Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-06-13 Board of Selectmen Minutes Joint Meeting of Board of Selectmen and Community Planning and Development Commission June 13,2005 For ease of archiving, the order that items appear in these Minutes reflects the order in which the items appeared on the agenda for that meeting, and are not necessarily the order in which any item was taken up by the Board. The meeting convened at 7:35 p.m. in the Multi-purpose Room, Parker Middle School, 45 Temple Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were CPDC Chairman Neil Sullivan, CPDC Members Susan DeMatteo, Richard Howard and Jonathan Barnes. Also present were BOS Chairman Richard Schubert, Vice Chairman Camille Anthony, Secretary Joseph Duffy and Selectmen Ben Tafoya and James Bonazoli, Town Planner Chris Reilly, W/S Development Team Project Manager Richard Askin, Attorney Mark Favaloro, representing W/S Development Associates LLC, Bob Frazier, Vice President of Development, Brian Sierra, Vice President of Lifestyle Centers, Rod Emery, Traffic Engineer, Edwards & Kelsey, Rick Rostoff, (real estate), Kate Thibeault (Pearson), Julie Epstein, State Representative Patrick Natale, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner, Michael Schloth, and the following list of interested parties: Susan Abate, Virginia M. Adams, Mary Avery, Chris Brungardt, Fred and Joan Doherty, Lori Doughty, Erin Engelson, Jeff Everson, Susan Giacalone, Lois Halligan, Sarah Hilgendorff-List, Michelle Hopkinson, Tom Loughlin, Leslie McGonagle, Joan Neary, William Pike, Lori Presho, Melissa Russell, Mark Schneider, Cromwell Schubarth, Lisa Tighe, Frank Touserkani, David B. Tuttle, Bill Webster, Diane Weggel,Theresa Petrillo. At 8:00 p.m., CPDC Chairman Neil Sullivan passed control of the meeting to BOS Chairman Richard Schubert. He called the Board of Selectmen to order. All five members were present. Discussion/Action Items Zoning Workshop on Addison-Wesley Rezoning— The Town Manager stated that the applicant is here tonight to present their full-blown traffic study, and to discuss the feasibility of adding a mixed-use component to their plans. The Developer's Presentation-.Richard Askin said that his team will discuss two topics: 1. The traffic plan in detail. They will show that they can make it work. 2. The requested mixed-use component. Mr. Askin says that it is feasible and that they can make the traffic work with it too. Mr. Askin expanded upon the mixed-use component using Reading's Master Plan as a touchstone. • The Master Plan calls for the use of.Smart Growth and uses the economic development of South Main Street as an example. Mr. Askin said that their project would fit right in with Reading's South Main development plans. O The Master Plan identifies 10 locations for residential (development) and the Addison- Wesley site is one of them. Mr. Askin said that a mixed-use component could make this possible. Joint Board of Selectmen/CPDC Meeting—June 13,2005—Page 2 i • The Master Plan mentions the use of shuttles. Mr. Askin said that a shuttle service could be incorporated into the project and he noted that their Hingham center has a shuttle service. I Mr. Askin noted that Reading's vision of what the Addison-Wesley site would be was recast in 2000 with the projected 600,000 square foot office park and 300-room hotel. That fell through but, as a recent article noted, aging office parks are being converted for use as retail and residential units. Mr. Askin said that there are lifestyle centers around the country that have a mixed-use component. The retail center is on the ground floor and the residential and office units are on the upper floors. He presented an artist's representation of such a possibility in Reading. Mr. Askin turned to the traffic study ("Traffic Impact Analysis Report"). Mr. Rod Emery, a Traffic Engineer, did most of the talking. The traffic study focussed on two items: the intersection of South and Main, and the access to the site from Route 128. Mr. Emery called the study in its present form a draft and "a work in progress" that needs to be cleaned up before it is ready to be submitted for formal review. Mr. Emery noted that many and widespread traffic counts were made during the study. Traffic counts were taken near the site, along West Street and points north...everywhere. Lots of data was gathered to set a baseline for the traffic counts. This is necessary to be able to gauge changes in the traffic patterns accurately. The data was crunched using "network analysis". Mr. Emery explained"network analysis" as being the study of critical intersections. A key point of the study is that Main Street's (Route 28's) traffic is heavy. This makes.the intersection at South Street particularly dangerous. Mr. Emery said that there have been 42 accidents there in the past three years and noted thafthis is way above the norm. Mr. Emery said that the traffic study assumed four different uses for the site: 1. The 2000 plan of an office/hotel complex(600,000 sq. ft. office park and 300-room hotel). 2. His team's original 400,000 sq. ft. retail center("lifestyle center"). 3. A mixed-use plan comprising the 400,000 sq. ft.retail center plus residential and office units. 4. A residential-only plan consisting of a 3,800 unit apartment complex. Mr. Emery hastened to point out that they were not proposing that. a 3,800 unit apartment complex be built. The residential-only plan was added to the study to show how large a residential project would have to be to match the traffic flow of any one of the other three proposals. Mr. Emery then went into some detail over possible changes to the intersection at South and Main. These changes included the creation of new lanes - dedicated lanes - to reduce congestion, and the reconfiguration of Jacob Way to force or to influence shoppers not to use South Street. At an earlier meeting, Mr. Askin described how traffic engineers rate roads by their "level of service" and that the ratings run from "A" (the best) to "F" (failure). Mr. Emery noted that the Joint Board of Selectmen/CPDC Meeting—June 13,2005—Page 3 changes they propose to make to the intersection could give the intersection a "C" rating for all four of the uses listed above. Much of the numerical date was summarized into tables and these tables, as well as drawings of the suggested intersection and road changes,were presented to the Boards in a slide show. As a point of reference, Mr. Askin presented Edward & Kelsey's traffic data from the lifestyle centers in Hingham, MA and Canton, CT. He said that his team's claim that lifestyle centers are different from malls is borne out by this data. The parking ratios of both lifestyle centers are roughly commensurate at about four per 1000 sq. ft. of retail space. Regional malls have a ratio of five per 1000 or higher. Mr. Askin presented aerial photos of the access to the Hingham and Canton lifestyle centers. Hingham-two driveways, one signalized. Canton- one large driveway. Mr. Askin addressed what went' wrong with the traffic when Addison-Wesley was used as a ,polling place during last November's Presidential Election, and he suggested how his team's proposal could have improved the situation: + Most of the voters' traffic that day passed through the community from the north, east and west. Most of the shoppers'traffic will come from Route 128. + There is now no dedicated left turn lane; in fact, there have been no roadway changes made to the area at all. His team's proposal will add the dedicated lane and more: e Jacob's Way itself could be signalized. 0 A median strip could be added to prevent turns back up South Street. • A cul-de-sac could be added to the end of South Street. • Traffic calming measures could be applied- Three kinds: • Speed(Speed Table) • Volume - • Passive(Gated Community) Mr. Askin finished up by discussing the buffer. He said that his team had hired Geller & Associates of Boston to make slides showing what the proposed changes to the Addison-Wesley site would look like to someone looking at the site while standing at a particular spot on South Street. These slides were presented in a slide-show together with slides of the same view as it exists today. The Boards' Discussion — BOS Chairman Richard Schubert welcomed all, apologized for the stifling heat, and suggested that the Boards move right into their discussion. He asked that the public hold their questions and comments until the end. CPDC member Richard Howard asked three questions: I Why does the table of peak PM in/out traffic show the Mixed-Use option causing slightly lower traffic than the Retail Only option? The Town Manager noted that this is a point our peer review will consider. Mr. Emery said that he could give a quick answer: the slightly lower number is a result of the fact that with mixed-use some of the shoppers would also be residents of the same mixed-use complex. Joint Board of Selectmen/CPDC Meeting—June 13, 2005—Page 4 2. You say that all of the options for the use of the site can be made to work such that they provide a "C" rated level of service. Do all of these options include your proposed traffic mitigations? 3. Who will finance the mitigations? One of the developers noted that they will bear the expense and then hand the results (lanes, median strips, etc.) over to the Town and/or the State. CPDC Member Jonathan Barnes asked which configuration would result in zero cut-through traffic? The Town Manager noted that the developers meant a zero increase in cut-through traffic. Mr. Frazier added that the only way you could stop all cut-through traffic would be by creating a cul-de-sac at the end of South Street. He noted that when he had made this suggestion at a previous meeting some residents had expressed concern that such a measure would impair emergency vehicle response. Perhaps emergency vehicles could use the emergency-access road? The Town Manager pointed out that if we cut-off South Street, the traffic will just end up on some other street. We must be careful that our solutions do not make new problems. Selectman Ben Tafoya asked why the mixed-use option must include the originally proposed 400,000 sq. ft. retail center? Mr. Askin replied that the 400,000 sq. ft. retail center is the "critical mass" need*ed to make the project successful and viable. He expanded on this point stating that his team was not suggesting any specific numbers for the residential portion of the mixed-use proposal. Also, any offices would be (accessory?) and not corporate HQ offices. Many asked how adding more square footage, i.e. adding office and/or retail space on top of the 400,000 retail center, could be done while maintaining the same level of service as the retail center alone? Mr. Askin replied that each use has its own traffic pattern and the traffic study shows that all of the patterns fall under a "C" rating. He said something about "incremental add-ons" keeping the level at "C." Selectman Ben Tafoya asked: if a 400,000 sq. ft. retail center is the "bottom line," then how many visitors per day are needed to support a retail center of that size? Mr. Askin stated that they look at it from the point of view of vehicles per 1000 sq. ft. of retail space, and, when looked at that way,their project is somewhere between two and three vehicles per 1000 sq. ft. Selectman Ben Tafoya then asked how many cars per day would that be? Mr. Frazier stated that the Canton, CT center handles roughly 10,000 per day, and the Hingham, MA center handles roughly 16,000 per day. Mr. Emery interrupted to point out that these numbers represent vehicle trips per day and as one car goes in, another comes out. Also, you have to account for "pass by" traffic. That can account for about a quarter of the traffic. The Town Manager broke down the Canton CT. numbers: 10,000 vehicle trips per day, 2,500 of which are just passing by, which leaves roughly 7500 shoppers. Joint Board of Selectmen/CPDC Meeting=June 13,2005—Page5 Returning to the mixed-use proposal, Selectman Ben Tafoya noted that most of the residents in such a complex would probably not be working in Reading and, therefore, would add to the traffic by coming and going just like any other commuter or shopper. CPDC Chairman Neil Sullivan,noting that the Hingham Center averages 16,000 vehicle trips per day, asked how its level of service is affected by weekend and holiday traffic? Mr. Frazier replied that the level of service adjusts to the number of commuters filling the road network. When there are fewer commuters,there's more room for shoppers. BOS Vice Chairman Camille Anthony said that she had expected to see a lengthy traffic study this night. She defined the study as presented as "cursory." She added that it is incumbent upon the developer to show that they could improve access to the site. Mr. Frazier stated that they have presented specific plans -- extra lanes, intersection reconfiguration, etc. -- to help the situation. He noted that his team is still "feeling its way" and asked Vice Chairman Anthony what the Board wanted? Vice Chairman Camille Anthony stated that a "C" level of service is unsatisfactory. It has to be an "A." She noted that the Board wants to know the traffic counts, and they want to know that the traffic will not back up onto Route 128. Richard Howard asked the developers if they could define the Service Levels "B" and "C." He also asked if they had performed any queuing studies? Regarding the queuing studies, Mr. Emery stated that their traffic models considered all of the ramps and projected the entire interchange five years out. The final report will have more information. Vice Chairman Camille Anthony noted that she was under the impression that the final report was what they had scheduled this meeting to see. She also noted that this was the first time that she had heard that the 400,000 sq. ft. retail center must be a component of any and all of the developer's proposals. She expressed concern over the extra density the office and retail units would add to the area if the mixed-use proposal must also contain the original 400,000 sq. ft. retail center. The Town Manager replied that we must wait for the finished study. We'll have our peer review consultant look it over and then we'll be able to talk about details. We should not get hung up on what to do with South Street just yet. Chairman Richard Schubert noted that if the traffic study to date is correct, and 80% of the traffic comes from Route 128, then the Board has a great concern about whether the ramp can hold the traffic. Mr. Emery said that that 80% includes both the traffic from Route 128 and the traffic from Stoneham. He added that the ramp must be widened and signalized. While on the subject of the ramps, Chairman Richard Schubert stated that the I-93/1-95 Interchange should be included in the report. Mr. Emery stated that the Interchange was not a part of.their study, and Chairman Schubert stated that it would seem to be necessary that it should be. Joint Board of Selectmen/CPDC Meeting—June 13, 2005—Page 6 Chairman Richard Schubert noted that the Addison-Wesley site is currently underutilized and asked when it was last fully utilized? Kate Thibeault of Pearson stated that it was last occupied l in December 1999 and last fully utilized in 1996-1997. Selectman James Bonazoli, returning to the discussion of the developer's Canton, CT retail center, noted that, despite its similarity in size with the proposed Reading center, the Canton center's road layout is different from Reading's. Mr. Frazier agreed. and described other differences. Namely, the access point for Canton's retail center is more centrally located, and there are not as many homes bordering it as border the Addison-Wesley site. Selectman James Bonazoli next revisited the question of the slightly smaller traffic numbers for the mixed-use plan versus the numbers for the all-retail plan. He said that he could not see how the developer got the numbers to work. Mr. Emery could only repeat what he stated earlier - some of the shoppers are residents and that gives you a"mixed-use discount." Public Input — Mr. Frank Touserkani of 21 George Street had a question. When the developers approach stores to sign them up for this project, how many cars do they promise to deliver? He addedthat determining the number of cars is the bottom-to-top design approach that we should be taking and not the top-to-bottom approach we've been hearing about over and over in meeting after meeting. Mr. Frazier replied that the retailers look at the same demographics that we do. They see that many people pass through the I-93/1-95 Interchange. When they see those high traffic numbers they ask themselves, can we add another store there? That's part of the critical mass. Retailers want high traffic counts. Brian Sierra added that, regarding the number of cars, they don't guarantee anything to retailers. Retailers perform their own analysis. Mr. Sierra said that he could supply studies of shopping centers that show how much money is spent per visit. The amount per visit spent in lifestyle centers like the one we propose for Reading is higher than the retail average because the stores are more upscale.. An unidentified gentleman noted that we've been hearing about the I-93/I-95 Interchange being redesigned. He asked the developers if there was any reassurance from the Mass. Highway Department that this won't affect your project? Mr. Emery said that he had worked on an earlier Interchange study and noted that Mass. Highway would contact developers with plans to build near the interchange to ask them if their plans are "fully visualized." If so, Mass. Highway will try to work with them. Mr. Emery added that, in any case, Route 28 and its ramps will still be there, and any redesign of the Interchange is too far off to worry about. Mr. Fred Doherty of 68 Curtis Street asked if there are any final plans showing what the State will do? Mr. Emery said that none exist. Mr. Doherty pointed out that there are other developments that will have an impact on South Street traffic - the Spence Farm and Johnson Woods subdivisions on West Street in Reading, and the Inwood housing project in Woburn. Joint Board of Selectmen/CPDC Meeting—June 13 2005—Page 7 Mr. Doherty further noted that stop signs are not very effective. He said that there's one on Curtis Street that everyone just rolls through. He asked how a stop sign or a "no left turn" sign at the entrance to this project would keep people from driving back up South Street? Mr. Cromwell Schubarth of 17 Sturges Road noted that the proposed retail center would be a traffic magnet and that we can forget about using South Street once it's built. He also noted that we do need to recapture the taxes from the property, but our first question should be why 400, 000 sq. ft? What is their break-even'point? He said that our trees are now recycling the traffic fumes from Route 128. What happens when they are removed to make way for this shopping center and its new intersection? These are environmental questions that need to be answered. Ms. Sarah Hilgendorff-List of 43 Wakefield Street had three points to make: 1. During the Presidential Election, we had terrible traffic in spite of the fact that we moved the people through the polls very efficiently. Shoppers don't move in and out of stores efficiently- they take their time. 2. Reading needs open spaces and recreational areas. There are also concerns of how much electricity and water this retail center will consume. 3. This shopping center would contain nice shops but what will it do to the shops in downtown Reading?We're building up our periphery at the expense of our center. Mr. Chris Brungardt of 324 South Street noted that if 18% of the cars come up Route 28, then that means roughly 2000 to 2100 cars a day would be added to the traffic on Main Street. Try making a left turn into Calareso's now let alone with that extra traffic. We must address the concerns of all our businesses. State Representative Patrick Natale said that he was amazed that the developers were admitting that their proposal would reduce the level of service of the roads from a rating of"B" to a rating of"C." He said that that is not the way to sell the plan. Mr. Emery admitted that the rating is "B" today but he added that if nothing is done to improve the road and intersection, the level of service will degrade. Mr. Askin reminded Representative Natale that traffic levels have risen in spite of the fact that Addison-Wesley is now empty. Representative Natale stated that he was just offering advice - show that the traffic will improve if you want to win people over. He said that he has walked South Street -- which has no sidewalks -- and he knows its traffic is getting worse. In Woburn, he said, Washington Street's Cummings Park took business away from Woburn's downtown. Yes, there was a benefit but at what cost? We can't allow the possibility of big money to distract us. He said that he could not support this project. Mr. David B. Tuttle of 27 Heather Drive noted that Vice Chairman Anthony makes a good point about the traffic backing up onto and off of the highway. It is all about thresholds and chaos theory. Yes, cars go by on Route 128 in great numbers but the system works only because the cars go by and don't slow down to exit. Mr. Frank Touserkani of 21 George Street had three more points: 1. If this location is so good,why has the Woburn Mall deteriorated? 2. What about the parking lot? The parking lot at Lowe's is dangerous. Joint Board of Selectmen/CPDC Meeting—June 13, 2005—Page 8 3. After Y2K, our taxes have kept going up, up, up. We've passed all sorts of measures to increase the tax base but taxes still go up. Do we now, on top of everything else, have to rezone this property to bring money to the Town? Ms. Virginia M. Adams of 59 Azalea Circle asked to speak. She began by stating that she was not speaking in her capacity as the Chairman of the Historical Commission. She noted that South Street is over 350 years old. It is both an Ancient Way and a Scenic Road. We must protect its integrity. We must protect what we have. If something must go into the Addison-Wesley site, its impact on the Town should be minimal. Ms. Theresa Petrillo of 329 South Street noted that she would be the first to shop at the developer's lifestyle center if it was built --but she hopes that it will not be built because of the traffic it will bring. She said that we need to hear some truth from the developers instead of a lot of words. We are hearing the same things over and over. She thinks that the reason we have not heard a solution for the traffic problem is because there is no solution. Mr. Cromwell Schubarth noted that the intersection at South and Main Street is dangerous, and adding more traffic won't make it less so. What has been said about the parking lot is true. They can be dangerous and that should be looked into. He also asked if anybody had addressed the issue of where they'll put the snow? The Town Manager described what should happen next: * The full and complete study will be finished. + We will hire, at the developer's expense, an expert of our choosing to peer review the traffic study. + We will meet to discuss the details. Vice Chairman Camille Anthony reminded the developers that they should now know what we are looking for so there should be no question. of what they should be providing us at the next meeting. Attorney Mark Favaloro asked if it was correct that the Selectmen want to know how many cars will be backed up onto Route 128 and stacked up on South Street, Main Street, etc.? He noted that concerns were expressed over how this project would affect Reading's downtown, and he asked if the Selectmen would like his client to address this issue also? The Town Manager said that the focus of the next step is access and traffic issues. Mr. Frank Touserkani asked that if the mall does go in, please demand that Whole Grain Foods not be allowed to build there. He said that it will put Calareso's out of business. On motion by Schubert seconded by Duffy, the Board of Selectmen adjourned the ioint meeting of June 13, 2005 at 10:35 p.m. by a vote of 5-0-0. On motion by Schubert seconded by Sullivan, the Community Plannine and Development Commission adjourned the ioint meeting of June 13, 2005 at 10:35 p.m. by a vote of 4A-0. Respectfully submitted,