PTC Minutes 10 4 16_ACBeverly Parking and Traffic Commission
October 4, 2016
CITY OF BEVERLY
PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES
1.
BOARD OR COMMISSION: Parking and Traffic Commission
SUBCOMMITTEE:
DATE: October 4, 2016
LOCATION: Conference Room B Third Floor City Hall
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Richard Benevento, City Planner Aaron Clausen,
Vice Chair, George Binns, John Somes
MEMBERS ABSENT: Capt. Chris Halloran, Richard Hutchinson, Sgt. Antonio
DiRuzza
OTHERS PRESENT: Greg St. Louis, City Engineer Steve Tanzella
RECORDER: Eileen Sacco
Clausen calls the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m.
2. Recommendation to Planning Board: Special Permit Application #151 -16 and Site
Plan Review Application #125 -16 — Construct 6- Story, Mixed Use Building with 67
Apartment Units with Commercial /Retail Use on the First Floor — 112 Rantoul Street
— Barnat Beverly, LLC
Sarah Barnat of Barnat Beverly, LLC addresses the Commission and notes that she is joined
this morning by Sam Gregorio of TEC Engineering, Chris Rokus and Atty. Thomas
Alexander.
Barnat explains her background in development and reported that she has done two major
projects with the MBTA, one of which was an apartment building on Conant Street in
Boston on the green/orange line. She notes that the MBTA has already constructed the
garage in Beverly which they maintain ownership of
Barnat explains their proposed project and states that they looked at what it would mean to
build on top of the existing garage and found that it would be difficult to put any holes in
the roof of the structure. She reviews the plans for a 6 -story building and notes that they are
proposing 4,500 s.f of retail space on the ground floor and 67 units of residential housing
on floors 2 -6.
Barnat explains that they will be maintaining the open air drive aisle to the garage. She also
reports that they are working on a lease agreement with the MBTA to provide covered
parking spaces in the garage.
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Barnat explains that the second floor view will be impaired by the parking garage; however,
the amenities of the building such as the gym, etc. will he housed on that floor.
Barnat explains that they are proposing 70 parking spaces for the 67 units. She also reports
that there will be 7 spaces in the parking lot that are currently under an easement with the
Beverly Condo Association. She also explains that they want to maintain 7 spaces for quick
in and out parking in front of the building, noting that currently there is no parking allowed
in front of the garage.
Benevento explains that during the discussions with the MBTA for the construction of the
parking garage, the City voiced concerns about two intersections of concern. He notes that
they were Bridge Street and River Street and Railroad Avenue and Rantoul Street. He notes
that the MBTA committed to improvements but the garage went over budget. He noted that
since then the City has taken care of those concerns with the Railroad Avenue /Rantoul St.
intersection through the Rantoul Street reconstruction project and will include
improvements at River Street and Bridge Street with the proposed Bridge Street TIP project.
Benevento states that he has concerns about the area noting that the project across the street
is under construction and questions what is planned if anything for the Press Box and Casa
de Luca sites. Clausen states that he understands that the Press Box site is on hold for 3 -4
years explaining that Beverly Crossing owns the site and there are tax credits involved in
that site. He questions how much additional traffic all of these projects will add to Rantoul
Street.
Sam Gregorio addresses the Commission and states that this project is for 67 units and their
traffic study is based on 70 units. He reported that the traffic study done for 131 Rantoul
Street in 2015 is more accurate because it included traffic calculations for other parts of the
city.
Gregorio reviews the traffic study and explains that they predict 84 new trips daily and a
normal day is 626 cars.
Benevento asks if that they have looked at the sequence and timing for the signal at
Railroad Avenue. Gregorio states that he tried to stay consistent with what he did on the 131
Rantoul Street project. He stated that the impact does not change. He also notes that they
slightly modified the timing signal for the 131 project and they have taken that information
into consideration.
Benevento states that someone has to look at optimizing the timing of the light. He recalls
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that we had the same issue on Elliott Street, explaining that the timing of the lights was set
15 years ago and a lot of things has changed since then. He states that it cannot fall on the
City.
City Engineer Greg St. Louis states that all of the signals in the corridor are not protected
with pedestrian phasing.
Gregorio reported that the Level of Service exiting the driveway of the garage is LOS E and
that is consistent. He states that there will be no impact on Court Street.
Benevento stated that he is surprised that they did not look at River Street and notes that
they should look at all major intersections. He suggests that they do some supplemental
traffic counts noting that there are a lot of challenges.
Benevento states that the City has adopted a Complete Streets Policy which was endorsed
by the Commission and it calls for encouraging all modes of transportation.
Benevento also states that he is concerned about River Street and Pleasant Street. He notes
that there is horrendous pedestrian accommodations at that site. He notes that there has
been a lot of work in this area and he has not seen a lot of mitigation proposed. He notes
that there is a lot that could be done in terms of traffic and he would like to see some
pedestrian accommodations made.
Barnat states that she is a huge fan of walking and she would be happy to look at the area if
the City has some data that they could provide.
Gregorio reviews the areas that they covered in their traffic study and notes that the analysis
shows no substantial impact on the Railroad Avenue signal. He notes that Railroad and
River Street is a LOS C and states that there is no change in the queue.
Gregorio explains that they also looked at the analysis of 2 -3 lanes for the parking garage
out front and have held discussions with the MBTA regarding eliminating one of the lanes.
He explains that there would be one lane in and out in the morning. He explains that there
would be an increase in the delay at the ticket window on the actual driveway but this
would not impact Rantoul Street. He explains that the purpose of the reduction in the lanes
is to provide an area for residents to drop off groceries, etc.
Barnat explains the pedestrian traffic in the garage noting safety concerns and how they
were addressed. She explains that they would eliminate a entrance gate and install a
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pedestrian sidewalk and explains the circulation of the entrance with the proposed changes.
She notes the location of the proposed drop off area.
Benevento states that the entrance for the retail area should be shown on the plan and
questions if there would be a loading zone. Gregorio explains that they are looking for a
limited use loading zone for a 1 -2 hour period and notes that the other 23 hours per day the
area would be used for parking.
Benevento states that he would be opposed to a loading zone.
Barnat explains that they are proposing a trash room on site that would be enclosed at the
rear of the site and the trash receptacles would be rolled out to the street for pick up. She
explains that the trash and recycling will be picked up by a private company.
Benevento expressed concern about the amount of trash that would be out on the sidewalk.
Clausen asks how often the trash will be picked up. Barnat estimated that the trash will be
picked up once or twice a week. She explains that the receptacles would be 4x6 foot rollout
dumpsters.
Benevento asks how much of the sidewalk will be obstructed by the dumpsters noting that
in the winter when there is snow on the ground it would be difficult. Barnat explains that
the maintenance person will roll out the dumpster when the private trash company arrives
so it will not be sitting out there all day.
St. Louis suggested that they should roll the trash out to the parking lot to be picked up.
Barnat states that they would look at that.
Somes questions why the dumpster is not proposed for the parking lot. Clausen states that
from a maintenance prospective what is proposed makes sense but notes that it should not
impact pedestrian access to the sidewalk.
Benevento asks what the trash plan is for 131 Rantoul Street. Gregorio states that he does
not recall at this time what it is.
Barnat states that she would prefer what they have proposed rather than have the dumpsters
in the parking lot.
Clausen states that it might make sense to do a turning template to be sure that the truck can
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access the site. He also notes that he would much prefer the trash room to a dumpster on
the site.
Benevento opens the meeting up for questions from the members of the Commission.
Clausen asks if there was an analysis done on the impact of various trip distributions.
Gregorio explains that the percentage of traffic at the intersection is consistent with 131
Rantoul Street. Clausen clarifies that 20% of trips are from residential use. Gregorio
agreed and notes that they did not include a credit for walking or biking.
Clausen states that they are pretty conservative considering that the Cummings Center is a
half a mile away, and the commuter rail station is very close.
Clausen referred to the dedicated parking in the garage and questions how many spaces they
will be leasing. Barnat states that they should be getting 70 spaces. She explains that there
is a possibility that some of them will be off hours spaces. She notes that they are
negotiating with the MBTA and states that she would prefer 70 spaces designated to them
for all hours of the day but the MBTA may not agree with that. She states that she should
be hearing from them within the next 6 weeks or so.
Binns asks what the breakdown of the residential units are. Barnat explains that they are
proposing 10 studio apartments, 20 2- bedroom units, and 37 one - bedroom units.
Benevento asks what the zoning requirements for parking are for this site. Barnat states that
the zoning calls for 1 space per unit in the Depot Square area, and they are proposing 70
spaces for 67 units.
Clausen asks if they will be unbundling the parking from the units. Barnat states that
people will be paying for parking separately.
Clausen asks if they are considering allowing the employees of the retail space to park in
the 70 proposed spaces for the site. Barnat explains that the MBTA has a parking validation
system and notes that Toscana's next door uses that and she anticipates that the retail
owners could make the same arrangements.
Clausen states that he feels that the traffic counts from 2015 is a very conservative number.
St. Louis states that they are switching all of the signals on Rantoul for pedestrian access.
Benevento states that will be adding a whole other phase to the traffic signals.
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Benevento states that Railroad Avenue is the most degenerate in terms of Level of Service.
Gregorio explains the data for Railroad Avenue and Rantoul Street.
Clausen asks if they have held discussions regarding the removing the no parking restriction
from the front of the building.
Barnat explains that right now, parking is restricted and she does not see the purpose of it.
She states that she would like to see on street parking allowed there.
St. Louis states that he recalls that it was intended to be a bus stop area but it is not being
used for a bus stop. Benevento suggests checking the traffic control agreements. St. Louis
will look at it to see what was proposed during the MBTA garage planning process.
Clausen suggests that if on street parking is allowed it should be metered parking. St. Louis
states that they are trying to move away from meters and suggests that it might have to be
signage.
Gregorio states that they will work with MA DOT on the timing of the Railroad and
Rantoul Street light during the post construction phase to be sure that the timings work.
Benevento states that the City desires to comply with the Complete Streets Policy and he
feels that there should be some consideration given to improving pedestrian traffic, noting
the area of River Street and Pleasant Street. He states that he would like to see some
connectivity and enhancement of pedestrian accommodations.
Barnat states that she would be happy to look at that intersection noting that there is a lot of
private land there and further notes that she cannot commit to mitigation without an
analysis.
Gregorio states that in order to fix one thing, it may require other things that need to be
fixed as well. Barnat states that she is only being hesitant because there are more questions
than answers at this point and further study needs to be done. She also notes that they have
proposed significant pedestrian accommodations in the project. Benevento states that his
interest is to protect the City's interest and what is good for the City.
Clausen suggests that they look at the parking out front and an analysis of the intersection
noting that there could be some improvements that could be made to improve pedestrian
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access for the short run. He also notes that the Planning Department is looking at some
zoning revisions for the Bass River area.
Tanzella states that the Fire Department has reviewed the project access and has no
concerns.
Binns asks if the 3 d lane access being proposed for a drop off area will block access to the
garage. Barnat states that there will be no blocking of the entrance. She also notes that
during the construction phase of the project there will be a period of time when they will
have the entrance and exit to the garage on Court Street. Gregorio explains that this will
back up traffic inside of the garage. He estimated that there will be 94 cars exiting the
garage during peak hours.
Benevento notes that the duration would be about 12 -13 minutes. He suggests that they try
to identify the times that they will need to close the garage entrance on Rantoul Street.
St. Louis states that they should submit a construction phase traffic plan. Benevento agreed
noting that they need to accommodate pedestrians as well.
St. Louis also notes that the train bridge will be closed for 9 months for repairs and he
expects that it will reopen in June or July. He explains that the MBTA will be bussing
people to Salem from the Beverly Depot.
Clausen suggests that they consult with the Transportation Management Association of the
North Shore noting that they have programs and benefits that could be of interest to the
residents. He notes that transportation demand management provides schedules for posting.
Benevento opens the meeting up for public comment at this time. There was no public
comment at this time.
Benevento suggests that the Commission continue this matter to the next meeting of the
Commission in November.
Barnat states that they will look at the analysis on River St. and Pleasant Street to see if
there are any recommendations for pedestrian accommodations and they will further
investigate the status of the no parking requirement in the front of the building, look in to
TMA programs and benefits and look at the trash and recycling pick up system. She also
states that they will update the Commission on the negotiations with the MBTA for the
parking spaces.
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Benevento states that the next meeting of the Commission is on November 1, 2016 at 8:30
a. m.
Binns: Motion to continue the matter to the November 1, 2016. Clausen seconds
the motion. The motion carries (5 -0).
3. New or Other Business
Discussion with Councilor Houseman Re ag rding East Lothrop Street — Essex Street
Cemetery to Bisson Street
Councilor Houseman addressed the Commission and stated that he is here today to see if
there is anything that can be done to moderate the speed in the area of East Lothrop Street
-Essex Street to Bisson Street. He explains that there is a straight away section of the street
of some distance where there are no houses on one side and he has concerns about speeding
in the area. He suggested a stop sign but notes that he is open to suggestions. He also notes
that in Salem there are sections of scored concrete in some streets that seems to slow down
the cars.
Benevento states that if there is a problem with speeding that we are trying to correct, a
stop sign is not recommended noting that stop signs cannot be used to control speed. He
also notes that multi -way stop signs are not recommended as well. He also recalled that
scored concrete was used on Lothrop Street a few years back and the neighbors complained
that they didn't like the noise from them. He also notes that the state is removing scored
lines from the highways.
St. Louis notes that an aerial view of the area shows that there is a three -way stop on
Bisson Street.
Benevento states that he is not sure what is appropriate and suggests that the Police
Department put a cruiser out there to monitor the area.
Clausen left the meeting at this time.
Discussion with Toni Musante re ag rding Highland Avenue and Highland Terrace
Toni Musante addresses the Commission and explains that there was a tragic fire in May
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and Clark Young died. She explains that his wife has concerns that the fire truck
responding to the fire could not get around the corner and they feel that the few minutes
that it took for the truck to get in could have made a difference. She notes that they are
looking to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again and would like to see what
can be done to make it easier for fire trucks to get in there.
Benevento notes that there should be no parking within 20 feet of the corner on any street.
He suggested that Clausen contact Sgt. DiRuzza and have him go out and take a look at it
and upon his recommendation the Parking and Traffic Commission will make a
recommendation to the City Council. Mrs. Musante thanked the Commission for their time.
4. Discussion on Russell Street Intersection — New Island
Jim Clarizia addresses the Commission and explains his concerns about the new island
installed and motorists trying to navigate it. St. Louis explains that the matter has been
before the Parking and Traffic Commission and the Beverly City Council. He explains that
the sign will be moved back 10 feet and when the final striping is put down on Cabot Street
there will be a double yellow line for the first 20 feet.
Clarizia suggested that the City should reverse the direct of Kittredge and Russell Street to
avoid the problem and notes that 100 neighbors signed a petition.
Benevento explains that the Rantoul Street project was in the design phase for 20 years and
there are a lot of state and federal requirements. He explains that the City is bound by
certain design standards that they cannot deviate from. He also noted that switching the
street would not be the responsibility of the Parking and Traffic Commission noting that the
recommendation should be looked at by the Public Services Department and the Planning
Department.
St. Louis explains that the problem is people cutting through to the High School from
Sohier to Cabot and notes that if they switch the streets that would make it a direct line out
of the high school.
Clarizia states that he is also concerned that once the new Middle School opens they will
dismiss at the same time.
St. Louis states that once the Rantoul Street construction is complete and the signage and
the striping of the streets is completed they will take a look at it and see what else needs to
be done.
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Benevento states that the Commission should recommend that the City keep with the plan
as it is to address this area and once the Beverly Middle School project is complete the City
Engineer can review the area and see if there is anything more that needs to be done.
5. Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Planning Board meetings held on August 9, 2016 and September 6,
2016 were presented for approval. Benevento suggests that the Commission table the
approval of the minutes to the next meeting.
Binns: Motion to table to the November meeting. Somes seconds the motion. The
motion carried (4 -0).
5. Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Parking and Traffic Commission will be held on November 1,
2016 at 8:30 a.m.
6. Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the Parking and Traffic Commission this
morning, Binns moves to adjourn the meeting. Somes seconds the motion. The motion
carries (6 -0). The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
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