Minutes
Public Ways Safety Committee
Bolton, Massachusetts
March 25, 2009
Members present: Barbara Bing, Leslie Breeze (Co-Chairs), Mary Ciummo, Rob Hagopian, Deborah Kellett, Cia Ochsenbein
Guest: Peter Ross
Minutes from the March 11th meeting were approved and accepted.
OLD BUSINESS:
Executive Session: B. Bing reported that Linda Day says we are not allowed to hold closed, executive sessions. Any discussion of/voting for vacancies must take place in open meeting.
School Zone Flasher Warrant Article and Town Meeting: M. Ciummo attended recent BOS meeting when proposed Warrant Articles were discussed.
BOS will re-write the Article as submitted to make certain that any transfer of monies from Public Ways Account is properly handled; article may be split into two parts to do this.
Common reporter Nan Schnitzler was in attendance and Mary provided information about the article’s purpose and the proposed benefits.
Committee discussed preferences about manner of presentation at Town Meeting. Agreed upon no formal presentation, but will be available for questions from the floor. B. Bing will formally notify Town Moderator Anker of our decision, and L. Breeze will be Committee spokesperson.
Harold’s November 2008 List Follow-up: DPW Director Harold Brown asked for a follow-up To-Do list from November meeting. B. Bing has sent off the final draft. No further action at this time.
Passing Zone signage follow-up: R. Hagopian distributed a proposed final draft of a memo to DPW Director Harold Brown regarding the correction of existing Passing Zone signs. After discussion, we decided to invite Harold to a future meeting to review the situation and exchange recommendations. Rob will handle getting the invitation and listing of specific signs to Harold.
Trinity Church Survey: D. Kellett reported that Town officials were still looking for any recent surveys or plans on file with Town. A 1947 plan appended to a 1999 Registry of Deeds document shows the bounds along Wattaquadock as following the existing stonewall. Will revisit the issue when we get final word from Town on any newer plans/surveys.
Northwoods and Establishing Pathways Escrow Account: Discussion of the outcome of Planning Board meeting with Northwoods developer (see Kellett email of 3/17/09 for details, attached). Committee members expressed pleasure at the outcome, especially the establishing of a precedent for developers to contribute funds in lieu of sidewalks/pathways.
Toll Brothers Regency Pathway Publicity: C. Ochsenbein reported that she is still working on arranging a ceremonial Thank-you to Toll Brothers for the pathway they installed. We will give information, with photo, to Bolton Common after the event.
Yield to Stop: First five signs on the old Police Recommendation list were discussed. Some intersections could use a complete makeover, but we limited this review to agree/disagree with Police recommendation, and rough priority evaluation. Next five signs at next meeting.
- Autumn Lane: Stop Sign already in place; check if on Rules and Orders (Kellett will check);
- Ballville at Wilder: Should change to Stop; highest priority among these five;
- Berlin at Wattaquadock: Recommend no change at this time;
- Chase St. Extension: Installation of 3-Way has improved intersection, so Stop not needed. But, old Yield Sign is missing and should be replaced. Lowest priority of this group.
- Danforth: A Stop should be placed. In addition, a marked Right Turn Only lane should be painted on road (as was done at Fox Run) to ease traffic. Second priority of this group.
NEW BUSINESS:
Meeting time changes: General discussion of possible benefits from changing meeting frequency, day of the week. Consensus at this time appears to be to keep the same schedule, but issue open.
Fill 3-year term vacancy: Voted unanimously to recommend to Board of Selectmen that they appoint Peter Ross to the vacant three-year term on PWSC. B. Bing will notify BOS of our decision so they can proceed with their part of the appointment process.
ACTION ITEMS:
- Bing will notify Moderator Anker of our decision regarding Warrant Article (i.e. to accept questions on floor; Breeze probable spokesperson).
- Ochsenbein and Ross will take photographs of some signage of interest.
- Hagopian will invite Harold Brown, DPW to come and discuss Passing Zones.
- Kellett will continue to monitor Town Hall search for Trinity surveys post 1947.
- Ochsenbein and Breeze try and arrange publicity and photo-op with Regency personnel.
- All members will review next five signs on Yield to Stop list prior to next meeting.
- Kellett will check whether Traffic Rules and Regs shows Stop at Autumn Lane.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:39 p.m.
The next meeting is scheduled for 7:00 on Wednesday, March 8, 2009.
Minutes submitted by Deborah Kellett
| 
