So, I'd like to call this meeting to order at 6:37 p.m. Um, good evening everyone. My name is Andrew Shepard. I'm the chair of the planning board. Um, and I would like a roll call of the board members present. So, please say your name for the record.
>> Carol House, present. >> Lance McN, associate member, present. >> Arley Plushaw, present. >> Brett King, present. Thank you. Would you please join me in the pledge of allegiance? to the flag of the United States of
America and to the stands nationy and justice for all. >> I'd like to thank all our veterans, those who are currently serving abroad and here and their families and those who contribute their time to public service. I think we owe them our
gratitude. Uh this meeting is being recorded and will be posted to the Town of Towns and YouTube channel. I do not have any additions or deletions at this time. So tonight we have a public hearing at 6:45 p.m. for 35 Burgess
Road. At 7 p.m. we will have a presentation from George Snow at MRPC uh for the corridor analysis of Route 119 which will be the intersection around the Hannah area before. course. So, we got some time to
kill. Not much. Um, >> excuse me. >> Yes. >> Can Can you speak? I'm >> I will try, but I'm over a cold, so >> there's a limit to how uh how much my voice can go.
>> Okay. >> But, uh, I'll try to look at you. >> That'll help if I can. Are >> are you here for 35 Burgess? >> I am. >> Are you the owner of the owner of the property? Yes. >> Okay. So, hi Veronica. Welcome. Uh, we
got a signing sheet written here. >> Is that for the hearing? >> This is for the Burgess Road hearing right now. >> Oh, I'm not here for Burgess Road. >> Okay, fair enough. >> But you're going to hear it. >> I am. >> All right. So, we'll get to you in six minutes.
>> I'll try to be prompt. All right. Excellent. Uh, so I'd like to Harley if we could go through the Sure. >> correspondence right now. Okay. Here. Okay.
Start off with the Town of Shirley Planning Board. The town of Shirley's planning board will conduct a public hearing at 6 PM Wednesday, November 19th, 2025 at the town office building, 7 Kyway,
Shirley, Massachusetts. Applications submitted by Lancaster Road Holdings LLC, 53 Midland Drive, Walab, Mass024 51. Town of Lunenburgg, Office of the
Planning Board. Public hearing, Monday, October 27th, 2025, 6:05 p.m. An application for storm water management permit PBSW-25-4, section 204-1 of the Code of the Town of
Living by Justinair of McCarti Engineering. Location 255 Sunny Road. Owner NCSW220 LLC 69 Broad Street Hollis, New Hampshire
03049. Fall winter workshop series begins. Roles and responsibilities of planning and zoning boards. Join us if you are a new board member or building inspector. This program will launch you into your role as a local official, introduce you
to the functions of the two boards and the main tools of planning and zoning. This session will also include an introductory discussion of the public records open meeting and the conflict of interest logs. Date, Wednesday, November
12th, 2025, 6:00 p.m. And that's all I have right now. >> All right, thank you. We have three more minutes. Let's see what else we have >> minutes.
[Music] Y [Music] minutes from >> uh September 15th to the 22nd. I'd >> like to Does anyone have any questions or concerns with the the minutes from
September 15th or September 22nd? >> I don't like to entertain a motion to approve those minutes. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of September 15th and September 22nd, 2025.
>> I second that motion. Are we second? All those in favor? >> I I All right, we are good on our minutes. We got two minutes. Well, I do have I do have a chair's addition. I'm going to add 3.4
which is to be approved extension of storm water management SM 2023-03. So, we can get to that after the public hearings. Okay. I think I guess we'll just sit tight for a few minutes. Anyone have any good
jokes? >> Should you? Okay. >> Uh Beth, I grabbed your notepad and we're using it as a sided sheet. Two sided. >> Thank you. >> Oh, that's how pen. >> That's how pen. Thank you. Oh, great.
[Music] You couldn't make it. >> Okay. All right. Got it. It's now 6:45 p.m. So, we can begin the public hearing. So, I'd like to open the public hearing on 35 Burgess Road at
6:45 p.m. I'd like to begin by introducing the board the board members, >> Carol Hopsis, >> Lance McN, Brett King, >> and Andrew Shepard. Uh, there is a public signin sheet right
here. You guys already signed in hearing. Um, Harley, do you have the legal ad for this? Would you be able to read it? uh legal not I would give it to you. I have the guidelines here but oh
now I do thank you so much. Office of the Planning Board General Towns and Legal Notice in accordance with MGL chapter 40 section 15C scenic roads towns and general bylaws chapter 106 and planning board rules and
regulations article 4 section 175 31-34 hearings under the seam road act the towns and planning board will hold a public hearing on October 20th 2025 live at 6:45 p.m. in Select Women's Chambers,
272 Main Street, regarding an application from Steven and Karen, if I'm pronouncing the name correctly. >> Karen. >> Karen. Okay. >> It's a German spelling. >> Thank you, Marshall. To remove a section
of a stone wall totaling 25 ft at 35 Burgess Road, map 19, block 86, lot two. Alternatively, the public may access the meeting via the following Zoom link, whatever it is. Parties wishing to speak
in support of or in opposition to this application may do so at the hearing or in writing prior to the hearing. Copies of this application are available for review at town hall during business hours. Andrew Shepard, chairman,
planning board. Do I need to read the CC's? Okay. Thank you, Harley. You're welcome. So, just to give you an outline of what the process this evening, so we read the legal ad. Next, we're going to review um going to review your
application as the board. We'll talk about it if we got any questions. Uh then we'll read the mandatory referral comments so all the different town departments had a chance to look everything over and make any comments. Um if any other town officials have comments, we'll we'll read them in at
that point. um any written correspondence from abutters, we'll go to that and then after that we'll open it up to the public for any questions or comments or anything. Um and then we as the board will deliberate and vote and and go from
there. Um let's see now. >> Would um you guys have any did you get a chance to look over the application? Uh any thoughts, any questions on it? What what's the purpose of
>> So I already have a driveway entrance. I have like 320 something feet of furniture on Burges Road. I already have a driveway entrance for my house and my cars. I need access to the northern end of the property
to get access to it with vehicles like uh trucks. Um, I'm trying to do some work over there and currently I can't get in through there because I had put um
there's a garage back there and then between the garage and where I would go through there there's a hill with a retaining wall. I can't fit like a trailer or a truck through there. So, I'm continued
the the road around so I can have an entrance up at the other side so I can get loan delivered, you know. >> Okay. So, it's basically an entrance for a second driveway. >> Yes. >> Or, you know, driveway so you can access the back of your property. >> Yes.
>> Okay. Any other questions? >> All right. I'd like to go to the uh referral comments. Harley, can I ask you to read these because I believe your voice is a bit stronger. Uh, no problem. Thanks
for planning board referral notice. Uh, legal notice and applicant Stephen and Karen Marshall. So, Harley, I would just jump if you don't mind. >> Right. Right where it says legal. >> Just who's commenting and what their comment is. >> Okay. All right.
>> In accordance with NGL chapter 40 section 50 scenic roads, towns and general bylaws. I would just read that. Oh, okay. Under comments. Yeah, I see no issues with removing 35 ft of stone.
Uh at Can't read that there. Stone wall. Okay. Slight distance looks good. Um drainage looks good. Sign James D. Smith. U date October 1st, 2025. Okay.
>> That's from the highway department. Yeah. All right. Next comments. Um, it was reviewed is if it's for Okay, I'm
trying to If it is for, uh, it is for temporary access. Uh, will the wall be put back? Question mark. Uh, Brian McCuel requests that the
wall be put back. Uh, V. Good as well. L. Shiffron trust planning board decision. Laura Laura Shiffron October 7th, 2025. So, select board. Who the select boards? Read. Who's who's it
from first? >> One point. That was the select board. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. That was the >> Oh, okay. My apologies. That was from the select. >> And then this one is from the building commission. >> Building commissioner.
>> Okay. Uh no comments here. Just uh no comment signed by the building commissioner. Okay. >> And this one. >> So that is not a referral comment. That'll be the comment from the others. >> No. So we'll read that after. I guess we could go right into that because that's
>> You can do that now. Yeah, >> go ahead. Read. >> Okay. Should I read the next one? Okay. This is uh >> um not in favor. Uh John F. Okay. The other name is is John Hussy,
I think. Or >> yes, Darlene Hussy. >> Darlene Hussy. I apologize. Oh, now John Hussy. Yes. Okay. I couldn't I couldn't make out their their signatures. Um, no comments, just not in favor.
The second one, it says not in favor. Signed by John Hussy. No. Uh, no comments here. Um, >> there's two John Hussies on that road. >> Okay. Well, they have different
signatures, so I guess there are two different John Hassies, >> right? >> Okay. That that's That's all I have here. >> That's fine. Any questions or comments from the board? >> Um, just one comment is
assuming that the board goes forward with this, one thing that we would do is take a picture of the stone wall before you do anything. >> Then take a picture when you're done. >> Okay? and and give those to Beth so she
can put it in the file with a before and an after. >> Okay. >> You plan does this plan to be temporary or is this gonna be >> Well, that's what my question was going to be. I guess that No, I would like to keep this permanent. I don't know. >> No, we're going to open up Rexis. I want
to maintain that access. >> Sure. Yeah. Um All right. Any other questions or comments from the board? Just so everyone knows, I do have a picture of it in terms of what the
>> Yeah, that that capture which basically between those two trees, the two sets of trees, but it'll be a little narrow. That's more than 20. >> Oh, between those two trees. Okay. >> We have a photo in our screen. >> Yeah, sure.
>> So, that'll be the photo. I don't have to worry about doing that. >> No, no. Do a do a before photo that can go in. >> We do. We do have one. So, it's between these two trees. Yeah. What I did notice on the Google Earth or the Google Street View, there's a very
long um long line of stonewall like I mean beyond his property. I mean, it keeps going. It pretty much goes up road >> along the your road. Beautiful. >> Yeah. Actually, the road goes up and ends at uh Hashi property up here. We
get the Christmas trees. Yeah. supposed I don't know maybe 100 feet past that pulling up the photo. >> Yeah. I mean that's a rock wall. >> Sure. the right area, Stephen. >> That's it. You got it. >> Yeah. >> So, you see the tree to the right?
>> Yeah. >> On the bottom of that, if you look up, there's a rock on the ground. It's going to be So, the right edge is going to be just to the left of that tree on the right. >> Yeah. >> And then you see the branches sticking
out on the other side to the left. There's another tree over there. It's going to be coming out to somewhere where the edge of those branches are. So going to be like 20 ft. Sure. >> Yeah. And uh just for the record, my error, he actually is only asking for 20
ft of stone wall and I think I wrote 25 in the legal ad. So I apologize. That was my error. >> Sure. >> Um All right. I don't I don't have any questions. I I mean the intent of this bylaw is to maintain the historical nature of stone walls throughout the
town. I don't uh particularly find myself interested in wanting to limit the way people use their property to, you know, preserve stone walls. >> There's over 300 ft of wall there and it's beautiful, you know. I mean, I mean,
>> I've been there 33 years. >> Sure. >> When I moved there, it wasn't so beautiful. I mean, I built that thing up over the years to make it look nice. So, you know, I don't want it I don't I'm not interested in wrecking anything either, you know. >> Sure. Sure. Um, so if there's no other questions or
comments, uh, then I'd like to close the public hearing. So, we'll close the public hearing at whatever time it is. >> 656. >> 656. Um, all right. So, we have a draft
decision in our portal. Um, there here it is. And in the the conditions right now we only have one condition uh which is prior to the commencement of work a predisturbance photograph of the stone wall shall be taken upon completion of
the project. A post-disturbance photograph showing the area to be removed uh shall also be taken. Both photographs shall be submitted to the planning board within 30 days following project completion. Um does the board have any comments or
no? Well, I'm assuming I think you may have already covered this, but I'm assuming that particular stretch of wall there doesn't have any historical or environmental u aspects that would would mitigate against removing it.
>> I mean, not the my knowledge as a chair. I don't >> the conservation nature like it's in the right away of the >> Yeah. town's roadway, >> right? >> Fair question. Um, so I guess if if
we're okay with that as a condition, um, I'd like to entertain a or if there's a specific motion, but entertain a motion to approve the draft decision to approve the the applicant's proposal. >> So I guess uh we either going to come up
with the right motion or someone can say so moved. >> So moved. >> All right. Is there a second? Second. Second. All those in favor. >> All right. And the motion passes. >> Can I ask you guys to actually vote the two motions that I suggested? So,
>> yes, we can do that. >> All right. So, >> the actual motions that are on the decision. >> All right. >> Roll call, please. >> Yeah. Carol, could you mind first? I'll make a motion to grant approval of
the scenic road application in proposal for the property at 35 Burgess Road um map 19 block 86 block two subject to before and after pictures we second it again second do a roll call
vote >> Carol says yes >> we skip lands because he's associate Arvin plush Brett King. Yes. >> Andrew Shepard. Yes. Yeah. That that passes. >> One more to get Andrew to sign.
>> Sure. I I'll try I'll make this one. Um I motion to authorize planning board chair. Andrew Shepard to sign the planning board decision on behalf of the members participating in the vote. >> I'll second it. >> Fair enough. Carol seconds. All those in favor? Carol?
>> Um yes. >> I. Brett. >> Yes. >> Andrew, yes. All right. Excellent. Passes. We'll write it up and get it signed. We appreciate it. >> So, there will be like an actual piece of paper that's saying this has been approved. >> Yeah.
>> I mean, will it will that happen now or >> I'll have it out set for you probably tomorrow. >> Okay. And then um I'm pretty sure this needs to go on an appeal, but I'm going to double check that. Okay. Because uh anytime the board makes a decision,
typically it has to go on an appeal. Let me double check. I know that we have in the past. We do an appeal period. >> Why would it go on appeal? >> Um because it's a decision that the planning board but let me double check that. >> No, no, let me let me explain it. When
the planning board makes a decision. >> Yeah. >> There is is it 10 days, Beth? >> It's a 20-day appeal. >> All right. There's 20 days that a citizen can appeal it. So, you have to wait it for 20 days to make sure that
nobody appeals it, which is extremely rare. >> Okay. >> Hopefully, I can't remember if you did that for this particular permit or not, but >> I know it's for special. >> That's all right. So, if you got any questions, you can work it out with
>> Okay. >> I'll check with you tomorrow. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> At 7 o'clock, 7:01 now. I'd like to move on uh item 2.2 which is the fact that this is not a public hearing. This is just
so this is the presentation discussion with George Snow from the Monachus Regional Planning Commission and this is the corridor analysis of route 119 Main Street from Edwards Road to Proctor Road and Townsen Road and the intersection in
Rotten and Prol. >> Hi. Hi everyone. Yeah, thank you for having us tonight to uh present this uh presentation. Is your presentation available yet? There it is. All right.
>> Um there's three of us here tonight from the MRPC. uh Brian Dy uh who's our transportation director and Grace Belmont who is our principal planner with the MRPC. Um he'll be u
doing uh part of the presentation near the end of the uh presentation. So uh you can look forward to hearing from her again. Thank you for having us here tonight. Um thank you for we want to we appreciate this opportunity to share
this uh study with you. We're going to be sharing uh some uh findings and uh improvement alternatives of this study. Next please. So here's a list of the topics that we'll be covering. Study purpose and uh
a list of tra traffic analysis results that we performed on the uh corridor and improvement alternatives. Next and we'll begin with the study purpose. We this study was initiated in February 2020 2024 by the town. uh they requested
for us to conduct this cart analysis uh and it became part of our work program which is an annual program that we do uh of of studies and other activities project development in the re in the region. It it consists of various tasks
that we complete throughout the year. The corridor is approximately uh 6 or just a little over half a mile and which it begins at uh Edward Road and ends at the Proctor and Towns and Roads intersection in Graten.
And the purposes that you see here um there's a heavy pedestrian traffic mainly uh students from the school and uh the speeding along the roadway especially during the school start times and end times and periods and there's a
considerable amount of delay at the Harbor Village mall uh intersection and there's a lack of progressive facilities primarily on the south side of Route 119 and there steep road grades on either
end of the uh corridor that helps to uh uh uh make vehicles increase their speed as they're going down these grades and the heavy truck traffic on the uh roadway. And we're also going to discuss improvement alternatives. Um I just like
to say that all the analysis that we did really uh confirms and quantifies all these uh statements that are here. So, um it's uh it's really a a an area that is in need of improvement. Next, please.
So, we'll begin with the traffic analysis. Um we we conducted 13 counts along the corridor. Uh they're listed on they're showing on the map, displayed on the map as one through 13 with the IDs one through 13. Um and two of them
actually three of them at turning movement counts. Uh two at the uh one at the southbound driveway of the school, one at the northbound driveway of the school and one at the Proctor Road uh Town Road intersection. Two of the counts are pedestrian counts taken at
the at the crosswalks and the rest the remaining are basically three days of traffic data that that uh count uh traffic as well as as uh vehicle classification and speeds. And then this
first part of the what we're doing here uh and we're going to focus on this study on on these uh three of the counts and three of the counts are number four, number five and number 10 with the arrows. You see the arrows those those are are basically where we uh derive the
uh speed of the that's happening on the corridor as well as the uh the classific vehicle classification uh that's going on on the road and the other other costs will come into play as we go along as well. Next
please. Now these are the four intersections that are involved in the study. uh Edward Road of course and then we have oneway southbound school exit driveway and access road. Then we have the oneway northbound school entrance driveway in harbor road driveway and the towns of
road proctor road intersection and uh one of and they're all stop controlled except and and the but the harbor road harbor village mall I mean uh driveway also has the stop sign in
flashing beacon. Next please. All right, now we'll begin with the the rail analysis here is with the we'll begin with the vehicle travel speeds. Now if you recall locations four, five, and 10 are the ones that we're focus focusing on. One is at the west end, one is at
the east end and one is approximately in the middle in between the school the school driveways. So basically location number four and location number 10 the average travels average daily speed was 42 miles per hour for both of them. Um
for the location number four 67% of the vehicles uh reached travel speeds that exceeded the speed limit and 17% of the vehicles reached travel speeds that exceeded 45 miles per hour. The location number 10, 37% of the vehicles reach travel speeds that exceeded the speed
limit and 8% of the vehicles reach travel speeds that exceeded 45 miles per hour. In location number five, which is the one in the middle, the average speed reduces to 33 miles per hour, which is 7 miles lower than the posted speed limit and 9 miles per hour than the average
speed limit speed of the locations for 10. This is probably occurring because of you know vehicles are turning turning into the various driveways along the along the corridor. So um that's probably what's happening there and
vehicles are you know slowing down just to be cautious of the vehicles turning. Um but the vehicles are still you know uh 6% of the vehicles are still exceeding uh the 40 miles per hour speed limit in that area.
Next, please. Now, we're going to focus on the school start time. Um, as you can see here, the speed limit for the school zone during the school start time period is supposed to be 20 miles per hour. However, only
half a percent of the vehicles are going that speed uh up to that speed during that time period. So, we got 99% 99.5% of the vehicles exceeding the speed limit during the school start period. And that's um that's something that
needs to be addressed. You can see the other percentages here that for different miles per hours um here as well, but uh this is an issue that definitely needs to be uh addressed and uh vehicles need to be slowed down while
they're driving through this school zone. And it's basically again it confirms it quantifies the uh concerns of the of your town. Next please. So now this is the school end period and you get the same kind similar results as
school start period um except you you have a little bit higher percentage of but it's only 1.2 2% of the vehicles uh reach the reach the uh travel speed between 1 and 20 miles per hour. So again, you're getting a lot of vehicles,
98 almost 99% of the vehicles are over the speed limit, the 25 m per hour speed limit during the school end period time. So again, at the same thing as the school start timing, vehicles need to be slowed down. Again, it quantifies and
confirms the uh concerns of the community. Next, please. Now we're getting into the truck vehicle classification. Uh based on the Federal Highway Administration vehicle classific class classifications, there are 13 vehicle
classes. Truck truck classes are range range from four to 13. That begins with school buses at number four and ends with multi- trailer multi-trail uh uh trucks. You don't see too you won't see too many of those in this
area, but but uh you may see one or two occasionally, but primarily they're looking at buses through number number 13, number 10, I mean, um truck sizes. So that's the that's the
vehicle classes that we'll be looking at on the analysis. Next, please. So here's the results. Um this is a very high percentage of truck truck percentage of the daily traffic volume at 11 at almost 12%. Um oh one one one
one good thing about this is that um 8.7% of those of that track daily truck of the daily traffic volume is class five which if you scroll down a little bit further can you scroll that down a little bit further Beth
see and those are the basically uh two axle six tire vehicles and you know they they they're not as they're not as bad as definitely the tractor trailers you might see. Um, and they and
and they could they they're almost 9% of the daily traffic volume. And as far as the truck class, just the truck classes, they're almost 74% of the truck classes. So, you're not getting a lot of tractor trailer truck traffic. Um, when you
combine buses and, uh, all the other classes that you see here, you have about 3% uh the rest, but you are getting a lot of truck traffic, no doubt. But and they are impacting no matter if they're rolling uh the class 5 uh they do impact
traffic, but not to the extent of uh truck uh you know tractor trailers. Next, please. Oh, yeah. Never mind. Never mind. Okay. Uh next, we're going to go to the uh intersection pick hour drive volumes and
level of service. The level of service is a is a road is a the level of service of roadway facility traffic facility represents the qual quality of the traffic flow and is used to assess the operation of that facility during peak
hours. So, we're looking at the peak hours, AM and PM peak hours. And it's basically described in six different categories, different levels from A. Nearly all drivers feel the freedom to operate and very rarely is there any
more than one vehicle in a queue to F. Driving flow is forced at 100% of the time and and there is more than one vehicle in a queue in a Q. and drivers realize that the that delays have reached intolerable conditions levels. And you can see it's
measured by seconds per vehicle. On the level A, you get up to 10% u on the stop. We're looking at controlled intersections here. So um uh on level A is up to 10 seconds all the way up to F F is greater than 50 seconds per
vehicle. So that's that's how it's measured. And these it's basically A through F is basically describing what happens in that in with those seconds of delay. Next please. So we looked at our first intersection
here uh the school southbound exit driveway and access road. And as you can see, the major roads because major roads at a stop controlled intersections don't have the right away, right? They they don't they don't have to stop for anyone. The only ones that
really have to stop are the uh the left turns from the main from the uncontrolled approaches which are the primary uh uh major roads. And you can see that they're uh basically level service A
uh for the major road. Now the westbound is affected because you have a uh you have you know uh wait a bit. No, sorry about that. There is a little a little bit of an
eastbound delay. Yes, because uh No, there isn't. I'm sorry. not in the AM period, but in the PM period, you're getting a little bit of delay. And that's basically probably because of the uh the uh left turning vehicles exiting out
of the school exit southbound. So, you're getting more more of a delay during the PM period. I mean during the AM period when when the school exits, school buses are leaving. Sorry about that. Um but yeah, so you're going to
get some delay uh in the AM because on a school exit southbound on the minor approach, but you're really getting a lot of delay uh during the PM period for the access road, a northbound approach, which is which
winds up at a level source F. So you're you're expering a lot a lot of delay on the access road during the PM period. Next, please. Now we're looking at the school northbound entrance in Harbor Bridge
Road approach. Now again here on the major roads major approaches you've seen a level service of a however on the minor approaches you're getting delay right. So uh during the PM period, the High Village Road has experienced a
level of F uh uh level of service and with with delays over 50 seconds per prevail. And that's that really validates the uh confirms and quantifies uh the concerns of the of the of your town. Uh when they when we discussed all
these issues, um you're getting a lot of delay on the harbor road. You don't get any delay obviously on the school entrance because it's the northbound approach and no cars are entering the inter intersection from the northbound approach. So you're not going to get experiencing any delay from the uh from
the school entrance because it's a northbound oneway approach. >> Just just one comment. So this is going to not improve when uh Starbucks opens up. >> No. Um I don't have that. It's it's
already on a level of service F and you're already over 50 seconds per vehicle. Obviously, when you when the VA I think it I forget the I did the analysis on how many comm vehicles net number of vehicles will be added and I forget exactly how much that was off the
top of my head. But it will it will probably add probably around 120 cars I think it was vehicles I mean uh net vehicles a lot of the vehicles that uh will be will already be in the traffic flow that
go to Starbucks that's what the analysis shows from the consultant so so the net increase is probably about 120 you know so but that's going to incre obviously increase the delay here at this intersection
And you got a you as we'll show further run, you have a lot lot going on at at this intersection. You have two left turn dedicated left turn lanes. One that for the school and one for the mall plus you got the through traffic plus you got the traffic from the mall entrance. So
there's a lot going on there at that intersection that's resulting in this kind of level of service F uh for the for the uh for this for this intersection. And if you scroll down just a little bit more, Beth, I just want to discuss the Towns and Road and
Proctor Road uh intersection that is also a level road source F during the during the PM period. So uh it's it's again it's a it's a it's the same type of experience at that intersection. I didn't want I didn't want to add that because um there's a lot of information
that we want to look at further down. So next please. Now we get into scenaris for the Harbor Village Road uh school northbound entrance. Um there are basically nine traffic signal warrants uh that for the possible installation of a traffic
signal. You'll see them listed here one 8 through nine one through nine. Um, and if it is, it's actually meets one one of the criteria of the warrants, installation of a a signal may be appropriate. And
basically, if a if a single warrant is passed, it basically is a trigger that will trigger the need for further analysis for whether or not signal should be in installed. It's basically, you know,
that's what it really serves at. It helps to say, okay, we should move ahead here at this intersection and look at installing an intersection um and a signal, excuse me, a signal. And um so so you know
um so it takes a lot of engineering more engineering analysis more engineering uh uh thought and judgment that to to go into putting a signal in in next please.
So here we see the results of the signal warrant analysis. You see that it passes two warrants. You uh warrant warrants one and two both satisfied. And those are key ones because they they deal with traffic volume, right? One is an 8 hour
warrant, one is a 4-hour warrant. So that and these two warrants are important because they deal with again with traffic volume and they're for extended periods of time. You're looking at eight periods passing warrant especially warrant number one. eight. It passes the warrant for an eight hour
period. That means you're getting a substantial number a high enough traffic volume going there to to warrant a signal there. Now, it didn't pass the pedestrian or crew school crossing warrant because most of the students are crossing at the south entrance uh
crosswalk. During the during the data collection, we we did both crosswalks and most of the students are going to that to that crosswalk. So, there's not enough here to pass those two warrants on this uh on this
Cal analysis. Next, please. Now, we're getting into safety. Um under safety, we're going to look at the crash years, crash locations, crash severity, and u
we begin with the u with the uh crash years. Uh this is a fiveyear period of crashes. 20 20 through 2025. During that time period, 93 crashes occurred on the roadway on the corridor.
Um, and basically it's a it's a it's a upward trend in crashes as you can see. Even though we had a a small decrease from 2020 to 2021, after that it's really spiked. Uh, it's it it it's gone
up over the those next three years after that. So it's really been quite a spike especially during 2020 and 2021 when we saw a 64% increase in total crashes you know went up nine crashes from from 2020. So um this upward trend is a
strong indication that further study is needed to to identify counter measures uh to decrease these crashes. Um next please. So here we look at the locations. I I divided into eight different locations.
Um first one is of course is it begins we go from e west to east. Uh first location is Edward Edward road Edwards road Edward road. And the second um location
is between Piper road and the uh uh best friends veterary hospital. this area you have all those driveways here that form T intersections with u uh the corridor
and we know they're all real close together and they all they cause all kinds of conflicting issues with with traffic flow um that's why I group those together in that area and number three uh is the is uh is the it's within 130
ft of the of the school exit driveway. It al but it also includes the crosswalk. So this area is a an area where a lot of crashes are occurring in the area of the crosswalk. Uh and and McDonald's driveway is right
there as well. Um number four is within 120 ft of the Hover Village Road and it basically encompasses the uh left turn lane that goes into the school. This is a further little further west of the actual intersection. So, and there's
some there's there's issues going on there uh that that that that's occurring that's that's uh causing crashes to occur near and in the uh left turn lane before the intersection.
And number four uh and number and number five is the is the actual intersection of of Harbor Village Road in the uh northbound one oneway entrance to the school. Um, and there
you you have all you have the crosswalk, you have a crosswalk, you have two dedicated left turn lanes, you have three you basically have three lanes of traffic, you know, with the left turning lanes in the middle. Um, so you have a lot going on there. Uh, you have the
left turning vehicles and right turning vehicles out of out of the uh mall and you have the right turning vehicles into the school. So there's a lot of activities going on that are resulting in a lot of crashes there. And then location of uh you have two
locations near the town line. There's not these not a lot of crashes here. It's only I think there's only basically two crashes here. And then you got the loca uh you got the Proctor Road and Towns Road intersection which has a lot of quite number of crashes occurring
there as well. So that takes care of the locations. Next please. Now we get into the severity. Now these are this is the most important one because these are the types of crashes we really want to try to reduce. Uh the injury crashes uh injury crashes and
fatal crashes. Um but uh excuse me. I I'm thinking ahead of myself here a little bit. Let's go back to the locations. This is the locations. No, no, no. Scroll down. No, no. I'm Yeah. Let's go down to the next one, Beth, please.
>> I got confused here a little bit. Now, this is still locations. This is still I looking at locations here. My fault. Sorry about that. And so, the locations are here on this on this bar graph are
one through eight. From west to east, one through eight. And as you can see number four which is the location we talked about earlier that's the dedicated left turn lane and the school entrance that has the highest
number of crashes occurring within that uh left turn lane. 32 crashes are occurring there. Right next to it um you have location number five and to the east of it is location number three. When you combine those three together
and these all are locations that access the school pedestrian access, vehicular access, all these three locations are important locations for the school to for eress and access to the school and the mall
combined. They combined for 58% of the crashes and that's all occurring they're all occurring within that area. uh at the driveways driving hot drives and in in between the driveways. So you get a lot of crashes right there uh with in
this in the school location number eight which is the town road project road intersection that's the second highest. You have 22 crashes occurring there. So that's the second highest location. Next please.
Now we can just very sorry about that again. Now we get just into the severity. Um fortunately there was no fatal crashes that occurred there but uh almost 20% of the crashes involved injury crashes. Um location 8 which is
the town road project road intersection they had the highest number of of injury crashes at at at with five. However um adjacent locations four and five had a total of eight crashes. So again those
those are very close locations that combined to have have resulted in eight injury crashes at them. Um combined they account for 44% of the uh of the roadway in injury crash total.
So uh you know they it's a high percentage injury crash occurring at both of those locations. Um again location number four is a dedic dedicated left turn lane for the school entrances entrance and location number five is at the intersection and in
includes the crosswalk two dedicated left turn lanes and provides oneway access in to the school and two-way access to the mall. So you got a lot going on here. You got you got a lot of delay going on here. You got a a lot of
crashes going on and there's a lot of people trying to, you know, leave the minus leave leave the mall and are having to make a lot of decisions on when to leave and it's resulting in indecisiveness and and uh premature
entry into the into into the intersection and so on and so forth. There's a lot of too much decisions that have to be made. In other words, in other words, at this intersection for people to traverse it. So, uh, so you know that's that these
focus needs really be on this area and on location number eight as well. Next, please. I just want to discuss that we did an extensive fieldwork site visit uh data collection and analysis uh of the area.
um is it's it comes as 23 pages of the of the report. That's appro that's approximately about 120 pages long totally. Um and that fieldwork site visit, we we looked at these issues, site distance, intersection, site distance,
uh sidewalks, crosswalks. We did all we collected all this information, information on crosswalks, pavement markings, signage, and a lot of times it's something specific to an intersection that might be have to be looked at as well. So, but
in some of this you'll see you'll see in the uh improvement alternative section some of this results you'll see in that but I didn't want to go over that because there's a lot of lot of a lot of information in there. Next please.
Now we get into the prudent alternatives. Um we're we're at we're we're suggesting as alternatives to consider for the town to consider complete street concepts to approve these these concerns
in the existing conditions listed above. Um, but we're only going to look at the major improvements alternatives because there's a lot of lowcost improvements that are recommended, but we really don't want to go through listing stop signs, where
stop sign should be, where stops should be, and you know, where one sign should be placed and so on and so forth. What we want to focus on is the major ones and and complete street concepts include improvements at intersections on
roadways. Uh one of the one of the one of the best solutions to a lot of these issues are roundabouts. This roundabout at Route 70 at Old Interact. Uh this intersection was was a devastating high crash location. A lot of injury
crashes used to occur at this location. Since the roundabout has been installed there, that has decreased uh tremendously. So roundabouts really help to improve safety and and know and complete streets also includes off path
off-road pathways and we don't we haven't done a lot of these but we have done some of but this in this study here we focus on it's one of our focus is off-road uh improve complete street concept and that's the one grace will be talking about at the end of of of these
of this discussion here. Next, please. So one of the things that was uh mentioned by the town in the in their concerns in when we went out in field we looked at was the vertical curve in horizontal curve between Edwards Road
and Duncan and Duncan and and um or what we're recommending as a permanent alternative is lowering the the road grade uh
lowering the vertical curve between those those two locations to improve eastbound sight distance to the upcoming driveways of the business schools in tomorrow. So all those driveways that are there in between uh the the the
eastbound vehicles will be able to see those driveways before they go start to go over that vertical curve. So if you look that's lowered down approximately say I would say about 2 feet. If you lower that that's going to improve that sight
distance tremendously. Uh it's also going to improve the looking west site distance for all those driveways that are there that are you know east of that of that vertical curve. Um, one of the things we noticed out there as well is that there's a slight horizontal curve
that's also cons contributes to to the site distance and there is there is one westbound curve ahead sign uh that we f that we located when we're doing our data collection out there. So that vert curve does contribute to some of the
site distance issues as well. But what we suggested there is you add uh the the chevron signs that you see here um to that vertical curve so that vehicles will know that the that curve is that roadway is curving to the to the left.
Um as far as as the reducing uh lowering the uh vertical curve or if you want to call it road grade you can also call it reducing the road grade. Um there's an example here uh that that was constructed at Lester at the Hamilton Road Route 12 uh intersection. This
intersection was was a was terrible but uh for this approach to the Route 12. I mean the this the the slope was so I don't know if you got anyone here that's attending spinning ever been through that intersection but before they did
this you you if you came over that uh this let's say to that right right picture you see that tree if you came up to that tree you you wouldn't see any cars you might see the lights or you can see the cars stopped at the casino and
if you were going fast you know you have to put your f brakes on pretty fast in to stop. What they've done is they've lowered that grade beginning right as you see on the right photo and right about there in that right photo and they
they took and you can see how much they decreased the uh the grade by the middle photo underneath there. See that driveway that tapers that grades down? That's how much they decreased the height of that road that that that curvature. So now you can see the as you
can see in the right photo top right photo you can really see the the lights you can see all the traffic on route 12 and it really has really improved the the site distance to the to the lights and to the intersection. They also take care when you when this is done they
don't just leave the the driveways you know without any improvements. As you can see, they tapered the driveway to appropriate grade and also add if there's a walkway to the house, neighboring house, they'll add steps there so that you know you don't you
don't just leave a a mess there with a with nothing there. They actually uh introduce a nice steps set of steps there. So uh this is a this this will be quite
a a uh there are lowc cost things we can do that are discussed in the study but uh these this here would be a a good improvement for this location. It's been done before and um it can be done here
as well. Next please. Now we look at all those driveways um on in between the school southbound driveway and the uh uh ed and the um Edwards road. We don't
we don't include the school one on this on this improvement, but but this includes the south the driveways on the south of the uh of the 19. So basically basically uh recommending act some uh installing some
access management techniques to this area. That that means eliminating driveways like what you have here in in uh in in this situation. This this would be we consolidated consolidating three
driveways. the Patriots Best Friends Veterary School Veterary Hospital and McDonald's driveways be you eliminating those driveways and you'll be installing a oneway westbound frontage road in between Dunkin Donuts and the access
road. So, and it would be a one-way westbound frontage road. So vehicles would enter the access road and enter take a right turn into the furnish road and access McDonald's
the uh uh best best friends veterary hospital in um Patriot Pizza um from they could also access Patriot Pizza from the uh Duncan driver as well but
but this is basically showing that that these drivers could be eliminated. Uh also suggesting that you saw a full sidewalk between on the road between the Duncan Dunkins and and the access road.
Um and then also um there's um there's already a a walkway here uh from the sidewalk from the from from the road here. just add a crosswalk um to the uh Patriots Pizza and add a and do a
similar thing on in front of McDonald's. Add a from the sidewalk add a would be continuation of the crosswalk continual walkway across the um road front road furniture roads and into
the uh McDonald's there. Um now with the um best friends of Fenry hospital you do it's closer to the road right so you lose quite a bit of parking so
one potential solution to that would be add parking in in the rear of the building. Um, also on this uh uh what's what we saw when we did the site visit that there's there's a lot of
informal pullovers that take place um on the west side of of Route 119 and that's the where the blue area is. We're we're suggesting that you formalize that and install this drop uh drop off area. You
formalize it by adding uh that blue area that you see there. Make that all pavement there and add a sidewalk the full extent of the of the u of the uh pullover and uh where you know vehicles
could stop there, drop off the students, they could use the walk sidewalk to to go all the way around to the school. Um the only drawback with this um concept, again, this is just a concept. It's a but um it's it's it's
uh it's giving it's showing that it something that could be done. The only drawback with this one here is the left turns from uh Route 119 from the westbound left turns that you're get you're eliminating all the left turns that take place here which is good but
you're putting them all in one location and and that's that's probably going to call for the need for a left turn left turn lane. Obviously, you don't have the room right here because you have the left left lane for the school and a short distance to the east from here.
So, you'd have you it's a too short a distance to really accommodate a left turn into here. So, potentially this left turn should be moved up to the Duckan Duckan's driveway. You could put it and you could reverse this one way to
the eastbound approach possibly. Again, these the final design, as I say in the bottom here, the final design may will pro most likely look substantially different than what was proposed above. Um, this is just a concept that that we, you know, I looked at and I came up with
and and um and so but this shows you the potential that can take place there. this we're really organized this whole area uh by by by by applying access management techniques. You're really going to going to um
you're really going to solve a lot of issues here by doing this. Next, please. Now, we're just going to look at the crosswalk. The crosswalk there is um needs some uh upgrading uh in and installing. As you can see in this
diagram here, this is what uh the area should look like. Right now, you all you have is you have um you have the flashing beacons, but they're they're the basically uh a lot of people consider them obsolete. you have you
have flashing beacons, but they're but uh they're not they don't really perform as well as what I'm recommending here is replace the flashing beacons with rapid flashing beacons. If you know if you've been by a school session there's one in Graten the schools using Susan and Graten that they use the rapid flashing
beacons and what they do is they they're side by side flashing beacons and they and they alternate back and forth. So they and they continually flashing rapidly, very rapidly, and it really draws people's attention to uh to the
pedestrians that want to cross the uh crosswalk. Um we're also suggesting uh adding um eel paper markings. Those did that's what you see in the upper right photo. Those what they what's what
they call shark teeth. Shock teeth. and and we're we're recommending adding all these different signage and paper markings to it as well as curve extensions. Curve extensions are are
really narrow down the roadway surface. They don't narrow the lane, but they eliminate the shoulder. So perception wise for the driver it helps them them narrow their focus and um and and they and it also makes pedestrians more
visible. It also shortens the travel distance for other pedestrian um because they can wait in the uh in on the uh trim extension to cross and then when the vehicle stop they can uh walk a
little faster acor across the crosswalk. So, next one, please. Now, we're looking at the um uh just the the access road. What we're recommending there is that approach is currently a
skewed right intersection and it causes all kinds of problems with with vehicles entering uh taking right turns and as well when vehicles are turning left. This uh if you make it a right turn angle, you're going to
you're going to eliminate part of this uh landscaping on the east side of of uh the approach. So that will allow vehicles and want to make a right turn uh a much better area to make that right
turn instead of instead of uh being, you know, in the way of other vehicles wanting to turn. But it also makes it easier for trucks to turn because this access road is basically for trucks, you know, trucks deliveries, you know, so you're getting a you're getting quite a
few tractor trailers going in here. Um, so making this the right turn will make it much more much much approved for trucks turning into the roadway where they wouldn't have to make this awkward turn into the into the drive into the
road. So there are other improvements, lowc cost improvements as well that are listed here, but the primary improvement here would be to convert that into a a true right turn angle and get rid of that skew intersection. Next, please.
Now we're looking at the Harbor Road intersection. Uh we're recommending applying to the crosswalk uh some of the very uh same uh improvements that were recommend for the other crosswalk rapid flashing beacons
the uh yield pale mark yield pair markings and rapid flashing beacons curb extensions. We're also recommending to replace the overhead flashing beacon with a traffic signal. Uh as we start early on slide 15 uh it's passing two
warrants. Um so uh a full engineering study will need to be completed. Um and the study will need to indicate uh that the signal will improve safety and or operation. So both of them or either or.
So hopefully we'll the that the engineering study will show that it will improve both of these issues. Next, please. And finally, we get to the Towns Road and Proctor Road intersection. We're
recommending here that convert this in intersection into a roundabout, not not so much um Townsen because it's not part of Town's jurisdiction. Uh obviously, GR and Peabody will need to be encouraged and be brought into the process to to
improve this this this uh intersection. It's it's it's it's it really is vital to do some type of improvement here at this intersection because it it will reduce the westbound speed vehicular speed and improve driver awareness as
they approach the upcoming school zone. So um in the in our region um and as well as nationwide roundabouts have been installed near schools in many communities. We have two examples here in Fitsburg near the uh Crocker ele
elementary school in the in the Caesar school. a roundabout is exists there um that that's been functioning very well for these different schools as accessing these schools in Garner. A recently completed roundabout uh was just installed north of the
Garner uh academy school and and I show providing a photo of you that was in the garden news 2024. Uh this is up and been running for about a year now. So we but again what what needs to be
emphasized here is that and people that need to get involved. This is a intersection again that we've seen has five high five injury crashes that have occurred at it and um and uh it's the minus street approaches suffer
extensively from delay. They're at f level of service. So, >> so this this will need to be uh approved and I think that's all I have. If anybody has any questions on this on any of these >> slides,
>> one question, George. >> Well, Peter Cigan has a question. >> Yeah, thank thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh yeah, George, just minor point there on the uh Townsen Road and Proctor Road intersection alternatives. It's Graten and Peril, not Peabody.
>> I'm sorry. Grten and Pero, not pee. >> Oh, I'm sorry. That's Yeah, I made a mistake there. >> It's not in our neighborhood. >> My my sorry, my bad. >> But I I I I think that's a great approach. Uh previously, I think you had the example of the uh old Union Tur Pike
and I think Route 70 over in Lancaster there, which is also one of those small rotaries. And it I think it's the right solution for that intersection. It's been uh it's been a problem for a long time. It's been very unsafe. Thank you. >> Yeah, we did a study on this
intersection back in two 2009 and uh it passed a single warrant back then. But uh so now we I think we want to move on. Is there any more questions? >> So now we think we want to move on to to uh Grace's presentation. She's got a
several slides here about the uh off-road issues. So, first I want to see if everybody's hanging in there or if we should move my presentation, which isn't too long, but we could move it to another meeting. I just want to check in with everybody real quick. >> It looks like your presentation is like
four or five slides, so I would I would think we could get through it. >> Okay. Um, can I instead just share my screen so I can use my pointer? Is that okay with you guys? >> Sure. Okay. Can everybody see? >> Yes.
>> Okay. Um so I just want to start real quickly and point out although a lot of the focus has been safety on youth um in fact the population of the high school has dropped significantly in the last 15 years from the 1200s to I believe the late the high 700s today. So thinking
about accessibility for the older population which is this is these are projections put out by UMass and what you see is a continuing drop of the younger population but an increasing growth in the the boomer age range population. So that's just something I
feel like I needs to be put in priority when thinking about planning and design. The other thing I just want to talk about uh first before diving into this with um George is that a lot of the solutions for pedestrian or bike or really I think all of them do involve
encroing on private property. I don't think that there's a way around that because of the environmental constraints that are in place and that most of the road is at least in in the quarter in front of the high school and the Harbor Village Mall is already consumed by
roadway. So all of these solutions to these to these issues of pedestrian and bikeability do involve um bringing in the um private community. So here on my first slide I just show how many uh
driveways are taking place within this short span. It's nine within 900 ft. So this presents obviously left turns or even right turns out of the driveway when you have pedestrians walking along um the sidewalk. It's you a very busy
place just crossing from one place to the other. The other thing is the the design here. This is a car oriented design. I know some of you have heard my presentation before, but everything is set back from the road. So this is very it encourages people to use cars. If you
are walking, let's say from Harbor Village Mall, you're unlikely to walk up the hill up the slope to get to the sidewalk to go over to Duncan. There are um a lot of paths. In fact, let me go to the next um the next slide. So, this is
what's what's happening now is that people who come in by foot or by bike are coming in on the Squan Cook Trail and there's informal cutthroughs which are noted here in yellow. So people already use this design and so what I'm
encouraging the communities to capitalize on what is already being used and to formalize it and to make it accessible for people who bike, for people who walk, who use assisted mobility devices, and people
have strollers. Um I'm arguing for that a project be done on the main um access road that actually belongs to the Harbor Village Mall because this is what's actually being used currently. This is where the most amount here you
can see right here the most amount of road erosion what's happening. There is a slope which makes it a little bit more um complicated that would have to be addressed to make it accessible. And then here's the the access roads. Let me back up here
for a second. Oops. So, it's not letting me do that. So, there's a couple of things. What can be done is establishing a demonstration. This is what I'm proposing like an actionable lowbar
project that the town can take on at very little cost with support from the state. So there could be a demonstration project which is basically a trial project without sinking a lot of money into it and putting in some signage,
putting up paint, can put up um cones to create sort of a temporary bike path that and wayfinding signage that begins to sort of test out the idea
of formalizing use of this private access road and turning it into and bringing in pedestrian infrastructure into that space. So this would require of course full engagement with the community. I think the high school kids need to be engaged as well and obviously
the Squanuk trail folks who are already heavily involved in in in all the work that they do in the community. Um I have spoken to the uh Noah Harper and to Derek Parat
and they have a fund that's available for just this kind of project that they'd be willing to discuss with the town of Townsen. So what I'm proposing is that towns and actually make a call to these mass dot
employees who are running the LEAP project and a leap the leap grant is specifically to bring in to provide support for this kind of project for planning early stage design community outreach and it's all
state funding so you don't have to go through the rigor and roll of getting federal getting the monies that come from federal funding. So this could be used for a variety of reasons, but I think in order to more fully explore this idea of bringing formalizing connectivity and engaging with the
community at large and the business community that this would be a first step that could be taken. So I've also drawn here these sort of um in a lighter purple purplish blue here. I think a solution well George is presenting bringing an access road here which of
course widens the entire roadway but I think a greater solution another solution to consider is bringing the roadway an access road not just for pedestri pedestrians and bicyclists but also for cars to pass between businesses
in the back away from so that these people are not entering back onto 119 to then go to let's say Duncan that they're staying off of the highway while they move between businesses. Um, people are already doing that themselves. They are you can see cutthroughs that are taking
that are already well established not just to the Squanico Trail but across and and through this area right here. You can even on the satellite you can see the warm paths that are there. So I am proposing that um at the very least
that um members of the planning board and staff reach out and discuss the possibilities and think about whether or not uh community outreach can go to finding a solution that's right here in front of you. It's a very lowcost solution to
start the process of bringing in better pedestrian and bike infrastructure and then seeing if there's future possibility of connectivity and accessibility for cars as well. Here on my last slide is just a picture of a demonstration project that was done in Burlington, Vermont. All they've done is
place planters and stripes. That's it. That's the only thing that they've done. It's a very lowcost bar that and sometimes they'll there'll be a limited time of three months or six months or a couple years but the investment is low and it gives the community a chance to
actually try out ideas. So I think I think I'm going to end it there. I don't need to go into a lot more. Um actually I just want to point out one other thing. I think if connectivity is brought internal to the businesses instead of on the road I think that will bring more people in. I think it
actually will help business and community engagement in a place of encountering community and getting people out of their cars. Um, not just bringing the people who normally would walk or would like to bike, but also other people would not need to drive from place to place and begin to bring
more community engagement. Everybody I've spoken to is very excited about these ideas of helping to transform this part of this business part of the community into a place of community engagement and not just a place of shopping and being, you know, moving
your car from place to place. I think that's that's all I want to say. I've got a lot more detail in the report, but I I know it's been a long night for everybody. If anybody has any questions, >> thank you, Grace. I see that Karen has his hand up online. Um Karen, go ahead.
Yeah, thank you uh thank you Grace and everyone else for the presentation. Um so I am one of uh Townsen's grant and uh housing writers if you will and I know with the expertise of MRPC is there a way to help us like estimate
the costs for these types of projects. So this grant that I'm proposing the LEAP grant and the the the name and the name of the grant and the person the contact is in there and I've been in touch with the person who's in charge of our re region whose name is Noah Harper and I've also his boss who is Derek
Kvat. I've actually roughly run this by them and say, "Is this something you'd even consider because of the private public nature? Would that mean you wouldn't?" And they're like, "No, this is a new program. It's a pilot. They're doing 1 million a year for the state for these specifically targeting towns like
Townsen where there not enough resources and staff to do preliminary planning and even demonstration product, you know, projects. So I think that would be a first stop is is well one discussing amongst yourself and maybe bringing in a couple of community members including
from the business community and saying do we want to do this? Let's bring in Noah Harper from Elite and can we fund something that maybe it's just the outreach part where you're talking to people so it's not a burden on staff which would probably end up being Beth
so that um that somebody else can take that on and it's help it's supposed to help small towns with these sorts of obstacles to launching projects. Now a demonstration project is what I'm proposing because the the cost is so low. It also gives a chance of community
engagement. you know, the high school kids could get involved in painting stripes or making signs. There's it becomes um an opportunity to engage people further in this. So, um I think that's did that answer your question, Kieran? >> Sort of. Not really.
>> I think so. Basically check with Noah and see what applicability we have for the business stakeholders within that region and sort of go from there. >> Yeah, >> I see a hand from Brian. >> Uh yes. Uh thanks if I may. Um though
within this report we do go into a number of programs. Um obviously it's it's a little complicated. The roadway is a mass dot facility. Um it's also federal aid eligible as well. So there's a possibility of a tip project for some of the on-road type of
suggestions that we have. Um that would require working with district 3. Um but uh you know limited cost the community as well. Um, Grace mentioned the LEAP program. Again, this is a new program. We brought this
forward to uh people uh within that group at DOT. Uh they're certainly willing to sit down with the community to discuss. Uh another complication is obviously the private properties. Um you know, um you know, there would have to be some
communication with uh the owners of Harbor Village. uh but uh you know the approach that we took was to really uh try to come up with some solutions to improve some of the um perceived
problems and documented problems uh in the area. Um we do go into some detail within the report on next steps uh and those those are two of the main ones that we have. >> Sure. Thanks Brian. I think one of the
questions I have is in terms of the big projects, I understand Grace's suggestion and how it's a lowcost, loweffort of the accessibility from the rail trail, but in terms of some of the bigger ones that George was presenting, what's the next step? You know, what how
would you recommend us approaching it and looking at it and initiating that, you know, try to get something like that done? >> Sure. Um yeah, I I think that uh the appropriate action would be to uh sit down with district 3. Um we have some
information within the report and discuss possibility of a possibly a tip project or uh maybe uh some other lowcost temporary type of solutions. Um, you know, obviously some of the, uh, you
know, it goes into much more detail in the report. Some of the disconnect between the sidewalks in the area, especially on the the south side of of 119, um, are issues. There's some also smaller improvements, sight distance issues. Some of that is just cutting
back brush. That type of thing is detailed a bit in the report. Um but uh if you were to uh um want to uh make a make a major improvement, uh the step would be to sit down with the district 3
because it is a DOT owned facility and uh basically talk about the possibility of initiating a TIP project. Um typically, uh communities initiate these type of projects on town owned facilities that are fed eligible. Um in this case, obviously it's DOT project
Uh, excuse me. Sorry. That's a transportation improvement program. So, this is um, you know, federally funded um, uh, program. Uh, basically the region gets a certain amount of discretionary
funds to spend on projects throughout the Montreus region. Um, it's fully covered. Typically, towns are required to pay for the design um, and commit obviously to such a project. In this case, since it is a DOT facility, uh you
know, you may be able to convince them uh to do uh some design in-house or possibly uh work together on that um process. Uh but um you know, uh there's federal funds out there and and really it's a matter of sitting down and saying
we have these documented problems. You know, I'm sure they have uh some awareness of it. Obviously, they passed a signal warrant um among other things. So, uh, it's kind of a starting point. >> I like that. >> Yeah. Can I add that? I just want to add
real quickly. I think the LEAP program would also help to fund some of the preliminary work to go ahead and pursue the federal funds even though it's a state fund. So, again, I think bringing a table of ideas and things that you would like and engaging in discussion and because it's a pilot, they're they're they don't have hard and
fast rules about what they want to fund. Um, and because it's again it's only state funded, they have some flexibility. So I think if you can demonstrate, you know, compelling argument for what you want to do and what you need funding, I would bring it to the table there and that may be your launching point and assisting with the
somewhat, you know, burdensome process of getting through to the federal funding. >> Sure. >> Thank you, Grace. I see two questions online, but Veronica here in person has a has her hand up as well. also. >> Um my question is around um the
roundabout that's in Peral and um Groten. Uh the I don't know if the roadway at that point is a federal uh a state road or if it's owned by Groten.
Uh I'm wondering what that does to getting things on the tip. Um and and how that would work. I know that we had maybe three years ago put in to have this study done going further out towards 113
um in PEPL and um I I know that PEPL's planning agency isn't MRPC but Grunt is. So how do we get everybody working together to look at this and move it forward? And maybe Peter can talk about
that too. If I may, I will say that it is federal aid eligible. The whole of 119 is uh as per jurisdiction. I can make the assumption that it's DOT in that area going east. Uh but you know, I would have to check.
Nonetheless, it's still eligible for a project through this federal program. Uh and that does start with a discussion with District 3 and Mass DOT because it's all um within District 3's area. >> All right. Uh Peter.
>> Yeah, thanks Andrew. Just briefly, yeah, I mean the the the the bulk of the intersection itself is within Grten. Uh but it is a state road. Uh we previously actually uh uh petitioned masked out to put a light in there after some bad accidents to do that and they have
refused to do that. They at that time the warrants didn't rise to the level they felt a light was necessary. But I I know we would we would definitely support uh working with uh you know DOT on on putting a small rotary in there. The other thing I wanted to say I'm
wearing a couple of hats here. I'm also president of Squanico Greenways which does a Skonica River Rail Trail and we met with Grace. She came to one of our meetings about a month or so ago and what what when we envisioned and started planning on the rail trail that one of the you know reasons for doing that is
to provide safe alternatives for pedestrians and and cyclists coming down uh you know from different parts in town and avoiding 119. So having links off that trail uh up to safe crossings and everything uh across 119 is is great and
something we certainly would be supportive of. Um I I then uh last thing I'll add is the LEAP program. actually in Graten that was we looked at that um uh in in the context of complete streets and this is allowing us to do some additional stuff to address some of the
issues raised in one of our complete streets meeting and we have applied for a leap grant to do some uh engineering work on adding bike lanes within the center of croten and that is money the leap money can be used for some of that engineering that'll satisfy the local uh
contribution need to you know advance these you know advance these programs a little bit further. >> Thank you, >> George. >> Yes. Um, of course you have and thank I'm glad Gratton's here. That's really a
good sign and very very good sign and so uh but also I mean there is another regional planning agency NEMCOG uh Northern Regional Council Governments I mean and they have their they have a tip
as well right. So they could be also contribute to the roundabout at the uh at the intersection as well. Uh and they you know but also they all of course you also have pepper the town of pepper pole
involved. I got that right. Right. Top peril. >> Top. Yeah. >> So, uh, so um, you know, so we there are other people that other communities and and agencies that need to be invol that can
be involved in developing a project. Also, this this school is a regional school, right? Um, so I mean I don't know what what kind of contribution other the other communities could make to this project, but their students are coming from those
towns to the school. I don't know if there's some kind of arrangement that could be made with those communities to help out with this pro project for these for this school. I mean, it shouldn't be I don't think it should be totally Townsen's burden to to do something with
this. It's a regional school, right? So that's is just a suggestion you know I don't know >> I think worth considering but in the recent budget issues across the whole area I struggled to imagine
um you know open arms to spending money from our fellow towns. Brian, I see your hand up. >> Just to make uh sort of one last point, maybe close out our portion of this. Uh, of course, reach out to us and ask
questions to us uh tonight. Uh but um so, you know, we took the approach with this report to uh just kind of determine what's possible. Um you know, we identified some issues, tried to come up with some mitigation measures. you saw
some of the conceptual type of stuff that we presented tonight. Um but uh and I mentioned the funding issue is kind of spelled out uh a lot more clearly within the report. Um but obviously it's up to the community. So uh and also DOT uh on
119. So um you know thank thanks for your involvement. Uh we spoke to the police chief and and Beth Vaxon and uh the town administrator earlier in the year. they gave us some valuable information along with the uh school superintendent as well. So, um please uh
you know, we we hope we're hopeful that uh some improvements can be made one way or the other. Uh but we're always available for questions to to help initiate a project on the tip, put you in contact with the appropriate people at the state level, um or anything along
those lines. So, thank you. >> Sure. George, is that another hand or is that the old hand? >> Oh, that's the old hand. I just like to end by saying that uh do you have any questions about the study at all? Uh just let us know. Uh well, we should
have this finalized uh within the next two weeks. Uh we will get that to you as soon as possible uh in that time period. So, uh look forward to that. And uh and again, thank you so much for having us tonight. Um, you know, it's good to see
a community so heavily involved in this. Uh, we don't often get this type of response, you know, um, when we do studies and and, uh, but we appreciate your involvement. Uh, and wanted to move forward with with the project. Thanks again.
>> Sure. I think I got I I know you guys are working your way out and I know we would like to too, but I got two questions I think for myself. Um, I guess one's a statement. I've never met anybody who likes that intersection and I I don't expect I'll come across people that do. So, it'd be very nice to I
think do something in any capacity. The second one is uh you know with the the state's focus on housing at one point we're looking at some of the property in that area for higher density housing and I'm asking you guys as MRPC are you
aware of or would there be any access to you know grants to help with the traffic if we were to you know encourage or or attempt that could you know have some zoned and overlay district for some greater housing in that area as well. I know that would greatly complicate the
traffic adding more people, but >> yeah, I I would say that I mean, um, you know, the transportation improvement program is your best option. Um, the le least amount of burden to the community. If you're looking for sidewalk type of access type of things, the complete
street program, uh, which Townsen has been successful before, uh, you know, obviously it's a stateowned facility, so it's a little bit different. Um, and of course the LEAP program, which is has been mentioned already, uh, the Mass DOT has a lot of resources. They have a lot
of knowledge of different grants. Some of those we highlight in the report, but they may be something that, uh, they know of as well. Um, but uh those three things stand out to me. >> So, I'm gonna jump on top of what what Brian is saying here. I mean, in my
mind, it's absolutely critical that the business community be engaged because I think they are a key part of the solution to any discussion. Um, I think it would be great if uh all the traffic that is going between businesses on 119 were off of 119 altogether. And um I
think it can be argued and probably studied and defended that it would be an economic advantage for the businesses to develop an integrated cohesive design that was completely accessible. I think that would be very forward-looking in any new business developments already developing this way. So I think there's
a strong not just for the good of community which they should be thinking about but also for their own self-interest to um have an integrated cohesive design where traffic that is going from business to business does not need to exit to 119 in order to do that. So I just wanted to to throw that in
there. >> Sure. Thank you. Is there any other questions for the board or anyone here? >> All right. Thank you guys very much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. All right. So, we don't have very much
left. Um, we added we've done 2.1 2.2 3.1 is town meeting approve zoning amendments and compliance update. Beth, do you have anything specific on that?
>> Uh, yeah. So I did submit the form seven I think it's in the packets to the clerk with all the attachments everything um for the MBTA only amendments is going to go for you know with the rest of the special town meeting packet um I don't
know exactly when he'll send it but that's in process um we also need to uh Karen is going to help update the um the executive Office of Housing and Lovable
Communities um our status after adopting the zoning amendment. So that's going that's coming up soon and I'll let the board know when that gets done. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Do we have to do 3.2 Zero Basin Road, the preliminary subdivision
approval? >> Um I'll just update the board on that. Um, we should expect to hear from, well, you should expect to receive the peerreview letter from the consultant next Monday at noon. Um, but I didn't
know if the board wanted to meet after you get that report or if you want to wait until November 3rd to discuss it. Um the decision on the application has to be made within 45 days of submittal
which puts us at will puts the board at November 6 is the absolute last day according to the timeline. So um that was for my first question. I mean I can schedule a meeting for uh that Wednesday. >> So you expect it to come what is it?
29th >> 27th I'm sorry >> 27th. >> Yeah. Uh and then our next schedule meeting is the third. >> Yeah. >> So you can wait till the third or you can you know meet in the interimm to discuss it. It's it's up to you. >> I would think we would be able to wait
till the third. I can't imagine that they're especially being preliminary that they're trying to break ground right right now or anything. >> Perfect. And I can write up you know that decision before the third. >> Sure. Sure. Um, and then I'm assuming
no, but would you want to have the uh engineer at the meeting? I figured probably not because you want to just probably review the letter, right? >> Yeah, I think so. I think >> Yeah, >> I don't I don't know if we necessarily need them or we can review u
I think the only uh I guess questions or things that I've heard about the application looking at it would potentially be some of the percent grades. Yeah. >> Considering those >> but if the engineers going to look at those then um you know we should be able to read whatever they put together.
>> Yeah. Straightforward. >> Yeah. Okay. That sounds fine. Um 3.3 is site plan review recodification and economic development project updates. >> Yeah. Um delete or defer.
>> Yeah. Uh we briefly heard from Joe Bole with MRPC. U he doesn't have any updates right now. He's diverted two other tests. So there's nothing material there. And then we did add 3.4 approved the extension of storm water management
permit SM 2023-03. >> Is that um >> Mr. King's application 66 Bay Hill Road. Um he submitted the application for extension. Um it's fully complete. Uh
the only thing that will be changing this time, well he has uh elected to to um move ahead with the right of entry. Um it's kind of a convoluted story, but when the first
permit was issued, the regulations were different and there was a very stringent regulation of um having an easement on the property. Yes. So, it's now much easier and we have a right of entry form and I actually filled it out for you so
you can look at it and get you know have your lawyer look at it whatever it's for and then so that would be the only case and um you can decide how long you know ask how long he would like the extension for. It's up to the board. I don't think
you have like a set number of years. I think you can do two, three, but >> do we need to do we need to have repostings or public hearings or >> Yeah, this is an extension of an existing permit in good standing. Uh we do have but put your submitted a couple
of reports in there. Everything's good to go. So >> my computer is dead, but I did look briefly at it. I know having talked to Brett, I believe Brent as planning board member would have stayed from this. Yes. But conveniently, we have the applicant here
for the extension. Does anyone on the board have any questions or comments or concerns or anything? Have a chance to look at it and such. >> So, okay. Until we uh care, we'll ask the applicant, do you
care about the length or do you have a preference on the length of the extension? >> No. >> All right. >> It's typically two years then. >> Two years. shrunk it two years. >> Can can I extend it again if need be for some reason? Okay.
>> It's a check in. Yeah. >> Um would the appropriate motion be to approve the um permit for an extension of two years with an extension period of two years? >> Yeah. Just then put the storm water management permit number in there um the
applicant the project and make a motion to extend that particular permit for two years. and I'll figure out the date. >> So, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the extension of storm water
management permit SN2023-03 for the applicant um Brett King for a period of two years. >> So, moved. >> So, moved. Second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I I >> I
uh can you vote on storm water? You can't vote. It's just special purpose. Okay, fair enough. >> Thank you. >> We have three in favor. Passes. Excellent. And one obstension. All right. Uh and that does it for all
the business we had tonight. So our next scheduled meeting is going to be November 3rd and November 17th. >> Anybody have any questions or any comments or anything? >> I have a question. Who's the MJTC rep for the planning
board? >> I believe it's Heartley. >> MJ JTC. >> MJTC. Okay. Because that's where you would find out about the tip. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. Um the that roundabout up at the end of Wheeler Road in Ashby. That was
on the tip. That was >> followed the process. It's a five-year plan. >> Sure. >> That comes out every fall, I think, >> that gets voted on and comments, etc., etc. >> So, >> I think I mean I think it'd be great to
do something there. >> I love the roundabout idea. Yes. >> Yes. >> But I think the traffic light, but the school might be, you know, more immediate. That that will be a while till that >> gets sure. Um,
>> yeah. It sounds like Kieran will be reaching out for the uh the grace portion >> and then would you be willing and able to reach out to Mass Dot to the district 3 and initiate that communication? >> Yeah. >> Okay.
>> Excellent. >> And I just wanted to add, did you know that the um bus is still running? >> I I I thought yes, I knew it was still running, but I thought it was you have to schedule it. It's on it. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. If you want to use the M bus, you
call them and schedule. >> Um, so I'm glad. >> I didn't know that. >> Shouldn't we highway superintendent Jimmy Smith and this I I believe we invited Jib Smith, the highway. >> Yeah, he he did say he was coming, but
maybe >> Well, no, I mean it's like ongoing discussions with DOT and working on a tip or something. You would think that >> Yes, Jim would be definitely. So we set up a meeting with Mass. I think we should at least invite the TA
as well. >> Sure. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Sure. And then we can work on getting contact information I think for all the businesses and everybody and try to figure out >> agreement might already have
relationships with them. I don't know. >> So you might want to reach out to them to get them. I remember when we when the Starbucks buttons thing came through. Remember these people came that sort of owned all the Harbor Village? Sure. Sure. Yeah. Southern Real. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, all right. Like to entertain a
motion to adjourn. >> I'll make a motion to adjourn. >> 8:26. >> 8:26. >> Second. >> Second. Harley. All those in favor? >> I >> I have it. Thank you everybody.