ORDER-2022-127 : Acceptance of Three (3) MassDOT Shared Streets and Spaces Program Grants for various equipment and pedestrian safety measures funded at a total of $158,843.

Transcript (~11 min @ 11:42)

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▶ 11:24 Jen Grigoraitis: Seeing none Mr. Clerk can oh, it's actually acceptance of a grant all in favor right any opposed. Okay, so that will be moved to the full council with a recommendation for Passage. Next up we have order 2022-127 acceptance of three Mass DOT shared streets and spaces program grants for various equipment safety measures funded at a total of 158,843 and we are still under suspension of the roles. So

▶ 11:52 Speaker 5: please chime right in. Okay. This is

▶ 11:54 Speaker 2: one that we're very excited about not that we're not excited about elevators, but we've done a lot of great work with the shared streets grants to date. That's what funded our parklets our slow streets program and our Central Terrace project. That's where they'll be a ribbon cutting on Friday if anyone's available at

▶ 12:12 Speaker 5: 10:00 in the morning, but we applied for

▶ 12:16 Speaker 2: three more grants this the spring Vonnie research city engineer applied for those and we received all three so there for reconfiguration of the intersection at Emerson and Vinton our plan is to tighten that intersection up. I've always found that to Be very hairy place and then you add the farmers market or any other sort of events on and it gets even worse. So that's about 79,000 of the grant we have. Applied for an additional piece of equipment for snow clearing at the schools. We had difficulty this past winter where our contractors weren't available to the same level that we had in previous years and one of the things that was really tough was the contractors who provide the smaller equipment when they weren't available. It was hard to back feel that we don't have enough extra small equipment to plow School walkways and the like so this will be a piece of equipment that's basically dedicated to the schools. It would be a small sidewalk plow.

▶ 13:22 Speaker 5: And that was about

▶ 13:23 Speaker 2: 50,000 and then the third piece is traffic calming. So originally we had wanted to do a traffic calming toolkit, which would help guide where we should be implementing which types of pilot programs for traffic calming and we found out eligible for this grant. So we ended up applying for the Actual physical infrastructure to do traffic calming. So we're funding the toolkit which is about 25,000 out of arpa. And then now we'll have temporary speed bumps and some different actual infrastructure that we can bring out and pilot in the locations that the toolkit says are The Logical locations to do so, so that's the third component of the Grant and we were excited to get all three.

▶ 14:13 Jen Grigoraitis: Are there any questions from counselors counselor Williams, right?

▶ 14:19 Ryan Williams: Well, it's great news. Thanks for coming before us tonight. It's it's this is at least 300,000 that we've gotten from shared streets because the park Le Grant was like 70,000 and the

▶ 14:32 Speaker 2: Yeah, it was about 60,000 for yeah, 60 to 70,000 for the combination of the park within so slow streets

▶ 14:39 Speaker 5: together. Yeah, I think it's about 60 and then Central Terrace was 26.

▶ 14:45 Speaker 6: So a little shy 86. Yeah, and then

▶ 14:49 Ryan Williams: this is another 170. Yeah, it's it's great. And I know that the I know that the people in the pet by committee and then all the people that they're represent really appreciated. I just drove by Family on facts and Street on my way here today and there had been a crash on Malvern Street another crash on Malvern street right where I live and they had deployed their cones in a new fashion in response to all the traffic that was being redirected up their street and they were able to kind of calm their own straight take control of their Destiny and and and help slow things down, you know on the street where all these kids play. So it's it's a program that has a lot of legs. It's something that that I'm really excited to see you all moving forward on and had one question with regard to the traffic calming toolkit. I know that with Public Works, we're all kind of little new at the lake, you know on road traffic calming type stuff. So Are you pursuing other ways to bring the expertise in to build that toolkit? And if so, how will it interact with the equipment that we're getting as part of this grant?

▶ 15:59 Speaker 2: We're signing a contract with neighbor waves who was originally the Consultants. We wanted to do the toolkit with when we were going to apply for the grant for it. So we'll be leaning on their guidance and expertise as to how best to develop the toolkit and what what type of Pilots would be deployed where so that will all come out of their guidance and we are we have paused any of the slow streets requests. We're not taking any new slow streets requests right now. We're putting them on the list for the toolkit. So when the toolkit project is ready, then those will be the first streets that get funneled through that process.

▶ 16:37 Ryan Williams: And I had one and one other question actually question more of a statement to ask when The Neighbor waste project starts if we could have an opportunity to talk maybe the word counselors or just an informal conversation not like a hearing with the Consultants or participate somehow as part of a public hearing process or whatever. Just some way for us to get in get in on that action because you know, it's something that we've been I mean talking about for very long time and everybody's always hearing about traffic calming and I know that we would all love to at least share our thoughts. Sure.

▶ 17:12 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm pretty certain that. We had a public process involved with our in our scope of work. So that's cool. That's

▶ 17:17 Ryan Williams: wonderful. Okay. Thank you.

▶ 17:21 Manjula Karamcheti: Council Carm JD I just thank you for bringing these two our attention and I just wanted to also appreciate proactively reaching out for these grants particularly with the snow plowing which definitely impact a lot of kids and families on those Corners. So appreciate like the trying to think of solutions for that and also getting us some of those temporary structures for for calming traffic. I know that's a hot issue in word one and as I'm sure it is another neighborhoods as well. So having some actual Tools to use to work on that is great. So my only question is just particularly related to those and like how will you decide which streets?

▶ 18:13 Speaker 2: So that's what the toolkit will be designed to do. Okay, is it sort of a screening process? So, you know if someone were to come in who lives on a major road and they're proposing, you know, let's make this street one way. You know Main Street that's not going to happen. So the toolkit will will help streamline and make it consistent and more objective how a street that's interested in being part of the program goes through the process and is determined to be a logical place to Pilot something and then what's logical to Pilot in that location, the the toolkit will help guide us.

▶ 18:52 Manjula Karamcheti: Great. And again, please pass our thanks to tovani for applying for these opportunities a lot of work.

▶ 19:01 Speaker 5: Thank you.

▶ 19:02 Jen Grigoraitis: Counselor Eccles, then councilor pay then counselor Stewart. I was

▶ 19:06 Jack Eccles: just gonna make a motion to recommend for passage. So if

▶ 19:10 Speaker 8: we won we do that discussion.

▶ 19:13 Jen Grigoraitis: So we have a motion to recommend for passage made by counselor Eccles seconded by counselor McMaster counts. Is there any discussion counselor Gary?

▶ 19:19 Mark Garipay: Yeah. Thank you for being here and I apologize in advance if I missed it on the west Emerson in Vinton intersection. And we have a potential start date.

▶ 19:30 Speaker 5: No, so we are going to be working with our

▶ 19:36 Speaker 5: Consultants from stantech and our contractor aggregate who has our on call contract right now to

▶ 19:42 Speaker 2: finalize the engineering division

▶ 19:44 Speaker 5: did a preliminary design so we

▶ 19:46 Speaker 2: just need to finalize exactly what the intersection is going to look like and then it's going to be sort of a design build approach the plan is for to take place this construction season.

▶ 19:58 Speaker 5: But you know, we have to have neighborhood meetings and all

▶ 20:00 Speaker 2: too. And so if there's opposition from the direct debutters to what we're proposing that can obviously drag things out so no specific date, but the

▶ 20:10 Mark Garipay: hope is this year. Okay that you answered my other question regarding neighborhood meetings. If I could just be included in that I have the one corner. I know console Stewart has been very involved in that but I do have the corner of Vinton in Emerson. Okay. Thank you. Make a

▶ 20:23 Speaker 2: note of that.

▶ 20:25 Jen Grigoraitis: Okay, I'm just on discussion one. I just want to thank you for including Line Street, which counts of Williams and I share I know there's been a lot of activity there and then I did notice that some of the traffic calming devices were purchasing includes portable speed bumps and it seems like for whatever reason Melrose has. We don't do speed bumps. Is this a shifting of philosophy because it is a question. I get asked counselor constantly by residents, so

▶ 20:51 Speaker 2: Having been on the traffic commission for the last six and a half years when we talk about speed bumps. There are always Neighbors in favor, and they're always neighbors against and so You know, it's never seemed to be the right application for any of the places where it's been suggested and technically

▶ 21:10 Speaker 2: the traffic commission doesn't vote on speed bumps, but it ends up being a discussion that happens in that forum. Because people come in about other traffic calming measures.

▶ 21:19 Speaker 2: The reasons why people have traditionally been against them in the neighborhoods is noise and just a perception that it makes it more difficult to the residents to to Traverse their own street, but I do think we've heard a lot recently about you know, really great speed humps. Not bumps humps in different locations. Medford apparently has a fantastic new speed hump.

▶ 21:48 Speaker 2: I guess off maybe it's Lawrence Road or Winthrop Street. So so we've been hearing about these one in Everett that somebody told me about I think there's this sort of optimism that there might be newer designs that are more gradual and less noisy and less intrusive for the neighbors. And so if that is true and it's something that makes sense once we've piloted it then I think we're open to it.

▶ 22:14 Jen Grigoraitis: Great. I'm happy to hear that. Thank you. Is there anyone else on discussion? Okay, seeing none all in favor. Hi any opposed? Okay, so that passes with the recommendation to the council?