ORDERS

Transcript (~1 h 45 min @ 1:35)

▶ 1:09 No. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay. That unanimously passes. And for the record, Commissioner Oberg is now present. Commissioner Carenza and Councillor Vandiver are not yet present. They're both on their way. Okay. Okay, the next item, these are not very meaningful items. So the next item is just the update on Richardson and Renwick Road, and we had said we were going to wait until those roads were paved before we asked the neighborhood if they wanted to consider doing anything different. It just got paved on Monday, so we felt that this was not enough time for them to have any difference of opinion than they had from before it was paved. Is there anyone here who was here for that item? Didn't expect that because we didn't distribute to that neighborhood knowing that

▶ 2:09 we weren't going to really have a discussion on that. Motion to table? Is that what you would like, a motion to table? Yes, yeah. So moved. Second. Okay. Motion to table by Mayor Inferna, seconded by Commissioner Parenti. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay. That unanimously passes to table item number two. Okay, the third item on the agenda is resident request to relocate the crosswalk located across from 122 Wyoming Ave West to the intersection of Trenton Street, where there's currently no crosswalk. For the record, Councillor Vandiver is now present. So we distributed the study on this, and I just have an update, and I can't remember if we did distribute to that neighborhood. Do you remember? For this meeting? I don't.

▶ 3:13 I don't think we did. I don't think we did. Actually, let me see. Let me just double-check. You said here. Now that I'm thinking about it, I feel like we did. Oh, no, you must have, because I got an email today. So I got an email just before- We did ... I got an email at 4:30 in opposition to it. Okay. We did notify all residents within one block of the intersection of Trenton and Wyoming in all directions on both Trenton and Wyoming, both sides. So we had sent out the four-way stop analysis that MassDOT did. We had two very detailed meetings about the MassDOT study. Is anyone here from the public to speak on this item? Okay. So we had two internal meetings with the mayor's office, the police department,

▶ 4:09 DPW, and others. For the record, Commissioner Carenza is now present. And at the initial meeting, we thought we would pilot the four-way stop, but then the follow-up meeting that we had after everybody reviewed all the information and considered it further, there was just a lot of hesitation about a four-way stop at that location. Mainly concerns with the fact that it wouldn't be an expected location of a four-way stop. It would be a big change on a major road, and we just felt that there were better ways. If we wanted to do traffic calming, a four-way stop is really not a traffic calming device and that it just wasn't the right treatment for that location. And just a lot of fear from the combination of the police department and the DPW

▶ 5:04 that it might create more accidents than it would mitigate. And we just wanted more time to look more closely at the intersection and other things we could do because that analysis only considered the four-way stop. It didn't consider anything else. I've always felt that there's some solution at that intersection that involves changes like turning restrictions and changes to the allowable movements through there because a lot of the crashes seem to be people trying to go across. And maybe if that's no longer allowed, that might mitigate some of the crashes. So we're back to whether to relocate the crosswalk to the intersection. Right now, it's offset from the intersection. So Commissioner Parenti was our resident requester, if you want to give the

▶ 5:52 background. Thank you. So the intersection in question is about a block from the Lincoln School. And right now, as mentioned in the agenda, there is a crosswalk existing just to the west of the intersection. Even from out road, it's a little unusual to have a crosswalk so close to an intersection but not be at the intersection. It is well-lit, but it isn't in an obvious place. And so if you want to use it, you have to go over there and then cross and then come back, if you're, say, crossing from Trenton to Trenton. Or if you're crossing from Florence to Florence, you've got to go all the way and then come all the way back. And if you're crossing to the school from, say, Florence or Trenton, you have to use the crosswalk in a strange

▶ 6:52 location. So it is more natural, and there is pretty decent pedestrian movement across Trenton Street. And it is a good walking route to the high school, middle school complex in the north. And Trenton Street is a decent gateway to the Fellswamp to the south. So I think there is a desire line there. And in my view, the more natural location for the crosswalk is to meet with the existing crosswalk on the west side of Trenton. We could consider putting it on both sides, but I think the objective is to get the pedestrian crossing on at least one of the two sides with our discussion today. Does anyone have questions for Jeff? Yeah. This is T to commissioner. If we put it on both sides, do you think that would act

▶ 7:44 as a calming traffic? Not the crosswalk itself. Okay. And the other component is, is it a safe location? So the sight lines, well, good news, bad news about West Wyoming is it's very straight and very flat, which does encourage speeds, but at the same time, the sight lines are excellent. So I do think it's a safe place to have a crosswalk there, and if we can attract pedestrians to use that crossing, and we increase the pedestrian usage of it, that will introduce more opportunities for vehicles to know that there's a crossing there, and to reduce speeds. The existing crosswalks in front of the school, there's one at the driveway and one at the playground. Those are very active during school times, and you'll notice that the

▶ 8:32 vehicle volume is reduced during those times. But even during non-school times, the Trenton Street corridor is a pretty good pedestrian desire line. So I think just the presence of pedestrians will help. And even when there's not a pedestrian there, if the drivers learn that this is a place where pedestrians will be, then they'll be more likely to be ready to decelerate or stop. So Jeff, do you think if it's going to go on one side or the other, do you think there's a side that's safer, the west or the east side? Plus also buildability. So we would need a place to put the ramps. There is a utility pole in a very inconvenient location on the southeast corner. So if we choose one, the west side was probably more conducive, more buildable.

▶ 9:41 Okay. Cara? Since the MassDOT West Wyoming and Trenton report is related to this, I'm just curious. I heard you say, "What if we did traffic calming instead of the four-way stop?" The report said that 9 out of the 11 crashes could've been preventable with a treatment there. So what is the city thinking, and what will the city do? So we haven't quite gotten that far yet. Like I said, I think restrictions on certain turning movements is probably the thing that would mitigate the crashes the most because they tend to be crashes between the people on Wyoming and people on Trenton. But we haven't gotten that far. We were going to pilot the four-way stops, so we were all focused on that and then shifted gears just about a month ago.

▶ 10:37 And we still have funding that we're going to do a traffic study on Wyoming, and we were waiting for this information to decide what to do there. So we're still planning on doing a traffic study. I don't think any more studies need to happen. You guys had a study that was done for free, and then it was turned down, the free intervention. So it's like, what is the city going to do to fix the crashes and fatalities on West Wyoming? It's just crazy that-- I'm with you. I heard you say, "What if we did traffic calming?" But turn restrictions wouldn't be traffic calming. I'm just curious. Yeah, that would just be mitigation. You were saying what we do to mitigate the crash history, and that's my opinion on

▶ 11:14 mitigating the crash history. But the study we were going to do wasn't just for this intersection. So the study we got from MassDOT was just for the intersection. We were going to do the whole corridor. I personally think that a raised intersection for the school driveway is the best way to go there. But we want to look at everything holistically. But that's not on West Wyoming, right? That's on- On West Wyoming. No, on West Wyoming. Across the street? Yeah. Okay. Why? Sorry. Why is a four-way stop not recommended there? So MassDOT didn't have any concerns about the lack of balance in the two approaches, which I found surprising because there was a very distinct lack of balance in the number of cars going in each direction.

▶ 12:09 They just sort of dismissed that as not relevant. I didn't agree with that, and Jeff, maybe you can express some of what you would weigh in on that topic. Yeah. So as Cara said, it did say that 9 out of 10 crashes were preventable, but they didn't say how or why. I was looking for more detail from them on that, and there wasn't any detail about the crashes themselves either. So it'd be nice if we had some depth on if a turn restriction or other movement restriction would help reduce the number of crashes. So I think before we select a remedy here, we need to know more about what the underlying cause is. So are the crashes related to people going from Trenton to Trenton? Are they related to people turning left out of Trenton northbound?

▶ 12:59 We don't really know. So, and as Elena mentioned, the imbalance in volumes is a concern. And so that's why we're considering a pilot. So do we try it and see what happens and hope for the best, and then try to take it back out if we don't like it, and then we have a level rink full of people if we attempt to do that. So my thought was that we make sure that the solution that we have is the right one, and then we install it, and then we stay with it. So with the report being submitted, I think we need some follow-up with the authors to see if we can find some answers to these questions. The report asked for these follow-up questions within five days. Did we follow up asking for these questions for more detail?

▶ 13:53 We did follow up. We had a meeting with them, with their traffic engineer. Did they help answer some of the questions that Jeff is asking? So I found their answers to be somewhat inadequate. Frankly, I felt like their study was very prescriptive and not really site specific. And I felt that way from the beginning of the four-way stop analysis that they did as to where in different towns to recommend the four-way stops. It seemed like they had run a blanket analysis for the whole state and just picked the locations that met some certain criteria of crash history and I'm not even sure what else other than crash history, because some of the other locations in other surrounding towns that they recommended, I found equally surprising.

▶ 14:39 They're not the locations that I would've expected. And then I felt like their analysis was more, it was not MassDOT who did it, the consultant they hired. I felt like it was more of the same of trying to prove a statistical point that this was a good location without practical information about the actual location. I'm trying to remember what the other data was we asked them if they had, and they said they didn't even gather that, and I can't remember if that was the details on the crashes. Was this two-page memo? No. Jenna- I sent out the- The study they did, no ... notes right now because I would love for you to just What's that? I'm going to share my summarized notes so you have them, Jonah. Sending them now.

▶ 15:28 Yeah, I sent it out in June, and I sent- I didn't originally see it, so I emailed everyone being like, "Hey, can we get the report?" And Jen did send it in June, but I didn't see it until this week. Yeah, we just didn't feel that it was a complete enough analysis of the four-way stop. And the level of service of the intersection went from an A on the Wyoming approach to a D or an F, I can't remember. And they were- C. It was a C. No, it was lower than that. In one of the directions. It definitely went lower than a C. They had no concern, though, about the decrease in- So right now, I'm saying the LOS is an A overall during the AM. Okay. I think that only looking at level of service on our high injury network, the only

▶ 16:17 street that we control that is our high injury network in the region, and we're letting perfect be the enemy of good. Let's try it. Let's pilot it. If the data's not good enough, let's find out the questions we want to ask and then collect the data and say in three to six months, we'll review it. If it doesn't work, we get rid of it. So that was the plan. That was initially the plan, and then we had a follow-up meeting to put that plan into action, and we just had a lot of- I think we should have a public process about it. What is the city doing on West Wyoming? Everyone knows my thoughts, but it is a safe route to school. There are apartment buildings. It hits every single demographic element, and we had

▶ 16:53 a free report, and we decided we were afraid that it would add more crashes. Well, let's see if that's the case. I think Jeff had raised some very, I thought, good concerns about the idea of piloting and then taking something back away. Piloting something that was that major of a change on a major roadway and then taking it back away, that that's not advisable from a safety perspective. And so that's why we thought we would go back and take another look. Level of service was not the only consideration we had whatsoever. That was just one of the factors that when we asked MassDOT's engineer they hired, what their feelings were on that. They just didn't think that was a big deal at all. This data that they gave us, there was a car going more than 70 miles an hour at

▶ 17:47 3:00 PM. There was a car going between 65 to 79 at 2:00 PM. We have to do something. But stop signs aren't the solution for those folks. They are. For somebody who's going to drive 60 miles an hour down West Wyoming, a stop sign is not going to be- Elena, but that's every agenda item on here because that's our purview, right? So, the public thinks like, "Oh, stop signs." And that's what the city says is the low cost, easily implementable thing. Is it perfect? No. But if it's not, then what's the traffic calming element? I'm with you on the four-way stop, but then let's agree on the solution as opposed to saying we need to study more. Study what? We have to stop saying we're going to study, and do something.

▶ 18:28 I think this is a very silly discussion. MassDOT said we can put in a four-way stop. I think we do it. A crosswalk is not going to stop a 60 mile an hour car. Yeah. No, and that's not- Traffic calming is like wild ... just to be clear, this agenda item was raised before MassDOT study. Jeff, who lives in the neighborhood, felt that the crosswalk is not well-placed and proposed moving the crosswalk. And so that's really tonight's agenda. That's the only item that we're talking about. We- We're not talking about the stop sign. Yeah, we sent out the stop sign information. Punted the agenda item to do the report. But I think there needs to be a public process with this report, and this meeting is the public process.

▶ 19:06 In that case- Because there was closed doors meetings about this to determine we're not going to do anything on our high injury network ... any resident, including any member of this commission, can bring the four-way stop request to the traffic commission. We haven't had that as an agenda item, and you're welcome to put that on an agenda the same way that Jeff put moving the crosswalk on the agenda. We're not- I was under the impression that based on the discussion last meeting, that this would be on the September agenda because right then is when the report had been received. We tabled the item about the crosswalk to this agenda. I'm sorry if that was a misunderstanding, but yeah, the four-way stop request, because the city didn't advise it, we didn't-- If

▶ 19:46 it was a city request, we would put it on the agenda. Where we're not advising it- We can leave the report back, though. I would've put it on the agenda if I knew that that's what we needed to do. We can discuss- Well, let's- We can easily discuss it in December, but it's not within our purview. That's right. I just think it's so sad that we're talking about using pedestrians as traffic calming in West Wyoming. It is a serious issue, and we just keep punting it. It's so sad. So sad. But let's put it on for the next agenda because- Yeah, because we want the people to come who- Yeah, we didn't provide notice that that was on tonight's agenda, so we absolutely can't deliberate on it or make a decision on it.

▶ 20:22 But I think that Jeff- Is it even still possible, though? They wanted to provide delivery of the materials by the end of September and have them installed within three months. That was- We have the materials, and we were allowed to put them at a different four-way stop. So you'll see some nice flashing LED stop signs going up at Fremont, Essex, and Emerson, because they told us within 90 days we had to put them at a four-way stop. So we can relocate them back to this location if this were to happen. So that the order before us is about relocating the crosswalk? Yes. I make a motion to relocate the crosswalk. There we go. Hmm? There we go. Yeah. We have a motion- This would be at the crosswalk? Like-

▶ 21:05 It'll be at the intersection. At the intersection rather. Yeah. So I didn't understand the discussion before about which side it would be on, because three sides of that intersection have one, so it would be fourth side, right? That's where it would go. There's only two crosswalks. There's two, each one- Yeah ... each cross- Two ramps you're talking about, right? Are you talking about ramps or- The crosswalk across Wyoming is offset from the intersection. Right. Yeah. So it would come into the intersection. So it would come to the- Right. Yeah. And there isn't one on the other side. Then it was the question of which side. Yeah. And typically- I think you said the west ... so- You said the west

▶ 21:36 That's the one that's more buildable? Am I right? Yeah, Jeff is recommending the west side. Usually for the purpose of the vote, we would just say at this intersection, and then we would place it as feasible. All right. I'll second moving the crosswalk. Well, can we discuss having two? That's something that would happen afterwards. We can certainly discuss having two, yeah. Could we discuss it all at the next meeting? If we put in the crosswalk and then we change the configuration because we decide to put in stop signs? That's why I was wondering. I don't think that the... Well, you guys look at it. Like does the- I don't know. It probably won't change much- Like putting the crosswalk in wouldn't prevent-

▶ 22:18 Right ... you from putting the stop sign But if you're doing the four-way stop sign at some point, those crosswalks are fine now. Yeah. And the good news is I think we have ramps at all four corners, right? Yeah. Yes. So, I mean, they're not fully compliant ramps, but we're not modifying anything. It's not like we are required to take them out and put in a different ramp if we move the paint right now. So, and that's an easy thing to black out the paint in one and move it to a different spot. So that's something that could potentially happen in the short term, with very little money. And then if we do something else in December, I don't think it's a lost effort. I'm trying to find the lighting GIS layer online.

▶ 22:59 There's no good lighting over there. But I heard you say, Jeff, that there is good lighting if we moved it south, southwest, whatever the direction that you want to move it. Is it improved lighting or should that be a determinant? Because the current lighting is really poor. There isn't a light on that pole that's right there, is there? There's supposedly a light based on the LED light project that we did. There's supposedly a light right on the corner. Okay. But then there's also supposedly a light at the other crosswalk. So assuming that they're working, there should be a light both right at the corner and at the crosswalk, the existing crosswalk. I think it would be an improvement lighting wise to move it to where Jeff wants to

▶ 23:45 move it. We have a motion on the floor. Got a second. I think you'd asked about- Yeah ... two crosswalks, but I wonder if that's more of a discussion for December if we're talking about the four-way stop, because obviously there would be a crosswalk in each direction. I would be more comfortable voting for this if we were agreeing to have crosswalks on both sides. I think it's not going to obviate the ability to do the stop sign if we decide to do that. And I'd rather distinguish that as an intersection with crossings on both sides along on Wyoming for drivers approaching from both sides. I also think it would be helpful to have them, as I asked earlier, I'll put them on both sides, but it would alleviate someone crossing over to Trenton Street to get

▶ 24:43 to a crosswalk. Mm-hmm. So- That's true. Okay. So I'm going to withdraw my motion. Okay. Withdraw your motion. Yep. And I'm going to say relocate to the east and west intersections of West Wyoming. Yeah. Can I just ask one question of Sergeant Koch? There's no crossing guard at that location, correct? No. Okay. Because I always hate to put two where there's a crossing guard because it makes it more challenging to- Yeah. Monitor both. No, I think it will alleviate people crossing Trenton Street and causing anything. Okay. So we have a new motion. Second it. Yep. Okay. Motion made- Do you want to repeat the new motion? Crosswalks on both sides of Trenton crossing- East and west on West Wyoming.

▶ 25:25 Got it. Okay, motion made by Mayor Inferna, seconded by Commissioner Cirenza. Do we have any further discussion? Okay, I will call the roll. Commissioner Paul? Yes, in favor. Commissioner Cirenza? Yeah, yes would be in favor. Commissioner Parente? Yes. Commissioner Oberg? Yes. Sergeant Koch. Yes. Mayor Inferna. Yes. Councilor Van Varick. Yes. Okay. And I'm yes as well. So that passes unanimously. Madam Chair, can I ask one question? Sure. Will you put shark's teeth in front of the crossings for- We usually do, yeah. Okay. All right. We can do that. Thank you. Yield markings. Yes. I call them yield triangles. It looks like, by the way, what I was confused about is the satellite shows there are two there right now. But if you look at-

▶ 26:22 Yeah ... just the maps layer of Google, it thinks there are three. That's why- Yeah ... the discussion's confusing to me. Three- The map version without the satellite view on Google Maps for that intersection, it's showing an extra crosswalk that doesn't appear on the satellite view. Yeah. I'm looking at GIS, and there's just the two across Trenton Street itself and nothing across Wyoming. Okay. Except for the one further down. And so we would eliminate the one further down. And then, yeah. Understood. Yeah, I'm seeing the same. Great. Okay. The next item on the agenda is a resident request to install a four-way stop at the intersection of Marmion Road, Porter Street, and School Street. Is the proponent of that request here?

▶ 27:07 Yes. Okay. You want to come on up to the table? Sure. Tell us your name, your address, and explain why you've made the request. Hello. Can you guys hear me? Yes. So my name's Jessica Federico Kuen. I live at 6 Marmion Road in Melrose. I grew up on 93 Cochrane Street. Some of you may know my parents, Diane and Guido, or my brother, Adam, all whom still reside on Cochrane Street I'm here today, and I appreciate being heard and considered in support of the four-way stop on Marmion and Porter Street. I'd like to provide a few reasons why. There is a high volume of pedestrians and children crossing Marmion, Porter, and School, which sit in a primary elementary school neighborhood, meaning dozens of young children walk, bike, and cross this intersection every

▶ 28:09 morning and afternoon. I, myself, have a first-grader and a fifth-grader who attend Winthrop School and cross these streets two times a day, every day of the week. There's excessive speeding on Porter. Drivers consistently travel at unsafe speeds along Porter due to the uninterrupted right of way, creating a continuous hazard for pedestrians and turning traffic. Last summer, in June of 2025, a driver attempting to turn from Marmion, in front of my home, onto Porter, was startled by a speeding vehicle traveling down Porter. The turning car was forced off the road, driving directly through my fence, into my yard, narrowly missing my home, a space where my children play. Thankfully, we were not home at the time, and my

▶ 29:12 children were not in the yard. The police were there. It is recorded. It is documented. The fire engines were called as well. This is the only four-way intersection on Porter without a four-way stop. Installing a four-way stop will immediately help reduce speeds, equalize traffic flow, and create safe, predictable gaps for children to cross the street safely, and for cars to pull on and off. Thank you for my consideration on this topic. Thank you. Does anyone have questions for proponent? I also have photo documentation, if you would like to see, of the car on my front lawn that drove through the fence. That should've been... Do you guys- Yeah, that should've been in the packet ... the packet with the photos. Yeah.

▶ 30:14 Okay. The photos were submitted earlier by my husband. Yes. Yeah, the packet goes out to all the commissioners. Right. So they would've received it. So no questions? Okay. If we don't have any questions from the commissioners, we'll open it up to public comment. Is anyone else here for that item? Okay. Do we have a motion to open public comment? So moved. Second. Okay. Motion made by Gail, seconded by Jonah. All in favor? Aye. Okay, by unanimous consent, public comment is now open, if you can also state your name and your address. Sure. My name is Jessica Rowcroft-McKenna, and I live at 5 Marmion Road, right across from other Jessica. I appreciate my neighbor's interest in the speed on Porter Street, but I came here

▶ 31:01 to listen to the discussion and find out more about some of the engineering concerns and traffic calming measures that may be taken, because four-way stops are just one tool in the toolbox. There is another four-way stop at the corner of Porter and Lincoln, just one block away, that we routinely see cars kind of glide through. Cars also kind of glide through the one at Lincoln and Burle, I think because they get a little tired of stopping. I know this summer that there was the speed tracker information, the temporary thing that pops up down on Porter and Stratford. I don't know if that was for informational purposes and educational awareness of speed, or if data was actually being taken and analyzed.

▶ 31:50 So I'm just curious if there has been any study of the speed on Porter Street or any future look at the corridor in its entirety, because I also want to make the point that there are no speed limit signs on Porter Street at all. So... Okay. That's all. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? Okay, seeing none, we have a motion to close public comment. So moved. Second. Okay, motion by Gail, second by Kim. All in favor. Okay, public comment is now closed. Can I just answer one of the questions that was asked by- Yes ... the public? So the Melrose has a traffic calming map. It's helpful for everyone to use it as a tool. So if you Google Melrose traffic calming map, you asked about study and speed,

▶ 32:51 every single street has a score for demographic, road safety, pedestrian density. The website gives you more information. So there's lots of data that's gone into it. So the Marmion and Porter and School intersection has about a 0.5. One is absolutely the worst. You need traffic calming. West Wyoming's a 0.99 for reference. And that intersection's 0.55, and it varies. So just to share, I love that you came up and said, "There's other countermeasures." There are, but that's a really important resource for everyone in Melrose. Sergeant Koch can ask. Yeah. The traffic board was put out several times out there over the last few years and this season a couple of times, different, probably the spring and then more

▶ 33:46 recently. So it's general just to warn people to slow down a little bit. Perhaps, so there's no data for that road that I'm aware of, that we've done. Perhaps that area of Porter, maybe a certain area down towards Bellevue, West Rockford, heading towards Lincoln could eventually get a permanent smaller speed sign that you see on the poles. But that's the history of the speed sign there. I witnessed, and I don't live on Watchauger now, but I witnessed a car, an Amazon driver, go down our street straight through the intersection, not even stopping. And about an hour later, another exact same thing. Again, I don't know how much sooner. I'm open to any solution, but I also implore you to put yourselves in my shoes to have a car drive full force

▶ 34:48 into your yard with small children, and kind of reflect on that and the safety. So yes, if it's not a four-way stop, I'm open to whatever that solution may be for this significant issue. I don't have any really suggestions about when I was up there. It's not a straight four-way. It kind of has that foolishness of- Yeah ... School Street being a little off-centered from Marmion, so that makes it tricky to do anything. But I thought the sight lines were fine, and I went in and out of it, and I was fine. And I am up in that neighborhood because I do have a friend that lives up there a lot. And I'm not quite sure the stop sign is the right thing, but maybe we could figure out some sort of other tool to use.

▶ 35:46 Sergeant Koch, did you have any other crash data? Obviously, we have the one crash for sure. Great. No, I was able to check on the... It was June of '25. The person that caused that accident was actually a brand-new driver, too. Very new, like permit new almost. Mm-hmm. So that, not to discount what happened, but it could have happened anywhere. She lost control and spun into that area. She was startled by somebody who was speeding down Porter. Well, right. I'm just making a point that she's a new driver, so she's going to be startled by several things. It's not just the location that she's at. That being said, nothing after that, like the last three years, Dan, that has any relevance to this situation in any way.

▶ 36:34 Okay. Sergeant Koch, was there data from when the board was out there? No, I don't. The board- The board's not great for data. Okay. So I, and I'd rather- Well, it tells you how fast you're going. Right. But I know- It's like a volume, but- Wait, it's not collected? You guys don't analyze that? No. Okay. Because it's just, yeah, I mean- It's fed to the sign. Yeah. Um, we just, we don't do any real... I don't-- We could, in theory, at certain points if we really needed to, but people are drive... It's gonna give you the volume, so I guess that might be good. But people- Just the speed- The speed is 40 ... the speed and volume. And we have, well, we have the other equipment. The speed is 30. The police department has other equipment that they put out, and that's our goal

▶ 37:16 together. Yeah, we have the other equipment. I don't think Porter Street needs a study for any reason, unless I'm mis- I'm misreading something there. So that we might even have. Well, I live on Lebanon and between, uh, Emerson and Upham, and I definitely am in the neighborhood all the time, and yeah, it's a fast-- People drive too fast on that street, for sure. On Porter or Lebanon? Porter. Or also Lebanon, but we're not- Oh, well- Actually, Lebanon's not bad because there's signals on both sides, so that block isn't terrible. Intersection. Yeah. But the, um, I don't know if you want to use the word cut through. I think a lot of people are using it to get to their homes. So these are our neighbors. But, it's definitely a route that people go too fast

▶ 38:00 on, I will say that. Yeah. It's the only street in the neighborhood you can go east to west for a long distance, Chris. And so we have this debate, which we'll have every time and we'll have it now, of like, is a stop sign gonna make some people slow down and other people sort of disregard it, but pedestrians feel like they've got... And, and drivers feel like they've got this like false sense of security? "Well, of course it's a stop sign, they're gonna stop." Right now, vehicle drivers and pedestrians are probably mostly aware that there's not a stop sign, and that there's-- the vehicles are coming down, and they're gonna wait for a longer gap and not have this expectation that people will follow the law and stop.

▶ 38:42 And as you mentioned, they roll sometimes through the other, uh, signs, which I've seen. It's a great location for speed humps all the way up and down Porter Street. I mean, that's what's gonna allow people to maintain a, a safe speed, which is the problem. All the rest of our streets that have relatively safe driving speeds don't need stop signs because, there's appropriate speed, appropriate reaction time, gaps, all that stuff. This is a higher volume and higher speed, so it's an issue. I think the solution is to bring the speed down, since you can't change the volume, and a stop sign is probably gonna be debatable in its effectiveness. Did I say that for you correctly? Thank you. No, I'm- ... I do have the state crash data, if it helps the board.

▶ 39:34 Uh, the crash that was testified, that is in here. It shows, this is the... Oh, for those of you who are new, the state crash database is available to the public. Just type Mass. impact into your computer or your phone and it comes up. Um, the database goes back to 2002. So the June 25 crash is all here. It talks about the fence, it talks about the age of the drivers. All the data's in here. There are six crashes in the database going back to 2002. Uh, before 2025, the one previous was in 2014. And as the sergeant said, there's been nothing since the June 25 crash. Interesting that speaking of an inexperienced driver, three of these crashes were 'the driver was between 16 and 20 years old,' which is kind of odd.

▶ 40:23 Um, but, um, so two crashes, 2013 and '14, and then before that, '04, '05 and '08. So six crashes over 24 years. And there were two that reported injury and the rest were property damage. If there are a lot of crashes involving younger drivers, maybe that implies that the neighborhood has a lot of families with teenagers in it, potentially. That's very possible. And I don't-- One thing this database does not include is the address of anyone, or the town that they are licensed or live in or anything like that. But it does give an age range, which can be helpful. So interestingly, until recently, we weren't allowed to just post white-backed regulatory speed limit signs anywhere we want. But now we're allowed to post them as long as we post the, um, Chapter

▶ 41:18 17, Chapter 9017C little placard underneath them. Um, because we are at a 25 mile per hour, um, citywide, as long as you're in a thickly settled district, we now can post those. So perhaps a combination of a speed limit sign with a solar speed feedback sign, um, you know, the smaller version of the trailer, um, might help in this neighborhood. I do think it's, one of the few streets that is just a long straightaway. Um, the stop sign at Lincoln Street is only three houses down, um, four houses down from this intersection. So there's already that sort of break. If the desire is just a break in the speed, um, that break does exist one street down. Um, but we also know as a commission that stop signs are not intended to be a

▶ 42:10 break in the speed, but there's the benefit of that at Lincoln Street. Um, so I think that might be a good place to start. I, I mean, it sounds to me-- I would-- I wish we could do something physical there, like speed humps, because we are a 25 mile an hour city, and if we have to-- var- various places where we have streets that are regularly traveled faster than that. I'd, I think people just a large extent know, and they need to be physically impeded. Yeah, we would wanna gather data, though, because a lot of times the streets that we perceive have a major speeding problem don't actually have people. It's just because it's a small residential street, and you feel like people are going very fast. But then when we gather the data, most people are going between 20

▶ 42:56 and 30. Um, most usually be like below 28, 29 miles per hour. So, um, we definitely- And can we say that that shows four-way stops aren't a good thing? Yes. I'm kind of undercutting- Yes ... okay. And what does it say? It says they aren't a good thing. When, when they're not working. So the background is what you said- Well, for me, it's like not a good thing if I'm being driven through my fence. So I mean No, no one here is undercutting that like speeding is good. And we don't want speeding, and we have a 25 mile an hour speed zone throughout the city. But people drive as fast as the road d- is designed, and this road is designed to be like people drive faster. Correct, and I'm- But you mentioned that an Amazon driver, I think, whoever, just

▶ 43:36 like went through the stop sign. A stop sign is like making an honest per- Like a lock makes an honest person honest. It's like, "Oh, we're gonna stop because I'm paying attention because I care." But if I am not paying attention or I don't care or whatever, they'll just drive through. It's not forcing a slowdown of a vehicle, whereas traffic calming does that. And a stop sign can create a false sense of security. So if you put a stop sign where it's not expected or not warranted by the federal standards, then somebody, a kid crossing the street might just see the stop sign and see the crosswalk and just assume they're gonna be fine. And then if the driver doesn't stop, then- Call your council members asking for traffic calming.

▶ 44:14 Email your traffic, email your council members asking for traffic calming. Or just email the- Just email Jim ... engineer. Email Jim. Just email me. Yeah. Yep. Um, so if we were to deny the stop sign, we would give you the ability to use your toolbox and maybe put up one of those little LED things saying how, what the speed is probably before, probably over by, what's that, Moreland or something. Because if you do it too close to the stop sign- Right, it's not gonna do- ... like it's not gonna, so if you do it on... But you have carte blanche to do that- Yeah ... if we deny this. Yes. Would you also consider there was, um, I believe Jessica mentioned the, um, children crossing Porter Street, and if there-

▶ 45:05 There's no crosswalk ... there's no crosswalks on that side of the street. So the, the crosswalk at Lincoln Street though is, as I said, it's four houses down on one side, three houses down on the other side. Yep. I think, um, there is a crosswalk right there- Yes ... with a stop sign at a major, another major road. But children are expected to go out of the way to then cut there. Well, but you could say the same for every- Live in a- I know it's, I know there are other like T-intersections. Yeah. But you could say the same thing of children coming out of Norman or Moreland or Garfield or any of these streets. The- But not on four-way stops. I think like, I'm missing the point. No, I, I understand what you're saying.

▶ 45:43 I'm just saying about kids crossing the street. There, there are going to be desired lines of kids wanting to cross in all different ways, depending on what street they're going to. And- We can't always put a crosswalk at every location where somebody may want to cross. And where there's one right at Lincoln Street, I think it's too close to put another crosswalk on Porter. I feel like there might have been one at Marmion, just a way, that wore off when our daughter was younger. That we can see. The reason why I was asking, Elena, is because school connects with Upham, and then there is that crosswalk in front of the church that goes to the Winthrop. And so if you have kids in that neighborhood, they might

▶ 46:30 be destined for Upham, where in that crosswalk is closer to school than it is to Lincoln. There are several kids that come- Yeah. I don't know ... from across. I'm sorry. If a temporary speed monitor was put in, is that something we could track the data on? Or is that just like more- So we have equipment, the police department has equipment where we can gather data. Okay. We have two other locations where we need to gather data, in the next few weeks. And then I don't know, Sergeant Gock, if you have other places you need to put the equipment or if you could put it on Porter Street for a bit. I can. Just what is the substance of doing that? What are we looking for? I guess I'm- Well, no, I'm asking.

▶ 47:18 I think if the request is coming in for us to do traffic calming, we need to understand what we're trying to mitigate. If 85% of the drivers are going below 28 miles an hour, I don't think putting a speed hump in is necessarily the logical next step. So I think it's just to better understand the existing conditions. Okay, where would we like this to be done? I think I- Elena? Yeah. Somewhere between Lincoln and the Country Club, anywhere in that stretch. It would have to be- From- ... east of Lincoln ... from down that road, that stretch of roadway- Moreland? Yes. Somewhere through. Let's do that. Did you agree, yes? Yes. I think he'd want it away from Lincoln, though, so that it's not catching people

▶ 48:13 decelerating or accelerating from the stop. From the stop sign, right. You need it far enough in. More to the, east of- Yeah ... Marmion. Yes. As- Going downhill? Yeah, that's what I would think. I'm just- I mean, there's going to be less houses in that area. Obviously, you could have some speed, but you already know the volume is going to be less up there. I think even though- Based on the traffic that we're going to put- ... even if we're considering a- I'm just trying to get a purpose of what we would be doing when the members come out. Even if we're considering a speed feedback sign, which is like $5,000, we don't want to put one out there if there's not speeding to mitigate. Okay. Right? We'd rather put it in another location if we-

▶ 48:52 Yeah ... are going to spend that money. So I think it would be helpful- Small hump near Mooreland Road, or I don't want to- Maybe Larchmont ... have people tell me it wasn't in the right spot. Right. Yeah. All the time. I would put it by Larchmont and Porter, somewhere between Country Club and Porter. It's the stretch between Lincoln all the way out past Bellevue Country Club. I don't understand the point about if 85% of drivers are doing okay, that we don't need speed humps because it's for the ones that are going too fast- Well- ... to keep them in line, right? Yeah. Although, I think the argument can be made, if you look at percentile graphs of speed data, there are always outliers. In every case, there's going to be outliers.

▶ 49:42 And in every case, there's going to be somebody who's driving under the influence or somebody who's a brand new driver and doesn't know, confuses the accelerator and the brake or something or the other of these things that happen. We can't mitigate every single one of those things. So to put in a substantial change in a neighborhood to mitigate the one or two things that you might not be able to mitigate anyway because that person's under the influence or whatnot, it's just, in my mind, not a logical use of resources. I guess it just doesn't seem like a substantial change to me. As a driver, it doesn't really matter. And I mean, the ones that are square, there are square traffic humps that are a problem.

▶ 50:26 But if it's just a little one, I don't see a downside. I think we have to be mindful of if we're putting them on Howard Street right now. We have to be mindful of do we want speed humps in the entire speed tables in the entire city on every street? Because we have a list of 35 streets that we're looking at for some sort of traffic calming. Right. Maybe, yes. I would say yes. Maybe that's the answer. I think yes. But I think there are a lot of people who don't think that the answer is yes. Are they traffic engineers? What's that? Are they traffic engineers? No, but they're neighbors who live in the neighborhood who do or don't want that treatment in front of their house. Great. I just want to add to the resident, if you are going to email requesting traffic

▶ 51:17 calming, I also suggest asking the mayor for more funding for traffic calming materials because I don't think we have enough of them to go around right now. I'm going to make a motion with some sort of a friendly amendment here. Okay. I'm going to make a motion to deny the four-way stop, but I do think there should be a crosswalk somewhere between Marmion, and you're going up towards Sheffield, if there's nothing there. Although, I think there may be, it doesn't show my map here, but there may be one in Sheffield going over to Bellevue, the golf course. But if we could look at it, and if you need an order for the next meeting, I'll be glad to do it. Or if you can just look at putting another

▶ 52:01 crosswalk in there, because I do agree, kids aren't going to go backwards to go frontwards. They're not going to go down to Lincoln and then go up to go over to the Winthrop School or wherever they're going to go play or do whatever. So I think we could, or if you could evaluate a good site place, to put another crosswalk so that the kids from Marmion and up, well, can stay on one side of Porter Street and cross safely to get to the other side. And probably between Norman and Moreland or somewhere around there, because that would take you out to Upham for the Winthrop School. But I will go with my motion to deny the four-way stop with the caveat that we... I don't know, do you need an order for the crosswalk?

▶ 52:57 Do you want me to submit that to you? We would need an order, um- Okay. I'll submit something for the next time to say, to evaluate Porter Street for a crosswalk east of Marmion. East of Marmion. Okay. I'll second that motion. Okay. I'm not sure who said that because I was looking down. Andy. Andy, okay. So motion made by Gail and seconded by Andy. Any further discussion? Okay, we'll call the roll. This is a motion to deny the- Motion to deny the four-way stop. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Andy? Yes. Jonas? Yes. Jeff? Yes. Cara? Yes. Sergeant Gock? Yes. Gail? Yes. Jim? Yes. And I'm yes as well. Okay. Okay, so we can pursue the getting some speed data and determining whether it's a good location for the speed

▶ 54:17 feedback sign, and then we can look at crosswalk locations. And if you want to put that on the December agenda. But I can get back to you on what- Yeah ... location we would recommend so that we can put that specific area. Okay. Or we can even put between this and this if we want to be able to deliberate. Okay. Next item on the agenda is a city request to add a crosswalk across Cottage Street at Hurd Street. Is there anyone here for that item? Okay. This one should be fairly straightforward. It's a city request, so the DPW put this on the agenda. If anyone's been by that intersection recently, we reconfigured when we were paving Hurd Street. We did bump out the curb and- We've had Cottage Street residents here before requesting various treatments.

▶ 55:12 They requested a four-way stop there. That got denied. And in looking at the geometry of the intersection, it was a little bit offset from a 90-degree intersection. We were able to tighten it up. We didn't tighten it up a ton because there are trucks and such that need to be able to make that turn, and we didn't want to make it too awkward. The fire department also weighed in, that they don't want us to make things too awkward for their turns at that location. So we bumped out so that the parking is now inset a little bit, and the crossing in that location that we picked is the people crossing will only have to look in one direction because Cottage Street is one way at that spot. And we do plan to put signage placed such that there's a little bit more protection

▶ 56:05 for somebody standing in the bump-out. With the parking ban at night, it means that somebody standing in the bump-out is standing into the road. We talked about maybe doing some paint to make it obvious that the travel lane is to the left, and then putting the crosswalk sign in such a way that it helps to protect the person standing there. If we need a bollard or something, we can also, we would think about doing that. Is it on the north side of- It's on the south side ... south side of Hurd? Yeah. So all the other directions, no traffic is coming to that crosswalk other than coming from the south to the north. Yeah. All right. You should go by it. The bump-out looks great. Glad to hear it.

▶ 56:55 Motion to approve. Second. Okay. Motion by Jonah, second by Kim. Any further discussion? Okay. Go back to my formal calling of the roll. Commissioner Paul? Yes. Commissioner DiRienzia? Yes. Commissioner Ferranti? Yes. Commissioner Oberg? Yes. Sergeant Koch? Yes. Mayor Inferna? Yes. And Council Vannuaris. Yes. And I yes as well, so that passes unanimously. And we are still working on painting crosswalks. Normally, we get them all done before school starts, but the night that we had the contractor in, it rained for half of the night, so we got a little behind. But the Hesseltine crosswalk still hasn't been painted as far as I know. I don't think it has. The last time I went by, it hadn't been painted.

▶ 57:47 So that should get- We'll get there. Yeah. So that should get done soon, and then this one should be able to get done soon. Okay, the next item, city request to have no parking here to corner sign on the east side of Myrtle Street near Emerson Street West, moved 50 feet from Emerson Street West. I was delighted to see this because that- It's like another Dell at Upham, right? Oh my God, that's just like, oh. And then you get stuck in the middle, and no one can move because... Yeah. Yeah. I'm delighted. Motion to approve. So is there anyone here from the public for that item? Okay. So we don't need to open public comment. Any further discussion? So Sergeant Koch was the one who- Excuse me. Could we open for public comment just for proof of the rec, in the

▶ 58:32 minutes? We can. We don't normally do that when there's nobody here to do it, only because we have so many items, but we absolutely can if you would like to. Motion to open for public comment. Second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Is there anyone for public comment? I just want the record to show that- Yes ... we did ask for public comment. Okay. Do you want to make a motion to close? Motion to close public comment. Second. Okay. All in favor? That was Gail and Jonah. Okay. So Sergeant Koch, you, I think, put this on the agenda, correct? Mm-hmm. I did. Yep. Do you want to speak about it? Wasn't there a motion? There already is a motion, but- I'm good with that. Do you want to second it? Sure. Okay.

▶ 59:19 I think I already seconded it, but- Oh, you already seconded it. If there's any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Otherwise, I can just go up. Yeah. Does everybody- Can you give us your spiel? I want to hear it. Really? Yeah. Well, it's what Gail was- It can be short and sweet. I know you like short and sweet. Well, it bottlenecks the area, so it's well-traveled. There's right now, 2D of construction going on in that whole corridor that's going to be bottled up with workers. That's another matter. There's a small elementary school there that's maybe sometimes has full-time parking on that street, and sometimes we try to let some of that go in certain ways. And then there's the library, and there's just all kinds of traffic, and it

▶ 59:57 gets bottled. Cars park on the east side of Myrtle a lot, and it becomes almost a one way because the street is skinny. Two cars can pass, but if you had two large SUVs or trucks, it wouldn't work. So I'm thinking if- It allows for turning radiuses to at least happen, where you can tuck a car in and still get another car through. So you're wanting a two lane on the- The north part of Myrtle? Myrtle Street, you want to be able to align two cars side by side to turn on Emerson. Yeah, you could fit at least two now, maybe close to three. Okay. Not abreast, though. You're not side by side, is what Cara was asking. Yeah, no, the issue is that when someone's parked right up by the current no parking here to corner sign, and then a car is coming out of Myrtle Street, if this

▶ 1:00:51 is Emerson, a car's coming out of Myrtle Street, they're now in the other lane of traffic. And somebody trying to turn into Myrtle Street can't turn. And so it creates a bottleneck where sometimes somebody might be, let's say you're turning into Myrtle Street from Emerson in the other direction, you might make half the turning movement. Now you're in the middle of the road perpendicular to the traffic, and you can't get into Myrtle Street. So what's the current dimensions of the no parking? I think it's 30 feet right now, and we want to extend it to 50 feet, so essentially one more parking space. So why is this happening at this intersection and not others? I think it's more prevalent... Well, I think it does happen at others, but this is

▶ 1:01:31 one particular one that's been complaints, complaints. And more recently because of even SSU construction, there's some potentially workers back into those areas, and we got to take it in. But when you look at it just from a regular perspective, if it's someone, there's plenty of room to move it back. Not aware of any pushback from the neighborhood or any worries about that in a way, so it just works. It just improves visibility too. I travel it enough personally too, coming and going to and my house, that I've experienced it myself several times. And you can just wait, but it does bottleneck the area. This should help. And I think we've had similar discussions on, I can recall Franklin at Sargent,

▶ 1:02:20 Upham at Dell, and it tends to be where you have a more major road and then a minor road that is fairly- Mm-hmm ... frequently turned onto, where the people trying to turn onto that road sometimes do get stuck on the major road. If you're driving from Main Street toward the library and you go to take a left on Myrtle, you might get halfway into that turn and realize there's a car coming in your lane that you can't turn, and now you're stuck. So I think that's the kind of thing we're trying to prevent, which was the same issue on Franklin that we heard at Sargent, and the same at Upham and Dell, where we just want people not to be stuck in the intersection. Is there a thought that we're going to have a two-lane queue?

▶ 1:03:02 No. No. You mean two-lane queue coming out of Myrtle Street? Yeah. Like people in- If I right turn lane, it's a lane, and then a left turn lane. No, because it's a two way street. It's two vehicles that pass. It's a two way street. Yeah, but there's space for the parking. I know that's not what we're approving, but could that happen? It's barely big enough that that would... I drive through there all the time too, because I go from City Hall to the city yard so often. It's uncomfortable even with one lane queue. Yeah, but- Yeah, I'm not sure what the dimensions are, but that's our regular commute on the bike and on trash day, when the trash trucks are coming down, they barely fit at all on... It seems very narrow on that street.

▶ 1:03:44 Yeah. So if there's more than one car waiting on Myrtle to turn onto Emerson, the car that's turning onto Myrtle from Emerson can't come down Myrtle because of that second car if there's somebody parked there. That's where I bike to home every night, and that happens all the time. It's 23 feet wide. I bike this all the time and never experienced it, but- ... I trust all your experiences. It'll help. Ever so slightly. The motion's open? Yes. Any further discussion? Okay. I'll call the roll. Commissioner Paul? Yes. Commissioner Karenza? Yes. Commissioner Parenti? Yes. Commissioner Oberg? Yes. Sergeant Koch? Yes. Mayor Inforna? Yes. Councilor Vanderberg? Yes. Okay, I'm yes as well, so that passes unanimously.

▶ 1:04:36 And we already have a sign, so we will just move it 20 feet down. Okay. Next item is the resident request to add a three-way stop on Swains Pond Ave at Maple Terrace, and I can only assume that that's what you're here for because... Hi, everyone. I'm Vera Joan. I live at 18 Patrick's Place. Thank you for hearing my item. I sent a letter ahead. I think that means everybody got it with a picture, so I'm not going to read the letter again from myself and a large number of our neighbors on Patrick's Place, Swains Pond, and Maple Terrace. Thank you, commissioners and chair, for hearing me out. I'm here to support the placement of a three-way stop sign at Swains Pond and Maple Terrace. In addition to any other measures that the commission thinks would be

▶ 1:05:40 appropriate, we put a couple in our letter. This is all new to me, so definitely have learned a lot tonight and defer to the expertise of the commission on what would address what we think is a serious potential safety issue, recognizing we understand there isn't a crash history at this particular intersection. However, if you've traveled in that area, I think it's pretty evident that there is basically zero line of sight around the corner where Swains Pond meets Maple Terrace. It's particularly problematic when you're heading on Maple Terrace towards the Lebanon Street area, sort of southbound, and try to make a left-hand turn onto Maple Terrace. You're basically doing that completely blind.

▶ 1:06:23 You have to commit to the turn before you can even see if there's oncoming traffic at Swains Pond. This is an area I travel basically every day when I come home from dropping my kids off at the Hoover. And it's worse in the summer, but still bad in the winter. In addition to the left-hand turn problems, there is no crosswalk from our side of the street to get to the sidewalk on Swains Pond, which, by the way, is incredible, and we're so lucky to have had that extended all the way up. It's improved safety, and certainly our use of that area has increased as a result of the sidewalk. But unfortunately, it's very hard for us and our kids to access the sidewalk from our side of Swains Pond. There's a crosswalk all the way up at Lebanon.

▶ 1:07:20 And as the sidewalk sort of ends at Maple Terrace, there really isn't any way to get to the crosswalk at Dexter Road and Penney Road, where it crosses Swains Pond all the way on that side. So our kids, and the many kids that are now in our neighborhood, really have to go based on if they can hear the traffic. It's almost impossible to see around the curve. From any place on the interior of the curve, you can't get a clean line of sight in both directions of travel from Swains Pond. So we put a number of suggestions in the letter. I think the stop sign would really address a lot of them, in particular, helping to have a protected left-hand turn for the motorists and giving some semblance of safety to pedestrians, although I did hear that stop signs aren't always the best

▶ 1:08:14 solution for that. Crosswalk was also mentioned in our letter but wasn't added to the agenda. I'm not sure why or if that would be potentially considered at a later meeting, would certainly advocate for consideration of that. I think that pretty much sums up of everything that we have. I know that there are some other neighbors that have submitted letters. Would encourage you guys to read those, and I really appreciate your consideration. Thank you. Thank you. Do any commissioners have questions? You can stay for a moment in case anybody has a question for you. Oh, thank you. Is the issue the landscaping on the northeast corner? So that's a big part of the problem. Our understanding is that some portion of that is city-owned land that has been

▶ 1:08:59 significantly overgrown. Just to be clear, and I think other neighbors feel the same, is we don't want to see trees cleared from that area, but if there can be brush clearing, that would be a significant improvement. I think, though, that it's not a complete solution. First of all, there is private property on the other side of the curve, and so I don't know what the potential would be to clear the brush on that part of it. But the other thing, to be honest, that I'm significantly concerned about for that solution is I've been in touch with our city councilor for almost a year now on that. As of the last couple of months, there have been promises to have the city clear that brush, and that has yet to occur.

▶ 1:09:46 If that's the solution, it's going to have to be kept up regularly, and a stop sign would be a far more permanent and prolonged solution that wouldn't require continuous upkeep by the city. But yes, the brush is a significant problem right now. So this is the brush on the west side of Swains Pond? East side of Swains Pond. No, sorry. It's the west side of Swains Pond- Other side of the street ... on the inside of the curve. But there is the house that's right there at the curve. I don't think it's occupied right now, but they have hedges that line the sidewalk. Yeah. That's why there's a big gap there. Yeah. So the hedges, I think, are on that person's property. Okay. There is an area, I don't know the property lines very well, but there is an

▶ 1:10:39 area that I believe to be city property next to the... If it's southbound Swains Pond, and then it turns almost at a 45 degree, 90 degree angle, where that is to become westbound. So if you're on the southbound side of Swains Pond, that's the city-owned property is my understanding. Yeah. And then as you turn the corner, that's the private property. Yeah. So they have the hedges, but the city has their significant brush growing up the trees and whatnot that is also blocking a line of sight. So it's better when the leaves drop in the winter, but it's still pretty overgrown. Yeah, and I can give you a little background on the city clearing of that area. So we rent, we don't own the equipment to be able to clear brush alongside the

▶ 1:11:29 road. We do the same on Washington Street and a bunch of other locations. We rent the equipment once a year. Okay. So until we rent it, we don't have that available to us. However, we did get approved in free cash in the spring to purchase a piece of sidewalk snowplowing equipment that we can next year purchase the boom flail- Okay ... to own the equipment to be able to do that maintenance in-house, which would be huge because it's been something we get calls every year, especially on Washington Street. "When are you coming? When are you coming?" And then we have to wait till the time of year when we rent the equipment. I understand. So it might take a little while to get there to where we have it in-house, but

▶ 1:12:10 we're about to purchase the plow equipment that can take that attachment. So your- Commissioner Pezzella ... your concern is when you're leaving Maple onto Swains Pond especially? It's especially when you're on Swains Pond turning onto Maple. Okay, southbound left. Turning left. Southbound turning left is a completely blind turn. Yeah. I think the pedestrian issue is similar. So when you're on Maple Terrace coming onto Swains Pond, you have a better line of visibility on both directions of traffic- I see. Okay ... from Swains Pond. But when you're on Swains Pond, really in either direction, but in particular when you're headed southbound on Swains Pond, either from the southbound lane of traffic or from the sidewalk, which are on the interior of the

▶ 1:12:58 curve there- Yeah ... you can't see around that corner at all. And so when we cross with our kids, we try to find as close, we walk around the apex of the curve a bit to try to find where you can go. But we always tell them, "You have to listen to hear if you hear a car." And that's a really Kind of scary proposition- From- From a pedestrian perspective. Mm-hmm. I defer to you guys all, but I know citing a crosswalk at that intersection is a little tricky. It's not a great... It's sort of- It wouldn't- It doesn't line up very well ... because of the visibility issues, it wouldn't work. Exactly. But certainly, having a protected left-hand for motorists would be a significant improvement, and having something to

▶ 1:13:51 slow cars down around that curve and signal to them that they need to stop, which I hear, it's been a very interesting debate tonight. So defer to you guys on whether that makes sense also for pedestrians, but it does seem like it would be a significant improvement. Yeah, I wonder if a mini traffic circle would fit there. You have one? Yeah, I've got one right here. It's the type of location where you basically would want to throttle people coming through there, and then you could... Making the 270-degree turn into Maple would be challenging. But it'd be interesting to try driving that and see. It seems pretty tight for that, but I don't know how much of a space you would need to make that work.

▶ 1:14:40 I'm curious. So I drove from every direction- Mm-hmm ... to see what it felt like coming at the intersection from all three sides, and I absolutely agree. When you were, and I took that turn, that left turn when you're south bound on Swains, you have no idea if somebody's coming as you take that left onto Maple. I'm curious from the pedestrian perspective, so when you come to the end of Maple, if you were coming from your house down the hill- Yeah ... toward Swains, if you were going to the left, there's a sidewalk on your side. Correct. So if you were going down toward Lebanon Street, you'd have a sidewalk. Does the sidewalk continue all the way? It does, yeah. Okay. So it's really when you're going up to the right, like you said, toward the

▶ 1:15:22 new sidewalk on the other side of Swains, where there's no sidewalk on your side of the street, and there's no place to cross. Exactly. And so I wonder, and I know the grades are really tough out there, and maybe this isn't feasible at all, but if there was sidewalk enough to get you to where the visibility is better a little farther up Swains, would that help? To the right? To the right. Like there's a new driveway. That's all driveway. Yeah. On that corner house that's Maple and on Swains. There's like two curb cuts. Yeah. Yes. And, I have to say, I obviously don't know how all of my neighbors use the space in our neighborhood, but from my perspective, going up to the pond is the primary direction that we go when we're walking.

▶ 1:16:11 That is one of the most beautiful places in Melrose if you ask me, and it's a huge draw for our neighborhood. So yes, I walk down to Lebanon sometimes, but mostly that's the direction we're trying to go in with the kids and the dog and otherwise. And I understand there's the driveway there and some what looks like landscaping rocks or something, but the city property goes very far from the edge of the road. Correct. And there's certainly room for a sidewalk from a distance perspective. It's just what the grades are doing that I'm really not certain of. Hmm. The city owns about seven feet back from the edge of the road. And if that could help from a pedestrian perspective, certainly, I don't live right there, so I feel like those neighbors may have an opinion, but

▶ 1:17:04 that sounds like a very interesting option. I still think you have to address the turning cars, though, which is also a problem. Yep. So the city owns that brushy blind turn into- Park ... into your driveway. Lincoln Street Trail that comes up on the left. The city owns right to... So if you're coming south on Swains- I guess so. If you're coming south on Swains, yeah, we do have to open public comment in a moment, but if you're coming south on Swains and you reach the opening to Maple, that's where the city property ends. And then as you come around the curve, you start into the curve, and it's city property on the right, and then the whole rest of the curve after you go around belongs to that house. That's number 42.

▶ 1:17:55 Forty-two. Okay. Yeah. So the city does own- Part of it ... part of it, yeah. All right. Yeah, why don't we open public comment? And one more question. Do you have a sense of how much of the traffic that you're concerned about is local traffic or people passing through the area? I have no idea. Okay. I just, I can't tell. Thanks. I would certainly say nobody who's going up Maple Terrace is cutting through. Yeah, there's no- There's no- I don't think there's really any through traffic there. Yeah, I guess my- But on Swains Pond, there certainly could be. I have no way to know that. Yeah, my thought about that was just that if it's, I don't know, 50 people or something, like if there's some ability to work as a neighborhood on one part of

▶ 1:18:37 the issue, knowing who's going in and out of that one part. If it's possible to get consensus around anything there. I will say one suggestion that I don't know if it was in your letter or somebody else's letter, but the street sign for Swains. Mm. Somebody put in their comments that where the Maple Terrace sign is, there should be a sign that also says Swains, because if you don't know the area, it is very hard to tell which is the continuation of the street that you're driving on. Maple Terrace used to be so tiny that you would never make that mistake. Now it's this big open intersection, and I think that that definitely needs a sign parallel to Swains that says Swains Pond out. So we will do that.

▶ 1:19:26 And if I could just say, because I was going to say this at the end of the discussion, I was up there in the country. I'm a city girl. I live right off of Main Street, so going to the country is like, okay. So I was up there. I saw Maple Terrace from Swains Pond, but then when you go up there, I saw where Patrick goes, then there should be a street sign there that says that's Maple Terrace when you take that right, because I had no idea where I was when I took that one. I said, "I don't know if this is Maple Terrace. I don't know." I went up to Hemenway. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And that's when I saw the sign saying Hemenway and Maple Terrace. So I said, "Okay, I'm still on Maple Terrace. This is good." But I think there should be a sign

▶ 1:20:11 by Patrick's Place where if you have a sign that says go on a Hillcrest or Hillsomething- Hillside. Hillside ... Hillside. There's a sign underneath that. Patrick went and saying Hillside up there, but I was like, "I have no idea what street I'm on here." So I was pretty lost, and that overgrown brush really throws you all off around the area, too. But if you could just, I think there should be a sign that says that that's Maple Terrace going over to the right. Do you get that from visitors? Or you live on Patrick? Oh, I live on Patrick, which had, it's obviously a newer street, so it took us a while to even get on- Yeah ... the GPS at all. So we have a lot of like- Yeah ... Uber drivers that try to pick us up on Swains Pond Road.

▶ 1:20:51 So that's an issue- Yeah ... but not your problem, but- I think that whole area is kind of tricky. So, a street sign added to that pole would be great. And one other comment- For this country girl, for the city girl that goes to the country. One other comment that I just wanted to make, because I don't know if you lived in Patrick's Place at the time when this was discussed the last time. I did not. But when the street was constructed, one of the conditions for the developer was that if they wanted a stop sign, you know how it's awkward to know who has the right of way when you get, I think it's down to the bottom of Patrick's or Maple. Yes. And they're all private ways, and so the city doesn't put up stop signs on private

▶ 1:21:33 ways unless the street petitions. Okay. The street can petition for a regulatory sign on a private way that the police would then, that would be enforceable by the city. But the street as a whole has to petition for it, or at least the vast majority. And- Are you talking about the intersection at the bottom of Patrick's Place where, as you're noting, the Maple Terrace sort of curves there? I think that's- Yeah, I've heard neighbors raise concerns about that. My letter was focused on this particular intersection, so I tabled that one, even though as I was talking to people, some of them mentioned that as well. Yeah. So that's helpful. So I'm just mentioning it that that's something that will never appear on a traffic

▶ 1:22:14 commission agenda unless your street comes and petitions us for it. Understood. Since it's not a public way, but When I've driven through there, I think it would be very helpful because it's confusing who has the right of way. I appreciate that feedback. The other thing I was going to say about the street signs right there is, as you know, when you're coming from Lebanon Street on Swains Pond, the Maple Terrace curve is almost like the straightaway. And so people who are even intending to go up Maple Terrace don't necessarily slow or use a turn signal or other sort of normal traffic, because it almost feels like you're just in a continuation of the road. And so I think there's just a lot of geometry right there that makes it

▶ 1:23:06 difficult and exacerbated by the brush and the lines of sight. Just really appreciate the commission taking this under consideration. So you're saying if you were going up from Malden- Yep ... Lebanon Street, if you're going towards Maple Terrace, you think people turn to Maple Terrace thinking that's Swains Pond? I don't know that they do that- Oh ... by accident, but I think the people who are coming up to Maple Terrace purposely, whether they're, I don't know if they're neighbors or delivery or whatever, but because of the geometry of the street, I think people don't slow, because they don't treat it like a turn. Because I- It's almost a straightaway ... had no problem that that was stopping-

▶ 1:23:50 There's no line of sight problems. Yeah. It's just that people are coming around that a little quick. But that's, again, different issue. But yeah. All right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we have a motion to open public comment. So moved. Second. Okay. Jeff and Gail. Okay, all in favor. Public comment is now open. Come on up. State your name and address, please. My name's Paul King. I live at 80 Swains Pond Ave. I've been there for over 40 years. I totally agree with the woman in the sense of the blind spot going towards Lebanon on the right. No ifs, ands, or buts about that. But I'm sorry, stop signs, a three-way stop is not going to help that area. I would ask the police department to look

▶ 1:24:48 to do a study on, and again, I'm sorry if I get the directions wrong, but coming down where Swains Pond is on your right, and you come down towards the turn, you have two turns. One's at least a 45, and one's maybe a little, it's not as bad, but going towards Lebanon. I don't remember many accidents down at the Maple Terrace part, but I do know that the boulders were put there because of a couple of accidents. But over the course of time, I don't think there's been a lot. I think the citywide 25 mile an hour sign coming in from Malden on Lebanon at least alerts you to that. When you come the other way from Penney Road down, there's no signage. I would love to see a study done on the speed limits there, because

▶ 1:25:47 I'm sorry, it is nothing but a raceway at night. It'd be great if the, and I don't know if the sergeant knows or not, whether or not the speed sign that the police department uses tracks speed over what's posted, in other words. I'm sure there's a grace zone, as we said earlier, 20 miles an hour. But it's brutal. And I don't think, I'm sorry, but the stop sign's not going to help that, because you're going to come around the turn, going towards Lebanon. You've now got two house lengths, if I'm not mistaken. But the property on the right, which I did not even know was city-owned until the new owner of the, as I refer to Ed's old house, told me that that was city land. It definitely is overgrown. You can't see it.

▶ 1:26:47 There isn't a line of sight going that way. So it would help. But what you can do, I don't know, without taking down trees. So Ed's house is 42? Yeah, I honestly don't even know the number. Doesn't say Ed's house on the map, so. There's a bench right there. Yeah, that had to be moved because it was originally put on city land. Yes. Perfect. So everybody loved Ed, and they moved it down to, I only know him as the old mailman who moved the house. But I'm sorry, a three-way stop's not going to help that area. I agree with you on a crosswalk, possibly, for the kids, because there are more kids in the area. There's no doubt about that. But I'm not sure, and to go off subject, if there's more going to be done on Swains Pond with the

▶ 1:27:41 repaving, because I'll be honest with you, when you put the sidewalks in up around the corner going towards Towners Pond- Mm-hmm ... I blew a tire because somebody came around the turn going towards Towners and forced me over, because I'd also want to know, is there 22 feet- Yes ... curb to curb? Yes. Okay, then you need to have that small area on the right going to Turners where people park. You got to get them to stop parking there, because people come around the turn to go up and other people are coming this way, and it just narrows the area. I'd be surprised if there's... And right now- You're talking about where we put the new sidewalks? Yes. Yeah, there's definitely 22 feet through the whole corridor.

▶ 1:28:36 We have double lines right now. Yeah. There was more than 22 feet, but- There's way more than 22 feet. Yeah. Yeah, it's like 44. I have a question for you, even though we're not supposed to really go back and forth during public comment, but I am curious. But we do every time. Do you know Ed's old house? Yeah. It looks like your neighbor purchased that property. Brendan did up top. Yes. Do you know if that's going to be a tear down? Do you know what his intentions are? Because maybe some of that brush will get cleared. Oh, I thought the city knew his intentions, and that's why he somewhat stopped at the beginning. Brendan, if I'm not- Others in the city might know his intentions, as- Oh, I'm-

▶ 1:29:15 ... DPW, I don't know his intentions. You guys are- Okay. I was under the impression he was looking to do townhouses there. Oh, okay. That would be planning department, building department. Right. Okay. CD. As far as the area, the new development, and again, I'm sorry, I don't know all the street names up there now. Patrick's Place and all that. Yeah. There's been more traffic coming down, but we've always had the traffic on Swains Pond, yeah, because it is a cut-through. Mm. There's no doubt about it. From Malden over, it's a cut-through. And they go very fast. And I think that's the issue more than the stop sign, is the speed on that street. And I honestly, I don't know how you can stop it.

▶ 1:29:59 I really don't. I've been there 40 years. The pole in front of my house has been hit before. But again, that was weather conditions. It wasn't the speed conditions. But just in general, if something can be done with that city-owned land to get a better line of sight and possibly a crosswalk for the students, because there are more kids in the area. When I started in Melrose, I think we had four kids because we went to the Ripley. Now the Ripley's closed, so everybody's got to go up to the Hoover. So it is a different neighborhood. And two of the residents, Sadie and my neighbor across the street, Gary, they have kids, and they have no sidewalk on their side of the road at all. So they come down off their steps and cars are just screaming by.

▶ 1:31:02 So again, traffic-wise, I don't know what the answer is because of the two turns, but I don't think stop signs are the answer. And I hate to say it, but Melrose to me has more four-way stops and more no turn on reds than any adjacent- It's getting ridiculous. It really is. If there's any questions else about it, but I don't think there's been many accidents in that area, but there is definitely a speeding problem. So we can consider, when the other area gets done with the sign, it gets put down there, and just to see what it's doing. But you would have to honestly put it on the pond side, because the other side, they come around the turn and they go. Yes, but there's not as many people that way, coming this way down towards Lebanon

▶ 1:32:00 is where there's more residents. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak on this item? All right. Seeing none, do we have a motion to close public comment? So moved. Second. Okay. Gail and Andy. Yep. Okay. All in favor? Aye. All right. That passes unanimously. So, thoughts? I noticed up by Penney Road, there's a two-way stop, but they're- It's a freeway now ... it's three. Oh. We changed it probably- Okay. All right ... two to three years ago ... forgot it. Yeah. I was going to see would a two-way work here, where if you stop Swain's Pond coming down. Yeah, the two-way there was very goofy because- No, I agree ... stopping two of the directions and not the third was- Yeah. No, I thought, well maybe it's... No, forget it.

▶ 1:33:01 I'd like to strike that from the record, please. I heard nothing. I didn't hear it. I wonder if we start with the easy stuff, like landscaping. Isn't it the first 10 feet of private property has to be cleared for transportation viewing of a roadway? That, and also the city property, obviously, we can clear as far back as... It's a very strange, just narrow parcel along the road, but we can clear as far back as needed on our piece. I do find it encouraging actually, that the owner on Cunningham Way owns this property now. I know him. We can probably get him to cut that back on his side too, so that the whole thing gets cut back. He took down all his hedges. There's no more hedges in front of plot two.

▶ 1:33:49 Yeah. There's still some brush, though, as you remember. I think that's, I talked about it. That's how I found out it was city property. Okay. Oh, so you think that the brush that's there is all on the city property? Because I didn't look at the exact property lines. Yes. Okay. Yes. Hmm. I'm not sure how far it goes around the turn, though. City property ends right at the start of the turn. Like, halfway through the turn, the city property ends, and the rest of the turn is his property. Okay. Go the opposite way. Go down towards Swain's Pond, so it's now on your left. How much of that is city land? That is city land for a good 100 something feet. Oh, you could... Then that would help a lot.

▶ 1:34:30 Yeah. Because it gets very- Yeah, and we might be able to do a little bit of manual clearing in the meantime, before we get the equipment rented. But that's in addition to 50 other things that our green team is trying to get done. But absolutely, we can try to get out there and see what we can do. I don't think that would be too time consuming, too, to do a one-time manual cleanup. So that's the easy stuff, so that's a yes, right, from everyone? For sure. Yeah. The larger group of neighbors that wrote did include speed humps in their list of suggestions. That would physically slow the cars that they're having an issue with, as that they're trying to cross the street and they're not able to predict when the cars are coming.

▶ 1:35:26 So it's- Yeah ... a group of neighbors. So interestingly, when Patrick's Place was built, there was a condition that if there were problems at the end of Maple at Swain's, that there would be a raised crosswalk put in across Maple at Swain's, which- That would really help ... I don't think would really do... That's why we ultimately didn't think it made sense, and then the folks in the neighborhood didn't want it either, so. Well, I feel like- I mean, the sign for Maple to Swain's, that's a great idea. Yeah. Not ideal for traffic though. The sign's not going to slow traffic though. But wait. It's not going to slow traffic. But just so we all understand, because it's not clear to me, we could ask the

▶ 1:36:08 developer to put a raised crosswalk, oh, on Maple. On Maple, at Swain's. I'm drawing a blank on what they call the website. Now I need to go back. They're done now, so- I mean, if- ... the moment has passed ... oh, Maple, I see. We're looking really for Maple. Well, the Maple Terrace is Patrick's Place that goes into Swain's Pond, right? Yeah. So this would be parallel to Swain's Pond now. That was what was in the- Yeah ... in the development condition, but it just never made sense, because also it doesn't go anywhere. It'd be a raised crosswalk. But it would've connected the sidewalk on Swain's Pond to Patrick's Place, though, right? Mm. No? Am I not looking at the right map? Yeah, it would go across the street if you're coming up Swain's Pond-

▶ 1:36:54 Oh ... and then onto Maple. So Maple Terrace- I see what you're... But I don't think the sidewalk comes all the way to the intersection on the one side. It does not. Yeah. So it wouldn't quite. It would almost connect the sidewalk, but not quite. But it also wouldn't cross Swain's Pond, maybe. No, it wouldn't, that would- Well, it wouldn't help with Swain's Pond, but I'm hearing, and I'm seeing that one of the weird things is there's a huge gap in the sidewalks, right? The sidewalk comes up to Maple Terrace, and then it comes down on the north side, and then there's just this big gap, and you're saying your kids can't cross the street. So that would've connected it, and that's- No, they can't cross Swain's.

▶ 1:37:31 I'm not talking about Swain's. I'm talking about Maple Terrace- Okay ... which we have a projector, but I'm talking about this over here. I mean, yeah. That's easy. There's lots of line of sight, like from a safety concern perspective, or it's easy to cross the street to the sidewalk across. It's the issue of coming down Swain's Pond and getting back onto Maple Terrace. That's the primary concern. Taking a left. Correct. Exactly. Out Swain's Pond and taking a left. Exactly. Yeah. I wish we could get a sidewalk on- By 72. On where? Seventy-two. I still feel like we should give that to yes to. On the east side. Of Swain's Pond? Of Swain's Pond. Why couldn't we? There might be grade issues, because I know Sadie's house, for those who know Sadie, she used to work for the

▶ 1:38:20 city. Oh, okay. Her driveway is like this, like right from the street. Her driveway is not all her driveway. What's that? Her driveway is not all her driveway. She has a right of way up that driveway. Okay. But I'm just saying that there's not necessarily enough flat before it goes up to put a sidewalk. I would love- Are you looking at the place that has the boulders in front? No, she, in down by Sadie's house. Oh. Yeah, I think that and going up. I think she's saying that and going further up. Yeah. Starting from the boulders and going up, and my thought there is just that if you could get, I think, a crosswalk across Swain's in the vicinity of Maple, it would be very dangerous. I just don't think you can see around that corner.

▶ 1:39:07 Okay. So I wouldn't recommend that. But if you were able to get a sidewalk far enough up Swain's to where it would then have enough sight lines to cross, that might be nice. But you'd have to go around that second turn. Because right where Sadie's is, that's another turn. The opposite turn. Or you'd have to put the crosswalk before that turn. Yeah. Yeah, maybe you wouldn't get all the way up to Sadie's. Which house is Sadie's? Sorry, I don't know where Sadie lives. Yeah, I know. Did she ever have us over? If I knew which address, I would be referring to it specifically. You have any parties there, Gail? I got nothing. It's the third house in from Maple Terrace. The third house. Sadie's would be fourth.

▶ 1:39:49 Is it 77? Hold on. I'm finding it. Are we talking about, like the trip purpose right now that we're trying to solve for is for people walking to Swain's Pond? Is that what we're trying to solve for? Up to Swain's Pond. Well- Solve for vehicles coming down Swain's Pond, making a left turn. No. Now we're talking about the sidewalk. Well, I- Oh. Let's stick on the sidewalk and crosswalk, and then we'll go do auto. But the main trip purpose is for the kids to walk from your house to Swain's Pond? So I have two primary concerns. One are the motorists turning left. Yep. And the other is the pedestrians trying to get from Swain's Pond sidewalk up Maple Terrace. To Maple Terrace, I see. So it's both kind of left-hand turn issues right at that intersection.

▶ 1:40:41 Both coming south out of Swain's Pond- South out of Swain's Pond ... so coming from Swain's Pond, the actual pond? Yeah. Okay. Got it. The pond on your right. Okay. And totally agree that seeds are a huge issue on Swain's Pond, but also reference that. But that's a whole another thing. That's not our site. Separate from the traffic commission conversation, but is there not a path from Patrick's place to Swain's Pond? That's probably your easiest way to get there in the interim than us building a sidewalk. Like a trail? Yeah. No, because you'd have to cross Swain's Pond. Yeah, you have to cross Swain's Pond, but you avoid the whole Swain's Pond that doesn't have sidewalk. But you'd still have to cross the street somewhere.

▶ 1:41:28 Yeah, of course. And then- So we can climb down our back forested, behind my house, down the embattlement. Yeah. So down our backyard neighbor's property, down, it's a very steep hill, but my kids like to climb down it. They have to cross Swain's Pond there, again, unprotected, but there are a few straight-a-ways in that area that at least have better lines of sight in both directions, kind of like right across from where- So you're probably, Brendan, this is kind of the way. We're basically right across from the... There's a street that runs up to the trailhead at- Yeah ... Rocky View Trail. We're sort of at the base of that road more or less, but up the hill. So yeah, so we can sort of climb down through the forest.

▶ 1:42:19 It's not a trail though, I mean, but also, I don't do it. My kids do it. No more. The issue they have when they're coming down that- You have to cross the back and forth ... Natalie's house, you're coming down and you're going onto Swain's Pond where that, going towards Lebanon, the turn is this way. There's, yeah. It's going to the left. Then you get down to where Maple Terrace is, and it's going to a sharp right. Yeah. So it's a bad area, totally, right in that section. There's not much you can do. There's a small area that has a straightaway that we've asked our kids to cross that when they go down it that way. But if you're coming to the sidewalk, which is like this development corner, you can't cross.

▶ 1:43:09 So I think for the purpose of this meeting, so the traffic commission only votes on regulatory items, so that would be the stop signs that are the thing that's actually on the agenda, and crosswalks, that's not on the agenda at the moment, but is something that if we found a good location elsewhere on Swain's Pond to have for a crosswalk, I think it would be a good idea to help kids get from one side to the other. So I would suggest that maybe we take action on the three-way stop request, and then the city can go back, the engineering division can go back and look at what locations might be good for crosswalks, similar to what we talked about with Porter Street, and then we can put something on the December agenda for a crosswalk if we

▶ 1:43:55 think there's a good location. And then whether or not we'd ever be able to add sidewalks there would be, we have a list of sort of desired sidewalk projects that we could add it to the list if we think that's actually viable. Engineering can go out and take a look and see if that would be viable. And then the brush clearing is really the only thing I think that's other than, if the stop signs don't pass, I think the brush clearing is the best answer to the sight line issue. That would help. I'd like to make a motion to deny the request for the three-way stop, and ask that engineering look at locating a crosswalk or appropriate location for a crosswalk somewhere on Swain's Pond between Lebanon and

▶ 1:44:41 Maple Terrace, closer to Maple Terrace. I think we're talking about between Maple Terrace and Penney Road, right? Yeah, that's what you got to do is from Maple Terrace back to Penney Road. Penney Road? Yeah. Yeah, but isn't there no sidewalk on the east side of Swain's Pond? There isn't, but that's the desire line, really. Right. But if you had... Okay, so if there's, maybe I'll open up for a little discussion here. One way or another, that wouldn't be, we wouldn't be making a regulatory decision right now, so it would just be advisory to the city. Right. Okay. So you could just say a crosswalk- A crosswalk across Swain's Pond- ... on Swain's Pond out ... from one side to the other. Yeah. Thank you.

▶ 1:45:18 We need to note the landscaping and that the owner- And the landscaping clearing on the west side of Swain's Pond. Well said, Andy. Second. Thank you. Any further discussion? All right. Commissioner Paul? Yes. Commissioner Carranza? Yes. Commissioner Parente? Yes. Commissioner Oberg? Yes. Councilor, excuse me, Sergeant Goffos? Yes. Mayor Inforna? Yes. Councilor Biggers? Yes. And I'm yes as well. Quorum. So the three-way stop is denied. But we are going to clear the brush. We are going to look for a spot for a crosswalk and bring it back in December. Yeah. And just to be clear with the public, those are all recommendations of the commission back to the city. The board doesn't have jurisdiction to require that,