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2009-01-14 CITY OF BEVERLY PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES BOARD OR COMMISSION: SUBCOMMITTEE: DATE: LOCATION: MEMBERS PRESENT: Parking and Traffic Commission MEMBERS ABSENT: OTHERS PRESENT: RECORDER: January 14, 2009 City Hall Conference Room Chairman Richard Benevento, William Bent, Richard Hutchinson, Tina Cassidy, Sgt. John Shairs Sue Mueller, Bill Fiore Eileen Sacco Benevento calls the meeting to order at 9:35 a.m. Aooroval of Minutes Benevento asks if anyone has any changes to suggest to the draft minutes of the December 10, 2008 meeting. There are none. Hutchinson: motion to approve the draft minutes of the Parking and Traffic Commission meeting held on December 10, 2008, seconded by Shairs. All members in favor, no one in opposition. The motion carries. 1. Discussion and Update: Herrick and Heather Street parking issues/Shairs Benevento notes that the matter was resolved from the Parking and Traffic Commission perspective at the last meeting. He questions if the owner of the property was notified of the problem with the variance condition not having been met. Cassidy states that she contacted the Building Inspector via email to alert him to the issue. Shairs updates the members, explaining he conducted a site visit to the area and that the signage currently posted prohibits parking from now until April 1. Snow banks and snow cover obscure portions of the area, making site observations difficult. As a result he suggests postponing further discussion until the spring. Benevento agrees and suggests that the matter be tabled until the April meeting, when restricted parking ends and site observations possible. He also suggests that a letter be sent to the City Council notifying them that additional reports from the Commission on this matter will be forthcoming in April. 2. Discussion: Handicapped Parking Space Requests/Shairs Shairs explains that he looked at the form the Registry of Motor Vehicles for Handicap Placard!Plate and outlines the form he drafted for the City's use. He notes that it is a one page form for the City to use for handicapped parking signs and he collaborated with the City's ADA Coordinator, Art Daignault in preparing it. He further explains that people who apply for such spaces should be residents of Beverly and requests should not be for the purpose of providing Final P&T Commission meeting minutes Page 1 of8 January 17, 2009 meeting handicapped parking for occasional visitors. He also notes that he will require a copy of a handicap placard from the Registry of Motor Vehicles and/or the license and registration of the applicant, explaining that not all handicapped individuals have cars and are driven by relatives. Cassidy states that she likes the idea and feels that it will address the concerns of the City Council regarding their ability to handle such requests in a timely fashion. The Commission reviews a list of Handicap Parking spaces throughout the City that was compiled by Daignault for every City street. Benevento suggests that a tickler file be created to track handicap spaces. Bent: motion to approve the form for Handicap Parking applications for the City of Beverly and to write a letter to the City Council recommending this new approach. Motion seconded by Hutchinson, no one in opposition. The motion carnes. Hutchinson suggests that the matter be reviewed periodically. Cassidy recommends that the Commission conduct a semi-annual review of handicap parking spaces in July and December. 3. Discussion/recommendation to Planning Board: Site Plan Review Application #98- 08: New CVS Pharmacy at the corner of Elliott and Rantoul Streets / Atty. Mark Glovsky et al The Commission reviews the comments provided by Bent and Benevento regarding the Traffic Impact and Access Study for the proposed CVS (Routes 1A and 62) dated October 2008. Bent summarizes his comments and notes that the traffic study for the proposed CVS facility accurately defines the likely impacts to traffic in the study area, noting that it follows standards of the traffic engineering profession. He also notes that his comments will not likely alter the conclusions of the study and are offered for consideration. Bent recalls that the report states that the peak hour traffic flows were not adjusted for season conditions based on Mass Highway seasonal count data and asked for documentation on the count stations. Bent notes that the report states that pedestrians were counted as part of the Turning Movement Counts and requests data in the flow diagrams. He also notes that the report states that a majority of pedestrians did not use the pedestrian push buttons and requests documentation for this as well. Chris Iannuzi from the traffic consulting firm VHB states that they used higher numbers and explains the CTPS study observations. He reviews the Signalized Intersection Capacity Analysis Summary that they provided and refers to Table 3. He also questions whether the Route 1A reconstruction project is further along than it is. Benevento explains that it (the Route 1A construction project) is probably at 25% design and explains that it is probably several years from actual construction. He states that VHB and CVS should not assume that the City project will be in place prior to the new store's opening, and that Final P&T Commission meeting minutes Page 20f8 January 17, 2009 meeting CVS should assume it will have to implement at least some traffic mitigation measures if it wants to open the new store on the schedule they envision. Benevento also notes that parking may need to be eliminated along the southbound side ofRantoul Street and the northbound side of Elliott Street. He notes that VHB has done the analysis and now must identify the issues and problems that will likely arise with the new project, and come back to the Commission with solutions on how to solve them. Bent notes that there may be some immediate steps that could be taken now. Benevento notes that project construction is probably several years down the road but agrees that some of these things can or must be solved now. Bent states that the biggest disappointment in the study is the safety analysis. He notes that two locations show above average crash rates and it would seem an appropriate level of analysis of that should follow, such as contact with the City's Traffic Sergeant/Safety Officer, documentation of clearance and sight distances and preparation of collision diagrams. He notes that these will be helpful to the City as it moves forward with improvements in the study area. Iannuzi reports that they looked at the crash data and there were 13 crashes in a three year period, explaining that 12 were during daylight hours. From that VHB concludes that there are no obvious physical deficiencies in the roadway's construction/layout. He also notes that less than 25% of the crashes occurred during peak traffic hours. He adds that the existing building on the corner blocks the view of vehicles moving from Park to Elliott Street. Bent states that he is looking at the next level and would like to see collision data and signal clearance times. Bent states that the data for the traffic operations should include lane groups and movements, not just the overall results. Bent also notes that for the site plan he would urge them to consider the potential difficulties in blocking the drive-through pharmacy window with trucks making deliveries to the proposed loading dock. He notes that he recognizes that this will only occur during isolated times of the day or week, yet as a minimum some type of warning should be given to customers when a truck is blocking these lanes. Paul Beck, Vice-President of Gershman Brown Crowley, Inc. explains that the manager of the store will put out traffic cones when deliveries are made and CVS tries to keep the number of deliveries down to once or twice a week. He explains that there are two prototypes of CVS stores and they all tend to follow the same procedures and layout based on the type of store. Cassidy suggests the Commission (and eventually the Planning Board) could impose a condition that would require the drive-through lanes to be closed during delivery times. Benevento agreeds, noting that it would have to be enforced and the drive-through be closed during deliveries. Final P&T Commission meeting minutes Page 30f8 January 17, 2009 meeting Benevento reviews his comments on the traffic study and notes that a short segment of on-street parking spaces exist along the westbound side of Elliott Street between Rantoul Street and Park Street. He also notes that west of this on street parking the westbound Elliot Street travel widens to two travel lanes. Benevento states that the spaces were reported in the TIAS as not being used, and further, existing buildings adjacent to the parking spaces are proposed to be removed as part of the development and adequate parking for CVS is proposed onsite. He questions whether the on-street parking spaces on the north side of Elliott Street west of the intersection should be removed, in order to extend the second travel lane to Rantoul Street. Glovsky explains that the parking along Elliott Street was for stores that are no longer operating there. Shairs notes that there are still a number of small businesses in the area that may rely on those spaces. Benevento notes that if parking along this segment of Elliott Street is removed and a second westbound Elliot Street lane is provided at the Park Street intersection, the impact of such changes should be reflected in the LOS analysis. Cassidy asks Shairs if occasional parking along Elliott Street would upset the residents and businesses there. Shairs states that most of the residences and businesses are empty but the spots are being utilized but he would recommend eliminating the parking nonetheless. Benevento asks the applicant to submit a written response to the Commission's concerns, to expedite the review process and provide a basis for eventual Commission recommendations. Benevento notes that the volume-to-capacity ratio for traffic in an urban setting needs to be adhered to and stresses that the City cannot accept an unsafe condition as a result of the new construction. Iannuzi states that they are in the process of addressing that with their software provider who is in turn addressing an inconsistency in their software. Benevento states that that the ATM data calculations should be gathered by observing ATM's that are in similar areas. Benevento notes that the table that summarizes operations at the unsignalized intersection should specify operation of left turns from the main street of the intersection. He says he does not see left turns into the site being a problem and full access in the right access out. He also notes that internal circulation should note one way areas with signage for the back of the building drive- through. Glovsky states that the Planning Board has suggested that they would prefer to see the building closer to the street and that would interfere with the circulation suggested by the Commission. He states that it would be helpful if the Commission would explain the benefits of the present location of the building to the Planning Board. Final P&T Commission meeting minutes Page 40f8 January 17, 2009 meeting Cassidy notes that one Board suggestion was to pull the building closer to Rantoul Street. Benevento notes that the layout is critical to safety issues of the site. He also notes that the Fire Department would like access to every side of the building but the bottom line is that they will fight a fire from the street if they have to. Benevento states that he does not support moving the building closer to Elliott Street though, since doing so would potentially re-create sight distance issues at that intersection. Benevento states that he is not prepared to make a recommendation on this application until he sees the revisions and suggested mitigation measures from VHB. He suggest that additional information on the quantification of data be provided along with clarification on issues of concern to the Commission and attendant recommendations. Cassidy explains that the Planning Board will be discussing this project again on January 20, 2009. Glovsky stated that he thinks it would be advisable to continue the public hearing with the Planning Board so that they can get input from the Commission. Discussion ensues regarding meeting schedules and the time frame for the applicant. The next meeting of the Commission will be on February 11, 2009. Bent: motion to continue discussion of the CVS site plan review application to the February 11, 2009 Commission meeting. Seconded by Hutchinson, all members in favor. The motion carries. Cassidy: motion to hold a five minute recess, seconded by Bent. All members in favor, no one in opposition. The motion carries. 4. Discussion/recommendation: Order #276: Installation of "No Parking Here to Corner" sign at the intersection of Linden and Porter Streets and installation of "No Parking" sign in near proximity / Councilor W es Slate Shairs explains that on Porter Street there is a hill near the intersection of Linden Street that creates a situation with no defined road edge. The hill comes off the east side of Porter Street and abuts the roadway and extends southward for a distance of approximately fifty feet. There is no curbing or sidewalk in this area. He explains that he went down there with Slate and they agreed that the existing "no parking here to corner" sign which is already posted is sufficient to address Slate's concern. Bent: Motion to send a letter to the City Council noting that Sgt. Shairs conducted a site visit on the Commission's behalf, the Commission has considered the matter and the problem appears to be non-existent. Hutchinson seconds the motion, no one in opposition. The motion carries. 5. Discussion: Removal of "No Right on Red" sign at the corner of Balch and Cabot Streets Cassidy reported that at the last meeting Hutchinson suggested that the City should consider eliminating the prohibition on right hand turns from Balch Street onto Cabot Street. She notes that Final P&T Commission meeting minutes Page 5 018 January 17, 2009 meeting the traffic from Cummings Center is often blocked at this location, since there is only one travel lane shared by both left- and right-turning traffic. Shairs reports that he looked at the accident records for that corner and notes that there have been 12 accidents in the last three years at this location, including 1 hit and run, 17 motor vehicle violations, and 29 red light violations. He states that he is concerned that the numbers will increase if the sign is removed, and further notes that there were 13 accidents with the sign and he is concerned it would be more dangerous without it. Hutchinson agrees with Shairs' report. Benevento states that he would defer to Sgt. Shairs' comments. He also notes that the new design for Route 1A may address Hutchinson's concerns. Shairs: motion to leave the "No Right on Red" sign at the Corner of Balch and Cabot Streets at present. Cassidy seconds the motion, no one in opposition. The motion carnes. 6. New or Other Business a. Update on 12-22-08 Council Committee Meeting Presentation Benevento reported on the meeting with the Beverly City Council held on December 22, 2008. He noted that he thought that the meeting went very well and they reviewed the process for reviewing requests to the PTC. He also noted that agendas and meeting minutes are now being forwarded to the Councillors which will help to keep them informed. He stated that he thinks that overall the Council thinks that the PTC is doing good work. Benevento also explained that he suggested that the PTC give the Council an order of magnitude which would give a cost estimate, or in some cases be funded by the PTC. Cassidy explains that the funds that are under the control of the PTC come from parking meters and notes that the money is committed for parking meters etc. and in about three years the Commission will be able to appropriate funds and there may be projects that could be funded. Benevento requested a report on the balances in that account be reviewed at the next meeting. He requested the current balances and the annual revenue b. Parking Issue at 14 May Street Shairs explains that there is an issue on May Street regarding restricted parking on the North side of the street. He notes that the resident of 14 May Street reports that she has a hard time backing out of her driveway. Shairs reports that he visited the area and he does not see a problem that can be fixed, noting that the vehicles that he observed were in compliance, and parked five feet from her driveway. He states that part of the problem is the fact that a tenant across the street habitually parks across the end of his own driveway, but Shairs states that there is nothing illegal with that practice. Final P&T Commission meeting minutes Page 60f8 January 17, 2009 meeting Benevento suggests that the Commission send a letter to the resident stating that it has reviewed the situation and everything was found to be in compliance, and that the elimination of any spaces would cause problems for the neighborhood as a whole. c. Request from St. Mary's to Erect Signs on Route 62 that Identify the Location of /Route to the School Shairs reports that he received a request from a parent of a student at St. Mary's who has requested that the school be given permission to erect directional signage on City streets to guide visitors to the school. Shairs explains that the school held a function late in 2008 resulted and many visitors had a hard time finding the school. He notes that typically signs of that nature are not allowed on City streets and expresses a concern that if the City were to grant St. Mary's permission to erect this signage, other entities (like schools, business parks, fraternal clubs) would request the same. Cassidy agrees and suggests that the school may be able to address this infrequent issue by including directions to the school in future event announcements/invitations. Benevento concurs and notes that the State does not allow them. d. Main Streets/Rantoul St. Merchant Request to Install speed limit signs on Rantoul Street Shairs explains that the Commission received a request, via Main Streets, from merchants on Rantoul Street to post speed limit signs on that road. Benevento states that the default speed limit is 30 miles per hour on Rantoul Street and the request should be referred to the MassHighway Department for consideration, since it is a State numbered route. He suggests that the Commission communicate with the merchants through Main Streets to notify them of the default speed limit. e. Adjournment Benevento asks if there is any other business for the Commission to discuss. There is none. Shairs: moved to adjourn, seconded by Hutchinson. All members in favor, no one opposed. The motion carried. The meeting is adjourned at 11 :50 a.m. Final P&T Commission meeting minutes Page 70f8 January 17, 2009 meeting Final P&T Commission meeting minutes Page 80f8 January 17, 2009 meeting