GRANT-2025-10 : Requesting Grant Acceptance of a Complete Streets Grant from MassDOT in the amount of $450,803.50 for the construction of sidewalks on Swains Pond Avenue.

Transcript (~10 min @ 6:36)

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▶ 6:30 Mark Garipay: Um, next up we have, uh, grants ID 1 2 4 2 9 requesting a grant acceptance of a Complete Streets grant from Mass DOT in the amount of $450,803 and 50 cents for the construction of sidewalks on Swains Pond. Af Ms. Ellis.

▶ 6:51 Speaker 2: Thank you. Um, so this request is

▶ 6:55 Speaker 3: for acceptance of a grant that is from, uh, mass DOT.

▶ 6:56 Speaker 2: We used to be able to apply

▶ 6:59 Speaker 3: for the Complete Streets funding, the construction funding annually, and then a few years ago they changed it so that you could only apply every four years. So we're finally, we are finally able to apply again. We've taken advantage of this funding for a bunch of other projects, um, on Howard Street, the North South bike route. Um, and the sidewalks around the Hoover School were all funded through the same funding source.

▶ 7:23 Speaker 2: Um, the cap used to be 400,000, now it's a little higher.

▶ 7:25 Speaker 3: So we were able to get the full 4 58 0 3 50 that we requested. And there's no city match component.

▶ 7:33 Speaker 2: Um, we identified the Swains Pond to have sidewalks

▶ 7:34 Speaker 3: as the next in line in terms of the highest priority item, uh, to apply for this year. Because in the time that I've been here, it is now at the top of the list of the projects that we hear requests for the most often that you have to pick from the prioritization plan list. And on that list there's about 40 projects. We've completed about 15 to 20 of them. And the ones that are left, this is the one that we hear requests for all the time because people want to be able to walk to their houses, to the conservation land, to school. Um, and there's no sidewalks at all on that whole stretch.

▶ 8:12 Devin Romanul: Councillor Romanul, um, thank you so much. And given the geography, I'm quite pleased, um, where, where this is, and I hope it encourages more residents to walk along, uh, Swains Pond and Towners Pond, although more Swains Pond, given which ward it lies in, you know, um, just my own personal bias. Um, I, uh, uh, so want to thank you for applying and, and, um, uh, I wanted to ask, um, is this gonna involve any repair on some existing, is there some existing sidewalk that's on the, on the where after it jogs south, um, after it intersects with Penney Road or Penny Lane, rather Penny

▶ 8:48 Speaker 2: Road. So after it intersects

▶ 8:48 Speaker 3: with Penney Road, there's continuous sidewalk all the way to Lebanon Street. Okay. So that will remain, we won't be touching any of that. That, and we did just recently add sidewalks on Dexter Road. So it will connect up that whole area, you know, where, where now you'd be able to get all the way down toward Lebanon Street with, um, with sidewalks. So it will go from the penny intersection up to, I believe it's the, uh, Laurel Street intersection, maybe one block farther down, but there's no sidewalks other than there's a tiny little stretch of sidewalks on, I guess it would be the, the west side of the road. Um, that if we are on that side, we would probably replace those. But if we're not on that side, then we'll end up leaving those in place.

▶ 9:36 Devin Romanul: Now those gonna be my next question is do we have a, a sense as to which, which side of the road it, it will lie on?

▶ 9:41 Speaker 3: There are restrictions on both sides, especially at the crossing of the, of the, um, the bridge bridge basically over the culvert, over the ponds. Um, that's gonna be probably the most restrictive point. And so that might drive which side we're on. We'd really rather not have people have to cross the street halfway down. So we're aiming to get everything on one side of the street. But we have utility poles, we have fire hydrants, um, and some trees.

▶ 10:05 Speaker 2: So we will try to find the best spot.

▶ 10:06 Devin Romanul: Excellent. And I know the memo says that, uh, the work is anticipated to wrap up by the end of 2026. Do you have a sense as to when it'll be initiated?

▶ 10:14 Speaker 2: It, it should be this construction season,

▶ 10:15 Speaker 3: hopefully starting and finishing this construction season.

▶ 10:18 Speaker 2: It'll be asphalt sidewalks, which is in keeping

▶ 10:19 Speaker 3: with what's in that part of town, um, you know, has a more rural feel. Uh, I always tell people, the community that I worked in before Melrose was conquered where they like to spend a lot of money on everything, but they hated concrete sidewalks. So it's all a matter of sort of preference. And so we try to design what fits with the neighborhood and on a windy street like that with some topography and everything, asphalt is really the better, uh, fit for that landscape. And I think there's some granite curb out there. So there will be either granite curb or asphalt berm, depending on just what fits best with the, with the street. Great.

▶ 10:56 Speaker 7: Thank you so much. Thank you. Uh, council Stewart.

▶ 11:00 Robb Stewart: Thank you Mr. Chair. Uh, thank you Mr. Re Gonzalez for being here this evening.

▶ 11:06 Speaker 8: Um, so what, this is great.

▶ 11:09 Robb Stewart: Um, I, I know certain people that run around there and be, make it safer so that, that's wonderful. Um, it, what are the conditions of the road? And I mean, 'cause it's like, it sort of like incomplete streets as opposed to complete streets, right? I mean, 'cause we're not doing anything to the road.

▶ 11:26 Speaker 2: Yeah. So interestingly the Complete Streets program

▶ 11:29 Speaker 3: is not, uh, is not so much tied to anything about roadway condition itself to paving

▶ 11:36 Speaker 2: or, um, the Complete Streets. It is supposed to be, you know, making it safer for all users, all abilities, all ages.

▶ 11:40 Speaker 3: Um, but it tends to focus on sidewalks, um, curb ramps, crosswalks, that sort of thing. Yeah. The, the Complete Streets program won't fund paving. So, um, so when we apply for these grants, paving is never a part of the application. Um, but the street is in fairly poor condition, which is why we thought now was definitely the time to apply because we don't want to pave and then come back and try to do sidewalks in the future. Um, so in anticipation of it popping up on the paving list, probably within the next three to four years, um, we thought now was a good time for the sidewalk work, but we don't have any specific plan for the paving work yet.

▶ 12:22 Robb Stewart: Okay. That's, that's where I was leading. 'cause anybody that's driven a run down there knows the condition of those roads and they're, they're pretty rough. Um, and it does make more sense to do sidewalks before roads. Yes. Great. Thank you. Alright. Thank you Mr. Chair. Councilor Williams.

▶ 12:39 Ryan Williams: Hey, thank you. Um, thank you for bringing this out, right. It's been so long. I mean, we've been talking about this forever, so I was really, really excited to see it come up. And Councilor Rahul asked the question I wanted to ask, and you answered the, that it was gonna stand one side of the road, which is, is ideal, especially, um, I mean, I've driven down Swain Pond many, many, many times and walked down it as well. And I, I always kind of imagine like, who, you know, where would it go? Who would you have to take from? So there's gonna be some, um, conversations to have with some residents who have put planters and things in the public right of way. But I hope that we and the counselors and anybody else can help support you in that in any way possible because I think it's a really important to get people walking down there. Um, so I wanted to ask you about the technical design. I saw that you're talking about a reduction in road width of six feet. Um, are you going to, or are you hope

▶ 13:35 Speaker 2: I don't think that's accurate. Oh,

▶ 13:36 Speaker 3: okay. Yeah, we're not planning on reducing the road width.

▶ 13:39 Ryan Williams: It says, as part of the sidewalk installations travel Lane widths will be narrowed from approximately 14 feet to 11 feet for a total reduction in road width of six feet.

▶ 13:47 Speaker 3: Is that, that's Ivan's memo. Okay. That's what it says in the document. Um, we're, I would say we're not quite that far along. That's probably what she's envisioning will happen. But in reality, we like to leave a shoulder when we can for cyclists when we have an 11 foot painted travel lane. Yeah. It doesn't necessarily mean that the road is 22 feet wide. That's actually more dangerous for somebody cycling. So we're, we are not going to fit the sidewalk within the paved area. It's definitely gonna go into the grass on one side or the other. And we have, we own the right of way Oh yeah. On both sides. So then,

▶ 14:22 Ryan Williams: Yeah. So then how wide would you imagine the sidewalk will end up being?

▶ 14:26 Speaker 3: At a minimum it will be four feet. Yeah. Um, it might be up to five feet, but Dexter Road we did four feet and, and that worked out well.

▶ 14:38 Speaker 2: Um, yeah, it will be as wide as we're able to make sure it

▶ 14:40 Speaker 3: with, once we're working with the residents on, you know, working around a tree or a Yeah, sure. A

▶ 14:46 Ryan Williams: Pole or Whatnot. The, um, I having, having gone down there quite a bit, I would say the wider you can make the sidewalks the better. And certainly 11 foot travel lane is sufficient. And I know I, you know, it pinches in certain points and stuff like that. I would imagine that if you do create a continuous path on Swains Pond that people who are cycling are gonna want to use it because trying to cycle around those blind curves is kind of, um, is kind of harrowing. So, you know, the wider that you can make it, the more you can accommodate these different types of users who are gonna be wanting to use it at the same time. Um, but thanks again. This is fantastic and I'm really excited to see the work get underway.

▶ 15:28 Speaker 2: Great. Thank you. And just to clarify,

▶ 15:31 Speaker 3: we are doing everything we can to keep it on one side because we don't wanna have to cross the road.

▶ 15:34 Speaker 2: Yes. But if we, once we get out there, if there's something

▶ 15:38 Speaker 3: that that prevents us from doing it, we, we have neighborhood meetings,

▶ 15:42 Speaker 2: that's gonna be the first step. Yeah. Step.

▶ 15:42 Ryan Williams: I mean, really that culvert, which was just repaired recently, it has no embankment, it has no structure. Right. So you kind of have to put it on the right on, on the, um, west side of the street because you, I mean, can you put it over the

▶ 15:58 Speaker 2: Culvert? That's funny. I actually pictured it being easier on the east side of the street. Okay. So yeah, we, we will see when we get out there. Cool.

▶ 16:05 Speaker 3: And we'll have to probably go before the con com too, for that piece of it. Yeah.

▶ 16:08 Ryan Williams: Right, right, right, right. Good luck. Thank you. Yeah, thank You.

▶ 16:12 Speaker 1: Council ro

▶ 16:14 Speaker 2: He actually asked, councilor Williams asked a question that I was gonna ask about the size of the sidewalk. So, all set. Thanks.

▶ 16:20 Mark Garipay: Um, if I could just, uh, ask one question. Is the, uh, grant amount gonna cover the whole cost of the project? Yes. Okay. Um, any other co councilor Hamilton?

▶ 16:32 Ward Hamilton: Uh, thank you. Uh, now I just make a motion to recommend Second, second motion

▶ 16:36 Mark Garipay: to recommend by Councilor Hamilton. Seconded by Councilor Williams on discussion.

▶ 16:43 Speaker 1: Uh, Madam Clerk, can we take a mm-hmm. Roll call.

▶ 16:51 Speaker 6: Counselor Occhio. Yes. Counselor Hamilton? Yes. Counselor Chetty. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Lyre? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Motion passes. Alright.