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.
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Guests included Mike Burns, PLUS Transportation Planner, Silvio Genaot TdQ,
Engineer, and Elise Linscott, Staff Reporter, "Inquirer and Mirror." r*, N
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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.