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2010-10-19 TPC MinutesTransportation and Parking Commission City of Northampton 210 Main Street, Room 18, Northampton MA 01060 (413) 587 -1210 www.northamptonma.gov /tpc MEETING Minutes Tuesday, October 19, 2010 4:00 PM — 6:00 PM City Council Chambers, Puchalski Municipal Building 212 Main Street, Northampton MEMBERS present: Maureen Carney, Jesse Adams, Wayne Feiden, Debin Bruce, Gary Hartwell, Russell Sienkiewicz, James Lowenthal, Leslie Stein, Paul Sustick. Also present: Laura Hanson, DPW 1. Public Comment. Suzanne Smith, 134 State Street spoke about the noise of the State Street temporary speed bump, including the extra noise from accelerating cars. Erin Buzuvis, 131 State street spoke said it slowed traffic but was annoying to the closest houses. Jeff Gutterman and Karen Forman, of Trumbull Road spoke about the volume of traffic on Trumbull Road. David Stern 152 State Street wants a second speed hump on State between Finn and Summer. 2. Minutes of September 21, 2010 were approved as amended. Leslie Stein wanted clarification of the motion discussed as item 5 in the minutes. Minutes were amended to include full language of the motion. Motion Stein /Bruce to have Letendre draw up ordinances for Commission approved bus stops and then follow up to have PVTA signs installed. MOTION CARRIED. 3. Recording of the Transportation and Parking Commission minutes was by volunteer Debin Bruce. Maureen Carney took an action to talk with Letender about support. Ideas included City parking dept paying for temporary service; Police transcription service was noted to cost $.16 line or about $8.50 /page and results in lengthy verbatim record; or senior citizen volunteer could receive city tax consideration in lieu of service. 4. State Street Speed Hump. Laura Hanson, DPW, explained that she was collecting data and anticipated holding a public meeting in November that would be posted by sign at the Red Cross Building. 5. Amend Ordinance 312 -77 allowing a Right Turn on Red for southbound King Street at Finn was continued. The TPC is still looking for traffic data that was taken by Florence Savings Bank during Honda redevelopment. 6. Wayne Feiden initiated discussion of the need for a traffic plan for trough -town travel corridors. He noted that following the TPC meeting, he would be holding a public listening session concerning King /Summer /North. Paul Sustick offered that he thought Elm street calming was diverting Florence traffic to Prospect, possibly affecting the cross streets between State and King. Russ Sienkiewicz wanted a systematic consideration of these related traffic considerations, rather than dealing with them one street or intersection at a time. Wayne Feiden has support of the DPW and the City to pursue such an analysis. MOTION Lowenthal /Stein that the Transportation and Parking commission endorse the City's action to seek services to conduct a high level design for a traffic plan for State, Main, and King Streets, MOTION CARRIED. 7. DPW presented a traffic calming analysis for Trumbull Road. ADT is about 21,000 (one outlier at 4,068). Trumbull has no speed sign, and under state prima facie this means the speed limit is 30 mph. The 85% speed on Trumbull toward King was 37 mph and toward State 24 mph. Discussion noted that for a 600+ foot road, 30 mph was too high. But DPW noted that it would have to go to the state to put sign of 25 mph. Consideration of Trumbull was agreed to be related to the general overall traffic plan and the commission took no action on the Trumbull request. 8. Mr. Aldo Tiboni, on behalf of Ride NoHo Inc, requested that the ordinance for Elm Street bike lanes be amended to extend the bike lanes so that signs can be installed. MOTION Feiden /Stein moved that the Elm Street bike lane be extended from Woodlawn Avenue to South Street. MOTON CARRIED. Gary Hartwell reported on Elm Street traffic calming, noting that some street marking was yet to be completed (bike lane marking) and that the most important change has been the addition of the bike lanes. Gary took action to provide Commission with information for Tiboni response. 9. Commission considered request by Mr. Steve Cahallane asking that the bus lane at 15 Straw Ave be removed to allow for extra parking. Mr. Cahallane stated that 60 days of monitoring the stop saw only one person that used the bus to get to work. Stein reported on a PVTA recommendation that the bus stop remain based on driver experience that 3 -4 people per day use the stop to get to medical appointment. While the citizen's experience runs counter to PVTA conclusion, he acknowledged that there was ample parking at the medical offices. Commission discussion noted that moving the bus stop to gain 4 more street parking spaces that were not needed was hardly convincing. Russ Sienkiewicz asked: what was the criteria for bus use that warrants a stop? Leslie Stein said it depends on location, noting that route try to follow public service needs, such as doctor's offices and social services. MOTION Sienkiewicz /Stein that the Commission take no action to make a change to the bus stop on Straw Ave. MOTION CARRIED. Commission agreed to refer Mr. Cahallane to the PVTA subcommittee. 10. MOTION Adams /Stein to remove the 15 minute parking at Crackerbarrell Alley. MOTION CARRIED. (CARNEY NOTES CONTINUED TO NOVEMBER, TO ALLOW LETENDRE INPUT) 11. Wayne Feiden reported that the Energy and Sustainability Committee was pursuing grant monies for two electric vehicle charging stations. One would most likely be in the City garage another somewhere on a surface lot, possibly the hospital. MOTION Sienkiewicz /Adams moved that the commission support the grant application for installation of electric vehicle charging stations in Northampton. MOTION CARRIED 12. DPW announced a Boston Society of Civil Engineers Western Mass meeting for October 20, 2010 at Look Park. The agenda was the Route 9 Roundabout. Also announced was that asphalt crack sealing was underway throughout the City. 13. MOTION Sienkiewicz /Adams moved that the commission continue until November an item concerning Earth Day, so that James Lowenthal has an opportunity to brief Commission on plans. MOTION CARRIED 14. Wayne Feiden presented a city overview showing a base map with commercial growth corridors and traffic control devices. He noted that such an approach would be needed for an effective traffic plan.