Ward 3 Neighborhood Association
Agenda for Board Meeting
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 7 PM
Bridge Street School Library
1. Approval of Minutes – Maddy
Vote
-Minutes approved
2. Treasurer's Report – Fred
Ward 3 Treasurers' Report February 2011
1. Previous Balance $1930.62
2. DUES: $0.0
3. EXPENSES: Copies of WmStBrook Report $6.04
4. DONATION: $100 Rep Neal Arson Fund refund
5. NEW BALANCE: $2024.58
6. Note: $178.01 Allocated to Neighborhood Watch
7. LIST SERVE: for Ward 3ab = Previous 274; New = 274
8. Total Members = 271; New = 0
9. LIST SERVE MESSAGES: for this period = 1
7:07
3. President's Report – Jerry
- Proposed Pomeroy Terrace Historic District Meeting
-Unfortunately, there was no publicity about the meeting so no one was there except for Jerry and Fred. It was a good presentation. Spoke about the process of the designation.
Gerry
Should W3NA pay for a flyer and hand it out to ask them if they are interested? to have another meeting? If we move forward and then everyone opts out- it dies.
Bob
It's a trivial amount of money and we should do it.
Jim
Why don't we cosponsor the meeting.?
Vote
approved
- Neighborhood Associations Update
-Had usual breakfast meeting and talk about zoning revisions.
-Thinking about another social event.
Bob
The more we encourage neighborhood boards, the better.
Owen
Maybe we should open it up beyond boards
-Spoke about beautification committee. Trying to get a meeting together: BID, Chamber interested, etc.
- Monthly Meeting with the Mayor – Topics/People
-No report from last month.
-Any questions this month? Email with more questions.
Owen
+What's happening with Shaw's Hotel/Shaw property? What is the City thinking…
+Degraded wetland question – what is the Mayor's take? What if you could claim it was degraded and then remediate?
Tim
-We've been stuck with properties that had proposed improvement but we cannot approve it because the wetland ordinance is too strict.
-It passed first reading.
Owen
+Why was it necessary to buy the adjacent property next to the reservoir? Why not a smaller piece?
Fred
+Have there been more fires? What has happened with fire statistics since December 2010?
Jerry
+What about the break-ins? Any progress?
Owen
+Is she happy with the snow emergency situation? Is the towing down?
- Fairgrounds Redevelopment Update
Bob
-Withdrew the amendment, CC said OK, going forward with the first proposal.
- Trash Issue – Do We Take Stand As A Board?
Maddy
-Concerned that Pedal People will be out if there is no station at Locust Street.
Mike B.
-There is a public meeting on March 7th.
Fred
-The idea of a regional landfill was not considered.
Bob
-There are sufficient opportunities to comment.
7:29
- Pleasant Street Corridor Planning Proposal
-Refer to Lola's email updates on getting the State potentially getting involved in traffic calming of this entire area.
- Wastewater Treatment Plant
Fred
-They will give tour in the spring.
-I spoke to George Brehm (2/7/11) the Director of WWTP about Report of Dike examination by US Army Corp of Engineers last year. Nothing yet. But US Army Corp of Engineers did inspect Storm Water Pumping Station, this year and it's fine.
4. Nominating/Membership Committee Report – Owen
-NTA
5. Update from Bridge Street School Committee/School Committee News – Deborah Christakos and Howard Moore
Howard
-I don't know anything about what is happening at BSS.
-The school committee is trying to figure out who the ideal candidate for school committee would be, and balancing that with $ reality.
Fred
-Will they be hiring a recruitment firm to find someone?
Howard
-Yes.
-February 14th the screening committee will be looking at a stack of applications.
Fred
-Who will be checking the references? In the past, references haven't really been checked.
Howard
-The firm is checking references.
7:41
Jerry
-There is going to be an alumnae lunch in April. Gloria and Jerry and Deb are working on this.
-Also, a centennial for the school is coming up. We could do a nice event for that.
6. Update on creation of related organization to do conservancy in Ward 3 – Fred
Fred
David Herships <dherships@verizon.net> of BBC has invited us to walk the Sheldon Field perimeter during the annual inspection. Given present conditions this seems unlikely now.
We are still planning a future meeting to consolidate our directors followed by a talk by Tim Silva of Kestrel about stewardship. If you have any questions about stewardship I will be glad to forward them to Tim before the mtg.
7. Sustainability Committee Update – Jim
-Meeting on Saturday which was a continuation of the outreach with Smith last fall. There was some confusion about who was the sponsoring agency. There is a cross course between architectural and landscape design programs, which will talk about regional resilience. They want to look at Ward 3 in particular. About half dozen people attended.
Fred
Will we get anything out of it?
Owen
Yes. Smith has focused on Ward 3 for some valuable projects, drawings, plans. They see Ward 3 as a place with a lot of vibrancy, etc.
8:09
-Update on Zoning Revisions Committee discussions
We've been tackling King St., working on narrowing down the differences of the recommendations for King St.
Bob
The only sticking point is on one section near the highway regarding set-backs. The planning board is now looking at it and will be having public meetings.
Angela
Were the dissenters from Ward 3?
Bob
Yes
Jim
Stop & Shop to Damon Road. The plan is to have a wide multi-use trail with a green strip/tree belt. There would be some type of buffer to be determined . From then on, the Chamber said that developers could build right up to the edge of the buffer. This would be for new development only.
Bob
Some people thought people could build anywhere back from the belt, other people want them to have to build right at buffer.
8:20
Jim
Next week ZRC will have two public forums- Tuesday at Florence Civic Center, and the 16th at BSS. Snow date Thursday after at BSS. On the agenda: 1) potentially allowing more home-based businesses; 2) potentially allowing multi-family (re)conversion of existing homes; and, 3) allowing home building on smaller lots. We will be talking about dimensional standards, lining them up with what is currently in the ward. (Standardization is difficult.)
-Update on efforts to collect Ward 3 input on rezoning topics for ZRC (questionnaire)
This is key to understanding what the "comfort zones" are of ward residents.
Owen
We are using the board as guinea pigs. Please answer and give feedback if you don't understand the question, etc. 8:35
Jerry
What is your plan for this survey? How can we incorporate this data in ZRC surveys?
Owen
Soon. Fill it out and we'll make a deadline.
Jim
We will share it with OPD, ZRC, other wards. It's important for us to do our own and produce our own data.
8. Traffic Calming Committee Update –
-See above.
9. Exit 19 of I-91 Committee Update – Frank Werbinski
Sidney
-Frank is a little confused about the date of the public hearing.
Angela
-The trash meeting and exit 19 meeting appear to conflict.
Fred
-What about using the snow date; March 10?
Jerry
-They wanted to do it February 8th, and I said no. They are welcome to change it.
Angela
-The flyers are already out.
10. Report of Transportation Committee - Owen NTA
-Jim will be watching the development of train service/train station in the ward.
11. Update on Neighborhood Watch – Arnie, Phil, Owen NTA
-Ward 6 looking for help, W3NW will assist.
12. Legislative Update from City Councilor – Angela
-March 1 having a joint hearing on proposed changes to board of health.
7:53
-March 7 is the public forum on solid waste; JFK at 6:30. Also, I-91 night and public safety committee meeting. Trying to switch it. I will be at I-91 meeting.
-Snow emergency has stayed in place so long because the snow removal is so challenging. Plus, they had some technical issues with equipment. Hoping that some of the neglected streets will be taken care of soon.
-Angela met with constituent who had concerns about proposed change to wetland ordinance with Sarah.
Fred
-Concerned about truck detouring… they can't do it with the snow banks. There were 3 trapped there this week. Can they go down Hancock for a more gradual turn?
13. Vegetable Garden Tour – Joanne; NTA
-Discussion about procedure for distributing profits of Garden Tour
14. Social Committee Report – Owen
-Would like to do an event with The Roost.
15. Report from Business Representative - Jim
-The Roost is open!
16. New Business
Truck traffic into the city is detoured from passing under our Main Street RR Bridge because of the limitation of the bridge. Trucks traveling down Bridge St are first requested by signage to detour down Lincoln Street. If this opportunity is missed the signage request trucks to take a left onto Hawley Street, then a left onto Phillips Place and then a left onto Pomeroy Terrace and then a right back on to Bridge Street.
Because Pomeroy Terrace is a street that can be reduced to almost single line traffic when snow banks accumulate on both sides of the street the left had turn onto Pomeroy Terrace from Phillips Place is difficult for the tractor trailer trucks during winter conditions. The front end of the truck becomes stuck in the snow bank on Pomeroy Terrace while the rear of the tractor trailer become stuck in the Phillips Place snow bank. Usually Harold's Garage is called to relieve the vehicles. This can be dangerous since the trucks completely block traffic for up to an hour or more. During the recent storms this happened twice to my knowledge. It's been an ongoing problem for years which can be verified by observing the depressed curbing on Phillips Place and Pomeroy Terrace.
Examination of the nearby streets reveals that a route up Hancock Street instead of Phillips Place would allow the trucks to negotiate the more gradual turn from Hancock to Pomeroy Terrace. Could Ms. Laura Hanson, Assistant Civil Engineer at the Department of Public Works consult the formal street maps and turning radii for various trucks and ascertain if this would allow the truck drivers a successful passage when are streets have huge snow banks and otherwise be a suitable as a detour? Maria Tymoczko approves the change if it's approved.
Other possibilities include special snow removal at that location and banning parking from 51 and 59 Phillips to the corner to allow trucks to swing wide.
ADJOURN 8:38
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