Transportation Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC)

Meeting Minutes TSAC October 20, 2021 DATE: September 16, 2023 SUBJECT: Transportation Safety Advisory Committee Minutes from October 20, 2021 This meeting was held via the Zoom online platform. Meeting called to order by Michael Diluiso at 8:13 AM Members Present: • Michael Diluiso, Parking Department • Director Steven Calla, Department of Public Works • Deputy Chief John Goodwin, Police Department • Chief W. Scott Wiley, Fire Department • Ben Schad, Resident Representative • Lisa Plotnick, Resident Representative Members Absent: • John Eade, Resident Representative New Business: Mr. Diluiso asked stated he would take new business item 3 out of order if nobody objects since the Superintendent of Schools was present to speak on the matter and had another meeting to get to. There were no objections. Agenda Item: Request from School Committee to meet with TSAC regarding lack of crossing guards Mr. Diluiso invited Ms. Howard to speak on this matter. She stated that parents in are concerned about crossing guards in various spots throughout the community. Currently there are only two crossing guards employed by the school department, one assigned on Pauline St in front of Nick’s and one at Metcalf Square between the Police Station and Lucky Market. She stated that consistency can be difficult and that school staff assists with crossings at the intersection of School St and Hermon St. Parents are asking for additional crossing guards at locations where they have been in the past and at several identified “hot spots.” She stated she could use some assistance from Director Calla and Deputy Chief Goodwin in several spots. People are getting paid for 4 hours of work each day they are assigned to a crossing. The school department has attempted to recruit for the positions but it has been an ongoing issue to find people to do the work well and in a consistent manner. In other districts, the Police Department runs the crossing guard program or hire vendors such as security guards. The School Department’s issue has been simply a lack of interested people. Page 1 of 6 Ms. Howard reached out to her peers in other communities and many are saying that they are in similar situations. She is meeting with a security company to try to resolve the staffing issue and provide an assessment of where people need to be and also take the town’s input on where people need to be. There are concerns over the company’s base location being in Plymouth and the available budget for crossing guards. She stated this is a critical issue in terms of safety, especially with students returning to schools and parents returning to work. She wanted to reach out to TSAC to see if they had any recommendations and see if police details may be able to assist. The School Department is asking TSAC for recommendations on any locations where crossing guards may be needed and any possible suggestions on filling those positions. Director Calla stated he wished he could help with personnel but his department is short staffed as it is. He identified Revere St by the Winthrop Marketplace as a location that could benefit from a crossing guard since it is travelled by not only older High School students but also younger kids. He stated that he often sees kids waiting to cross even with the flashing pedestrian signs and high visibility crosswalk. He agrees with the two locations the school has placed crossing guards and thinks it would be beneficial to put a full crossing guard on Hermon St instead of regular school staff. Deputy Chief Goodwin stated he was made aware of an incident where a student was struck at Magee’s Corner during the morning hours on the way to school. He stated he is also struggling with staffing due to hiring and the training required under police reform. Ms. Howard stated that they had a crossing guard at Magee’s Corner in the past but no longer and there is an issue with both motorists and pedestrians following the rules. Ms. Howard asked about the style of pedestrian lights near Orient Heights that flash when a pedestrian pushes the button and whether those could work at some locations in town and potentially be installed. Director Calla stated that the Magee’s Corner and Crest Ave signals are scheduled to be upgraded during the upcoming TIP project in 2023. Lights like those could be an option in other locations, but would most likely require solar powered units instead of hard-wired electrical service due to cost issues. Mr. Diluiso mentioned that in the past there used to be a crossing guard at Almont St and Revere St but is unsure if there is still one there with the police officer at Revere and Kennedy. He was concerned about covering Magee’s Corner with one crossing guard but Ms. Howard stated that they would utilize the pedestrian crossing lights. Mr. Diluiso stated he would leave this item open until next month’s agenda to allow members time to come up with any additional ideas. Agenda Item: Correspondence Mr. Diluiso advised he received two items of correspondence. One was an email from a resident asking the committee to make no changed to Cottage Ave. The other was an email from a resident citing other roadways in town with similar issues to Cottage Ave. Old Business: Agenda Item: Proposal to restrict parking on Terrace Ave between Cottage Ave and the Dead End Mr. Diluiso reminded the committee that we had a public hearing on this item at the August meeting and summarized the issue for the committee’s new member. Director Calla asked to be reminded of the original Page 2 of 6 request. Mr. Diluiso read over the original request and reviewed the area using Google Maps satellite view and Google Street view. Director Calla stated that travel is tight and the roadway does not accommodate parking on both sides of the street. He stated that restricting the parking in one spot only would create additional confusion and it would be better to be consistent and allow parking only on one side of the road. Mr. Diluiso agreed and referred to the map of the street width shown at the August meeting. Director Calla added that the berm was intended to be a walkway for people exiting their homes and people parking on it defeats that purpose. He stated he would recommend parking on the South side of the roadway only. Mr. Diluiso asked if parking is restricted to one side or the other, are we better off having people park on the berm or drive on the berm especially with larger vehicles. Chief Wiley stated that from the Fire Department’s perspective of trying to get the ladder truck down the road, it would be impossible given current conditions. He would recommend allowing parking on the South side of the road and leaving the North side with the berm open since there are no telephone poles or other obstructions in the way. MOTION: By Director Calla to eliminate parking on the North side of Terrace Ave between Harbor View Ave and Shirley Ave SECONDED: Mr. Schad DISCUSSION OF THE MOTION: Mr. Diluiso asked if the dead-end portion of the road was being left alone. Director Calla asked what the ordinance stated and Mr. Diluiso stated there are no restrictions. Director Calla recommended leaving the dead-end alone for now and coming back to it if needed. VOTE IN FAVOR OF MOTION: 5-0 with Ms. Plotnick abstaining Agenda Item: Proposal to make Cottage Ave a one-way between Terrace Ave and Hillside Ave Mr. Diluiso reminded the committee that we had a public hearing on this item at the August meeting. Director Calla asked Mr. Diluiso to reiterate the roads he was looking for the slope measurements on as part of this decision-making process. Mr. Diluiso stated he was looking for the slope on Faun Bar Ave between Cottage Ave and Beacon Circle, Terrace Ave between Park Ave and Shirley St and Shirley Ave between Terrace Ave and Shirley St since the egress off the hill during icy conditions was brought up at the hearing. Director Calla stated he would get the measurements later on the day of the meeting. He was unable to get them ahead of time due to an equipment issue. MOTION: By Chief Wiley to postpone this issue to the committee’s next meeting SECONDED: Director Calla DISCUSSION OF THE MOTION: None VOTE IN FAVOR OF MOTION: 5-0 with Ms. Plotnick abstaining Agenda Item: Resident request for “No Parking Here to Driveway” near 381 Revere St Mr. Diluiso reminded the committee that we were going to combine this with the review of revised speed data for Revere St. Mr. Diluiso discussed this operationally with Deputy Chief Goodwin and Detective Carter and all were in agreement that with the ongoing construction on Revere St, we would not get a true comparison Page 3 of 6 with the previous speed data so the issues will need to be looked at separately. Mr. Diluiso brought up the map and reminded the committee of the issue presented by the resident. He also stated that he knows that the committee wants to look at defining a set distance from a driveway but still has not received permission from the Town Manager on that issue. Director Calla stated he will not vote on this issue until we have a uniform set of conditions. Mr. Diluiso stated that the resident is able to call the Police Department to come out when a vehicle is impeding the driveway until we get approval to look at the issue town-wide as the committee has asked. Mr. Schad and Mr. Diluiso both stated that this is not an issue unique to that location. Deputy Chief Goodwin stated he doesn’t know how it wouldn’t lead to a domino effect on the entire street if this moves forward as proposed. MOTION: By Director Calla to postpone this issue until the committee can conduct a review of the ordinance stating how close a vehicle can park to a driveway. SECONDED: Mr. Schad DISCUSSION OF THE MOTION: None VOTE IN FAVOR OF MOTION: 5-0 with Ms. Plotnick abstaining Agenda Item: Proposal to eliminate currently posted on-street time limits along Shirley St from Irwin St to the vicinity of Beacon St and allow businesses to request a limited number of time restricted spots adjacent to their storefronts Mr. Diluiso checked to see if any members of the public wanted to speak on this matter. Karin Chavis asked if other cities and towns had similar programs. Mr. Diluiso stated that what normally happens here is that a time restriction is posted along a business area and then when businesses change, the new business is looking for a different time limit. This came up when we were looking at trying to get the signs and ordinance language in sync. Director Calla stated that a business wouldn’t get to choose how long the time limit would be and have the town create a policy of what the time restriction would be, such as a one-hour limit, and a business could request a number of spaces that fit within the frontage of their building. Mr. Diluiso added that he hasn’t seen this issue handled this way in other communities, but also hasn’t dug through their processes much at this time. Betsy Shane from the Chamber of Commerce asked if businesses would be looked at differently based on the needs of an individual business. Director Calla stated that the goal would be to have the town have two options for a lower and higher limit whether it be 15 and 60 minutes or 30 and 60 minutes. The goal is to eliminate confusion and streamline enforcement. Mr. Diluiso stated that this is only for Shirley St between Veterans Rd and Beacon St in this particular matter. There was no further public comment on this issue and discussion was brought back to the committee. Director Calla stated he would recommend that this be implemented town-wide in all business districts since that was his intent. Ms. Plotnick asked if this would affect designated handicapped spaces. Mr. Diluiso stated it would not. Mr. Diluiso stated that he was the sole dissenting vote on the last portion of this discussion. He believes that this is well intentioned but is a bad idea from a practical standpoint. He stated that these are business districts and the time restricted parking is in place to balance the needs of the businesses and the residents. He is afraid this is unintentionally going to single out some businesses, using the example of Twist & Shake and Quick Food being allowed to have parking, but Hi-Tide and D’parma not being allowed to ask for parking and could lead to issues between businesses. He cited the MAPC report for the center business Page 4 of 6 district before that project started and how that report dome by professionals recommended spot zoning of lower time limits in front of certain businesses based on their needs. Director Calla stated that he never intended for the spaces to be limited to the patrons of a certain business. Mr. Diluiso agreed, but stated that there is an inequity since the business that went through the process and paid for the signage is now accommodating the other business and could create animosity between the businesses. Mr. Diluiso stated he thinks we’re better off fixing what is on the books rather than leaving it up to individual businesses. He believes time restricted parking throughout the business district according to what is in the ordinance will give us the consistency we are looking for. The proposal of the businesses petitioning for spaces would leave a potential situation where you could have a few random restricted spaces and not meet the need to balance the needs of the businesses during the day with the residents at night. Director Calla asked if that would put a location such as the hi-tide at a disadvantage. Mr. Diluiso stated it would not because currently the time restriction is along the entirety of the street and not potentially isolated to a specific store front. Director Calla stated that there is currently no consistency along the street. Mr. Diluiso stated that on the books there is consistency, but in the signage there is not. He added that the original intent of the discussion was to either make the signs match the ordinances or amend the ordinances to match the signs and he’s afraid that if this program is implemented, it will create more problems than it will solve. Director Calla asked if the needs of the businesses in the area have changed in all the years since the Selectmen implemented the posted restrictions. Mr. Diluiso stated they may have, and that is why hearing notices were mailed out and Mr. Eade went and spoke to business owners in person when this discussion first started. Mr. Schad asked what the times were on the ordinances now. Mr. Diluiso stated that at this time from Delby’s corner to approximately Beacon St was on the books as 30-minute parking. Mr. Schad recommended a hybrid of the ideas where everything reverts to the 30-minute parking and if a business needs something else, they can petition for a change at their location. Director Calla stated that his intent behind the motion was to promote consistency and if the committee believes that this proposal would make things less consistent, he will withdraw the motion. Deputy Chief Goodwin stated that enforcement is much easier when the time restrictions are consistent. Mr. Diluiso agrees with the need for consistency which is why the attempt to clean up the signage was started. He added that Shirley St from Veterans Rd to Shirley Park is 60-minutes and confirmed that the ordinance from the Delby’s corner area toward Beacon St states the restriction is 30-minutes. Mr. Shad commented that it is currently unenforceable because the signage does not match the ordinance language. Mr. Diluiso stated he agrees with the need for consistency, but also agrees with the MAPC thinking that there is the occasional need for a lower limit such as 15-minutes for a business such as a convenience store. Mr. Diluiso and Mr. Shad stated that the restaurants need more time than businesses such as the convenience or hardware store, but Mr. Diluiso also pointed out that the time restrictions stop at 5:00 PM. Director Calla stated that enforcement is difficult and not happening and that officers can’t be expected to know what the restrictions are in every spot. Mr. Diluiso said he agrees with that thinking but thinks that the way to resolve it is to fix the signage, not remove everything. MOTION: By Director Calla to postpone this issue to the committee’s next meeting SECONDED: Mr. Schad DISCUSSION OF THE MOTION: None VOTE IN FAVOR OF MOTION: 5-0 with Ms. Plotnick abstaining Page 5 of 6 Agenda Item: General committee discussion of parking, traffic. transportation, and committee issues for possible inclusion on future agendas or other action as the committee sees fit Mr. Diluiso reiterated that he received an email to look at other streets in the same manner as Cottage Ave. He would like to send this to the Town Manager to either have the committee look at the one-way/two- way/parking issue town-wide or look at it with the assistance of an outside entity that can review it and report back to the committee. Mr. Schad agrees that there is a need for such a review. Mr. Diluiso stated that if they say no, then the committee needs to continue looking at things on a street-by-street basis. MOTION TO ADJOURN: Mr. Schad SECONDED: Director Calla VOTE IN FAVOR: 5-0 with Ms. Plotnick abstaining Meeting adjourned at 9:19 AM Date Minutes Approved: September 20, 2023 Page 6 of 6