The Internal Traffic Committee met in the Selectman’s Hearing Room, Town Hall at 78 Main Street, Hudson, Massachusetts. At 10:00 the Committee called the meeting to order.
Present: Chief John Blood, Chief Richard Braga, Tony Marques, Jeff Wood, and Jennifer Burke
Traffic Issues
School Street
Present: Barbara & Doug Fuller, owners of 42 Washington Street
Mr. & Mrs. Fuller explained to the Committee that they were having a hard time keeping businesses as tenants because there was no parking allowed on either side of school street. They are asking for 2 hour parking to be designated for the specific business at 42 Washington Street.
Chief Braga stated that his first concern would be that fire apparatus needs to negotiate the turn from Washington Street onto School Street. He also noted that the Town is not in the role of providing public parking spaces to any specific businesses. He asked if the Fullers had approached owners of other private lots about sharing parking. Ms. Fuller indicated that they had spoken with the owner of the Santa Barbara lot and reached an agreement. However, his lot is now chained off and he is not reachable. The owners of the Harvest Café were not amenable to any sharing.
Mr. Marques stated that he would mostly defer to the Fire and Police chiefs but not that a previous regulation allowed for one hour parking 15 feet from the intersection. He stated that if the Committee makes a change no parking should be allowed a minimum of 20 feet from the intersection.
Chief Blood said that 20 feet would still not be enough for his vehicles to make the turn without pushing cars into Washington Street. He noted that due to the closure of the Houghton Street Bridge this was his only access to certain areas.
Members of the Committee will meet at the site to determine if any parking would be possible from a safety point of view.
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