[Mike Caldera]: Hello, and welcome to this special meeting of the Medford Zoning Board of Appeals. Recording stopped. And then we're going to get started.
[MCM00000654_SPEAKER_00]: Recording in progress.
[Mike Caldera]: Jamie Thompson? Present. Jim Tarani? Present. Krista Tiavetta?
[MCM00000650_SPEAKER_12]: Present.
[Mike Caldera]: Andrea LaRue? Present. Is that the less present. Mary Lee, I think is is absent, but plans to join us. I don't see Mary Mike held their present. So, we have 6 present. So, we'll get started. Dennis, can you please kick us off?
[Denis MacDougall]: On March 29, 2023, Governor Haley signed into law a supplemental budget bill which, among other things, extends the temporary provisions pertaining to the Open Meeting Law to March 31, 2025. Specifically, this further extension allows public bodies to continue holding meetings remotely without a quorum of the public body physically present at the meeting location and to provide adequate alternative access to remote meetings. The language does not name substantive changes to the Open Meeting Law other than extending the expiration date of the temporary provisions regarding remote meetings from March 31, 2023 to March 31, 2025.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you, and can you read the first matter, please?
[Denis MacDougall]: 970 Fellsway, case number 40B-2023-01, continuing from March 26. The resumption of consideration of the petition of DIV Fellsway LLC of the Davis Companies for a comprehensive permit pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40B, for multifamily six-story apartment development located in approximately 3.4 acres of land at 970 Fellsway, property ID 7-02-10. This proposal will be developed as an approximately 289 units consisting of 278 units multifamily housing and 11 townhomes. With 73, 25% of the total units of them being designated as affordable housing to low or moderate income households.
[Mike Caldera]: All right, thank you, Dennis. So folks, if you're unfamiliar with the comprehensive permit process, this is a multi-session hearing over the course of the past, I guess, five months. We have been hearing various matters relating to this case. The focus agenda for this evening is civil engineering as well as peer review of the traffic study. And so yeah, that's the intention for today. We will be taking public comment on those matters. I see we have Mr. Pat Noon for the applicant. So please go ahead. Welcome.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Hi, everybody. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Yes, so we are here. We will be presenting and providing an update specifically on our civil design. Members of our team are here. I will ask Steve Majorano if he can share the screen and he will be the slide master for this evening. I will give a bit of a kickoff here just with an update from where we are from our last hearing and set the table for Steve and the team to take it over. Thank you. So jumping in, so a bit of an update just in terms of where we are from our previous hearing a few weeks ago. We have on the peer review front moved forward in several respects. Mr. Chair, as you mentioned on the traffic, we received comments from Beda last week on the transportation impact analysis and are in the process of reviewing and digesting those and preparing formal responses. We have Scott Thornton on the call this evening. The response to those comments is not a part of this formal presentation. but I see that members of the beta team are here and they may be able to speak to the comments directly themselves. But we have received them and are in the process of reviewing and we'll be coordinating a follow-up peer review session with that team to discuss once we've had the chance to fully digest them. On the architectural side of things, we were given Cliff's comments. Cliff Bowmer's comments from Davis Square Architects. We were given his comments and have been in the process of reviewing those and preparing responses. And we are coordinating a follow-up peer review session with Cliff for next week. And we'll be prepared to go through his comments and continue to incorporate them and work with him ahead of the ensuing hearings where we will be able to review and present on architecture again. And then from a civil perspective, we received a note from BEDA continuing to work through. We have not formally received their comments yet, so this evening is not representative of peer review feedback. At this point, when we do get comments, depending on the level of comments and need to make any adjustments or address We will certainly do that as soon as we get them and I won't speak again for the beta team that is on the call, but just from our perspective that is where we sit at the moment and look forward to the presentation this evening. believe that this presentation will answer a lot of questions. We've tried to really tailor it to focus on things that have been discussed at previous hearings, questions that have been raised previously, trying to provide as much clarification as possible. So with that, if you want to go to the next slide, Steve, I will turn it over to you in a moment, just with one last note in terms of attendance from my team. Mr. Peter Tam from Goulston is not on this evening. Patrick Gallagher, who is also from Goulston and on the team, is not here at the moment. He will be joining the call a bit later in the hearing. So if there are any questions, that are specific to the legal side of things and he is not on, I could defer to him until he is on. He will be on a bit later this evening. So just wanting to point that out for anybody who's corresponding with me or the legal team later on in the hearing. With that, Steve, if you want to jump in and get the presentation going, that'd be great.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_10]: Great. Thanks, Pat. As Pat said, I'm Steve Moderano with Bowler. Hopefully everybody can see the slides at this point, but we'll just walk you through kind of high level on the civil engineering side, and I'll turn it over to one of our landscape architects to talk through some of the landscape elements after. obviously open to questions, but I'll go through the presentation and then hopefully this is a good Q&A and we can answer questions that you have and go back to any slides if you want to pull anything back up. Generally, we're going to run through some of the information you may have seen on previous hearings, but just give you the update of where we are, site circulation, pedestrians and vehicular circulation. What we're doing on Myrtle Street and Amaranth and how those change, we think, for the better. What our parking plans are, how we accommodate the existing uses that are to remain on the site, and how we are parking for the new multifamily development. fire truck circulation, how that works. And then I'll walk you through the utility plans as well, talk a little bit about the infrastructure and conversations we've had with the public works department to date. And then we'll walk you through some of the landscape elements and lighting and things of that nature. So that's our agenda tonight. Obviously, we'd be happy to talk about anything, but that's what the presentation focuses on. So this is the site plan as it stands today. You can see lot A is really the existing self-storage facility. So that is the building to remain. The left side of the site is the new multifamily building. We have the two shaded colors. Those are to to indicate where the roof changes are. The white is the higher elements that are tucked into the site, and the gray is where we have stepped the building down as we get near the existing residential areas. Then the circulation, and we'll get into the details of it, but it shows the circulation patterns that go from Amaranth. around the property and access out to the Fellsway and to Myrtle Street. We'll get into the details there. Then you have six townhomes along Myrtle Street as well. That was just a quick refresh. This is just a snapshot of what we're starting with just to give some context of you can kind of see how these buildings have come together over the years. So there's a nice division of the existing building to remain. And then these are the buildings that are not in the best condition today that will be coming down as part of the development. But really the site today is virtually 100% impervious. A couple, there's a couple of shrubs and a little grass growth through the pavement, but otherwise it's an impervious site today, well, property line to property line. In the proposed development this this slide just shows how pedestrians get around where people walking where they going to where they coming from and how do they really get in and out of the buildings. So, obviously, just starting on the outside we've got a bus stop and then there's there's. sidewalks along Myrtle Street and we'll get into the sidewalk and streetscape we're introducing to Amaranth that doesn't exist on this side today. Then we have a connection path down to what hopefully becomes a rail trail in the future, but we're planning for that access and think that's an important connection. Hopefully, that comes to fruition and we're able to make that connection, but we're planning for it and putting it into today. Walking around the building, we'll start at the main entrance. So this is the main entrance. We do have you know, sort of a ceremonial drop-off. We'll get to the vehicular patterns in a moment, but this is really the visitor entrance, people coming to the building for the first time. This is where they'll be. If you punch in your Myrtle Street address, it's going to bring you to this location. So this is really the ceremonial or new arrival folks coming in. So this is the main entrance door here coming around counterclockwise. We have a bike room with connections right out to this red line coming along the edge is really a wider multi-use path feel there going along adjacent to the bike room and getting you that as I mentioned, hopefully a future connection to the rail trail. But we'll put this part in now and we think it works well with some screening we're trying to accomplish on that side and some other things we're doing over there. We have another egress there. Some of these are just required stairs, so they do create new egress points, and we connect out to the pathway there. On the back here, there is an elevator on the backside of the building and an egress here, so that's sort of a back residential entrance, also has a connection out to the pathway. This is more back of house operations here, but there is an egress door there. We have a sidewalk all along this edge of the building, and this is another egress into the building, a staircase, and this is the elevated bank. So, you might get some of these exterior residential parking spaces have access right into the elevators versus going around to the main lobby. That's the gist of how the pedestrians move around the site and some of those key points of what's happening on the edges of the building. And then this just demonstrates the vehicular patterns, which really you can come in and out of Amaranth. This is generally where the curb cut is today, and we've got a little more detail on that. But that would be a full access curb cut there. You do have the ceremonial curb cut and myrtle to get into the turnaround and they do have the ability to come in and get into the garage or park if it was not just a quick visitor drop off. And then we think that the majority of the traffic is coming right in and right out of the Fells Way entrance, because that is the most direct route into the garage. So just path of least resistance, easiest travel pattern for residents who are coming in and out on a more regular basis, that seems like a pretty natural pattern. Generally, I think the site circulation is probably pretty similar to what we've discussed in the past. And then we do have some short-term visitor parking there, could be pizza delivery, Uber pickup can occur in this sort of turnaround area, and future residents hopefully are coming in there to the main entrance and getting that feel as they come in here, and a place for some short-term parking there. This gets into the detail of what are we doing, I mentioned we're making some improvements to Amaranth and Myrtle Street and so just looking at what's out there today, there's just some really wide curb cuts that exist today. right at the intersection, which is really not the ideal place for a curb cut into a property is in the middle of a pretty complicated intersection already. It's multiple legs coming in at unusual angles. So we'll be closing that, but there's 43 feet of curb cut, 84 and 17 is sort of a narrow entrance into the property. So it's a little bit of an unusual layout. There's some telephone poles, there's building projections. It's really an industrial back of house feel on the project side of Amaranth. So in the future, we want to really dress that up. curve it like a regular road. The yellow, we'd introduce some new parking lanes that don't exist there today. So you get some landscape bump outs in there. We have a bump out at the corner to shorten any pedestrian crossings and really formalize this parking lane. And I'll talk a little bit about how that marries well with what's happening on Myrtle Street. But this really becomes a finished road. Right now it's finished on the opposite side where the other residential community is. It's a more traditional roadway. This really finishes off this side of the road and provides 180 linear feet of parking lane, which is about 9 to 12 cars can fit in there, and there's no parking on this side today. And then down here, we introduce a 24-foot, which is a traditional width curb cut. It matches up opposite the other residential access driveway, similar widths, makes a nice T-intersection at the end of Amaranth, and again, really finishes it off more properly than the current condition. Similar look, what's happening on Myrtle Street today. We heard from the community, Myrtle Street's a challenge, right? It's a two-lane, two-direction road, traffic going both directions. But as you can see, we put the dimension on here. When you have cars parked on both sides, it effectively becomes about a 10 foot wide road, which is the challenge, right? So two cars cannot pass if there's cars parked all along Myrtle Street. It's about 330 feet of parking lane. And I'll get back to that number, but just that's what the yellow zone shows, about 330 feet of parking lane. But the real challenge we're trying to solve is how do we improve that 10 foot conflict of cars coming in and out at the same time? So what we've done, you can see where these parked cars are in the image. That's where the yellow was. That is the parking lane today. We're pushing the proposals to push the parking lane into the private property, push the sidewalk into the private property. And what that does is obviously widens the throughway, widens the road. You'll have approximately 18 feet car to car, depends on how they park, but we're given pretty generous. It's probably 18 to 20 or 21 feet between parked cars if they're parking as close to the curb as they should. but at least 18 feet, which is passable for cars going in the opposite direction. So we think that that addresses the concern we heard from the community. There are some elements that need to be in that zone. So the yellow is more broken up than just 330 straight feet, because we will have accessible ramps and things that you don't want to push those back into the parked cars. They do want to project out. um and shorten the crossing and make the pedestrians more visible so we have that there and then there um we need some room around our proposed entrance and there's some electrical infrastructure uh telephone pole and guy wire that maybe they can be modified a little bit to create a little more room but um we're just we're out you know we're leaving we're respecting what's what's there from from electrical infrastructure so The net is today there's about 330 feet of parking lanes between the two roads. When we're done, we'll increase that by about 40 feet to about 370 total feet. So the net is today you probably fit 16 to 20 cars. in the parking lanes, that'll increase to about 18 to 20 or 22 cars. We were trying to get net neutral, but we actually were able to pick up about two car lengths of parking between the two roads. We think it's a good approach to the roads. It will definitely finish them off a little better, create these bump outs, some landscape elements, some better visibility at the crossings for the pedestrians, and Ambrance becomes a fully complete road and not half a road with an industrial side. Just that's our thinking and our approach and the net impact of those. And then on the Fellsway, it's really just the realignment of the existing curb cut and then bringing it up to DCR standards. So there's some modifications over there, but that curb cut exists today. We're just relocating it. And then we have a significant reduction overall. There's about 45 feet of curb cut on Myrtle today. It goes down to a single 24-foot curb cut. There's 100 feet of curb cut on Amaranth that goes down to a single 24-foot curb cut. And there's a slight increase on the Fells Way in total curb cut width, but that's just to bring it up to current TCR standards. So just to give you an effect of how we're handling the curb cuts. This slide has a lot of color, and we're going to break it down into smaller chunks. But I just want to give you a snapshot of where people are parking. So all the colors are different. We have the sort of the teal or just regular pedestrian, I mean, regular vehicle parking spaces. The pink are electric vehicles. The blues and purples are accessible spaces. The reds are short-term spaces. And green are loading zones or loading spaces. Here's the summary of that, and then I'll break it down to what each of those numbers are. But effectively, lot A is the self-storage to remain. We have 22 parking spaces dedicated to lot A. Then lot B, which is the residential lot, we have a total of 324 parking spaces for lot B. So how does that break down? And just where are these spaces? So this is really the lot B spaces for the multifamily and the residential components. Obviously, the teal is the bulk of the parking. We spread the accessible spaces in the garage around. Those are to be at the elevator banks. As I mentioned, we have two elevator banks. There's a larger elevator bank up by the main lobby, but there is the rear elevator bank. So we provide some accessible spaces back there. The electric vehicle charging, we basically flanked the garage entrance with electric vehicles. So we have 14 on the left. And really we have six, sorry, I'm looking at my numbers here. We have four on the right, which is two traditional charging stations and then two that will be accessible charging spaces with accessible chargers. So really just trying to think forward and provide those accommodations. And then to the right of those, there's some outdoor accessible parking spaces. And then obviously the townhomes each have two spaces, one in a garage and one in the driveway. This is short-term and loading where those operations happening on site and then bicycle parking. So the purple over here is the bike parking room and some exterior bike racks are over in this corner. So really just playing off of that multi-use path that we're creating along Amaranth. Going around clockwise, we have a couple of spaces here. This is a pull up and drop somebody off. Uber driver doing a quick pickup. It's not a leave your vehicle there. That's a live loading operation. The four spaces again that I said earlier, this is short term parking that pizza delivery happening, a future resident coming in to meet the staff for reviewing and that type of short term use. And then we just again highlighted some of the building operations here. the orange are the staircases, and then along the back of the building, we have the stair with the elevator core in the back towards the middle of the building. That is really we're just indicating this is where move-in move-outs are likely to occur. Because it does have that direct elevator access through that door there. And then the other green loading zone, that's trash pickup. So that's a trash and recycling room in that back corner. They can wheel it right out, be picked up. And it's a wide route for the vehicles to maneuver through the property. So we think operationally, those are the components that we need. And just want to give you some insight as to how we pick those locations. And this just gives you a quick snapshot of what's happening on the existing self-storage lot, we're calling it Lot A. So Lot A has parking in the rear and parking up towards the Fellsway-Myrtle intersection. That's where regular passenger vehicles, people coming to the park and bring stuff out of their unit or lease a new unit. Again, some accessible parking spaces as required at the main entrance. Then the green are the loading zones. That's where the loading activities occur. The bulk of it is where it happens today on the front of the building, but there is some loading that occurs in the rear as well. Just to give you an idea of what's happening and remaining on lot A. This is just fire truck turning, again, vehicular access and looking at do we have, does the layout work, right? Does the fire department have proper access? Can they get around the building? This just shows they can come in Amaranth, they could come in Myrtle, they can get out either. We have next slide that shows that you can also get out the Fellsway, but really this is to demonstrate as far as A development goes, we have 360-degree access for the fire department around the building, which is their ideal scenario. All the lanes are 24-foot travel lanes, which is well above the minimum fire lane width. So we feel it gives them pretty good access. We've met with the fire department. They did not have any issues with our approach to access. So, I think it's probably because it's a good approach, I think. 360 degrees is their ideal scenario. So, this just demonstrates how that the trucks can get in and out off of the Fellsway. Obviously, very major road there, plenty of width for them to come in, but just shows a route that they could get around the whole building without backing up. And then real high level infrastructure look and update on what we've talked about with engineering is water pressures are good. We have some hydrant testing. There will be more hydrant testing as the project moves forward, but pressures are in the 80 PSI range, which is really a strong number. And The fire department was happy to see that. The water department did not have any concerns with capacity to serve a project like this. And then the project does intend to loop Amaranth system around to Myrtle, which is helpful to those two streets. It does provide some additional redundancy and ability for water to flow both ways. If the DPW ever had to come in to do a maintenance operation, it could shut off and it could be fed through our site. So you get some redundancy in the area, which is helpful to the water department. Sewer, similar story. So the sewer department or engineering department did not have issues. They do not have known issues with capacity out here. We've run some capacity analysis. There's relatively good sized mains in the area. So there's not a concern with the capacity to feed our project. And on a project this size, there's a requirement called I&I removal, inflow and infiltration removal. So there's water in infrastructure in a city like Medford is older and there's known issues that the engineering department has a list of some projects that need to be done in the area that would be taking stormwater or some other connection that shouldn't be entering the sewer system. And a project like this will be mitigating what we put in at a four to one ratio. So we're effectively will complete projects in this general vicinity that will ultimately when the projects are all completed, there will be more capacity in the sewer system. Even though we're adding some flow to it, we have to take more of the I&I, the flow, the stormwater flow that shouldn't be in the system. We have to take that out, which will create new capacity in the system when we're done. Sewer capacity is usually not an issue. It's not an issue here on day one, and it will improve as the project completes the mitigation. And my last slide is just stormwater. A site like this, it's always an improvement, right? Just to get rid of some of the impervious coverage, introduce some landscaping, introduce trees. That inherently is an improvement to quantity of runoff as well as quality of runoff. In addition, you can see we have a fair amount of infrastructure we're proposing there's there's a large system on the backside of the building that that will capture hold water on our site even more, more than just the landscaping. So we'll hold some water and systems will provide some infiltration there. and there'll be treatment devices to take out sands and oils and debris that would normally run off of parking lots. We capture it and it'll be disposed of without getting into the city system, which helps the city achieve their MS4 goals. Then we have another sizable system up closer to the townhouses to handle that side of the site. That's a super high level of drainage. get we could have a whole half hour if you want on drainage, but I'll leave it at that. And I'm going to hand it over to Masoud. And again, that was a ton of information at a high level. So I'm happy to come back after and answer any questions on the on the infrastructure and engineering side.
[MCM00000650_SPEAKER_12]: Mr. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. So this is an overview of the landscape. Most of it is similar to what was presented in previous hearings that I believe most of you have seen. We, as Steve mentioned, the current site is completely impervious and we're introducing a significant increase to pervious areas and open space that the majority of it is going to be accessible and usable for the public, including the walkway and the playground that is adjacent to the building. As you can see, number one is the drop-off area visitor entrance. Two is a playground. Number three is a dog park with synthetic turf. All of these are surrounded by proposed trees and additional planting that's going to add both the aesthetic value and also improve the stormwater capacity of the site and create a better open space experience for the neighborhood. Number four is the bike racks that is adjacent to the bike storage room and provides additional capacity for bike parking. Number 5, there are multiple fitness equipments that are included along that winding walkway that goes down to get to number 8, which is the future, a potential connection to the future rail trail. Number six is that walkway that provides both a landscape green buffer on the west side of the building to both screen the ground level parking garage and provide a better blending with the neighborhood as the building steps down and then we create a softer edge with landscape and proposed trees and more shrubs and perennial planting. uh, and, uh, creates also an additional, uh, pathway other than the proposed sidewalk that Steve, uh, uh, uh, mentioned, uh, we're adding to Amarant that the additional walkway can be used for, uh, walking and running bikes and can in the future become part of that, uh, bike network that can connect the neighborhood to that rail trail. And number 10 is where we're looking to potentially, after further coordination, include a blue bike station, which seems to be a good addition to this area next to the bus shelter and improve the transit capacity of the area. And you can see the courtyards as well. We have two courtyards with different programmings that are adjacent to the indoor amenity areas. We have a pool of more green areas and outdoor programs for residents to use on the second floor. Next slide, please. And this is an overview of the lighting plan and our strategy to lighting which is going to be utilizing a combination of different fixtures from wall packs, pedestrian grade light poles, larger light poles for parking lot areas and bollards. And we worked with lighting design to make sure all fixtures are LED and dark sky compliant and avoid the spillover to abutters while providing appropriate required levels of light for all outdoor spaces in terms of safety and being accessible for people who park around the building. These are just looking closer at those amenities and outdoor spaces and open space features that was shown in the overview with some additional precedent images and inspiration images to give you an idea of what that space will look like in terms of how it looks and how it's going to function and the materials that potential is going to be used. The front plaza is going to be an open, probably more clear, with pavers and additional planting that provides a good welcoming face to the building. Next slide. This is what very similar to what the playground is going to look like with addition of there's going to be proper fencing and probably additional seating and small play equipment that can be used by residents and neighbors. The dog park is, as you can see, number three. We intentionally put the dog park away from the street and surrounded it with more planting trees to both filter any additional noise that could be produced by use of the dog park and also it is in a convenient distance for residents to use on an everyday basis. Some present images of those fitness equipments and the bike racks that are going to be along that walkway going down on the west side of the building. and what it can provide for people to use. Next one. These are person images to show what that landscape buffer and the walkway is going to look like in terms of providing both seating space for people to run, bike, and also adding a green screen against the building and buffer both the walkway from the street and from parked cars and from the facade of the building. some inspiration images of the courtyards and the amenities that it's gonna include for residents to use. And this is the blue bike station that I mentioned. There is room against that. We think that would be a proper location, but obviously have to be further looked into in terms of details when I'm working with blue bikes to fit that station in the best place possible for people to access and use. I think that's the last slide.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_10]: Yeah, that is our last slide. Yeah, the blue bike, just for a little context of why we picked the blue bike there, it's often they want it on the private property but adjacent to the public sidewalk in a highly visible spot so people learn that it's there. So we picked this spot, but there's obviously some flexibility in the landscape of that corner. Blue Bike thought differently. We'll find a new home for it, but it makes a lot of sense. It was right at the bus stop. People could take a Blue Bike to the bus and then park it there and get on the bus, or could take the bus and get off, get their Blue Bike and ride to their... right closer to their house. So it's a good spot. We think it's a good add to the project. But that does conclude our presentation. Pat, I don't know if you have any closing marks or want to go to end.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, not specifically I can just wrap up a little bit, and closing out the blue bike thought specifically as well I have had a preliminary conversation with some folks on the blue like staff, just trying to understand their. their opinion on feasibility at that location. Generally, they agree it's a good location, not just in terms of its dimensions, but also just locations in proximity to other stations they think that it fits well. So something that we're proposing and would be certainly open to adding and coordinating with the city and Bluebikes to get a station added there. But just wrapping up the presentation in general, Understanding we did bounce around a bit, I think just orienting everyone as we close out. This was for us a bit of a summary of some of the ongoing civil efforts that we've been that we've been putting forward on on the civil engineering design and that's a. That is a brief way of saying there's a coordination of site plan, landscaping, utilities, parking, a lot of the things that you saw. So just to confirm for everybody, it wasn't sort of a random collection of things. We were trying to respond to questions and also providing more detail on what was submitted formally by Bowler in the civil submission to the city and it being peer reviewed by by beta. So there are some things in here, as Steve mentioned earlier, happy to revisit or jump into or zoom into. We don't want anybody to feel like if any of the presentation was that there are questions there, as always, we want to make sure that we answer them, but also there will be an opportunity for us to get responses from the peer review team and follow up there as well. So just wanted to close the loop nicely on the presentation. So it didn't feel hectic, hopefully for everybody, but just wanting to make sure that we touched on all the topics that we believed that we needed to. So for that, I will close it up and open it up to questions.
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, so my thought is we'll quickly go to beta. I know that the peer review comments aren't ready yet, but I just want to kind of get general thoughts and an expectation about when we should anticipate those, and then we'll open it up to board questions. So I see we have Jeff from the beta group. Please go ahead.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, good evening Mr. chair members of the board. So, let me just let you know what I have tonight. So, I have. PowerPoint presentation, I can summarize the transportation comments that we provide in our letter. So I can show those. I, I have some comments from Bill McGrath who's our civil engineer. I'm reviewing this project and he's on vacation this week, but I do have a list from him in an email. I signed in presentation form. If you want, I can read the list, but I can't really answer the detailed questions if you had on it. That's in my expertise, but if you want, I could read his initial comments.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, well, so it sounds like Bill is still working on the comments, or is the list that you have the comments that is not?
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_05]: Well, I don't want to speak for him. I would say it's his preliminary list. It's probably not final, but we're working towards it. I would say probably by next week, he'd probably, when he gets back from vacation, he'd probably wrap those up in a submittal letter.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, sounds good. So we'll plan to go over those in greater detail in our next hearing then. And that will also give the applicant some time to get those comments and start working on their response. So sounds like a plan. And so yeah, Jeff, I'll come back to you in a little bit on the traffic. First, I'm just gonna go to the board for questions on the presentation. Sound good?
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, thank you. Thanks.
[Mike Caldera]: All right. Uh, questions and comments from the board would like to start. Uh, Jamie, go ahead.
[Unidentified]: Yeah, I thought it was a great presentation. I appreciated the lighting overview as well as the dark sky compliance. Thought it was very thorough for the requirements, the items we wanted to cover. One question I did have when you were talking about the focal point for entry of the building and the front being that entry point on Myrtle Street. I guess my one concern there is from an addressing perspective, is the building going to be addressed as 970 Fellsway with no reference for a Myrtle Street address, just from a concern from Google Maps, Apple Maps, people that don't know the area, so they're brought to the Fellsway entrance instead of the Myrtle Street entrance?
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_10]: Yeah, I can answer that. If you choose, the property will be subdivided and the residential property will not have frontage on the Fellsway, so it will not have a Fellsway address. The 970 will likely remain the self-storage address. It's all on parcel today, which is why it's called 970. But the existing building will retain that address. The new building will have a, it can only have either a Myrtle or an Amaranth address. And Myrtle seems to be the indication we're getting right now.
[Denis MacDougall]: Gotcha.
[Mike Caldera]: All right. Other questions and comments from the board? Andre, please go ahead.
[Andre Leroux]: Thanks for the presentation. Super helpful information. Just a couple of questions. One was, I know there's been some public comments a while back about the amenities, the landscaping, and I'm wondering if there's been any conversations with the neighbors about those features, particularly the playground. Also curious about whether you have any kind of conceptual thoughts about incorporating public art or historic information, amenities, anything like that.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I can jump in. Starting with the first question, I have met with a couple of the neighbors and had a broad discussion about the project. One of the topics being just programming of the outdoor space, generally, and some of the neighbors that I have met with are on the call. I don't want to misrepresent anything that they've said, but generally the feedback that I've gotten is outdoor playground, outdoor workout equipment isn't something that is necessarily all that exciting to some of the neighbors. haven't necessarily envisioned that they would use it. The conversations that we have had is that we want to be programming the outdoor space to be a benefit to the neighborhood, and that we are open to getting the feedback from them if there is something that they do want to see. But generally speaking, that is the feedback that I've gotten to date. On the public art, The answer to the question is yes, in terms of whether or not we are able to consider it. We don't have a specific a specific idea in mind. I think the way that we left the previous hearing, which was focused on architecture, is that that would be something that we would try to continue to consider under the umbrella of that peer review, if you will. Not to kick the can on it, but I think with an upcoming peer review session with Davis Square Architects and the exterior of the building, and the incorporation of the landscape elements being part of that focus of that ongoing conversation. That's something that we are trying to think a bit more about. I don't know at the outcome if we can necessarily promise that we will have a very prescriptive design for public art. It's a little bit TBD on it, but generally speaking, to answer the question, yes, we are certainly open to incorporating that as a part of the site in various areas of the site. And if there are suggestions from the board or members of the neighborhood on how to do that or where to do that, we would love to hear that feedback. That would be helpful for us, frankly, as we are getting to the programming of the building and what it really looks like.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you. I see Director Hunt has her hand raised. I just want to check in with Andre first. Was there anything else you were going to ask, Andre, or did that answer your question?
[Andre Leroux]: Yeah, that's fine on those questions. I probably had a couple other comments, but happy to have Alicia jump in on it. Director Hunt, please go ahead.
[Alicia Hunt]: Thank you. I just wanted to actually raise, sorry, a follow-up on what you had mentioned because It is my impression, and I wanted to know if you thought this was true, that the abutters you've been talking to are all abutters with Myrtle Street addresses, so they're all houses and yards. Have you had any conversations or heard from any of the residents of Amaranth Place, which are all condos, which appears to have no open space for yards associated with it? Because that's where the office was thinking that some open space would be good for the neighborhood was around those condos. I just wanted to clarify that point.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: No, it's a great question. I have not met with any residents of the Amaranth Place condos. So the feedback that I represented did not come from them.
[Alicia Hunt]: Great. Thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you, Andre. Back to you.
[Andre Leroux]: Yeah, that's a great point. Alicia. Thanks for bringing that up. Uh. Just a couple of comments or questions about the circulation side of things. Um, 1 is on the kind of the straight away between the. The proposed project and the self storage facility, it seems like that's kind of a long straight away. I'm wondering whether you're considering some, like, speed bumps or other types of mitigation there. And I'm also curious if you could just walk us through a little bit more. Where, like, how moving trucks would come in and whether they'd be going into the garage, like, where would. Where would folks be moving their furniture, et cetera.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_10]: Sure, I'll share the screen again just so we have some graphic to look at. Yeah, the straightaway is, it's a long straightaway. The nice thing, the traffic calming is the head-in parking, right? It's not going to feel like a city street that encourages high rates of speed. We don't have any speed bumps or any raised crossings or anything like that proposed at this time, not saying we couldn't do it, but that those are usually a maintenance issue and they come with a different set of challenges. But we'll definitely take a closer look at that. We did purposely make this at the entrance here a 90 degree. So people have to come and turn into it. So it's not like a fast slip lane. And obviously at the far end, it's also a 90 degree. So there's only so long where folks are on a straightaway before they're coming to a 90 degree stop and turn. So I think it's a reasonable distance, but definitely a great point for us to look at a little bit further. As far as the loading goes, as we saw, we did fire truck studies so the ladder truck can make it all the way around the building. Moving trucks tend to be on a project like this. Think of like the large size U-Haul, which is quite a bit smaller than a, it could be a rider truck, doesn't have to be U-Haul. But that type of single box truck, that turns a little bit better than the fire truck. So anywhere that we showed you a fire truck moving, a moving truck could go, but really they're going to be along this back edge of the building. So they're trying to get to the back edge so that they could come in through Amaranth and pull up along the edge here. They could If they're permitted, they can come through the Fellsway and come into this side of the building. And the loading operations happen in this door in the back here. So this is loading and an elevator right there. So loading operations really along this curb line, there's no parking on on the building side of the street so they could pull up along the curb, unload, go right in that back door, and up the elevator to whatever floor they're on. The trucks are not intended to go into the garage itself. It'll be van-accessible heights to get into the garage, so for van-accessible parking in there. So if you're coming with a smaller moving van, you may be able to go in the garage, but not like a box truck.
[Unidentified]: Okay, thank you. I just want to qualify. You said they could pull up on the curb. That's the sidewalk, correct?
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_10]: There is a sidewalk there to align the edge of the building. So there's a curb, and then the sidewalk will be elevated so they could pull up along the edge of the roadway adjacent to the curb.
[Adam Hurtubise]: All right. Other questions from the board? Kim, you're on mute.
[kCdGHg1OaMo_SPEAKER_21]: On the bikes, how many bikes are you able to store our house?
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: I can jump in. So as a part of the ongoing architectural design, that was one of the comments that we got back from the peer reviewer, Mr. Bomer. We are finalizing the size of that room where it's located on the site plan, the ground floor plan is remaining. finalizing the square footage of that room and then putting the conceptual design together is something that we're working on now. We're targeting as many bikes as possible and looking at different specs of bike racks and bike rack holders, whether they're floor mounted or wall mounted, trying to maximize the efficiency of that space. So I don't have a specific answer for you in terms of quantity, but in terms of square footage of the room, we're trying to perfect that size now and should be able to at least put a rough number to it at our upcoming presentation that follows up on architectural comments. Thank you. And sorry, that would be for bikes within the bike room in the building. We have shown the location just outside of the room where there are exterior mounted racks where bikes could be locked up against that as well. I believe that there's a quantity that we would be able to specify for that also.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, thank you. Other questions or comments from the board?
[Andre Leroux]: Well, can I just follow up on that comment about the bike parking? One thing that we dealt a lot with in the last 40B project we reviewed was looking at the bike parking. So as you're thinking about designing that bike parking, now that electric scooters and electric bikes are more common than ever, Um, you know, there have been some issues with occasional fires, which are difficult to put out with those things. So just want to take that into consideration, make sure it's a, it's kind of a well fire proofed. Um, area.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Notice we have the ground floor where the bike storage room would be located, would be at the podium level, which would be non-combustible construction. Something that we would be able to get into, obviously, as the design advances to that level of design documentation, construction documentation, and then submitted for code reviews. But it's a great point to make sure that we are considering that as locating the run.
[kCdGHg1OaMo_SPEAKER_21]: Jim? Yeah, on that same subject, I know that many places are not allowing electric bikes in the units themselves due to the hazard of fires. Is that being considered?
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: It's a good question. To date, we haven't had that conversation. We have been seeking input from various property management groups and our own internal asset management group within the Davis companies. That is not a topic that has come up, so I don't have a specific answer for that question. It's something that we can certainly study and would be coordinated with the property management team and that, along with anything else, would be spelled out for the residents of the building and the rules and regulations that they sign on to when they execute their lease. So that's something that we can certainly look into further.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Actually, so related to that, I'm not remembering. I think it may have been mentioned in a prior hearing, but is this wood frame in the residential portion, or is it some other material?
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: It's correct. So the building as was initially submitted and the current design is a podium construction. This current configuration obviously has the step at the top level. There is a five over one and a four over one element of the construction. Over one being your non-combustible level, whether that's steel or concrete is not formally defined yet, but it would be wood frame over that non-combustible level.
[Mike Caldera]: Got it. The reason why I asked, One of the reasons we spent so much time on this in the prior 40B hearing was it was a similar construction and our building commissioner at the time had direct experience from Waltham about a big, in this case, it was a construction fire. But basically, this type of building is built elevated risk for fire in certain contexts. And so just keep that in mind as you're consulting with other groups. Guidance, especially from similar types of building, I think would probably be the best practice to use here.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, understood and point well taken. In terms of completing the design, it would be done to full code compliance and obviously put through a review process. And then through the construction process, the construction manager would work with Medford Fire Department, submit an NFPA 241 plan and follow all the rules and regulations that are associated with that as well. very much noted to the construction type related to wood frame and the risks that are associated with that. Okay, thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Other questions or comments from the board? Andre, go ahead.
[Andre Leroux]: Could you just explain in a little bit more detail the electric vehicle charging infrastructure that you're talking about? Because it doesn't look like there's that much. I mean, we're talking about a rapid transition over the next five, 10 years with electric vehicles. And one of the big barriers, obviously, is the availability of charging stations. So if you could just elaborate on that a bit, that'd be great.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_10]: Yeah, Pat, you want me to? I'll show you where they are. I'll throw the picture on the screen again to show you what we're starting with. And then we'll talk about the opportunities in the building. So just to zoom in a little bit here. So again, these 14 spaces here, two more traditional spaces, and then two accessible spaces. because it's difficult to come back later and install the infrastructure on the outside of the building, conduits, and get power and the mounting of the stations, we want to put all those in day one, so the infrastructure is there and ready to be used. The expansion option really comes into the garage, and we just haven't It's relatively easy to add inside the garage, assuming we plan ahead and put the right significant electrical infrastructure, right? Transformers, switchgear, whatever. We need to be ready to up that power in the future. We need to plan ahead and put that in. And we'll do that in coordination with the electric company as we get into the work order phase of design. But once you have that major infrastructure, to add the equipment inside the garage is relatively easy because you can pipe up in the roof of the garage. and run it wherever you need to run it and add stations as they go. That was how do we approach the site and get what's most difficulty on day one and then provide that flexibility. As Anjanita said, it's expanding quickly. We don't know what the need is a couple of years from now, but it's pretty easy to add. Pat, I don't know if you had anything to add relative to the building. That's my thinking on the electric vehicle expansion opportunity.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head. Our thought process was to have the EV chargers that are going to be installed as a part of the construction of the building along the exterior of the building. We have heard board members and other attendees of the hearings previously mentioned just wanting to see the EV chargers located outside of the building. And so we feel doing that out on the site is something that we can coordinate to with the expansion in the future, the ability to do that and be nimble sizing your electrical infrastructure properly, but being able to do that inside the podium level, that noncombustible level of construction, again, down at the garage level, being able to pipe in the ceiling and add EV charging stations. is something, frankly, that the Davis companies has had success with in other projects, being able to add them as they're needed or as that need grows. It's really a matter of coordinating your electrical infrastructure. So that's, you know, reiterating what Steve said, but hearing it directly from me, that is just as a part of how we laid the site out and thought about this conceptually, why you see them located outside the site and with the future growth noting being in the building.
[Andre Leroux]: Yeah, I'll just say, I mean, I'm glad you're, you're thinking about the, uh, the internal expansion. I just don't think for this number of parking spaces, like even on day one, this is going to be enough electric vehicle charging. And, uh, I would definitely suggest more.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: It's something that we can definitely look into. I don't have a specific response to quantify, but your suggestion is noted, and we can definitely take a look at it.
[Unidentified]: Thank you. Just on a follow-up, are those expected to be fast-charging stations, or are those something that you'd expect somebody to be parked in and charging overnight?
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: It's a good question. I think there's a couple of levels. It comes down to a bit of coordination with the electrical infrastructure, how much power you can get and how large your switchgear needs to be to be able to provide the kind of power needed. I can say, I think that the rapid power charging stations really outsize what would be what would be considered typical or even atypical in an oversized sense for a building like this. I don't have a specific answer. I think we would want to make them as efficient as possible, but it would come for us a little down the line identifying which specific specification of the charging stations they would be once we're able to really quantify with an electrical engineer and work with the utility provider to confirm how much power can come to the site.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_10]: And just to add, typically on these type of developments, we do just go with the traditional chargers because you're expecting these are residents that are coming home and they are going to be parking their car overnight. So the overnight charges, it's not an impediment to how they, you know, the typical operations. If it was more short term turnover, that's when you really need the rapid, more, more of the rapid charges. Right.
[Andre Leroux]: Right. But if those like 14 spaces are used overnight by the same 14 people and you have like over 300 marking spaces, then they're using that all the time.
[Unidentified]: Yeah, that's what I mean. That was my thought. Is it either these assigned spaces to the people that have EVs or would these be, you know, to Andre's point, if, if these were not dedicated and they were faster charge, we could have tenants that are assigned to space, use them to charge and then move their car in and becomes available to somebody else. Just speaking out loud, obviously just a thought.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's something that we would have to coordinate. We would have to coordinate through the property management team. I think in the conditions that you guys are referencing, as we finalize the quantity, if the need is immediately determined that there is to be more, I think what we do feel comfortable about is our ability to add to it fairly easily. So if residents are not able to charge their vehicles because they're constantly occupied, then we would be able to coordinate the addition of future charging stations.
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, so one thing I will mention on this thread, this is a cold weather environment. And so I think there is going to be a need for at least some indoor spaces for EVs. So understood that it's easier to add spaces after the fact, it sounds like you do need to do some upfront planning in terms of laying the infrastructure. So it'd be good in a future hearing for us to just get a sense of what are the plans there, like what you're thinking about doing, how much could this scale, and are you going to have some, like do you know today that you're going to have some dedicated spaces? inside the parking structure as well, or is it all going to be outside as it's currently laid out here?
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Right now, exterior is what is currently proposed to be installed. We can, as I said a few minutes ago, understanding that the feedback is for us to explore how many spaces, if what we're proposing currently doesn't feel like enough, we will do some research on that and be able to respond back to what we think the right number is. and whether that includes more inside or more exterior. So we can certainly expand on that thought. OK, thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Other questions or comments from the board? So one that I had that hasn't been asked about yet is, potential locations for school bus stops. So I don't know where the closest bus stop is today, but I know that this is currently in industrial use and there's potentially going to be a number of families that live in the new building. So yeah, where would or where could a school bus stop in proximity to this parcel?
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_10]: I have personally not looked at the school bus stop and routes. I don't know if they go on Myrtle Street or where the closest route would be, but we could definitely take a look at that with the traffic team and figure out where that location is. I think the widening of Myrtle presents some new opportunities, but we haven't explored that, but happy to take a look.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Other questions or comments from the board?
[Yvette Velez]: I have one question and comment. It's Yvette. In regards to the storage unit that's staying, and I apologize if you went over this and missed it, I did have slight internet problems for a moment there. Is there any improvements that will be happening to that building? I know we talked about public guard, and of course, maybe that could be a location for some of that, but they're next to a big, huge industrial lot. So what's happening on that space to help improve the...
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: overall? It's a great question. And we did not touch on it. There will be there will definitely there are definitely thoughts for us to go and improve that space. Maybe piecemealing the thought process for you. There are two sort of main areas that we are looking at. Steve, it may be helpful for you to pull the just the general site plan back up just as a reference point. The first being just right off the Fellsway, as you can see, just realigning the curb cut for the benefit of the overall property presents the opportunity to Modify the access points for that building and the loading for that building and just, you know, how trucks enter and exit over there. So this is obviously, I think, specific to your question. This would be somewhat of a modification from what that existing condition is. And then secondarily, I think. What we are trying to wrap our heads around is the scope for, and this would be a bit of a zoom out, Steve, but once the buildings are, once the existing warehouse building is demolished, that obviously leaves a long exposed wall for the existing self-storage building. We would plan to finish that wall in some way. It is currently a CMU wall on the inside of that building. There will be plans to go in and improve the exterior condition of that wall. We'll obviously make sure that the demolition is done safely, but in terms of the aesthetics, just finishing that wall and making sure that all the tie downs for the roof and everything related to the waterproofing of that building is done properly. So, there will be some improvements as a result, not only of the demolition of the existing building, but also of the site work that we're planning to do that will allow us to address the front entrance to that building a bit. And I don't want to derail this the conversation that's specific to the residential property but we're in the process of working on some drawings for that that we would discuss with the city separately just to help understand the pathway for that building as it gets to the point where some of that work becomes accessible.
[Yvette Velez]: And I don't know, again, how the building operates. So I will admit that I am naive or ignorant of like how this business operates. But I just think of my own experience and where I had grown up. And I recall like industrial buildings, you know, the workers would step outside and they'd have spaces to congregate outside, you know, with smoke breaks and lunch breaks and things of that nature. Is this the type of place that needs those things? And if they do, where does that happen? And will that be interacting with the neighborhood? Because now it's no longer enclosed. It's commercial. It's a neighborhood. Sure.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: No, it's a helpful question. So the existing use of that building is as a self-storage site, which for us means that it's fairly low maintenance in terms of on-site workers. It's not production work going on, more just general management and oversight of of people, the ins and outs of people that are accessing their private storage cages. So, it's a pretty low intensity in terms of on-site workers and, you know, the requirement of any off-site congregation areas for them isn't something that we think is necessary inside the building. There's an office and a break room and things of that nature, a management office. So generally speaking, we feel like with the type of use that that building presents and the type of oversight that you have with the few number of employees that are there, I wouldn't expect the situation that you mentioned to be something that occurs.
[Yvette Velez]: Thank you. I don't have any other questions or comments.
[Mike Caldera]: All right. Thank you. Other questions or comments from the board? Seeing none, I think what makes the most sense organizationally is we're going to vote to open public comment on the civil presentation. And then after public comment on civil, we'll go to beta for the traffic peer review. So chair awaits a motion to open public comment on the traffic the civil engineering presentation.
[Adam Hurtubise]: So moved.
[Mike Caldera]: Do I have a second?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Second. Second. Great. And we'll take a roll call. Yep. Yvette?
[Yvette Velez]: Aye.
[Mike Caldera]: Andre? Aye. Jim? Aye. Jamie? Aye. Mike? Aye. All right, folks, we're now taking public comment on the civil engineering update we received today. Oh, yeah. Cliff, please go ahead.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_06]: Hi, everybody. I'm Cliff Bomer. I'm the architectural peer reviewer, and thank you very much for the presentation. I did have a couple questions that could come up. I know that we're looking at another working session, which I think is terrific and really look forward to that. I just have a couple of civil questions, maybe back into it. I think on the EV parking, I actually don't remember where Medford is as far as adopting the opt-in code, but do take note that the The opt-in code has very specific requirements for EV parking spaces, and they're very different. It's kind of a big leap from where the rest of the codes have been. I believe that what the opt-in code does require is that 20% of the parking spaces have to be wired, I think is the term, for EV parking. So I don't want to represent myself as an authority on the specialized code, but do look into it because if that is adopted by the city before you're into the permitting process, that could become a very real issue. The other, two other, three other comments. One is I appreciate the The circulation diagrams and knowing that I think what's on the agenda for the next working session are some of the topics that came up as far as articulation of the building facades. And I do see the. Secondary entries as good opportunities for areas to create a little more volumetric interest in the facades of the building. So I've just put that out there as an opportunity. Potentially even, I think, Andre's points about public artwork. There is that long facade that is open to the parking level, the long amaranth, which is a great opportunity for mural space, I think, along there, which could really enrich what I think is a really nice idea for the landscaping plan along that side of the building. I think there's great opportunities there. Two other quick comments. One is that, I don't think any of the plans we looked at tonight reflected the idea that I know we have discussed about trimming the northwest corner of the building. We have looked at volumetric studies that I think were really effective at kind of chopping that northwest corner off so it's not quite as prominent. So I'll just put that out there. I don't know if that was intentional or just a coordination issue with between civil and architectural at this point. And then the last one is I'm not a traffic guy and I could be behind on a presentation or maybe even two, but I thought there was discussion about the entry where the drop-off is on the north side of the building, there was some discussion about making the road that separates the existing building from the new building, making that first 100 feet of it or so one way northbound so that people wouldn't pull in off Myrtle into the drop-off area and then proceed to the parking garage entry on the east side of the building from there. I apologize if I missed other conversations about that, and I want to emphasize I'm not a traffic person, so I don't know that there's any concern at all relative to the volume of cars that could use that as an entry point. But otherwise, that was all I picked up on from a civil perspective, and I really do look forward to another working session and appreciate the applicant's willingness to keep pushing into the architecture of the building that's going to link in with the landscape and civil plans.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you, Cliff. So since there are a couple items there that were more clarifying questions about some ongoing discussions in the working groups, is there someone who wants to speak to that?
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_10]: Pat, if you want me to start, I'll go in reverse order and hit more of the circulation question that Cliff just raised, really on the ceremonial entrance. I'll share my screen again, just again, so I can point and make sure we're all on the same page here. I believe what the comment was is this section of roadway, did that want to be one way, one direction or the other, or at least inbound towards the entrance, I think was the conversation. And we went back and forth on this. And ultimately, we believe that should be a two-way section. And the reason being is if a car comes in to drop off, say, drop off or pick somebody up, it would be more a drop off situation. Somebody's got grocery bags, they drop them off at the main entrance, it's raining, they run in the front door, and then The drop-off person could then come around and go anywhere down behind the building and find their parking space and go in whatever other door, depends on what parking was available. So we think it's an opportunity to come in, whether it's into the garage, if they're going to the garage, they're probably not dropping off. But if they were parking on the outside, it gives the opportunity for somebody not to go back out on Myrtle Street, take a ride on the Fellsway and come back in a different entrance. So we think it's an important feature, especially if it's a short-term visitor, somebody coming to view the property and those four drop-off spaces, say those were all occupied, that person would then have to leave and come around to the Fellsway to come in and find another space somewhere on the property and we thought those are unnecessary trips on those adjacent roads and keep those internal to the site. So we did, it was discussed, you're not misremembering that, but as we went through the iterations and the traffic engineers did some analysis and about 90% to somewhere in that range of their study would come in other entrances. They think it's somewhere around 10% would come to this entrance. It really is those first-time visitors. So we think based on a low volume and creating the opportunity to not go back out on the Fells Way was important to keep that two-way. So that was our thinking.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_06]: Thanks for that.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, I can jump in just quickly on I'll continue to work in in reverse order. I was taking notes. So, the corner of the, the, the Northwest corner of the building cliff, just sorry if there's any confusion here. We are. bifurcating the design process in a way so we are looking specifically at the ground level plan i think this is the comment that you're making we have made the modification to the to the residential portion of the building so at the ground level the building the building footprint is as represented, and then above that level, the building steps back. That corner steps back, I should say. It's an inverted corner. So that is consistent with the presentation that we made previously at our previous architecturally focused hearing and in our previous peer review. So we haven't walked that backwards and brought the building back out. It's just you're just looking at the ground floor plan. So that's the hopefully the confusion that we're able to clear up there. I'll keep going, public art along Emirates. Very, very much noted, as I mentioned earlier, I think there was another comment to that. That's something that we intend to talk through at the upcoming peer review session. That was something that we sort of thought of in the architectural peer review umbrella and happy to have the suggested locations. I think whether it's public art. Um, structures along the winding pathway, or it's something along the building itself. You know, I think we're definitely open to ideas and want to make this a welcoming property and something that that the city is proud of and public art related to that is something that we're open to. And then, lastly, on the parking, that's a helpful commentary cliff. I think we definitely got a lot of feedback on that tonight and. As I mentioned, just the takeaway for me was for us to do a bit more homework on that. I can't reference the specific code directive for EV parking, but by the time we meet next, our team will be able to do that.
[Mike Caldera]: Great. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. All right. So folks, we are open for public comment. So if you're a member of the public who would like to speak on civil engineering matters, you can raise your hand on zoom, turn on your camera and raise your hand, you can type something like that. You can also email Dennis D. McDougal at Medford dash ma.gov. I see we have an Allison D. Please go ahead, state your name and address for the record.
[MCM00001504_SPEAKER_11]: Hi everybody, Allison D'Agostino. I represent 1022-1024 Fellsway of the D'Agostino Family Trust. Thank you all. I actually have a lot of comments right by a lot of labeled number them and questions. I'm going to try and just be as organized as possible. Just to start off, if I can help it all. I do know a little bit about the bus stop situation. So I'm just going to start there. My understanding there is a bus stop location. It's actually on the other side of the Fellsway. So right now, children have to cross basically where Myrtle Street is, walk all the way across the Fells Way. So that is quite a busy road. And pretty much directly across where the current curb cut is on the Fells Way for the storage property, that's where children wait. And then there's also another bus stop location all the way at the end of Myrtle. Because again, this is industrial, right? So there's no kids being picked up here. My understanding, it's at the corner of Myrtle and Spring Street, if that's helpful. So just leading up there. A few comments. So first off, thank you to the board and obviously Davis Company. I was actually someone who met with Pat. It was a great meeting and I do appreciate the time. So one thing just leading off comment-wise, I think it's a bit misleading that, you know, I think, especially at the beginning of the project, we discussed how Myrtle Street would be kind of, you know, we're trying to drive traffic away, hearing tonight that the, you know, the address of the property will be at Myrtle. And, you know, it's a little bit far-fetched for me to believe that folks will drive past Myrtle then and actually utilize the Fellsway entrance as prescribed. But again, that's just a comment. I wish I heard different tonight. The other piece was I really appreciated the, you know, attempt to enlarge Myrtle Street. I think the biggest point that I still am unclear about is if we're not relocating the utility poles, anybody who lives off of that street can tell, you know, they're Large, there's quite a few. There's more than is illustrated on that illustration, I guess is the best way to put it. So while I appreciate it, if the utility poles are not moved in conjunction, you're not enlarging that street sufficiently. And obviously the intersection at Fellsway and Bernal cannot be enlarged because we've already discussed with the Walsh property. Not really a solution there. The other comment, though, I really appreciated Davis company coming with the amount of parking spaces. Also, the dog park for me, those are my top 2 concerns just for public record. There is already no spillover parking in this area. It's heavily congested. In snow emergencies, folks are fighting over spaces, much like Southie, which I also used to live in. So not that I used to do that by any means. So very heavily congested. Also, the potential of having 289 dogs introduced into the area. While I appreciate green space, I think focusing more on dog space or that is much more high priority to me than a playground or a park of a different form. So I just want that to be common. I'm very appreciative that they are trying to over park based on requirements because it's needed. There is no spillover and I need to be able to get out of my driveway every day. So those are my comments, my questions, just so I don't take too much time. I do think that my question was, it was a little unclear with Warren Street. It doesn't seem to be included in these illustrations. That is a crossing traffic road. So it's a one-way street, crosses into Myrtle, right at that intersection of Amaranth. I do think that is, my question really is, is that something still under consideration? That intersection to me is very dangerous. It's dangerous now. So, my question to the Davis company, or even to the board, it's just is that something we're still considering. As far as safety concerns, my 2nd question was just a clarification on the townhomes a little unclear. Are there driveways. Directly onto myrtle or internal to the property. And my third question was just the parking spaces around the whole building exterior outside the garage, but specific to the back loading areas. It seems unclear. Could a truck pull in? Could a truck, you haul truck with a ramp? Could you pull the ramp down? Could you unload safely? I may have lived here in this home for a while, but I used to move every year outside of college. So I remember that being a challenge, being able to move. into buildings with parking lots. So these trucks cannot access the garage. My concern and question is really, have you accounted for the amount of length of space for a moving truck with a ramp? So that was a lot. Thank you very much. And again, thank you always for the time.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you. Yeah, so there were a few questions. There was a question about the moving trucks, about Lawrence. Would the applicant like to speak to that?
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_10]: Yeah. Do you want to go, Pat? moving trucks and parking. The moving trucks, there is that whole length along the back of the building. You can fit quite a few trucks back there. We don't expect it to be a lot of trucks back there because property management really will we'll manage the moves, move in, move out. And we think there's more than sufficient space to handle some of those peak moving conditions. So, we have been looking at that and we'll continue to work with the operations team to understand that. For the townhomes, just to clarify, all the driveways are internal to the site. There's no driveway curb cuts or access out onto Myrtle Street. It's all from the backside, the internal site driveways. Then I think that if you want to give an update on Florence Street, I know that's being looked at.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's a timely question that, so generally the answer is yes. I think we, so we are in the process now, and I don't know if Jeff from Beta will conclude the hearing with some of his comments, but we received a bunch of comments back from Beta on the traffic and are reviewing those. And as a part of that, there are a number of recommended mitigations that we are being asked to consider and some additional things that we're asked to study. I don't know off the top of my head without the report in front of me if Lawrence Street is on there, but generally, I think traffic in the area and mitigation for the area is considered broadly, not just for Myrtle or Amaranth. I would think that Lawrence might be on there. I would have to double-check, but the short answer to your question is yes. The mitigation packages for traffic in the area are something that we're continuing to work through with our team and the peer review team.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_10]: And thank you for the bus stop feedback. I appreciate that.
[MCM00001504_SPEAKER_11]: You're welcome. I mean, it's as accurate as I know. My neighbor has a couple of kids, so I see them go every day. So and thank you very much for the clarification and comments. Thanks, everybody.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you. Other comments from members of the public on civil engineering matters. Uh, yes, we have, uh, Christina catch.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Mike Caldera]: I think second time in a row getting it right.
[MCM00000654_SPEAKER_00]: Christina catch one 30 Myrtle street. I have questions for the board first and then some questions about what was discussed with civil. Have we informed the Amaranth condo individuals of these meetings? Because for all the ones I've been in, no public commentary has ever come from that address. So I want to make sure if they're in the splash zone for this thing, that they've been given the emails, the flyers, what have you, to have their voice heard. And then second was We've been hearing a lot from Pat today as well as past meetings about this management company that's going to be managing the property. A lot of the questions have been deflected to, well, the management company will handle that, the management company will handle that, the management company will handle that. I'd like to see the board maybe consider bringing them in for one of the sessions. So after Davis has erected the building, The residents have some form of comfort from the people that are going to be owning it and managing it day to day of their experience, how they're planning to handle things like the moving truck, how they're going to handle any possible graffiti that's showing up on the artwork or in the playground, and how they're going to clean it. So I just wanted to throw that out as a suggestion. And then my comments for what we reviewed earlier What I heard for parking is that there is currently, on Myrtle Street, 330 feet of parking space. So you understand that when you're speaking to us and telling us that you've, quote, increased it to 370, you have not increased parking on Myrtle Street. Between Amaranth and Myrtle Street, you have increased parking. But you have not increased parking on Myrtle Street. And as a Myrtle Street resident, I'm very concerned about when plowing is happening and we have snow emergencies, because now I'm going to have to park over around on Amaranth. I live alone. I don't love the thought of coming home late at night seeing that the residents have taken up the parking on Myrtle, and I have to park around the corner at Amaranth and walk home. And I assume that you will be, because all of these companies and all of these luxury apartments do charge for parking for their residents, they will figure out Amaranth and Myrtle is free, and they will take our spots. So I just want to let you know that the $130,000 to $170,000 improvement that you were pitching for Myrtle Street was really misleading, and it caught on to it. And then finally, I really thought we were starting to get to a place where you were listening to the residents. So I'm very disappointed to hear that we are no longer diverting traffic away from Myrtle Street, which Allison just commented on. And what Cliff also mentioned was we were informed in a prior meeting that residents were not going to be able to access the garage from Myrtle Street. That was a little cul-de-sac roundabout for drop in, drop off, pull back out. So I just wanted to express my disappointment that things I felt were being listened to were backtracked in this particular call. Thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you. Yeah, so on the topic of the The access, I think that's something we're going to be covering in the update from peer review. So I don't know if the applicant wants to speak to that at all. I know you already kind of mentioned the rationale for that. So it's something we'll get feedback from beta on as well. And then on the, sorry. getting a brain fart. So there was the, oh, snow. Yeah, we haven't really talked about snow. So snow removal and things of that nature. And I know there's some covered parking for the residents. But what is the, I think it would be helpful for the board to understand now or in a future hearing, what is the plan for snow events? And then also the, shoot. Sorry, Christina, what was the third one I missed?
[MCM00000654_SPEAKER_00]: If you're talking about the parking, it was the snow, then my assumption, because all these luxury apartments do it, they're going to charge for parking. And I'm sure the covered spaces will be more, and the lot will be less. But eventually, the residents will figure out Amaranth and Myrtle is free.
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, that's right. So not that one. So that one I understood and got. It was the operation and management. Oh, yes. The last 40B, we did get some details on the operation and management plan for the building. My understanding is that Davis Companies does intend to operate this. Is that correct? Or did I misunderstand that?
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: So the Davis Companies has a property management function, but it does not extend to residential properties. I see. So we're, as a part of this, and Christina, this is just to maybe take a half a step back, In providing some of the responses, the intent is not to punt on giving a straight answer. It's trying to give the best answer that I can in the moment. I think some of the work that I've been able to do on a project at this stage, at this level of design, consulting with our property management team internally and asset management team that really focuses a little more on residential, but also having conversations with property management groups that we do engage with in the operation of some of our residential properties. We have not executed any contracts with property managers for this project yet, so I don't have a specific team that I could bring on board and ask to present at this time. Mr. Chair, if there's a I will look into your reference for your previous 4DB project for what was provided, and if there's something similar that we can provide, we will certainly do that to try to answer as many operationally focused questions as honestly and with as much information as possible. Some of the questions are challenging for me to give a concrete answer for. So for snow removal, for example, I think it would be a case-by-case situation depending on the amount of snow. There are green spaces along the site that snow could be moved to and located to in a storm. And then if there are storms of a significant amount of snow, In speaking to the property management company, what does happen is they coordinate the snow to be taken off site. So I can't specifically say what that threshold is or how frequently that would happen. It would be somewhat case by case. So I guess to summarize, If I can take a look at and go through the records and find what was provided by the applicant of the previous 40B, we can do some homework and try to provide some information on how the building could be operated so there's more information there. I'm not trying to be not trying to be in a position where people feel like we're not being transparent about that. So hopefully that answers at least some of the question. And I'm sorry if you felt like the reference to the property management group is a punt on our part. That's certainly not the intent.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you yeah if you could review the what we received in the prior application and just check what details you are able to provide I understand it's a different circumstance because in that case it was a situation where the. The applicant did intend to operate the building itself. But yeah, these details were helpful both to the board as well as to the residents. And so yeah, if there are things you know now that are a similar level of detail, that would certainly be helpful. We can absolutely do that. OK, thank you. comments from members of the public. I see someone named Brendan. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Hi, this is, well, there's three of us, Maureen, Brendan, and Paul, all at 132 Myrtle Street.
[Mike Caldera]: Could you also state your last names for the record?
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Terenzi.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, thank you.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: And I want to elaborate on something that I think Andrew mentioned earlier in terms of the e-bikes and the electric, the parking for electric vehicles. I mean, there is a similar concern for the electric vehicles and fire as there is for the e-bikes. As of right now, like you say, a lot of towns, and I know this is not unique to Medford or this property that we're talking about, but you know, regular fire, departments and fire trucks do not put out an electric car fire. So a lot of times they have to go to like Massport to get it. So I just want to put that out there as a concern as well as we're talking about how many electric spots are required. And I think the other one that I want to call out, which has been said by Christina, and it's been said by Allison, but is the concern regarding the parking and the ability to pull out of our driveways. I know it's been mentioned, but I just want to state it again for the record that if the traffic is increasing on Myrtle Street with Myrtle Street being the address. And even having the drop-off and pickup area on Myrtle Street, you have that many residents, how many Uber Eats drivers? You're going to have multiple people at a time, not just one or two pulling in. And that's just, you can see it from other friends I visited apartments I've been to. I mean, in these units, that happens. And I don't want to see Myrtle Street, because that is the drop-off and pickup area, become a parking lot as people are waiting to get into that spot. then now you're blocking traffic on the road. So those are my thoughts.
[Mike Caldera]: OK. So you mentioned three names. Did anyone else sitting with you want to speak?
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Oh, I'm speaking on behalf. Actually, Paul had one other comment too. He was saying that at one time we were talking about really the Myrtle Street exit or entrance being more like of an emergency type exit only and not so much as a front facing. And if it's really just a requirement for the fire department, you can actually close that and have, you know, direct the traffic to the Fellsway.
[Mike Caldera]: Just so I'm clear, when you say close it, do you mean physically or by traffic?
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Something like that, that they have access to, so that it's really not an entrance to the property and you really are forcing traffic to use the Fellsway.
[Mike Caldera]: I see. Okay. Thank you. All right, do we have other members of the public who would like to speak on this matter? Seeing none, the chair awaits a motion to close public comment on this civil engineering presentation. So moved. Second. I see a hand. from the planning department? Yes, Dennis.
[Denis MacDougall]: Sorry, that's me. I forgot I had my camera off. Just one of the comments that Christine made earlier about notification, everyone within 300 feet of the property, so that includes everybody on those, you know, the condos on Amaranth, they were all notified at the beginning of this project. So that's pretty much what the notification is that, you know, that we do. And so if We can't really say why none of them have been coming to these meetings, but they were all notified at the start of the project.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you, Dennis. All right. So we have a motion currently without a second to close the public portion. OK. Looks like we have a second from Jim. We're going to take a roll call. Jamie? Aye. You're on mute, Jim, but I saw you say hi. OK. Andre? Hi. Zet?
[Yvette Velez]: Hi.
[Mike Caldera]: Mike, hi. OK, great. So now, thank you, Jeff, for waiting. Let's get to the traffic peer review.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_05]: OK. Is it OK if I share my screen?
[Mike Caldera]: Please go ahead.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_05]: Okay. And I apologize if my connection gets a little unstable. Can you see that?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yes.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_05]: Okay. So, good evening. Just back to this and baby group. Perform the evaluation of the traffic impact study. And to start the process, we conducted site visits to observe transportation traffic conditions, reviewed the impact study by Van Essen Associates, the project plans by Polar Engineering, and we reviewed all modes of transportation, not just traffic, but pedestrians, bicycles, transit. We also have some overlap with the site civil, so you see some things here on the site plan, internal circulation, loading and deliveries, and the transportation demand management plan. And overall, the traffic study was done according to the state and industry professional standards that we have, and it was a comprehensive report. So I'll be summarizing the comments that we had. Several of the comments ask for additional information, ask for clarifications. We talk more about off-site deficiencies, potential improvements. And I appreciate the presentation. By bowler, so several of the comments that we made, I think we're answered actually in that presentation today. So I appreciate that. So maybe a little redundant. Some of the issues we talk about, so then this goes in the pretty much the order of the traffic impact study. So study area, there's comprehensive assessment of intersections across the area. And that's a little hard to read. The 1 intersection, I would say, consider for inclusion is the only 1 that signalized that wasn't included, which is 4th street. Um, it feels way circled here, so it's it is signalized with pedestrian crossing. So that would be the only location. I think you might want to consider looking at. So, for existing conditions, the traffic volumes were collected on January 11th. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was the 15th. Just like to get some response and if there was any expected impact of that Monday holiday from the Thursday counts. Then traffic was collected and summarized. We'd like to get some more information on the trips that are generated by the existing site uses. So, just some information on the existing conditions for pedestrians in the area. We did do an inventory ourselves observations just noted. There's no pedestrian signals at the signal as intersection of central and spring street, which is a study intersection. Several of the intersections in the area are missing crosswalks and detectable warning panels, which are required to be ADA compliant, including the intersection of Myrtle, Amaranth, and Lawrence Street. So those are just some observations and notes. On the safety side, there are several intersections that have safety crash histories in the area. As I just mentioned, Central and Spring has 13 crashes. More importantly, the crash rate exceeds the MassDOT District 4 and statewide average, which raises it to a level of concern. Fellsway and Riverside have 31 crashes in five years. It's been identified by MassDOT as a high crash cluster, which makes it eligible for a road safety audit, which was conducted in 2019 and is identified as a safety issue. Fellsway Central and Medford Street has 23 crashes in five years. And we'd just like some more information on the crash types in the area on pedestrian and bicycles in these areas. Parking, we're asking if there's information on on-street and on-site parking occupancy today for existing conditions, you know, percent those spaces are occupied on the adjacent streets and on the site itself would be helpful to know that information. Future conditions, so let me 1st, talk about trip generation and the distribution assignment of trips. So, about 90 vehicle trips were estimated to be generated by the project and both the weekday morning and afternoon commuter peak hours. We think that's a reasonable number. We'd like a little more information on number of truck trips, including that number. Pedestrian trips, bicycles and transit. So, if those can be broken out and identified, that would be useful. A 5% future bicycle split was used for calculations. We think that might be a little high. The overall Medford mode split, I think, citywide is 1%. So I'd like to know if a lower mode bicycle mode split was assumed for calculations, how much would that change the vehicle trip generation? A lot of trips are shown on Fells Way making a U-turn at Central Avenue to come back to the site. I'd like to know if there's alternative routes that traffic may use instead of that, recognizing there's some delay and congestion on that movement, particularly in the afternoon, such as Riverside Avenue, a left onto Riverside, or even using I-93 as an alternative route. And would some of that traffic use I-93 instead of using Fells Way? Um, there's a table shown in the report identifies project traffic increases, but it doesn't. Identify the roadways close into the site, such as Fellsway, Myrtle, Pinker, Lawrence and spring. So I'd like to have that information quantified on the traffic volume increases on those roadways adjacent to the site. A project parking that's been discussed a little bit with the parking ratio of 1.14. We just want to make sure that this is the right number and it's adequate to meet the anticipated parking demand of the site. You know, noting that, you know, we want to make sure we get it right. So if there's, you know, if there's enough parking and so it doesn't spill over, you know, into the neighborhoods and adjacent roadways. We saw the 4 visitor spaces in the front, the drop off area. We think that might be a little low. Um, so we'd also like some information more on visitor spaces themselves. Not just the short term drop off, but if people are visiting residents in the complex, where are they going to park if they're parking for several hours? If they're parking long term, or they're actually parking overnight. So, like, some discussion about how those. Visitor spaces will operate and be managed by the site. In the proposed parking spaces, the new spaces on Amaranth, just the intention of those spaces, I know they're available for the public, but are those supposed to be used by visitors of the site? So kind of what the use of those spaces is intended for. Intersection capacity analysis was performed. Traffic engineers use what's called level of service for intersections. It's similar to a report card, which A, is excellent conditions with little delay or congestion. E and F are deficient. F is the worst or failure with long delays, congestion and queuing. So, you know, we were out there, we saw congestion on the Fellsway, primarily southbound in the morning, northbound in the afternoon. The intersections of Fellsway, Central and Fellsway and Riverside currently operate at level service F, meaning they have one or more movements that are failing overall at level service F. And those conditions are exacerbated for the no-build future condition and build condition with the project. The project will have some notable increase at Fellsway at Central with the delays increasing on the Central Avenue eastbound approach. Some of these things have been addressed. Even tonight, I saw the spaces up in the right-hand corner here. I think we're for lot A for the storage facility. Thank you for providing that. Also, the access to the building and the spaces around the site, and that was shown tonight too, so that was great. The connection to the future bike trail path here was shown. I think those are all taken care of. And just a clarification on the on-street spaces, the new spaces on Myrtle Street and Amherst. I know they're available to the public, but who would have jurisdiction over those spaces? Would they actually be the city or would those be under private jurisdiction? So just a little more clarification on those spaces. In itself, we talked to wider on the site plans, the widths of travel lanes. And on street parking should be provided excuse me. Bicycle parking for residents and visitors was talking about just to clarify the number of parking spaces. Snow storage areas should be shown for the site itself. I know someone's talking about Myrtle Street, but also need to know where snow is going to be stored within the site. So a transportation demand management program was developed. And these programs, the focus is to reduce the number of travel by automobiles, particularly single occupant vehicles. And we've identified a few other areas to consider or measures of this program. You might have talked about this a little before. Will the cost of parking be unbundled from the cost of the lease of parking? So I didn't hear that tonight, but maybe there's further discussions on that. I know there's tradeoffs on which may be better for the site. May want to consider providing transit subsidies or blue bike membership to residents as a TDM measure. You showed the blue bike station, so that's great taking care of that. And a consideration given to, should any car share spaces be provided on site, such as a zip car for car sharing. So offsite improvements as proposed by the project, we talked a little bit about the bus waiting area. The existing onsite parking spaces near the MBTA bus stop would be reconfigured and landscaping as we were shown tonight, as well as the new parking spaces, the widening of the right-of-way on Amaranth and Myrtle Street, or better, on-street parking and sidewalks. So we identified some other measures just for consideration for improvements. And these are primarily off-site locations. And many of them are at the intersections that I talked about that experience either safety or operational deficiencies. First is Fellsway Riverside Ave. So I mentioned it's identified a high crash cluster intersection operates at level service F. There were countermeasure, safety countermeasure improvements identified as part of that road safety audit, including signal optimization, advanced left turn phasing and clearance time. So those things can be considered. Central Avenue and Spring Street has a high crash rate. Consideration can be given to upgrading the signal equipment, which is old and providing pedestrian signals, which are are provided today. Fellsway and Central and Medford Street, again, operates at level service F conditions in both peak periods, can look at, provide signal timing optimization. The northbound left turn line gets blocked a lot of times, particularly during the afternoon peak hour, so vehicles can't get into that lane until the through movement clears. Is there any feasibility for extending that northbound left turn lane on the Fells Way? Fellsway and Myrtle Street, so there's a long crosswalk across the Fellsway. As we know, there's a lot of traffic and high speeds, so consideration can be given to rectangular rapid flashing beacon, which is a pedestrian safety measures and makes motorists more aware. We just want to evaluate, is it feasible, you know, to provide a break in the median in either a traffic signal or northbound left turnpocket? I know there's trade-offs with this, you know, plus and minus in doing that, but is there any type of, enough of a benefit to even consider this type of measure here?
[Unidentified]: Myrtle, Amherst, and Lawrence
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_05]: Street right at the project, the configuration is awkward. The arrangement of streets in 1 way, and it's confusing for motorists as well as pedestrians. I know the project has proposed a couple of extensions and crosswalks. I think it may deserve a little more attention to this intersection. I know Lawrence was mentioned also. Additional curb extension potentially on the southwest corner or maybe even raising the intersection. I think it's an important gateway adjacent to the project and then the neighborhood. It's an opportunity to provide traffic calming, slow vehicles down and improve pedestrian circulation and safety in this area. Just a few other comments. The existing bus shelter on Fells Way in southbound direction adjacent to the site, it's just really in fair condition. It's really rudimentary shelter. I think there should be consideration given to improving that bus shelter. Um, wayfinding signage plan should be developed. The project progresses to show clearly where residents, visitors and deliveries will access and regress the site. The pavement condition on Amherst, south of Myrtle Street is in poor condition. So that street should be considered for repaving as part of the project. Traffic management plan for construction will really have to be developed, showing the impacts on the neighborhood. And the last comment is an access construction permit will be required from DCR because the project is changing in nature. And the access and egress onto Fellsway will require a permit from DCR. So that's a summary of our comments. There's more, and some of them are small, but in detail. in the review letter that we provided. And so thank you very much. And I can answer any questions that you have.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you. So before we go to board questions, I just want to double check my understanding with Pat Newton. So Pat, in general, were any of these items you wanted to speak to today or these updates we'll get in a future session of the year?
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we did not plan on addressing these comments this evening. So we would we will have a more formal response to be to provide in the future.
[Mike Caldera]: Sounds great. All right. In that case, I will open it up to questions from the board.
[Adam Hurtubise]: On the peer review feedback for traffic.
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, I see Chris, please go ahead.
[Chris D'Aveta]: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not sure I've been having some medical problems. Can you hear me? Okay. Yes, we can hear you. Okay, thank you. Yeah, I'm looking at the site plan earlier, just in the circulation of the whole site. I guess it's similar.
[Adam Hurtubise]: traffic into those three areas that are in your video. Yeah, it's cutting out midway through your sentence. Oh.
[Chris D'Aveta]: OK. Is that any better? Yes. All right. Yeah, I was just thinking about the circulation in general as with the plan. have the least resistance when they're going to the garage. And so, the bottom line is that, you know, the ambulance is going to attract the most people to the garage when they're coming out.
[Yvette Velez]: Hey, Chris, I think we need to put you on pause and ask you to put it in the chat, because I personally could not hear that. I don't know how others felt.
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, we're still cutting in and out a little bit. Okay.
[Chris D'Aveta]: Okay. All right. I will do that. I'll put it in the chat.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[Andre Leroux]: I'm, I'm like, I'm just wondering, um, in terms of a, of a question for, for Jeff. So we've heard some comments tonight about this concern with the address being on Myrtle Ave. Um, and I'm wondering whether, you know, you'd have recommendations specifically, I know you said wayfinding, like what kind of signage might be able to be on the Fellsway entrance to, you know, make sure that that's the main entrance to the project. I don't know if you have any thoughts about that.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. So we'd be looking for a signage plan that would direct residents and visitors and deliveries to and from the site. Of course, the residents, once they're there, they're going to know how to get in and out. You know, a lot of where we're going to direct visitors, you know, to, you know, the park from so it's probably a combination of different types of signs could be monument signs could be other other signs, but it would show, you know, particularly access. Into the site and where where to park, depending on. who you are and then exit where we want to direct those trips out of the site. I think Fells Way will be the major entrance, but I think it was a good point about the address. If someone types the address into Waze and they're not familiar with the site, it's going to route them to Myrtle Street, may not be the place that we want them to go.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, thank you. I see Chris's comment is now in the chat, so I'm going to verbalize it. Does anyone have any idea of what percentage of exiting or entering traffic will use the Amaranth side of the garage? I agree with the consultant that the confluence of streets is a problem. So I think I saw in the transportation demand management plan that there were some percentages. I know we've got Scott on. I don't know if they reflect the latest updates to the, it's a different part of the property, but it's a two-way traffic. But yeah, maybe you could speak to that, Scott.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, sure. Thanks Mr. Chair. Scott Thornton with Vanessa Associates. So we did have an estimate of about 30, between 30 and 40 percent of the traffic would use the Amaranth Ave access and the idea behind that was just based on the proximity of the parking spaces to that location. Also, there's likely to be some traffic that wants to head to the west and could access points to get to 93, for instance. Some of those areas providing regional access to the area, depending on the time of day, could be more easily or quickly accessed headed through Amaranth and then returning, whether it's Myrtle Street or Lawrence Street out to Spring Street. But yeah, so somewhere in between 30 and 40 percent was the initial estimate. And I think that still holds with the latest plans that have been presented here tonight. We're not anticipating a major change from that distribution.
[Mike Caldera]: OK. Thank you. Chris, did you have follow-ups or additional questions?
[Andre Leroux]: Can I just follow up on that point that Chris made? So, you know, just looking at the circulation of the streets, I mean, I understand how a percentage of the traffic might exit on Amaranth and head west, but it's almost impossible, it seems, to approach the site from the west. And it seems like almost all of the traffic will have to come off of the Fellsway.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, we did, you know, the distribution was really based on, you know, where we think people are, or where census data indicates people work that live in the area. And that with the combination of the existing travel patterns is where we got the distribution. I do agree that at some times, It's going to be more efficient for people to use Fellsway if they're coming from the west or from the south. But that's not going to be the case during all periods of the day. So that's what the distribution is intended to address. it fits the likely, what we expect to be the pattern of the assignment, excuse me, the assignment of the traffic during all the time periods involved.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Okay, thank you. Andre, did you have any Follow ups on that one.
[Andre Leroux]: Not really. I mean, again, approaching the project from that way. I mean, it seems like the only way you can get to that entrance, you know, off of Amaranth is to come down Lawrence, wind your way through Amaranth place and the condo project, and then into the project off of Amaranth, which seems really circuitous and almost impossible for anybody not super familiar with that.
[Adam Hurtubise]: OK, thank you. Other questions from the board?
[Unidentified]: Jamie. On the intersection work, I guess my question is from the recommendations for improvement on lights, crosswalks that the beta brought up. How do we, where does that go? Is that something that goes to the city? Is that something that we partner with the applicant on to scope? I completely agree that all those intersections need work. I just don't know how we can attribute it.
[Mike Caldera]: So my understanding is it depends a little bit on the intersection. So I think the, the applicant could, in their response, indicate the intention to make some or all of those improvements. And in some cases, it would just require permission from the city. In other cases, it might be from the state, which is a little bit more complicated.
[Unidentified]: Yeah, the Spring Street Central intersection, I work over there, and that's a constant problem. And especially if you're talking pedestrians, there's a blue bike station up in Haines Square, so people might be using that. If the blue bike station's installed at the property, they obviously may come down that way. But if there's pedestrians walking through, if there's additional pedestrian traffic, that intersection's absolutely a concern. And they call it out, you know, lack of crosswalks, things like that. Yeah, it's definitely something I hadn't thought about, but obviously comes out with this study.
[Mike Caldera]: Thanks, Jamie. Jeff, do you have thoughts on that?
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_05]: Um, yeah, it depends on how the city wants to prioritize those, of course, fells ways under jurisdiction. So that's a little bit different. The intersections completely under city control are going to be easier for you to address. So, you know, central and spring, but, you know. and operations and delay congestion, which may affect safety also. But I think it's up to the city to determine what their priorities are in terms of what improvements they think are reasonable and has a nexus to the project.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Um, I'll, I'll go next. So I would really like to get to the bottom of whether this two way traffic, um, on the entrance on, um, on Myrtle street does or doesn't make sense. So I hear the resident concerns, uh, about. The current setup resulting in a lot of additional trips where before there was the understanding that great care was being taken to avoid that. I understand that there's a need for this to be open for fire access. But I'm just not clear from the information provided just how much of a problem this is going to be for the neighborhood. So yes, someone doing a drop-off. if it were closed off in some way, you may have to get back onto Myrtle in the one-way flow. And so I think streamlining for that, I certainly understand the design considerations there, but then it does seem like there's a risk here that with the two-way traffic, it's kind of opening the floodgate and kind of it's a step backwards from a trying to mitigate traffic on Myrtle Street standpoint. I would love to get thoughts on that, Jeff. I don't know if you've had the time to fully review that and have thoughts and comments ready to share on that or if that's something you need to think about more, but I would like to learn more about that.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_05]: You haven't have to think about that a little bit if the, you know, if the focus is to limit the number of trips on Myrtle street, you know, if you make it 1 way or, you know, make it 1 way in or. then you have to think about how those trips will circulate, you know, within the site and where they're going to, you know, whether they'll end up on Myrtle, you know, anyways, or, you know, if they're going to do Fellsway. So I think it's a good question. Probably have to do a little more evaluation, you know, in combination with, you know, Scott and Vaness and think about this and what the, What the impacts may be to, you know, if it's, you know, one way rather than two way. So again, it's a good issue. I think we'll need a little more discussion and evaluation of that.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, thank you. Other questions or comments from the board?
[Andre Leroux]: Yeah. And I'm sorry, Jeff, if I'm not remembering this and what you talked about, but. You know, the. The pedestrian crossing there at Fellsway and Myrtle, I mean, there's no, you know, there's no lights or any kind of pedestrian safety features there, except for a crosswalk and a very small median strip. And, you know, and it seems like. If we're going to have a lot more residents living on that corner. Uh, it's more important for there to be some kind of something there at that intersection to. To slow folks down or have, like, at least a pedestrian signal. So, you know, did you think about that and.
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, so, um, in 1 of my slides, I talked about, um, considering a rectangular rapid flashing beacon. Which is a pedestrian push button signal. So yeah, I think some enhancement of that crossing is needed, especially since there's bus stops on both sides. When I was out there, I saw people getting off the bus and crossing. So I think that's kind of the base level, rectangular rapid flashing beacon. To go further would be a full traffic signal, like they have at 4th Street. But I do think some level of enhancement is required for safety at that crosswalk.
[Andre Leroux]: Thanks. Sorry if I missed that.
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, I share the concerns about pedestrian safety at that crosswalk. Good point on the bus stops on both sides. So if we do have residents that are taking the bus in on their commute, presumably they'll be getting off the bus on the other side of Fells Way. And then the other thing, and I understand that there's elements of this that may just be hard to change in general, I do really worry about this expectation in the evening commute that the residents are going to drive up Fells Way, pass the project, do a U-turn. It's just going to be I could be wrong, but all the indications are getting seemed it to point to that this, this could be a problem. And so I, I just, I would love to know what can be done there. I understand it needs ECR permission, but you know, I, I am concerned about that.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Other questions or comments from the board?
[Andre Leroux]: Just I agree with what you're saying, Mike. I mean, I understand the butters concerns about increased traffic on Myrtle Street, but I think it's actually. Far more dangerous to have everybody do a U turn.
[Mike Caldera]: Well, I actually view the two as somewhat separate, because as I understand it, if you're heading north, which I think would be the most common mode, if you had to guess where people are going to work, it's probably somewhere in the urban core, I think you still have to do the U-turn. Or you have to do multiple side streets. So I think the Myrtle versus not, could impact a little bit more the departure from the property. But I think coming back, if you're heading north, a lot of folks, that U-turn is going to be their best option, even if it's two-way. Robert Parkhurst, PB – He, Him, His): All right, well I'm not seeing other members of the board that would like to speak on this matter. Robert Parkhurst, PB – He, Him, His.: : And so the To be safe, I think we should reopen public comment. I know we've had public comment on traffic before, but there's some new content we've discussed. I believe some of the members of the public who showed up here already shared their comments on the traffic. But yeah, I want to make sure we don't leave anyone out who was waiting to speak on this matter. So chair awaits a motion to open public comment on the traffic peer review. Do I have a second? Second. All right, we're going to take a roll call. Yvette?
[Yvette Velez]: Aye.
[Mike Caldera]: Andre? Aye. Jamie? Aye. Jim? Aye. Mike, aye. All right, public comment is now open on the traffic peer review comments. If you'd like to speak on this matter, please raise your hand on Zoom, turn on your camera, raise your hand, and type in the chat, or you can email dennisdmcdougallatmitford-ma.gov. I see we have Allison D. again, so please state your name and address for the record.
[MCM00001504_SPEAKER_11]: Thank you. Hi, Alison D'Agostino. I am representing 1022-1024 Pillsbury. Excuse me, I have a cold. But thank you for opening this back up. I just want to first comment, thank you for this peer review. The fact that all these intersections have been declared this F rating is, eye opening, and also seems very on point with what I experienced day to day. So one comment I just want to say, and thank you very much for raising it. I think obviously the intersection with Amaranth, Lawrence, Myrtle, very critical. And I'll tell you right now, I live one house in off the Fells Way to Myrtle, I have to, on a daily basis, look multiple times because someone's whipping around the corner to come down Myrtle Street. I've almost personally been hit by a car living here at least three or four times. So to me, the critical areas that I really would respect the board and others to look at, Davis Company, it's Myrtle and Fellsway, 100% the turnaround with Myrtle and, excuse me, the Fellsway and Central. With the Fellsway and DCR, they created these new like kind of pop-outs for walkways, which is great for pedestrians. But what it has caused is that that U-turn is not really accessible for larger vehicles. So I just wanted to raise that. as well as a concern. My husband, it's funny, in the presentation, his truck was the one that you guys saw, the Dodge Ram there. But he has to actually go down Central, down Kendall, down Myrtle to be able to come to our home, then down Amaranth with that little turnaround. back on the Fells Way to come to our home. So if any of these occupants of this building will have pickup trucks, larger vehicles, they cannot do the U-turn at the Fells Way and Central. I think you definitely need to consider that in your assessment. Anyways, my, my final comment is just thank you for even bringing this up, I really appreciate this about the board and and the Davis company I watched also extend they have been very. you know, vocal and helpful in trying to have these conversations. So I don't think that's come across this meeting. But from my opinion, as someone as a long term resident representing by a two year old mother in law who's owned this house for 50 plus years, you know, it really has been great. But to see that the traffic assessment is being taken very seriously at this point, especially Lawrence and Myrtle, Fellsway, I thank you very much. But just wanted to point that out, really the curb cutouts, the new, I guess, DCR code, I think needs to be considered because you can't even make a U-turn if you have a large vehicle at Central and Fellsway. So I'll stop there. Thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Christina Katch, name and address for the record, please.
[MCM00000654_SPEAKER_00]: Christina Katch, 130 Myrtle Street. I haven't said anything about this previously because I never thought we'd actually get to a point where we considered crosswalks and stop signs and the current state of driving in this neighborhood, including that U-turn at Central, Lawrence, We have a number of one-way streets in this neighborhood. You can only go up and down them in a certain way. As a long-term resident that has run literally thousands of miles on these streets, Allison, I'm going to start waving to you when I run by your house now. People do not stop at the stop signs. People do not stop at those flashing triangle crosswalks when I'm standing in them, when I take the bus to the train station, people do not stop on the Fells Way to let you cross. There's a couple of stop signs in the neighborhood, or excuse me, streetlights in the neighborhood that don't have pedestrian signals at all. You just kind of got a time when the red light is happening and when nobody's turning right so you don't get hit. So I'm glad that the conversation is coming up about pedestrian safety because it's rough out there in those streets for pedestrians. Not to mention the sidewalks are not great, but that's the town of Bedford.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Thank you. Do we have other members of the public that would like to speak on this matter?
[Mike Caldera]: Seeing none, chair awaits a motion to close public comment on the traffic peer review letter.
[Adam Hurtubise]: So moved. Second? Second. Take a roll call. Jamie? Jim? Beth? Aye. Andre?
[MCM00000653_SPEAKER_06]: Aye.
[Mike Caldera]: Mike? Aye. All right. public comment on this matter is now closed. Okay, so that brings us to the end of our planned items for tonight. And so I do just want to take a brief moment to level set on expectations for our next meeting.
[Adam Hurtubise]: So let's see, I'm just gonna pull it back up. All right. Sorry, it's just taking a minute. I should have had it open already. OK, here we go.
[Mike Caldera]: So in terms of the schedule we originally aligned on, we've talked about the architecture and initial peer review comments on that. We've talked about civil, but we don't have the initial peer review comments on that. We've now talked about traffic and the initial peer review comments on that. We've done multiple iterations on the architectural plans. So we still need to do the peer review comments on engineering. We need the updates to the architectural plans and the engineering to be reflected. And then the board needs to get to the requested waivers and proposed conditions. So there's a lot we need to do and not a lot of time. And so our next scheduled session is on April 22nd. My understanding is by then, we're going to have so that we will have the peer review feedback on civil. It sounds like before that meeting, but it's a little unclear how much before that meeting. The applicant will have had some time to review it, but may not have full responses ready. So it'll mostly be the applicant responses to the traffic peer review, the civil peer review, and maybe just general project updates. So I want to check in with Mr. Noon. Is that consistent with your plan and understanding?
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Um, I think so, um, so, uh, as we have been thinking about the next hearing, we've been putting some effort into prepare. For an architectural update, just having received those comments. Um. And scheduling a peer review session with with Mister bomber for for next week. Personally, I wasn't aware that the beta would be presenting this evening on the on the traffic items. So I think it does make sense for us having those comments to. Just with it fresh in everyone's mind to to, um, focus some attention in the in this in the hearing on the 20, I believe it's the 23rd, Mr. chair, just to confirm that as well. It's the 2 Tuesday.
[Mike Caldera]: The Tuesday. Yeah, that's Tuesday is the 23rd. Then I misspoke. So, yeah.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: uh... so at the i think at that hearing we uh... it would be our intention to try to have some response to the traffic i don't want to speak for scott i know that he's working through it and frankly we haven't had the chance to connect on uh... where he is in that process think we got those comments late friday evening last week uh... so a couple days into the review process so and if i may suggest uh... That we follow up with some sort of intended agenda if that's okay with the board. I think the idea would be to respond in some fashion to traffic and in some fashion to architectural architectural comments. Not having the civil comments, it's really hard to say if we could be ready for the 23rd for that. So some combination of traffic and architecture, I think would be the goal for us.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, that sounds reasonable to me. And yes, if you wanna follow up and confirm the agenda, that's much appreciated. Main thing I want us to be on the same page about is we're really gonna need all of the responses and plan updates to coalesce by that May 9th meeting to have any realistic shot of sticking to the May 21st closure. So, you know, if, as you discuss the schedule and get back to us, if it seems like we're getting into the territory where it may just not be feasible to provide all the requested information within the previously aligned timeline, certainly be willing to explore a very short extension beyond May 21st if that's the preference, but I'm just letting it be known now that to really stick to this May 21st date, we need the everything converged, and we're just talking about waivers and proposing by that May 9th date.
[FGwns8hP0DA_SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm understood. I think with peer review comments in hand for two of the three disciplines, if we can get civil soon, our team will certainly be diligent about making sure that we get submitted with responses and can provide information at the upcoming hearings to address comments and questions.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay. Great. Sounds good. Thank you. So that's all I had for logistical items. So if there's nothing else, we can move on to some of the administrative items on the agenda. So actually, before we do that, we've got to continue. So a chair awaits a motion to continue this matter to Tuesday, April 23rd at 6.30 PM. Do I have a second?
[Unidentified]: Second.
[Mike Caldera]: All right, we're going to take a roll call. Jamie? Aye. Jim? Aye. Yvette?
[Yvette Velez]: Aye.
[Mike Caldera]: Andre? Aye. Mike? Aye. All right. Uh, this matter is continued. Uh, thanks folks. We appreciate the update and the responses. All right. Uh, Dennis, could you please move on to the next item on the agenda?
[Denis MacDougall]: Sure. Sorry. When I restarted my computer, I had to, a lot of things kind of went off and I'm just realizing things are not up that were up before. But we have the administrative updates, so I think, since we have everyone on, do we want to sort of just discuss the timing for the other meeting? The email you sent out earlier?
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, sure. So I did get some responses. So there's, this is unrelated to the current, or you'll be hearing the The board does need to schedule an additional special meeting. So on April 3rd, the board received an application and a request for a hearing on the Mystic Ave 40B, which that one was remanded back to the board by the HAC. And so we need to reopen the hearing within 30 days. And due to the notice requirements, we're going to have to have that sometime basically the week of April 29th. And so I checked with the board on two candidate dates, April 30th and May 2nd. This would be a short meeting where we're not going to hear testimony. We're going to take some procedural steps and then continue. We might let the applicant introduce themselves. But so I heard back, and it looks like the availability is there on 4-30. So 4-30 will be the date for that special meeting. The only agenda item will be that case. Like I said, it will be a procedural meeting. So the board needs to consider whether to authorize the city to retain peer review consultants. I mean, talk about a 40B consultant and pick a date to continue the matter so that there's time to retain those consultants. So yeah. My estimate is we'll be able to do that in 30 minutes or less. but no promises, but Tuesday, April 30th, 6.30 is the chosen date. Does that sound good, Dennis?
[Denis MacDougall]: I will get the notice out to the paper tomorrow. Wonderful.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you. All right. Other administrative updates?
[Denis MacDougall]: I don't think there's anything else on my end.
[Mike Caldera]: All right. Well, in that case, what's the next item on the agenda?
[Denis MacDougall]: Just the approval of meeting minutes, which I believe I sent out. Yeah. The Google Drive where they are with the ones in the draft folder. as I have them. So that was the way I decided to approach it this time. So right now in the draft folder, there are the meeting minutes for 1-11-24 and 2-15-24. Yes.
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, that's consistent with my understanding. So I have had a chance to review them. Others, have you had a chance to review the meeting minutes for the 40B for January 11th and February 15th? I found the meeting minutes to be in order.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I prefer not to be the one making a motion from the chair and get away with it.
[Unidentified]: Motion to approve the minutes for January 14th, no, January 20th. Sorry. January 11th and February 15th. Motion to approve the meeting minutes for January 11th and February 15th. Do I have a second? Second.
[Mike Caldera]: All right, we're going to take a roll call. Yvette? Aye. Andre? Aye. Jim? Aye. Jamie? Aye. Mike? Aye. All right, the meeting minutes are approved. Thank you, Rachel and Dennis for that. All right. I think that brings us to the end of our agenda, correct? Correct. All right. Chair awaits a motion to adjourn.
[Unidentified]: Motion to adjourn.
[Mike Caldera]: Do we have a second? Second.
[Adam Hurtubise]: All right. We're going to take a roll call. Jamie? Aye.
[Mike Caldera]: Andre? Aye. Jim? Aye. That I always forget if I'm supposed to call everyone. So we're just going to do it, Chris. Hi, Mary. Hi, Mike. Hi. All right, you're adjourned.
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