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APPROVED
Chilmark Planning Board Subcommittee Meeting
Monday, June 13, 2016
Present: Janet Weidner, Chair, Peter Cook, John Eisner
Not Present: Joan Malkin
Public: Barbara Armstrong
Staff: Jennifer L. Christy, Brian Cioffi, Police Chief
Meeting called to order at 3:10PM:
- Menemsha Master Plan Planning, Police Chief:
- Ms. Weidner provided Chief Cioffi with a brief overview of the current Master Planning process and a brief overview of the history of master planning (last updated in 2003).
- Board of Selectmen began working on initiatives to improve pedestrian and automobile traffic in Menemsha in the fall and winter of 2015-16.
- The Planning Board offered their assistance to the BOS to look at Menemsha through a wider lens and focus their current Master Plan work on Menemsha in the spring of 2016.
- The Board of Selectmen welcomed the assistance of the Planning Board and put their initiatives on hold to allow the Planning Board to gather more information and make recommendations that are based on broad input.
- Ms. Weidner emphasized the subcommittee’s objective:
- Produce a Master Plan document for Menemsha that would allow the separate Boards, committees and departments in Town to develop action plans that reflect the goals and objectives of the entire Town, as they were distilled as a result of a thorough planning process.
- Chief Cioffi described the status of Police department presence in Menemsha. He stated the number of officers and police vehicles hasn’t changed appreciably in 15 + years even though the numbers of people and vehicles has increased. Chief Cioffi stated that more parking spaces will not necessarily help the problem and, possibly, satellite parking could be developed further.
- Chief Cioffi described some efforts he has engaged in with the DiMaura family on the curve right at The Bite to cut the shrubbery back. He was unaware at the time that he spoke with the DiMaura Family of other efforts to put in a sidewalk on that curve.
- Chief Cioffi stated that in 18 years of his service in the force, Menemsha has been closed only 4 times due to an overload of traffic and concerns for safety (once for MVFPT’s Meet the Fleet event (40 minutes), two for sunsets (when parking was allowed on the hill up out of Menemsha), and once due to a hurricane.) He does not see this as an action that can be taken very often due to the possible impact on businesses in Menemsha and the general need for a free flow of people to the area they want to go to.
- Chief Cioffi stated sidewalks will not make a great amount of difference to the amount of cars in Menemsha. He further stated that more parking areas may not increase safety either. In fact, both actions may increase traffic in Menemsha.
- Chief Cioffi stated that there have been no accidents related to the difficult areas around Menemsha, except for one accident with a child near the Galley. He stated his feeling that drivers may actually drive more slowly and safely due to the fact that there are no sidewalks and the curves are on the edges of the roads.
- Chief Cioffi stated his feeling that there are not a lot of solutions to the current issue due to the fact that parking spaces cannot easily be added and traffic cannot easily be lessened.
- Mr. Eisner stated there could be more attention to the double-parking customers at the fish markets for example. Chief Cioffi stated that Menemsha is a “balancing act”. The emphasis is to keep the “flow”. Mr. Eisner stated that action is difficult due to the fact that the problems of traffic and parking are only apparent for 8 wks in the summer, but he feels that the desires and needs of the businesses need to be balanced with the desires and needs of the beach goers, etc… Mr. Eisner inquired about Chief Cioffi’s stand on the idea of compulsory offsite parking where no cars are allowed in Menemsha except at particular times. Chief Cioffi stated he would not support compulsory offsite parking.
- Mr. Cook stated the Planning Board’s job is to investigate the competing interests and see how these competing interests can collaborate and communicate with each other.
- Chief Cioffi stated that Menemsha has not really changed that much in 18 years. He stated that a rule that would disallow cars from Menemsha would really change the way that it is in Menemsha and people would not be able to do a quintessential thing such as “buzzing” the bight.
- Ms. Weidner inquired about the “tour vans” that are in Menemsha now. Chief Cioffi noted the allowance of tour vans in Menemsha is not within his jurisdiction. He would support, however, the restriction on the very large “tour” vans.
- Chief Cioffi stated that the management of Menemsha safety-wise and traffic-wise hasn’t increased that much in his years as Chief.
- Mr. Cook suggested the Town should possibly be searching for a walkable off-site parking area. Chief Cioffi stated the pedestrian traffic on North Road may be problematic.
- Mr. Eisner stated his vision for Menemsha is a park, a free area, where people are walking around, where the parking lot currently is, in the working fishing area. Mr. Eisner stated that the park could extend from the beach to the creek.
- Chief Cioffi reiterated that the pedestrian traffic in Menemsha does slow down the vehicle traffic no matter how annoying this may be to the vehicle drivers. He noted also that the traffic mph machine between Everett Poole’s and Beetlebung Café is helpful for speeding.
- Ms. Weidner noted that Ed Greenebaum sent a letter to the BOS during last winter’s Board of Selectmen meetings with suggestions and one of them was to place a stop sign at the corners of the Homeport Restaurant, Basin Road. Chief Cioffi stated this sounded like a good idea and he may support a stop sign entering Menemsha, but not one that is on the way exiting Menemsha due to the need to alleviate congestion.
- Chief Cioffi stated his feeling that Menemsha is “handling itself” to a certain extent and this may be the best way to go since there is not a lot of huge changes that the Town can make to alleviate the problems. And, he continued, the huge changes that would alleviate the problems such as new parking areas and wider roads would change Menemsha into a place that is not Menemsha anymore. Small changes that address key and acute issues may be the best way to proceed, he further stated.
- Chief Cioffi stated that this year the Meet the Fleet organizers have arranged to have offsite parking at the Captain Flanders house for that evening. He mentioned this as an example of how the problems that present themselves in Menemsha often find solution.
- Discussion occurred regarding the effect of signage.
- Ms. Armstrong mentioned her concern with the noise that comes out of the inns and how it affects Menemsha. She also suggested the subcommittee speak with Seth Karlinsky who does the comfort station and garbage work in Menemsha. During the discussion, it was noted that, after sunset, those who park off-site may have a long wait for buses to take them back to the transfer station off-site parking area.
- Menemsha Master Plan Planning, MV Fishing Preservation Trust:
- Subcommittee members reviewed the draft minutes from the joint meeting with the MVFPT.
- Discussion occurred regarding the discussion at the MVFPT meeting about the outlook for commercial fishing.
- Mr. Eisner inquired what constitutes the fleet in Menemsha and the members tried to identify the numbers of fisherman operating out of Menemsha and Mr. Eisner further inquired what the differences are in numbers of fisherman from fifteen years ago.
- Ms. Armstrong stated she would support regulation of the refrigerator trucks and the outside machinery and more sound-proofing. She mentioned that the zoning bylaws restrict the noise for swimming pools and the same could be done to lessen the noise for fish market machinery and vehicles.
- Ms. Weidner stated the minutes of meetings with groups and the subcommittee’s minutes where the subcommittee discusses the meetings with other entities should be placed on the website in a designated space for the Menemsha Master Planning. Ms. Christy was asked to please ask the MVFPT if the subcommittee may place the MVFPT’s handout on the website along with the approved minutes. The draft minutes of the meeting with the MVFPT were reviewed and approved with changes.
- Discussion occurred regarding the next steps and meetings with Boards and Committees and/or the department heads.
- Minutes of May 23, 2016 were reviewed. Mr. Cook made a motion to approve the minutes as written. Mr. Eisner seconded the motion. All ayes.
- Meeting adjourned at 4:25PM.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Jennifer L. Christy
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