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2014-12-02CITY OF BEVERLY PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES BOARD OR COMMISSION: Parking and Traffic Commission SUBCOMMITTEE: DATE: December 2, 2014 LOCATION: Conference Room B, Third Floor City Hall MEMBERS PRESENT: Richard Benevento, Chair, City Planner Aaron Clausen, Bill Fiore, Richard Hutchinson", Sgt. Russ Rollins, John S omes MEMBERS ABSENT: None OTHERS PRESENT: City Engineer Greg St. Louis RECORDER: Eileen Sacco 1. Benevento calls the meeting to order at 8: 30 a.m. 2. Discussion on Traffic Study for the Nei hborhood Around Route lA and Route 97 — Councilor Don Martin Benevento states that he will meet with Councilor Martin to review the scope of work suggested and the Parking and Traffic Commission will review this further at the January meeting. 3. Recommendation to the Planning Board: Site Plan Review #112 -14 and Special Permit #139 --14: Construct a Five Story B_ uildina, Mixed Use Building at 50 [521 Dunham Road Steve Drohosky, General Manager of the Cumming Center addresses the Commission and states that this is the third meeting with the Commission on their proposal. Drohosky explains that the Commission requested that they take a look at widening the mouth of Dunham Road and the signalization of Brimbal Ave. and Dunham Road and they have submitted revised plans showing conceptual plans for the widening of Dunham Road at the Brimbal Avenue intersection. He also reports that they have submitted plans for the signalization of the Dunham Road/Brimbal Avenue intersection. Drohosky states that the timing of these items are important noting that the level of service with the current proposed buildings are fine. He suggests that when 52 Dunham Road is built, that may be the time when the changes are needed. Drohosky states that they are proposing to pay into the City to cover both of these items in the future. He estimates that the widening of the road will cost $50,737.00 and the traffic signal $160,150 for a total estimate of $210,887.00. He states that they,are proposing to give the City $225,000.00 to be used for these projects. Parking &Traffic Commission minutes December 2, 2014 Meeting Page 1 of 9 Benevento states that he reviewed the memo and suggests that the with regards to the timing of the improvements, the widening work should on Dunham Road should be done before a Certificate of Occupancy is issued. He also suggests that they should consider pre - planning and for the signal and install the underground conduits at that time as well. Clausen states that they checked to see if there would be interference for the roundabouts on Brimbal and or any intersection on that corridor and it will not cause any interference. Drohosky states that they would put the money in escrow for the city to pay for the improvements, noting that they are not needed now but the money will be there to pay for them when they are. Drohosky states that Phase II of the plan is to make Dunham Road a dead end at the Salem News Building. He also states that if it is found that the traffic signal is not needed at that location they are happy to have it used for any traffic improvements in that area. Clausen states that both of these pieces of mitigation, the widening of the road and the traffic signal would have to be complete before the Certificate of Occupancy is issued. Benevento agrees noting that widening of the road needs to be done in advance and he would prefer to see the signal in place as well. Drohosky notes that the Commission requested that they do a gap analysis which they completed and it showed that a traffic signal is not necessary in that area at this time, and notes that they are offering to pay for the signal in the future when it is needed. He also notes that there are a lot of ideas for economic development in that area that they have nothing to do with, noting CEA Group and Beverly Hospital. He notes that the widening of the road is primary and could be added to the project that the city is doing and paid for by Cummings. Clausen notes that the cost of construction would be subject to the prevailing wage and asks City Engineer Greg St. Louis to give a sense of accuracy of the cost estimate. Benevento asks if there is anyone present who wishes to comment on the project. There is no one present who wishes to comment on the project. Benevento states that a warrant analysis needs to be done to determine if and when the signal is necessary and it makes sense to do it within a year of the project. He also notes that the widening of the road needs to be done. He notes that the city is grateful for the donation but they are looking to be sure that the intersection is working properly. Drohosky states that they are concerned that the experts tell them that a signal is not needed in that area at this time. Rod Emery addresses the Commission and notes that _ the warrant � would not include Cummings. Parking & Traffic Commission minutes December 2, 2014 Meeting Page 2 of 9 Drohosky explains what has been done to the site to date. He notes that the foundation for 48 is in place but they are not going to construct the building until a tenant is found. He suggests that would do the widening of the road prior to the occupancy of 48 and evaluate the need for a traffic signal when 52 is built. He notes that putting money in escrow insures that it will be done when it is needed. He also notes that the signal may be unnecessary due to other improvements being done in the area. Clausen states that he would like the City Engineer to review this. Drohosky suggests language for the escrow money and states that the money could be used for neighborhood improvements in that area regarding the flow of traffic subject to the approval of the Parking and Traffic Commission. Clausen if the warrant shows that the signal is not recommended, a broader discussion of other alternatives for the use of the funds would need to be had. Drohosky requests that the Parking and Traffic Commission draft a letter of incorporating today's discussion for the Planning Board so that they can move forward with their Public Hearing on December 16, 2014. Benevento agrees and the Commission suggests language for Clausen to draft the letter: • The project proponent will submit to the City of Beverly fully engineered construction plans for widening and restriping the Dunham Road approach to Brimbal Avenue as shown on the conceptual plans by Jacobs Engineering and fully engineered construction plans for a traffic, signal at the intersection of Brimbal Avenue and Dunham Road • The applicant has offered $225,000 to the City of Beverly for which the city will use to complete the widening improvements in conjunction with Phase I of the Brimbal Avenue /Exit 19 infrastructure improvement project and the signalization improvements, when and if at the city's discretion the signalization is warranted. ■ The City of Beverly Engineering Department will review the projected estimates submitted for the widening improvements and the signalization to confirm that the contribution will adequately cover the cost of implementation now and into the future • A traffic impact review will be done six months and one year following the issuance of a Certificate of occupancy for the previously approved mixed use building at 48 Dunham Road, and presented to the Parking and Traffic Commission for review and recommendation. A warrant an will be conducted as part of each review at the intersection of Brimbal Avenue and Dunham Road and the Route 128 southbound ramp to determine if the traffic signal is necessary. • In the event that the traffic signal is not deemed to be necessary by the traffic review and the warrant analysis, or as the result of other roadway alterations that improve access and mitigate impacts due to development at 50 Dunham. Road, the Parking &Traffic Commission minutes December 2, 2014 Meeting Page 3 of 9 remaining funds will be allocated towards other roadway and traffic improvements in the general area surrounding that area. Rollins: motion to approve the recommendation to the Beverly Planning Board for Site Plan Review #112 -14 and Special Permit #139 -14: Construct a Five Story Building, Mixed Use Building at 50 [52] Dunham Road. Fiore seconds the motion. The motion carries (6 -0) 4. Continued: Recommendation to Planning Board -- Site Plan Review #113 -14 and Special Permit x#139 --14 -- Construct North Shore Crossing consisting of 4 Building Totaling 65,795 s.f. at 140 Brimbal Avenue -- CEA Grou Atty. Thomas Alexander with Law Offices at 1 School Street, Beverly addresses the Commission on behalf of his client CEA Group. He explains that they have funded a peer review study of the traffic study for the project and that has been completed. Alexander reported that the Department of Transportation (DOT) has reviewed the plans and requested an access road from the connector road and in response to that and that they have added a driveway on the Sohier Road side of the site. He introduced Ron Muller to explain the changes. Muller reviewed the plans and explained the changes that they have incorporated. Benevento questions why the driveway why there will be no left turn. Muller explains that they are trying to minimize left turns and there is a concern about channelizing the islands. Benevento states that he is concerned that people will try to make the left turn anyway. Muller reports that they have received comments from MEPA and they are reviewing them. Muller reports that the original traffic study made some assumptions about area businesses and their possible plans that are not proposed at this time. He states that they have contacted Beverly Hospital and they have no plans at the present time for any prof ect. He also notes that Cell Signaling did a project in 2013 and 50 -52 Dunham Road is in the process of getting permits for their project. He states that they are changing the assumptions of what future traffic will be like in order to be more realistic. Muller also reported that the 20,000 s. f. of office space on the second floor of the proposed buildings is no longer proposed and they are reanalyzing the data to more accurately reflect what the traffic is. Parking &Traffic Commission minutes December 2, 2014 Meeting Page 4of9 Benevento states that he would prefer to see an engineered proposal to be self- enforcing. Atty. Alexander states that the DoT analyzed the access points and they are hope there would be a condition of permitting and not a precursor to getting a recommendation from the Parking and Traffic Commission to the Planning Board. He notes what they are proposing is far better for the site and the city. Benevento questions what happens if the DoT does not approve the driveway. Alexander states that if that happens they will have to come back to the Planning Board for a change and the PTC as well. Benevento asks if they are close to a determination from DoT. Alexander states no. Clausen suggests that that the PTC recommend that if there is any change to the access to the site that a revised plan will have to be reviewed prior to any changes taking place. Steve Cohen addresses the Commission and states that the DoT is looking at the access for the connector road and they are considering the proposal. He notes that the alternative is to provide another access off Brimbal Avenue and that is not a good option. He suggests that the city could convey to the state that they prefer not to have all of the access and egress on Brimbal Avenue. Rebecca Brown, Senior Engineer for TEC Inc. addresses the Commission and reports that they completed the peer review of the traffic study and reviews the findings and recommendation as follows: Conclusions and Recommendations The following summarizes the major findings of TEC's peer review of the North Shore Crossing development proposal: • The Site Development Plans should be modified to include the following: o Add STOP line and a STOP sign (R1-I) on the drive aisle along the southerly side of the supermarket building (Building A) as it approaches the intersection with the main drive aisle along the front of the building o Provide truck turning capabilities for a fire apparatus circulating the entire site and for truck access to Building C. o Modify the Brimbal A venue driveway to ensure a. truck can enter without mounting the vertical granite curbing. o Consider banking parking spaces to be constructed at a later date if determined to be necessary. o Provide adequate space for carriage corals within the parking field. Parking & Traffic commission minutes December 2, 2014 Meeting Page 5of9 RMA should perform the following additional analysis: o Evaluate sight distances at the proposed site driveways under existing roadway conditions to ensure that sight distances will meet AASHTO recommendations prior to completion of the Route 128 Exit 19 Interchange Improvement Project Phase I project. If the proponent is unwilling to agree to a condition that a certificate of occupancy will not be granted until Phase I of the Exit 19 Interchange project has reached substantial completion. o Provide a queue versus storage or traffic simulation analysis of the site driveways, Route 128 ramps, and Connector Road intersections to ensure thatqueues from one intersection will not extend through and impact the operations of upstream intersections. o RMA should perform an updated capacity and queue analysis to correct the following items: o Update No -Build and Build traffic volumes to include traffic generated by the proposed 52 Dunham Road development. o Include the geometric improvements proposed as part of the 52 Dunham. Road development at the Brimbal Avenue/Dunham Road intersection in the no build and build analysis conditions. • PHFs should be reported by approach at each study area intersection. • Lane widths should be revised to reflect existing and proposed conditions • Correct the signal timings at the Route 1A Dodge Street intersection to be consistent with existing timings in the controller o Utilize HCM201 omethodology to report the capacity and queue analysis results for all study area intersections. o Modify the lane configuration on the Brimbal Avenue northbound approach to the Route 128 SB Ramps to include a shared through/right -- turn lane. • The capacity and queue analysis results indicate that additional mitigation is required at some study area intersection to mitigate the impacts of the North Shore Crossing project. The Proponent should consider additional mitigation measures at the following locations: o Dodge Street 1 Laurel Street o Brimbal Avenue 1 Route 128 S B Off-Ramps o Brimbal Avenue / Colon Street o Brimbal Avenue / Essex Street / Retail Driveway • RMA has recommended improvements at the intersections of Brimbal Avenue with Colon Street and Essex Street/ Retail Driveway that should be constructed independent of the proposed North Shore Crossing development. As the Project will result in significant impacts to delay and queues, and increase Parking &Traffic Commission minutes December 2, 2014 Meeting Page 6 of 9 vehicle trips through these intersections by 6.0 to 14.5 percent, the Proponent should at a minimum provide a fair share contribution toward the recommended improvements at these locations proportional to the percentage increase in trips generated by the Project. The construction costs associated with these improvements are anticipated to be on the order of $270,000 to $325,000, which does not include any costs associatedwith engineering /design or acquisition of right-of-way. o Given the number of private and public development and roadway improvement projects proposed inthe area surrounding the site, the Town should consider hosting a design charrette with the proponents of the North Shore Crossing and 48 -52 Dunham Road developments, as well as MassDOT, to review potential design solutions and appropriate funding for improvements at the study area locations. Benevento recommended that signage be placed on 128 to indicate the flow patterns approaching. Mueller states that direction signage will be added to the site. Clausen questions if there should be two lanes included for the Dunham Road signal. Benevento suggests that the widening may be enough and suggests running the warrant with the light to see what it looks like. Benevento that there are a lot of moving parts to this and suggests that since some of the best people in the business are working on this they should be able to get together and work through this. Benevento opens the meeting up for comment from City Officials at this time. City Engineer Greg St. Louis addresses the PTC and questions if Whole Foods will be using locking grocery carts and suggest that grocery carts should be taken into consideration with the grading of the site. Benevento opens the meeting up for public comment at this time. Judy Martin addresses the PTC and states that she is concerned about the new proposed access from Sohier Road. She states that there are many safety concerns and suggests that the Sohier Road access be restricted. Clausen explains that the MEPA traffic analysis always considered this a local project and notes that the study was based on a larger project than what is proposed. He states that he feels that the language refers to projects which would require variances. Chris Snow of Northridge addresses the PTC and questions where the location of employee parking will be on the site. Cohen explains that the employee parking will be along the back side of the building. Parking &Traffic Commission minutes December 2, 2014 Meeting Page 7 of 9 Snow also expresses concern about the , n ew.proposed S ohier Road access, noting that the site is some of the worst areas of the landfill. He also notes that the entrance will be next to the K building in the Northridge property. Benevento reminds those present that this meeting is pertaining to traffic issues only and there are and will be several reviews of the other details of the project. Dan D'Angelis of 207 Brimbal Avenue addresses the PTC and states that he has concerns about the Sohier Road entrance as well and the impact on traffic. He notes that left turns onto Northridge could be a problem and impact traffic. D'Angelis also reports that there are 480 cars per hour every afternoon on Brimbal Avenue and this project will result in, significant long lasting changes. Benevento notes that the traffic study shows the numbers to be less than projected and the reason for that is because the traffic engineer made conservative assumptions. Sgt. Rollins notes that both ends of Brimbal Avenue have failing intersections and Whole Foods is going to add to that. Benevento states that he does not feel that the PTC is ready to endorse this plan and suggests that the applicant address the comments from the peer review as well as the concerns of the City Engineer. There being no further questions or comments at this time; S om e s : motion to continue the matter to the January Parking and Traffic Commission meeting on January 6, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. Rollins seconds the motion. The motion carries (6 -0). 5. Discussion with Cify Entjneer Grea St. Louis Regarding Hale and Endicott Streets St. Louis presented a concept plan of what the suggested striping would look like for the area of Hale and Endicott Streets. He notes that the traffic entering Hale Street need to make sure that they stop. He notes proposed locations for the stop sign and notes potential site distance problems. Benevento suggests that it be left alone at this time and that the PTC should make a recommendation to the City Council for striping and a stop sign in that area. Rollins agrees noting that the striping will address the initial concern. St. Louis states that he will work on this again and send a draft to members of the Parking and Traffic Commission. G. Old/New Business Parking &Traffic Commission minutes December 2, 2014 Meeting Page 8of9 for - Time Restricted Parkine on Bow Street -- Pelletier Awnin Sgt. Rollins reported that he has had a request from the owners of Pelletier Awning to have time restricted parking in front of his store. He explained that there is no time limit now and the commuters from the train station are parking there all day and there is often no space close by for the customer Benevento agrees that time restricted parking is in order. Fiore agrees as well. Sgt. Rollins: motion to approve two hour restricted parking on the north and south side Wallis and Bow Streets between Rantoul Street and Railroad Avenue. Fiore seconds the motion. The motion carries (6 -0). 7. - Approval of Minutes The minutes of the PTC. meeting held on October 7, 2014 and November 4, 2014 were presented for approval. Hutchinson moves to approve the minutes of the October 7, 2014 and the November 4, 2014 Parking and Traffic Commission meeting as amended. Somes seconds the motion. The motion carries (6 -0). 8. Newt Meeting The next regular meeting of the Parking and Traffic Commission will be held on Tuesday, January 6, 2015 at 830 a.m. 7. Adjournment Benevento asks if there is any additional business for the Commission to conduct. There is none. Rollins: motion to adjourn, seconded by Fiore. All members in favor, motion carries 6--0. The meeting is adjourned at 11:00 a.m. Parking &Traffic Commission minutes December 2, 2014 Meeting Page 9 of 9