October 2011 Board Meeting Minutes

Ward 3 Neighborhood Association

Board Meeting

Tuesday, October 11, 2011    7 p.m.

Bridge Street School Library

Annual Meeting Report…

(7:09) Jerry, Fred, Maddy, Marian, Denise, Wendy, Owen, Jim, Joanne, Joan Rasool, Gloria, Jesus, Roger, Howard, Frank.

Missing: Tim P., Bob

1.      Approval of Minutes –   Maddy

-unanimously approved

2        Treasurer's Report – Fred

-unanimously approved

Previous ACCOUNT Balance: = $2524.35

DUES: = $20 Two new members from Lola R.

EXPENSES: =0

Veggie Garden Tic Sales: =                        $41.00

Veggie Garden Profit 2011(final):   $567.23

Veggie Garden Profit 2010:                        $680.16

Neighborhood Watch =                                 $178.01

ACCOUNT BALANCE:                          $2585.35

LIST SERVE: for Ward 3ab = 283

Total Members:  = 279;

LIST SERVE MESSAGES: for this period = 8

Special Reports:

Roger Salloom- Problems with trash on the dike. He has been setting up trash barrels and bags, weekly. It seems a little better than a couple of years ago. He is looking for support to pay for covers, bags, rotating help.

-motion for $35 for bags and covers approved

Jesus – Landfill about to close. City has not clarified what its role is in solid waste. What is the community envisioning?

-Plan: perhaps form a committee, consider a forum.

Wendy: problem with illegal dumping- it is likely to increase.

3        President's Report – Jerry (7:34)

1. Update on Pomeroy Terrace Historic District

-Sarah LaVallee working on all the forms for the houses for Mass Historic District over the next few weeks.

2. Neighborhood Associations Update

-Beautification of gateways project progressing. Working with sign makers, $, etc.

3. Monthly Meeting with the Mayor – Topics/People

-Held off until next month…

-Any other questions?

-New light on Damon Rd. by Steve Lewis Subaru?

-BSS traffic issue- ? making Union St. one way at certain times of day.

4. Fairgrounds Redevelopment Update

-(Committee meets second Wednesday of the month, so news is always old.) Much discussion about drainage from the fair that would run down Old Ferry Rd., and go under the airport to the river.

-Fair working on closing out barn contracts, trying to secure $ for next phase. New horse shows have been inquiring about bookings.

-Committee is threatening to push out the councilor because it doesn't want public exposure.

5. Bridge Street Cemetery Gravestone Repair (7:50)

-Trying to schedule meeting with Sarah LaVallee.

-Trying to secure information about what the stones (should) look like, who is there.

-? Cataloguing

-? Exploring a larger meeting with other stakeholder groups….

                                                                 

6. Meeting Committee Update

Bob circulated proposal via email.

-Let's increase the social element… tours, food, music, etc.

-Let's make the food better …

Have a virtual full slate…

7. Nominating Committee

NTA

8. Update from Salvo House and Cahill Apartments – Denise

-Spoke with other members about more of a liaison with Cahill.

-Thanksgiving Dinner at Salvo 22^nd 5 pm. $20.

-When are we coming to you? Let's do an international buffet- give us a date!

9. Update on Mayoral, Councillor Forum – Bob

-October 19 Forum. Questions go to moderator.

10. Agriculture Committee – Proposed Priorities – Jesse

-Video documentary of history of farming in the Meadows, etc.

11. Should date of November meeting be changed?

-Yes. How is October 15^th.

   

5…Update from Bridge Street School/School Committee News – Howard Moore

-Enrollment up, so committee is not focusing on closing schools.

-Principals first Friday get together… talking about traffic around the school. Two thoughts- make Union St. one way; increasing parking around the school.

(8:24)

6.      Update about Meadow City Conservation Coalition's conservancy efforts  in Ward 3 – Fred

Mtg of MCCC nonprofit status Committee Oct 5 at 28 Pomeroy Terrace.  Schedule with assigned tasks for completing 501.3.c status. Application should be live and completed for Nov. 5. Annual mtg is provisional for Nov 16^th at 7PM in Library at Bridge Street School. Will annual report, election of officers and new committee if any, and a speaker TBD. Present: M. Tymoczko, J. Potter, F. Zimnoch & Weaver Blanchette. November 16 7 pm annual meeting

7.    Sustainability Committee Update – Jim

-Status of public meeting to discuss ZRC's final rec's to the Planning Board

8.      Membership Committee

-The Membership Committee has not met. The committee has no plans for a
Fall membership drive nor has it made plans to update the brochure. The
Membership Committee will assist with promoting the Annual Meeting and
recruiting new members at this event.

9.      Sustainability Report (Jim Nash)

-All the former Ward 3 ZRC members are interested in having a discussion
with their neighbors concerning last spring's ZRC recommendations. I
envision a panel or roundtable format. The bigger question is timing. It
would be best to convene after the November elections, ideally,
mid-November or December. However, the King Street zoning changes may be
sent to city council in the coming weeks. There is a possibility that a
first and second reading of the proposed changes could happen prior to
the election. This would me a more hastily yet timely event would need
to be scheduled.

We will have answers to this later this week if the Planning Board
approves the changes or decides to deliberate longer.

10.  Business Representative Report

-See Sustainability Report. This is a most important business issue.

11.   Traffic Calming Committee Update (Lola)

-On Sept. 15 we held our neighborhood meeting to discuss next steps regarding the speed humps on Hawley and Williams Streets.  First, DPW's engineer, Laura Hanson, presented the data from the effects of the temporary speed humps, which showed a significant enough reduction in speed to indicate their effectiveness.  Then, Kate Geiss spoke about how pleased the residents of Grove St. are about their permanent speed humps.  Finally, each of the 16 neighbors in attendance expressed their reactions to the temporary speed humps.  There were some concerns about noise but these were considerably allayed after assurances from Laura that the permanent humps are much less noisy and that multiple humps would mitigate the problem of cars speeding up after going over the hump.  In the end the consensus among the residents was that 2 or 3 humps on each of the streets would greatly improve the safety and quality of life in the neighborhood.

Next week we will send a letter to Ned Huntley, DPW Director, officially requesting the installation of permanent speed humps, paid for from the Montview Neighborhood mitigation funds.  We expect him to approve the request and (hopefully) have the humps installed in the summer of 2012 --three years after our traffic calming application was approved by the city's Transportation and Parking Commission.

12.  Exit 19 of I-91 Committee Update – Frank Werbinski

-Update on revised traffic projections. Met with Rich Massey… very encouraged- maybe a minor reconstruction of the intersections.

Bridge St./Damon Rd./Exit 91 & Entrance to 91S if no build… 0.2% a.m./p.m. peak hours… 2700 fewer turns.

-Roundabout will provide traffic calming

-PAC meeting in November

-Frank reported the original estimate of 28% increase in Northampton population that was used for making the design was corrected as not Northampton but all the cities/towns in the area. Future traffic populations estimates will include this larger area.

13.  Report of Transportation Committee 

-Update about sidewalks, bikepath maintenance, train routing, and walking buses

-TPC last meeting…  get from Fred

This Thursday, Pioneer Planning Board about trains.

-Bike path is moving forward with land taking at church… and Oct. 26 7 pm to discuss maintenance of bike paths.

14.  Legislative Update from City Councillor - Owen 

Counsel has been relatively quiet…

Oct. 13 joint meeting about King St. comments… highway business he doesn't support

Oct. 12 charter drafting committee… the review committee made a bunch of proposals, $26000 of mayor's left over salary to pay consultant.

-Agriculture is considering gating Potash Rd.

15.  Vegetable Garden Tour – Joanne (8:56)

-Update on next year's tour

-Establishing an RFP process and setting amount of money to be disbursed from proceeds.

-Comments? Decision of board is final.

Motion: unanimous

16. Ward 3 Storm Water System (Fred)

-The City has yet to receive the final report from CDM.  This has been delayed a little and may slide into September.  When we do receive the final document we will make it available for review in our office here and also available for download from the DPW website.  There will be time to review the report before any public meetings are scheduled.

 USACE dike inspection 9/18/2009; Report 8/26/2011. Posted on city DPW website.

http://www.northamptonma.gov/dpw/engineering/floodctrl/

17. Transportation and Parking Commission Mtg 4PM September 20, 2011 (Fred)

I attended this mtg and presented the comments about truck escape routes. Additionally Laura Hansen the City's Traffic Engineer mentioned that a Laser Warning system was being designed for 3 locations. Rte 91 x19, Pleasant St, and King Street. Money is only available to June 2012. System would be set to detect oversize trucks and flash an appropriate warning light and exit route. Other locations are being considered but money is limited. Chief Sienkiewicz said NPD is called multiple times a week to get trucks out of the RR overpass. Lauren Hansen said that work is being to to tally the rate of strikes and occurrence.

Truck Escape Route will also be on TPC agenda Tuesday Oct 18, 2011.

Adjourned 9:02