4.15.2026 Traffic Board

15 April traffic commission meeting.

Pursuit to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or they may transmit the meeting to any medium.

Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings and transmissions are being made whether perceived or unpersceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible.

Is there Can I get a roll call?

Stephanie MacArthur, director of traffic and parking.

Natalie Melo, Helen Reggo, William Sutton, interim director, DCM, John Le Point, Thomas Ferris, for police. Anyone here for citizen input?

Something that is not on the agenda.

Yeah, so these are the three individuals who signed up.

Tom James, come on down.

How you doing, sir?

Good. How are you?

Very good.

I just can't state your name in the office.

Tom James, owner of South Coast Funeral Homes and resident in the Flint. So, they have taken parking away on the side of Everett Street, which has been a concern for us as not just as the business, but also the folks that respond at night when there's an unattended passing for the city of Fall River, the medical examiners, and you know, cars do have a habit of parking in front of the garage, the up to the curb

cuts. I don't know the regulations on that cuz I'm not a city worker, but we can't turn the herses out, get the transfer vehicles out, the equipment, etc. And um we noticed the city did put the no parking signs that has been very helpful. Um obviously Ever Street on that corner has a high drug area issue with people buying and selling dealing from there and with having the vehicles not parking there. It's definitely

helped get rid of some of the vagrants that have been doing that and making it more visible for when the police drive by and public safety. Sure. So, it's certainly been helpful and just like I say, thank you that you guys are doing that. It's definitely helping us and um cutting down on the amount of times we have to call the police for people outside dealing and wheeling.

Okay.

All right. That's a that's a tough intersection. Uh you can't block a driveway in your own in the city, right?

Violation. If you can't get out, go ahead and call us if there's any issues of that.

Yeah. Um, you know, and they've Stephanie MacArthur and the department's been great about helping us anytime that does happen. You know, it is a bus stop right there for the kids. It is a tough spot right there when the cars parked right up to the corner. You know, 2 3 years ago when I took the business, I admit we made the same mistakes by parking the hearse and everything super up close.

But, you know, learning and addressing it as we go has been great and keeping them further back. But, definitely a hight traffic spot with the kids walking there, cars coming out, and you know, we just really appreciate the city helping with that.

Do you have signs on your garage that say no?

Yeah. No parking, no blocking, you know, the usual stuff. It's just tough in the middle of the night to, you know, when we can't get out.

Right. Right. Understood.

Yeah.

Maybe a camera there. Keep an eye on.

Yeah. We got all those possibility, but if you see it there, you can call remotely.

Okay.

But yeah, no, we appreciate it. So, thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Gloria.

Hi.

How are you?

I'm good.

Good to see you again. Very good.

Thank you for having me. Yes, ma'am.

I just wanted to piggyback a little bit on what Mr. James, the owner of the South Coast Funeral Home, has stated.

Not only do I come to you before um the city as a resident, but I also work for the city of Fall River, and my job is really one of those new important jobs within the Flint, and that is to assist with the revitalization of businesses and the community. And one of the things that I've noticed, and people just kind of don't even pay attention to me, just the lady that's sitting in her

car. What I'm actually doing is I am troubleshooting where are the problems in the Flint and more specifically where are the problems on Pleasant Street. And what I fast discovered is at the corner of Everett and Pleasant, there seems to be a lot of drug dealing, drug interactions. And even with the restricted parking signs, what I've recorded, and I did print out a few pictures, and I have plenty of video

footage if you'd like me to share that with you. What I've um noticed is there is the constant blocking of the funeral homes garage. There is no place, no way that the hearse at times can move in nor out of its garage.

Oftent times what we're finding is if Mr. James has to request the individual owners of the vehicles, can you please move your vehicle? They become combative and literally try to become violent with him. So I've just asked Mr. James if he could just cease, call the police, whether it be the 911 um phone number or the non-emergency number. Um, I'd also like to let you know that with the photos that I have in

my possession today, it's just a shame that there is a lack of respect for the city. People talk about why isn't the city doing more? Why aren't residents cooperating with the city would be my question. The city has done its best to provide a service to residents, but it seems that the residents are not respectful of what the city has implemented and that is the no parking from here to the corner, which is

reasonable. Initially, I would think they're going to say they need this for parking. But what we find is the Atoal parking lot has plenty of parking for not only its restaurant patrons, but also for its residents that reside in the upper levels. So, I'm just going to end with that. And again, if you would like me to send the video footage to Stephanie or any of you, I can do that.

And I most certainly can share photos.

But the photos that I did print out are just three. And you can see where there are parking restriction signs.

How's the How's the lighting over there, Gloria?

Thank you.

Is it bright enough where they can't?

Well, I want to say that the lighting is okay. But Mr. James would be able to respond to that more perfectly than I.

But what I can say is there's this pattern that has been established. And I'll tell you what it is. Everyone over there seems to know that the meter maids, the traffic and parking enforcement officers leave at 4. And so as I drive up and down before 4, they've learned they'll get a ticket. After 4, it seems to be a mad dash free-for-all. We're going to block him in. We don't care. We're going

to triple park, double park. That's what's happening over there at the moment.

So, most of it is happening at night or during the day?

During the day, it was happening quite frequently until people started to realize that the traffic enforcement are out there consistently. But once they realize 4:00 those traffic enforcement people seem to go away, then they kind of really rev it up and start with the illegal parking.

Thank you.

Thank you.

No, my wife used to live there. I know exactly what she's talking about. So, you're welcome.

I know exactly what she's talking about.

I don't need to see pictures. I lived it.

So, this is something that uh we can certainly have the PCOS keep an eye on.

As far as the police, as we know, we've, you know, multiple calls throughout the day, and it it ends up being a triage of what's what calls are important. Um, and then it just it may fall into a stack of uh or go so far past its time that it was called in that an officer is unable to respond. Um, that's certainly something we could keep an eye on. Uh, I work in the same

division as Sergeant Wajiro in the neat unit and the cast unit and I know that they have been on this. There's no question about it. I know as as soon as um this morning they were on some issues there. So, it's not something that's forgotten with the police department, but but as you say, um the police can only help the city do its thing. We can only help the residents if

they want to help us and uh we all have to work together. That's the only way that we can make the city any better and everyone has to care at least a little bit. So, um it's not forgotten up there.

We're on it. Um and the PCOS will keep a closer eye on that. I'll talk to the um the officers in the motor vehicle unit and see if they can keep an eye on it.

The only issue is is I'll say this, we have over 800 named streets in the city and now more than ever we get calls for um they're landing F-35s on my street and everybody's speeding and everybody's negligent. And so, you know, we do what we can. We try to um get some data analysis from the the traffic trailers if we're able to put those up to even determine if there is an issue. Um we're

waiting on the police department budget to get some more equipment. I don't know if that's going to happen, but if it does, it can certainly help the motor unit uh track some of the um tra um uh vehicles. We can count them. We can determine the speed. We can determine if there's an issue. I don't know if we'll get that piece of equipment or not.

Hopefully, we do. It'll it'll most certainly help us to uh make the city a little bit safer.

All right. I think there's one more here.

S, can I just say one thing?

Yes, ma'am.

If the lighting's poor, maybe maybe that will deter if we have more if it's brighter down that end, maybe it'll deter the people from parking there or doing drug exchange.

I know that Sergeant Majero is on that.

It's definitely a um and it's not just that area, but I know Roger is on that and um I will uh I'll take a I'll take a ride by there on my next first watch.

We'll see how the lighting is and if not, we'll we'll get out there. We'll put we'll try to get as much lighting as we can because uh lighting is certainly a deterrent. It's one of them anyway, I think. So, okay.

Thank you.

Thank you. Welcome.

And then uh an Andrew Noah Andrew Andrew Neyer. Why Andrew Neyer?

Um, you know the Wendy's on Bedford and 13th Street? Yes.

That new intersection that's been put there since day one, the walk signals don't work. Um, I've waited there up to half an hour. No matter how many times I push the button, the walk signals don't go. And no offense, but people who can see, they go through because they can figure out what happens.

For a blind person, that seems like a really bad idea. Um, so I was, it's been going on for more than a month now. I've seen two or three police officers that I've told about that and they told me to come here. So I am I just want the walk signals to work.

I will I will speak with um Chris Haway who can who's a signal person for the city and uh we'll certainly look into that. Sir, a second thing on Pleasant Street where the police station is, I'm sure the answer is probably going to be no, but you know how near the St. Anony's Church, they have that walkway that lights up. It's not like a walkway that you can like that's there, but it's just

so cars know somebody's coming by.

There's the walkway by the police station. I didn't know if there were there was any way to put up a blinking sign or like a pedestrian signal. Yes, there's a couple of those. I'm going to meet with um because that's the only one on that street ways. So, it's like if you say no, I get it. But it would be nice if there was one at that there's already a

crosswalk. So, it would be nice if there was one of those.

I'd like to have them at all major crosswalks. It's just a matter of of uh obtaining the funds to get it done. Um I think those things should be all around the schools, the hospitals, anywhere there where there is high pedestrian traffic area. Um I am for those for those um warning lights. We had a very terrible pedestrian uh accident. Uh and and excuse the word accident, it's not an accident, it's

preventable, but a crash. a young person was injured seriously uh at the top of Plymouth Avenue in Flat Iron Building, Plymouth A and um um Niagara Second Street area. And that's certainly something that we need to look into.

It's um so I I do have the solar ones that I can I can put up temporarily. Um but as far as the permanent obviously the more permanent option like by the rail trail, those are those are good.

Yeah.

I don't know if I don't I mean I don't know. No, those that would have to be through signal division, but I can put up the solar one that's just a constant flashing.

We'll talk to Chris about that and see if we can get it.

Okay, sir. Not on those. Look into it.

Is there anybody else for citizen input?

I have.

Anything else from the board on that?

I think it's a good thing because sometimes, you know, we don't know who needs extra attention if they don't come in front of us. They have so nice.

I hear it beeping all the time when I drive by it. I don't know.

Sometimes they get stuck. Sometimes you got to, you know, like control all delete on it. You go in the box and you just reset it.

Chris is the man.

Yeah. Sometimes that does it. Uh, every once in a while I'll see it. I can I can reset it, but um yeah, Chris Chris would be the guy for it.

Can we get a motion?

uh from the board to accept the minutes from last the March 18th meeting.

Motion looks up by John, second by Bill.

Curb cuts 28 McDonald Street.

The engineering department has reviewed the application for 28 McDonald Street as well as the location. They found no issues and there were no objections to the request for the curb cut per the city engineer. The existing parcel currently has no curb opening or driveway and the applicant proposes to create a 20ft curve opening there. The total opening will be 20 ft.

Motion on the board to accept this.

Motion to accept by John.

Second.

Second by Bill. It's all set. 28 McDonald Street is here. Next one is 900 High Street Investment Trust 40 trustee and that's

the engineer engineering department has reviewed that application as well as the location. and they found no issues with it and there's no objections to that request per the city engineer. The existing parcel is currently serviced by a 14t curb opening and driveway. The applicant proposes to create a new 18 ft curb opening driveway to provide access to additional housing units and parking.

The total opening will be 32 ft. A motion on the board to accept this motion. Second, first by Alli and second by Helen. Okay, that's all set.

Do you have the third one?

The third one is 940 South Main Street and 279 Osborne Street. The engineering department has reviewed that application as well as the location. They found no issues with it. There are no objections to the request for the curb cut for the city engineer.

That existing parcel is currently serviced by a 20.8 foot curb opening and driveway in South Main Street. The applicant proposes to create a new 16t curb opening on Osborne Street to provide access to the parking and the total opening will be 36.8 ft. It's a motion on the board to accept that.

I don't think I have that. No.

No. Take that one.

940. I don't think I have that one. and um self.

Do you have that now?

No, I don't have it.

That's what they said. No issues with the No, there's no Yeah, there were no issues by the uh engineering department or objections to it.

40 something 279. Thank you.

That's fine.

Good.

Motion on the board to accept that motion to accept.

First by Bill, second.

Second by N. All right, that's all set.

Miscellaneous table of requests request the public safety committee for traffic commission to review the audits for commercial vehicles and determine if amendments or additional restrictions can be considered.

Thank you.

Yeah, that was from our committee, right? That's for the ordinance. I ordinance here.

That current ordinance reads that no person shall park a commercial vehicle or trailer having a capacity of two tons or more on any street where parking is permitted for a period of time longer than 1 hour between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 7 a.m. on any day or at any time on Sunday except that such vehicle or trailer may be parked periods in excess of description while actually being loaded and unloaded.

Um, my only concern with this is that there are some pickup trucks that have the capacity of that and if they're listed as commercial and they're driven by somebody who lives in an apartment, what do we do with them?

I mean, I think luckily we haven't had many issues with um people calling on those because I I think common sense takes over that we have the we've had an issue with tow trucks um in larger box type trucks and and that's that's easy to figure out. Um, the only thing I would add with that is I I think I would look into whether or not we want to hold uh personally owned vehicles

listed as a commercial vehicle that are technically pickup trucks. I think some of the 2500s and 3500s have that capacity. Um, should we exclude those would be something that I would think of.

somebody who may own a business and uh it's a pickup truck.

It falls into this.

The language that was also brought to our attention was the one hour time limit because what happens is especially during those hours once an officer arrives if you know they have to wait at least the hour.

Right.

So if they end up on another call, it might not be the same officer that goes back to issue and then you got to start over again.

Correct.

Um not uncommon. In fact, very common because within that hour, guarantee two, three, four, seven, eight, 10 calls are coming in.

Well, they uh they set the watchdog.

They used to tell say like a watch clock and we say set the watch clock watchdog for an hour or 15 minutes and they would do it. So if another officer does go back, they they can at least say yes, he did set the watch clock to indicate that they have been there more than that uh prescribed amount of time. In theory, it's great.

Yeah, I got you.

Dispatch handling 275 plus calls a day with fire, police, and EMS.

Back years ago, this was this was uh 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. That's all it was. I think you might remember that.

Can I speak on that?

Yeah, of course. Absolutely.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Christopher Peekom, city councelor, chair of the public safety committee. Um over the past few months since the inauguration u I've been back and forth with Stephanie regarding commercial vehicles. It has been an issue. Um there's been an uptick in calls, specifically the Kennedy Park, Bradford Avenue, South Main Street area. Um the trucks that are there are a lot of those Penske U-Haul, the large rider trucks.

And at one point I took a ride by there.

I think I had told Stephanie there was about 15 of them all the way around down to Bay Street. Um I had sent Stephanie some pictures because I don't know if there's some loitering all living in these vehicles as well. Um because there's been a lot of trash. I've had to send emails to Darren and Parks because of syringes. Um and just to make sure his guys use caution when they're cleaning up um around those commercial

vehicles. The public safety committee's viewpoint on this is the inability because we the police department we don't have an excessive man we're not and you know we don't have the ability we don't have a lot of manpower. Um so when we do send somebody by to look at the commercial vehicle they'll get pulled for another call and then if a new guy comes like you just said that clock starts over. Um so it's not

rectified. Uh, a lot of the complaints I'm getting are in congested neighborhoods such as the Kennedy Park neighborhood, the south end for commercial vehicles. Um, I as the chair of the public safety committee would have no problem entertaining the idea that you said because I understand that a lot of these commercial vehicles um like the larger trucks, the 2500s and the 3500s people use as personal

vehicles and then they might have larger trucks as their fleet. Um, I would be totally okay on behalf of the committee.

Um, speaking for myself, um, I'm sorry.

Um, as somebody on the committee, I apologize that I'd be okay with that.

Um, I don't know if that's something that's got to be sent back to us for an amendment on the suggestion because I have no problem doing that as well. I have a public safety meeting coming up and I can amend the agenda to include this item.

I would agree if is that something we can include. The other thing is it's what, $25 fine?

Correct.

So, a lot of these people are like, give me the 25 bucks. Um, it's true.

It's uh I would certainly suggest that there needs to be a little more bite on that.

Yep. And that falls within our purview as well. So I can suggest uh that something be set to ordinance to increase the fines um for commercial vehicle parking.

I can certainly say those two things are important.

Yeah, I agree. I agree.

Right.

That's all I got.

Good. Can I question S? How about the box the box trucks? Those white box trucks. Are they allowed to stay especially when they're right on the corner if they um if they fall within a two and a half ton? Yeah, they fall within that ordinance. Um this is a And I mean the other thing too is if they're blocking um you know if they're too close to the corner and again you can you can put a

big bite on that with a decent fine.

Mhm.

Uh not that I'm I'm I'm more for educating people in these days, but unfortunately um people don't learn by don't know don't let me tell you not to do it again.

Um and as these trucks park, a $25 fine is much cheaper than you know.

Yeah.

You know, putting it somewhere else. So So the uh the 15 or so vehicles that I was referring to seems to be a contracting company, okay, that utilizes that area to park his vehicles on a public way. Um, and it takes up a lot of parking.

Maybe we can get a name on that person and have some meaningful dialogue.

We can talk.

Um, one other thing while I'm here, if you don't mind, uh, to answer your question in regards to lighting in the Flint. So, I filed a resolution recently to increase the lighting throughout the city.

Um, because I find that the lighting is not sufficient. Um, the Flint was one of the neighborhoods uh, that is a concern of mine. Stafford Road area being another one and South Main Street. North Main Street's currently getting some improvements. South Main Street is a is a a hot topic topic of mine as well. Um, also I won't say too much on the topic, but in regards to the drug um and crime

activity in the Flynn, we are aware of the situation. There has been conversations made uh had between people within the city and they are aware of it and working on rectification for that as well. So awesome.

I appreciate you guys. Thank you. Yeah.

And does the board have an appetite of possibly removing that language in the ordinance currently for the 1 hour?

I don't know.

I mean, if you if you park a truck on a street and they're doing some work on a on a house, they're going to be there more than an hour.

Y Well, not if we leave the 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., right?

At that point, it would only fall within that, right?

Within that time frame. If we can if we keep the 5:00 pm to 7 a.m. and just remove the one hour, once the officer arrives there between those hours, he can issue that violation.

Yeah, I agree.

Yeah.

I think I think years ago it was refrigeration trucks. That's what we used to deal with. They used to run and nobody wanted that truck at their house because they couldn't sleep. So from 1 to 5 you would get tagged. No other than that. And I think you're seeing a lot more uh private contractors not having enough yard space to park their vehicles. So their workers take them home and they fall in that parameter of

being over the over the wake of it at night.

Yeah. Colia Street also was a problem.

Colombia and Hunter with commercial vehicles.

Now we have construction going on in the city throughout the different areas Colombia and everything. They leave their machines there overnight.

Yeah.

And that's not something we want to tag them for. They can have their machines there first thing in the morning. It's beneficial for them.

So, but I like the after 5:00 p.m.

I agree with that.

What do you I'm sorry.

I'm done. Sorry.

What do you think about striking out that one hour and that way once the officer sees it, done deal. Perfect.

They don't have to go back.

I'm okay with that. That and it's it's more per it's more um it's to the point.

So, if we're doing that, it's to the point simple, right? And then if there's another call, you go to your call.

Yep. I agree.

I agree. I agree. entirely.

You going to talk about increasing the fine for that?

Yes. So, I will bring it to council reposal's attention who's on the public safety committee. Um, and he chairs ordinance. So, I'm going to see what needs to be done to discuss it.

What is the what usually happens? Is the fine doubled or is it just I don't know. So, that would be that would be the appetite of that committee to discuss and uh I guess they'll weigh whatever options they need to to come up with the monetary fee.

Yeah, we have I know the last time I was on the council not to get into it, but we did increase some fines um and not fines, I'm sorry, fees um and that went through the council. Um I am in agreement that some of these fines and fees do have to be increased because they are archaic in my opinion.

Yep. I agree. Thank you, Chris.

I um so so two things I'd like to do. Um let's do the approval and the amendment.

Right. a motion to amend the language for the one hour that's currently in the all my partner and commercial vehicles ordinance 70-319 for the city of Fall River um and strike out the 1 hour time the 1 hour time frame.

I'll make a motion to amend the hour by bill and seconded by Okay.

And then the next thing is is a recommendation on an increased fine so we can send it to you and that way you can just go right in. Yeah, you can do that. And uh like I said, I'll have the conversation with the uh the council that would handle that and come up with a plan.

Yes, that would have to go to ordinance for that increase of fee.

Yeah, I'll make that motion to have that go to ordinance and you determine what the fine would be.

All right.

According to maybe past practices.

Sounds good.

Right.

Second.

Okay. First by John, second by.

All right.

Appreciate you guys.

You got it. Thank you.

Steph, you need anything else for me?

No. You're good. Thanks. Appreciate it.

Request from the uh green school to make Grenell one way. Jackson to Lapam traffic pan will help alleviate traffic parking issues and safety concerns brought to the traffic department and the police department.

Hi John, how are you?

Johnny 40 years ago.

Appreciate it.

40 years since if not more.

Awesome.

Thanks.

So, currently, um, Cambridge Street runs, uh, west to east. Uh, Jackson and Leam are two-way. We're proposing Grenell run east to west uh one way. Um there's multiple things. One is the safety. I was just down there um two day two of the last four days. Um and with the traffic going two ways. You get kids dropped off on this side of their parents' car. They have to go by their parents' car and sadly they're not

always paying attention. Then they got to go through other traffic as well. Uh the one way would take care of that and it also would just make everything smoother. So, it would be one nice flow right around the school. Um, and you know, there's a lot of neighbor issues and I think if we had a better flow around the school, that would actually help with some of that

cuz it would I think once the as soon as the parents get used to that, it would just make everything go a lot quicker at arrival and um dismissal.

Okay. Uh, this is John Vento, safety and security director for the Blood Public Schools. Um, I'd agree with you. I' I'd like to see more of the schools creating a pattern as such. Um, the circular padding, I think, is safer. I think it's more orderly and it it reduces any confusion on which way we're going. Um, including the pickup of of of children.

I I see no issue with that area. This is something that is plague does, as we all know, on the board. Um it it it pops up every uh every fall and and then it intensifies in the spring and that summer comes and it just kind of goes to sleep but until it shows back up in the fall but I like the idea. I see no issue with it.

Anybody?

How do you feel about this?

And it's it's not uncommon. We will have to contact the abutters in regards to it. So just ask you a question. How's uh Maple Street working out with that school, that new traffic pattern, West?

I h I haven't Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. I was thinking I was thinking of Lerno. Um that that's actually working out very well.

Very well. Yeah. And she says no. Okay.

Although I drop my granddaughter up over here every morning.

Okay.

Because when we drop off the kids, cars come around us this way, right?

Because they don't want to wait. Nobody wants to wait anymore.

What's a very wide street there, too?

And everyone's in No, it's not that wide.

It's not that wide. Not Maple Street.

No. June, Maple. Yeah.

No.

Well, I I I mean, I would hope that we have alleviated some of the issues over there with that one way.

Yeah. But it's still dangerous for the little kids because what they do is if you're parked on their side to let your child off and then they go around you and they stop there and drop off their kid, right? So, we got anything in between.

No, they shouldn't be. And and anybody getting out of a any child uh exiting from a vehicle should do so on the passenger side. It's the safest way.

That way when the person texting comes by you, they don't clip you on the driver's side.

Um that's probably the best way. Same thing with car seats, right? Hanging out in the street when the cars they're putting a child in the car seat and they're hanging on the on the on the traffic side. It's not a not the best of ideas, but I do think this this would work. So, anything from the board on this for Mr.

Ventura?

Nope.

So, we just need it tabled because I have to contact the abutters.

Yeah, that would be the issue. We just need to table it and then we need to contact the Do I need to speak with fire in the meantime? I know I did for for Maple in June. We'll contact the fire department.

They'll be present at the next meeting.

Okay, that's good.

A motion to table this.

Motion to table. First by John.

Second. Second by Thank you, sir.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Lafayette Drive.

Lafayette Drive.

That person here by any chance from Lafayette Drive. Come on down. State your name if you would please.

No.

No. Nobody that person is not here from Lafayette Drive resident is requesting Lafayette Drive.

Oh, okay.

Which is up in the Flint for stop sign on the St. Joseph and NRAANE due to vehicles skiing coming from Eastern Avenue. So that St. Joseph runs west from Eastern A down to Mason Street. There is already a stop sign on St. Joseph, I went back to 2021 and researched all of the crashes in that area. There were 11 of the one crash that did occur at St. Joseph in NRAANE

was due to somebody not stopping at a stop sign.

I am not a proponent of stop signs on a right away, but that person is not here.

So, is there a motion to table it?

Motion to table.

First by John.

Second. Second Natalie.

All right. Request property off 59 Davis Street. No parking between signs outside the home due to issues entering and exiting the driveway.

59 Davis Street.

Yeah. I'm uh I'm the a resident there.

My landlord, the owner of the property is out of the state right now and he has a gave me a note and asked me to attend and answer any questions you might have.

Okay. You uh what's the issue? Yeah. Come on up. Tell tell us what the issue is. Okay.

I also you didn't ask me to, but I took a picture of the the area.

Um, well, we have a fire hydrant in front of our apartment.

What's that?

Name and address.

I'm sorry. My name is William Ferrell.

My address is 59 Davis Street. Um, front one is our apartment. Um, our landlord, awesome gentleman. Uh, he loves fall. He loves Fall River. He loves everything about this uh this great city. The only problem we've got is uh the parking uh people parking in front of the fire hydrant all the time.

And I if you look at the picture there, there's a finite space between the fire hydrant and the area that the tenants would pull in and out. So there's two apartment buildings. We both share the same egress. So when people try to park as far away from possible from the fire hydrant, they make it so that we can't pull out. Um Fall River is notorious for having a lot of cars on the side

streets. Um and um it's something you just have to live with. But when when people are trying to squeeze in, they they make it really hard and and potentially dangerous to to pull out.

It's uh I couldn't tell you. I'm an old guy, so it's like I'm going to take my time pulling out and so many I've had people beeping at me because I'm I'm trying not to hit this car. So, um, plus they people just decide to park there no matter how close they are to the fire hydrant. So, he was hoping that he could alleviate this.

You You know, I'll tell you what, I did go back. Everything that comes before us, I do research and I didn't find one complaint there for parking.

Not one. And this is going back five years. I did not find one complaint there. Yeah.

Um I'm not saying it's not happening.

I'm just saying if it's if it's that prevalent, people are going to pick that phone up and call. I didn't have one complaint there.

Not supposed to be.

I know that the parking of that fire hydrant is in a a very awkward spot.

I won't I won't disagree with that.

Um I think your diagram said 19 ft.

Say again. Their diagram I think said 19 ft.

Yeah. From the center of the fire hydrant to the very edge of the curb. 19 ft. And um I don't know what the law is for how far you can park from 10T.

10 ft. So that leaves, you know, not not much.

Not much.

So if if you have a a car that's 9 ft, you can park to the very edge of the thing. But I don't think there's too many cars that are 9 ft.

This this would certainly be a board thing. My only my only question would be this. Do we open up Pandora's box with this?

Everyone has a driveway. They want a no boxing sign. 10 or 5 ft on the other side. So can I think we have the um pictures here which is kind of a weird spot. It's just a tough spot.

It's an awkward fire hydrant.

You think there's room enough but there really isn't.

And then you infringe upon the driveway.

Mhm.

So, that would be up to the board um if they would Sorry, my microphone was off. Um that would be up to the board if they wanted to do the no park in between signs and we'd have to determine the exact footage that you would want on each end of the curb opening and then we're hurt more parking by putting signs up.

No, depending on the footage amount that the board opts for.

Absolutely right. We put signs up. No parking. You just took spots away. We saw what happened last month when we take spots.

Just uh to play the devil's advocate is I I've had a I've parked there or stood there letting my my wife out of the car and then backed into the spot. But on the other end of the spectrum, too, if you parked there and you have a non-compact car, you're going to be parking there illegally. So, um, you may be taking away a space, but you're not taking away legal space.

You're actually denoting that it is illegal to park here, but that's that's up to you guys.

Yeah.

Do do you call when you see someone there at the parking fire hydrant?

Uh, I usually save my complaints for something that's earthshattering. And, you know, good fences make good neighbors. So, I would rather see a sign go up than to stick my head out and be that old guy that's yelling. Although, that day's coming. I'm getting older.

Let me ask you this. Is the issue more coming out because a car's parked on the opposite side of the street, the west side, uh, it's a combination of both. If there's a car parked right there and there's no car parked on the other side, and if you guys know Fall River, there's not going to be a spot open, then yeah, you can take that long cut in. Um, but typically there's it's a full boat for

parking, right?

Like that's like you don't want to call the police and you don't want to cause and I don't think we should do it either because like you said, it's open up the box. So, oh, there's no question about it. Over 800 streets in a city.

Well, yeah. That's good.

I want a no parking in front of my right driveway too because you know people can't get out sometimes. People drive cars that are too big to handle, right? It's there's no seat all the time driving around like it's like wow.

I've got a Jeep Compass so it's it's a a little bit larger than the cars I used to drive when I was younger. Uh, but it's, you know, for I think it's 14 feet and, um, I don't have too much of a problem navigating it, right?

U regular parking spots or or in through the neighborhoods.

The other thing I didn't find here, I didn't find any crashes here either, right?

So, we got no complaints and we got no crashes. So, if that means anything for the board, um, it'll be up to the board to make a decision if they want to throw um parking signs up. Is there a motion to or not?

Um, I say motion to deny because we're just opening a box of, you know, I just But you have something else, SGE, because you're out there on the streets.

But I think we're just creating a problem if we do.

Motion on a board to deny.

That's very kind of you to come in front of us and ask.

I'm glad that I could be here to help with the process. I appreciate your considering it. Anyway, sir, if they're parked in front of the fire, you feel free to call.

Yes, absolutely.

You know, instead of risking a confrontation, I fully understand what you're saying, but feel free to call.

Absolutely. Especially if it's during normal business hours, you can contact the traffic department. We can send parking control.

Awesome. Thank you.

Motion to Thank you. Anybody second that second?

Seconded by John. Anybody opposed to that?

No. Okay.

So, we're going to deny that. And I would say just like just like John said, if there's if there's cars parked in front of that fire hydrant, you need to call us up. You can call the um parking patrol um or you can call the police department. You probably you might have more luck during the day with the parking patrol.

Absolutely.

Um than you do with the police. Um, but if there's if if someone is a blocking the driveway or you're in front of that hydrant, you you got to call us up. It's a very particular place to put that hydrant but it is the pipes have probably been there for I don't know how long.

Yeah, it's a weird spot.

Well, thank you so much for coming down.

Thank you for your time. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Granite City Electric.

Granite City Electric.

Yeah. Granite City Electric.

Yes.

36356 Pleasant Street.

Yes.

Requesting for time signs. Hours of operation 75 Monday through Friday.

There's a parking lot located at this address. Is that correct?

Okay. Why the time spots in front?

Um I have a just your name, please.

Stephanie Mashado from Granite.

Granite City Electric supervisor owner. I'm the manager.

Okay. Manager. Okay.

Um we have a small five spot lot in the front, but we service electrical contractors. They drive big vehicles. Um two or three of those trailers or whatever it is that they're pulling in.

I'm out of parking.

True.

Um three spots in front of us, they're unmetered.

Y we're finding people from Primary Care that work there are pulling in right after I get there at 6:30 in the morning and they're there till 4 or 5:00 in the afternoon. And they've actually just started also parking just past the driveway right on the corner.

Right.

So there are four cars that were there all day today leaving no they coming from primary care.

Yeah it's it seems to be mostly the workers and there are three lots for primary care. They have three lots.

Um and yeah it's just so they're there for the remainder of the shift.

The remainder of the shift. Yeah. And we know the rest of the street is metered except for those three spots. So, so the most you would get is one spot.

What do you mean? There's three parking spots there.

The most you'd get is one spot for the time.

Oh, for the time sign. Okay.

And that would be up to the board.

Unless you want me there.

I'll be running out with quarters all day for my contractors. I try to keep their big trucks and trailers off the street. So, for the smaller vans and stuff like that, it's easy.

What is that time? for what time?

Uh, and you're requesting the 1 hour parking correct?

Yeah.

From 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Yes.

That's what it is. One of those spots.

Which one?

More east.

The one right in front of the middle. We got three of them there.

The the the front one closest to our driveway. Closest to the drive.

Towards the east. Okay.

Are you open on Saturday?

No.

Okay.

What about that?

Any other questions from the board? the motion to give them a onehour um signage closest to the east side.

First first by Helen second by second by you're all set. It'll take a little bit to put those in but you you'll get an hour.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Table from uh one table handicap request 132 Signney Street. 132 Signney Street. This is the second time it's been here.

Correct. Right.

132 Signney motion. Motion to dismiss by John.

Second.

Second.

That's gone.

Okay.

Next request is 241 Griffin Street.

She said Tina Rogers. 241 Griffin.

I did go by that property. I didn't see any issue. The applicant does drive and they have a valid placket and a registration been provided. The applicant is a tenant. There's a letter from the homeowner from the homeowner um that they don't have access to the driveway.

I did go by there. Your car was parked on the street. I don't see any issues with this.

Motion to approve.

Motion to approve by Natalie.

Second.

Seconded by Billy. You're all set. Will be um about 12 weeks.

12 weeks. It's not your spot. Anyone with a PL.

No, no, I understand that. It's just every time I try to park in front of my house, my neighbors are coming and attacking me.

We don't want any attacks.

Thank you very much. Yes, ma'am. 1124 Dwelli Street.

Hi. Hi. How you doing?

I did look over this paperwork.

The applicant does drive and have a valid plaque and registration as provided. The applicant's the homeowner and there is no off street parking which is correct.

I don't see any issues with this one.

Motion to approve.

First by Natalie, second and seconded by John. you'll be all set.

8 to 12 weeks or so.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you so much. You have a good day.

You, sir.

643 Middle Street.

See, I did go by there. Your car was parked on the street. I go by the holies. Um, the applicant does drive.

They have a valid plaque, registration provided. The applicant's a tenant.

There's a letter from the homeowner that does not allow him to use the driveway.

I see no issues with this either.

Motion to approve. Motion approved by John. Move second. Seconded by Bill.

You're all set, sir.

Thank you, Kaiser very much. And have a wonderful evening.

Thank you. You as well. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Street drives. They have a You can stay there, honey.

Yeah, you don't have to come in. Yeah, just stay right there. It's okay.

The applicant drive, they have a valid plate, registration provided. We are a tenant and there's no au parking available which is confirmed. I didn't see any issues when I checked this one out.

Motion to approve. Motion to approve.

Second by John and seconded by Natalie. They're all second.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

A lot of these are all pre before we even I check every one of these out.

Yeah.

Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

All right. Not a problem. Same thing about 12 weeks. Okay.

Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome.

44 French Street.

Yep. Did you skip that?

You skipped like 56.

297 Union Street.

That's right.

You said French Street.

297 Union Street. We have applicant drives. They have a valid plaque, registration provided. They're a tenant.

And they

Um 297 Union Street applicant drives have a valid plaque registration provided they're a tenant and there's letter from the homeowner that does not allow them to drive parking the driveway. I did look at that. I went by your SUV was parked on the street. I didn't see any issues with this one.

Motion approve.

Motion to approve. First by John, second and then seconded by Natalie.

You're good to go.

Thank you so much. All right. Thank you.

49 Richmond Street.

49 Richmond.

I did go by this property. There is a driveway there.

Sir, stay there.

So, you can sit right there. Sit down.

You don't need to get up.

No one needs to get up.

If we need you, we'll call you up.

So, 49 Richmond Street does have a driveway. There is a uh there's a car parked in the driveway with no registration plate.

Um, the applicant is the homeowner and he says his driveway is too narrow to get into.

Can't pull into the driveway.

And if he did, he's not able to get out.

That's the issue there.

I mean, it's a narrow driveway. If I lived in a city and I had something like that, uh, you're lucky to have a driveway.

It's going to be up to the board on that one.

There is a car in the driveway though.

Yeah, that car um is so is so far um forward that that has nothing to do with it. Um my dad um if he pulls in with two canes and then my mom if she's on the passage she and she has her walker or I have to assist her the the house and the fence is so close I can't even swing the door.

What I did not do was measure the distance between the driveway. I can imagine it's probably between 12 and 15 ft, but it's it's up to the board.

All right. So, we have a resident here who owns the home. He has a driveway.

He's not able to move and maneuver himself in the driveway.

I I didn't get a chance to go measure it or go by it. So, I I'd like to find the distance see it is narrow. If it is too narrow, we we need to make sure that we can we can table it. you know, your mom and dad both can get second.

Motion to table by Natalie and seconded by Billy. We're going to table this.

We're going to take some measurements out there.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay. Thank you, sir.

So, you'll be invited to the next meeting. If he can't make it to the next meeting, if you if you want to come for him, you can come for him.

I'll receive another letter.

Correct. Yeah. You'll receive two letters. You'll receive uh the first letter just stating that it was tabled and then you'll receive another invite letter for next month's meeting.

Okay. And then I just Yeah, that's fine. Just like today like Yep. Absolutely.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

44 French Street.

Yep.

Stay right there. Applicant does drive.

They have file a plaque at registration that provide the applicant as a homeowner with the driveway. Applicant states that they're unable to park in the driveway due to issues with the easement. There's a house in the back there. Um you don't have any access to that?

No. They got four cars parked in there.

You don't have any access to that?

Nope.

Not I by the B the zoning board. I'm supposed to park to the right, but if I park there, I can't pull up to back out because they have their two cars parked there and then two cars in the back and they say they own the driveway and I'm not going to keep calling you guys to go out there.

Well, I mean, not going to waste your time.

That's a property issue.

It's all It's a private property issue.

Your issue is you're going to get engineering out there or hire somebody to do some measuring and determine on the deed to determine on the deed who owns it. This is what happens when you it own it.

Okay.

We don't.

All right.

So my my question was do you have access to the No. No. Okay.

I have to walk up I did go by the car was on the street.

So that's my house while I try. Anyway, all the other all the other paperwork is in order for these folks. for uh for John.

The motion motion approved by John.

Is there a second on this?

Second.

Second by Natalie. You'll be all set.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Have a good day.

Thank you.

1239 Plymouth Avenue. The applicant's drives. They have a valid plaque and a registration provided.

They're a tenant and they have a letter from the homeowner that does not allow them to to park in the driveway. I didn't see your car there on the couple times I went by, but I don't see any issues with the application.

Motion to approve.

Motion to approve by John.

Move second.

Seconded by Helen.

Uh 137 Fth Street.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome. 137 Fifth Street.

The applicant drives has a ballot plaque. a registration.

They're a tenant and they have a letter from a home own homeowner that does not allow them access to the driveway there.

And I didn't see any issues with this either.

No issues.

Motion motion approve.

First by John, second, seconded by Natalie.

Think that's it for the spots, right?

Yep.

We sended handicap spots request.

All set. So same thing about 12 weeks.

Okay. Okay.

Traffic department have the following handicap spots rescended due to no longer using them.

They've either moved, they don't drive or they have passed away. Forest Street from 2022, Shaving Street from 2020, Walnut Street from 2020 and Permit Avenue 2018. A motion to have these spots removed.

Motion read.

First by Bill.

Second.

Second by Motion to adjurnn. Motion second by Natalie. Thank you.