ORDER-2016-104 : Petition of Comcast for Grant of Location to place new underground conduit to provide service to 417 Main Street, Melrose

Transcript (~20 min @ 21:40)

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▶ 21:32 Speaker 4: you folks could turn to your agenda at this point we're going to consider what Under 2016-104, petition of Comcast for granted location to place a new underground conduit to provide service to 417 Main Street, Melrose. If there's anybody who's here to speak on that order, could you please come forward to the table in the center of the room and identify yourselves?

▶ 21:58 Speaker 8: I am Jim Fitzpatrick from Comcast.

▶ 22:10 Speaker 8: so Comcast would like to propose a grand location to place a new conduit underground to feed for 17 Main Street from the rear of the parking lot in the

▶ 22:26 Speaker 8: rear of 417 Main Street we plan to intercept Comcast existing service put a put a vault over that and then trench from that vault across the parking lot to the rear of for 17 Main Street hey could you describe the work that you're

▶ 22:39 Speaker 4: going to be perform performing the time it would take and the corrective work

▶ 22:48 Speaker 8: please yeah this has been Barone he's going to be doing the work so we're gonna we're gonna cut the parking lot at a two-foot depth laying a two-inch conduit and I know there's questions about the culvert but we we met with the

▶ 23:10 Speaker 8: town engineer Rick yeah Rick and there's a section of the parking lot in the rear of 417 it's like a grass island that we proposed to when we come to the culvert just hand dig and place the conduit in this grass island so we won't be

▶ 23:33 Speaker 4: disturb in the culvert at all and can you indicate how long the work will take and what corrective work you'll take at the completion of the work please well

▶ 23:38 Speaker 9: take us one day to install the conduit and we'll put a layer of binder so the cars will be able to drive on it that night we'll just do half at a time so the cars can go in and out so won't disturb traffic at all the issue here is on the plans it's shown to grind and pave a good part of the parking lot that we're not going near and using the grind and pave method we have pictures of the parking lot it's all deteriorated so it can't be ground at all we can repair our

▶ 24:14 Speaker 9: trench it will look better than what's there but to do the grind and overlay method but was on this permit it just doesn't work okay if you gentlemen could step back for a moment

▶ 24:28 Speaker 4: we'll ask you to come back for questions we have to see whether there's anyone else who wishes to

▶ 24:43 Speaker 4: be heard this evening thank you is there anyone else who wishes to be heard in connection with the public hearing this evening sir could you identify yourself please okay good evening

▶ 24:52 Speaker 10: everyone i'm john chena director of public works um our engineering staff has worked with the applicant in this regard it's actually been going on for quite some time we believe that we found a resolution to the project that meets their needs ultimately meets the needs of the melrose business that needs fiber and cable in order to move on with internet and online orders we our city engineer circulated a memorandum this morning and i apologize it was late but we were having discussions with the applicant as late as on friday afternoon to try to reach some resolution to to this um situation um i want to pay particular attention to three points actually four that are four of the ten conditions that we'd like to have the uh order amended with the first is that we would like a assigned board placed in the parking lot 48 hours in advance of the project to notify customers of that area that you know work will happen and when it will happen we're also not allowing more than six parking spaces to be impacted at any given time and no more than one intra entrance to the parking lot can be restricted at any given time

▶ 26:16 Speaker 10: we're also would also like to see that the work be completed within two days again our engineer's discussion with the applicant that seems pretty feasible

▶ 26:27 Speaker 10: The work will cross the El Pond Brook culvert, which is in the rear of that parking lot. The applicant has agreed to hand dig around the culvert. In lieu of them hand digging, we've lifted the requirement to video inspect the culvert. Whenever people cross the culvert with heavy machinery, we always require a video inspection before and after. um we we're considering to waive that in lieu of the handwork that they're proposing

▶ 27:02 Speaker 10: and uh lastly we are requiring a standard trench restoration technique given that the um the proposed corridor is significantly different than what was proposed last year i just wanted to forward those a little follow-up on the conditions did you just repeat that last one requiring a trench a standard trench repair on the um on the trench given the new corridor proposed initially there were initially the run was closer to the entrance to um grove street but now that they've pulled away and they're making use of an existing manhole that's in the grass strip between the senior home and the parking lot it's a totally different corridor so the trench repair is what we have agreed upon okay before we go to questions we need to close

▶ 28:04 Speaker 4: out the public hearing is there anyone else who wishes to be heard in connection with the public hearing relative to this grant of location motion to close the public hearing second

▶ 28:13 Speaker 4: alderman inferno moves to conclude the public hearing the motion is seconded by alderman MacMaster margolis on the motion all those in favor aye aye anyone opposed motion passes the public hearing is concluded the order is before you

▶ 28:31 Speaker 6: could i have the director of dpw come forward could we have a motion to suspend the rules

▶ 28:36 Speaker 4: please so moved second alderman water removes to suspend the rules the motion is seconded by alderman Boisselle on the motion all those in favor anyone opposed motion passes the rules are

▶ 28:49 Robert A. Boisselle: suspended you have the floor ultimate good evening john thank you for coming hey um question concerning the six parking spaces um if the if car are you going to allow parking in the area also beyond that those six parking spaces we'd like to leave as many spaces as available as

▶ 29:08 Robert A. Boisselle: possible now if any cars are damaged who's responsible for that well as part of the

▶ 29:11 Speaker 10: process we'll have a um we'll have a permit a bond and insurance of the contractor doing the work and obviously we don't want that to happen they'll also be required to get a police detail while they're working in there but should any damage of any sort happen the uh the insurance would

▶ 29:31 Robert A. Boisselle: absolutely be on file with the city okay good uh my next question there was some discussion by the contractor concerning the grinding of the parking area has that been resolved i mean he left with the aspects that they're not going to be doing that yeah that's all set we've we've um

▶ 29:45 Speaker 10: we've decided on a conventional trench repair yeah would you explain the conventional uh that

▶ 29:55 Speaker 10: so that's the the trench that the trench that they um that they dig to install a conduit will be backfilled will be paved with binder grade will be allowed to settle and they'll come back and put another layer of asphalt on it so you'll see a trench that's probably i would say two feet wide two to three feet wide going across the parking lot okay and if it does sink a bit they

▶ 30:22 Speaker 10: will be back the permit requires a one-year warranty on all the work okay and if it happens

▶ 30:25 Robert A. Boisselle: after that one-year warranty are they still responsible for that well comcast really needs

▶ 30:30 Speaker 10: to do business with us so they've always been very good in restoring their fences the excavation is only two feet deep right and the compaction on two feet should be um substantial

▶ 30:45 Robert A. Boisselle: enough to yeah um like that with all the construction that's been going on in melrose for the past couple years if you don't pack it correctly it collapses and we sort of learned our lesson on that i just want to make sure a one-year guarantee one day one year one day we start seeing the trench start going down because of poor packing we also do compaction testing good on

▶ 31:06 Speaker 10: all utility contractors in melrose okay make sure that they achieve that so thank you very much john

▶ 31:18 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: thank you mr chairman alderman mctermar villas uh thank you mr president um mr shena does the dpw intend on doing other any other repairs to that parking lot at this time or around that same

▶ 31:31 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: period at all no no no okay um and also i wondered if um i didn't know in the memorandum um any hours

▶ 31:39 Speaker 10: of work standard hours of work however we are requiring that the work will be completed in its entirety within two days within two days I know that there's

▶ 31:47 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: a I think a karate school back there that has some after-school pick up and

▶ 31:54 Speaker 10: drop off it's another condition is that all all businesses in the area be notified 48 hours in advance with a notice and then we put the board out there to catch the people who use it for parking and so that they'll know and there'll be a comcast

▶ 32:08 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: representative on site if people if any of the businesses have i think you just met them concerns mr fitzgerald great patrick sorry great thank you mr president thank you very much mr president um

▶ 32:24 Peter D. Mortimer: superintendent chenna uh what's the uh reason that this uh work is necessary is it just it's

▶ 32:32 Speaker 10: one out i'll let um no it's a new connection that's the answer the need sorry what's the

▶ 32:37 Peter D. Mortimer: question what what is the reason that this work is necessary please to feed um the the tenants at

▶ 32:49 Speaker 8: 417 main street which is papagino's right and uh i believe the the block next door which is like 421 to 429 right provide them with Comcast internet services you know so it's just

▶ 33:03 Speaker 8: internet not electricity no no no it's just coax video internet and telephone

▶ 33:08 Peter D. Mortimer: all right yeah my my daughter goes to that karate school so I'll let people know that I see them as well did does anyone happen to know is Papa Gino's intending to uh put up cable televisions um in is this the plan that's behind this do they want to have television screens up so the patrons can sit and eat pizza and watch i'm not sure if that's the

▶ 33:35 Speaker 8: reason again it could be for the high speed for the business um i don't get into the sales part of it right um just the construction end i could find that out all right you can certainly find

▶ 33:48 Peter D. Mortimer: that out for you yeah if you could find out and you can contact me i'm very easy to find or you can contact me through superintendent chenna have you heard anything about that superintendent

▶ 33:58 Speaker 10: superintendent chenna what the uh no i don't know what they want the service for but i know it's been over a year that they've been trying to get this and researching different ways to get this the comp cast into these two buildings right um the other option would be to open up main street which we really frown upon and again it's another costly endeavor because of the concrete that's under that pavement for comcast right and ultimately for the customer absolutely thank you

▶ 34:27 Speaker 8: now the voltage on this is very low yeah it's 90 volts right and this particular line um

▶ 34:36 Speaker 8: probably won't even have voltage on it um it depends um if there's a lot of customers you might need an amplifier so you'd have to power up that amplifier through the cable right but you know this I think this probably six tenants and I don't we won't won't require an amplifier so there'll be no voltage and if it is it's

▶ 34:55 Peter D. Mortimer: low voltage all right because we've all heard the stories where a dog or a child walks over one of these culverts and get shocked yeah and there's a lot of kids traversing back and forth there but the probability of that is zero absolutely

▶ 35:09 Speaker 8: no everything's grounded and it's just low voltage you it wouldn't even

▶ 35:15 Peter D. Mortimer: penetrate thank you very much thank you superintendent that's all i have mr president

▶ 35:24 Monica C. Medeiros: thank you uh is there currently uh mr shena access for verizon for fios for any kind of fiber to these buildings other than this or is this it um i think they might come off of main street

▶ 35:39 Monica C. Medeiros: yeah i think so um but this would obviously give them a different another alternative um This proposed drawing that we're seeing with Mr. Shenna's memo, I think, shows this red line going across the parking lot. Will there be any issues with emergency access in and out? Will that whole thing be dug up at once?

▶ 36:02 Speaker 10: No, the conditions that we set forth only allows them to restrict one driveway entrance at a time. Requires a police detail. And, again, that's all there to protect public safety and the patrons of that parking lot so we can keep the parking lot accessible and open and not shut it down for two days.

▶ 36:21 Monica C. Medeiros: That's in this memo that you provided today, which you're hoping that we'll adopt as conditions.

▶ 36:26 Speaker 4: Yes. Yeah, for members of the public, the memo that we all keep referring to is a memo dated March 21, 2010.

▶ 36:34 Monica C. Medeiros: I unfortunately hadn't seen it before this evening, but I appreciate the printed copy. uh and then my my last question is about the culvert how far down is the el pon culvert

▶ 36:49 Monica C. Medeiros: uh no more than two feet below the road so so where this digging is going is is very very close

▶ 36:54 Speaker 10: to it which is why we're requiring the hand digging and it's an option that the applicant

▶ 37:03 Monica C. Medeiros: decided to proceed with and now we definitely appreciate that now do you do you think there's likelihood that that would damage the culvert even the hand digging not hand

▶ 37:13 Speaker 4: digging no thank you thank you all the men's work oh yeah thank you mr.

▶ 37:15 Michael P. Zwirko: president so just had a quick question and I do appreciate this memo the attempt to move away from the the grinding because I just feel like that would further impact a lot of the parking spots that we have down there so I do appreciate the compromise also that you're you've put in here in number five that no more than six parking spaces will be used at the time I'm just curious not to box you in but are you planning on doing this work Monday through Friday as opposed to a Saturday and a Sunday is that the goal yeah I

▶ 37:44 Speaker 8: think we're gonna do it to a regular I was okay they through Friday and that

▶ 37:47 Michael P. Zwirko: was all I had I mean there's less traffic there and the spaces are highly coveted in the weekend so for our you know business district to be great if that could be done Monday through Friday yeah that shouldn't be a problem thank Thank you, appreciate it.

▶ 38:00 Speaker 4: Okay, is there anyone else for the first time before we start the tour of speakers for the second time? Alderman Boisselle.

▶ 38:08 Robert A. Boisselle: Just to bring the Alderman up to date on the concern of the internet at the pizza shops. A lot of the franchises are now pushing for online ordering and they're pushing very heavy for that. And also for the hand phones while you're on the train. your pizza get off the bus and pick it up and you're off and running so just a point of interest

▶ 38:32 Speaker 4: thank you alderman alderman MacMaster margolis for the second time thank you um when you were

▶ 38:35 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: talking about the culvert and the alderman Medeiros was inquiring how low down it was so i was wondering if um if we have any like really bad torrential 100-year storms in the future does that is that culvert impacted is it apt to overflow or anything like that no not at that

▶ 38:56 Speaker 10: location we've never had an issue at that location I mean the parking lot floods down there but that's

▶ 39:04 Speaker 10: because it's that's because it's couldn't catch basins are connected into that culvert which fills but we've never had significant flooding so you wouldn't anticipate down the line that

▶ 39:18 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: with any kind of that would impact their project puddling that that would impact the project the culvert I mean the the conduit yeah no okay that's all thank you anyone else the order

▶ 39:35 Speaker 4: is before you as is the memo of March 21st 2016 motion for passage motion to amend the order by

▶ 39:45 Peter D. Mortimer: including the memo you just mentioned as part of the jacket okay do we have a second for either

▶ 39:48 Speaker 4: motion alderman Medeiros seconds the motion to amend the order to make the grant of location contingent upon the condition set forth in the memorandum of march 21st 2016 is their discussion relative to that motion on the motion to amend all those in favor anyone opposed motion passes The order as amended is before you.

▶ 40:11 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: Motion to recommend as amended.

▶ 40:13 Speaker 4: Motion to recommend as amended.

▶ 40:19 Peter D. Mortimer: We have a second. Second. Motion for passage as amended, second.

▶ 40:23 Speaker 4: Motion is seconded by Alderman Boisselle. Ms. O'Shea, could you call the roll, please?

▶ 40:30 Speaker 5: Alderman Boisselle. Yes. Yes, Alderman Forbes, Alderman Inferno. Yes. Yes, Alderman Lemmerman. Yes. Yes, Alderman McAteer-Margolis. Yes. Yes, Alderman Medeiros. Yes. Alderman Mortimer? Yes. Yes. Alderman Tramontozzi? Yes. Yes. Alderman Wright? Yes. Yes. Alderman Zwirko? Yes. Yes. President Conn? Yes. Yes. Ten years.

▶ 40:52 Speaker 4: That order passes. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 41:02 Speaker 4: Okay, do we have any orders from committee this evening?

▶ 41:05 Peter D. Mortimer: Mr. President, I make a motion to take order 2016-106. There's a presentation regarding the visual budget and the new Melrose online GIS system and online applications. I make a motion to take this order from committee.