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20220629 Special City Council Meeting Minutes I CITY OF BEVERLY PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES 10171 CEC I q P 4. Ob BOARD: Special City Council Meeting DATE: June 29, 2022 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Julie Flowers (Council President),At-large; Todd Rotondo (Vice-President), Ward 1; Hannah Bowen, At-large; Brendan Sweeney,At-large; Estelle Rand, Ward 2; Steven Crowley, Ward 3; Scott Houseman, Ward 4; Kathleen Feldman, Ward 5; Matthew St. Hilaire, Ward 6 OTHERS PRESENT: Jesse Dole, Assistant City Solicitor; Lisa Chandler, Assistant City Engineer; Darlene Wynne, Director of Planning RECORDER: Sharlyne Woodbury Flowers chairs and opens the meeting at 6:30pm. Councilor Sweeney leads the Pledge of Allegiance. Public Hearing Mayor Cahill opens, gives brief comments, and provides an overview of the parking requests. One parking request is in Beverly Farms near the green gate entrance to Beverly Commons. Due to increased public use the city would like to ensure and properly maximize parking and safety in the neighborhood.Request to have parking allowed on the outside of Stone Ridge Circle.No parking on the right going in. Allowed parking on the curb next to the woods. Another request is to ensure safe and increased parking down by the Anchor Pub and Beverly Salem Bridge. Would like to put kiosks in the harbormaster lot,the creamery lot, and across from Rowan's. The city will begin to enforce Thursday-Saturday evenings between 4:00pm-8:00pm. The city would like to be ahead of parking demand before Mission Boathouse opens. The estimated opening will most likely be after boating season. The third request is a recommendation to decrease the allowed parking between Rantoul and Cabot from 4 hours to 2 hours in order to accommodate increased parking demand and restaurant turnover for the Anchor and Mission Boathouse. Resident sticker parking will not be affected by the change. The mayor turns further discussion over to Attorney Jesse Dole. #181-Proposed amendments to Chapter 270 of the City Ordinances relative to parkin regulations at various locations in the city Dole walks the council through some of the areas labeled in the Beverly Downtown Parking ordinance. Congress Streets was not described correctly in the ordinance. There are three key areas the solicitor's office identified and are seeking approval on. The first is the"Green Zone". This is the metered, on street parking with kiosks. The"Red Zone"between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm, with the exception of resident only parking. This zone is currently capped at four hours for downtown parking. The final area is the"Blue Zones". These areas are the off-street parking lot designations. Special City Council Meeting June 29,2022 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 7 In the green metered zone,the city is permitted to charge $0.75 cents an hour. The amendment increases the charge to $1.00 per hour. The red zone allows nonresidents to park for a maximum of 4 hours. The amendment would decrease nonresidents to permit for two-hour parking maximum. This allows the residents to have greater access to their homes and encourages local businesses to increase foot traffic. The city found that nonresidents were taking advantage of the 4-hour limit and it is difficult to enforce. Another small change on Judson Street. The first space is a metered space. The change is to make it a red zone space. The blue zone change would permit the Beverly City Hall lot to be metered for Friday 4:OOpm-8:OOpm and Saturday 8:OOam- 8:00pm. On Sundays and holidays it is free to park in all city lots. The other two lots known as the creamery lot and harbormaster lot would like to change the hours of metering from Thursday through Saturday 4:OOpm-8:OOpm. This not only assists turnover for restaurants but also allows the local fisherman access for parking. The city has an easement for the footprint under the bridge. Those lots may not be charged because they do not belong to the city. The Department of Transportation owns that real estate by the waterfront. The amendment to the ordinance would not permit for charging the spaces but would permit to impose time limits in those parking spaces. In the Congress/Cabot lot area, there are about eight spaces on Summit Ave the city would like to add to the red zone. This is to provide relief to residents on Summit Ave. Dole confirms the mayor's description for amendments on Greenwood Ave are sufficient and asks council members for questions and topic discussion. Councilor Rotondo begins discussion by addressing Council Dole and asks why not keep Tuesday and Wednesday for blue zone lots by the Anchor. He received several phone calls and was surprised that residents and local businesses jointly preferred to keep the ordinance to include Tuesday and Wednesday because they are equally busy days. Mayor Cahill responds. The city is looking to restrict as little as possible. This is a very unscientific approach. Typically, the busiest dinner night outs are Thursday through Saturday. Rotondo suggests keeping it as written. The area is busy without the new restaurant opening. It is expected to become even busier after Mission Boathouse opens. Rotondo suggests better enforcement and a trial period of the suggested amendment. The councilor acknowledges this area is going to be trial and error. Councilor Rand would like to ease these restrictions. She supports moving in increments to the parking adjustments. Rand clarifies the parking time limit under the bridge is only between the hours of 4:OOpm and 8:OOpm. The mayor replies affirmatively. Other questions include where the ordinance allows employees of businesses located in downtown Beverly to apply for parking permit. Rand asks if fishing boats are being counted as downtown Beverly businesses. Currently the city allows for free parking to the fishing boats. Mayor Cahill responds that the city was not heading in that direction. The city does not want the commercial or recreational boaters frustrated with parking tickets. The city would like to collaborate as much as possible with the boaters. The city's understanding is that most of the commercial fisherman operate outside of the proposed restricted hours. They typically leave very early in the morning and return by early to late afternoon. Mayor Cahill turns discussion to Ms. Chandler, Assistant City Engineer. Special City Council Meeting June 29,2022 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 7 Ms. Chandler provides additional information on the downtown parking program, signage, kiosk installation notification, and updates to the city parking website. She provides additional information for recommended red zone expansion. She further discusses the loopholes and flaws within the existing ordinance as written. For example, in order to maximize free parking, nonresident cars will simply move from space to space to avoid paying any meters and does not permit for the proper flow of traffic for businesses. Enforcement is an issue. The 2-hour time restriction will clean some of that up. Since 2017/2018 the city has had time to see how the parking ordinance truly functions, which is why these recommended amendments are before the council today. Chandler notes that another amendment will be for Margin Street and River Street, currently identified as "Purple Zone" parking will change to green zone. Makes it easier on the enforcement side to reduce the amount of zones to enforce. Chandler clarifies the employee parking pass does not guarantee a spot; it merely ensures that the employee would not have the same parking restrictions if they are in a lot. Any future passes issued will operate in the same manner. Councilor Rand says restricting the parking enforcement from 4:00pm-8:00pm is a thoughtful compromise and a good start. Rand asks if School Street and Cox Court can be included in the red zone. Chandler says at this point there is no intention to do so. Rand asked if the off street lots have enough parking to support the nighttime activity during the time restrictions. Chandler acknowledges after 8:00pm there is no city parking enforcement. Rand inquires if there could be a permitting process for the under the bridge parking for employees and commercial fisherman and asks about another designation for downtown waterfront businesses, excluding restaurant employees. Mayor Cahill reminds the Council that Mr. Bloomberg, Mission Boathouse owner, guaranteed to the city that restaurant employees will have offsite parking. Councilor St. Hilaire agrees with the recommendations for the amendment to the Beverly Farms parking restrictions at the Beverly Commons. Feedback from residents has been positive. St. Hilaire inquires if there will be a review for the public using the Glen Urquhart School parking lot for trail hiking access, etc. Mayor Cahill recaps for the council that years ago, local mountain bikers struck an agreement with the school to allow public parking. This was to ease some of the parking demand up near the circle. Unfavorable behaviors in the parking lot created an untenable situation for the local neighbors. Due to that situation, the school no longer permits public parking. Parking is now all on public ways. St. Hilaire asks about the dedicated parking for Mission Boathouse and how many spaces are required. Mayor Cahill recalls the zoning for commercial businesses. The parking requirement is 1 parking space per 4 seats in a restaurant. The number of spaces in that lot is 62. The additional spaces in the harbormaster lot and under the bridge are cumulative 40 spaces. They have more than required under the zoning. Mission Boathouse has an agreement with Brian Kelly for an offsite lot. Finding additional parking is going to be critical for the area. Part of that need must be met by an agreement for offsite parking. The city is trying to find more parking spaces. The MBTA insisted upon indemnification of 18 parking spaces along the railroad. Therefore, that agreement did not proceed. The city is looking for additional access to parcels to increase parking. St. Hilaire asks about the city hall parking lot. Mayor Cahill assures the council that the parking lot designation will not impact those doing business with city hall. Very rarely is the occasion where a city hall meeting occurs on a Friday night. St. Hilaire primarily wants assurance on the rare occasions the city needs the lot, early voting, etc. that they will have the ability to use it for city purposes. The Special City Council Meeting June 29,2022 Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 7 mayor confirms the city will have purview over the lot usage when necessary for city hall business. At-large Councilor Bowen follows up with city hall parking. Is there some thought to reserving staff parking in order for them to have a space at all times for business. Mayor Cahill does not want to encourage staff to work on the weekends. Mayor Cahill believes there should be spots available with the exception of busy Saturday nights when there are dual events such as dinner and a show. Bowen seeks assurance that enforcement can be temporarily changed if there are any business needs by the city. Bowen asks general questions for increasing turnover to the downtown area. Are the shuttle for the employees parking, will that also include picking up customers. And there will be encouragement for biking infrastructure? The mayor replies, the restaurant will also pick up patrons and the shuttle as part of the parking agreement. The mayor discusses future biking infrastructure. They are looking for ways to make walking and biking routes safer in order to increase that transportation preference in the future. Bowen discusses the cost for the employee parking program. Bowen notes the program is not supposed to be part of generating revenue. Suggests reducing the cost in order to encourage better parking behaviors. Chandler replies with the program specifics. She would like to see employees increase their use of passes and confirms the $25.00 is cheaper than paying for the parking lot fee. Bowen points out the financial effects of Covid. Bowen asks if the wayfinding and signage could be clearer in the Beverly Commons area. Bowen asks where the proposed amendments stand with the Parking and Traffic Commission. Cahill notes there is no requirement that any ordinance amendment go before the PTC, however; the council can refer any part of the ordinance for the PTC to review. Bowen would like to refer the amendments to the PTC for their input. Councilor Houseman asks about the proposed development behind the Dollar Store. Did the city anticipate that parking demand. There is a lease arrangement with the Dana Family who own the lot. Darlene Wynne, Director of Planning, points out there are separate parcels that will remain, specifically for what is known as Fuloon's and Coastal Windows. The other parcel for the development will be used in totality for the project. Those spaces will no longer be available to the public. There are about 100 spaces removed from the inventory. Wynne confirms the development on its own meets the parking requirement under zoning. The parking they provide will become private. Houseman confirms the development is not looking to use additional public parking other than what the development will provide for their residents. Mayor Cahill confirms the city is looking to foster a public-private partnership with the development team to include more parking than required to relieve some of the public parking demand. Mayor Cahill confirms the development also owns lot on Chapman at the corner of Federal Street. The development will build 113 units and are required to provide 153 parking spaces. Wynne confirms the applications submitted is by right. According to the proposed project submission, the site will have ground level parking for its residents. Cahill confirms the project team is amendable to working with the city to find reasonable solutions to address the loss of lots for public parking. Houseman asks, if the parking cannot be preserved on this site for the public, how the displacement will affect the residents and the city. Wynne confirms the city applied for a grant to do an additional parking study through the Community One Stop program with the specific goal to identify additional parking and ways to mitigate the parking demand. This is a follow on to the 2017 parking study. The city recognizes Special City Council Meeting June 29,2022 Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 7 the parking is a problem. Houseman repeats his concern and asks if the loss of these spaces in the long term is incorporated into the changes the council is considering tonight. Cahill confirms the city is working with public-private partnership for loss of inventory for public parking. The city is trying to work with areas where the private parking is underutilized. Rand asks if the creamery lot will receive an upgrade or reengineering. Chandler confirms there are no plans for restriping, repaving or re-curbing. There are no plans to rebuild that lot or the harbormaster wharf lot. Chair Flowers opens the floor for public comment. Councilor Feldman will play the 3-minute timer for public comment. Isabelle Shaw, 6 Milton Street Points out there is no parking on either side of Milton Street. Asks the councilors to review the ordinance for that correction. Shaw owns a commercial fishing boat. Asks the council to consider metered parking in the proposed lots. Shaw confirms fishermen return at all different hours. Cahill replies the state owns the footprint under the bridge via eminent domain. There will be no charge, only a time limit imposed. Cahill confirms the city wants to meet with the commercial fisherman to clarify the language and understand the particulars in order to not disrupt the fisherman. Therese Sauvageau, 20 Cabot Street Concerned about parking for the fishermen and encourages permitted parking for them. Encourages permits for employees, especially at the Anchor. How would the employees retrieve the parking pass. Chandler explains the city portal to obtain the employee pass. Chandler does not believe the parking at the waterfront is included in the current employee permit area, specifically at the lots discussed tonight. Sauvageau believes that is unfair. Sauvageau believes employees should have the right to park where they work. Chair Flowers will follow up on whether the lots have the capacity to expand and include the program along the waterfront. Suzanne LaMont, 20 Porter Street Seeks clarification on"the creamery lot" and on the Cabot/Summit Congress/Summit inconsistencies within the document. Asks that the language be clarified for the Cabot lot. Dole clarifies the lot lines between the stretch between the train tracks and where Cabot Street turns. The little stretch is where Congress Street begins and continues over the tracks. LaMont finds the Cabot designation confusing. Dole notes the lot has been historically referred to as the "creamery lot". The lot, predating the amendments, is identified as the lot between Summit Ave and Cabot Street"the Summit/Cabot lot". Mayor Cahill confirms the historic name can be kept. LaMont suggests the segment discussed over the train tracks on Congress Street naming convention be referred to consistently throughout the document. Dole reviews those areas throughout the ordinance and explains how those ambiguities were cleaned up and referred to. LaMont has concerns over electric vehicle parking for turnover and the cars using those spaces. Ensure the proper cars and utilization are applied in those spaces. Mayor Cahill addresses the charging station concerns. Dole offers a friendly amendment to the ordinance and refers to 270-66 sections B-F to identify that nonelectric vehicles shall not park in charging stations and that Special City Council Meeting June 29,2022 Meeting Minutes Page 6 of 7 electric vehicles shall not park in charging stations when not charging. Dole also refers to the language imposing fines for those improper uses. Danielle Spang, 16 Mulberry Street Would like to encourage alternative transportation methods to downtown, such as bike sharing and a shuttle. Encourage people to park at the Cummings Center during off hours, a shuttle can accommodate that need. Bike sharing should include one-way fares. Spang also asks the city to look into large multi-family dwellings where there is onsite parking. Perhaps those residents would not be issued permit parking. Spang asks the city to review the legalities with permit parking. One page 16 of the proposal, as is written in section 270-66.B.3(e), discusses employees who have parking passes. Employees who have parking permits for the lots are able to park in time limited zones for longer than 4 hours. Incentivize employees to pay for the passes. They can park in both the lots and on the resident streets. Linda Cross, 28 Front Street The neighbors are concerned with the time limits. That boaters will spill over into their neighborhood. They have concerns with the restaurant as well. Any time the weather is nice, parking spills into their neighborhoods from the Jubilee Yacht Club, onto Bartlett and Front Street. What is the city's mitigation plan for the residents, will the neighbors be able to have resident parking. Chair Flowers closes the public hearing. Flowers asks the council to discuss Ms. Shaw's question about Milton Street. Dole confirms Milton Street is not affected by the amendments. Milton Street is currently listed as resident parking only between the hours of 8:00am and 8:OOpm, with a four hour maximum. Milton Street is part of the red zone parking. Dole will further coordinate with Ms. Shaw regarding her concerns. Houseman asks why the fishermen are simply not issued a parking pass. Rand replies that the harbor management authority has been working diligently with the administration regarding the parking at the waterfront. Cahill informs the council the administration will be collaborating with the commercial fishermen for waterfront parking. Houseman suggests the administration consider issuing a pass to the commercial fishermen. Rotondo points out the recreational fishermen would like to be included in the parking discussion as well. There being no further comments or concerns, no further discussion on the matter. 4181-Proposed amendments to Chapter 270 of the City Ordinances relative to parkin relzulations at various locations in the city (Final Passage) Bowen moves to refer the matter to the Parking and Traffic Commission for further review and advice. Rand seconds. Motion carries 7-2. Rotondo and Sweeney dissent. St. Hilaire asks for the PTC meeting schedule and how their review may impact the urgency of the need. Flowers notes this was not a late file on the administration. St. Hilaire is more concerned with the urgency for parking needs. Wynne confirms the next PTC meeting is scheduled for July 19, 2022. Flowers confirms the next council meeting is August 16, 2022. Special City Council Meeting June 29,2022 Meeting Minutes Page 7 of 7 Bowen understands the restaurant will not be open by August. Rotondo asks the council take into consideration the other parts of the ordinances where they may be urgent needs. Sweeney agrees with Rotondo and points out there are other smaller projects between Cabot and Rantoul Street that require attention to parking deficiencies. The mayor confirms they have already opened up the city hall parking lot. Cahill confirms temporary signage can be used until PTC has an opportunity to review the change in ordinance. Chandler offers final comments. The implementation and reprogramming of kiosks will not be effective overnight. Chandler would hold off until after the PTC recommendation to ensure there are no changes especially with signage and permit parking. Houseman asks what is on the PTC agenda and will they be able to address and speak to the ordinance amendments. Wynne outlines the PTC agenda. Wynne confirms the current agenda can handle another topic. Cahill notes he will ask Chief LeLacheur for temporary urgent signage for the Cabot and Summit parking issues. Chair Flowers confirms Order 181 is referred to the Parking and Traffic Commission for further review at their July 19, 2022 meeting. Houseman asks the administration to submit to the council in writing the specific language for the amendments. Feldman asks a procedural question regarding the action on the motion. Flowers confirms once PTC refers the matter back to council,they will be able to take action on the order. Until then the order is referred to PTC and remains with PTC. Feldman moves to adjourn. St. Hilaire seconds. The motion carries 9-0. Meeting adjourned 8:41 pm.