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Draft PTC Minutes 1 10 17Beverly Parking and Traffic Commission January 10, 2017 CITY OF BEVERLY PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES 1. BOARD OR COMMISSION: Parking and Traffic Commission SUBCOMMITTEE: DATE: January 10, 2017 LOCATION: Conference Room B Third Floor City Hall MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Richard Benevento, City Planner Aaron Clausen, Vice Chair, George Binns, Richard Hutchinson, Sgt. Antonio DiRuzza MEMBERS ABSENT: Chris Halloran, John Somes OTHERS PRESENT: Greg St. Louis, City Engineer, RECORDER: Eileen Sacco Benevento calls the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. 2. City Council Order #270 — Stop Sign at Landers & Middlebury in front of 17 Landers Drive — Ward Six Councilor John Frates Clausen recalls that the Commission reviewed this matter in August of 2014 and made a recommendation to install a stop sign and stop line at the intersection of Middlebury Lane and Landers Drive. He notes that he had excerpts from the August 6, 2014 meeting minutes to the members of the Commission regarding this matter. He further notes that the sign was never installed and now Councilor Frates has submitted a Council Order on the matter. Benevento suggests that the Commission vote to recommend the installation of the stop sign and stop line again to address the City Council Order. There being no further questions or comments regarding this matter: Binns: Motion to recommend the installation of the stop sign and stop line at Middlebury Lane and Landers Drive. Hutchinson seconds the motion. The motion carries (5 -0). 3. Request for No Parking Sign on Haskell Street from Rezza Road to Hale Street — West Side — Sgt. DiRuzza Sgt. DiRuzza explains that the ordinance allows parking there now and notes that three or four residents park there. He states that it is a public safety issue. Page 1 of 6 Beverly Parking and Traffic Commission January 10, 2017 Benevento asks what the width of the roadway is. Sgt. DiRuzza explains that it is narrow on Haskell Street and gets wider near Rezza Road. Benevento recalls that the Parking and Traffic Commission reviewed this matter in the past and made a recommendation to the Council to restrict parking all the way up the street and the Council amended the recommendation to restrict parking in front of one house but not all the way up the street. He notes that parking is restricted on the right side of the street on the corner. Clausen asks if the road is so narrow that parking should be restricted on one side of the street. St. Louis reports that next spring Haskell Street will be reconstructed and the sidewalks will be improved and residents will not be able to park on the sidewalks. Sgt. DiRuzza reported that he has received a lot of calls about this as has Councilor Frates. He states that Councilor Frates is in agreement that there should be no parking there. Benevento asks Clausen to check to see what the Commission recommended at the time of review and what action was taken by the City in response to the recommendation. He also notes that whatever is done should coincide with the Haskell Street improvements scheduled for the spring. Sgt. DiRuzza questions if temporary No Parking Signs could be installed for now pending the Haskell Street improvement project. Clausen explains that if the ordinance allows parking there now the ordinance will need to be changed and that will take some time to go through the process. The Commission reviews an aerial photograph of the area and Benevento notes that there is curbing on both sides of the street and the photos shows cars parked half on and off the sidewalk. Clausen notes that the road is narrow. Benevento questions if the homes in the area have driveways. Page 2 of 6 Beverly Parking and Traffic Commission January 10, 2017 Clausen states that it could be possible to remove the center line making it a queuing street. Benevento estimated that the width of the road is 26 feet. Clausen suggests that Councilor Frates should submit a Council Order regarding this matter and the Commission should formally review it and make a recommendation. Benevento recalls that the Commission visited the site about three years ago and at the time made a recommendation to the City Council requesting restrictions on parking in the area. He further notes that the Commission has to look at this with safety in mind and it needs to be looked at comprehensively. Benevento requests that between now and the next meeting that members take a look at this and see what is going on there. St. Louis states that he will go out and take a look at this as well. He also states that he will get the traffic data for the area as well. Benevento states that he is concerned about public safety equipment getting through there. He also notes that the Commission may want to send a recommendation to the Council without a Council Order. Clausen states that he will reach out to Councilor Frates and request that he submit a Council Order. Binns: Motion to table the matter to the next meeting. Hutchinson seconds the motion. The motion carries (5 -0). 4. Election of Chair and Vice Chair of the Parking and Traffic Commission Clausen nominates Richard Benevento to serve as Chair of the Parking and Traffic Commission for the year 2017. Binns seconds the nomination. The motion carries (5 -0 -1) with Benevento voting present. Benevento nominates Aaron Clausen to serve as Vice Chair of the Parking and Traffic Commission for the year 2017. Hutchinson seconds the motion. The motion carries (5 -0- 1) with Clausen voting present. Page 3 of 6 Beverly Parking and Traffic Commission January 10, 2017 5. Approval of Minutes The minutes of the Planning Board meetings held on November 8, 2016 were presented for approval. Benevento suggests that the approval of the minutes be tabled to the next meeting. 6. Discussion on Traffic Configuration of Summit Avenue — Request of Councilor Rand Benevento reports that Councilor Rand contacted him about this matter and although she is unable to be here this morning she was going to try and call in to the meeting. St. Louis reported that there is a site walk scheduled for Summit Avenue today at 11:00 a.m. He described the proposed work for the street noting an area off the street is private and they are looking at relocating an abutting retaining wall out of the private way. He also notes that there is a new four unit multi - family dwelling being constructed on the street. St. Louis explains that the public is driving on private land presently and one option is for a permenant easement and the other is that the land be conveyed to the City. Benevento states that if the land is conveyed to the City it would right a non - conforming situation. Clausen reports that the developer went before the Zoning Board of Appeal and received a variance for the project. St. Louis reports that the ZBA conditioned the approval of the variance that the retaining wall be moved. He also notes that he walked the site in 2015 with the engineer for the project and the Fire Department and notes that the Fire Department had input on the route they would take to address emergencies, further noting that there is a lot of traffic between Knowlton and Rantoul Street. St. Louis reports that there has been a request to make Summit Avenue a one way going downhill. Benevento asks what the issue is that promped the request. St. Louis explains that there is a concern about cut through traffic, noting that there was a detour during the Rantoul Street construction in the area. Sgt. DiRuzza explains that it was a big issue during the traffic detours but since they have reopened the street it is not as bad. Clausen reports that he visited the site at 5:30 p.m and explains that the area does get a fair amount of Cummings traffic. Page 4 of 6 Beverly Parking and Traffic Commission January 10, 2017 Binns states that it seems that this situation was exacerbated by the Rantoul Street detours. Clausen suggests that the Commission recommend that the matter be followed up on by the City for review. St. Louis questions if the Commission would recommend that the City accept the street as a public way. Benevento states that if they were in a position to do so it would give them the ability to control the street. Clausen requests that the members take a look at this before the next meeting. Benevento agrees and requests that the matter be put on the agenda for the February Parking and Traffic Commission meeting. 7. Old / New Business Myron Hood addresses the Commission and expresses his concerns about the traffic in North Beverly, Route 97. He notes that the additional traffic from the new Beverly Middle School will impact the traffic that already exists from the other schools in the area. Mr. Hood also expressed concern that there should be no right turn from 128. Benevento reports that the Commission made that request to the State and they denied it. 8. Next Meeting The next meeting of the Parking and Traffic Commission will be held on February 7, 2017 at 8:30 a.m. 9. Adjournment There being no further business to come before the Parking and Traffic Commission this morning, Binns moves to adjourn the meeting. Hutchinson seconds the motion. The motion carries (5 -0). The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 a.m. Page 5 of 6 Beverly Parking and Traffic Commission January 10, 2017 Page 6 of 6