An Appropriation from Free Cash (account 01-324001) to DPW-Highway Department (#422) in the amount of $400,000 for Lebanon Street TIP project design.

Transcript (~8 min @ 2:42:25)

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▶ 2:42:06 Kimberly Vandiver: Moving on to the second item on our agenda tonight. We have ID number 2026-1176, an appropriation from free cash account 01-324001 to DPW Highway Department number 422, in the amount of $400,000 for Lebanon Street TIP project design.

▶ 2:42:27 Speaker 9: Thank you. Hold on. I just need to collect my thoughts here and pull the memo up. I didn't get to talk to her.

▶ 2:42:41 Speaker 9: She's right there. Sorry, I should have done this in advance.

▶ 2:42:47 Speaker 9: Here it is. Okay. So this request is for $400,000 to further advance the Lebanon Street TIP design. I want to call attention to the memo just to note how much that we've spent so far. We've spent $540,000, which has gotten us up through the 25% design stage and through the MassDOT 25% design comments and responses to comments. Different from the project we were just discussing, the Lebanon Street TIP project, it ultimately will be a federally funded project for the construction. The MassDOT is estimating this around $10 million of funds that we're guaranteed to get, but we have to pay for the design, and then some ancillary costs during construction.The MassDOT design process is an extraordinarily detailed and lengthy process, dissimilar from anything else that we typically do in-house. And thus, each phase of design is very expensive. So we've spent 540,000. We have 200,000 left that's been allocated through our last road bond from a couple of years ago that we're still spending, and then we're asking for 400,000 more. But that won't be for the whole project, for the whole design. We will then invest more of our Chapter 90 or future road bond money to complete the design. But based on the free cash levels that were available right now, and discussion with the administration, we felt that 400,000 was a good ask for free cash, and then we can easily supplement to make up the rest of the design, which I'm estimating will be another three or 400,000. Over the next couple of years, we can use road bond money as we have in the past, or some piece of Chapter 90.

▶ 2:44:51 Cal Finocchiaro: Thank you. I have Counselor Pinocchio. Thank you. Okay, so this is the 400,000 is a necessary evil. It's a lot of money, but just to clarify, this is for a drainage on Lebanon Street, no? Sorry. Okay.

▶ 2:45:09 Speaker 9: I should've explained that. Okay. Yes. The TIP project is Transportation Improvement Project. It is everything that you saw done on Lebanon Street from Hospital Square up to Lynde in the past. It is all that and then some, because MassDOT has now changed some of their regulations. They require either a bike lane or it's actually going to be a mostly, I believe, sidewalk level cycle track. There's going to be bicycle amenities on both sides of the street, completely separated from the street. So it will be concrete sidewalks. We have major sidewalk network gaps right now on Lebanon Street in that section. It will be concrete sidewalks, granite curbing, brand new road, completely reconstructed road. We're working on parking along the softball field, which I've told MassDOT that will make or break the project. If we don't have any parking, I don't think the project will be approvable by the community. There's not a lot of space down there to park, but it's better than we don't want people parking on the sidewalk anymore. So it is a complete revamp of Lebanon Street all the way to the Malden Line from where we left off with the last project.

▶ 2:46:26 Cal Finocchiaro: I'm sorry. It's okay. Where exactly is this new project starting? What part?

▶ 2:46:30 Speaker 9: From Lynde- Yep ... on Lebanon to the Malden Line on Lebanon.

▶ 2:46:34 Cal Finocchiaro: Okay. And will the installation of the bike lanes reduce the size of the width of the street?

▶ 2:46:42 Speaker 9: So right now we have our standard for the city is 11-foot travel lanes. Mm-hmm. And so we'll be maintaining 11-foot travel lanes. I think though, on Lebanon down at that southern portion, I don't know that we have a fog line the whole way down. I would have to pull it up on Street View. So we're not necessarily exactly constricted to the 11 feet right now, but we would be meeting our standard, which is also the standard for a street that a bus can go down and large vehicles.

▶ 2:47:12 Cal Finocchiaro: And they're painted lines or are there going to be like-

▶ 2:47:16 Speaker 9: Okay. The cycle track, I believe, for the majority of the corridor is sidewalk level. Okay. So it would be the driving lanes, both directions, curbing, and then up here, the bike lanes and the sidewalks. And it allows us to keep the utility poles almost entirely where they are and have a grass strip in any locations where it fits, and then trees and such.

▶ 2:47:39 Cal Finocchiaro: Okay. I'm all in favor of safe biking. I tend to have an issue when it restricts the size of the street that people are driving on. But so it's going to be incorporated with the sidewalk?

▶ 2:47:52 Speaker 9: Okay. For the majority of it. Okay. There are some areas where the grade doesn't allow for it to be with the sidewalk, and I think there are a couple of areas where the grade doesn't allow for there to be a bike lane, but they're just very short stretches. Okay. I don't know all the exact locations, but I know there-- And there's one small area where a sidewalk doesn't fit almost in Malden, where basically the driveways are so shallow that if you tried to add a sidewalk, someone couldn't park even a single car in their driveway. Okay. So that little stretch will end up with no sidewalk, but across the street, there'll be a sidewalk.

▶ 2:48:26 Cal Finocchiaro: All right. So we've already appropriated $540,000. I think we did that last year.

▶ 2:48:30 Speaker 9: Correct. Yeah. Some of it was through the road bond, which you did appropriate. Yep. Mm-hmm. A little bit of, I think, was Chapter 90 at one point- Mm-hmm ... which you don't have to vote on. Yep. But yes, you voted on the majority of this.

▶ 2:48:42 Kimberly Vandiver: Okay. Well, I'm just going to make a motion to recommend. Second. Second. Okay, we have a motion to recommend, Counselor Pinocchio. A second, Counselor Karim Cheedy. Anyone on discussion?

▶ 2:48:52 Bradley Freeman: Point of order, Counselor Romanul has his hand up.

▶ 2:48:54 Speaker 7: Counselor Romanul.

▶ 2:48:55 Devin Romanul: Thanks so much. I'll be brief. I'll just say that I'm really excited about the project, and I'm not just saying that because it's in Ward 7. Anybody who has biked, driven, walked, just living along the street knows that either speed or hazards crossing storm water is a huge issue in that corridor. Mm-hmm. So I'm really glad we're continuing this work. I'm definitely voting for it. My only question to the director is at what point do you anticipate a public engagement process for those who are living there? Because I hear that all the time about opportunities for folks to give voice to things. And I know that this is not going to be till FY29, so we've got a ways, but eager on your feedback there.

▶ 2:49:37 Speaker 9: We're actually planning on starting that this summer. Mm-hmm We had a meeting out there the other day with MassDOT and our consultants from Stantec, and we informed them that we do plan to have an informal public meeting. They have a very prescribed public engagement process. But I would rather meet with the public, just the city and our consultants first, and gather some feedback before we enter into the formal MassDOT public engagement process. So we said we were going to aim to do something over the summer.

▶ 2:50:07 Speaker 8: Great. Well, let me know how I can help.

▶ 2:50:10 Speaker 9: Okay. Thank you.

▶ 2:50:10 Kimberly Vandiver: All right. Anyone else on this discussion? Let's have a roll call vote, please.

▶ 2:50:16 Speaker 8: Councilor Chen. Yes. Councilor Finocchiaro. Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine. Yes. Councilor Karamcheti. Yes. Councilor Cal. Yes. Councilor Abrumsky. Yes. Councilor Park. Yes. Councilor Williams. Yes. President Freeman. Yes. Councilor Romanul. Yes. Chair Vandiver. Yes. All in favor of motion passes.