; Nantucket Greenway and Footpath System; Spruce Street viewing platform; Harbor walk; Chapter 91 Public Access License Enforcement: Harbors Plan Implementation Comm.; Surfside paper road/abutters way takings; Nantucket Town Sidewalk Survey with recommendations. 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.