Planning Board - Regular Meeting

All right. I will open up this meeting of the main planning board. Today's date is September 23rd, 2025 and the time is 7:04 p.m. All members of the planning board are present here in town hall. Uh tonight this meeting is being held in hybrid format which means members of the public applicants and board members can participate here in town hall or virtually through the zoom link. Uh please note this meeting is being recorded. Well Bill Nums we'll skip item one. We'll go straight to item two. The uh what is the presentation for the main street road diet. And I believe Bill you want to provide an intro to this and then we'll turn it over to our consultants. Is that correct? Yeah, I I have a little background on it and I'll introduce to sharp consultants if the board likes I can take you and for the public just give a little um primer about what the goals were here and and then I have um Jeff and um Shria and um Seth all from Bay Group I think will be uh giving you some of the ideas that they came up with. We had a pretty good a good amount of time to work on this and uh if it's okay I'll go ahead and start a little presentation here and um a lot of people let me make sure this is shared here and up Okay, you guys should be able to see that now. Um just to give everybody a little background about uh

what were the the ideas uh for this study and the work and what did we uh hope to learn and build off of from the work that Beta undertook. Um this is a from a grant that was made possible by the um Massachusetts Downtown Initiative. uh one of the state agencies uh and the idea was to come up with some ideas, suggestions uh for Main Street, specifically on the portion of Main Street uh between um Mason and uh Walam Street. Um the general we didn't have a lot of we had a few goals going in that we asked the consultants to work off but but basically a lot of people don't know but but Main Street actually is a two-lane road and we thought what would be the possibilities of going uh and the advantages if it was reduced to one lane while allowing extra width for sidewalks and so on. So the area we're talking about here is roughly 1,200 foot stretch and um the the goals were pretty much we have uh were based on a feedback uh we've been accumulating since uh the master plan and and even the u housing production plan. But uh safety of pedestrians and putting pedestrians first was a big part of this and a lot of complaints. I received a lot of complaints about the speed of vehicles, but I wasn't really sure about what the speeds were and how bad it was. So I worked with the police

department and um we had a month-long u study of which I'll show you here the traffic um numbers. Uh also, um one of the goals of this would be to um increase exposure and ability to access downtown businesses. uh the slower the traffic um particularly if left on mirror I mean it's it's it's pretty well established that um in trafficcoming situations where vehicles go slower there there's more of a propensity that what's going on here I want to get out of a car and this is something that we hope to kind of build on and again the idea is a lot of people transversing mater so maybe it can be a new um capture some do outside uh business for our local um enterprises. And then lastly, um the the activities of downtown, what what has been accomplished in the last couple years, particularly sidewalk activity uh on Main Street and it and it's again one of those um effects where where where people could see the activity there. It's it is a attraction in its own right. uh widening the sidewalks. Um it could help everything from um additionally uh providing additional space for outdoor dining. Uh it could allow for sidewalk type uh retail activity in bases, entertainment. We've had uh a number of uh street uh musicians and and uh events outside. Um and it also uh gives us an opportunity to uh come up with new new events and activities that would um provide uh additional activities for downtown.

Um why do we want this? Um this was in general the feedback um from the police study that I got on for a 25 mph downtown for a little stretch. I it's too small to see here really. So I'll give you the the takeaway. Here's the takeaway for that. Two out of three drivers are driving over the speed of 25. 5% are traveling uh over um 5 miles per hour or more over the 25 hour mile speed limit. If you sit outside in the morning, sometimes we you can probably see it on any day. site, have a cup of coffee if it moves by um pretty briskly. Um a the idea we think it's it would be um good for business in general. Um and this is just kind of the reiterates what I discussed earlier but some of the reasons why it would be um beneficial to downtown for business as well as safety and the considerations that well this has been going on um probably better part of three years. We've been looking at different potential activities and we wanted to look at what were the considerations so that when beta started to work they understood uh the key concerns. The first was of course um safety. Um we have our uh crash data. Um, luckily we actually we only had one instance so far in 2025 and also that's the last we didn't have any 2024 and before at 2023 and back you'll see the data in a little bit with Beta's um presentation but um loss of parking is always always an issue. So that was one of the um the

kind of the caveats we want to start with minimal if any loss of parking um in that area. Um there's always a possibility that something could go wrong uh with the infrastructure and you've already uh perhaps constructed an improvement and you're stuck having to tear it up. Well, nobody wants to do that. So, uh we've been working on this with with DPW, this effort as well. Been working with us pretty much through the whole thing. And the goal would be to have everything in place um in terms of funding and determining what improvements would be made where but make sure that any underground work would be done prior to the new improvements being done. So that would be you know more than DPW's bail about what in particular but that was something we're we were concerned about because that has happened with in other areas in the past. Um the other thing is that a lot of people were we have heard a lot of feedback about loading um and unloading because right now sometimes people just stop and unload and and and this board may remember when I can't remember who it was but we had an incident on Mason Street at one point where the loading zone that was shown on a site plan was the street the public street. It's like, no, it's a lane of N. And and and so the so these were the biggest concerns that we found. Um I'll let these people in so we can get some more in. And um so the police department uh is working with chief uh and department DPW and office of municipal services. um in general all support

the approach of a road diet for this stretch of of um main street. So with that um that the only thing I would ask anybody who's watching and this is what I thought about when I when I was looking over to pros and cons. I mean, I'm just saying my question I leave here with is what what is the value of this of having traffic go through there for businesses, for the community, for pedestrians? It does. I don't see any upside to it. Now, people I've had people, you know, say, "Well, I want to traffic takes too long. It takes too long to get through there anyway." I don't know if I that's not my opinion, but um so this was kind of my takeaway that I I'm thinking from this, you know, what exactly are we trying to get if we don't do something? Um and then with that, I will turn it over to do you want to go or is Jeff gonna go or you can introduce the team maybe? Yeah. Uh if um Shri is gonna can she share the uh presentation?

You should be able to see. Yeah, we got it. Okay. So, I think uh we're ready to go if you are. Yeah. Let me Okay. Uh feel good. Okay. Okay. Great. Uh thanks, Bill. uh for that introduction. I think uh you make make our job easy. We'll uh we'll repeat some of this but try not to do too much of it. So um let's go to the next slide. Um Jeff, would you mind just introducing your team for us?

Yeah. Yeah. So um yeah, Jeff Max Tudis from the Beta Group, uh project manager. Uh with me tonight is our project team uh Sherica Murthy uh transportation planner and Seth Boyce uh landscape designer. So just did an agenda we basically did introductions um project goals we'll build did a good job going through that already. Um existing conditions we'll set the you know set the baseline from what we're working for and then talk about some of alternative concepts. Um before we get to that, I just want to um have folks keep in mind it is a um really a feasibility study we're talking about here. So we're not going to be talking about um you know design details you know based on survey or kind of the you know nuts and bolts and you know drainage and utilities really but it's really feasible what we can show is feasible and providing a road diet and the benefits of that repurposing uh the main street to travel lanes. So I just want to uh make sure folks know that and you know Seth is going to talk about the uh you know the interesting concepts um after uh myself and Charlica speak. So next slide. So we just introduced ourselves and you know we worked a lot with Bill and uh you know Steven Silverstein and um some other folks um and town staff uh you know through the course of the project. Next slide. So, as goals, as Bill said, this is kind of just uh reiterate what he said, improve pedestrian circulation, um safety and connectivity, uh you know, within Maynard's Town Center. Um we have an opportunity here to, you know, repurpose which is essentially a two-lane wide street um

that promotes um high traffic speeds, which is not conducive for um pedestrian safety. using things like trafficcoming measures, uh, road diets and, uh, uh, you know, reducing lane and lane narrowing, curb extensions, uh, all those types of techniques and really balance safety and connectivity um, with minimal reductions to the on street parking supply uh, that exists today. Next slide. So, um, well, Bill, you've already said it. Uh it's a it's a the study area is about 1,200 ft um from Nason Street to Summer Street and that's the uh the area that we uh uh focused on. Next slide. So, uh, previous studies, um, you know, there's been, um, uh, a good amount of work that's been done, you know, over the last, um, you know, seven or eight years here, um, including the townwide, uh, master plan in 2020 with goals to promote, um, you know, pedestrian and bicycle um, mobility and safety. uh Naylor court um placemaking study uh in 2021, you know, recommended some changes to the Naylor uh court law. MAPC did a parking analysis in 2018 looking at parking supply and demand and uh recommended um either replacing or removing uh the parking meters along Main Street. And then um Masdat complete streets program. You know, the town has a prioritization plan. Um, and several of these locations are included in the plan, including the intersection of uh Maine and Summer Street. Next slide. So, this just shows a snapshot really

kind of quantifying the existing parking along Main Street. So there's a total of uh 50 uh parking spaces and there's um you know you see on the uh the top uh um 28 and on the bottom uh uh 22 spaces for a total of 50. The the blue area there is really um you know typical you know on street parking spaces. There's some undefined parking um you know which which people use. Uh there's some 15-minute parking and there's some couple spots for uh you know drop off and loading. So those fif those 50 spots we're using as kind of the existing supply and we're you know trying to hold that um steady and not not lose many of those 50 spaces. And when Seth goes through the options or the alternatives uh you you'll see if those are impacted or not. Next slide. So, this is a shot um looking down Main Street, looking eastbound from kind of the the western end of the uh the segment. But you'll see on the outsides we've got um at this at this location 9 foot wide existing sidewalks on each side of the road. We have um you know 8 foot uh wide parking spaces and then in the middle you see we got 22 feet of travel which really is too wide uh for one lane of travel and really promotes it's like it's really you know it's two lanes even though it's not really striped that but um it can be used in two lanes and that you know pro promotes um you know kind of confusion you know with people don't you know should they drive it as one or two lanes U promotes higher speeds, it's longer crossing, you know, for

pedestrians. And so, you know, this um it's a it's a great opportunity to what we call is a road diet to reduce that pavement to uh you know, one one travel lane and repurpose that that area of the road um into something that's more productive. Um it can be terms a wider sidewalk um which can promote uh stimulate uh you know business activity you know outdoor dining uh people gathering yeah socially um so there's a lot of benefits to doing that and we you'll see some of that and uh I want to go through the alternatives next slide. So, this is just a shot a little further down, you know, traveling east. Um, the differences are the sidewalks a little narrower. In some cases, you'll see six feet or 6 and 1/2 ft. Parking lanes are the same and travel lanes about the same. It's either 21 or 22 feet. So, um, we pretty much have that same opportunity to narrow the travel lane, you know, along along the entire corridor, but the, um, the width of the sidewalk will of course change. Uh, next slide. Yes. So, I'm going to um hand it off to Sherica and she's going to talk a little bit about an existing uh, you know, roadway uh, roadway conditions in the study area.

Sure.

Oh, sorry about that. Uh, thanks Jeff. Uh so these next couple of slides um are going to show um what we observed um at the site currently um based on our site visits and uh some of the uh past reports that have been done in the area. So on this slide here uh we have our observations of the roadway and sidewalk conditions. Um towards the western end of the corridor uh we have the Main Street and Mason Street crosswalk. Um going uh traveling east uh we have a shot of the sidewalk um just down at the middle of Main Street uh to the bottom of the screen. Um we have a shot of Main Street uh by Open Table getting closer to the eastern side. Um and then again the sidewalk on the south side of the corridor um towards Waltham Street. Um so when we look at the three sort of main roadways uh that of this study um they each kind of have their own sort of transportation or traffic related characteristics. Uh so Main Street also uh State Route 62 functions as a principal arterial. Um it technically has one wide lane going one way. It's eastbound. Um it does have sidewalks for pedestrian or bicycle accommodation as is. Um and it has a primarily commercial land use uh with a speed limit of 25 miles an hour. Na Street uh functions as a major collector road. It also has one wide lane going one way southbound. Um it also has sidewalks on both sides of the road. Um and has a primarily commercial land use with a speed limit

of 25 miles an hour. Um Summer Street uh to the north. It functions as a major collector as well. Um it has one lane each way traveling east west. Um it also has sidewalks um and has a primarily commercial land use uh with a speed limit of 20 miles an hour. Um so these next couple of slides uh are going to show some more technical traffic information. Um this data is taken from a 2019 traffic impact and access study conducted by green international affiliates. Um so on this screen uh we see the volumes um at the three intersections um at the weekday PM peak hour that's between 5 and 6:00 p.m. Uh so at the intersection of Main Street and Mason Street we have about 350 vehicles. Um and at the intersection of Main Street, Waltham Street, Axton Street, and Summer Street, uh we have closer to about 4450 vehicles um passing through during the weekday PM peak hour. Um and for the Saturday midday peak hour, uh we have uh lower volumes of course. Um we have about 275 vehicles passing through the intersection of Main Street and Nason Street. um and about 250 to 300 vehicles passing through the intersection of Main Street, Waltham Street, Afton Street, and Summer Street. And this is during the Saturday midday peak hour, which at the end of study was 11:45 to 12:45 p.m. Um so also as part of this study, as Bill referenced, we uh did look at some of the crash data for um these three intersections. Um the period of time that we looked at was between 2019 and

2023. Um so at the intersection of Main Street and Nason Street, there were two crashes. Um at the intersection of Maine, Waltham, Actton, and Summer, there were eight. And at the intersection of Nason and Summer, there were five crashes. All of these crashes uh were classified as PDIO in indicating that there were property damage only and there were no injuries reported. Um, notably there was one crash in 2021 at the intersection of Summer and Nason that did involve a pedestrian. Um, additionally, as part of the traffic analysis that we do for this inter for this uh corridor, uh, we look at level of service and this is really looking at how um, traffic flows through an intersection and what intersection operations are like. and B look at of level of service on a scale uh from A to F. Uh A indicating that an intersection has uh very good operations, traffic is flowing well, there aren't too many delays. Um and F indicating that there are a lot of delays, the intersection is not operating well. Um and there is just a lot of traffic. Um so as you can see here um the intersections of summer and nason and main and nason both operate at a level of service B while the intersection of Main Street, Waltham, Aton and Summer Streets um operates at a level of service C. Um this indicates that all three of these intersections operate at a generally good level. um it means that there isn't that much queuing um and that intersection operations are generally good. Um so as we are also looking at uh what's on the road in front of us um we inventoried some of the amenities that

are present on Main Street currently. Um so we have we counted about 11 street trees um primarily on the south side of Main Street and towards the western end of the corridor. Um we counted 46 single and double parking meters um on both sides of Main Street. Uh we also observed about nine street lights uh lining Main Street on both sides of the road. Um there is one mailbox towards the eastern end of the street. Um and in the summertime, restaurants offer outdoor dining spaces uh kind of peppered throughout the corridor. Um in terms of signage, um moving from the western to the eastern end, uh we observed no left turn signage at the intersection of Main Street and Mason Street. Um, we also observed a no right turn or one-way sign on the south side of Main Street next to the Domino's driveway. Um, there were also 15-minute parking signs in front of the liquor store as well as special parking uh designated for open table and located at their driveway. Um, towards the eastern end of the corridor, we see a wrongway sign at the McDonald's exit on Main Street that looks west. um and left turn only signage at the uh intersection of Maine and Summer at the signal. Um so looking at what we have so far uh after we've kind of looked at these past reports um and understood what Main Street looks like today um we had an understanding of some of the issues and some of the constraints that we're working with um when we're thinking when we're thinking about

developing potential alternatives. Um so again working from the west to the east uh we observed speeding coming into the intersection um from further west down at Main Street. Um we observed outdated and broken parking meters um kind of all down the border. Um we observed a general lack of parking enforcement and regulation. Um we saw 15-minute parking signs but this is not always enforced. Um loading and unloading for uh some of the businesses along Main Street occurs in undesated areas while outdoor dining uh does use on street parking spaces for they're limiting uh somewhat uh the supply and overall um

whatever alternative we propose we need to ensure that the lane widths uh that are proposed can accommodate firet trucks and other emergency vehicles. Um, so keeping this in mind, I'm going to pass it to Seth. He'll take us through some of the alternatives, um, and concepts that he's developed.

Thank you. Um, next slide. So, uh, we developed three concepts given all the information that we've heard from Bill and our team. Um, all with the goal to improve road diet and also improve pedestrian safety. Next slide. So, concept one, we have uh parallel parking uh similar to existing conditions, but we narrowed the travel lane from 22 ft to 16 ft. Um this was something that was determined um with the review from the fire department. Um we are also able to extend the sidewalk about 3 ft um on either side of the road. Next slide. Farther down the street, it's a similar uh layout with an extension of the sidewalk of 2 and 1/2 ft uh which gives more than enough room to think about adding street trees. Um, and so when we're talking about all of these sidewalk extensions, it doesn't necessarily have to be concrete, obviously. It gives room for imperous surfaces, um, green infrastructure and, uh, plantings and trees. Next slide. Starting to the left of the screen on the western end of the street, uh we think about the intersection of Nason Street and Main Street by bringing it to a T and having it more of a formal um something people are used to. It would be use it would be uh removing the island there and adding raised crosswalks on either side of that intersection. Uh slowing calming traffic. Um, as we move east, it's parallel parking, similar to the existing conditions with the addition of ADA spaces. Um, it would include the

rebuilding of the raised crosswalk in the middle. Um, and then farther east of that in pink, you would see a formalized 15-minute parking and loading zone in front of the liquor store, as well as drop off and loading zones in front of Open Table and the dog grooming a business. Um once again these are conditions that we saw are existing um and this would formalize that. Moving farther eastward uh we expand the parallel on street parking um on north side of the street by removing the left turn lane in the intersection with Summer Street and Main Street. Um and these intersection changes are carried throughout each concept. This concept has a total number of 50 spaces. So it's the same as the existing conditions. Um, next slide. Our concept two centers around angled parking all being on one side of the street on the north side. This uh is a this is a wide obviously takes up a wider space um but you have a larger amount of um parking spaces in a shorter period of um time space. Um so in this scenario we can once again bring the travel lane down to 16 ft and add 3 ft of extended sidewalk on the south side. Next slide. Similarly, this is carried throughout uh with a two-foot extension farther east on the street um and a 16T travel line. Next slide. So, you can see the changes um for the intersection on the west end. Once again, it's a T. Um these changes to the

intersections uh improve the or they allow for a smaller um amount of space that you need to cross as a pedestrian um to improve safety and it improves road diet as well. Um so you can see the angled spaces. There's about 21 in that first section. Uh which is the same number as if you had the parallel parking on either side of the street there. Um, as you move down the street, once again, we're offering 15-minute parking and loading zones as well as drop off spaces. In this scenario, we get to a total of 46 spaces. So, it's four less than the existing conditions. Um, and once again, you know, we're updating we're thinking about updating the parking regulations, adding street trees. Um, and you have in red the proposed raised crosswalks. Next slide. So in this uh concept, concept three uh which is the hybrid design. In this one we kind of took the both the best of both worlds. Um and we have the angled parking on the west end of the street here, the 16T travel lane and the 3-foot extended sidewalk. Um next slide. we were really thinking about the outdoor dining that exists now. Uh so in this scenario, we have parallel parking and in this specific location, um you could have parallel parking on one side of the street and extend the sidewalk 6 ft on the north side and 7 ft on the south side of the street while still offering the 16 ft travel lane. This allows for plenty of space for outdoor dining or plantings or street trees or whatever you see fit. Um, and it also acts as a great measure to slow traffic down and as Bill was talking about, get

people interested in what's going on on Main Street and get people out of their cars. Next slide. You can see here this concept. It looks similar to a bit of both. Um, on the west end you have that intersection. You have the raised crosswalks in red. You have the 21 spaces which is an efficient use of space um with the angled parking and the ADA parking. Um and after that existing race crosswalk which would be renovated, you see the flex spaces, the 15-minute um spaces as well as drop off and loading. And you can see that the uh 16 ft lane and on um the one side of the street there's only one there's parking on one side of the street on the north and then the extended parking um on the north side of the street as you get closer to the intersection of Summer and Main Street. Uh this scenario has a total parking of 49 spaces which is just one off of existing conditions. Um, but you can see in yellow all of the added sidewalk that you and pedestrian space that you would be gaining. Next slide. So, looking at all three concepts, you see that in each one, we bring the travel lane width from about 21 to 22 ft all the way down to 16. We have similar amount of parking. Um, concept two is the one where you lose out the most, only losing four spaces um, and getting pretty close. In the other two concepts, we have a similar amount of space for flex spaces as well as loading zones. Um, but in concept one, you add 7,200 square ft of sidewalk or pedestrian area. In concept 2, you add 6,000 ft. And in concept 3, you add 7,500 square ft. Um, so there's really a big

improvement there. And on that note, I'm going to hand it back over to Jeff. And next slide. Yeah. Um I'll just um say what Seth was talking about and those concepts um you know it's nothing's set in stone. So we're showing you know the parking spaces or loading areas or so forth. Those can all be those are all flexible right to be uh to move moved around. So those are just really concepts right now to show you what's uh possible and feasible but um you know things can be moved around depending on the need of businesses. So, um, some other things to think about and considering, uh, with this plan as it moves forward, um, you have to think about, you know, if you want to keep, um, paid parking, um, if you do, you know, want to consider maybe installing a more modern, you know, parking paid system, uh, than the meters, um, and really, you know, establish or enforce, you know, parking regulations along Main Street. The the reason for that is it's it's it's not about revenue. It's really about uh parking turnover. So, when you have businesses, you want you want people to, you know, come and enjoy the businesses and shop, but you don't want them parking for for eight hours in those spaces. So, that's um you know, that's that's not not a good use of the space. So, um so that's why that's important. Um there's an opportunity to um you know uh improve the street lighting um you know along the street to be you know pedestrian uh style lighting that doesn't that shines down not not not up um you know into upper stories of buildings. So there's a great opportunity to do that as is um you know for uh you know streetscaping um and uh

and planting additional uh trees or vegetation as Seth showed on a lot of those concepts. Um you know it's providing quite a wide additional area. Not all of it has to be hardcape. It could be uh you know tree planters or pits or um you know per pvious area. And you know trees really make um you know a town center downtown um more comfortable, more shade um and um you know just um you know more attractive um for you know pedestrians you know obviously particularly in the summertime. So those are some additional thoughts to the concepts and um you know thank you and that's our presentation. So, welcome any questions you might have.

Thanks, Jack. Um, Bill, I'm thinking to first turn this planning board members for questions and comments and then we can open up for to the public for any any questions or comments they may have. Um, so we do have a few engineers on the board. So, I will remind everyone that this is a feasibility study and so keep that in mind as you're providing comments and questions. protractor. Yeah. Um so for the planning board members any questions or comments feasibility study?

Yes. Um on these concepts are there are they all or nothing or are there parts of them that can be built independently or in stages?

Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean they Yeah. Right. I mean that's a good point. You could you can phase these in um or in stages. We're we're we're showing the entire you know 1200 foot area. But if you wanted to do you know a uh you know first block or you know or two you know in stages that's that's perfectly that's perfectly fine. Um, you know, keeping in mind like if you do a first stage, you don't want to preclude something else in another, you know, further further down, you know, another stage. That's that's all. But, uh, the project could, you know, def definitely be phased, um, if it has to, um, you know, several reasons for that. One one one is budgetary, but, uh, it certainly can be phased. So, if we were phasing it, what's our biggest bang for the buck in regards to improving safety?

Um, it's the narrowing of the lane. So, um it's not not so much parking, but it's to reduce that 22 foot wide lane to 16 feet, which um would effectively slow slow down traffic. It wouldn't reduce capacity at all and really just manage the traffic better at a slower speed. And of the concepts, which of them are best in accommodating deliveries and pickups? Their trucks, their door dash.

Yeah, I think I think all of them do a good job. we've identified loading and deliveries um on on each one. I don't I'm not sure they're that much different. The only uh thing I'll say, you know, angle parking presents different set of challenges for folks and so you you may you may not be able to get a a parking um or loading area in back of an angle, you know, so when people back out. So, um you know, that's that's an issue. Um, you know, a lot of people, especially as you get older, and if you're like me, it's harder to turn your turn around when you back out. So, it's something something to consider opposed to a parallel space. But I think really any of these concepts we can accommodate um you know uh park uh loading and deliveries and uh you know we talk like flex spaces you have the ability um to have those like say more in the morning and then you know you can revert those to parking spaces later on the afternoon. So that is that that's a possibility also. The lastly, I was wondering, I think the first concept had widening every sidewalk by like three feet, and I'm wondering if there aren't some advantages in just widening one side, six feet, but I don't think three feet enough to get the dining off the street onto the sidewalk. And seems to me if we're working on both sides of the street and resetting curbs and utilities, the costs are higher. And plus the impact on businesses and how long their access is constrained seems more difficult to do if we're doing both sides. Is there any advantage of just doing one

side wider instead of both sides?

Yeah, I mean that's that's an interesting point. Um I think it it comes down to the you know the actual location the the businesses right. So, um, yeah, it's pro might be easier to build, but I guess you're, uh, you know, depending on what business is on each side of the street and, uh, what what we're trying to provide as a benefit there. So, um, you know, if you're if you did all on one side, that's great for, uh, I'm just say for example, the north side. Um but the s are are you are you limiting you know outdoor dining on the south side because of that you know I'm not I'm not sure that's the case but um um that's possible but um we didn't we didn't look at that concept but that's c that's certainly a viable um you know option to look at

comments uh yeah I have a couple um the angled spaces. My question is similar that I feel like most of the trucks that I actually see doing many deliveries is the point that they're supposed to pull into the angled parking spaces for those that that loading time just because usually I see trucks that you know couldn't fit into a standard parking space. Yeah. Um I don't you want um Sherlock you want to go to that that concept? Uh

yeah in that case you know there there is a large area that includes multiple spaces um as your flex space. Um so it would it does provide you know a large area for a truck not just in one of those spaces but um in multiple but Yeah, I mean that's a good point. We we we know how truck delivery drivers work, right? With Are they are they going to pull in or are they actually going to kind of just, you know, do it half parallel?

You've introduced me to the fact that theoretically now we have a loading and unloading zone, which I find laughable. So, that's great to know. I had no idea. Nobody ever uses it. So, um they just stop wherever they feel like stopping, it seems. So, uh, and then my only other question was they you said that the current pedestrian and bicycle accommodation was on sidewalks and you're not actually allowed legally to ride on sidewalks on your bicycle in Mayard. So, was there any other consideration um, you know, were there any other ideas for accommodating bicycles traveling down the street?

Yeah. Yeah. So, the uh Yeah. So the thought is um that if we reduce the travel lane you know to 16 feet it would really become and and you know we're slow speeds down the you know the bicycles would really um you know they they they're not they're not going to be going much uh slower than vehicles really they can they they could ride in the lane. Sometimes you see sherrows, you know, like this in in in downtown areas, but um there wouldn't be enough room to provide separate bike and pedestrian facilities, but um if people want to have we we would prefer that they would walk their bikes on the sidewalk. Um uh places like Le Lexington Center, right? So they really, you know, they and and there's a there's a bike way, Midman bike way goes right behind there. So they they really sign it for people walking on the sidewalk. But um we're thinking if we slow down the vehicles, we have the um you know raised crosswalks um it's going to promote slower speeds. It actually be safer uh for you know bikes to just just ride in in in the roadway. And Jeff can speak more to this, but 16 feet is, you know, wider than, you know, that's what is needed for a firet truck, you know, or a public safety, but that is wider than a typical um lane would be um for just one car.

Okay. Thanks. And and for the benefit of the audience, I believe 16 feet is about how wide Nason Street is between cars. Uh correct. Correct. Yep. Other comments, questions? Um so obviously we all know that we live in the northern hemisphere. Is there any consideration for adding amenities either more trees, dining, or increased sidewalk on the north or south side?

Do you understand what I'm asking about? Uh can re can you restate that please? So in the winter um in the winter we have and this is a there's a north side of this uh roadway and south side. Um and obviously the north side will end up getting more sun than the south side and for a good period of the year because the buildings on the south side will put shade onto the southside sidewalk. So for when we're considering amenities, do you consider essentially that we have a north and a south sidewalk here?

Yes. So you know, OB that can go both ways, right? Depending on the season in the summer, um it might be nice to be in the shade of a of the buildings of the on the south side of the street if you're out if you're dining outdoors. Um but you know there are trees already on the both the south and the north side. So in terms of um street trees that's not so much of a consideration. Maybe it's a consideration the type of tree but you know it's they're street trees. So

okay. Um never mind. I will ask my next question. Um, for the feasibility study, did you include considerations of accessibility for folks that say have different mobility challenges or is that not part of a typical feasibility study?

Uh, yeah, I mean that's um all these concepts would be um designed with ADA compliance in mind. So, um, you know, 8 88, you know, pedestrian, uh, ramps, uh, at crossings, um, designated, um, accessible park, you know, parking spaces, um, you know, there could be there could there could be more um um that we can do. So we didn't go into um you know a lot a lot of detail with that but the you know each of these plans can be further developed and designed and um it would it has to it has to made uh you know um you know ADA compliance.

Um Bill Ner one of what I did not see on the project goals was accessibility. I think that should some concept of accessibility should be part of the project goals as a skillful and if I would also point out the need for that during construction what I will point out the need for that during construction because that's often a difficult thing to stage so design has to be well thought out be able to maintain accessibility

yeah good that's That's an excellent point. Um, yeah, when the project gets to that, it have to have a traffic management plan uh that's developed that will allow um you know, access uh to businesses um you know, access accessibility as well as uh you know, emergency vehicles. My last question is about the raised crosswalks that are proposed in some um knowing the area. It looks like and this isn't a criticism at all, but it looks like the raised crosswalks are in opportunistic areas where um they kind of feel like they fit pretty well. Did did how did you choose though where to place the race crosswalks and why isn't there any race crosswalks towards the eastern part of these designs? Mhm. And so the ones on the west side are kind of like a gate a gateway treatment, right? Where people are perhaps coming at a little higher speed. So it's to try to uh you know control control the speed um or reduce the speed at that end. Um yeah, we could certainly put one on the east end. It wasn't um it wasn't um a decision not not to do that, but um perhaps that's even a good idea. We have to um figure out where a good place to do that is not too close to the intersection. You know, we may need to eliminate some parking spaces. Uh maybe, you know, one or two to do that, but um I think that's still on the table. Um it's all it's always best to have kind of uniform spacing of these devices in a quarter. So there there could possibly be one, you know, further down, you know, as we head east. Again, there may be tradeoffs

where where we put that. Um we may have to lose a space or two. Um you know, if we if we think that's um that's appropriate. Um thanks Jay. Uh Bill, let's open this up to the public. So for members online, if you would like to provide a comment or a question, you could use the raise hand feature or simply turn on your video and raise your hand and we'll call on you one one at a time. Um, and while members online are doing that, I'll turn it to hear town hall if any members would like to provide a follow comment here tonight. You want me to wait online?

Yeah, just wait. Any anyone want to provide provide some input tonight? Can too if you want. Yes, sir. Would you like to stand? You can just just identify yourself for the record and you can stand by the comments if you want.

All right. Um, so I'm Mario, retired National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Highway Safety Specialist. Um, we're in the process of forming a road safety task force under the direction of the town administrator. Um, I think it's a great first step, but I thought all of your questions circulated around the multiple users by pedestrians compliant issues. So, I mean that as a great first swipe at this pretty good, but it's essentially parking study, creative ideas for expanding sidewalks because I noticed every every time we talked about um other users in this space, you were sort of just providing broad answers, which is fine. This is a good, you know, a good first step, but I really wish up front that there had been more attention paid to pedestrian needs, multiple user needs, accesses to clearly somebody in the process didn't um emphasize that enough. So that's that's point one. Point two, your traffic volume data a little bit dated. So I think I saw 2019, we're talking six years ago. traffic volume in in the city has probably significantly increased it at some level and I think that might help a little bit with some of the alternative designs to know that the other point about traffic volume I'll be brief would be try to disagregate that data if you can you really have no idea how many commercial vehicles are coming down that street what percentage of that traffic volume um demands pulse I mean I know it was nice that you contacted the fire department and and that's good, but commercial vehicles are um perhaps form a major portion of that volume going

down that street. So I think to have that data would be very valuable. So just leave it at that. And the fast last point uh I thought I saw uh an option there to eliminate that circle around Mason. I would be very careful with regard to creating more opportunities for conflict between the intersections create conflict by definition right and that's why roundabouts are essentially recommended by both federal highway administration national highway traffic administration that is not technically a roundabout but it does attempt and it's you know with good intent try to eliminate conflict between pedestrians vehicles and vehicles to vehicles so I would be very cautious about totally eliminating that or or certainly taking a second look at it and looking at the safety risk. And then finally, my last point about pedestrian safety is yeah, you did capture crash data as reported by the police department and they are very low. Unfortunately, they are. What we don't have in in May mayor, however, is the number of near misses uh that take place every day on on the city streets. Um that is not required to be collected by anybody. But again, knowing what the risk factors are for both pedestrians, bicyclists, vulnerable users, um certainly at midblock crossings would be nice to know. Hopefully, the road safety committee can come in and uh maybe complement some of this data for you. We are going to be doing an intersection audit fairly fairly soon. The top five crash intersections in town and obviously that data is going to be made available to the planning board and everybody else in town who's interested in looking at it. So look forward to making further contributions both to the planning board as well as the data engineer. Thanks. Thank you. Um true Bill Mer will take you up on all those offices

for support. Um and um just speaking on behalf of um the the data and their and their work. Um I think they would fully agree with you that some of the data is old. Um you know this was a limited feasibility study just to get things started of course and so obviously you know the intent is I'm sure clearly to get updated data as time goes on but this was funding to do studies. They're absolutely right. Everything's done but that doesn't take away. Oh no no yeah just providing context for everyone here. Um, also, uh, all of that I think everyone would fully agree with that those are sort of the needs that I think everyone would see. So, thank you for that.

The only thing I'd add was that a lot of these points that you you brought out here, I agree with totally. However, the one thing I'd say is when we established the groundwork for the study, it was input that had been collected over the last, let's say, 10 to 11 years. So some of the the things that seemed like they would be okay why are they doing this it would be something we could talk offline about there's a lot of it is a result of input that I've received you know that people have been adamant about so but I'll be happy we can look forward to it we do have some yeah Wayne

hi thank you Mr. Chairman, just for the record, point Amiko, town engineer, uh I think, uh the town planner and beta have done a great job looking at some alternatives. I do support this. I think uh you know, potentially wider sidewalks and increased area for pedestrians to uh use outdoor dining. I think it's a great thing for the town. We should continue to explore this. A couple of things just um on first uh on first uh view to think about. I'm a little concerned with reconfiguring the Mason Street um intersection. And I think some if we narrow that up and I understand why we would want to do it for increased pedestrian use, but I think it may be difficult for the delivery trucks to take that turn to access the downtown um at least larger ones. So something to think about going forward. Um I do um uh endorse uh as many new trees as we can get. I think it could be a little challenging with some of the underground utilities that are there because nobody realizes it, but they were all put under underground years ago, right? So, they're in the way. They're right under those sidewalks. So, I think trees can be there. They may have to be staggered a little bit. It may not look like the the ideal uh iconic uh you know, boulevard where you've got wide sidewalks and all trees in one row. We may have to stagger them depending on how many utilities are, but that wouldn't be the worst thing either. That would be maybe, you know, maybe uh very uh good overall. Um I'm kind of split. I think that the town um in the group should give a lot more thought because I'm kind of split on whether parking is better on one side or better on both sides. I see advantages to kind of to both of them. Um, I feel myself that, you know, if there's a way to make it work on one side, which is, you know, to the point that Jeff was making to answer Bill's question, um, it's kind of advantageous for one side

of the block, but maybe not as advantageous for the other, right? Um, I'm kind of split on that, right? It it feels like if you could make one sidewalk significantly wider, it would create more of a pedestrian avenue. Um, but is that being fair to the other business on the other side? I don't know. I think the town needs to give it some more thought, but I think there's benefits to both and I think this is a great great first start and I I kind of applaud the efforts. Wayne, can I ask you a quick question? Sure. Does DPW support the idea of raised crosswalks um for pedestrian safety? Um they are good. They can be um a maintenance headache.

Yeah. Okay. If they're done correctly and it's more of a table where it's very gradual, um it's it can be conducive and not as bad. Okay.

Um I've seen them installed in many communities and uh you need to have not that anybody really wants any more signage downtown, right? But you need adequate signage, right? So people realize they're there, right? And it needs to be gradual so that people don't have to stop and so you don't have scuffed up asphalt from people hitting them at 27 mph, right? And banging their bumper or their underc carriage on that asphalt, right? Um but there is a benefit. Um you know personally I think if you had wider sidewalks and you're able to to the point that Bill was making about pedestrian and handicap access you're able to have wider um pedestrian um ramp crossing areas. I don't really think it's that big a deal to have them come down 6 in off the curb and cross as long as there's adequate signage. Um, and that's one of the reasons why I kind of like parking on one side because you don't have that dual visibility. You know, we do a lot of we do a lot of designs where we put bumpouts at pedestrian crossings, right, where the curb comes out. So, and that's intentional. So, as the person walks out, they're beyond the ve the parked vehicle so they can see. Yes.

You know, that's certainly an option that could be considered as one of these alternatives as well. Um, so I'm kind of mixed on the on the raised crossings. I mean, there's an advantage in certain situations. I don't know if I'd want three of them on this 1200T car. Um, I think I if I had my choice, I'd rather just have regular crosswalks with maybe bumpups or or um additional signage or something like that. Personally, um, Bill, let's turn on to the members online. Um, call in some Okay, I'll call in some folks individually. Craig A, would you mind um unmuting yourself and providing comments?

Yes, thank you so much. Yeah, my name is Craig Altimos. Um I live on Garfield Avenue behind the Jify Lube. Um and yeah, I just want to name I'm someone who who definitely uses these sidewalks a lot. Um again, we live very close to the downtown. Uh my kids go, you have their uh daycare downtown. We walked to the restaurants. We walked through downtown to get to the farmers market. Um and so a lot of this is really exciting to me. Um, I will say we also bike um through the downtown and um it would be even more exciting to me if there was a consideration for for more consideration for how bicyclists can safely pass through here. Particularly as I think of my my kids right now are two and four and they ride little strider bikes um on the sidewalk, but as they get bigger um you know they're you know and I see other kids um you know riding their bicycles um both on the road and on the sidewalk. Um and I did see one near miss um as a data point where a kid almost got killed um by a car. He he just millisecond difference there could have could have made a very difference. I thank God it was in the right way for him. Um but yeah so I guess I I I also just want to name like my my understanding you know best practices you want to measure twice cut once. Um and it seems like the trend is toward having bike lanes. Um, and that, you know, we have this this uh powder mill road corridor that we're trying to to do as a town with with Actton and West Conquer to make that whole corridor basically, as I understand it, to ultimately connect the the Bruce Freeman Trail with our Asset River Trail here. Um, and I think that that vision to me is really exciting. We also do walk in that direction to to the co-op. Um, but you know, h having just investing more in that that bicycle infrastructure. I do think, you know, bicycles do tend to they're more likely than cars to stop at a local business because they're going slower. They see more they're already exposed to the the air and so it's much easier for bike just pull over and say, "I'm going to check out this restaurant.

I'm going to check out this shop." than it is for a car to pull over and say, "I'm going to check out this restaurant. I'm going to check out this shop." So I do think in terms of of you know in growing business uh for our local businesses you know investing in bike infrastructure so that people can ride their bike from the South Acting Commuter Rail and and you know come easily into the downtown um in a safe manner. I I think we're we would get more more business I think than than ignoring the bicyclist. So um yeah just would really encourage um if if there's space for us to think about what would that look like to to invest in in the bicycle more. Thank you. Thanks, Greg. Alana.

Hi. Um, first of all, thank you for this. Um, this is really exciting stuff. Um, I would say, uh, I did have a little, and this is maybe completely emotional reaction, so it it may be not worth much, but getting rid of the island at the the Nason in Maine. Um, just thinking about how we use that for signage, how we decorate it, how we use it, you know, people hang out there when it's the parade. That's kind of a spot in Mayerd right now. And so I think you might get some push back if people see that getting removed. Um, I have a pretty negative reaction to the uh the parking um sorry, what's it called? Not the parallel, the other one. um where you're pulling in particularly I'm just thinking for some of those businesses I'm thinking of a lot of them that have a lot of um window front you know you're going to have in the evening if you're in um you know the the pizza place you're you're going to have cars with their lights on flashing in as they're parking and leaving. Um so I I don't know. And also, I just feel like people backing out is just asking for issues. It It just seems like with parallel parking, you have such um you have much better line of sight when you're pulling in and out of these spots. Um particularly out of the spots. Uh I'm I'm just really worried about that change. Um, but I know this is very early and I think this is really great work and, um, I am on board with raised crosswalks. It's, you know, what all the best walking cities in Europe have. Uh, you make the cars move up and down, not the people. Uh, it's safer. I know it might be a hassle for the DPW. I'm

certain there's ways to make it better um for them with engineering, but uh I'm I'm perfectly happy with with adding raised crosswalks. So, thank you everybody for your work on this. Thanks, Alana. Um any other members of the public online?

Okay, go ahead Sarah.

Um hi everyone. So, I'm um a member of the the new road safety task force. So, I have a vested interest in um that as well as parking and overall benefits for the town and for the businesses. Um, one thing that I've observed just frequenting the businesses like on um a half day, a school half day for instance, for those who have school age kids and those who are taking like their kids to school um just stopping for coffee is um the people the type of people that that I see like just using the sidewalks. So, um for instance, like there's always people at walking dogs, there's um definitely people with strollers walking dogs or just brushing strollers. So, I'm thinking of those with younger kids. Um, but also I I kind of noticed like a conflict and maybe this supports larger sidewalks and and maybe also bike lanes is there's people on scooters, motorized scooters, and I know that's like a very gray area for every like everyone in the country right now. Um, how are how should they be used? Like what are the minimum speeds that they should be going? But it definitely um creates some uncertainty of one where they should be and and um do they have like a place where they they um yeah just like creating some predictable patterns. So I think that you know overall would probably be supported with like bike lanes and I'm just thinking of that and it's not just like adults it's like commuting it's also like students and um people going to work. So, I think that's just something worth noting as well. Just there is a huge variety of people that use the sidewalks and traveling to and from there. And I think that's that's something we should consider for the future.

Thank you, Sarah. Any other members online that would like to contribute or in the room? Go ahead. Linda Bayer, 14 Chandler Street. Thank you. Um, I appreciate all the work that's been done on this and if it's really a great starting point. I um just two general well one question is uh is there a an idea of how long a project like this would take given that the length you know just the length of that particular space? Is there just a a general concept of time?

That's a good question. Bill, do you want to answer that or you want to kick it to Jeff? I start with Jeff and and Wayne would probably be a better uh but I mean offh hand I'd say it depended on the phase and you know on how on the funding availability would probably dictate a lot of that too. Jeeoff you you've probably done more of these even weighing it probably.

Yeah. Hard hard to say now like uh it's always in the details if we're talking about you know utilities or you know underground utilities and drainage and so forth. So, um, you know, depending how you phase it, um, it's it's, you know, if if if if you if you if you can do it, if you get lucky, you could do it in one construction season. Um, but depending on the information, we don't know. It it could be two, you know, construction seasons. What's the What's a construction season? Um, okay. April to November.

Yeah. That's what Wayne said. So, we'll go with Wayne. Wayne, a question. Um, the infrastructure, the underground infrastructure currently along Main Street is in ready to be replaced pretty soon. This is most of it. I'm I don't know, Bill. I mean, I'm not aware that, right, electric, te telecom, all that stuff was placed underground years ago. Um, drainage is probably fine. It needs to obviously if the curb lines move, you're going to have to move some drainage or expand drainage and so forth. But I don't know if the underground infrastructure needs to be replaced or not.

I guess the point I I ask is if it's going to be if something does need to be replaced regardless of whether the sidewalks done, I mean it's that would be the the bulk of the time, wouldn't it? The infrastructure. So my gut feeling that if this pro if you guys pursue a project to let's let's make it up widen to the point Bill made widen one sidewalk by a certain amount, right? Um I don't think that that would pre you'd be predisposed to replace I'm going to make made this up too water and sewer lines. Mhm.

There'd be no reason to do that. I mean that's I know the sewer line is extremely deep on Main Street. So that's not going to be replaced unless it needs to be replaced. That's a project, you know, in its in itself. Um, so I don't think the utilities are a driving factor to widening sidewalks. I guess that's my answer. I hope that answers it anyhow. Um, all right. Ask another question. Yeah,

thank you. Um, is there a a recommended speed limit for something like that? the stretch that's currently on on Main Street. So that 1,200 or whatever the the footage was. Yeah. So So Jeff, for those designs, what what's the recommended speed limit for those designs concepts?

Um so it's uh you know it's regulated at 25 now. So the raised crosswalks, you know, we depending on again depending on the design and you know how high and long they are, um they'd either be designed for you 15 or or 20, you know, 20 miles an hour. So if we have a a higher more abrupt crosswalk, the the speed would be lower towards 15. If it's a little longer and uh and less and lower, it' be closer to 20. So 20 is really kind of the key for pedestrians. Um when you have uh when you know pedestrians are struck you know unfortunately but if it happens you tend to survive at 20 miles an hour and lower um above 20 you know the severity rate uh goes up. So that's why we like to design you know you know kind of 15 20 miles an hour in that range. Can we achieve 20 miles an hour without raising the crosswalks just by narrowing the roads?

Um, doubtful for the entire quarter, maybe in spots, but you know, I don't the the more the more elements you add um to it, the the you know, the more impact you're going to have on reducing speed. So, narrowing the roads are great. Bumpouts are great. Uh ra you know raised crosswalks are just another additional element. Um Jeff you heard comments and questions tonight. So any final thoughts from your team.

Um yeah so like like we said it's a f first stage planning you know kind of feasibility study. um you know and I think there's a great opportunity here and uh there's a lot of great questions and comments. Um we didn't have the opportunity uh to address uh you know some of that because of our um you limited um you know the scope and budget for this project. But you know going forward I think um a lot of those uh questions have to be you know um addressed and discussed with the town. There's trade-offs on all these things, but I guess I guess the bottom line is it looks like it's doable um to us and just have to continue the conversation and what you think the uh you know the alignment uh the alignment should be for the roadway.

Um thanks Jeff and your team um for tonight. Um Bill Demser, what are next steps? Well, next steps, uh, we're going to first of all, uh, we're going to create a dedicated project page to this. So, we're going to archive everything so the public can access it. Uh, including we'll use this presentation with a tape of the presentation. Um, at that point, um, then we have to probably look at, uh, narrowing down what the, uh, consensus would be. if you know I look at this like a menu. What elements from these proposals or other proposals would we want? And I think placing them in a sort of order of like for example uh sidewalk worth let's talk about side a little bit or the parking um Mario mentioned about you know why is parking you know is it a park state? Well, it it is kind of partisly too because that was it's a big concern with um on Main Street Party. We've been banding that around. So, um I I think arriving at a consensus on some of the concepts so that it can be reached and you move on rather than reinventing each component every time you know you have a little change of scenery or something like that. So I would think that um it would be something that uh this forward uh would be an ideal form for it and letting um uh see and maybe there's an opportunity for another grant that goes a little further in. Uh certainly updating um as as Maria pointed out, we we we would have loved to do a brand new traffic study. It just didn't I couldn't couldn't do that in the budget right now. But that would be something maybe an updated grant and if we have a roadway committee safety committee and they're available to help and and uh

participate with some of this there's plenty of grant opportunities where we could look and get a a thorough in-depth road study. I am intrigued adults about who's I I don't remember who said it but about the idea of uh having a study where we know who's using the roads, what kind of vehicles is it, are they commercial vehicles type of thing. Um I'm also um we're back with bicycles again which is a tough one because you know we we did do a complete streets um um pilot project and you know it is something maybe we should revisit again because we had some mixed uh down mixed results downtown. So I'd like to explore but I think to answer your question I'd like to divide it up into components make determinations of you know what the the the community wants and what what's what's practical and um and then put each component to bed rather than trying to do it all in one swoop and have this overarching thing. We're not going to have funds to do it for a while. Also, I mean, we could have the plan ready to go and figure if it's parallel parking or if it was angled parking or anything like that. I think that would be the way to bring us forward.

All right. Thanks, Bill. Um, one of the benefits of being chair is that I get to have a final word. So, I'll do that. Um, I I would like to see accessibility more on the front of this. Uh, that includes all versions of accessibility. all, you know, pedestrian, bicyclist, but also um all considerations for um folks with less mobility. Um I I I think our considerations need to widen too in terms of our connectivity to other points. We have the um the bike path for example.

So I think our consideration of of bicycle access needs to obviously connect to that. Um, Craig, I believe Craig made a good point about how this connects to the powder mill corridor initiative as well. All those things need to be considered. Um, and that's my final thought unless there's any other board members that would like to provide the final feedback.

Well, let's keep our fingers crossed on the Powder Mill Road um, uh, pedestrian study that we asked, I mean pedestrian engineering and bicycle engineering uh, grant that we've written. We're gonna find out if we qualify for that. And this possibility we have engineering plans at this time next year. We've requested it. So that'd be great. It work be a nice segue here. Oh, and then um finally uh I think I can speak for the planning board on this. We fully support cutting the heads off of all the parking meters in Medall.

Uh thank you everyone for joining tonight. Thank you all for all the members online. Thank you for the members of the road safety committee. I urge you to connect with Bill Mezer um and and collaborate more. Um so thank you everyone and thank you Jeff Sri Laka and Seth for your time tonight. Yeah. Thank you. Welcome. Thanks. Thanks so for for all members online our meeting will continue um on other topics but that will end the presentation and the discussion on the verb diet program. Um, yeah. Do you want to turn to item three?

This would be the public hearing for one summer. Yeah. I just want to make sure we're not sharing. So, um, you're not sharing. So, okay. All right. I will, um, are you guys ready? I'm ready. Okay. Yes. I will reopen or continue the hearing for the public hearing for one summer street. This is a continuation from September 9th, 2025. Uh, and I believe at that time we had some parting discussions on simply tying the bows on a few items and boxing the teaser as you will, which is not always my favorite expression, but it's a good one. We don't leave here.

Mr. Yeah, I uploaded all the uh documents that came in today the last step too and I printed great all of you um the most recent comments and responses as well as the list of waiverss um that I checked all that workplace list of waiverss we have. Yeah. Um as I reviewed the engineering uh review sheet I I see that all comments have closed. Is that your understanding too? Yeah. And we got an email from Jim Thornsuh this afternoon. Yes. It happened.

Exactly that. Yes. So, uh there was a comment that came in late yesterday responding to our responses from last week. We closed that up this morning. So, uh we are late. Great. Great. And we the other point it was the other topic we had was about the fire department providing feedback on the project and we receive that

it's satisfactory everything will be taken care of that build an alis you can and I Jimmy went that app there as well thank you um so Bill Ner what is pending at this time topically Well, um, what is pending in terms of what's the actions put on board? What actions? Well, what is there anything that we need to further review? Are there any?

I had some questions from my notes from last time. Just a little stuff to clean up that I had some questions which I still have a few things to answer. Um, we did get some uh uh DPW sent some conditions along which I sent which are if you saw those and Wayne here if you have any question about there's three or four of those. They all made sense.

Yeah, they are all as expected. Okay. Um I I the waiverss I just want to make sure we're right on because I I have number three. So maybe we'll go through those. But um we agreed that um the board was was satisfied that the cultural district uh uh downtown overlay district um the benefit to downtown walkability uh in addition to the museum and the and the terms that are already established in the um purchase of sale agreement for free access for residents and contributions of out of town residents to the cultural district or part of that and because the the parking the additional parking spots was determined they were not uh suitable in that spot um that um $5,000 uh donation for to the downtown enhancement fund would satisfy that uh area of a special permit. So um if that I did have a question I I I made an asterisk here. Now, we said something about trash enclosures. I put a question mark next to it. I don't know what we we that came up with the last one. You were going to put the enclosure, right?

Yeah. So, there's been an enclosure on the plan. One of Green's comments was related to how's the trash pickup's going to work. We respond to that comment. Okay. Um, agree. Okay. And and note there's not going to be a dry well on this waiver. Correct. Yeah. And we did receive our waiver from the conservation commission.

And that's the last that's the last comment. That's the last question I have. My stuff. So, if the board is inclined to close the hearing, uh what they would do after their deliberations, we would want to review the special permit criteria, the standard special permit criteria, which um I think was uh pretty much spelled out in the application originally. downtown uh criteria. We just want to establish that there's consistency uh with the proposed um settlement and um and then site plan approval with the waivers and we want to go over the waivers individually. So basically special permit both types waivers and site plan. site plan was limited scope because this is an existing building. Uh and the design review design was already approved with a town meeting. Everything is so it was very truncated with site plan.

Right. Can we for just for the record tonight we just briefly covered the waivers again? Can Sorry. Can we briefly go through the the list of waivers again? Yeah. I'm going to make sure so that everyone's aware what they're all this is pre September 3rd. Um that is correct and then Bill after that um I'm going to open it back up for public comment and if there's any final comments on this project. All right. Do you want me? Yeah. Yes. Um sure. And if there's a way to share screens while you're doing it that would be Yeah.

beneficial. You use your scroller. Yeah. Okay. Zoom. Oh, I got a lot. The board is used to my prowess on this. Bill, you did great. That's how it's done. Thanks very fresh bill.

Uh so I'll get through the waiver requests. So um first couple are from the planning board rules and regs. Um section C6 show the location existing period within 500 ft of the property. We request a waiver to that. Uh we don't have any alcohols proposed. We're reducing impervious coverage. So we're going to lessen the burden on the tunder system. Uh so we feel uh providing all that context isn't really necessary for this particular project. Uh section D4 uh requirement that a traffic circulation impact study um be provided. We saw the waiver uh because you know there's eight uh parking units proposed here only 10 parking spaces. So impacts on adjacent traffic is expected to be minimal. Uh next few comments are from or sorry waiver requests are from the zoning bylaw. Uh the requirement that interior driveways uh be no less than 20 ft wide for two-way traffic and 14 ft wide for oneway traffic. It's also the requirement that a stacking area is provided between 25 and 50 ft long. Obviously stacking area is straightforward here. Take up the entire site if we provided a 50 foot long um area there. Uh so we requested a waiver and then also you know regarding the interior droplet with um we requested a waiver because we're trying to maximize the number of spaces provided on the site. Um as we have discussed at previous meetings. Uh next waiver request similar uh reasoning uh the maneuvering aisle width requirement 24 ft for 90° uh two-way parking 18 ft for

parallel parking on two driveways. Uh the minimum proposed is 14 1/2 ft uh for the uh parallel one of the parallel parking spaces and uh the aisle width is about 20 ft wide for a couple of the you might scrolling 90° spaces. Yes, sorry. Thanks.

Uh so again, we're trying to maximize the number of spaces provided on site. So we have requested waiverss to the aisle with the requirements there. uh section 6.12 regarding dimensions of handicap parking spaces. So the zoning bylaw requires spaces that are uh 20 ft by 12 ft. We provided more of an ADA standard 18 by8 with an 8 foot wide accessible aisle adjacent to it. Uh so this this does meet the requirements 521 CMR. So we feel that the waiver is appropriate. Uh 6.1.14 we requested a waiver. This section uh is related to the physical construction of access driveways. So requires um a nice travel base uh with batuminous concrete paving on top of it. As we've talked about, we do have pvious papers proposed. So uh we can't um provide those pavers for the driveway and uh meet the requirements of the bylaw here. So we have requested a waiver section 9.4.9. This is related to the number of parking spaces provided. We uh are providing 10 spaces on site where based on the use and the zoning district 18 are required. So that's a reduction of eight total parking spaces. Um I have provided some context in this um waiver request letter here uh about how you know using uh section 619 C the zoning bylaw and parking requirement would actually be less for the residential units. Um and you know furthermore

the uh museum spaces is not uh expected to demand much parking and you know also I think that a lot of the visitors to museum it's probably just going to be one stop of a couple if they're visiting downtown Mayor hopefully it is and maybe uh waving the parking requirement will encourage them to make other stops in downtown Maynard. But I do think a waiver of that requirement uh really helps um this project, you know, better accomplish what it's aiming to. Uh so we have requested that waiver. Uh and that is it. Let's go to the I just I know I said I was going to open public comments, but let's go to the board. Um any comments on the engineer review? Any comments on the waivers or any final comments on or questions from project? None. Anyone want a minute?

Um, Bill, let's open this up for public comment. Okay. Um, so members in the room, obviously, just raise your hand. We'll comment one at a time. Um, if there's members of the community online that would like to end our public comment on this project, please use the raise hand feature or simply turn on your video camera and raise your hand and we'll call on you one at a time. And Bill, I'm not seeing any public comments yet. We'll we'll allow public comment period to remain open just in case. Um, so Bill, do you have any Yes, please go ahead, Linda.

Sorry, Linda, 14 Chandler Street. I don't know. I'm coming into this very late and um just curious and I can't even recall what the sidewalk is like in that area. Is there any are you doing anything for that? Is anything being done? Would you like to describe the improvements?

Yeah. Uh, absolutely. So at the intersection between Axton Street and Summer Street, that rounding right there where the light is, that that will remain, but the rest is being rebuilt. So the the straight sidewalk length on At Street and on Summer Street will both be rebuilt as part of this. Um we're also proposing uh an adjustment to the crosswalk. Right now it's sort of at an angle and headed towards the overhead door on the active street side. We're proposing to square that up so it's a shorter run between and rebuild the uh curve cuts on either end of that cross. Thank you. Is the surface the regular concrete surface for the sidewalk? Yes.

Great. Thank you. Thank you. And that will be built in in accordance with um DPW specifications. [Music] Um and that reminds me, we did discuss having a figure showing what exactly was going to be rebuilt. Did we ever prepare that? Yes. So, that's provided on um the site development plan sheet. Uh it's tried to make as clear as possible. Begin sidewalk reconstruction and defend sidewalk reconstruction. Uh if I could, there's two things that

if I haven't mentioned yet, we did have the ballard behind one of the parking spaces uh that the parallel space that you know the rear of your car would be close to the sidewalk. We are proposing a bud there as requested at the last meeting. Uh also and I'm afraid that this might lead to some confusion but I was trying to avoid confusion by renumbering parking spaces. So we initially had spaces one through four on the street and five through 14 on the site. And when I was looking at the plan today I said well we start with space five which is probably going to confuse me in two years when I'm looking at this again.

It confus me whenever. So, I reumbered them 1 through 10. Now, I I've been thinking now you're looking at these old letters and it's referencing different spaces. That might get a little bit confusing. If you need me to prepare a memo or something, I can, but you know, at the same time, here's what you do. Yeah. You put a note on one of the site drawings. Mhm. That explains Oh, formerly space whatever. Just maybe that might be the easiest if you want. You're welcome to prepare a memo to any confusion. I don't want to make it too confusing.

I'm more providing this for the boards when you're looking at the plan. Nothing changed other than the speed number. Um, you know, we have lumbering details on different any advice. Yeah, Mr. Chair, I let me retract my statement that I made earlier. I was initially confused and then I looked at it and I asked Bill a question. Bill N. And I'm like, okay, I get it. is 10 spaces. I personally don't think anything needs to be done, but it's the applicant in the board's decision.

It look it what matters is the final design submitt. That's what stays in perpetuity. So the only thing that matters is if one one wants to go look back on the meeting minutes and watch the videos and try to connect all the dots, you're welcome to add something. I would keep it very minimal and brief if that's what you choose. probably just send Bill an email saying we changed it. I think an email can be put into the public division just to be clear. So there was something he brought up that then I have a question.

Go ahead. Thanks. Um the Ballard the Ballard proposes a 4x4 wood breakaway. What's the thinking there? because the purpose is to protect the pedestrians on the sidewalk. So, what's the deal with the breakaway wood? Uh really the idea was to keep it simple. Um this is Ballard is proposed to prevent a driver from backing straight into the sidewalk and hitting a pedestrian. um they're certainly going to feel it if they hit this breakaway ballard. So, we do think that it is appropriate for this particular application. Um it's different than sort of like a uh like a gas meter where if you crash into it, you're going to have a large problem. Of course, you have a huge problem if you crash into a pedestrian, but this is somebody pulling out of a parking spot, so they're going to be moving at a lower rate of speed. Um, some more substantial I don't think is necessary. And peer review and town engineer are good on that.

I don't know if the town engineer can comment since it's private property. Yeah, I don't have it in common. It's protecting a public sidewalk. Well, the thing is, sorry, Mr. Okay. If anything is placed to prevent the bumper overhang from hanging on the sidewalk, that's a benefit to the town. Whatever the board decides. I mean, I don't know personally if I would propose a wooden ball. I understand Mr. Vanel's comment, but it anything. If there was a chain link fence, it would be something. So, whatever the board decides is appropriate. I

I would like to see something more permanent. I don't want to see this thing broken in a year or two. and just non-existent anymore. How about a huge Excuse me. James McDonald a huge boulder. Sure. Looks kind of cute. M if you got the room for it.

You can get it long and little bit narrow. Yeah. I I just want something that a little more substantial that's not Yeah, it's a 4x4. Yeah. Um I handle this we it's either make change granite block 16 by 20 6 ft long's not going to drive over that

but tell you what we'll condition it that um as long as Bill Crunch shot proves it. How about that? I thought they did that last time. I didn't start this. Well, it's your comment. Do you want to approve it? Sure. I'll approve it. Okay. We'll have one of the pling board members approve it. Okay. Chris Shield. That's Sheriff. I I dug this hole. Is it a hole for a ballard? Chris. Yeah. Yes. Is that fair? We'll just condition. Yeah. Yep.

Okay. I'll add that as a condition. All right. Uh, anything else? Um, Bill, I was looking at the materials online. I have a the drawings of the date of May 20th, but that doesn't sound right at all. What What's the I for the for the motions and stuff. I need the actual date final cycle end. Uh, September 23rd. Well, this is September 23rd, which is the one on the left. Oh, an idiot. I'm not looking at the revisions. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, but I I if you could just clear it up before we do anything. I I misunderstood. Are you going to for the the numbering of the parking spaces? You're going to revise or just send uh

I don't want to revise it. I'll just send you an email so that there's something in the record that acknowledges we changed it. I only felt it was important to know because somebody's looking at this later and said, "Okay, the board had a question about this park and space." State number 14 doesn't even exist. Exactly. So, you'll just show me I'm going to provide an update. I'll put it as an exhibit because with the exhibit, we're going to put all the other stuff exhibit. So, I'll put the way I'll put the uh the purchase all that stuff. So, we'll add as a dehumid.

Um, and if you could just show me what what um sheet has the uh sidewalk improvements shown on it. Yeah, it's a sheet for good. Yeah. So, there are details um on the right side and up at the top of the page. So it is identified in the plans but the details actually you know where to begin and sidewalk reconstruction spot rates all over the place. So okay and this shows the basically limit of work. Yeah for the public sidewalk improvements.

Yeah we also um I just want to make sure that you guys get credit for you know what what will be improved in the records. Yeah, of course. The other um thing I'd like to mention is Kina made a comment about providing a demo plan. So that's now sheet three as plan said it shows where we're removing concrete sidewalk. So that'll help um identify, you know, where we're rebuilding. Great. Thank you. Um that good way. Yeah, that No, they addressed our comments a while ago relative to the sidewalk improvement. Thank you. All right. Anything else, Bill?

No. I I think that uh Do you want me to run through what I have for and things? We can talk about conditions after we close the hearing. Yeah. There's something else and the ballard we'll keep this condition other before he closes. Is there any final information you'd like to provide for this? Good. Any fin board members? All right. I'll make a motion to close the hearing. Second. All

in favor to close the hearing, please raise your hand to close the hearing. Bill, you want to run through proposed conditions?

Post conditions. I have another minute. Um we would uh include um the uh $5,000 for the uh downtown development fund a um conditions um that um DPW has provided which I can agree if the board wants their um provided you uh if the board cares. I have three from DBW to kind of why I read all utility work, pavement work, sidewalk work, curb work, accessible curb ramp, and any other work conducted in the public street layout shall be done in coordination with DPW. Uh number two, uh crosswalk relocation on active street shall be done in coordination with DPW. Um pavement marking removal installation shall be approved by DPW. And then lastly, the town traffic control cabinet located on the southern end of the property within an east and granted to the town should be protected at all times during on-site building reconstruction to avoid damages or impact of the control. Very straightforward to them. Um the the next condition um would be um that the applicant is going to provide a a letter to uh clarify which will be entered as an exhibit to clarify the renumbering of the parking spaces and um the b the last is the um ball shall be approved by a planning board or their designate which would be one Chris Klein and Um then we have the waivers letters uh which we would enter as exhibit as uh requested. We covered that had everything you wanted. And so again, what the board would be looking to do is if we do the special

permit with both criteras, waiverss as requested and the um uh limited site plan um review and approval. Okay. Any discussion on this? Okay. Um, this is a tough one, so I'll try to do the motion. Um, thanks, ma'am. Mark, yes, please. I'll remind you to brea.

Um, all right. I'll make a motion to find that the application meets the special permit criteria of sections 9.4.8 and 10.4. Um that includes the following conditions that have already been discussed, but I will put it into the motion. A $5,000 donation to the downtown enhancement fund before certificate of occupancy. Okay. Okay. Um the DPW conditions that were provided in writing and listed they were provided in writing. um an email letter from the applicant that clarifies changing the numbering of the parking spaces on the plans compared from the original plans to final plan set. And that a the a ballard replacement um on the site plans will be um proposed by applicants and approved by uh a designate of the planning board. um before installation and that need and the installation needs to be completed before CO. Good. Bill and then the second part of this motion is to approve the site plans dated September 23rd, 2025 and presented during this hearing which includes the list of waiverss that I have a date on of September 3rd, 2025. Yes. September 23rd, 2025 is the final revision date.

Yep. Of the final revision date of the waiverss that were discussed tonight um and presented by the applicant. Waiver letter is the 3rd. Plan is the 23rd. Yes, that's what I motioned is the waiver letter for September 23rd, 2025. I'll second that. Okay. Um any discussion on this? It was really well done. Oh, thank you. Um, all in favor, please raise your hand. That's 50 um for approval of the motion which includes the special permit findings and the findings of the special permit and the approval of sigma. Thanks guys very much. Thank you. Thank you Paul.

Thank you very much. Thanks Jim. Have a good night.

Thank you. He'll be back.

I'm not right into that first. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Let's uh [Music] Okay. Um, we have another public hearing. We do have a public hearing. I think it I can. All right. I will open up the public hearing for 45 mill road. I'll I'll allow you to give give a briefing to the board and then we'll turn it over to the applicant.

Okay. Yeah. M. Um, this is a special permit uh for 45 of the the cell tower to attach another facility to the cell tower at 45 Old Mill Road for the Broad and Gun Club. Um, this is the same tower that the board uh just had a um review of about a month and a half ago. Uh, same tower, different fixture on it. There is a this is a two-year request which is the maximum that um the uh the cell towers are allowed to um staff has been through the uh material and finds that everything remains in order from the earlier um engineering study and also that the application that that uh the applicant has presented is complete and addresses all the um aspects of the request. Uh is on um I think we need to get this open for um can you hear me? Uh

yes, I'm here. Good evening. Oh, great. Okay. Do you want to share? Do you have any to share your screen or I have to stop here if you need? Um I can share. One moment. Okay. Let me get you. Thanks. Um and Dominica, if you could just identify yourself for the record, please. Yes. My name is Dominica Tatajori and I work for Crown Castle which owns the cell tower. Thank you. You're welcome.

Are you able to see my screen? Not yet. Not yet. Looks like it's booting up. There we go.

Okay. Okay. Very good. Um so as per the earlier introduction um Crown Castle owns the cell tower located at 45 Old Mill Road. Uh and now Verizon is looking to colllocate at the existing 122 ft uh telecommunications concealment tower. Um as you know telecommunications uh collocations and equipment upgrades are common and desired as technology changes to provide better communications uh services to residences, businesses and first responders. With this scope of work, there is no proposed change to either tower height or leased compound size as all proposed equipment for the collocation will be located within within the existing leased compound. Um currently on the tower at the top position which is the um 117 foot center line is Sprint TCS which is now owned by T-Mobile. Um the second position down is um vacant and the third and fourth position is where um Verizon is looking to do the collocation. So the third position is the 87 ft uh center line and uh Verizon is looking to colllocate with two antennas at that location and similarly at the fourth position down at the 87 ft center line. Verizon is also looking to add two um antennas as well. Uh so a total of four antennas for the uh collocation total. Um as you can see from the drawing on the left hand side uh where my cursor is this is the existing tower configuration um the top center line antenna rad is bumped out and um the remaining three

below it are not as you can see it's slim pole here so it's the classic uh what we consider a lollipop configuration with the new collocation uh Verizon is looking to bump out the canister canisters to make it uniform all the way up. So, they're proposing three canisters at um a diameter of 3 ft 6 in and there's three canister and each is 10t long which represents the three center lines that they will be bumping out. Um ground equipment includes but is not limited to uh a new concrete pad to host the um equipment for the collocation. um a fence around the uh Verizon equipment within the compound um cabinets uh diesel generator with canopy power and fiber conduits. Um this application constitutes an eligible facilities request per the FCC's regulations and does not constitute a substantial change to the tower and as a byright federal application. The application materials that were submitted as part of this included the construction drawings which I have up on the screen, uh a passing structural analysis report passing at 94.3%. And a compliant um radio frequency emissions analysis report cumulative at 5.17% which is well below the FCC's general population exposure, which is more than 10 times lower than the FCC allowable limits. and I'm here to entertain any questions you may have.

Two questions, Dominic, you and I just want to make sure I heard you correctly. The the safety studies on um radio frequency radiation that was cumulative for all um anticipated equipment that's operating. Yeah. Uh anticipated and existing. Thank you. You're welcome. Um the bill uh is there any backdating payments from from this um from what the applicant represents? No. So so their whole Yeah. Thank you. Any questions from the board?

Any final comments from Bill? No. Um, I'll open up to public comment. Um, members, anyone online, please use the raise hand feature if you'd like to provide a public comment. Uh, Bill, just for the record, I'm noting that there is no members of the public present in the room tonight. So, there's no no one here to provide public comment here. Um, seeing no public comments, um, Dominica, anything final to add before we close the hearing? No, I I I I gave a pretty comprehensive overview, but like I said, if you have any questions, I'm here to answer them. Thank you.

You're welcome. All right, I'll make a motion to close. Second. All in favor to close, please. Rej 5 to close the hearing. Does anyone want to try to make a motion? So, good last I used up all my up all my chips. Uh, is it a is it a renewal of the special permit bill? Um, this is a new special permit. Okay. I believe am I correct? You've never had this a new facility on the existing cattle.

Yeah. So, if I may, there's um I I believe that your town has two different ways of handling this. The actual tower itself is the 2-year that you have as a renewal. That's not the same thing as the application before you, which is an eligible facilities request for collocation. They're two separate things. So, I believe that um staff I think from uh the Houston office um does the actual renewals with you. That is specifically pertaining to the tower itself. Okay. Thanks.

All right. I'll make a motion to approve the special permit application for 45 Oldm Mill Road to colllocate at an existing telecommunications facility per section 7.5 our zoning bylaw of our zoning bylaws. Oh, what's that? All in favor of the motion, please rejot and the special permit to call out. Okay.

Thank you for your time and elegance. Tell me appreciate it. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. Thank you. You have heard of all the presentations. You never call me out. Well, she that I I I I was intrigued by the presentation of the cell tower. It's true. It was she did so good. I know. I will call you. I'll prank you better. Next time you present on cell towers, Natalie is singing. Great game. It sounded eleant. There. There you go. Yeah. Is it time for a motion about delegates update? We

got minutes. Yeah. Okay. Planning updates. Um the big the big one is last night we went to the um um Bin Con meeting. I'll help this. Oh, don't bail on this one. See you later. Running away. I'm gonna hate this. Must not be very elegant. Um there was uh if on that partic on our best item they had a split vote and it's tied up. They're going to have another vote the fin to recommend approval or not when they have battery thing. Mhm. On the battery thing. Oh the other one not on the

No, no problems on the fine. Um I did the whole presentation for the PMOD which they needed. We I just did that and they were I think that got it answer all your questions. So here's the question I have and I want Chris comes out cuz but let's just assume I'm so confused with what people expect with the numbers on the water supply district. Uh but we went to 15 uh kilowatts per hour. Was it kilowatt hours?

Kilowatt hours. Okay. Finom, three of them did not vote for it because they felt that it was not enough for two vehicles. Um, we explained that this is just to kind of fill in while we get our best bylaw done. But, um, anyway, long story short, they're going to revote on it. Now, I checked with town council. I said, you know, can we do I typically don't like anything on the floor amendments on the four level town meeting and I don't think Chris does and I don't I don't I don't know if he's inclined to do it or not, but if there was a number that we arrived at that was uh acceptable to FinCom or not or we don't have to have it approval either, but um if there was a ride that we have the uh ability ility to amend it on the floor. We have the ability to yank it if we want to yank it. Now, hold on. Guess what came in today?

Request for a battery. No, this was And did Mark make this request?

So, today from Eversource, we were doing a new a small little sub. They're doing their substation. or makes changes to it. Oh, by the way, we want to put in a best part of it is in the water manage district, part of it is not. I told them, "No, as as far as we're concerned, once a zoning model is advertised, if it passes, it's retroactive." Now, all they would have to do this on this site would be move it to the other end of the site. It would be fine. But, but so, I don't really care about that particular one. The thing is I almost fell over when I heard this after our discussion last night. So I guess what I'm asking is Chris I I I don't know if I misunderstood you last night and I'll you know whatever you guys want to do I'll do. Do you prefer not to do an amendment on the four?

My comment to the pincom was that you can't make any changes right now and that's what they're asking. They said no we can't make changes right now at that point before they voted on it. Right. I said no, there's no possibility procedurally to do that. I didn't comment on the floor. It's not amendment on the floor. It's you're moving it differently. Well, it's amendment on the floor. That's not amendment. Well, what would it be? You just move it. You say the language to approve the article as written with the exception of changing the number 15 to X. Right. Okay. Do we have an X, by the way? No. Okay. Well, that seems like important, right?

Yeah, but we can come up with that. But the basically Chris I said that the gist of it was that they felt that it was too little. How big was the one Verizon one? We don't know yet. It's not Verizon. It's a Ever talking about a public utility. This isn't like Joe Bob's house trying to like No. Oh, absolutely. Trying to survive a a storm. Right. I mean, we we have the option of adding the word commercial in there or changing the number.

Right. If we add commercial, here's the thing. I asked about the number. I asked legal about the number this morning. Um, they felt that changing the number is perfectly fine legalized. No, they don't care about that at all. Changing with commercial might be. Um uh but I but we could always Oh no, we can't. We're probably short time to revertise. Yeah. So is there we don't need to make a decision. Let's just find a number. Huh? What's wrong with number? I misunderstood. No, I miss I wasn't sure what Chris meant last night when we're at debated.

Um I'm I'm fine. So I my preference and but everything's up for discussion but my preference would be to keep this going forward. I do not want to pull this. Oh well then fool switch it in fine lumber. So I think we that's my preference. I don't know what you guys think. Especially if we have a a large system that wants to go into a place and we don't want a large system. Yeah, I think we need to have some protection if we can find a number and if we don't have to technically amend it, we just move it differently and you know when Chris is presenting it, he moves it with the updated language and then when Natalie presents it elegantly, right?

Yeah. Yeah, that'd be great. All right. So, Bill, then what you're saying, okay, Dick Downey asked me what what are we going to you know, what are we do? What do I tell him we're going to do? and move it on the floor with a specific number differently than how would you do that so you guys know you're going to you're going to not really though you're going to make it you're going to well what's the word but Natalie's given you're going to move it you're not amending you're you're moving it with a number change a language change an amendment that's not an amendment well let's let's do this let's let's test Bill Ner with coming up with the proposal on these put 15. No, don't put bill numbers. That's how we got this.

I mean, all you're doing is changing the number. I don't know what I'm talking about. 15 to something else. They do it all the time. Do we have an idea of what FINCOM would be comfortable with? I could find that out, but I don't want Well, we actually I No, I understand that question and it's a great question. I do not want to defer to FINCOM's job is simply to look at it whether it's financially suitable for the top. Well, what the hell are they doing having problems with the number then? Well, they can decide whatever they want. Yeah. They're a bunch of nerds and they do whatever they want. Yeah. So, they they can vote no on their but what I'm not going to do is allow them to help guide this unless they come to the hear. This is just their recommendation. Yeah. Well, it was just their discussion.

No, I know. But like it's it's too recommended to not recommend publicly. That's correct. Yeah. So, yeah. So, we don't need it. No, you don't need it. Yeah. But Chris, is there like like I don't have like and I'm just ask if we've Why don't we just add a zero? Chris had also expressed concerns about it not being enough. You don't want it too high. Yeah, that's too much for for commercial cuz commercial my like I will I will consult my consultant. We'll be we'll do this. Okay. Me doesn't need to be more than 50. Yeah. Me that' be super a lot. Yeah. So me, you and Chris will come up with a number and present it during the next Chris is so much work this week. Okay. Can I tell? Forget

I I mean for for for context, right? I think I think my wife's I think my wife's car is something on the order of like 82 kilwatt hours. Okay, that's a lot. Moving a car takes a lot of energy. So to like power your a few lights. We're not talking about that. We're talking about battery. No, I know. But the concern concern of Fincom was it's not enough to charge two cars. Well, they were so they're wrong on that because the that proposed bylaw is about distribution back to the to the grid. So, it's not about cars. Yeah, we corrected them on that.

But they one member did bring up that um one of these home battery storage systems could be 25 kilwatt hours. Super big one. Right. Right. Could be. That's the thing. It could be up to 25 hours. Yeah. That's I mean most of them are less all the test teslles are less than that. I mean right 90% of them are less than right that's what we looked at but if we raised it up so that you know it covers the higher end of a home battery I think that's fine.

Well okay so if we can work together off online or something about a number bill I got to tell when I tell him we're gonna Dwight he has the warrant been printed yet? No. spread it today. Oh, actually today I think today or tomorrow. All right. Doesn't really matter. It's so simple. But what it's just going to be moved with a number change. That's all. So I just tell them that we're going to we're going to is we're going to amend the warrant, but we're not amending the warrant. We're not Don't use the word amend. Okay. It's going to be moved with a a change. The number 15 is going to be changed to the number Okay. Yeah, we'll say 50 for now. I think it should be 50 from my brief Googling. That's how we raise.

Yeah, we did it last time. Googleant. Google got units wrong last time. So I'm saying this one says max for residential is 38. So I say we say 50. Should encompass everyone. Let's just make it 38 and have people question it. 38.4. So don't say that. You got to make way better. People know what it is. Um the worst case. This is the sacrificial article that everybody pounces on and everything else passes. Yeah, there you go. Something happened. He's never lost an article. Oh, there you go. Seriously, dude. No, he didn't spit. I don't believe you just said that.

What did you do to turn around your You can't say He just spits just like that. What? I said some sort of luck thing. Yeah, exactly. Heard that. Oh, Jinx. Yeah. Oh, Jinx. I like the spinning. Okay. No confidence. The feeling that we have all done our homework to such a level with Google the town understands we're communicating as one to the town and that's that's why it works. I do have one question and and your new name is house Chris. Yes. We build chainsaw. Chris can you spell that?

I do. Fun question though because if Fincom is voting tomorrow on the number 15. Yeah. If they vote against it, will the write up in the town warrant say or will maybe could we get it to say sometimes it says like FINCOM comment will be provided at town meeting. Yeah, I would imagine that's what it is because I'm 99% sure it was reprinted today or tomorrow and they said they didn't have they didn't have they wanted a seven. So it's so it's probably already saying finance will be provided at town meeting. So we don't need to worry about that because that honestly as a person who used to go to town meeting with no clue what was happening

I read that and I paid attention to what Fincom said because it's the only one that's printed. So I think if it says they're going to talk about it there. So if I talk with I talk with Chris and Chris and and and Chris is going to talk something and but you don't need to talk to down. Well, he just need he him want and Greg and Dick asked me. Well, the answer is you want to change the number 15 to 50. Yeah. It's going to be we're going to change it on the motion and move it. The motion is gonna change. Chris K, you're

um Chris K, you're gonna get some uh a ballpark number from your better half. I will consult my consultancy. 38.2 30. And um yeah, so that was a I guess it's time. That was interesting. Yeah. Um, and then like I said, the other thing was that the best was kind of funny that came in. Uh, but um, and I think that's everything. We have we hired a new uh, assistant treasurer today. Started today. Oh, what? Assistant treasurer. Oh, what kind of a background you have?

What kind of a background? Grand. [Laughter] It's on this website. It just came when years old. Dog out. We need a health agent, you guys. Do Do we hire? I don't know. Do you know anybody? No. What? What do we need? A health issue. We didn't believe in that stuff then.

Okay. Do you have anything else for the planner update? Uh, no. Just uh No, we have the minutes. Our minutes, any of the promise for minutes? They look good. I have one. I can submit it in writing on August 19th. Yeah, it's just about the um the motion on the minor modification for 115 length. So, I wrote it down already, but it just says it's just not clear. So, I just wanted to Oh, did you write it? Yeah, I wrote it down. So,

it says the board found the to be a minor modification review engineer can confirm the wall shifted no more than 12 ft to the east along the length. I wrote that no more than 12 feet to the east compared to the approved design. Okay. And the second one is just that we determined that the change is a minor modification with the condition above. It just wasn't written that clear. So 12. Yeah. The engineer did not build the wall. They may have designed it.

Oh, good. Good. And this is on which floor was this? 19th. same age. Oh, great. Even better. Builder would tell you. But Chris, your name is all right. We're doing I'm doing better. Getting there. Built. So, you're striking built and from the first paragraph on the second page. Oh, no. Built to design. Ah, okay. Wait, what? Built and bill should change to design. Yeah. Yeah. Right. designed as other comments. [Music]

I'll make a motion to approve the meeting minutes from August 19th, 2025 with the two changes discussed tonight in paragraphs one and five on the second page.

Move. Second. All in favor to approve, please return. It's 50 to approve the meeting minutes of October 2019. The first one is a continuation. It's the question. It wasn't here. What? The last one, I guess. Well, no, I mean, it was a meeting, right? No. Yeah. No, it was

Well, so it was a determination on a different item. So, technically, they're two different determinations, right? Yeah, we made a determination on the wall location and then on that August 19th and August 26th, they were Yeah. Right. There's a determination of Yeah, they were just brought as the same so agenda item. That's why. Yeah, and they are. And we, you know, we could have a list of 12 different items and we could say nine of them are determined to be minor, right? Three of them are major. Okay, so that's fine. Just how you me that leave it like this.

Yeah, if everybody's got Sure.

All right. I'll make a motion to approve the meeting minutes of August 26, 2025. Second. All in favor to approve the meeting minutes. Please raise your hand. It's 50 to approve the meeting minutes for August 26th. Okay. Any thoughts? That's everything I got. Thank you, guys. So we our next meeting we have anything I I'll I'll be in touch. I don't think we do. Um everyone's aware that TPW uh put a moratorium on projects by for water use right. Is the board fully aware of that? I don't know if it's efficient. I think there's a little room for small projects. There's no room for big projects.

Yeah. I think that's the spirit of it. Yeah. Yeah. But everyone got that. I hope someone smart decides the spirit. Well, we we have a project that may be coming before us that says they're doing it with a what? So, we'll see. Um, when's our next meeting? I think of October 14th. Yeah. I don't think we have anything on there, but I'll I'll double check. We all right. I'll make a motion to close the meeting. I'll second. Amen. Amen. All in favor, please. 5 Z to close the meeting. Thanks everyone.

Thanks everybody. That was a very good meeting once again. All for good board. I think I said it was me or you got to go work with the road safety. Oh my god. I knew everyone was going to freak out about the pin wheelel intersection. You know, the triangle with the pin wheels in it.