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good evening I'm Bernard Green chair of the Brookline select board and this is the regular meeting of the select board for February 4th 2025 let's start off with announcements and I'd like to start off by saying that I suspect that there will be many comments um concerning the Washington Street project that is on our agenda uh that will that will not be a public hearing the select board will present it comments to the
transportation board which is meeting tomorrow and this project will will return to the select board for a vote on February 11th that meeting also will not be a public hearing I anticipate that people will use public comments to State their views I suggest that a more effective way to communicate with the select board on this issue is to uh use uh instead of using the 15minute public comment period
to put your comments in writing and EMA email them to the select board we've received a lot of comments we read I'm sure everyone reads them all uh and many people have done that though much of what I see repeats what have already uh uh been stated so bear that in mind when you compose your your comments uh you want to add to the select board's understanding of these issu of the issues before them so with that any
other comments announcement yes Michael um one thing there was an interesting article in the um Boston Globe today about uh the mayor of Boston mayor W suggesting that um the city put in place an ordinance that would uh manage or attempt to manage the speed uh of uh food delivery drivers and certainly uh one of the things that we're going to be talking about here in Washington stre is bicycle accommodations and one of the aggravations that many people have is
not with cyclist but rather with the the two motorized two two whe vehicles that are delivering Foods um and I think it would be appropriate to say to the transportation board and transportation staff who's all here that um this is a topic that would be worth following let's see what Boston does uh see if it sticks as it were uh and uh perhaps follow suit with something of the similar nature thank you
uh Paul thankk you Bernard I just wanted to briefly mention that um on February 10th which is Monday this upcoming Monday there will be a uh meeting of the comprehensive plan steering committee this will be a roll up the sleeves workshop for uh the steering committee members to continue the the work of crafting um a vision statement in themes and topics that will help Drive uh the creation and population of the comprehensive plant so that's starting at 7 p.m. it's a uh a hybrid meeting and
I believe we're going to be uh downstairs but check the calendar thank you thank you any other updates or comments uh I'm sorry chess yeah that's right um I just wanted to uh note um the passing of a retired police officer um Judith hobin um officer hobin began her career in Brookline in 1975 she was the first female officer in the Department's history um and she served here um with great distinction until 2007 uh nearly
32 years um so I just wanted to note um her exemplary record um her trailblazing trailblazing career um and extend our condolences to her family uh and friends and all who knew her um was truly it's remarkable uh that it wasn't until 1975 that we had a female police officer um in the past is as they say it's not dead it isn't even passed um so um it's well worth I wanted um extend our condolences
and uh um talk about that memory of um her service her long years of service to this community thank you and uh hopefully uh the police Union or someone will maybe give us some information on her service on on the department I mean it's information that I think would be important for the community to know about uh John yeah late late to the uh L late arriving but I have uh just one announcement I want to make um I I think
we all are aware that there's a number of people in the community um who are right now um intensely focused on their futures um and they are intensely focused on their rights uh for reasons that have to do with um uh some some of the orders that have come down from the White House um there's a group that is um doing its best to answer the
questions that um all of those folks and their Advocates have um it's the Massachusetts immigrant and Refugee advocacy Coalition uh and they have um several sessions coming up where they will um through their um trained um you know attorneys and lawyers in this field um do their best to uh fill people in on their rights uh and um I'm not going to go into the details the dates and so on
but people can can look that up themselves um by the way they do a pretty good job of um uh language access so you needn't worry that you won't be able to access this information if you happen not to be a primary English speaker um so it's Massachusetts immigrant and Refugee advoc advocacy Coalition and um I urge people who think they might want to attend one of these sessions to look up um the schedule of sessions know your rights
thanks great on that really quickly I just want to add to John's comment um thank you um Town departments U the office of diversity Equity inclusion and community relations um has republished know your rights for sure that it's being distributed across town departments if you come in um you we have those in multiple languages available for you and online um no questions asked so um please feel free to take advantage of that if you need to
thank you uh so uh finally I do have another um announcement so this month is Black History Month and we'll be reading a proclamation later on in the meeting but I just but I want to mention that uh as part of that a part of the uh the celebration and events associated with Black History Month the Martin Luther King celebration committee is uh uh co-sponsoring with um uh Ken Liss and the um reine historical commission I
think it is a uh a talk by kin Li on a strange movement back in the 1920s called the um and hope this is not offensive but this is just what it is U the Black Mami Monument uh proposal uh which was a proposal of the daughters of the Confederacy that um caused a number of people in in the country to to organize and object to uh the creation
of such a monument in DC one of the leaders of this uh movement uh was a Brookline resident uh who Ken list is going to tell us about uh on February 9th before the Super Bowl so don't worry um at the uh uh Brookline Village Library be from two to four I believe um but anyway it's one of the many events other than Martin Luther King day that
the committee organizes throughout the year and this is going to be a very interesting one of course kin list is a is a um just a Wellspring of of knowledge about Brook Line's history and U you know this will be very interesting so thank you anything else okay so let's uh move on to public comment Tiffany explain the rules thank you for joining us for public comment comment this is an opportunity for us to
hear your perspective on the issues in Brookline that matter to you each person speaking tonight is limited to 3 minutes you don't need to use the entire time but you may if you like once 15 minutes has been met There's an opportunity at the conclusion of the select board's business for additional comments members of the public sometimes raise questions during public comment we may be able to provide a quick answer to a question but are more likely to work with staff to get a more thorough answer and respond over email we'll let you know when you have 30 seconds remaining and when your time is is up please conclude your
remarks at that time if you have more to say you're welcome to send an email to board members expressing your thoughts in Greater detail any person wishing to speak must begin their comment by identifying themselves with their full name and either their precinct number or street address the first Speaker who sign up in advance is Liz Linder thank you thanks for the opportunity to speak and share some comments and um
thanks okay uh hi I'm Liz Linder I've lived and owned a business in Brooklyn Village for over 20 years I'm also a town meeting member for Precinct 4 and I'm running for a seat on the select board we all want to inhabit safe inviting neighborhoods with accessible thriving commercial districts I've been listening to business owners residents and other vested parties throughout the design of the Washington Street Corridor and offering my input I I want to thank the design Review Committee and project team for
being responsive to concerns voiced by numerous community members I understand that based on these concerns the plan has been updated to include a parking study wayfinding and a percentage of spaces added back and I have a few suggestions related to the implementation of these additions the Brookline Village parking study to be completed should be completed early enough in the planning phase to impact project implementation one of the goals of this study is to identify opportunities for replacement and additional parking along with better
parking utilization to meet the changing needs of the Community Way finding to help users access the commercial districts must include both signage and electronic input to Major mapping apps I also propose that an Advisory Group made up of adjacent residents and business owners be involved in the parking study and wayfinding phases of the project it's important that the parking spaces added back in Washington Square and Holden to Station Street remain in the plan to mitigate the impact of reductions in this
area I also ask that the project team commit to working with the neighborhoods and business Community throughout the project to minimize disruptions during the construction phase small businesses are particularly impacted by even seemingly minor disruptions that impede serving customers if we can support the Independent Business Community while providing safe access for all users of the corridor I believe the community as a whole will benefit and I would encourage support of the 25% design approved by the design Review Committee and thank you for your
consideration thank you the next speaker is Alish Gilligan Who's online Alish I'll promote you now you can start your video if you're comfortable thank you Tiffany okay good evening everyone I'm sure um you're sick of hearing from me but here I am Alish Gilligan from Washington Square District I live at 121 Beaconsfield Road I have lived in Brooklyn for over 15 years and I've operated my business business for over 23 years I'm here tonight on behalf of
over 22 business owners in Washington Square who have signed a letter expressing strong opposition to the removal of 18 parking spaces along the commercial section of Washington Street in the Square as proposed by the complete streets project our businesses are composed mainly of minority-owned people and are we are all deeply concerned about the impact this decision will have in our ability to survive and serve the community the square does not have a public parking lot meaning that every single parking space is critical
to our customers our employees and delivery access removing these spaces without a viable alternative is not just an inconvenience it is a direct threat to the economic stability of our district the economic recovery for local businesses remains very fragile there are three businesses currently listed for sale in the square and two empty commercial listings on Washington Street along the route that is uh proposed we are also concerned that the transportation department and its Consultants have not collected or shared
if they have collected data from other towns where similar projects have been implemented Center Street in West Roxbury is a perfect example learning from others experience is crucial to ensuring such projects succeeds without negatively impacting local business areas in West Roxbury for example the number of commercial listings for sale or rent has risen to 17 an all-time high since the installation of the bike path business owners have declared Revenue declines in the range from 20 to 40% also in this area we do not want to see
this happen in Washington Square the absence of this data or similar data from the project team raises concerns for all of us about the feasibility and the practicality of this current design unlike other neighborhoods in Brooklyn our neighbors our businesses do not just serve a walkable hyperlocal customer base we welcome patrons from all over the state who rely on accessible parking many of our customers call ahead to confirm the parking is available some are late for reservation because they cannot find parking some cancel that
happens every night that I work the host ENT we understand however the importance of improving streets for all users we also support efforts to improve multimodal Transportation but the current plan is just not Equitable the needs of all stakeholders should be balanced seconds adjustments made by the transportation board to ensure our concerns have not have been inadequate we need a project that truly balances the needs of cyclist pedestrians drivers and local businesses we urge you to consider this and work toward a plan
that ensures a thriving inclusive and accessible Washington Square for all thank you thank you Alish the next speaker is John Bowman John are you in the room thank you my name is John Bowman I'm a resident of Park Street a town meeting member in Precinct 10 and a frequent user of Washington Street I'm speaking in favor of the proposed design
for the Washington Street complete streets project I join the 14 other Precinct 10 town meeting members and the, 1400 bik biking Brookline petitioners more than a hundred of whom like me are seniors asking you to recommend a complete streets design for the Washington Street project including protected bike Lanes along the entire corridor from Beacon Street to Station Street I live without a car in
Brookline the proposed design will greatly improve conditions for biking and walking on Washington Street both of which I do regularly it will enable me to continue cycling safely as I age and my ability to safely mingle with cars and trucks on the street declines and it will welcome me if and when the day comes that I need to get around in a wheelchair please support the proposed design for the Washington Street
complete streets project thank you thank you the next speaker is Brian lad Brian lad is online Brian I'm promoting you now you can start your video if you're comfortable again your three minutes uh good evening uh Brian lad Precinct 13 town meeting member I appreciate the chair's admonitions at the top of the meeting about comments about this project at Washington Street
I've expressed particular views in various forums what I mainly want to do here tonight is um express my admiration and respect for the design Review Committee the consultants and everyone else who's engaged with the project I've been to many meetings and my impression is of a project in which the Consultants have constantly and frequently revised it in response to community comment and I think the final product is as close to
a consensus as we're going to get in this town I would say that it seems to me that the main source of confusion has arisen from the fact not the consultant's fault but their remit is that 60 feet between the buildings on Washington Street and so when they reported a reduction of so and so many parking spaces there was fear and misinformation that all the parking was being wiped out and that kind of thing which then resulted in a process of discussion widening the picture that hadn't been there before um and also a
wider discussion of the far from simple and direct relationship between parking and the thriving of commercial districts in a place like Brookline and the result is that the committee has recommended the parking stud you go will go along with the final project and I think that's the perfect solution and I look forward to seeing the process and the project taken to completion thank you thank you Brian the next speaker is Regina
fry thank you I will try to wait until the end of the night if I can take it um you've used up the 15 minutes with your present speakers and I know that's the limit for the public comment thank you thank you thank you the next speaker is Emily Jacobson
and are we supposed to do it at the end or oh no we have still have time for now all right okay um thank you I'd like to speak about the Washington Street complete streets project I am the vice president of biking Brookline and the newly elected chair of the bicycle advisory committee so you just mind introducing yourself and giving us your precinct number or your my name is Emily Jacobson I'm in Precinct 5 thank you um and so I hope you won't find it
disingenuous if I talk to you mostly about pedestrians and crosswalks but um even I can admit that my feet serve for more than just pedaling um so the Washington Street complete streets project um first of all Washington Street is not in a great state for people who get around by foot um think of all the school children who use this street peer school um the drift School school the high school are all accessed by the
street so is the library this project will have raise crossw at most minor Street Crossings which will greatly increase the visibility for for pedestrians it has updates to um two Street crossings that I particularly would like you to be aware of and to highlight it's the Washington and Davis Avenue where at the moment the lack of a pedestrian signal causes me to look behind my shoulder the entire time while
I cross the street and which has been for a really long time uh on the list of re remediations needed the intersection at Washington school and Cypress Street that has outdated slip lanes and where hundreds of school children cross every day it's extremely long waits for pedestrians and a dangerous crosswalk I'm sure you can talk to the crossing guard there about it if you'd like to hear more and Washington wridge Street which is an
extremely long Crossing at the moment you um you this street will be um narrowed significantly making it a much safer Crossing and um the last thing is rapid flash beacons at all the at all the crossings the length of Washington Street I want to highlight these because uh an inordinate amount of time has been spent talking talking about bicycles and parking and
um there's very little money that is dedicated to um pedestrians solely pedestrians in town this will have this is a huge project for people walking 30 seconds it's important not to lose sight of this um and I although I don't think it's perfect I think it is the best we can get thank you thank you the next speaker is David k good evening my name is David K I live
in Precinct 8 and I'm the president of biking bookline which is a bicing advocacy group with a thousand members in Brookline I know we've given you a lot of public comment um so I just wanted to highlight a few key points um first our petition where 1468 people have signed a petition asking for protected bike Lanes on the Carter and that's about 1,200 bookline residents um importantly that includes
70% of the town meeting members in the precincts through which the project runs it also includes a majority of the total town meeting members and it includes a majority of the members of the school committee also importantly it includes 130 Brookline High School students and over 140 residents who are over 70 years of age and I think those two data points are important because it really shows that safe bising accommodation really
serves the whole community and I also just want to briefly comment on the business um community's concerns um in our comment letter we pointed to many studies that have shown that projects like these which have been implemented all over the country now for quite a long time have had no adverse impact on business and I think it's really not that surprising because most of these projects are in places like Brookline that are real destiny ations they're not strip malls where people expect to be
able to park directly in front of a store I have a lot of confidence in our small businesses and I want to support them I think most people will not be too concerned if they have to drive another few hundred feet to find a parking space and I do think it's important to look at this from a percentage basis in Washington Square if you consider all the parking available we're talking about a loss of just 11% and down in the village we're talking talking about a loss of 6% and if you look in our
comment letter you can see our analysis including our many daily observations and we could never find a day when there wasn't sufficient parking on the corridor even with the reduction in parking um and then the last point of course is we've got a lot of wasted parking resources in both locations and this is not um unusual in fact the Wall Street Journal had an article about this um last year under the caption America has too much parking really and they
explain how we have this tendency to just overbuild parking and I think that's happened here as well thanks very much for accepting my comments thank you Regina we still have time for one comment and that concludes folks who signed up in advance do you want to go now or okay um that concludes folks who signed up in advance we do have time for one more is there anyone else in the room who wishes to speak during public comment at this time anyone online please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature
all right looks like no one is indicating their desire to speak thank you Tiffany first on our miscellaneous calendar will be a question of proclaiming February 2025 as Black History Month in Brooklyn the proclamation that we will vote on is as follows and I apologize it is not very long but it's going to take more than a minute um but I've been told that it's it's important information that people want to hear so but whereas the brookly
Massachusetts select board recognizes that there can be no accurate and coherent American history that does not include the history of Black Americans and whereas the history culture and contributions of black Americans have historically been omitted or deleted from the study of many of much AF American history and such Omission or deletion continues to the present day with explicit bands on the teaching of important aspects of black history and literal and symbolic book burnings and whereas the suppression of the history
of black people foreshadows the suppression of the history of other groups who have struggled for civil and human rights such as women lgbtq communities Native Americans Jewish communities the labor movement and ultimately any history that highlights the uncomfortable truths that are necessary to learn to avoid repeating mistakes of the past and whereas historian G Dr cter woodon in 19 26 organized historians and others to
designate a time to promote and educate people about black history and culture as a critical component to the advancement of blacks in America and whereas the idea of a time to study the history of black people grew in Acceptance in the united in in the 1960s it evolved into what is now Black History Month and was increasingly celebrated in communities colleges and universities in America and acknowledged by each presidential Administration be with President Gerald Ford
and whereas Black History Month has become such an ingal part of the American calendar that even the current president Donald Trump on January 31st 2025 signed a proclamation recognizing Black History Month although while in the same week attacking diversity equity and inclusion initiatives in the federal government and whereas efforts to undermine black History Month diversity equity and inclusion and other
initiatives to include in the American experiment all of the brain power and skills of our diverse Nation makes America weaker and less competitive in the global Marketplace which makes it more important for local municipalities like brookln to increase its commitment to the celebration of black history and the related goals of diversity equity and inclusion okay that's the end of the recital now therefore on this fourth day of
February in the year 2025 the select Board of the town of Brookline Massachusetts hereby proclaims that one the month of February 2025 shall be celebrated as Black History Month in Brookline two in furtherance of the Town celebration of Black History Month the Brooklyn select board urges Town departments and other local governmental and non-governmental bodies to develop programs ceremonies and activities to recognize and celebrate Black History Month as appropriate to their missions
three the Brookline select board further urges all residents to use Black History Month to a start a yearound process of study and reflection on the history culture and contributions of black people in America whether American Born foreign born citizens or immigrants to America as an integral part of their understanding of America's history and its greatness B take advantage of the many programs being produced for Black History Month in Brookline and in the
surrounding metropolitan area including those programs listed or linked to on the web pages of the Brookline Public Library the office of diversity Equity inclusion and community relations the public schools of Brookline and the Martin Luther King Jr celebration committee C visit cultural institutions and the ex exhibitions performances and lectures on Black History Literature and art at local museums universities and concert Halls to learn about Renown especially Brookline African-American
literary artistic and academic persons such as Brookline artist John Wilson whose moving MCAT bust of Martin Luther King Jr is displayed just downstairs on the first floor of our town hall and who will be highlighted in the exhibit witnessing Humanity the art of John Wilson at the Museum of Fine Arts from J uh February 9th through June 22nd 2025 if you're in New York it'll also be uh
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art uh at a later date uh second a world-renowned singer Roland Hayes writers Maria boner who wrote for the Brookline High School newspaper the Sagamore litaa ruffen Ridley and Ridley's mother Josephine St rier Ruffin and historian Dr adlay gron Cromwell and the M the many lesser known but important residents in the history of Brooklyn including skilled workers professionals business owners servants
and even enslaved persons who made a contribution finally the current finally in the current national atmosphere the Brooklyn select board urges everyone to reflect upon the words of Amilia Boon a key organizer of the Selma campaign and the march across the Edmund Pettis bridge on what would be known as Bloody Sunday she said you can never know where you're going unless you know where you've been which can be seen as a
rebuke to those who would ban and burn books and erase important parts of American history and that articulates the critical importance of Black History Month and other observances of the diversity of America thank you so um I move of approval of the Proclamation proclaiming February 2025 as all in favor please indicate by saying I don van skak I Michael samon I
Paul Warren I David crowman I and chair votes I thank you next the question of approving the meeting minutes from January 28 2025 unless anyone has some corrections to the minutes I'd like to move approval um seeing none uh all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak I um Michael sanon I Paul Warren I David Perman I jar votes I next unless a
select board member wants to pull an item out for discussion I move approval of items 3C to 3F in Omnibus fashion uh no one wants to put anything David I do have a question regarding 3E okay so regarding some of these new positions for the division of sustainability I'm wondering how quickly do we think that this deput director of sustainability would get started do we
already have work available for this person to do there's a lot of work available yes um we're we're really eager particularly now that we have a um parks and open space director who's joining us um imminently um for us to be able to turn our full attention to both the um climate action plan and the variety of smaller issues that are rising around town that we need to do and that's more definitely more work more than just the work of one person so we're eager to get that person started and get Alexander the support staff she
needs to you know move expeditiously on her work okay okay any other items people wanted to discuss okay then I move approval of item 3C to 3F nonous fashion of course uh all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak I Michael sanman hi Paul Warren hi David Bowman I shair votes I next calendar um we have first on the calendar home
rule petitions an update from our representative um Tommy vlo Mr V or representative V step to the mic and talk to us good evening I am representative Tommy vollo I live at 153 University Road in Precinct 10 uh my phone isn't mute but you can feel free to call me at any time 617 87289413 and I'm here to give my biannual update
on brookline's home rules uh I know that the members of the select board know many of these ins and outs so forgive me if I'm also uh educating folks online and perhaps in the auditorium uh home rules are legislation that applies specifically to a single city or town in the Commonwealth as opposed to the rest of what we do which is General legislation applying to all cities and towns and uh traditionally home rules are used to
address circumstances that are unique to the municipality one example is if a municipality wants to tweak a rule about their local government uh perhaps they want to change the number of Transportation board members from an even number to an odd number that would be a home Ru the rest of the communities don't really care Brookline should do Cambridge should do attelboro should do what makes sense for them and as long as the legislature is satisfied that it remains Democratic and fair uh those are
fairly straightforward to pass uh where home rules become much more challenging is when a local legislature effectively aspires to be a state legislator and propose legislation that is broader than appropriate just for that community and I I assure you I will have examples um and so uh most communities in a given two-year cycle file zero home Ru
petitions the second most common number you might expect is one perhaps two last session Brookline had 16 16 we passed one and I'm very proud of the one we passed to remind you we passed an article 97 H Ru petition which required not a majority but a 2/3 majority of this legislature and had to be done by July 31 2024 not December 31
2024 and that was to allow geothermal at Pier school which called an article 97 because it had to um stand up to article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution designed to preserve parks in open space and because we were building geothermal Wells five or more feet below the surface of the park we were encumbering ing the park and therefore needed approval from the legislature sure
enough folks in Cambridge or quinsey or Attleboro we're perfectly fine with that and uh I want to thank uh starting with the Town Administrator Town Council uh several different boards committees and commissions in Brookline including the select board for sheering through that process um we had a very sight timeline in fact we literally passed it on the 11th hour we passed it at 11:00 p.m. on
the last day of formal session July 31st it was tight and we got it done and I'm very proud uh of that work alongside Senator cream representative Honan representative McGregor uh and representative Bowser who has since retired there were quite a few we didn't pass in fact do the math there were about 15 we didn't pass I'm happy to read the names of them or I can leave it to you to read them in the packet that's your call it's your time um but I think
it's worth thinking about the list of the ones that we've passed again in in your packet and the list of the ones that haven't passed and try to figure out if there's a pattern I suspect you'll figure out that there is a pattern and I hope that you the select board will continue to help Shephard our town meeting to making strong decisions about when it's appropriate to file a home rule and when
it is not last year town meeting has two new home rules to send to the legislature one related to retired police officers being able to work details when uh we don't have enough police officers to work those details so long as those retired police officers have all of their certifications up to date and the other relates to uh preventing the use of second generation anti-coagulants a particular type of rat
poison that happens to have a terrible side effect on birds of prey um those are the two that were passed last year uh as is the custom with Senator creem and I we divide them up the two of us uh look at them and figure out how to balance our workloads balance our expertise uh and uh because home rules are only filed in the house or the Senate never both we we uh we basically divide them in half in this case because
Newton also filed a second generation anti-coagulant home rule she went ahead and filed the Brookline one and I filed uh the home rule related to retired police officers but of those 15 home rules that didn't pass what comes of them the answer is well it depends on how old they are if the first time they were filed in the legislature was last session they can be filed again doing that requires an action of the select
board the legislature cannot refile that home rule petition unless the select board chooses to send a letter to my office with a raised seal so that we can take it to the clerk and file that home roll petition that prerogative is yours you are not obligated to refile any home roll petition is entirely within your prerogative to decide home rules that have already had two bytes of the Apple at the legislature cannot be filed again
without town meeting access so a home world that's been filed twice and has failed to become law if folks want it to come back again it has to be filed as a Warren article pass town meeting and then I will eagerly await your raised seal letter uh to file and against Senator Kem and I will decide kind of who makes sense to file it based on a of factors that we think through I would add that the other three Representatives
Honan McGregor and now Greg Schwarz are all important partners and are always supportive of our efforts uh but but as I said it's led by Senator Kem and I uh you've got the letter I'm happy to answer questions uh general or about particular home rules uh but I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page about what's filed now exactly to how many can be refiled uh quite a few
more and uh and that it's your decision as to whether or not we should do that or not thank you thank you and um I think for for our VAST TV audience your explanation of the process was very very helpful very important um and I also like to thank you for the incredible work you did to get our article 97 um legislation passed uh was very very difficult and and uh people uh went
out of the way to make sure that that got through and I didn't mention it forgive me I didn't mention and should have that our lieutenant governor Kim Driscoll was incredibly important to getting it done I bent her ear um and she got very excited about it and um we needed the executive branch to really um be invested and uh she was an incredible partner and so I want to point that out uh lieutenant governor Kim Driscoll was really instrumental to getting it done
as well great any questions from the select board Michael I'm just thinking that um representative vell's explanation and comment that you know we filed 16 and one one passed um uh we're certainly uh all ears uh it would be perhaps uh very helpful for you to ask the moderator for Town time at Town me meeting to give that same explanation because there are 255 town meeting
members who need to hear it yeah you know I've given the explanation before yeah yeah sometimes town meeting is is so moved and other times not but I would also add that by the time it's at the floor of town meeting our community has invested hundreds of hours in it just to get it to the floor of town meeting um and uh the idea that a home roll petition isn't designed to be passed but instead to send a message um seems like
yeah I'm not so sure my colleagues are are receiving the message quite that way thank you oh so Bernard a question for you um it sounds like at some point we need to make a decision about some of them all of them none of them we sounds like it's on us um do we have thoughts about how we're going to get to the answer are we doing that tonight is that going to be another time Tommy when do you need this buy well
that's a great question unlike General legislation home rules can be filed at any time uh but just like all other bills there is a series of steps necessary for them to become La each of those steps takes time uh on the calendar but also human being time and so what I would say is the sooner they get to me the better chance Cindy cream and I and our colleagues have of getting it across the Finish Line okay so what I would suggest um
just off the top of my head is that we each look at the list that's in our packet that Tommy provided and um identify those that are priorities for us and that we think have a chance of uh being successful in the legislature and then let's discuss it fair enough I don't I don't want to do it right now because I mean that is just not going to work I think that that you know if you
give me or or Tiffany uh your thoughts you know by u in a week or so we'll we'll get we'll get it on the calendar okay thank okay uh John um a couple of things I'd like to put the emphasis on the second half of what our chair just said um have a chance to pass um I'm not an expert on that um I think representative vah you're closer to being an expert on it by far um so if you haven't already done so you know I
think some kind of indication of from your perspective um someone who knows the workings of the legislature pretty well um which of the various home rule polititions that um cannot be considered by the legislature unless they are refiled um are are ones that you know might might actually stand a chance of passage which ones more likely will be subsumed in a broader um piece of legislation that will be Statewide um just just as
guidance for us um the other point I'd like to make which I I hope people will um sort of see that that that this is this is not in any sense um meant to disrespect uh Town meetings that uh adopted resolutions for legislation to be filed but we all know that town meetings change um you know a town meeting from 2020 isn't the same as a town meeting uh
from 2025 the membership is different issues have sort of shifted um the context has changed one particular example I'll point out is there's a piece of legislation that would result in um property being a tax being put on on Property Transfers um but that would was adopted by town meeting before we adopted the
community preservation act which imposes a tax on on um uh it's just kind of a broad-based tax on on our existing tax base um does that warrant us rethinking the other piece that was filed as a home rule petition I think it does um but I don't want to make that decision on behalf of town meeting and so the the other way to approach this is for town meeting to Simply have the option of deciding which ones town meeting
thinks should be refiled I hope they wouldn't um uh disregard um the very cogent arguments you've made for trying to be selective about this um so I just want to put that out there too I don't think it's entirely up to the select cour to decide which should be filed refiled it it it might in fact be time for town meeting to take a second look at some of these and make their own decision but don't we need to to separate uh petitions into those that have had one bite of app and those that
have had two I mean the first category you know it's our responsibility not Town meetings second category you know we can I don't know what we do but you know yeah appear at town meeting and say hey guys what do you think of this stuff or whatever um but you know it's the first category I think I really should have emphasize that that where we have responsibility for deciding whether you know they they should go forward and then doing something about it well some of these emerged from town
meeting with no uh initiative from the selectboard they they were Town meetings petitions not our petition yeah and some and some of them select bir members sometimes opposed correct me if I'm wrong what you're talking about Tommy is that petitions that have come out of town meeting submitted by the select board and failed the first time and then were resubmitted had two bites of the Apple it's
those petitions that town meeting must um revote right yeah so um a c a couple of things uh to clarify that process a home roll petition is under state law a two-step process the legislative body the city council or the town meeting votes to approve and then the executive branch has the prerogative to forward it to the legislature or not
two keys right two keys need to be turned your the second key town meeting has turned its key and so for a hom Ral petition that has just passed town meeting the select board decides to send it along or not the two examples of that are the renti side and the retired police officers the select board has decided to send those along if a home roll petition has been sent along once and failed to become law in order for me
to file it or Senator cre to file it a second time we simply need the select board to send the letter select board does not have to the select board has the prerogative if a home Ru petition has been submitted to the legislature and failed to become law twice in a row then the select board doesn't have the authority without town meeting or if you we were a city a city council voting it again and so uh if you go to appendix
a uh near the back of your letter you see possible Town action in the rightmost column there are 1 two 3 four five six hom Ral petitions that were filed for the first time last session for Senator Creer I to refile those we simply need the select board to send the letter on the other hand you'll see um in the second page of that
table uh the the rightmost colum says obtain approval in town meeting again those 1 2 3 4 5 6 78 it is not up to the select board to Simply send a letter in fact town meeting would have to consider the item again and pass it and then the select board could decide to send the letter or not right so that's the distinction uh select board member van sko suggested that perhaps the select board shouldn't
um exert its prerogative to send or not send but maybe just if town meeting wants it uh it should send it and in fact that's what the select board has done the past three or or four years it's not required to the select board has the authority to to decide not to send it along um when asked what passes and what doesn't pass I think the test is um could you imagine this being Statewide legislation if so it probably doesn't
pass as a home roll if it's Unique to a community if it's specific to a community if it doesn't have impact on other communities on their economy on their transportation um if it's really unique to the one Community then it has a much better chance but of course uh the great and general court in its Infinite Wisdom can deviate from those traditions and standards frankly anytime it want as long as it's consistent with the State
Constitution and so uh there's always a chance of an unexpected result uh select board member van s also suggested that sometimes uh a more recent town meeting might disagree with a previous version of itself and there's an even more specific example of that that comes to mind um a few terms ago town meeting passed a home rule petition to allow 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote in local elections it went to the legislature twice failed to pass twice
it was brought back to town meeting so that it could be sent to the legislature again but that town meeting voted it down town meeting changed its mind on that issue and the votes are the evidence of that um and so uh select board member van skak is correct we have proof in Brooklyn that sometimes town meeting changes its mind over
time well so Tommy there's a number of uh outcome classifications maybe you could educate us a little bit on the difference between study sometimes we know what study means here I don't know if what study means there um there's uh third reading um you know is there can you give a little insight into the probability of something coming back and passing if it was referred to study versus a third reading as a third
reading is it almost got to the finish line and ran out of time is there some clarification you could provide sure I think that for home rules in particular um there are three outcomes worth noting uh passed into law passed into law as amended or anything else right and anything else means it's not law and it it kind of doesn't matter for a home rule in particular whether it uh made it
to third reading or whether it um was sent to study or or if it got jammed up somewhere else um because the home rules that didn't get to the Finish Line it's not that they failed to get to the Finish Line because of some technical detail where oh the thing the town asked for isn't quite consistent with some obscure part of some other law and we just
needed to make a change and we didn't figure it out a time we ran out of time and we're just going to file it again and we'll be fine that's that's not the story for uh these nearly two dozen home rules on this list that did not become law that's not why they didn't become law so I don't think it's helpful to um look at how far it got along and say oh well it was close so that means the legislature liked it more that's not really okay how it works at all thank you so okay any uh further
discussion okay so we'll we'll look through the list and do what we have to do thank you well thank you for your time and of course uh I'm available to each and all of you uh for questions along the way thank you
okay next uh we have uh the um Main Event Washington Street complete streets project I see uh commissioner shu is at the podium I think it's going to start us off good evening uh my name is Erin Jud I'm
the commissioner of Public Works and uh we are pleased to present the Washington Street Corridor um preferred alternative design this evening uh this project has been reviewed by the design Review Committee at nine public meetings and proposes a redesign of Washington Street from Beacon Street to Station Street to improve safety access ibility Mobility for all users including pedestrians bicyclists micr Mobility users Transit
Riders Public Safety vehicles and motorists uh the following uh goals have guided the design um since it's Inception and decision-making that's complete streets uh looking to better accommodate all users and prioritize the most vulnerable safety and access for pedestrians we're looking to calm traffic shorten Crossing which is incredibly important along Washington Street and improve connectivity
multimodal accommodations um providing separated bike and micro Mobility Lanes along the entire Corridor and enhancing existing bus stops so you know we've spent a lot of time uh reviewing those uh Concepts and trying to find balance ADA compliance upgrading traffic signals sidewalks and curb ramps to meet Ada standards this is an incredible Improvement for uh accessibility along the stretch enhanced streetcape so
protecting or improving our existing tree canopy but also creating um Place uh really improving uh the overall um kind of feeling and how we welcome um folks into this uh Corridor in our two business districts emergency AC access we're maintaining uh emergency access along the corridor incorporating pedestrian scale lighting and enhancing commercial vibrancy uh and it's from the town team we've been
incredibly responsive to public comment uh the input of the design Review Committee and the business community and I really appreciate the comments that we heard earlier that recognized those efforts so uh this evening we're going to talk about on the summary of public meetings evolution of the project a recap of the January uh meeting and what has changed from the start of the project to where we are now we've uh this project has really evolved um an overview of the corridor uh the schedule
moving forward and then continued public participation and then we're open for comments uh and questions from the board um but before I move forward I'd really like to recognize um staff that has worked so hard and diligently on the project uh we have Dan Martin who is our sustainability uh Transportation engineer I'm kind of our quiet unsung hero uh for all things Transportation
related uh Amy Engles our transportation administrator who has really been a real leader and guide for this project thank you Dan Murphy our director of engineering and transportation we have Sam DS uh PE who is online and also Kevin Johnson our Deputy Commissioner of operations uh from our design team uh from tyin Bond uh we who are really experts in navigating the mass doot tip process and deliverables uh Rich benevento uh who is the former owner of
World Tech and uh tyan Bond purchased that company he's now a leadership in that leader in that organization and then Chris zet and Alan cluder who will present uh the project this evening I'd like to thank the design Review Committee uh they were incredibly deliberate and thoughtful and all of their um input on this project the business Community who have been very engaged and then um last but not least chair of the transportation board Brian
Kane uh he has done an incredible process um job with an open and welcoming public process he does an incredible job with the transportation board and um really want to thank you for your leadership um chairman on uh this project so in terms of meetings uh this is in your packet but really just to reiterate commissioner C can I say a few words before we get into the this absolutely people a sense of uh what we're doing here um and I apologize I
need to talk directly into the mic so people can hear me online can you hear me oh yeah they can hear you but apparently I was not talking close t m so uh tonight's presentation is going to be an opportunity for um the design review team and the translation board to get comments from the select board that will be conveyed to them for tomorrow's meeting um of the transportation board
um who will I assume add their own comments and come up with a final um uh vote on this project that will then come back to the select board um I believe the transation board is going to be a hearing right or is that no is that a public hearing as yeah they has full public comment okay well public comment and public hearing are different things uh when it
comes back to the select board again it will not be a hearing U but what we vote will go to the Department of trans uh Mass Department of Transportation which as I understand will have a hearing so people who have uh their ideas and and things they want to get into the public record uh should see that as an opportunity to do that after these steps here in Brooklyn um at the end of the presentation that you put in the uh packet uh there is a
statement that DPW continues to welcome public comment and I think that that's an important statement that uh people should take uh advantage of uh both in terms of sending comments written comments to the select board as well as at the do hearing um and I think that that uh suggests that this process is still an evolv process and within certain parameters of course but you know the the concerns that people have
uh are still um subject to inclusion in the final product um and so people should uh should take advantage of that um you know we on the select board do receive and read you know comments that we receive um and uh you should take advantage of that opportunity so I just wanted to give people a sense of where we are uh in this process
so thank you and we will be back next next week uh so just continuing on in terms of meetings held to date we have had two years of public meetings a very inclusive process uh with the transportation board um the nine meetings of the design Review Committee uh that I mentioned uh select board many meetings with the MBTA and uh Mass uh meeting with department heads to really try to make sure that we're extending out um through their relative
boards and committees and staff uh to get all of their input a small uh Business Development Committee uh we get an openhouse with business businesses and the neighbors uh site walk and Forum with the League of Women Voters and just want to talk a little bit about the evolution of the project so we've received a tremendous amount of feedback um from the community from the design review team and um we've really worked D diligently to um meet those project
goals and also address all of these needs and we keep coming back to balance we're trying to balance all of these needs and really provide an incredible uh project and outcome for the town this is a um unique and really extraordinary opportunity for Brooklyn and we're so excited to be able to deliver what is going to be a transformative project for the town a couple examples um we've worked
in narrow travel Lanes to provide more space for other users um maintain as much parking as possible while still meeting the other project goals um look to accommodate the most vulnerable roadway users we're separating those bike Lanes incorporating traffic calming elements safety improvements I mentioned um pedestrian scale lighting uh we talk about other interventions in terms of phased crosswalk which was feedback um that we heard of Rapid flashing beacons
uh looking at the intersection geometry traffic signals operations and really have worked very closely with the MBTA on their operations and optimizing those also want to talk about placemaking creating a beautiful Corridor uh and adding wayfinding in a sense of arrival uh at the Village this is something that we heard from the business Community um and have included in the project and also adding uh parking and curb use analysis for Brookline Village um
something that the business Community asked for and we are going to um deliver on and we think is actually um both of those we think are huge improvements are going to be great big picture for the village January um we really kind of culminated all of the input that we had heard to date um did a re sort of a recap on the conceptual alternative the preferred concept that you'll see in a minute um focused a bit on Washington to Holden which is where we've spent a lot of time because that's where we kind of
have our our um it's our busiest intersection with a lot of moving parts and making sure that um we had all of those movements correct um we went over the whole Corridor um in order to get the vote and then the vote um was to approve the Washington Street Corridor complete Street project as presented uh and then to forward uh to the transportation board board select board and mass do for advancement um and the team added those
the design Review Committee added to their vote the wayfinding signage and the parking study and curb use analysis to make sure that it was very clear that it was upfront and that they felt like that was important uh for the success of this project and that um the business Community had been heard uh and that we continue to put that forward uh and they voted uh 8 to2 uh in favor of the project so with that I'm going to turn this over to chriset who is going to um
go over the project and then we look forward to uh answering your questions and the design team uh and DPW team is here to answer those good evening everybody um my name is Christopher seret I am from tyan Bond um I've been working on this project as the commissioner um in introduced the project uh through the various slides uh
it's about a three-year process thus far right from the first time uh I think the project was introduced in its current state to where we are today it's about a three-year process and I think of some of those uh recap slides about what has changed really identifies and and really magnifies how much of an iterative process there really is we come up with an initial concept we hear feedback from the town from stakeholders from businesses we refine that concept we present it again and we do this over and
over again through the design Review Committee process it's really something that you you would use as a template on a project like this with so many stakeholders involved with so many moving pieces moving Parts in in overlapping objectives so I I I commend the town for for taking this on and for also uh navigating the process and and kind of ending up in a culmination with that last DRC Review Committee meeting and the vote and sort of the results uh that are presented here on the the next
section of slides that show what we've come to for a concept that we can hopefully advance to the massot process and ultimately advertising uh so to go over some project limits uh the project is along Washington Street it's about 1.3 miles of Washington Street including some of the side streets you know a few hundred feet on each of the side streets the product starts at Beacon Street at the approach of Beacon Street more uh to be more specific on Washington Street extending down Washington Street through Brookline Village terminating at Station
Street so I alluded to the the iterative process and how the design has changed through public input there's a lot of information on this slide I know that um you've seen the information in the packets ahead of the meeting so just to give an overall sense of what has changed through the public process we've broken it up into different sort of Main themes right the first one is intersection layouts uh so at Washington at Beacon Street U through the DRC
Review Committee we've Advanced the shortening of the left turn alternative uh with a separated bicycle lane extending to Beacon Street this allows for on street parking in the eastbound Direction which is about nine spaces this was something that was highlighted and critical uh to the design in that area Washington in Park Street uh we're moving forward with a signalized intersection with the removal of the the left turn lane so it's just uh one single Lane in each Direction at Park
Street um with this oper with this a excuse me with this configuration we have the ability for increased maneuverability for cyclists at this intersection uh moving on to Washington at school in Cypress Street one of the Marquee intersections of the corridor we've realigned the intersection to improve bicycle and pedestrian Crossing shorten them and and sort of improve the geometric configuration of that intersection we'll see these in color as we get through the presentation Washington Street at Harvard again
realigning the intersection improving operations uh Lane widths um something that's been established with stakeholders with the MBTA with the design Review Committee we've established an 11t travel Lane standard along the corridor that's a through Lane standard 11 ft and then on street parking uh maximizing on street parking we've had about EX for existing count about 190 outdoor uh excuse me 190 parking spaces plus the outdoor dining areas when we started this process and
really uncovering the proposed parking a combination of DRC meetings four and five we had 85 parking spaces by the time we got through the process at DRC 99 design Review Committee 9 we had 135 proposed parking spaces along the corridor and that is the template that you've SE tonight uh as part of the presentation 135 parking space Washington Street at school Street we've relocated Entre parking in the to the
westbound Direction in front of those large uh residential buildings condos apartments that was a a key aspect of of some some input from from the community and then also from Washington Street from Holden to Harvard that last segment we've introduced nine parking spaces on Street heading towards Brookline Village in that area through our design um changes so the next segment of slides are their cuts of moving along Washington Street
from Beacon Street to Brookline Village so I'm going to go through these slides highlight some of the main features but I am going just going to continue and if you have specific questions on a segment in an intersection a driveway we can revisit them uh but I'm just going to flip through the next segment of slides here and just highlight the overall I don't mean to be rude but um you said you add added nine parking spaces between yes uh Holden and uh Harvard Harvard correct um
didn't you take away a large number we re I would say to to clarify we reintroduced yeah please be clear sure you know when you're making those statements so that it's not added back so we we reintroduced we added back in excuse me nine parking spaces to that area heading toward the village on that on that point uh since you gave us the number of spaces that you add added back from your originally severely reduced number can you tell us the number of
spaces that are there now versus the number of spaces in the updated plan can you say that one more time please the number of existing spaces now today versus what would you would have what would you have in the latest version of this plan so you said 135 for the latest version of the that's correct for how many are there now 190 oh okay thank
you okay any other questions before move on okay so continuing of through the corridor from starting at Beacon Street we are proposing separated bicycle Lanes along each side of Washington Street um you see the the nine parking spaces at the intersection or in the vicinity of the intersection of Beacon Street heading towards the village uh we're moving
again from Beacon Street to Brookline Village along the corridor separated bicycle Lanes continue sidewalks are at the face of the buildings on each side of of Washington Street moving down you can see we highlighted the inter the driveway opening for the fire station across from the fire station we hatch out an area where there is a park sort of no parking area for the maneuverability of the fire apparatus moving in and out of the
driveway separated bicycle Lanes continue as we advance down the corridor uh throughout the corridor we highlight the locations of the bus stops the proposed bus stop locations each of the side street crosswalks will have a high friction crosswalk treatment uh and then all of the crosswalks across walk Washton Street will be supplemented with rectangular rapid flashing beacons sorry what's a what's a high friction uh it's
the material it's the it creates more of a a grit surface so it's it's it's not as slippery sometimes the thermoplastic markins when they get wet they become slippery y so so it's more of a more of an abrasive material for for better traction and in terms of longevity because the the uh plastic um uh striping uh lasts a long time compared to Painted that's correct cor so it's it's on that magnitude of longevity right you it's kind of paint is is wears away a lot faster
especially with the climate that we live in y so this is more in the magnitude of of the thermoplastic markings all right thank you you see pockets of on street parking along Washington Street Gardener Road I would say one of the sort of key intersections we look at geometric improvements really narrowing uh the the intersection approach providing more space uh for pedestrians for cyclists reducing the crosswalk or
the crossing times across the street just because of those curb line changes you can see the shorter crosswalk means a pedestrian has less time exposed to vehicular traffic within the street again the crosswalks across Washington Street are supported by rectangular rapid flashing beacons so there you've taken out a traffic Island um because you've been able to reduce the that's correct Crossing um I I'm familiar with that intersection I'm
just wondering about there are people who tend to cross uh at a diagonal um as it were and so you know I don't know what possible solution there is to that uh given the driveways and so forth that are there but the curb cut um particularly with the one that's furthest to the right I would say that if if you're a pedestrian coming from either direction at this location if you have the opportunity to cross with a crosswalk that's shorter distance and also supported by a rectangular rapid flashing Beacon to me as a pedestrian
that would make it you know the the safer uh the safer route for a pedestrian in mind uh I'm sure it's safer I'm just wondering whether people will still cross diag but that's on them okay that's correct yeah let let him finish that's continuing down the corridor again highlighting the the separated bicycle Lanes along each side of Washington Street sidewalks back a sidewalk you see some of the existing tree pits that are to remain highlighted
in green Al also areas hatched or or colored in green are sort of areas that we've defined as L and seed or it's a buffer between the roadway and the sidewalk or roadway and the separated bicycle lane as we advance this design some of these larger areas will become a landscaped area areas for tree plantings we're not there yet but that again opportunity for streetcape and and tree plantings along Washington
Street moving towards the Park Street intersection was we mentioned uh the preferred alternative conceptual alternative includes one lane in each Direction at the signalized intersection if I go to the next slide you'll see actually I'll go back uh Park Street that's just cut off on the page but we have a do not block the Box uh striped on Park Street uh just off the page this is an indication for motorists to stay out of that area to allow for turning uh
vehicles to still use the intersection again it comes down to the behavior of the motorist if they abide by that or not but uh we do include do not block the box at that location we have suggested Ada accessible spaces along the corridor based on existing locations based on feedback received thus far uh so we do have uh suggested location s there's one here between Grigg's Terrace and Park Street we do have them closer to Beacon
Street we have them in Brookline Village we have them in front of sort of the municipal building segment where we are uh right now uh so we do show those spots uh based on based on the information we've received thus far ber can I ask a quick question sure so uh thank you um so when I see that there's a handicap marker here yes um or I think in our prior slide it might have been an LZ yes um do we still have the flexibility to move those around and add more okay so this is not no this is just
us looking at what's out there looking for gaps like longer gaps of where the spaces are today okay and where we like you know suggested locations because also you have to look at proximity to things like crosswalks and you know what are the surrounding uses of the pro of the buildings of the property so this is our suggested locations but again as could be changed exactly thank you waybridge uh road is another great example of sort of reallocating the
space reclaiming some green space wider intersection the ability to to realign some of the curb corners and realign the intersection a is from a safety perspective you're reducing crosswalks you're creating a better line of sight for vehicles by coming in a closer 90 Dee angle but you're also getting space that can be used for streetscape can be used for for Hardscape items bike racks or rain Garden right so you're gaining
space back that was you know as of right now is is asphalt so again another another great opportunity for for um streetscape elements or pedestrian elements as we move forward yeah um one other thing I you you don't don't just speak out I'm sorry you go ahead okay thank you on um you were looking the other way so I thought I'll give it a shot um you mentioned
that trying to keep control here yep yep there are currently 190 spaces and there' be 135 left so there's there 55 spaces along the entire Carter being taken out but I see a lot of spaces along Washington Street um in this you know in that on that slide and elsewhere um and the the sense that I have is that most of the spaces that are being taken out because because there's right now continuous parking there um are in that section where there is no commercial is
that a fair statement I would say I no there it's intertwined right there are different pockets of spaces being removed it's not I would say no it's not just all commercial or all residential I would say that it's in various Pockets along the corridor okay okay and and then really getting into one of the major intersections uh this is in the vicinity of the school street and Cypress Street location uh again we
this is one of the areas that when we said major changes that from Community input is we move the parking from slide bottom to slide top in front of the residential buildings uh so we realigned our design in front along Washington Street to make sure that that on street parking was against um sort of plan I say westbound uh to be in line with the needs of of those abing buildings so that was a major change for
this area you could see the separated bicycle Lanes continue to the intersection and then the next slide shows what it looks like today right so there's a major difference this is I tried to make a comparison of what it looks like today versus what we have on our preferred alternative on the next slide so that's what it looks like today and this is what we go to as our preferred alternative you can see the major Improvement for pedestrian and and cyclist it's a simplified movements for each of the
modes of transportation shorter Crossings uh the two I would say the two intersection approach it eliminates a lane shift from school Street to Cypress Street there's a lane shift there now it removes the slip lanes that create uh safety concern for for pedestrians utilizing crosswalks and also vehicles in the same regard so this is a much simpler safer intersection configuration compared to what's out there today and you do gain uh look on the Cypress
Street School Street intersection you gain that corner of placemaking right so that again is an area it's a canvas for us if we want to use it as green infrastructure streetscape dining There's an opportunity there to use that space uh for the town that we are creating based on the realignment of these two intersections or this intersection getting towards the I call
it the municipal building segment U sorry I just want to say um of all of all of the geometry changes here um that one is um I think perhaps the one of the the best yes um as a as a cyclist coming down Washington Street going towards Brookline Village and then turning into School Street um you really really uh you're sort of out in in a very exposed position for a long you're very vulnerable yes absolutely and the way
you've reconfigured this is is safer and it seems to me it's all it'll reduce accidents vehicular accidents as well there be much less confusion at that intersection yes absolutely so in this segment uh you see here we have parking on both sides of Washington Street a separated bicycle Lanes can continue along the corridor we do have Curb extensions uh we we know we highlight curb extensions here when we use curb extensions it's an it gives us
an opportunity to Define parking areas uh it helps with u reducing crosswalk distances for for a crosswalk across the side street or the major Street uh so we do highlight U most of the intersections do have Curb extensions uh for that reason continue continuing on this is at Holden street again you could see some of the suggested locations for Ada
accessible spaces I think this is the current configuration is there's a few Ada spots here that we're looking to implement in our preferred alternative and the next slide this really gets into Brookline Village the first segment here is from Holden street to Brookline Village we do have the parking spaces on the eastbound approach with the two suggested loading zone spaces at the end there those spaces are strategically placed based on the
ability to uh load Goods using that driveway and or crosswalk because you know if you're if you're using a loading zone you have to have the ability to get the goods onto the sidewalk so that's something to think about and also the ability for the for the delivery vehicle to make their way to the curb line to not obstruct traffic uh in this location can I make a comment here yes um you've taken out parking on the north
side of Washington Street and on the um that one block of Harvard Street there's no parking uh we lose parking on the um Harvard Street below Kent Street and the businesses in that area are the type of businesses where you run in grab something and run out or run into a bank and make a posit and run out it seems to me that it's really undermining those types of businesses to not have you know uh that uh or Park
those parking spaces um I mean I I use it not a lot but occasionally on the south side of Washington those spaces are always filled but there are spaces occasionally on the North side I mean if you give any thought to that I mean I mean the business Community is a Vari is you you variety of types of businesses and you know it's difference between a restaurant and let's say Starbucks or a
bank I'm not I don't really get the sense that that was taken into consideration there so through the um design review process we looked at a whole host of different iterations we looked at parking on the North side at the South side at one point um when the lanes were wider um there wasn't parking on either side uh we talked about ADA talked about loading uh heard a lot of feedback from the different businesses on um kind of their busy times uh heard a lot also
about current practices for um deliveries which is right in the middle of the street typically and if you drive that route you've probably seen that as well and had to move around one of those box trucks uh so the design Review Committee looked at all of those different iterations listen to the business community and this is why we really think that that um parking utilization and curb use analysis is really important um and so that we'll be
able to look at the whole area and generally um when people are coming for to a commercial area they want to know that they can find parking someplace and where it is and so in this case in terms of finding the right balance the committee looked at all of those options and wanted to make sure um that they were meeting all all of the different goals that have been established and um outlined for uh the board um but you
know we're confident that with this parking analysis and study wayfinding um that we are going to really improve um understanding access and utilization of parking in the village overall so I think my answer to you is it was studied by Design By The Design Review Committee and ultimately um they're recommending this alternative this is complex and no perfect answer but I wanted to raise that you know problem that I saw that uh Mike well well let me finish yeah sure
go ahead I'm thought you go ahead uh I'm finished go ahead all right so uh I think it's also it's important to remember that some of the cyclists who come through here and there will be more bicyclists because it's it will feel a lot safer will be customers the last time I went to serenade chocolate was on a bicycle uh and uh every time I go into a store and I'm on a bike I actually mention to the uh the people there because I want them to understand that it's not just motorists who provide business it's
everybody who comes by pedestrians I'm not sure what the point the relevance of that is well the relevance is that when you're taking away parking spaces you're making it possible for more access by others and you're assuming those others are going to do the same thing some will some not some okay I'm not sure that that any rate thank you Bernard this is um is it okay I just want to speak to this slide because this Mike had said that you know the last intersection was like almost worth the money yeah um this
I'm really excited about this um I I I lived in Brookline Village before I moved down to St Mary's and you know this is a hazardous place to walk around um and this the reconfiguration here is really really important especially what's happening with uh coming down Kent Street and how you're coming into the intersection um is really key it's it's the there's a much better flow here and I believe it's actually going to reduce uh light cycling uh and timing and so hopefully it's going to it's
going to improve the the traffic flow but I I just want to comment briefly on the importance of this um Brookline Village traffic and curb study it it really is very important um and the reason why is I I frequent uh Brookline Village I have most of my meetings with Tommy veto and Brookline Village and other people and I I don't always walk because I don't have time so I do Drive um and and when I come into the village I can usually find a spot to park but I
see many many spaces that are going unutilized and it's because they have dedicated for permit parking on Kent Street but it's not being used if you go into the Ken Street lot you can often see that you know two-thirds of the EV parking spaces are empty um I understand the policies are you have to be charging in order to park there um and for for the the spaces that are uh on Harvard Street or on Washington Street um they don't turn quick people are parking for
almost the maximum two hours I spent quite a bit of time speaking to many of the businesses in Brookline Village I took a day to do that uh and the feedback was these these spaces are are never available because they're almost consumed by two-hour Parkers uh so it's not turning quick so I'm excited for um excited I'm hopeful and pleased that uh that commissioner Shu has committed to a parking and curb study uh for this area but as important um I believe they've also committed to creating an Advisory
Group uh of of residents and ab budding um businesses to help provide input um so it's not just a data collection effort it's actually a qualitative uh type of uh conversation as well um and frankly I I would hope that uh that we would do the same for Washington uh Square because they have the same types of ISS choose the same types of concerns uh and I think that would be very helpful okay may I
respond uh thank you Mr chairman uh and thank you uh select board War I'm Brian Kane I have the honor to chair the transportation board and work with these great people um I live at for Lincoln Road um and just to follow up on what uh Paul said uh we are absolutely 100% committed to doing a parking and WF finding study not just in Brooklyn Village but in Washington Square it will not be uh done by necessarily done by the same people there will have to be a procurement there's going to be a whole process but yes we will absolutely 100% do that because it's really really
important uh I'm also personally committed to figuring out how we can get people to park at the Driscoll school and at the peer School uh after 4 pm on weekends and during the summer um because um people have told us it's important and if we've done anything through this DRC process it's listen we have listened intently and made change after change after change because we understand that it's important to people so we are committed to to that and I thank you for bringing it up great thank
you so moving on from Holden to Harvard we look at the existing condition on that next stretch right really getting into the commercial area along Washington Street say from Harvin Street to our limited work at Station Street this is an aerial recent aerial image of what the existing condition looks like and then we get to sort of what the reconfiguration what the geometric
changes are of the actual intersection so we're realigning the intersection we are relocating the open space uh hickey triangle from the northern corner to the southwestern corner and um part of this the Davis Avenue and andom place approaches are under stop control one of the design updates or or design changes is remove moving the crosswalk near Davis Avenue U we have crosswalks proposed at Ken Street which is 120 ft away and at Station Street which is 190
feet away so you have two crosswalks um on each side one on each side of of the the Davis Street crosswalk that we are no long are not showing as part of of this configuration benefits it improves intersection operation it simplifies pedestrian Movic movements uh traffic on Ken Street can travel straight through onto Washington Street and it provides opportunities for placemaking in this area specifically uh that reclaimed Corner um opposite of hickey triangle
where it presently presently is the drawback is there we do show a left turn it does require a left turn restriction from Davis Avenue so that is a restriction uh it is a right turn only out of Davis Avenue approaching Washington Street Mike what what happens to um uh uh on street or outdoor dining spaces that have been that are currently
allocated uh some parking spaces presumably that's no longer feasable is that correct so in the area between Holden and Harvard well generally speaking in in the village uh yeah so within the village itself I mean we have our proposed option here we do carry the separated bicycle Lanes through Washington Street to the limit of work um and I think we have the opportunity for for placemaking and sort
of streetcap menes at that corner but we don't specifically call out um outdoor dining spaces within the stretch of Washington Street as you see on the screen so but there is there with these changes in Geometry on the south on the South Side here uh and similarly at the corner of Cypress there's also you you've added some some space that could I would say that we've we've we've added space yep I would say that right
now we just consider it sort of a canvas um we don't specifically call it outdoor dining or streetscape or rain Gardens it's just it's space for us to use as part of the project okay okay uh Paul I'm alset ber thank you David regarding these placemaking spaces have you looked at sun exposure on them would these areas actually be utilized realistically I would say not at this point I mean we're really looking at
intersection geometry and um traffic operations pedestrian movements cyclist uh cyclist amenities cyclist Network I don't you know when we get to landscaping and streetscaping um that will be something that will be of of part of the scope and you mey sorry no go ahead you mentioned cyclist amenities but in term getting back to Mike sandman's question regarding outdoor dining would the configuration
completely uh render it impossible to have outdoor dining in some of the current spaces so I'm going to do a couple things one is the the team uh includes the the design team includes um Halverson design who we've added to the team that is um Landscape Architects and so they are um looking at all of the sort of the sun exposure what we have for um you know the amount of Green
Space what that canvas is and so they're going to help us kind of come up with what is viable what's going to survive how we're going to maintain it uh through the corridor so we have a team in place for that in terms of the outdoor dining I believe there's some space for sidewalk cafe table around um cafe table so not um you know the sort of inroad parking space locations that there currently is by the blossom bar and uh the Turkish Turkish
uh restaurant um but that there is room for Cafe style tables um should they want to apply for those what about further toward Washington Square like Washington Square tavern for instance has outdoor dining would that be able to stay in place at intersection of Beacon Street was yes no okay there Amy Engles Transportation administrator not um the location by the
um what Washington Square tavern will not be able to be maintained because the bike lane would basically be between it and the sidewalk and we decided that that would be a hazard for you know people to be coming across the bike lane from the outdoor dining to the restaurant and back so you're deciding that's a hazard but is the physical layout does it make it possible to do outdoor dining are there examples in other communities where people cross through a bike lane to get to outdoor dining yeah I mean that's one of the things we looked at
when we were discussing this is if there are any examples I can think of one that's not no longer in place in Boston just outside of the Brookline uh border actually but um there weren't any others um they're all basically the bike lane would be switched to the other side of um in the street basically and protected by the barrier um but that's not the way that this design is created um so it just wasn't really to have both in this case I would also just note that under the current under the revised outdoor dining regulations that structure is
coming down anyway the current structure there um because of the year round restrictions um so that's that's not going to exist regardless and we're going to work with them to come up with a another strategy there um but the permanent structure there has to come down when road work is um to take place there right so one I just wanted to point out something on this corner over here the I guess the bottom left um that actually is a bit different than that's out there right now although the it
generally looks about the same that is really tight right now that sidewalk if you're out there there's not a whole lot of space between really the building and and the the curbing right now so this does bump it out quite a bit from what's out there right now on the corner um so whether or not you know they try to put something really small up against the building or something may or may not be possible uh because again it's we're making it bigger um so there might be I
guess a little bit more room but I don't know if there's going to be that much room to really support something like that but but it just kind of wanted to point out that that corner over there area is actually going to be larger than it's out there right now or the space dedicated to pedestrians well yeah no I'm almost set Bernard thank you can I ask a question regarding um has there been any um assess of the usage of these outdoor dining spaces I mean are they widely used and when we when we take them away
you know are we really impacting those businesses or not it's a great question so we did you know the planning team actually did a lot of that work when we revised the outdoor dining regulations and we came to you we talked to the businesses about how they are used and so forth and one of the things that we're going to get additional information from prior to this process moving from design to construction is how have the alterations in fees impacted the use right now the barrier to entry that we were T that we were told was the number one was the excess
was the the fees were too high um and that we need to look at it more as a subsidy as opposed to truly passing along the cost of outdoor dining to the um the restaurants so now that the fees have been reduced um and we've eliminated year round outdoor dining um there's going to be a change in incentive structure uh for this so some business that may have that may have for example removed their outdoor dining like um the Italian restaurant um on Harvard or um Martin's coffee shop there
um they may have an incentive to try and return to it uh now that the fees are lower or they may not um so we're going to need to gather more information with the revised structure of outdoor dining to really see what the impacts there are before but again that's something that's happening now prior while design is still in progress so we'll have that information as we approach design model Stones okay Paul yeah and I I just wanted to point out that um many of the establishments that have outdoor dining don't they only use it for dinner right
many of these places aren't open for lunch um if you go up to Washington Square there's a couple of restaurants that have fixed outdoor dining structures that are taking up at least five parking spaces that aren't being used right now um that means that other establishments can't use the parking space to service the their customers um and at least two of the EST establ lishments up there aren't open for lunch uh and so it's the parking is not available uh throughout the day uh to go
visit and pop in the way that that you mentioned that some of these other other businesses have so um I I support the outdoor dining I think it's been helpful but I think we really need to think about um you know where and when and how it impacts because you don't you can only do so many things on the public way can't squeeze everything in so Mr chairman if I might uh Brian Kane um the DRC spent a lot of time talking about outdoor dining uh obviously we all experienced covid and went through it and and realized how wonderful it was
and for a few years there I spent every Friday morning at Martens for about three years in a row so I'm I'm definitely an outdoor dining offici andado um we came down on the side of the fact that the public way is the public way it is subject to licens by the select board and should a private establishment choose to want to take over that land it's up to the select board to allow that or not because you are the chief admin chief executive of the of the town we did not go into any
of this thinking that any particular establishment had quote unquote the right to any particular area um because your regulations that youve that you have put out there make it very clear that it has to be open to to everybody and and that was very very important to us we did try to get make as much space available for outdoor dining as possible and I will note here that uh there yes there's a bike lane potentially between the parking and the uh in the Washington
Square tavern um which by the way has been up there for years now uh despite we're told that parking is the most important thing in the world there's been two spots right in front which we're also told is the most important thing in the world uh for years uh clearly that both can't be true um we will try to figure out how to do outdoor dining with this um it does work in other parts of the world and anyone who's been to Rome could tell you that the outdoor dining experience there is quite unique and there's a lot going on around it uh we will make this work uh I
am very confident that once we get this in the ground and get it running and live with it and figure it all out the select board will put together the right set of policies to encourage outdoor dining and make it work in Brookline uh as it does and and it's a great thing thanks are they done pardon me I I can't tell if they're done well he was done talking maybe they're contining the presentation we have a couple more couple more topics more topics to go
through okay so the last section of Washington Street as we approach our limit of work at Station Street and really how we tie into uh the limit of work at Station Street and then when we get to uh Route 9 and then ultimately to the emerald necklace so we really want to show how this project connects to Route 9 into the emerald necklace as we as we move along on our slides but this last section uh we are retaining parking on the opposite side of the post office we
do show an ADA accessible space uh and sidewalk separated bicycle Lanes on each side uh we retain the space the Ada space at the post office on Station Street uh our our separated bicycle lane terminates at the limit of work and ties into the bus pilot pavment markings that are currently out there today um from a larger perspective I would say from a corridor perspective see if I can move move me out of the
way um just to oh just I couldn't see it on my screen um so to see the summary of the existing spaces and proposed spaces for the corridor we broke it down into distinct segments so the first one uh Beacon Street to Park Street uh there's there was 88 existing parking spaces and we are proposing 59 from Park Street to Cypress Street existing there's 27 and
we proposing 20 and then from Cypress Street to Station Street there's 85 or 77 plus outdoor dining and we are proposing 56 so that is the breakdown of our parking of of what's out there today versus what is included as part of our preferred conceptual design and moving on to the connection between our projects and Gateway East and ultimately the emerald necklace you
could see here uh route n from Washington Street um to the shadu path will carry the improvements along Route 9 into Brookline Village so you have that continuation of your your bicycle facilities your new sidewalks and ultimately it will be a complete pedestrian network uh from Route 99 to the village and connecting to the emerald necklace uh you can see here at the at the edge of our screen the next few slides here are some
perspective renderings of what the corridor or and specifically what the intersection of of uh or hickey triangle looks like today as you can see here this is a bird's eye view rendering uh the Halverson uh Design Group helped us put together of what it looks like today and in the same perspective what the intersection will look like under our preferred alternative you can see here uh it really highlights uh that new space that's created it highlights the
crosswalks Green Space the separated bicycle Lanes the shorter crosswalk distances and and ultimately the complete Street nature uh that we are looking to propose as part of this project in this area and the last perspective is is a it's a rendering it's a concept but our landscape architecture group uh helped put this together showing what the curb extensions would look like with low plantings the sidewalk level separated bicycle Lanes The Pedestrian crosswalk the way finding sign way finding signage
really it paints a picture of what this project will or could look like in its final condition within Brookline Village so schedule moving forward uh we have our transportation board meeting tomorrow night February 5th we're back here with select board meeting February 11th and then uh the m UT 25% design public hearing that is conducted after we submit the 25% design and that date is to be determined uh to move forward
we are approvals from the design Review Committee and transportation board and then we advance to the 25% design with massot for review and approval that's our first big milestone with massot is the 25% design and ultimately the design public hearing and continue public participation uh we continue to to welcome public comment uh upcoming meetings um including the transportation board and the massot design public hearing we do have our dedicated project
website and email address uh you can see here on the screen thank you mik uh could you go back to the street perspectives the proposed condition for uh right in the heart of the village where Washington Street thank you uh and I have a question for Brian um uh looking at that uh sorry Brian um uh looking at that or Amy for that matter um that looks to me like an ideal U an ideal place to have
an Allway pedestrian Crossing phase uh so that you don't you know you don't have to have multiple phases and uh be and again that's a place where a lot of people are going to cross diagonally so we plan on doing that Mike so great minds think alike uh and this is going to go through a Year's work do by the dot Folks at the district level and at the state level and they're going to really work on all of those really important details to figure out what the
phasing should be and and and not only that but what the timing should be so by the time we get here in 28 29 I think we'll have that stuff all figured out but that is certainly our plan right now Paul um Ryan don't go anywhere um so the uh thank you didn't me didn't mean to give you a command um have you given any thought to uh what the future looks like with a dedicated bus lane uh meaning the pilot that we've been wrestling with in
this future state are these things compatible or do we need to be uh maybe rethinking uh the outcome of that pilot so we've we've tried to design this concept and right now it's a concept to fit in with the peer School redesign School Street with the bike the bus lane uh pilot it and with all of the other stuff that's going on including the bridal path there's a lot going on in this Corridor and we've tried to design it so that nothing is excluded or or or
necessarily included but everything could theoretically work together based on what the engineers tell us uh with respect to the uh bus pilot we have received the first set of uh reports from the MBTA uh we received those at our last meeting and we expect to continue to receive those um I also do want to note that there have been a few projects uh bu lame projects that have been resented in the region and that is certainly something that is not outside the realm of possibility so um we are
eyes wide open that what works best for all of Brookline and all of this Corridor not just for any particular one project or another okay thank you uh have you given any has anyone given any thought to the uh question of types of bicycles right I mean they're the regular bikes that we think about yeah they're the um U Federal assist bikes yes and then there are the I think they're called throttles right which are like motorcycles and and I I don't I wouldn't want the ladder
on the bike path in Greed for example agreed so uh Mr chairman yes the answer is yes we we spent a lot of time discussing that topic at the DRC um Mike I heard what you said this earlier about delivery regulation I completely agree I think that's something that we need to look at as a town uh I think it might make sense to let Boston sort of take the lead on it because they have a lot more res resources than we do but yes uh and with respect to that um a lot of that will have to do with State regulation the transportation committee
and the legislature has been kicking around a few bills on this for a couple of years including some that were refiled uh about a month ago for the next twoyear session that will really dictate what is and is not allowed in these Lanes I'm not sure we have the jurisdiction as a community to do something that's contrary to state law or or different from state law I don't no I'm not a lawyer but I completely agree with you that the throttle and the the little vesa things speaking of Rome
should not be in these Lanes it's completely inappropriate um this is for pedal and and and slow moving things if you ask me um but we have to work with our legislative delegation repa was here earlier to figure that out as a commonwealth and it's to figure out what works best here well I just have one I I want to there was a slide somewhere where you summarize the number of existing spaces in dining um and then the number of uh
spaces with the new design oh is it here so I just want to check my math and my logic here so uh there is 200 existing parking spaces right yes so there there's a reason why we put both numers 10 spaces are currently being used for dining right now but I'm just saying put I'm just saying it's real estate there's there's there's 10 there's 200 spaces dedicated to automobiles today correct or some of those some of those get converted for dining but if we didn't have outdoor dining because I could go
away uh they they are in fact uh parking spaces Autos okay um the new the proposed plan has 135 such spaces uh dedicated for automobiles or perhaps outdoor dining but it has to be for Autos first then you could take it over for outdoor dining that's a 32% reduction and and the storage of automobiles um and from that and I'm just thinking about balance here we're reducing auto storage by 32% we're
getting 100% dedicated for safe cycling in the quarter we're getting vast improvements of safe pedestrian uh walking and Crossing um and we're getting a a ton of placemaking areas um Bo that sounds like uh that that sounds like a pretty good balance to me um just thinking of the overall numbers now I don't discount at all what we heard from the the
Washington Square uh businesses they have a lot of concerns we heard similar concerns from Brookline Village um I think we need to take those concerns seriously listen very hard uh you know execute in our commitment to have parking studies in both of those areas execute in our commitments to have wayfinding design into the project execute on our commitments that we will uh be sure to have advisory groups from both of those Community areas I wouldn't
don't combine them they're separate they have distinct issues that they need to deal with uh and execute on those and I think it was Liz Linder said something earlier at the beginning of the night that I think I want to reiterate because I think it's important she said we have to pay attention and be very very diligent in communicating and coordinating with the community especially the businesses as we're doing the construction because the disruption that destruction can cause it you know you lose a couple of days even
a day of Revenue in a a small business it's harmful it can be very very damaging and we know that when I've experienced this in St Mary's when there was a lot of reconstruction happening um I think that issue we haven't talked enough about it but transitioning to the Future State the construction aspect is critical we're hear a lot of complaints about the utility work that's going on in Brookline Village right now right it's it's very very disruptive um and small businesses can't last long if they
lose Revenue uh for for any period of time so I'm hoping that we can get much better at our ability to communicate coordinate uh uh with our businesses and our partners we got it thank you Mike oh I'm sorry do you have your hand up well yeah I I did I wanted to respond to Paul's comment about the balance um I think um I've said this before here but I'll say it one more time uh maybe I won't say it again but maybe I will um
that we have we already have uh a pedestrian Lane dedicated pedestrian Lanes they're called sidewalks and what we're talking about here is um uh adding uh bike Lanes uh that are separated and we recognized a long time ago that The Pedestrian safety is greatly enhanced by having a sidewalk instead of having people walk on the street uh and the same thing is true uh of of cyclist and so there is there's no question that there is a loss to a loss of parking and
loss of sort of speed uh the a loss of um velocity uh for vehicles when you narrow the lanes and so forth um but again it's a balance it's a tradeoff and it's something that we uh are finally coming around to recognize is uh a proper balance Mr chairman if I may go ahead um so just to respond to sort of both um in addition to everything that was named as to what we get we also get $30 million that we do not have and let's not forget
$30 million is a lot of money and we don't have it in this town right now because we're leveraged and we're really really leveraged and I'm don't need to tell you folks that in order to get that money we have to submit a project that will score well because there's 98 other communities in this District that are also o seeking this money and if we don't submit a project that scores well by doing things like adding the bike lanes that were mentioned slowing down traffic this is
primarily a Safety project I want to be very clear about this this is not a bike project this is about slowing down cars I see cars whipping down Washington Street every day I walk my dog on it every day drives me insane we got to slow down cars the best way to do that all the research tells us is to n the lanes this is also a a placemaking project as was mentioned and it's also an opportunity to really make this much safer for everybody we had folks from the seniors uh the senior center on our committee talking about this we had folks from The Pedestrian committee on our DRC talking about this first and
foremost this project if it's implemented if we win the funding will make it much much safer with respect to um construction management absolutely 100% Paul I agree uh and part of the scoring um that we'll go through the D process both at the district and the state level uh includes gear construction management plans and as we get closer to 50 75 85 95% design all of those initiatives will have to kick in and they all will they're all going to be sequenced to ensure that we can mitigate as much of the disruption as
possible speaking of the funding is the uh Federal funding in the state's bank account at this point good question I mean M Mr chairman if you know the answer to that I'd like to get some lottery numbers for it yeah so funding is definitely uh secure through 2026 there is a federal authorization to let that happen it's called the bipartisan infrastructure act what happens after 2026 is subject to Congressional approval however there have been Transportation um authorization acts going back 80 years
at this point so it's pretty well set that we think that will happen uh we've heard from the new secretary of transportation that uh he does want to continue to fund State projects especially those uh that help safety and um and he also wants to help people with have higher birth rates which is kind of strange but anyway uh have high what higher birth rates state birth rates it's weird but anyway uh weird but uh I am confident that we will have the the money I can tell you in my day job we are we work on this all the time there
is definitely a sense that there will continue to be Federal support for these things John I'm going to um just request uh Indulgence of the other members of the board and also the audience may I have seven minutes I've not said I've not said a word I prepared my I prepared my com and I and I Ed them and um I'm think I'm going to be the I think I'm I think I'm going to be the only member of the board who's going to actually um insist that
uh that at least one aspect of this plan be changed um and if it isn't it isn't and and I won't vote for it but I I need to explain that to the public if I may wait should we take a You Really Want to Break s minutes isn't that long I've heard people uh you know spontaneously take seven minutes tonight just check okay go ahead whatever all right here we go and before getting into my reasons for requesting changes to one very short
portion of the most recent of the Washington Street plans I wish to share my appreciation for the work of the transportation staff the consultants and the design Review Committee they put in many hours with good results overall by the way I want to thank David K I want to thank the B bicycle advocates in Brookline and I want to say so that people will not misunderstand me David if you got your petition with you bring it to me after the meeting I'll sign it I'm for protected bike Lanes um the the
the criticisms I'm going to raise tonight have to do with feasability everywhere and I I'll get into those right now here's where I think the latest version of the plan goes wrong once again I'm referring only to the short block and a half from where Harvard Street in Washington Street converge as far as Station Street it's a very important block and uh and a half because of the businesses that thrive there such as the post office serenade
chocolates Garrison house boka Grande Mike's Barber Shop mahayan Yom kado golden chickpea just to name a few uh in that very short block as I see it the better option for serving the needs of businesses and their customers and pedestrians and people arriving by car and bicyclists and bicyclists is to continue the current arrangement of sidewalks tree spaces curbside parking
spaces bike Lanes designated uh by painting and finally the existing car travel Lanes certainly um the sidewalks could be upgraded and the planted areas beautified and they should be the markings designating parking spots and bike Lanes could be made with maximum visibility and maintained that way intersections can be improved with greater attention to sight lines for bicyclists pedestrians and drivers of
cars all of that is good signalization can be adjusted to make it more visible and responsive to changing traffic patterns again all good and all of those improvements can be made without requiring the loss of curbside parking where it currently exists and without substituting a cycle track cycle track for the existing designated cycle Lane if the current basic design is left as
is for the very short but vital block and a half of commercial businesses we could avoid a ho excuse me we would um if it's kept as it is we will avoid a host of risks and unknowns what are the risks and unknowns under this plan there are risks to pedestrians we are actually combining and pushing together um a a bike cycle track and a pedestrian
sidewalk in an area where people are going to be going in and out of storefronts we don't know because we don't have that yet in Brooklyn whether that's going to actually increase risks I think it is that seems Common Sense me but we'll see um another unknown risks to persons getting out of Park cars I would argue the current Arrangement whereby the park cars such as are will remain and there are six that will remain um but currently they have to
their left a bike lane in the street most often that bike lane doesn't have bikes passing by it's a very convenient and safe way to get out of your car to step into the bike lane without that bike lane there people getting out of their cars are going to be stepp in into car traffic and not just any car traffic car traffic on lanes that are narrower so the car traffic is going to be
squeezed together more with people getting out of cars and stepping into it I don't see how that is anything but less safe and there will be risks to bicyclists yes there are risks to bicyclists on more than one occasion and it actually happened tonight people referenced um fast moving electric bikes whatever and to laay concerns said oh well they won't use the cycle track they will probably
be regulated to have to continue to go into the street well the street that they're going to go into now doesn't have a painted bike lane and it has narrower lanes for the cars so we're actually sending those people whether you like them or not including let's say food delivery people on small vehic small bikes are they going to use the cycle track I doubt it um there was at least one Avid Cy cyclist at the meeting last week who
said he doesn't think a lot of avid cyclists will use the cycle track because it's going to have slow moving bikes in it and so the Avid cycle cyclists are now going to continue to use the street some of them and it'll be less safe in that street because there won't be a painted bike l and there'll be tighter traffic so there those are sort of sort of known but not absolutely Quantified risks and yet here's the big
one risks to the existing businesses on both sides of the block don't take my word for it take the word of Alish Gilligan chair of the Small Business Development Committee who spoke earlier in this meeting on behalf of the many business owners and operators who have protect protested the elimination of better than half the curbside parking spaces on Washington Street in the heart of the village take the word of two business Community Representatives who
serve on the design Review Committee both of them voted against the latest version of the Washington Street project take the word of the Brookline Chamber of Commerce and finally I wish to point out what I regard as the greatest shortcoming of the most recent version of the Washington Street project and that is is ironically it doesn't go far enough and let me explain and and in this case Tiffany's going to sort of help me with a few slides and so let's
start with slide number one um we there are data as to the actual incidence of um car on bike crashes in in Brooklyn we hear it referred to often as um a very dangerous section of Street uh because because of the risks to bicyclist from crashes involving cars but if you actually go to the data and thankfully um one of the local cyclists
uh went to the police department data and shared it with me um and the pinpoints that you see not not the identifying stores and restaurants and so on but the pinpoints that you see are are the actual evidence of a report reped um car on bike crash uh reported uh to the police in the records of the police and identified by um latitude and
longitude and this is the sort of beginning section of street that I'm talking about and so you have one car on bike crash at an intersection there you'll see with and in place and then mid block the blue uh pinpoint again ignore the pinpoints that have identified markers for the store or restaurant or whatever that they represent but that red pinpoint in the middle of the what was referred to as of hickey triangle area that's a car on
bike crash the blue one in the middle of the block is a car on bike crash and we go to two number two further down and so again at an intersection you have two car on bike crashes and then we go and we have excuse me at the station Street intersection then it white Place intersection you have one and then you move further on down and now you're all of a sudden into the part of that section of brookln Village commercial
area are you you you're going to go to the next one Tiffany you are okay there you go um and here's where the numbers start to bump up a little bit for the car on on bike crashes there's one there that's identified as being at Netta I mean that's just the latitude longitude there are two in the middle uh of the intersection and then one that was identified as being more or less at the uh fire station um none of these um
incidents are addressed by the plan that's before us because the plan just stops uh when it gets to Station Street I don't have any quarrel with that but it makes me keep coming back to the point that if there is any improved safety to the people who use the cycle track versus the existing cycle Lane in that part of the village what happens when the cycle track just ends it's a transition into
an a dangerous intersection where there have been four incidents of car on cycle crashes nothing there to help them and then the final uh slide is um car on pedestrian um instance so we got pedestrians uh this is the largest number of pinpoints and that nothing there to protect them um either and then finally there's a slide that kind of shows
you what that intersection looks like today from the vantage point of the fire station and there it is and so you're looking at what the bicyclist has to protect him or or herself um once they complete that block and a half long stretch of cycle track in the heart of the village commercial area and they transition immediately to a painted bike
lane with a bus lane to one side car Lane which will inevitably include trucks like the one you see to the right side um another Lane to the left side um that doesn't look safe to me I don't know if it looks safe to the people who designed what's in the heart of the village and is part of the Washington complete streets plan but transitions
are really important um we've sadly had a couple of uh bike fatalities in uh Cambridge and the results aren't in yet but the the location the sites where those um deaths occurred involved by bikes turning being hit by wiped out just by trucks turning or bikes Excuse excuse me proceeding trucks turning and the bikes happen to have been um by by
the best information I can gather um in protected bike lanes and then they got to an intersection and then they sadly uh were in a crash with a turning truck th that's two of the three incidents recently in Cambridge where where bicyclists um were killed so these transitions are really important I don't think we have any evidence to um validate that by moving the bicyclists
over to a protected Lane for a block and a half um they'll be safer when they transition to that very dangerous intersection um I've I've done a lot of biking myself closest I ever came to a what could have been and I'm not exaggerating um a very very Ser serious Collision uh with a vehicle was when I
transitioned into back into um the street from a protected Lane and it can happen U so I rais these questions I think we have a solution to that one and only um question mark hanging over this project and surprisingly enough the solution is that we may have an equally safe treatment of the provisions for
bicyclists there now um and that same treatment is undoubtedly uh better for the businesses at least according to those businesses because it preserves parking spaces that are getting eliminated under the proposed plan so those are going to be my reasons for opposing this and I thank everybody for bearing with me while I went through them okay PA us first and I
congratulate you I think you did it under seven minutes John thank you I'm surprised myself um but I did wanted to just uh speak to a couple of points that you made um as as you know I live in St Marys um uh it is uh it used to have parking the sidewalk then parking and then a painted uh cycle track cycle Lane um and a few years ago the uh configuration
changed to sidewalk dedicated protected bike lane and then parking um and I I remember when that transition was happening and the businesses were very concerned about what all the disruptions was going to happen so on and so forth and all the dangers um I I I'm in in that area every single day multiple times a day um so the idea that um a someone stepping out of a vehicle to cross the cycle track
whether it's raised or not and and in St Mary's it's not raised it's actually at street level um that you know somehow that would be hazardous for someone to cross that uh transition from where they're in their vehicle over to the sidewalk is they have to cross the cycle track to and fro uh the business um I've never seen a collision happen um I I often park there with my children um they get
out uh you know you look um and then you cross um and so I haven't I now maybe there is some data that shows it but I when when there's when there's an officer or any type of first responder in St Mary's I know about it because the flashing lights go into my windows um so I I haven't seen that be a problem um the the other issue that you raised about having to step out into into traffic um in St Mary's that's exactly the configuration so from from Park
Drive in Boston they're they they initiated the protected bike lane from Park Drive to St Mary's Street and then Brookline did St Mary's Street to Carlton Street and um and when you open your door you're opening your door into traffic um I know of no incidences where any doors have been taken off or or or people getting out of their vehicles have been hit um you know uh that that I'm aware of and again I typically I know what I know what going on there um
and frankly this is a normal activity throughout Brooklyn I live on Carlton Street if I park in front of my house and I open my door there is a travel Lane a card going next to me and just as easily as anything else so I think this is um the idea that somehow we're making automobile drivers less safe by asking them to open their door and they have to step out where the travel Lane might be this happens throughout Brook line um and I and I'm not aware of it being a huge major issue of people having their
doors ripped off uh by uh you know by vehicles um I did I did a field trip um a short time ago over to Inman Square and Inman Square in front of the SNS if you know the old SNS uh I think that's Cambridge Street there's a stretch of a raised by Lane there's a sidewalk there's a rais bike lane exactly what we're proposing um and then there's a bus stop and then there's the street for SE a segment I went over
there I did a field trip I spent over an hour um talking with uh the the manager of the SNS because they Overlook uh the area I talked to couple of cyclists I talked to a couple of pedestrians I talked to a resident in the area um and they had no issues with this uh with this configuration um and they saw no loss of business because that configuration uh was in place now I didn't pull every single business um but but I just want to confirm from my small
sampling of actually go visualize and see the operation of what these things look like um I saw to be a very positive experience and I want to address one more thing I haven't I haven't reached his seven minutes um the issue the issue about the the the loss of spaces up in Washington Square first I'm very sensitive I'm glad that uh that it was raised by the individual that raised it um I know I think she's the vice chair of the the small business uh committee um but I want to be clear we've heard a
commitment by the commissioner of DPW and and uh and the chair of the transportation board that just like Brookline Village which had similar concerns they will get a parking study uh they will get wave finding design and they will get uh a design review uh uh support uh from the from the community but 18 spaces is about 10% of the available parking in the area um I'm certain that the study would be able to
optimize the use of that parking to make a quick turn and potentially find other areas so I feel uh pretty confident that the issues that you raise although I understand why you're raising them that uh for this particular project um for me they're they're not something that would prevent me from Michael so I will say John you've done your homework um and dug out uh dug out some the photographs are interesting and he always does he used to be yeah he John absolutely does his homework the uh question is what kind of grade I want to give it as a
teacher um so you've you've correctly identified the area beyond the project as being a a difficult place for cyclists and pedestrians as you get into route n there's no question about it and it seems to me that your solution is to eliminate the safe Lane for the previous block and AA uh which I don't really understand uh as a cyclist and a and a pedestrian um and for that matter as a driver uh there's no
sense again I'm sorry I'm happy to explain it again well you don't it's the transition gonna I'm not sure gonna penetrate John John John like I told the audience uh please put your M your information in writing and send it to us yeah so so s it to me again but um I I it I don't understand the linkage that you're trying to to draw between the two the one thing that I will say to you and the same thing I've said to you
previously is that there's no question that when I'm on a bicycle um I feel very substantially less safe in a sherow lane in a in a in a lane that's with in traffic than I would do on a separated Lane whether the separated Lane is raised or not and when I'm a driver I feel much more comfortable with a cyclist in that separated Lane than I do when they're driving next to my uh uh my right Fender and I'm sure that they feel
safer uh even you know just as I do uh when there when there wasn't a car there so um I really quarrel with the contention that you have that everything would work out okay if we just took away that um that constriction uh and the loss parking in that block on the half David so I I have a question regarding bump outs for outdoor dining I appreciate that Emily Jacobson shared with members of the select board a memo
uh showing examples and other communities and also proposed examples that could potentially work here in Brookline on Washington Street that would allow both to coexist where essentially the lane is not perfectly straight and sometimes you go around briefly and then you go back into the main track uh this proposal though the cycle track would be elevated it's not at street level correct yes that's correct and would that render it impossible to make minor
modifications later on to have bump outs in the events that the select board decided to uh authorize outdoor dining no uh but how would that work practically speaking if you are on street level briefly and then you back up onto the elevated cycle track so the folks that we be delivering the food is that is that what your question is no about the bicyclist so if you have a bump out for the bicyclists that they're
going around okay where the outdoor dining is occurring yep presumably the portion where they're going around would be at street level so is there a way to is there a fairly easy way to reconfigure sort of on the Fly Those portions where the bike lane would be going around outdoor dining or is that not practical I'm sorry I'm not I don't follow you why do you think that the why do you think the the outdoor dining would be a street level it would be on the sidewalk at
that point on the sidewalk yes so that the sidewalk would be at the same level as the bike Lane right but if the bike lane is going onto the street briefly to go around it would be going lower so my question is is there a modification that is simple to implement where you go back up onto the sidewalk level from street level if I may um the short answer is not not really we don't have the width in this um case to do something like that if you can imagine a bicyclist um coming off of a sidewalk level bike lane into um the
only width that we have would be just a regular painted five foot bike lane adjacent to like a wall that's protecting the um outdoor drining on one side and then a travel Lane on the other side we have this thing called shy distance when there's like a vertical separation of some kind people don't want a bike really close to it because they're handlebars and all these other things so you have is this little tiny tiny space with a 5 foot bike land and moving uh out dining on one side and moving vehicles on the other and that's just not that doesn't meet any standards we we would like to have a buffer but we
don't have the space for that even if we make everything across the cross-section minimum we don't have space for that all right okay thank you okay um John one more time thank you I wouldn't ask for this but um you know CP a couple of the things I said were you know uh rightly questioned by um a couple other members of the board and uh I just want to make a point if if there are comparisons to be
made they have to be made apples and apples and not apples and oranges people who have visited the St Mary's area that um uh is near and dear to Paul and he described no it's not anything like the section of the village we're talking about it has these Broad it has the best sidewalks in the entire town um on one side on the westbound side on the eastbound side which is much more like
what we have in the village they kept the parking even though it meant bikes had only a sherrow not even a painted Lane so if for no other reason then consistency I'd like us to at least think through what do we think is the way to do bike lanes for maximum safety for bicyclists for pedestrians and for cars drivers because
clearly we don't think it has to be a cycle track everywhere in Brookline and I'm sure there are areas in fact I can name one of them which is the The Village uh along um you know at the section of the village that passes through one one Boon one Brook line place and two Brookline Place we have a beautiful track there okay we also have empty storefront there so you know uh that that's the point Vis A V
Paul and and Mike also knows that I wasn't talking about what I was talking about was the transition from the track to the No Man's Land opposite the fire station where there's no protection at all for bicyclists and I was talking about the fact that b protected lanes are only protected in so far as when the bicyclist goes gets to an intersection from the protected Lane are they less
likely the same or more likely to be in an incident with a car than they would be if they were in the street I don't think we have hard data on that okay um hey Brian that's kind of rude I'm sorry it's kind of rude okay let's I listen to you I didn't look at my watch while you were speaking I'm sorry my my watch is beeping at me and I think it contribut it contributes to the idea here that the merchants weren't really listened to um
when they raised their points um John I think that um the team has um has taken in your your comments I'm sure and hope hopefully uh you know to the extent that it's possible they can incorporate some of your concerns although I think that yeah to some degree you're asking them to sort of start from ground zero or you know start from the beginning on some of the um some of the proposals you're making I'm not sure that you know that
you know is feasible um but I just hope that you know the concerns that you've raised are addressed in some way um and you know if we want to continue this discussion into the night we can but I don't think that it's very helpful we've had a good presentation that um I think answered a lot of questions that people had um but I'll give Paul an opportunity to briefly oh very very briefly I'm I I'm going to take that as an offer to move on Bernard yes and I have a
suggestion okay um you know I I sense that we're done with Del liberations because we to spend all night we have beaten this horse to a cycle track um and I um you know we we were asked uh this evening uh to provide guidance uh to the transportation board and I would like to propose a motion to provide that guidance if I if I may um if that's okay I'll I'll read it to you okay and um so uh a move that the select board
transmits to the transportation board its support of the 25% Washington Street design proposal as recommended by the design Review Committee including the wayfinding design component and the proposed parking studies for both Brookline Village in Washington Square that will be completed by the 75% design Milestone and supported by advisory groups made up of a budding residents and businesses that would be the motion
it's not our vote to to go to the state I have a question that's somewhat related to Paul's formulation which is could we go over the logistics here about the different votes we take and when at the 25% level at the 75% level because I would certainly want assurance that before this is completely finalized we would have the results of the parking and curb use analysis because I think a critical piece we're missing and it's
not the fault of the presenters is just having an understanding of how are we currently utilizing parking in Washington Square and Brookline Village what are the other opportunities that are available for example on uh there's Beacon Orthodontics on uh Washington Street pretty large parking lot and it's not too far from Washington Square and currently that's no uh that's for dental office and at night the lot is basically empty so just looking at potential opportunities to include more parking
spaces in these areas so that we can offer reassurance to those who are not within walking distance of these businesses and to the businesses themselves that there will still be opportunities for vehicular traffic to come into the area but that's information that I would want to know before rendering a final opinion about this project and I think that's really critical because I totally support having dedicated bike Lanes I
appreciate uh this presentation and the scope and what this project would entail but I do think that's the missing piece about understanding the ramifications on businesses and right now it seems like we're just guessing at it so the um parking study and curb analysis um the data collect ction the analysis the recommendations we will have that you will have those results before a vote on the 75% design okay yeah I don't think it's uh
right to have a motion at this point um no what do you mean at all or do you vote vote on a motion at all I mean you you you identified certain things that you want to ensure they're they're included in deliberations of uh Transportation board John mentioned a few things um you know David mentioned you know his concerns yeah um I think that you know at this point we're we're we don't have a a
um position other than here are the issues we want you to look at well so um I guess can I respond to that so uh the transportation board is going to vote is it tomorrow night they're going to vote tomorrow night um we're going to vote on the y yep yep and and and you know it I I believe it would be very helpful for the transportation board to understand the general position of this board I
don't believe the general position of this board is John vanek's position I just don't believe it is I don't either yeah okay even John doesn't believe but I I I agree with the chair but so so this is not a vote about moving it a forward to the state it's a statement uh Direct directionally to the board to the transportation board saying we support the design that was presented to us this evening there's some qualifications that I think are very important which are the the the parking
studies and the wayfinding design to be completed as part of the 75% by the time we see the 75% design um and I think that that guidance is important to provide to the transportation board so they know what they're sending back to us because they approv something we're going to might have to modify and we're not modifying parking spaces I don't believe uh well I'd vote against that I know what other people would do um well
I think i' much rather I I I I have a sense that there's um more than more than a more than a majority of support for the overall project as designed um if it's a matter of taking a vote and ending up three to two instead of waiting and having a vote of 4 to one I'd rather have the 4 to one vote yeah so what so how are they what are we transmitting to the transportation board how are they going to get something gonna watch the tape well what are they gonna do Bri watch their tape Brian's
been Brian's been patiently standing here uh absorbing uh absorbing this and I think he can see uh can I ask him what his interpretation is Brian okay if it's all right with you Mr chairman um I've been taking very copious notes both on my computer and on my uh my pad here and sorry my watch buzzed John it does that it's an Apple Watch I not was not ignoring you so I have taken we we've told I I get what you're saying and this will all be transmitted back to the transportation board tomorrow I'll do
the best I can to summarize this two hours of discussion um I mean I it would be incredibly helpful to have very tangible something very tangible from you folks I won't I'll be honest if that's not possible we we'll do the best even John you know present his materials which I think is written I'm planing to do it anyway yeah yeah and and Paul you know make your uh written presentation to them and and David too I mean th
those are concrete things beyond that I think you know Brian's uh notes is what you know what uh is what we're conveying to him U Berard I may have something to say as well of course but I'm happy to put that in writing yeah they should you have you have open meeting law problems there um okay so are you asking us to in to individually repeat what we said tonight where we just deliberated two hours as Chad said we have an open meeting no well if we do right now we don't have an open meeting law violation
right now we have a notice uh there wasn't on the agenda that we take a vote yeah so you're so you could theoretically I mean this is all about what you want to do you can take you can take a vote to tr the the purpose of this legenda item is to give the transportation board guidance and it's up to you to determine what form that guidance takes so an indicative vote saying we you know this this is our guidance to the tboard that's a laow what you can't do is take the final vote I agree with that you can't take finding
vote U because there's one there's nothing before you to vote on the tboard has to vote first and second that's not noticed but whether that guidance takes the form of an indicative Vote or individual statements from the board members or whatever you can you know you you can do either of those things but you know that's the the tboard is asking for whatever you can do in terms of concrete so whether that's individual statements of the board members or a vote of the board an indicative vote of the board trans to transmit guidance you could do either of those things um
Bernard would you would you be comfortable with um a motion that says that the um select board supports the overall um uh the over uh except we we we won't have a unanimous select Bo so well I know we won't have unanimous te board but um if we have a four to one then that's the best we're going to do okay uh as I say if we're going to have to wait in order to get a 4 to one vote until next week then okay but uh they're asking for uh
for guidance and and I think it's sensible to um to put something on the record something perhaps stripped down from the spe the spe specificity that um that Paul has uh but it I I do get sense that there is Broad support for the um for the 25% plan as uh as we see it yeah I no I think there's broad support but I just wonder whether we are ready to express that
support since the plan is that you our the translation board would hear from us and they've heard from us um and that then they would deliberate at their meeting tomorrow and send something back to us at which point we will vote mhm and it seems to me that that is a process that's set up and to try to you know Scamper around it by getting you know by by getting a position in the record before that um well if is not is
not the appropriate thing I'm sorry just is is the transportation board going to be I know you don't have a crystal ball but do you get the sense of the transportation board is going to be fundamentally changing what's been presented to us tonight what's going to be any different we are incredibly responsive to you folks who are elected and we want to make sure that we're getting you what you want so what has been worked on had two Transportation board members on the DRC the other folks haven't seen this
yet so it's we're going to be going through a lot of the same stuff and answering a lot of the same questions so uh as I said it would be very helpful to get a sense from you folks of of what you would like us to to sort of provide to you um and whether or not this will be dramatically different a week from now or not I I can't say I don't want to Prejudice it um I would suggest if you want to stagger your appearances tomorrow we'd love to hear from you all but I'm not sure how do even make that work okay what why why don't each person
who wants to uh present something present inwriting to uh to Brian um I mean it's on your your computer at least the two of you uh just forward it well I don't well when you say it's on my computer I all I did was made a motion I don't I I didn't I didn't read anything tonight okay everything was off the top of my head Bernard I've been spending a year on this thing so I what I don't understand is the transportation board is came to us this evening because they wanted to get a sense from us about what
we thought what I'm hearing is that at least four of us I believe are in agreement with the 25% to sign one of us has big problems with Davis Street no for the last the last piece yeah the last piece right has a problem with it um I wouldn't want the transportation board to go oh if we send this back to the select board they're not going to approve it we have to we have to get rid
of that cycle uh rais Lane in Brooklyn in the Brookline Village area because Vince was against it so I like we him do that well I I don't know I just offense no I absolutely agree I keep I keep making that point to people I you know I'm so I don't know why people get so agitated that there's one M of the select board that doesn't agree with the other four you know I'm not agitated but I think we can wait yeah we we we can wait and and the process was set up so that we wait we wait until the 11th that's when we vote I'm not sure why we
have so we've now used up 15 minutes talking about why we're what to do with this I think it's really sensible to let's let's let it pass I think people have heard from uh each of us individually there's no question I haven't read a seven minute statement or even a two-minute statement uh but I've asked enough questions so that I think that uh u u Brian can convey that I'm certainly very much in favor of what they're doing with the questions that uh I raised about um uh outdoor dining
being a caution okay David another one commission shoot so again regarding outdoor dining this is related but at some point are we going to look at the feasibility of rooftop dining because given the limitations we have with our street width and trying to accommodate all these different interests that might be a way to alleviate some of the space crunch we haven't put that on the radar yet but I know you've raised it in the past it it is an interesting concept um
let me talk to Economic Development because they would have the best sense there um I think the best way to do that is is to do similar to what we did with outdoor dining is poll folks and get their attention so let me talk to Meredith and the team in Economic Development and we will get that back to you but we'll put that down and make sure we follow up thank you thank you for the benefit of the board I just wanted to add that all iterations of um kind of bike lane accommodation was explored um going through the entire Corridor and this idea of of terminating
the um cycle track and going into a Shero or shared use or on street laning was looked at there was a lot of feedback and comments and ultimately the design Review Committee um contemplated that and all other options and decided on the dedicated bike l so I just want to make sure that the board knows that this is not the first time that idea has been put forward it was evaluated by the design
Review Committee okay so uh what are we what are we doing here um you're the chair you yeah I'm you excuse me Paul has has a motion um I'm not going to stop him from making that motion we can vote on that and um then I also suggest that people will convey their thoughts to uh to the transportation board so I'd so I'd like to get a sense does does this a sense or is a sense I'm not making I'm not making a motion Bernard just want to get a sense does does the board want to
provide some collective guidance back to the transportation board or do they want to do it individually David I think it makes more sense to do it collectively especially since that's what okay Bernard could you pull the board on what I just asked please sure this okay I'm losing control here okay uh okay David what do you think I there are two things on on you know that
we're thinking about um a formal um resolution I assume is what you're talking about or informally uh providing um information to the transportation board on on our positions in preparation for a vote on the 11th which you know has been set up as the time when we actually vote on on on this project I think it's certainly fine for the board to express in short form what our discussion ultimately concluded which it
sounds like most of us agree with the general parameters of this proposal we would like to see prior to the 75% Mark of project design that uh the results of the parking and curb use analysis and a uh minority of the board expressed concern about the final portion in brookln village and just sort of Express that
factually um um you know a minority one one member um you know is has his position in opposition my position is different my position is we're not ready to vote we set it for uh February the 11 to have a vote after receiving back any comments or any um uh guidance from the Transportation board that's when we when we ought to do that yeah I'm generally in favor of this
but I don't want to say uh that we're ready to make that determination at this point and I I agree with you I'm not suggesting we make a final determination just essentially expressing that it's the general will of the board to move forward Ward with this subject to the limitations that Paul articulated about by the 75th uh percent stage that we have the results the parking and curb use analysis uh and that a member of the
board expressed concern for the Brookline Village portion that's essentially the the minutes version of our discussion and I think that's what the transportation board is looking for uh I would be interested if you want I'm obviously not trying to put you on the spot but if you want to offer your opinion on the substance of The Proposal is there something else that's holding you back or there nothing holding me back I'm I'm just we we said that we're going to vote on the 11th now maybe I'm being you a little formalistic here but
you know there's no reason for us to to change that that schedule um in my view we may get different we may get new information new insight new um um written comments from the public and we may want to say something a little different uh we have that opportunity on the 11 um we're not ready yet in my opinion so um I think Mike had his hand up I'm I'm done okay well I mean just to
point out the obvious um the discussion of the transportation board itself is one I'm sure that will be well worth listening to and might actually have an impact on people's thinking and I'm looking forward to that discussion and to the vote on the 11th okay um sir can I ask a question oh what what do you expect from from us on the 11th do you want to do this all again are we gonna how are we gonna do this no
you're you're gonna you're gonna look at the same presentation yeah from the standpoint of your expertise yes and you're going to come back to us you want a letter pardon me would you like a memo or a letter or okay wellow whatever the final version of is got it thank you um so you we're relying on you y to use your Expert Eyes and experience to um you know confirm or otherwise you know the proposal that's
before us on on the basis of that the select board will um be be in a position to say which I assume we will that we agree with this U this this General design okay thank you can I say one more can I say one more thing why don't you just do your well but so let me but I'm I'm sensitive to what you're saying and I don't want to run you over so I'm being very sensitive to to your issue and I'm you know and I know Regina is getting impatient with us um
so if we were to least share with them that at least three members of the board are supportive of the 25% design blah blah blah subject to feedback it may be more I think it's important that they know that they've got three votes on the board to move this thing to the state like this is this is what I would I think is important for them to know they need three votes we need three votes from this board to move the proposal to the state
we don't need four we don't need five we need three and I it would be great to have five but if if if the takeaway is they're chewing on this thing and they couldn't even make a a recommendation to us their feedback and they had to do it individually that sounds like a divided board to me and we're not a divided board well only only on the timing um but anyway that's that's that's my view um I guess I you know does someone want to make the motion do make your make your motion and we'll vote on it and and
you know well I think David uh had had the right words my did you write them down okay so so I'm I'm gonna okay so I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna redo it I'm gonna read I'm gonna make my motion and then someone can amend it so move that the select board transmits to the transportation board it's its General support of the 25% Washington Street design proposal as recommended by the design Review Committee including wayfinding design component and the proposed parking
studies for both Brookline Village and Washington Square that will be completed by the 75% design Milestone and supported by advisory groups made up of ab budding residents and businesses that's our guidance now they may take that and change it you have another Well I was going to say something much simpler okay so that um we support the uh the design embodied in the 25% plan and leave it at that okay is that a friendly Amendment well is that
okay I if can I ask you a question about that if if it so if it because I have I need to qualify I have a question if it comes back to us just like that and it doesn't include um uh parking studies for Brookline Village in Washington Square wayfinding that comes back by 75% design are we going to add that next week uh I don't think that will happen I okay uh and so I'm willing to take the risk okay point of clarification just Washington
Square parking study will not be done before 75% um we don't have the bandwidth to do that we don't have the budget to do that we see that as probably a bridal path um analysis we would I think I think it's imperative uh so we're looking a I mean what we've committed to so this is you know we've talked about Washington Street but as part of I mean about Beacon Street as part of
the I'm sorry Washington Square as part of the Beacon Street Bridal path we have committed to and have funding for a parking and curb analysis for the village it is a it is an extensive um process and Analysis um feedback and that we are looking to have uh completed uh before we move to the 75% design for Washington Square I think what we talked about is the
there's a minimal amount of parking that is being removed and a lot of parking that is available on side streets on Beacon Street and that this project is not having a significant impact on that um so that is something to to evaluate but we were not looking to have Washington Square done by then well I think we need to reorder our priorities then because frankly I'm not going to be comfortable supporting a project that eliminates
over 30% of our parking without knowing whether there's a need for that parking where that parking could be the impact on businesses so at the 25% threshold I'm okay with that because I'm assuming we're going to have that information we'll work with businesses and now I'm hearing we're not going to have that that's troubling we don't have a three vote majority no so you're confusing two different things um what um uh what aon's talking about is what parking a
parking study for Washington Square what the 30% references the whole of the uh of of the uh Street the whole of the project area right um there's only 10% that's going to be removed in uh uh in Washington Square and you will have the curbside study in time to uh to make the for the 75% vote in terms of the utilization of the existing 200 or 190
spaces but that's only half of the story if the utilization is high then we would need to know what are we going to do to compensate and that needs to be a part of this so if that's not going to be a part of this then I'm very troubled with it so I think it's critically important we have that information prior to the 7 5% Milestone I just said that I think we will am I correct in that so we committed to um meaning the town and the design Review Committee voted on a parking and curb use analysis
for Brookline Village that's not that's a that's a large area the request for Washington Square is new that was not part of the vote um and actually we have some util ation information I think that is worthwhile for you to hear on Washington Street and that um area so there's an analysis that was done in terms of available parking what's being
removed and what that utilization looks like I think that would be H helpful for you to know in terms of uh the necessity for that right now so I'm going to ask uh Amy angles to share that with you um so this is for the Washington Square area um did some counts along Washington Street of course for the corridor but we also did some um in the business districts on some nearby streets um for example on Beacon Street um we went out to in both directions and
really um the utilization for the most part was 50 70 something like that that's the average utilization that we saw when and we got 61 different uh counts out there we were setting our interns out there basically every day uh in different times of the day um even uh in the evening after regular hours um so we got a lot of data there um it was very very rare that something was maxed out um and there that wasn't even all the side streets it's a a whole bunch of side streets that don't have metered
parking University winthrip uh Fairbanks sou Salsbury uh Western Terrace um that have two-hour parking that would that would be enough for many of the people that visit the area than you sir okay so so Mike has a mo amending yours do you accept it or not I do okay um Brian did you have your hand up you want to say something just with respect to the Washington Square parking area um I have committed the
transportation board that I chair to to doing this and what that means is we will seek funding from you folks and and the other appropriate folks and Mr Carrie to do that such that it is done by the time you guys get a 75% design I think what the commissioner is saying is that we can't absolutely guarantee you tonight that that that those two will line up exactly but we are going to certainly strive to do it and you folks are going to have a lot more bites at this proverbial Apple before any shovels go in the ground and and it'll definitely be here before final votes
are taken or final approval is given okay so Mike's resolution is on the floor all in favor please indicate by saying I John vak uh no Michael samon up order yes no excuse me you're in violation of the open meeting law if you do this sit down please sit down parli procedure don't talk to me that way young man it's in violation of the open media law you didn't advertise we're going to take a vote you can't take a vote please sit
down thank go he where was I did you vote I I I did I did in violation of the open meeting law according to the expert uh Paul just to be clear we are voting to transmit 're voting our our sense of support for the 25% um okay to transmit a letter Y yes I
um David i u chair v no okay uh that's it thank you we'll see you next time okay see I needed my my Mallet sorry we've been doing so we've been doing so well not not fora for the board yeah or some combination thereof
okay next item on the agenda is um question of amending the charge of the expenditure and revenue study committee um and then um question of making appointments uh to that committee U chz you want to summarize your revision to the charge sure the charge revision uh just incorporates the fact that alternate members can be uh appointed I also just want to note there are two scrier errors in here that I need to correct and it's my fault so I apologize one is a reference on page one to the
work being the uh potential vote being um uh in 2020 I'm sorry on page two to the vote being in 2027 no the vote will be in 2026 not 2027 and then there's a reference on page one uh as well to um the committee's work being finished by SE September of 2026 that should read September of 2025 so apologies just some confusions in fiscal year yeah making sure that the timeline is accurately reflected there
so those are two scriveners errors that I would just ask that you the vote reflect and otherwise it's adding the possibility of um uh alternate members which the chair and vice chair suggested as a way to increase participation from the elected and appointed committees um with Al also having additional citizen participation so um what that basically means is you have three you you have three appointees from each of the three constituent bodies of school partnership um select board advisory committee
school committee you also have three alternates for those positions those individuals don't vote unless their principal is absent in which case they can vote and form a quorum um that will allow for the body to one it solves quum problems and two it allows for participation of additional members members um but you still then have a full committee with six citizen participants and you're not then having a committee of you know 12 um 13 and I would emphasize that
the alternate's role is to be fully participant full participants in the deliberations of the committee uh so that it's not just uh the voting members sorry John just as a clarification so that no one misunderstands three alternates one from each of those yes sorry thank you okay Mike um I'm okay no I'm okay so uh I'm moid I I do have a question so looking at the docket item it appears that there would be a total of eight members or oh
so right so the docket the docket item for the appointing member right there's still a blank there um we're still awaiting one final member um one final member's confirmation but we wanted to move on this so that we could start the process of getting people on boarded okay that was Point actually I missed that um John dogget was The Advisory committee's rep um as opposed to a citizen rep uh so we have five uh looking at this I think there's one person under
60 uh and I think that it would really be nice to find somebody else under we've looked and I can appreciate that but this is let me let's vote on the vote on these but but but looking for that last person if you can I'm GNA pay some attention to the can I ask diversity of age okay can I ask just one question so um I assume this committee is going to come with periodic updates to the board yes okay
yeah my we're we're building out now and what I want to present at the um Finance uh the the big joint meeting on the um financial plan um I'd like to actually have that be a joint meeting not just between the select board and the advisory committee but have this committee this new committee be noticed as well so that those members can all appear and ask questions about the financial plan and then what I'd like to do from there is I'd like to put put forward a general timeline for the committee's operations so that people
have a sense of what the timeline is and where the regular check-in points with the board are so that there's a we're not in a situation where we're gathering information and then it's Suddenly It's September and we need to make a decision on something now we also talked about a um budget 101 meeting would that be the joint meeting my thought is to do that as the joint meeting okay uh all in favor of the uh amended charge of the expenditure and revenue study committee I please indicate by saying I John vanak hi
Michael samon hi Paul Warren hi uh David Perman I your votes I next question of make question of making appointments to the expenditures and revenue study committee um the Town Administrator explain the um voting member members and alternates for the three uh boards uh the public members are dick Bena Ruth alen Fitch Jeff Rudolph I think he's under 60 right he's the one he's the one he one Janet
gelbart Sergio miglani uh me select board chair uh and Sarah MTD for the school committee uh as the voting member and John doert as the advisory committee voting member uh we still need one more public member I you know um we the people that we we wanted to appoint had other um obligations or
reasons for uh not accepting so what I'd like to do is to um if any of you uh have some suggestions let us know um I take your point that you know we need someone under 60 um uh and uh if if people in the audience would like to apply for the committee uh there will be an application form on the town's website for boards and commissions on uh I
Believe by Friday right yeah okay um and then you know we will um you know look at the applications uh and make a decision as to who to uh put on the committee uh hopefully we'll find someone under the age of to 60 maybe that's really not funny I'm sorry pardon me maybe even under the age of 55 know yeah or under the age of 30 uh okay uh so I move of approval of the
appointments to the expenditures and revenue study committee uh subject to the you know need to find one more person all in favor please indicate by saying I John Van skak I uh Michael Sandman hi Paul Warren hi David browman hi and chair votes I and that before you can end the meeting wait wait have public comment public well before you that well end of our agenda I wanted to get to before public comment okay you have something on the agenda yeah no well no I'm I'm gonna I'm
gonna just raise an issue and you're G to call me crazy but I'm gonna isue um I call you crazy um I I I want to ask a question about open meeting law um and you know a member of the public raised a concern about our vote um I first want to ask the Town Administrator um were we within our authority to take such a vote and consulted with Town Council and the answer is yes uh Town Council is online and um he can give the explanation Joe
if you're I don't mean to put you on the spot nope that's quite all right uh so Joe Callan Town Council uh I've been paying attention to the meeting um just off camera so I heard the resident's concern however when you have an agenda item um that's on a noticed agenda there's U an expectation that anything reasonably foreseeable or or you know um you know naturally flowing from that agenda debate you could put to a vote it's not a binding vote because what the
transportation board chair is asking for the select board to share a sense with that board what you're doing so I think it's perfectly appropriate I have no concern that it was an open media law violation okay thank you okay uh that is hold on on uh that's the end of our agenda and we're going to enter into the uh period of the meeting uh where we continue public comment and I see one person at the DIY hold on let me it's not amusing I care deeply about
process so please treat no one's laughing but you know then you have the smile on your face said that I don't want to hear what you it's my turn it's my turn not until I give you your turn you just opened it for public comment I heard the words I was still talking so go ahead Regina fry from pring 16 and what you just heard from town councils is opposite what every other Town Council has ever said here you did not write in
the agenda in the agenda you published that even had the word possible vote you didn't even do that so you've taken you can call it a sense of the meeting you can call it a recommendation it's effectively a vote and you violated the open meeting law write those agendas with more carefulness in the past I've also not appreciated that you put possible vote because that throws a lot of people off but you have done it and This Town Administrator has done that in the past this didn't even have that in
it you have violated the open meeting law and I will file a formal complaint first thing in the morning absolutely that's point one uh I what I was going to say I will save it I will do it actually publicly and embarrass you all uh we Our obligation is to follow the um uh determination of Town Council who we pay to make excuse me it's also history past practice
talking our responsibility is to follow the guidance of town counsil who we pay for that guidance I may not always agree with with Town Council but you know I will follow him because that's his job to figure out what is the uh correct legal position so um is there anyone else I do want to say something to that no you your time is up I didn't have three minutes um public comment is not a back and forth yeah you came well then I'll do
just the talking and you can just Gina will you please not be so confrontational with us well you're very much violating the open meeting law and you know darn well that's what I care most about his process you know that historically that's good enough for me is there anyone else who would like to make public comment there is no one else indicating their desire to speak so I would like like can I ask a question my board is there any is there anybody who would have a sense of reconsidering um that prior vote and
instead um ask that uh uh the Town Administrator transmit the meeting the minutes of this meeting to the transportation board could summarize the discussion uh your minutes won't be voted on um and I think it would be tough for us to compile the minutes of the entire discussion y within 24 hours I don't think I genuinely don't think there's a need for one thing what we put on the agenda when we talk about calendar it
says under the calendar items review and potential vote on calendar items that is always a catchall provision on here that puts and that's all the things that and all the things that are underneath that include that language now but even if that were not sufficient I think the language on there that was included about saying received from the select board is to be shared with the transportation board it indicates that you are going to give them input of some kind now whether that is input that is that you all kind of come together as the sense of and vote on or whether that is your individual whatever I think all
of that is any of that is fine right the public was put on notice that the purpose of this session was to give the transportation board Guidance the form of guidance that that took could be a formal could be a a vote of the sense of the board or it could not be um there 's no that's that's perfectly clear from the text of that and as Bernard said as the chair said your formal vote will come on the 11th right in response to whatever the transportation board provides which could be a different what we together that is correct so thank you
okay with that the meeting ends you kid