Parking & Traffic Commission

CITY OF BEVERLY PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES BOARD: Parking and Traffic Commission SUBCOMMITTEE: DATE: March 2, 2021 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Richard Benevento (Chair), Darlene Wynne (Vice Chair), George Binns, Michael Collins, Leslie Gould, Capt. Ryan Laracy, John Lozada, Jonathan Salt BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Sgt Mike Henebury OTHERS PRESENT: RECORDER: Sharlyne Woodbury Benevento chairs and opens the meeting at 8:30 am. This is a virtual meeting with special meeting format as required to honor Governor Baker’s State of Emergency declared due to the national crisis of COVID-19. Leslie Gould joins the meeting 9:30 am. There being no further comments or questions. No additional actions at this time. 1. Revised Recommendation to Planning Board: Minor Modification Application to Site Plan Review #111-13 and Special Permit #138-14-48 Dunham Ridge- (50 Dunham Road) - Cummings Properties Mike Aveni and Steven Drohosky are present. Aveni returns the Commission with an updated plan. The applicant seeks to simplify their request as a result, they did not return to the Conservation Commission. Plan updates propose using spaces from the expired permits for Vitality. Aveni details the additional spaces, restriping of spaces, and addresses a contingency plan when the former Vitality site is redeveloped. Benevento clarifies the additional spaces from Vitality does not belong to the site, and when developed in the future will need to find parking. Aveni confirms the Vitality program was not using any parking spaces along Pond Site Drive and had intended to build underground parking. Wynne notes 52 Dunham site permits have lapsed. The Planning Board granted relief via special permit. Per Wynne, please note this is a revised site plan review and a special permit situation. Laracy confirms the fire trucks will be able to access the area upon restriping of 18 spaces where 15 exist. Benevento asks what percentage of parking on site was used pre covid. Aveni confirms about 10% utilized to date. Currently they are not close to capacity. Lozada inquired about the accessibility to the building because parking sounds variable. There being no further comments or questions. Wynne moves to recommend the Planning Board review and approve the site revision and special permit subject to prior condition and that the applicant return when parking capacity reaches 75 % for site review as a whole. Binns seconds. The motion carries 8-0.  Parking and Traffic Commission March 2, 2021 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 4 2. Review and Discussions: Traffic Study and parking layout for redevelopment – 143 Brimbal Avenue – 143 Brimbal Avenue LLC c/o Miranda Gooding Siemasko, Glovsky & Glovsky Gooding represents the applicant. Julie Arcari Cook, Thad Siemasko, Rebecca Brown, are part of the team. They are here in advance of their typical timing. They are looking for insight from the commission on the traffic study. Landry & Arcari are relocating from Salem to Beverly in the IR zoning district to the Vittori Rocky post. Over time they plan to take over the entire building as well as construct a 3-story building. Intentions include manufacturing, shipping, and a show room for their product. They will be going to the planning board for the addition to the building as well as special permits for reduction of parking spaces required for the retail space. The retail space is so large to accommodate the size of the rugs. The retail space is not representative of what the parking requirement is. The building is large but the applicant insists they will not need all the spaces. Brown reviews the traffic study and site presentation. Information was obtained from the applicant estimating an average of 180 - 215 trips on a daily basis per peak hours. Information is based off their Salem, MA location for daily operations. They have about 10 employees between the hours of 7 am - 5 pm. Brown details the trucks and delivery loads, comings and goings. They experience 6-12 customer trips to the site on daily average. Additional information was used from the North Shore Crossing project. The purpose of the study is to look at the site drive way and turn around. Brown reviews queuing at the roundabout, expected deliveries, truck radius for deliveries as well as emergency vehicle access. Browns asks the commission for appropriate time periods to review. Benevento informs Brown that Brimbal Ave is not a state highway location and asks if the project team anticipates applying for MassDOT highway permits. Benevento you would need an indirect access permit because the deliveries would increase traffic. Benevento suggestions the team correspond with MASSDOT. Benevento confirms the Rocky Post will continue to operate for 5 years in the basement. Gooding replies they have a lot of flexibility with their 5-year term. They may use all of the time or less time depending on when they find a new location. Brown points out because they are moving to a smaller space they would not have the same size events requiring more parking spaces. Brown informs Landry & Arcari would not move all their operations to Beverly until the post is fully vacated. Fabrication/manufacturing. Benevento reiterates the issues with the site relate to access. Particular issues are from the left-hand turn entering into the site off the rotary crossing westbound traffic; navigating the queue line; and reviewing the driveway at the North Shore Crossing. Commissioners mutually agree with Benevento’s assessment. Binns offers comments to the parking when the Post holds a large event with Lozada inquiring to the scale of activity from past events. Collins suggests routing the trucks in order they do not have to use the slip in the island to have trucks enter/exit. Commissioners inquire about parking collaboration with the owners of 133 Brimbal Ave. Gooding states the 133 owner is not interested in collaboration. Benevento once again mentions the trips are not the challenge, delivery trucks and access are the issue. He informs the team that North  Parking and Traffic Commission March 2, 2021 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 4 Shore crossing is supposed to conduct a post analysis traffic study which they have yet to deliver to the city. That would be an interesting comparative analysis to see what the impacts are. Brown concludes the review and stresses they need exact clarity on what to study. Specific concerns maintain about the left hand turn into the roundabout the and the driveway access. Benevento informs the team they cannot change a roundabout. There being no further comments or concerns. No further action required at this time. 3. Review and Discussion: Updated Pedestrian Improvement Plans for Depot II – Rantoul street, Park Street, and Railroad Avenue -Beverly Crossing c/o Rebecca Brown, GPI Rebecca Brown, Chris Koeplin, and Miranda Gooding are present. Brown updates the Commission on the concept plan. Addresses design issues with discrepancies between the updated concept plan and the Mobility Hub project. The most notable difference is on Railroad Avenue. Brown met with up representatives from both teams to coordinate for better consistency with the Mobility Hub projects and plans. Railroad Avenue will remain a two-lane thoroughfare for Depot traffic and will be set up for additional pedestrian space with added brick pavers and proposed curb extension. Improvements along the site lines and crosswalk relocation are proposed. Brown moves on to discuss Pleasant Street upgrades with specific focus on the apex ramp. The ramp will stay as the grade is too steep; also ramp removal is not practical for the area. It would create an awkward crosswalk. Brown moves on to review the intersections of Park Street, Pleasant Street, and Railroad Avenue. The existing roadway will remain in effect. On-street parking will be kept. Brown goes over the Broadway intersections. The Mobility Hub project proposes a shuttle drop off with a large island to separate the parking from the roadway. The team plans on keeping crosswalks at each ends of the park. Concept plans proposed relocate to the center of the park. Because of relocating Depot parking, the Mobility Hub project, if and when they move forward, the crosswalks could be modified later to match the Mobility Hub. The Mobility Hub programs are not set to begin soon; therefore any changes made my depot II can be altered later to match the Mobility Hub. The River Street crosswalks are also addressed. Commissioners weight in with thoughts on relocating crosswalks and discuss restriping. Wynne suggests testing out the sidewalk locations prior to any definitive decisions at the park. Bump outs are reviewed and compared to the Mobility Hub plans. Wynne informs the Commission she reached out to the property owner and did not hear back. Salt raises concerns with safety and accessibility for bicyclists. Asks about the bike racks, storage, and materials. Good takes issue with the timeline of the Mobility Hub in comparison the Depot II project timeline. Concerns mostly center on future modifications that alter the project design, add delays, and potentially affect permits or stop the project. Binns suggests keeping condition as here and now. He add, any major modifications Depot II returns to the Commission and discusses the changes and project mitigations associated with the changes. There being no further comments or questions. Wynne moves to accept the revised plan based off the presentation and the plan be advanced as part of the Depot II construction phase. Applicants agree to coordinate with the city on the Mobility Hub so long as any additional costs or changes are reasonable and will return to discuss with the City. Lozada seconds. The motion carries 8-0.  Parking and Traffic Commission March 2, 2021 Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 4 4. Discussion: Intersection Concerns, Crescent Avenue at Kernwood Avenue, and Upland Road at Kernwood Avenue – request of Councilor Todd Rotondo Rotondo calls attention to the two crosswalks in the area, expressing there are many neighborhood concerns. He asks for a consideration to install an RPS rapid flashing beacon. Mostly looking for a recommendation that does not require additional signage nor ADA equipment to assist. Benevento discusses with Councilor Rotondo, any time crosswalks are revised it has to be ADA accessible; further expanding on the process. Collins offers comments and suggests the possibility of deleting a crosswalk to focus on one. The Commission and Rotondo discuss signage, pedestrian jay walking, and speeding traffic off the bridge. Collins suggests starting with right location for a crosswalk. what is the best location to start the process which would make the area safer. Benevento inquires about the future Kernwood Bridge redesign and other historical documents. There being no further comments or concerns. No further action required at this time. 5. Approval of Minutes: December 15, 2020; January 5, 2021; February 2, 2021 Minutes tabled to next meeting due to time constraints. 6. New/Other Business: Salt performed an informal site walk at the construction site for Mission Boathouse. Reports back to the commission nothing is assembled per past meeting conditions stipulated. The pedestrian navigation is not clear. The gate is still locked. All the access is not open as it was supposed to be. Benevento asks for coordination with the Planning Department to follow up with the developer for an explanation. The BCC is tentatively scheduled to return to the Commission in May to discuss a variety of issues and concerns. There being no further comments or concerns. No further action required at this time. 7. Adjournment Binns moves to adjourn. Laracy seconds. The motion carries 8-0. Meeting adjourned 10:41 am. Next meeting scheduled for 4.6.21.