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News/Events - Meeting Minutes

TRAFFIC RULES AND REGULATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING
Tuesday, January 4, 2011

MEMBERS PRESENT: Dorothy Cook, Chairperson; Al Elliott; Mark Thompson; Karen MacDonald; Kevin Cafferty. ALSO PRESENT: Dan Monger, Planning Board; Steve Bjorklund.

1. Call to Order. Chairperson Dorothy Cook called the meeting to order at 6:07PM in the Engineering Department office at Town Hall.

The committee agreed to take the agenda out of order and move to item 4C, Proposed Rotary/Beaver Dam-Branch Street-Lawson Road:

Mr. Monger presented a memo to the TRRC from the Planning Board regarding the Intersection Near Lawson Common. Mr. Thompson mentioned the historical nature of the Common area and that there may be more obstacles to overcome than design and planning. There were a number of suggestions brought up by the Planning Board at their recent meetings. Parking on Cudworth Road has been a problem with cars parked along the sides of the roads. Mr. Cafferty said he had conducted a site visit to the area to watch the traffic patterns. He presented ideas about changing traffic patterns in the area and introducing a rotary on the west side of the Common. Mr. Elliott presented some concerns about emergency response times with the proposed changes especially emergency vehicles using the rotary. Mr. Cafferty said that a survey of the area would be necessary to ensure that the rotary would be big enough to accommodate emergency vehicles, school buses, etc. He said regarding First Parish and Cudworth, that First Parish could be made a dead end there and the stop line at Cudworth could be moved out toward Beaver Dam to improve sight distance. Parking could be created in that area of First Parish Road. Some of the ideas included in the Planning Board memo were:
• Make Cudworth Road one way flowing away from Gates School
• Make the triangle around Lawson Common one way clockwise including adding pedestrian access and diagonal parking around the Common to increase safety and access
• Add and/or improve street signage
• Create better security for children and others using Lawson Common such as fencing or green buffers, and/or
• A roundabout or stoplight on First Parish at the Gates exit.

Possible funding for the proposed changes was discussed including grant opportunities for improvements to pedestrian safety. It was agreed that a survey of the area would be the first thing to do to see what is possible regarding the rotary and the other proposed changes. Mr. Cafferty said he will pursue this.

2. Acceptance of November and December minutes. Mr. Cafferty made a MOTION to approve the November and December 2010 minutes as written, Officer Thompson SECONDED the motion, the vote was unanimously in favor and the motion passed.

3. New Plans Submitted For Review. There were no plans submitted for review.

4. Old Business
A. Common Driveway, 253 Country Way. This was discussed.
B. Crosswalk/Cushing School. Mr. Thompson said that he thinks that Mr. Bangert is working on this with Mike Breen.
C. Proposed rotary/Beaver Dam-Branch-Lawson. See above.

5. New Business
A. Stop sign request/Cornerstone Lane-First Parish Road. Following discussion and agreement by all TRRC members, an Executive Action Request will be filed with the Selectmen with the following wording: Installation of stop sign at the corner of Cornerstone Lane at the intersection of First Parish Road. As required by the Street Acceptance Committee.
B. Next meeting: Tuesday February 1, 2011, 6 PM in the Engineering Department meeting area.
C. Steve Bjorklund visited the meeting with the following request regarding a proposed subdivision on Elm Street: He asked if a bus standing area would be something the TRRC would want to see and the TRRC said they would. He also said that they would plan on putting a stop sign from the subdivision onto Elm Street as per Street Acceptance.

6. Adjournment . The meeting was adjourned by unanimous vote at 6:52 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Martin