3.20.2024 Traffic Board

start the meeting uh first off pursuant open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible start off with a roll call Stephanie MacArthur recording

secretary Natalie melow John will Point s okay get right into uh motion to approve uh last month's minutes on February 21st 2024 second secondos I know I like to do my first what you put well you might forget you need to see President like that okay um we're going to start off with uh citizen input is there anybody here that is not on the current agenda that wishes to address the

board so if you haven't received the letter if you didn't write anything to us and got a letter saying that the meeting is today that would be for you okay moving on first thing on the agenda is curve cut we have 64 division streets uh engineer department has found no issues motion to accept Mo second by Helen any opposed none carries all right 26 29 South Main Street anyone here for from 2629 South M this would

be New Leaf what's your address what's your address Broadway South Main South Main New Leaf none going once twice table that one motion on the table you have a motion to table this motion table Natalie second on opposed table that till next month 340 Rochester hello uh you can come down if you're going to want to address us uh just want to give us a second we're going to go over the letter that you had um

submitted would you like to speak sure I'll just sort of repeat what's in the letter uh my name is Clement Brown this is my wife Helen we live at 340 Rochester which is a couple blocks north of uh of Nicholl Street uh in the vicinity of dery high uh we just wanted to bring to public officials attention what we think is a potentially dangerous situation in front of dery High School uh we drive there

every day we walk there pretty much every day uh and we've noticed two things one is that students are crossing that street all the time not just when school starts and when it ends but in the day so I guess seniors get release or something I'm not sure but they go over to Dunkin Donuts and so forth the other thing uh We've know and and as with most young people they're usually

looking at their phones and not where they're going uh pretty much 50 plus perc of the time the other thing we notice is that at certain times s traffic going North on Ellsbury is going very fast uh and it's usually like 10 minutes of the hour before a class starts at BCC I I have to tell you I wasn't aware that it was a 20 mph speed limit and there many times I've gone from Duncan

Donuts or CVS North to our house and I've been traveling 30 and people Zoom pass me and it's almost always at that time when BCC you know is a class and I understand and people work at they go to BCC people have families and they they get late uh so it's those two things together that concern us now I know there are traffic signs there there's a 20 mph sign in front

of the bagel place New York Bago uh looks kind of new and then there's a 30 m hour sign before you get to BCC I frankly I hadn't seen the 20 mph sign I don't know if it's been there all along but coming the other way coming south from Valentine there's a 30 mph sign right after you come around the corner on delbury and then there's a 20 M hour sign after you've gone by the

school you know if somebody didn't know it they they wouldn't see the 20 mph until they'd already gone past the school and past the entrance to the Fieldhouse uh so basically that's our concern um I know enforcement is tough I know in the past they have had Patrol vehicle out there and pulled people over I've been pulled over uh myself uh but that was about 15 years ago uh we did see somebody out there monitoring

traffic last week early last week in front of where BCC is last week was the break spring break for BCC so I doubt they really saw any of what we're talking about that's basically it I don't know if you want to add anything Helen I'm just afraid some kids going to get run over I really am they just kind of wander out and you know their kids and people drive really fast in in that area

and I just would like to see a sign that I mean we have a crossing sign at the crosswalk that flashes and I think that if there was a speed limit 20 mes an hour somewhere near that it would attract the attention and um I know that Portsmouth and um Middletown have these limits and school areas and people really slow down it's really adhered to I don't know why I don't see police monitoring it but

when you hit that area that says 20 M hour school zone bang the traffic slows right down until they get to end of school zone and then the traffic picks up again and I just don't think there's any reason we shouldn't have the same uh safety consideration for these kids in our neighborhoods sure so that's we'd like to see a sign is it visible is it maybe we need to make it more visible

with these I I can speak on this for for a if you allow me I'm uh the Traffic Unit Commander okay so this actually falls into my wheelhouse my guys are assigned strictly to traffic enforcement okay couple of things I first of all appreciate your concern and I'm 100% in agreement with you okay but uh a couple things we got to talk about one like you said there's a 20 M hour sign that you

yourself had sat here and said that you didn't even notice you have no idea how long it has been well that's cuz I'm usually coming out of CVS or I completely understand I just want to bring up something you just a small thing right if you if you follow me here signs are placed and a lot of times people just aren't noticing and not to say that they're not looking for the

sign but they're looking for the major issue that might pop up is there someone on the curb that's Crossing is there car stopping in front of them these are the the immediate threats if you will where I'm not going to be looking off to the side of the road at a at a 12 x 12 sign so signage is important you're never going to hear me say it's not but it's

certainly not the end all be all okay you said that there's also a flashing sign for the crosswalk it's literally a flashing sign I can't make it any more noticeable other than putting a a horn as every car drives by and that itself doesn't slow people down so the request of saying oh maybe if we put a sign next to the flashing sign they might slow down for that one you

know what I'm saying and again these are all 100% true real concerns and it's just an enigma that I think every municipality has to deal with when it comes to um school zones and enforcement it is like everyone knows red uh red traffic light means stop it's it's always been the same thing school zone it's 20 miles an hour that has never changed everyone knows that um we can put the signs to kingdom come every

every five feet the sign itself aren't going to make people slow down there's are there are options we have you got to understand as much as we all here would want to do it anything we do do is going to cost a a price right um what is successful in a lot of these areas are the speed tables or speed humps but what happens almost all the time these are

put in place is people that live in that area now hate the idea because they're having to go over a speed hump and it's wear and tear on their vehicles um the camera issue that I read in your letter that is a great tool that is a huge expense to the city because not only is it just the installing it's the upkeep it's the um service for them because anything being recorded has to be stored

somewhere uh if it was was a blank check I'd endorse this right now um can we do something as far as putting up some other additional signage in front of dery going Southbound to grab the attention instead like you said it's after yeah I think that's something that could be done absolutely um and hopefully that curtails it even if it's 2% you know what I mean we have to do

something to get ahead of the problem I just I need you guys to understand like no matter how we approach it I person personally have yet to be able to find that that magical way of of overnight fixing the problem and so I can tell you my my officers are over there um several times a week during different times and uh they are doing enforcement whether there is a written warning a verbal warning or a monetary

fine um but it's every school zone in the city and then the regular main intersections you know what I mean so you might not be seeing them but I can tell you whole hearted I promise you they are out there so it isn't that they haven't been out there in the last 15 years anything else well I I I did a me a couple because I wasn't aware of the

20 M hour I should have been but uh and I've been doing 30 as they go by as people pass me you know they go in that leftand lane which you're only supposed to be into 20 yeah they think it's the highs speed Highway Lane I get it uh but I'll I'll do 20 don't worry but you see it's just something real simple like that's actually the way the law is if it's school zone it's 20

mph but people just get complacent you know what I mean and and it's one of those things I've had the occasion someone has come in theyve made a complaint you're right this is an immediate threat we need to get out there and start enforcing it my guys were out there enforcing it and it just so happened that the person who made the complaint was getting bagged and getting a monetary fine for doing what it is

they a complain they're like oh you know what there's no problem here we're actually all set that's fair game I mean you know it it does have an effect two things on the signs I think coming south it is a good idea to have one the nearest one is the 30 mph up near Valentine's street so it's a lot there's nothing if you've never been coming south but going north you're coming

around that corner and I told you I never saw it the one in front of New England Bagel it' be nice to move that one up because as you come around that corner if if you're a local you're looking at people popping out of the CVS parking lot and popping out of Duncan you're not looking for a sign until you're further up the street so I'm not sure that one does anything it might be

good to just take that one down and put it 100 feet up the the street or something I think those are definitely things we can do within our wheelhouse is there anything else you'd like to add no that's about it appreciate your time thank you very much for coming yeah we just wanted to bring it to your attention it's the cell phones I mean I get it I get it I mean the drivers are

bad enough but the pedestrians are just looking at 100% thank you thank you motion to okay uh we'll go actually let's just get it now I assume you gentleman to hear from Lea yes sir okay do you want to come down and adjust the uh board this is 26 29 South Main Street yes sir lift it off the table lift it off the table table oh uh motion to lift

this off of the table from last month since they've come in and we can take care of this now motion second second all right not opposed all right we'll doal with this now 2629 South Main Street everyone takes a minute to review the packet gentlemen I have anything to say regarding what your request this year um we submitted some correspondents to you I'm assuming we had time to review just any feedback or okay all

right so from my understanding looking at your proposal here and the photograph we have attached you do have customer parking behind the building correct correct sir and you're looking for additional parking along last last and South Main being uh signage for time limit cor restriction right well I can tell you this based on a lot of requests that come in through us either it's a handicap um

time zone loading zone anything like that that's going to require any kind of change in traffic pattern or parking uh there's certain criteria that has to be met that being said there's also specific disqualifiers that can be you know navigated through you know extreme circumstances looking at this the way it is right now and I'll I'll by all means give you guys has a chance to uh State

your case here your business you do have off street parking this is um a commercial but also residential area you know the city of Fall River parking spaces are uh hot commodity absolutely you know what I mean um to say that from 8 to 11 I believe you're requesting that that would be strictly 20 minute parking wouldn't fall within the parameters nine times out of 10 the uh time limit parking for a business

certainly we want you to have your business you know I mean want them parking there that's usually reserved for a business that has no parking or like a one or two spaces in front of uh Inland in front of their business so just to voice some of our concerns there there are periods throughout the week that we see higher volumes of traffic and through an abundance of caution we were just seeking this just to provide

more accommodations for parking and help fi any concerns from the local neighbors and just you know Peter so from the beginning right like one of one of our commitments like unspoken we we uh we're looking to always make sure that nobody's really parking in front of the neighbor's house we have all our employees like parked down the street around the corner uh and it was basically we put some sandwich signs

like the A-frame signs just 15 minute part it was just more during busy hours it's just so that um just so that customers would know to park it was kind of like more training them to know that that parking is available for them not just the back parking cuz some sometimes the parking lot gets a little crazy so they they see a sign they be like oh I could park right in front of the

building I could turn around I can park right here it was more that was mostly the reason why we did it was war of trading but then obviously you know some some uh L neighbors voiced their opinion they said hey we don't like this they're trying to take control and it wasn't that by any means we're good with our neighbors our neighbors park in front uh like in front of our we don't care it

was just to kind of train the customers that are coming in um every day to kind of let them know that hey you can park here on the street cuz they were all like the parking lot was sometimes getting congested and they was parking on the front of the building a photo of your your a frames and I applaud you for thinking outside the box and and you know trying it um it's one of those

things obviously we can't post any nobody can post any kind of signage on the public side wall unless it's blessed off by the U City Hall um and I I don't know how long you had been doing it and I'm sure it worked what you needed for while it was out there forun it was one of those things unless someone complains it's not an issue got it someone obviously brought

it to the attention and I believe the our department had to reach out to you guys and say you can't be doing that anymore um what if we do it for like an hour a day listen I want every business to have the free flow of of their customers you know the entire length that you're open okay I I completely truly understand that and I want that for every every small business the problem that we do

have here is one it's already been an issue someone has complained which sparked the hey we can't be pointed out there anymore two you do have some semblance of off street parking I do not honestly myself see an circumstance on why you guys would have to take a section of public parking along the public way just for the mere fact of of busy hours I can appreciate I hope you understand that truly TR yeah it's not

it's just you know the the our over res comes through comes through first okay so that's what I have to say um does any other board member have anything any questions for these ch um no how many places do you have in the back we have a total of including handicap eight eight parking spots we had two in the back like we we opened up it was for employee parking but things get a little

busy so we put this we took the eight frames right that we had we had a couple extra ones so we use them in the back now so customers parked there and um that work for you it helps it it does help it once again like Fridays we're doing close to like 800 people w if you want to say anything you know so we're just preparing and staying ahead of any any more issues with the

neighbors because we're really good with the neighbors we want to maintain that uh it was just more sort of mitigate traffic jams that was the sole reason trying to get them to comply yeah yeah just we're we're good with all our neighbors right I mean it's like we've been there for a little bit over a year and really no issues whatsoever you know if there's an issue hopefully it stays

that way yeah that's I would hate to to tell you this but uh I would almost guarantee if I if I boxed off that corner 8 to 11 might not have such a great relationship with your neighbors after but I mean that that's just speculation um real quick you guys have anything else to add no no that's it okay um do anybody have a motion for this board regarding this

request well because of what you said I say motion to deny that's fine it is what it is yeah there no like we we're just looking to make sure that like we can keep the neighbors happy where they're not taking their parking spots like full full stop the neighbors across the street like literally believe they own all those parking spots and we're trying to accommodate to our to the best of our

ability and you tried we we we respect everybody mean if you can come up with another um thinking outside the box type of idea shoot shot and if we can we can come to an agreement on that one maybe that would be something else but yeah uh we have a motion to deny is there a second second to deny the opposed okay gentlemen unfortunately at this time based on how I explained it

we're not going to be able to accommodate that time Department that's right we appreciate your time thank you for trying

appreciate 2915 North Main Street 2915 North M motion of table Motion in favor second second oppos fav uh modern furniture hello you want me to come up or uh if you there's something you're going to want to address feel free to come down if not you can sit right there I can address from here hearing is fine okay I own a Ware that Jefferson Street cber Street and grenell Street on the G

grenell side we have three loading doors that require space for the large trailers that deliver furniture and uh what I'm asking or requesting for someone to review our areas I get some no parking signs um that um our proper uh unfortunately often times cars are parked alongside the building on our property and these large trailers cannot back up into our loading doors so just so I understand correctly

you're only looking for a section of the curb break where your loading zone would be so that there no curbing uh along the width of our property if someone were to go there they would say there's no curving no it's all there isn't I pass there every day they used to used to have a truck that used to park there that sold Seafood right no that's on um Gren Street Street

Opp it's probably just all cut there's probably no curving to it if you come if you come look building wmart is is on the right Jefferson is in Fr street is on the left when when you bu curbing which side is your loading do uh well if you're facing the building would be on the left which is grenell Street okay the length of our property along grenell Street has no curbing it's all

open flat yeah continuous with the road but cars talk on that site and these live trucks you know are unable to back in oh that camera where are you requesting the signage on Cambridge what where would you be requesting the signage on Cambridge or grenell Gren Street okay that's where the loading do are yeah see it's all yeah yeah I mean it's there right understandable it's all car it's all

open understandable I have no issues or see no concerns with this reest does anybody have any questions no no issues is there a motion on the table motion second to accept to accept seconded any opposed we agree with you sir there will be uh no parking between signs posted along that section of Gren there's no signs at all yeah we we'll be putting some signs up there would someone come

to look yeah oh yeah you'll have that out there within the next 12 weeks or yep yeah 12 weeks it should take about 12 weeks prior to all that but yeah they they'll be going out sooner to do the measurements so you'll see them out there sooner to do those measurements thank you you're welcome thank you for your

attention Okay this is table from last month 194 June Street 194 June Street this is the second time uh there's been a no show motion to uh deny to deny Deni seconded none all right 928 Broadway hello you can sit right there

no access to the driveway correct no no no no you have no access to the driveway no you have a motion on this motion to accept second second any opposed see none your handicap space has been approved sir okay same deal 12 weeks and you'll have one in front of the the residents okay okay thank you you're welcome thank you a good 1471 hello

this on the corner of Foster Street I live on the corner of war and Foster my side of the street has noing so have to be across the street on war however my actual entrance is on Street have the sign put on Foster Street right outside of my gate there there's a little driveway there you can't park there and if I did pop there I'd still have to walk around completely around

the house so and I don't really have access to the driveway so that I actually took a picture if you want to see it we got a picture does anyone have any questions motion it's tough I love on for street so I know it's tough motion to approve second second any opposed none your uh handicap space has been approved as well just so you know it'll be posted towards the front of the entrance of the

property do youan where your front door not where the backside of where the uh there is no there's no access there there's no paring on that side of the on which side now on street so I would have to literally cross the street and walk down cross the street well can't you park have it on a corner of forer Street and there's Warren there's Warren and you're here you could have it on fer

Street my entrance so I didn't have to walk that much further where is your entrance is it okay my yeah yeah please come down so this is what I'm looking at here this is the front of my house yeah so you would have to put it here correct there's my truck way over here yep so where do you enter this is the gate that's where my truck is and that's on

Foster so this is Foster that's Foster this is one and this is the entrance to your you are on Foster back here where that gate is this is on Foster yeah if you went further I would be like Clos to the Cor and St remember I'm wrong they always try to put it CL it be Clos to the entrance correct so where this would be is where your signage would be okay so

not technically in the front down here where your it would be where the entrance is the property okay make entry okay okay yep all right thank you wel and that's just 259 Harrison hello not at

all already oh then you don't get to boy we we'll get into that in one

your your license says Fon Street M so which one is one on the back okay has okay this is the okay um well there reviewing your packet I can talk real briefly about the way handicap signs work okay uh nobody owns a handicap spot I don't like for instance uh you're here today petitioning for one in front of your address if it does get approved it does not belong to you anybody with a

handicap pler can go there and park there and they're absolutely fine to do so so that is something your neighbors also has to be educated about everyone seems to think that yeah that's just one of those things things a lot of people are under that misconception but if you were to park there you are well within your AG that being said even up in my face I that's unfortunate don't touch me if you

touch meble is there a motion on the table motion to approve approve second second oppos see none approved thank you very much you are welcome very much no I got to see where I can talk when I get home

560 Williams Street 560 William Street once twice oh motion table motion to table second any opposed none 560 is table 261 Whipple hello

people yeah so there's the here

um do you have access to the driveway you don't mind to not at all she does have a driveway but the driveway is not safe for her it's like not finished driveway it's like rocks and already she tried to park there and she told twice surgy her back is she the property owner no um her husband is her H her husband and her mother-in-law was the owners they are the owners for the property is is is

this a single family no it's a multif family yes and her husband owns the property yes drive it's not a driveway it's a driveway say a driver card it's rock it go back to theard the backyard oh that's I would have to yeah I'd have to disagree we have a curb cut we have a vehicle parked in the driveway um just the fact that it is not PID we or concrete or black top that

that's not what constitutes the driveway okay um it can be grass it can be gravel it can be dirt it can be whatever you as the homeowner choose to have it as a driveway looking at this residence I would have to certainly say there is a driveway to the residence okay um

someone parks there now correct second floor so people do Park they use it as a drive right that's what I'm trying to get okay so issue at hand like uh you might have heard me explain before anytime we have a request like this there's certain things that we need to check off certain things that if they are there we can't it has to do with what we want okay if

you have a home and you have access to off street parking which in this case she does because she has utilized it uh we can't take public parking from the street and box that out to you because you already have access to off street

parking so she say it is handicap parkings and the same street next to her so she can park she does have the handicap oh yeah like you heard me explain before if there's a handicap space on that street and you have your placard up you could park there all day long people when they can they can complain till they're blue in the face they will be met with the utmost empathy

but the fact of the matter is your car will not have to move you are perfectly fine parking there there is no such thing as an owned handicap SP parking space on a public way okay so before you leave um motion on the table motion to deny deny second second any opposed see none based on the reasons that I explained to you when I can be able to approve a handicap

parking space on the public L okay okay thank you so much and finally 371 Pine okay 79 oh yeah this one that's no

I

get

back

all right M Robinson your house is set back um at the end of the driveway yeah single family yeah that's a three family yeah that little house set way in the back there that's a three family is it really what does it go deep in the

ground the house at the end of the driveway that little red house that's a three family driveway yeah who does that that driveway access to get to your house who does that driveway belong to but the one on the first floor on one side she has ACC the Andy upstairs I I need I'm I just want to make sure I'm talking about the right property because this looks like a large

shed this house right here that's your house that's so rock Street has met she can park blackard and on Pine Street there's no paring on the South Side so we'd have to put it across the street on Pine it would be such a long so who utilizes the driveway soig who utilizes that driveway the L said that the on living there now has access two c po you live there now people so only the

right apartment and the second floor problem the one on the top floor has exit driveway and the woman on the other side has to that drive so she does not have access to the driveway she just moved in a year and a half ago and he said if somebody moves out then access going to work okay so the landlord said the two senior people get the the parking you're the junior

tenants so okay so they're not tenants she can't use the Rock Street entrance that's what that's what she's saying she can't use the Rock Street or the Pine Street trying to get yeah you're you're yeah so where do you park right now I park wherever I can and then I wait across the street they have people saving pocking SPS over there they take like twoing places so you can't the so right now you park

along Pine Street and you'll walk all the way down and down that long driveway yeah that's what you do now corner you know you can park at a meter with your plard correct yeah you can park there and with your handicap plard as long as it's displayed yeah do you do that on Rock Street Rock Street Rock Street would be too far all the way down no right at the

corner I'm so confused I don't think she knows that there's a rock Street I don't think she understands so that's the Rock Street entrance right back there yeah yeah this would be Pine and that's a driveway yes the same and then this is Pine Street so the house is set right here so so parking there's no parking on this side of pine on the South Side so it have to be on the North

side what you can do park anywhere here for free right because there's a meter there right so why don't you park just in front of your house huh there's a meter there she can park in front of she can park AE no matter she's going to have par on the opposite side of all walk that's a walk she doesn't I she realiz she can park at the meter spot that's what I'm

saying yeah I think but we might I know I know where it is it's across street house but it is a long driveway you think some I don't think she off to let it Park in the yard all right so it would appear without having these measurements in front of me that if you were to park on Rock Street where she could park at the meter spots for free the driveway

has a slight grade and it's a x amount of feet shot from Rock Street to her residence they're stating that from the Pine Street side it is a shorter distance and a straight shot even parking on the opposite side of Pine Street walking across Pine down the driveway right to the residence that's where the uh handicap would end up going anyways CU that would be the most direct spot to the residents and as of right

now she does not have access to the driveway there are two inlets but it would appear that one has one Inlet the other resident has the other so Stephan you're saying that they can go out that section that will bring if it's not blocked that will bring you out to rock y but if both tenants are parked in this pattern this one would have to back out onto Pine this one would have to back

out onto Rock so maybe the ATL can make inconvenient for her where they don't do that where she can go out onto Rock maybe but because it be EAS the fact of the matter is the landlord has not approved her off street parking so that's why we're do you know what I mean we don't go into having a landlord make accommodations of course did he did he tell you did he tell you that one of the

ten she's able to she's the next one in line that'll be helpful for her and there's no there was not a lot of traffic over there yeah compared to that yeah no I get it I get it it it makes sense you know I had to get some so after reviewing this um I understand what what they're saying and it does make sense currently she does not have access to this off street

parking only two residents out of the three do um it would make sense it appears that Pine Street would be the more accessible route for her and that's where the sign would go so any questions from the board no there a motion on motion to approve second second any oppos seeing none all set you will have one in the next 12 weeks along Pine Street okay absolutely good day all right and real quick I'm going

to over the resed handicap spots we have Prospect Street Cory Street Birch Holden and Lebanon motion to approve motion to approve seconded by John any opposed none sended pass time there's nothing else we go ahead and adjourn this meeting thank you