The Selectmen invite all interested residents and stakeholders to join them for a Visioning Session to plan Menemsha’s Traffic, Parking and Pedestrian uses. We are focusing on the areas from the end of North Road at Boathouse Road up to Basin Road and on to the bathing beach.
This will be an opportunity for you to share your thoughts about traffic flow, parking, and pedestrian access. Everyone is welcome to participate. All the ideas will be recorded and made part of the planning process. No decisions will be made at this session.
Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Hall, 6:30 PM Tuesday January 12, 2016.
Some topics:
The Selectmen installed a 400 foot wooden boardwalk from the beach to the comfort station last summer, should it be extended?
Anonymous donors have offered to pay for a sidewalk around the corner between the Beetlebung Café and Crick Hill Road.
The Selectmen are discussing creating a turnaround so that the VTA buses don’t clog the circle by the beach.
Others have suggested improvements to the existing parking.
Come review the survey work and give your thoughts
November 9th 2015 Special Town Meeting Article 4. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate from available funds in the treasury the sum of $10,000.00 to develop a traffic and parking plan for vehicles and pedestrians in Menemsha, including costs incidental and relative thereto.
Recommended by the Finance Advisory Committee – six Ayes, no nays, one not present
Menemsha is crowded during the summer, most especially during the hours leading up to sunset. To address this, the town hired two traffic officers and a police officer for Menemsha during the busy afternoons into evening. The town also posted extensive parking and tow zone regulations. Recently the Town Meeting funded a sunset bus that shuttles people from the Tabor House Road parking lot to Menemsha every day and evening in July and August. This year the shuttle helped remove between 20 and 75 cars each sunny evening from Menemsha. It is also beginning to be used during the day by people seeking easier parking for the harbor.
Anonymous donors have offered to help pay for the engineering and installation of a side walk around the corner from Crick Hill Road to the Beetlebung Coffee House. This should be evaluated within the context of a plan for the Menemsha area and not as a stand-alone concept.
It is time for a comprehensive plan to address traffic, parking, buses, and pedestrian access to Menemsha. This is both a public convenience and public safety matter.
| 
