City Council - Public Safety Committee

CHICOPEE CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC SAFETY & LICENSE COMMITTEE APPROVED MEMBERS PUBLIC SAFETY Robert J. Zygarowski, Chairman Frank Laflamme, Vice Chairman John Vieau Jean Croteau, Jr. Dino Brunetti MINUTES March 27, 2013 The following are the minutes of a public hearing held Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 6:30 P.M. in the City Council Chambers, Fourth Floor, City Hall Annex, 274 Front Street, Chicopee, MA 01013. Members Present Zygarowski, Laflamme, Brunetti Not Present Vieau, Croteau License Committee Members Present Brunetti, Demers, Laflamme, Zygarowski, Krampits Also Present Councilor Tillotson, Councilor McClellan, Garvey (Associate City Solicitor), Thomas Charette (Acting Chief of Police), Captain Mark Galarneau (Fire Prevention Officer), Lisa Sanders (Health Director), Rick Maciolek (Asst. Superintendent) Steve Frederick (Acting Superintendent DPW) The meeting was called to order at 6:31 P.M. ITEM #1 ORDERED THAT the Health Department appear before the Public Safety Committee to discuss plans for spraying mosquitos to safeguard residents against the West Nile Virus. Councilor McLellan stated I want to make sure we have a game plan in place. Lisa Sanders stated that we will hire someone to spray and start at the retention ponds. We also have to encourage the residents to eliminate standing water. Frank Laflamme stated maybe you could work with the School Department and put something on channel five to give the residents some information. Councilor Tillotson stated I don’t recommend spraying unless there’s a serious issue because it is poisonous. My concern is we have a lot of areas in the city with stagnant water that are not on the list to treat. Steve Frederick stated we can work as a combined effort between Engineering, DPW, Parks & Rec and the Health Department to keep this under control. I’m a big proponent of having the Comprehensive High students come up with a little two minute sketch and put it on channel five; have them story board out the whole thing and come up with a little scenario. It’s a good way of having the kids do something productive and having a good community outcome for it. Councilor Zygarowski stated that Lisa Sanders will become the contact person through various public education and cable five. Motion made to place on file – motion passed. Committee vote 3 – 0 favorable. 1 ITEM #2 ORDERED THAT the Engineering Department investigate constituent concerns at the intersection of Grattan and Providence Street. Also review McKinstry Avenue and Arcade Street recommendations. Councilor Laflamme stated the concern is what do we do with this corner to make it safer for everyone. Steve Frederick stated that my feeling is purely engineering. The street is twenty eight feet wide and there shouldn’t be any parking, handicap or otherwise on that road. Councilor Brunetti stated the problem I see here is that it’s a congested area and the cars fly up Grattan Street. There is a lot of action going on in this area and I’d like to see if we can resolve this issue. Public Input Mike Dupuis, 521 East Main Street stated that the visibility around the corner is what is causing a lot of problems; the accidents are mostly a site issue. Acting Chief Charette stated I think the parking on Grattan Street in front of the Lucky Strike all the way back to the cross walk is an issue. Judy Tremblay , 37 Providence Street stated that every day I could be calling the Police for illegally parked cars; people dropping off, delivery trucks, people parking where they’re not supposed to. This is one big obstacle course and you have to try to get out there safely. Rick Murray , 140 Lafayette Street, stated that my concern is the crosswalk the no parking on Grattan would open up your line of vision for the crosswalk. This is a suicide game to cross that street. Linda Texeira , 45 Providence Street stated that I agree with the crosswalk. I stood there ten minutes to cross because people can’t see you when you’re on the sidewalk from the parked cars on Grattan Street. Mark Texeira , 45 Providence Street stated that it is hard to pull out on Grattan Street to go to work in the morning because of the parking on Grattan Street and hard to turn onto Providence after work because of all the parking on both sides of the street, it’s frustrating to have to deal with it day in and day out. Robert Tremblay , 37 Providence Street stated that you can put as many sighs as you want but it basically comes down to enforcement. Lee Murray , 140 Lafayette Street stated that I see people struggling to get across the crosswalk in front of Lucky Strike, the congestion is unbelievable. Councilor Brunetti stated our concerns here are accidents, a dangerous intersection, safety of pedestrians and illegal parking. Steve Fredericks stated we have good input from the neighborhood, let’s start with some “no parking” with enforcement. Councilor Tillotson stated we have to create ordinances we just can’t move signs around because there has to be a law in order for there to be a violation. What I suggest is that you allow the City Engineer to come up with a plan which will require ordinance changes then we can review it. If it’s acceptable to the ward Councilor we can send it to the Ordinance Committee and we can all meet again to see if we agree. Did not state his name what’s the feasibility on having a better areal light on that crosswalk. In the winter that crosswalk is dark. Councilor Zygarowski answered the City Engineer is going to look into that.  Under the recommendations of Steve Frederick and several of the Councilmen; they will continue to review the intersection of Grattan & Providence Street so they can improve the safety issues brought to them by constituents of the area. Committee vote 3 – 0 favorable 2 Regarding McKinstry Avenue and Arcade Street recommendations: Steve Fredericks stated we’re going to paint the intersection increasing the visibility of the stop bars and maybe looking into putting in some “stop ahead signs” on Arcade for advanced warning. Councilor Brunetti motion to take the recommendations from the Engineering Department and place on file. ITEM #3 ORDERED THAT the Public Safety and License Committee schedule a joint meeting with the owner of Pride Convenience, Inc. to discuss public safety and license issues at the service station and convenience store located at 27 Montgomery Street, Chicopee. At this hearing the committee may recommend to the full City Council to suspend, or revoke, the license under Chicopee City Code 188-14 & 188-20. Councilor Zygarowski stated we want to address some of the issues that were not taken care of over the course of November 2008 until December 2012 Councilor Demers questioned what brought us here I never received any phone calls or complaints. Captain Galarneau stated that this has been an ongoing issue with the traffic flow through the parking lot, this is a busy store. The Fire Chief has concerns about traffic in the lot and exiting onto Montgomery Street. The traffic tries to cut across 4 lanes to head north up Memorial Drive. Mr. Bolduc has installed a “right turn only” sign which does not seem to be working. Code requires a visual of the fuel pumps during the operation of the business by the clerks inside the store, the parking in front of the glass obstructs their view to the fuel pumps. We suggested “no parking” in front of the store, Mr. Bolduc has “no parking” written on the ground and vehicles park right over that. An area was striped which we suggested but we feel is inadequate; it should be striped a minimum of eighteen to twenty foot fire lane. Councilor Laflamme stated we just approved a sign to be put up which will prevent a left hand turn which we can now enforce. Bob Bolduc stated that I purchased the Price Station in 1978 and have been operating on that same corner for thirty five years. That turn has always been a problem and we checked the traffic records to see how many accidents there were going up that way and we couldn’t find any records that show of any accidents on that left hand turn. I was asked in all the permits to put up a private sign but we cannot enforce the city laws. Steve Frederick stated that any signs that are approved on a site plan are enforceable. Dan Garvey stated that the sign that has been approved is a city sign on city property. A “no right hand turn” on a site plan; our City Engineer say’s that is enforceable by the Police Department. Steve Frederick stated we are redesigning the intersections north and south, there’s a road safety audit going on right now and we’ve been working on that design since 2004 with Mass Highway. To do these intersections will be quite extensive but it will improve them in terms of flow through capacity. Right now we have all four intersections running independent and the goal is to make them flow better through radio signals. I think you will see the accidents go down tremendously through that project. Councilor Zygarowski stated I have a list of twenty seven accidents by your station. Bob Bolduc stated are they caused by our station or because it’s a busy intersection. Councilor Brunetti stated that the pumps are supposed to be visible at all times. 3 Bob Bolduc replied we have a raised platform and our employees can see outside. Only a few of the twenty one stations in Chicopee have a raised platform. Come and see for yourself and I will personally meet you there and you will see a view of the pumps better than any other station in this city. Bob Bolduc submitted a visibility survey summary Athene Zaleski , Pride,Director Facilities Permitting stated I took pictures and personally have gone inside the stores where the location of the cashier is sometimes twenty feet behind the entrance of the store. Councilor Laflamme stated we will check these other stations and have them comply as well. Mark Galarneau stated slowly but surely we are making our way around to all the stations in the city and addressing these issues by removing signs off the windows that are obstructing the view. Councilor Zygarowski stated I think this meeting was very productive. Our main concern is public safety. Laflamme motion to place on file. Recommendations:  Bolder Hash marks  Review other Stations  Paint Hash marks 18’ out  Install Barriers Committee vote 4–0 ITEM #4 Minutes – February 27, 2013. Motion made to approve. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 8:25 PM. 4