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Town and County of Nantucket
COMMITTEE ON ROADS AND RIGHT OF WAY
Meeting of 19 August 2014 P` C E I V C D
4:00 pm in the Training Room of 2 Fairgrounds Road
FINAL AND APPROVED MINUTES
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1. Call to Order, Approval of the Agenda, and Approval of Minutes
A. Chair Allen Reinhard called the meeting to order at 4:06 pm. In attendance were Leslie
Forbes, Nat Lowell, Joe Marcklinger, Allen Reinhard, Lee Saperstein, and John Stackpole; there
was a quorum.
Guest: Mike Burns, Transportation Planner; arrived at 4:12 pm.
B. The agenda was approved by acclamation; a motion to approve the minutes from July 15,
2014, was made by John Stackpole and seconded by Joe Marcklinger. They were approved
unanimously. Allen Reinhard said that several people in our committee needed to be at
Miacomet Golf Club by 5:30 pm for a meeting of the Land Bank with the members of the Golf
Club and, thus, he hoped to complete this agenda by 5:00 pm.
There were no comments on issues not on the agenda.
2. In -town bike path: Update and discussion.
The previously distributed agenda for this meeting was amended last week to include this item.
The amendment was in time to meet the scheduling requirements of the Open Meeting Law.
This item was precipitated by the Nantucket Historical Commission's (NHC) letter of August 6tn
in which they asked the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) to delay the onset of the
In -Town Bike Path project over the former Nantucket Railroad causeway at the Goose Pond on
aesthetic and environmental grounds. Allen Reinhard said that he has a concern that their letter
is outside of their brief, which is to preserve Nantucket's history and archaeology and not to
substitute for other review committees on the Island, which have already approved the project.
Based on a conversation with Mickey Rowland, Chair of the Committee on disabilities, he
reported that their suggestions for surface material and width are counter to designs appropriate
to the requirement of the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA. Soft surfaces simply do not
work for wheel chairs.
Allen Reinhard felt that their letter needed a response. Lee Saperstein reported that, after
receiving the amended agenda, he had drafted one and sent it to committee members for their
review. Leslie Forbes had suggested some editorial changes that Lee Saperstein said were
helpful and not substantive. At this time, Mike Burns entered the room and gave a better address
for our letter. Lee Saperstein had copied the NHC address, which was to the MHC; Mike Burns
suggested that the letter, if approved by ROW, should go to Shawn Holland at the MassDOT,
who would assemble the entire project file including all correspondence and send it the MHC for
their review.
Allen Reinhard asked Mike Burns if he had any comments specifically on the Saperstein draft
and, in general, if the overall project review was still on schedule. Mike Burns said that the letter
was a good one and that the process had slipped by a month or two; MassDOT was evaluating
the design modifications sent to them recently by the Town, particularly for ADA compliance
with the surface. Nat Lowell expressed concern that these delays will upset the schedule for
Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) funds for Fiscal Year 2015. He hopes that these
issues can be resolved promptly. Mike Burns said the process is for MassDOT to assemble a
project package for a 30 -day review by MHC.
John Stackpole moved and Nat Lowell seconded the sending of the Saperstein letter; the
Committee approved the motion by a vote of 6 -0. The letter will go to Mr. Holland at MassDOT
with a copy to Massachusetts Historical Commission, the Nantucket Board of Selectmen, the
Nantucket Historical Commission, and others. A copy of the letter is attached to these minutes.
[Action: send the letter]
Because one of the Nantucket Historical Commission's concerns was to provide for flushing of
the Goose Pond by tidal exchange, Lee Saperstein asked Mike Burns and Allen Reinhard about
sediments in the bottom of the pond. Allen Reinhard said that the Nantucket Land Council had
surveyed the pond some years ago and found that there was enough toxic waste in it to require
the bottom to be dredged and sent off to a hazardous -waste disposal facility.
3. Core district sidewalk survey project update and next steps.
Allen Reinhard suggested that we resume the sidewalk survey in September. He related that his
examination of a lot of downtown streets suggested that there were more tripping hazards than he
realized. Nat Lowell said that many streets, such as Quince, were re -built after the sewer project
and made more difficult for traffic by the installation of high curbs.
John Stackpole suggested that there should be a local project manager to work with the
contractor whenever streets are opened or repaired. Allen Reinhard remembered that the ad hoc
street advisory committee had reviewed all the streets to be disturbed by the II -B project but that
nothing has been done since then to remedy trouble spots.
Lee Saperstein suggested that we review our street list and pick a bunch to survey this fall. He
shared the working list that we have of streets surveyed and asked Allen Reinhard to pick a
number of them to survey. [Action: pick streets and suggest volunteers]
Joe Marcklinger asked if we have had any progress on implementation of our suggested
Encroachment Policy. Allen Reinhard has spoken with Kara Buzanoski about it; she said that
they were still reviewing it and would speed it up. Allen Reinhard said that he will follow up
with her. [Action: contact Kara Buzanoski]
4. Railroad trail project update.
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Lee Saperstein indicated that he will work with Bert Ryder to complete an application to the Sign
Advisory Committee of the HDC for a COA for signage. Locations, in addition to the causeway,
that could be installed now include Steamship Wharf, Easy Street, and the parklets along
Washington Street, etc. [Action: complete application for a COA for signage]
5. Surfside to airport road takings update.
Allen Reinhard said that the layout has been staked on the Boulevarde. Money has been
allocated in the forthcoming Town budget for surveying and layout design. The Surfside Area
Association met two weeks ago and reported that they are in touch with the Town over this
project.
6. Old, New or other business.
Old Business. With respect to the Town's budgeting for the Capital program, Town Manager
Libby Gibson asked Allen Reinhard if there are any projects coming from Roads and Right of
Way Committee. He responded that we have two: the Prospect Street sidewalk to be continued
to Upper Vestal Street and a bike path to go from the end of the Prospect Street bike path around
the Quaker Cemetery using Saratoga and Winn Streets.
Mike Burns added that there is a request from his group for a sidewalk from Hummock Pond
Road along Milk Street Extension to Prospect St. The Committee agreed that this was an
important link that they had discussed previously and were in favor of it.
7. Adjourn. 5:02 pm. Next meeting: September 16,2014,4:00 p.m., 2 Fairgrounds Road.
Submitted by Lee W. Saperstein, Secretary
R &ROW Committee Outstanding Projects List (as listed on the meeting Agenda):
Projects Under Way:
• Downtown Sidewalk Survey Project
• Nantucket Open Space Plan Update
• Nantucket Greenway and Footpath System
• Nantucket Central Railroad Trail Project
Projects in need of advancement:
• First Way Pedestrian/Bike Access and Road Improvement Safety Project
• Boulevarde to Airport road takings, and reconstruction as Public Ways
• 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
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• Surfside paper road/abutters way takings
• Harbor walk
• Update Potential 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
• Chapter 91 Public Access License Enforcement: Harbors Plan Implementation
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Attachment 1
Town and County of Nantucket
Committee on Roads and Right of Way
16 Broad Street
Nantucket, MA 02554
August 20, 2014
Mr. Shawn Holland
MassDOT
Highway Division — Project Management Section
Ten Park Plaza
Boston, MA 02116
Re: Letter of August 6, 2014, from the Nantucket Historical Commission
Concerning the Nantucket In -Town Bike Path Project #606433
Dear Mr. Holland:
The Nantucket Roads and Right of Way Committee, ROW, is an official committee of the Town
of Nantucket charged with providing advice to the Board of Selectmen on ways on Nantucket.
Its members have reviewed the letter of August 6, 2014, sent by our colleagues in the Nantucket
Historical Commission, NHC, to the Massachusetts Historical Commission, MHC, and
subsequently forwarded to you on the in -Town bike path and its passage over the former
Nantucket Railroad causeway. We have previously reviewed earlier suggestions made by the
Nantucket Historical Commission and are pleased that many of them were incorporated into the
final plan submitted to you by the Town in their letter of July 9, 2014; there is no question that
the plan has benefitted from their initial review. We respectfully disagree, however, with their
August 6`" comments and hope enthusiastically that we can begin work on the in -Town bike path
as soon as possible.
In this letter, we present to you a summary of our researches on the Nantucket Railroad and its
routes across the Island of Nantucket so as to give some context to our comments; we discuss our
advisory work with the Nantucket Plannini Office and its Transportation Planner; and we give
you our specific responses to the August 6 letter.
History of the Nantucket Railroad
For some time now, a sub - committee of the ROW has been researching the routes of the railroad
with the ultimate goal of establishing historical walking paths along these routes. Much of the
railroad bed is on public or publicly accessible land (Town of Nantucket, Nantucket
Conservation Foundation, and the Nantucket Island Land Bank) and with a modest amount of
vegetation clearance could become a sequence of rural historical walking trails. Once
permission is obtained from the land owners, we will apply for a Certificate of Appropriateness,
COA, from the Nantucket Historic District Commission for a distinctive sign and menu boxes
into which to put brochures about the railroad.
The railroad was first proposed in 1879, construction began in 1880, and the first trains ran in
early 1881. Train is something of a misnomer because it was typically comprised of an engine
and a single car. The track was a three -foot narrow gauge, and had 40 -1b rails (weight per yard).
Recent exploration drilling on the Goose Pond causeway, site of Phase I of the proposed In-
Town Bike Path, shows significant amounts of carbonaceous material in the sub -base of the
causeway with fill material above that that was poorly graded and quite unconsolidated. This
suggests that the builders of the railroad causeway in 1880 dumped borrow material directly onto
the marsh bottom without attempting to dredge down to the underlying sand. We do not know
the source of the borrow material; it may have been local and it may have come from off Island.
The clay pits alongside of Hatch's Store at 133 Orange Street may have been part of the local
source. The causeway and other raised portions of the railbed were built quickly with off -Island
work crews.
The railroad provided transportation to the eastern communities on the Island and was supported
financially by the land development companies that hoped to create expanded communities at
Surfside, Tom Nevers, and Siasconset (`Sconset, locally). The railroad company collapsed in
1918 with the removal of the ban on private automobiles on Nantucket and most of the salable
items were removed off - Island. When they pulled the rails for salvage, they put the track spikes
into boxes that were never picked up and current residents talk about finding them today along
the route.
We have a digital map of the route that we would be happy to share with you. One member of
our sub - committee presented a "Food for Thought" talk to the Nantucket Historical Association,
NHA, as "Tracking the Nantucket Railroad," on March 27, 2014, which can be viewed at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVDMYDMm V8 &list= PLjgJVmnztYsTgYVn ijBhCGxA
5- 7DMtGw, or by searching the Nantucket Historical Association's web site, www.nha.org. The
NHA Research Library has over 250 pictures of the railroad and its artifacts. A substantial
source of information about the railroad is Clay Lancaster's "Far Out Island Railroad," 1972,
Pleasant Publications.
Advisory Work with the Nantucket Planning Office and its Transportation Planner
The ROW has been working with Mike Burns, Nantucket Transportation Planner, to fill the
bicycle and pedestrian gaps between the Core District streets with sidewalks and the existing
multi -use paths that lead out of town and ultimately to the beach. Unfortunately, the gaps are
hazardous stretches of busy road that force bicyclists and, sometimes, pedestrians into the
vehicular traffic. The proposed in -Town bike path would give bicycles and pedestrians a safe
alternative for part of the only truck route used by tractor - trailers to deliver groceries and
building materials and to remove recycling waste. Evidence of the need for this path is its
current informal use by local bicyclists over its rough and un -safe surface. The causeway has
degraded substantially from 1918. Its 10 -ft width (seen in 1909 Sanborn Maps, sheets 15 and
16) has been lost in many places and its elevation has depressed from wear and subsidence. At
some time in the past, someone threw chunks of asphalt onto it in the hopes of providing a
resistant surface. It may have seemed a good idea at the time but for the most part these chunks
are now only a tripping hazard.
G
The ROW first discussed the causeway's potential for a multi -use path in a joint meeting with
the Transportation Planner in 2009. He returned to us in 2013 to present a short summary of his
public presentation to the Board of Selectmen on September 4, 2013. That presentation became
the substance of a presentation to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation at a public
hearing and can be seen at http: / /ma-
nantucket. civicplus .com /AgendaCenter /ViewFile /Item /941 ?fileID =1149. At each meeting with
the Transportation Planner we saw full sets of the design plans for the proposed bike /multi -use
path and also discussed the benefits of separating cyclists from our heaviest used street. At each
point, we voted to support the plan.
ROW Responses to the August 6`h NHC letter
We understand that the Town will also be responding to the August 6t' letter so we will keep our
technical responses short. The items match those in their letter.
• Item 1. Width. The original width was 10 feet providing for the railroad and a
construction and maintenance way alongside of it.
• Item 2. Fence. Based on input from the NHC, the original fence design was modified to
make it simpler. We agree with the Transportation Planner that this simple fence is
necessary.
• Item 3. Steel Sheeting. Degradation of the causeway suggests the need for sheeting. The
bulkhead at Easy Street and Steamboat Wharf dates back to the construction of the
railroad and incorporates steel sheeting.
• Item 4. Goose Pond restoration. The original plan for the path included large culverts to
provide for tidal flushing of the Goose Pond. Environmental surveys have shown that the
sludge at the bottom of the pond, as a result of a century of street run -off, is heavily
contaminated and needs to be dredged safely before its waters can be allowed to enter our
Harbor. The need for the bikeway is so great that we accept the division of the project
into two parts.
• Item 5. Goose Pond Lane. This public way provides an entry to the pedestrian Public
Way on the causeway and then serves as a driveway to numbers 1 and 5 Goose Pond
Lane. It is not a rural road.
• Item 6. Harbor flooding. During Nor'easter storms at high tide, we frequently have our
downtown streets closed due to flooding. Winds in excess of 80 mph drive the water
over our streets. The causeway is open to the harbor and flooding is a hazard. Such
flooding would wash away an unsealed surface.
• Item 7. Current use. The path is used by pedestrians and cyclists but it is currently not
safe for either. As for its history, as soon as the new path is installed, the ROW will be
applying for a COA for signs that explain its origins.
The Nantucket Railroad was a commercial enterprise created for transportation. We believe that
its re -use as a multi -use path is in perfect keeping with its origins. The time for its use as a
multi -use path is overdue; please do not add any delay to its construction.
Finally, there are other segments of the railroad that are under threat from development. We
hope that the Nantucket Historical Commission will work with us to protect them.
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This letter has been reviewed by the six members of the ROW present at our meeting of August
19th and was approved by them unanimously.
For the Committee,
Allen Reinhard, Chair\
Nantucket Roads and Right of Way Committee
Cc: Nantucket Board of Selectmen;
Nantucket PLUS;
Massachusetts Historical Commission
220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125;
Nantucket Historical Commission
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