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September 21, 2009
Salem state college neighborhood
advisory committee
September 21, 2009 – Minutes


Attendees:      Beth Bower, Jack Hoar, Marcia Lambert, Joseph O’Keefe, James Rose, Andrew Soll, Jason Silva, and John Walsh

Absent:         Fran Carson, Robert McCarthy, and Matt Veno

Other:  David Coleman, Stephanie & Michael Eugenio, Connie Fredericks, Leif Lamoray, Shawn Newton, and Herb Van Dam

NEW RESIDENCE HALL UPDATES
  • Construction Update (provided by Leif Lamoray, Leftfield Inc. Project Manager):
  • Construction is on schedule to open in August of 2010
  • Trades
  • 60 tradesmen will be on campus each day. Parking for trade workers is located off Canal Street.
  • Masonry will be complete by mid-November.
  • PV Panels
  • Installation of the photovoltaic panels on the existing residence hall is complete.
  • The panels are now waiting to be commissioned by National Grid.
  • The PV panels should reduce 2 to 3% of the annual energy consumption of the facility and will be used as a teaching tool.
  • Outtakes
  • The college shared a fact sheet on this Chartwells food service program (attached).
  • The goods sold in this facility will focus on resident students and will include things like microwave food, snacks and beverages.
  • Sales tax will be collected on sales as required by law.
  • Students will be able to use their clipper cards here. Jason Silva is interested in expanding the clipper card usage to businesses downtown. Andy Soll will look into possible expansion.
CENTRAL CAMPUS RESIDENCE HALL LANDSCAPE
  • Salem State and the Massachusetts State College Building Authority received all necessary approvals for the tree plantings between the Salem Bike Path and the existing Central Campus Residence Hall.
  • Walsh Brothers Inc. (WBI) will install 20 trees starting Monday, September 28. The work is expected to take 3 to 5 days, weather permitting.
  • To maintain public safety during the work, WBI will temporarily close a portion of the bike path for the duration of the work and reroute bike path users through Central Campus on the college’s paved paths. They will install temporary chain-link fencing around the work site, and a Salem State police detail will be stationed at each end of the detour to direct users to the campus path during construction hours. Signage will also be present at each end to denote the detour during off hours.
  • The college will post this information and the bike path plant schedule (attached) on the Community Connections website and will email it to their neighborhood list.
  • Mr. Coleman was interested in the addition of berms to the plan to raise the height of the trees to block more of the building. The college noted that berms were not an option given the space available for the plantings. Jason Silva added that the berms would lead to fire access concerns as well.
RAYMOND ROAD/LORING AVENUE CROSSWALK
  • Jason Silva described an issue brought to the college and the City regarding pedestrian safety and vehicular traffic at this intersection. City officials met with representatives from the Salem Police Department and the college at the intersection to discuss these issues.
  • It was determined at this meeting that the hedges at 67 Loring were in violation of the city ordinance which states that at a street corner, hedges must be at least 10 feet from the corner and under 3 feet tall. The City has sent the property owner a letter regarding this matter.
  • Marcia Lambert requested that the crosswalk paint be checked and requested that it be crosshatched.
  • Mr. Coleman questioned the weight limit for trucks traveling down Raymond Road. Jason Silva reported that the City is working with a group on traffic calming methods following the Lafayette Street model.  This is an area that potentially could be looked at in this manner in the future.
HVAC SYSTEM AT BUILDING 1
  • The noise coming from the HVAC units behind building 1 on Central Campus are coming from 2 sources: the cooling tower and the DX data unit.
  • The cooling tower will be shut down for the winter in the near future. An occupational testing lab will perform noise testing in a few weeks to determine noise levels.
  • The DX data unit will be moving by spring 2010 to the former Weir Valve property. In the meantime, the unit will be surrounded by a 6 foot screen to soften the noise. The fence should be put in place in the next 10 days.
  • Mr. Eugenio questioned the building codes. He contacted David Greenbaum from the City’s Board of Health to look into the matter.
  • Reports of noise testing will be shared at the next meeting if the report from the lab is complete by that time. The college will do what is necessary to remediate if noise levels exceed local or state regulations.
MONROE ROAD ARBORVITAES
  • A neighbor concern about volunteer trees growing between the arborvitaes on Monroe Road was reported to Beth Bower prior to the meeting. The college has cleared out the volunteer trees in question.
LAFAYETTE STREET SERVICE ZONE
  • An ordinance to designate the space in front of 356 Lafayette Street as a service zone Monday through Friday from 7 am to 5 pm, and an ordinance moving handicapped spaces from this section further down Lafayette Street were approved by the City Council and Mayor Driscoll at the beginning of September (ordinances are attached).
  • The new parking ordinances will be enforced as soon as the City completes installation of signs and curb painting.
  • A map denoting the ordinance changes was distributed at the meeting (attached).
NEW BUSINESS
  • The college introduced Shawn Newton from Student Life. Mr. Newton will be handling student judicial concerns on campus.
  • The process of addressing concerns with off-campus students was discussed. When there is an off campus concern regarding one of our students, Salem Police notifies Student Life and forwards them a copy of the police log regarding the matter. Following receipt of the log, Student Life contacts the parties involved to schedule a meeting regarding their conduct and the consequences that can occur from such incidents.
  • Concerns about 8 Charles Street were discussed. 
  • Marcia Lambert noted a neighbor concern with a house on Wisteria Street.
  • It was noted that in some instances college students are not involved in situations that are reported to the police, in which case the college can play no role.
MEETING SCHEDULE
  • The SSCNAC meeting time has been changed to 6:00 p.m. The next meeting of the SSCNAC will take place on Monday, October 19 at 6:00 p.m. in the Enterprise Center Training Room B located on Central Campus at 121 Loring Avenue.