[Jack Buckley]: The first order of business tonight actually before we get started that is a handicap parking sign request. I'm also been made aware that we have a. table business 2023 46 which is another handicap parking sign request and that petitioner from last month was unable to log in had some difficulties so he is here present tonight so what I suggest when I start I'm going to suggest to the commissioners as they do the first one that we pull the table item and handle both items first while the individual's here if that's acceptable to the commissioners. Okay, so 2023-57, Handicap, Hawkinside. Werner Cataway, 20 Lookout Road. Is the petitioner present? We're just gonna ask you to unmute yourself.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Tom Carroll is, I think, representing.
[Jack Buckley]: Mr. Carroll, we're gonna ask you to unmute. Okay, how's that? Perfect, thank you. Could you just present the petition for us and give us an idea of what you're looking for?
[SPEAKER_10]: Well, so it's my father-in-law. He's 92 years old, and he lives on Lookout Road, and he lives at 20 Lookout Road, and he doesn't have a driveway. And a couple of times he's come home, he normally is able to park in front of his house, but there have been times when he's come home, he still drives, he still does his own shopping, but one time, or a few times, people have been parked in front of his house. And now he's got to lug the groceries down the street. And so I said, you know, I've seen, you know, they have handicapped parking signs where they'll they'll reserve the spot for you. So I said, if you want, I'll submit the paperwork and see if if they if they agree with it. Like I said, he doesn't have a driveway. He's forced to park in the street. Other people, they have driveways, but a lot of times there's the number of people that can park in the driveway is limited, maybe only one or two cars. And they have kids now and the kids are driving as well, so.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay, I appreciate that presentation. Alva, is the paperwork in order and we received all documents necessary from the medical field?
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Yes, everything is in order.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay, so to the commissioners, all documents have been presented and are in order per the Secretary of the Traffic Commission. Commissioners, any thoughts, suggestions, questions?
[Alicia Hunt]: I think this is part of your paperwork, but I just want to confirm that he has a handicapped placard or license plate for the car that he drives, correct?
[SPEAKER_10]: He does. He does. And to be honest with you, that phone pole would be like the perfect spot. It's right on his property line. They could just put one there. What I would like to make sure that we don't do is that people who park behind him actually live across the street from him. And to be honest with you, he now, I mean, this is a picture I think from the wintertime, he actually brings his car further up where the front end is near the pole so that they can park behind him. And it does give them enough space. So there is a Lexus, I think, that she drives, and there's a pickup truck that her husband drives, right? So there's enough room. So I just wanted to make sure that... So the other thing is, let me back up a little bit. Is there two signs required? No. Oh, okay, good. Because what would be perfect would be just to put one on the pole and leave it and just so he can park on the pole and that will leave the room for the two people behind to be able to continue to park there because that's house beyond them. So that house that's in the main of the, that house beyond, they just expanded their driveway which began to lose additional parking spots on the street. It gets a little bit squeezed. As you can see, his truck is right against, you know, there's maybe two or three feet for them to be able to get in and out of their driveway. So my father-in-law normally just pulls the front end of his car up near the phone pole. And these two individuals, who are very good friends with him, they're able to park right behind him.
[Jack Buckley]: I think it's a reasonable request. I think that that is something that we'll look for anyway, as an opportunity to place it in a reasonable spot. Okay, good.
[Alicia Hunt]: The one other thing that we'd like to just make sure that you all are very aware of is that these are public handicap parking spots. You may have in the past years, a long time ago, they used to actually put an assignment number on them. We don't do that. These are public spots. If somebody else should be on his street and have a handicap placard, they could legally park there. And you should just be aware of that, that it's not a reserved for him spots.
[SPEAKER_10]: Okay, no, that's fine.
[Alicia Hunt]: That's fine. And in a neighborhood like this, I could imagine the only time that would ever happen is if they were visiting a neighbor, right? You're not near anything.
[SPEAKER_10]: Exactly, exactly. You know, one time when it happened a couple of years ago was somebody in one of these neighboring houses had a friend come up and dump their car and then they went away for the weekend. And the car sat there for three or four days. And, you know, it's just such a sensitive thing over there because it is, you know, it's a tough road. It's pretty filled with cars. So I just said, you know, let me see. Let me see if they'll do it. If they will, fine. You know, if they don't, they don't. But I said, I know at 92 and no driveway, I think you would be eligible, you know.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Brzezinski, Commissioner McGiven, questions, thoughts?
[Bob Dickinson]: I think we're good. I'm usually very much in favor of these so long as they kind of check the boxes, so I'm good. I'm good.
[Jack Buckley]: Commissioner McGibbon? Move approval. Okay, on the motion of Commissioner McGibbon to approve 2023-57 Handicap Park and Sign for 20 Lookout Road, seconded by?
[Alicia Hunt]: Second.
[Jack Buckley]: Seconded by Commissioner Hunt. Alvaro, call the roll, please.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Mr. McGibbon?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Chief Buckland?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. On a vote of 4-0, the handicap sign has been approved. Ms. Carroll, thank you for your participation. I appreciate your thoughts and comments and we'll get out there as soon as we can to make that happen for you. As I mentioned, we have one more handicapped Park inside. I would take a motion to remove 2023 46 from the list of table items and deal with that. Now. Well, we're early in the session, so moved. 2023-46 handicapped package side. Mr. Joseph Nasta 3 55 Main Street. I do see you here. Can you unmute yourself? Welcome to the traffic commission. And can you present your request?
[SPEAKER_13]: Yes, I would like to get a parking sign in front of my house because we have the stores there that are taking up people that work there. They're parking right in front of the house all the time. Can you guys hear me?
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah, we can hear you. Sorry.
[SPEAKER_13]: Go ahead. And what's happening is they start parking there at 5 in the morning. And it even says, you know, delivery driver, you know, for Oasis. food store or whatever store they call themselves, restaurant, and they park there at like five, six o'clock in the morning. They won't let you out of the driveway. You can't, there's no place to park on Main Street. I've asked for, you know, a resident parking and they said, no, we don't give resident parkings on Main Street, but they do on the side streets. And my mom has a handicap sign also, and she's almost 90 years old. And there's just no place to park on the street over there because of everybody taking those spaces that work over there or that come to those restaurants or the block of stores that are there and next to my house. And it's very hard to park. And like I said, even when you park in the driveway, they won't even let you out of the driveway anymore.
[Jack Buckley]: It's 3-5-5. Okay, it's 3-5-5. So we're just looking at it on the screen right now. I believe you're on your phone, so you may not see what we're looking at.
[SPEAKER_13]: Correct.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you for that presentation. Commissioners, questions? And just keep in mind, he can't see this, what you're looking at, so you'd have to be a little bit more. He's on his phone.
[Alicia Hunt]: Right, so so we wanted. So first I'd like to confirm that this is your house. I'm going to describe it since you can't see what I'm looking at. It's a brick house with on the bottom with siding up top. Is that correct? OK, and you've got a driveway that goes pretty far back and a space next to the house. I'm very concerned when you say they block your driveway and won't move because in my mind that's a reason to call the police and tell them to come. You know if they get tagged every day, they're going to stop doing it. I know it's probably too early in the morning to call Medford parking, but blocking a driveway is not okay. So why can't you use the driveway, usually?
[SPEAKER_13]: For one, the parking spaces is getting one of the spaces for the person that rents the first floor, that goes with her apartment. and there's only two spaces, two cars that can actually fit in that driveway. And when my brother comes to pick my mother up to take her to the doctors or the hospital, and one car is in there, and my brother comes over and we have family members, there's just no place to park, like I said. And there's, you know, if we could get a resident parking, that'd be fine, but we can give them to the resident parking on the side streets, but not on main streets, according to what I'm being told. which is kind of unfair, because we pay the same taxes as everybody else. So it should be like resident parking should be able to park with a resident sticker everywhere, not just on side streets, but also on Main Street. We're told that that's not allowed to do that on Main Street. And these people are just parking everywhere. Even when you go there on a Friday night, a Saturday night, no matter what time it is, they park everywhere, all the way up Main Street. So even if somebody comes to visit over there, there's no place to park.
[Alicia Hunt]: And so you do have a handicap. You said you had your mother or somebody with a handicap.
[SPEAKER_13]: Correct. My mom has a handicap and so do I. I have a handicap plaque also. So there's two handicapped people in the house.
[Alicia Hunt]: And so you're aware, though, that if we put a handicap sign up, like I just said to the previous person, but for his case, who's going to park in front of his house with a handicap sign? In your case, you know, if somebody's coming to one of those businesses and has a handicap placard or to the neighborhood, they would be allowed to use this spot. This would not be reserved for your family.
[SPEAKER_13]: Absolutely. I don't have an issue with that. I mean, if they're handicapped, but I've seen across the street, there used to be a dentist office, and there's a handicap sign out there. And they park over there with no handicap thing in the car, no plate and no plaque in the car. And they still park there. So when that happens, I think it should be enforced a little bit. And you know, they should get tickets actually, so that they're deterred from parking there. Which, you know, right now, again, they're parking there, and there's no handicap or, you know, plate or no handicap plaque in the car, but they're still parking there when they don't find a parking space either in front of my house, or across the street from the neighbors houses, or near the stores where they should be parking. Or they should be parking in the parking lot down the side street where you guys have a parking lot because but because they have to pay for it. They don't do that.
[Jack Buckley]: I think that's it. Thank you. Other commissioners, for the record, I checked with Alvaro just real briefly. All the paperwork is in order and all the medical documents have been received, so that's confirmed from our end. Commissioners, any other comments, questions of the petitioner?
[Tim McGivern]: We're the closest handicap spaces to this one. We have one right across the street and one right down at the corner. Of Yale and the 1 that right there. Yeah, we know just anecdotally if they get good usage. I know that we get new ones there, but.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: These every time I drive by this 1 here on right now, there's always a spot there. There's always a handicap placard. So, I'm going to go with a handicap.
[Tim McGivern]: I think with the proximity. it's going to see some use. I think as Alicia was just saying, I think not only do you have to expect that the public might use it, but this one might get used more than a handicap spot on a side street. So just so you're aware of that. But besides that, I think this would be okay.
[Jack Buckley]: Commissioner Brzezinski, any issues, questions?
[Bob Dickinson]: No, I agree with Tim's perspective. It's a crowded area. I don't necessarily think it will be tracked. I think it will still be abused just by handicapped people. But again, I don't say the odds are 50-50 that it would be available, but I don't think it's going to be like the previous approved handicapped sign that it will be available all the time. But as long as they understand that, I'd be good with motion to approve.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay. On the motion of Commissioner Brzezinski, and that was a second by Commissioner McGiven, is that what I heard? Yeah. Seconded by Commissioner McGiven.
[Alicia Hunt]: Could you just comment on if there are not people without handicapped placards parking there, they should call the police? I mean, I know they can also call Park Medford, but should they call the police for enforcement?
[Jack Buckley]: 100% time. Anytime somebody is parked in that spot and they're not appropriately have been trying to enforce these, especially the newer ones down there, and he sees great use out of the one across the street, so we're in the area, and we'll continue.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Plus, you have my two traffic sergeants who heard that comment, and we have... There has been an uptick in tickets for handicap violations this past week or two. I don't know if it's the holiday, but there's definitely been... appropriate citations have been given out.
[Alicia Hunt]: I just think that people need to know that it's not a free-for-all. If you block a driveway, if you're not handicapped and use a handicapped spot, you know, Medford will notice you. It's not okay.
[Jack Buckley]: Understood. Okay, on the motion. Alva, roll call vote.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGiven? Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski? Yes. Chief Buckley?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes, the vote of four to nothing, the motion is approved and petitioner will have the handicap pocket sign approved. Thank you for your patience, thank you for your participation, Mr. Nasta. Back to new business 2023-58, no parking anytime tow zone on Fosh Street, even side from Fells Way to Guild Street. Sergeant Canava, the floor is yours.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Okay, so this was brought to my attention by a resident here on Faw Street. I'm just going to pull it up so you guys can see. The picture should have been mailed to you with all the information that we have. This was just one of the days that we were able to get some of the pictures on there. So the reason that it was brought to our attention was obviously for safety issues. There's already a no parking from here, a corner sign, and I'm gonna get it up here in just a second. I might need your help on that. You can find Foss Street from the Fellsway. It doesn't seem like it's pulling up on mine, but this was brought to my attention, and when we went out there, I emailed all the pictures to you, And when I was out there, we went out there multiple times, but one of the times that we came out, there was actually an ambulance coming down Faust Street towards the Fellsway, and a vehicle was trying to approach, which is not in the pictures here, that was just by pure luck. The vehicle was approaching from the Fellsway and the ambulance and the vehicle with cars being parked on both sides. This created a complete traffic jam where the vehicle had to pull back. out onto the Fellsway, which is not a, there's a busy street, and if the vehicle had to pull back, the ambulance, and then this would, if the vehicles, there's already a parking side. I don't know if there's a, in the pictures I had sent, where the hole is on the right side, which is on Foss Street, but you have a no parking area corner. So all we're asking is the three vehicles that are in here, we would eliminate parking, with from those three spots, because there's a fire hydrant that's to the right side, which is about 27 feet from the no parking sign. I'm sorry that I can't bring up the... Sergeant, hang on a second.
[Jack Buckley]: Director Blake, can you open up and pull up this? We're having trouble bringing up the street view of this location. Yeah, thank you. All right, so please go this way.
[Alicia Hunt]: Sorry, I just processed where we were talking about.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So I've notified the salon, and they may be on the Zoom, and also I know that the resident is here on the Zoom as well, but if you can, can you go up, Flossery Todd? So if you go to that pole to the left there, there is a no parking from here corner already on it. So vehicles that are parking, if you can see the hydrant is up at the top of Guild on the left up. There's a hydrant here, which would mean that vehicles aren't allowed to park within 15 feet of that hydrant. So we're really just asking for the really three spaces from that no parking here at the corner all the way to the 15 feet buffer zone from the hydrant. So that way, if an emergency vehicle needs to get through Foss Street, that will allow hopefully a free flow of traffic. The street in general in the winter times the vehicles are coming down, it's obviously safer for them to have access the way that it is right now on the screen.
[Jack Buckley]: Director Blake, can you try another date and maybe we get a picture where possibly cars are parked both sides that might... I sent an email or Alvin... Yeah, there we go. That's totally different view, huh? So, it is quite narrow there when both sides are parked.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I sent an email out when... We kind of had a really good view of the park on both sides. I don't know if you guys received it in the email. And there's a vehicle coming up and it really takes the complete angle from the Fellsway view where vehicles would not be able to come down and also turn onto the Fellsway.
[Jack Buckley]: Do you know if anyone's here to speak on this petition?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So I know the one party is here. I'm not sure if the salon is here as well, but I know Rachel Tracy has here she would speak on that. And I'm not sure if the salon is because I had mentioned this to the salon that's here on the right side and spoke to the businesses and let them know that we were going to be having this too. potentially eliminate those spots.
[Jack Buckley]: And during that conversation was there any objections that you know from any of those businesses?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: The salon said that they didn't believe that most of their participants have parking here and they said on Saturdays it's usually busy so they would usually park in here and then they would usually try and use this right side. for the parking.
[Jack Buckley]: All right. And when you spoke with the neighbors, what was the feedback?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: We had signatures from the neighbors, were able to get signatures back, and the neighbors were 100% on board due to their issues with them even backing out of their driveways. It's a lot easier. That's the secondary issue. Safety is obviously number one, but backing out of their driveways when vehicles are Parked on both sides, it's near impossible for the odd side to do that.
[Jack Buckley]: And when you say neighbors, you're talking specifically these residential houses that are right, you know, budding to the roadway that we've talked about, where you're going to restrict parking.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, 11, 16, 15, 29, and 26, and 37 all signed the petition that they're in favor for the changes that would be made. I think it's around 27 feet that we would lose for parking on that side, but it's more, it's really safety for, I'm talking about in the 15 feet for the hybrid, which they can't park in anyway, so.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay. I'll leave it to the commissioners. Do you have any questions or comments? I believe there is a resident who wishes to speak to this. Do you want me to jump to the resident?
[Bob Dickinson]: I just have one question about White's Plumbing. Did we notify White's Plumbing?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I went into White's Plumbing, and the manager, I had informed them that we would have a Zoom on this, and I went in there and speak with them, and he said he would pass it on. They may be here, they may not. I gave the information to them in the salon as well.
[Bob Dickinson]: Great, thank you. That's all I had, Chief.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Okay, do you want to ask Adelo? Yes, so Rachel, Tracy, I'm going to ask you to just unmute, and then you can speak on this as well.
[SPEAKER_07]: Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for your time. Yeah, just to reiterate, Officer Cavanaugh's points. So we're just looking for no parking on the even side of Foss Street from Fellsway West to Guild. So just to say that I've actually seen a fire engine have to stop as well as cars have to back up the street because they can't access it. Luckily, they were not going to a call. They were coming from a call and they were just going back to their based in North Medford. So I think safety is one of the main issues. In the winter, our street is absolutely horrible. We see cars cannot get up our street. They actually slide back down. So having parking on one side would be much safer, I would say. And then Also, you know, I have two little children, so I know that the salon says that their customers don't really park on that side of the street. They park on both sides, but there's been times where they've completely, like, blocked our driveway almost, so it's hard for us to angle to back out. So if there was, like, ever an emergency and I needed to, like, rush one of my children to the hospital for some reason, like, I would have to go into the salon sometimes and ask them to have their customers move their cars. So just, you know, those are three points where it would be helpful for us to have no parking on that side of the street. And I can speak to whites, I can't speak to how whites plumbing would react. But I actually know that they never park on that side of the street. They actually always park on our side of the street. If they even do they usually keep their trucks in their parking lot.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Commercial vehicles.
[SPEAKER_07]: So yeah, so they're always in their parking lots.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you for your comments. Is there anyone else present who wishes to speak regarding the petition? Raise your hand, wave in front of the camera, anything. We can get your comments now. Okay, seeing none, commissioners, I turn it back to you. Do you have any other questions, thoughts?
[Alicia Hunt]: It makes sense to me. I drive this street. frequently and I bicycle past the end of it frequently. It makes sense to me to limit the parking on one side of the street. I'm not hearing anybody that's objecting and if I understand correctly, it would be the clients, they might have to park elsewhere on Fellsway. Fellsway is its own issue, but if I understand correctly, it's a DCR issue or further up the street, up Foss Street.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: And both of these businesses have multiple parking spots. I believe they both carry six spots, so just in front of their business. So it's definitely, the salon seemed to think that it would only be Saturdays, they may have an issue and that's really the only day.
[Jack Buckley]: Commissioner McGiven, Commissioner Brzezinski, opportunity to speak on this.
[Bob Dickinson]: I'll just chime in two things. I think the safety aspect of this leads me to want to approve it and two, we're only losing two spots, three spots max. So I would support, presuming Tim doesn't have anything against it, I would move to support this. I will support this.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay. Can I read that Commissioner Brzezinski has a motion to approve?
[Bob Dickinson]: Motion.
[Jack Buckley]: Motion to approve by Commissioner Brzezinski. Do I have a second?
[Bob Dickinson]: Sure, seconded.
[Jack Buckley]: Seconded by Commissioner McGiven. Alba, roll call vote.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGiven?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Chief Buckley?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. On a vote of four to nothing, the motion is approved. Petition 2023-58, no parking, any time, tow zone on 4th Street, even side, from Fellsway to Guild Street.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I'm sorry chief, Tim, I just, sorry, before we move on from that, Tim, I don't know if you want the sign to basically say, you know, no parking from here to the corner, just like the other one and point an arrow down, but I guess we could work with you with whatever you think would be best. Yeah, we can figure that out. I just didn't know what for hour, but thank you.
[Jack Buckley]: Next order of business 2023-59 Vegas Romero, 93 Walcott Street on a request for a commercial vehicle variance. Is the petitioner present?
[Adam Hurtubise]: I'm going to ask you to unmute yourself and... I see you right in the middle of Romero.
[Jack Buckley]: Yep, we're getting there. Sorry about that.
[SPEAKER_12]: Can you hear me now?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes, we can hear you. Welcome. And if you would, could you please present your petition to the commission?
[SPEAKER_12]: Sure. This is for my son. He's unfortunately still at work today. And he's a recent graduate, 2021, from the Medford Vocational and Technical High School. And he graduated from the carpentry program, and he immediately got a job after graduation with a carpentry company that's based in Newton. And after about six, eight months, he did well enough that they wanted him to go to all of their different job sites throughout sort of greater Boston area. And so they gave him a company van to carry around all of his tools, his saws, his saw horses, ladders, et cetera. And so he needs to park it at our house where he is still living. And what he needs is a place to park on the street overnight so that he can get up. He usually gets up around 5.30, 6 o'clock in the morning and drives to his job. We do have a... off-street parking with the driveway, but both my wife and I have our cars, and we park in those spaces. My wife was supposed to be here today, his mother, but she actually is at the hospital where she has been called. And this is one of the concerns that we have, is that we would need to you know, be able to leave quite quickly so that she can get to a hospital in any emergency. So what we're asking for is just a variance to allow him to park his commercial van outside of our home, right where you're pointing, and be able to leave it there overnight.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you for presenting. Commissioner, any questions of the petitioner?
[Bob Dickinson]: I don't have it in the petitioner, but I thought we had come to a decision on these commercial spaces in residential neighborhoods already. Are they still open for us to discuss and approve?
[Alicia Hunt]: I think this is the problem. We could ask the petitioner why can't his wife park on the street and his son park in the driveway. That would solve the problem, obviously. I think that this is commercial vehicles is one of our issue problems that we need, that I don't think we all agree on how we deal with. And it's not clear that it's at a level that we're able to serve, fix it on one-off variants. We've had them come in front of us before.
[Bob Dickinson]: I seem to remember the last time we had this, we referred them to city council. for seeking a, you know, this was something that the city council needed to approve allowing for this. Am I remembering that incorrectly? The gentleman, the plumber who over near the green line, I think he needed one, and I think we differed on that, that it needed to be approved, that there was a rule in place that we could not abrogate. Again, I may be remembering that correctly or incorrectly.
[Alicia Hunt]: I'm actually remembering a different case where the resident just had a vehicle that was large and had commercial plates, but it just looked like a pickup truck. There was no other way of even knowing it was a commercial vehicle. I thought at the time we did not have the power to give them a variance for commercial parking on the street. So let's just get clear. I think the problem that we're dealing with here is that I think this is a perfectly reasonable thing that somebody lives in a home, they have a commercial vehicle for their personal use. They should be able to park it on the street just as if they had a car for their own car. But we've run into things in the past that prevent us from allowing that. and I'm happy to start to like push on that issue if we have the authority to do it.
[Bob Dickinson]: If you look back on the tabled items to the 2019-81 commercial vehicle rules and regulations, I think that predates me, but where did we come down on that? That's still out there being tabled. We need someone actually looking into that to actually see if we came up with those regulations.
[Todd Blake]: I think I recall The challenge being the definition of commercial vehicle that's set by the state in the desire to draw a line between large commercial vehicles and small commercial vehicles, but the state looks at like. and correct me if I'm wrong, Medford PD, but the state looks at licensed commercial vehicles as just one type of plate. It's not one for 18 wheelers or one for passenger vehicles. So there was this desire based on size, but it would be a challenge to segregate those two different types of vehicles. Does anyone at Medford PD remember that?
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah, that was a portion of one of the arguments and some of the items that we've done historically in the city. We've debated this over and over again, and it's not something that the commission likes to do. We have, in very rare instances, approved variances, but it's mostly because of one-offs. I mean, we have a commercial vehicle ordinance within the City of Medford that restricts this park. I'm not quite sure we legally can allow for variance to a city witness with a traffic commission.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: I mean, to some degree, it's... A variance has sizes.
[Bob Dickinson]: Yep. Also, Chief, let me interrupt. If you look at 2019-59, Mark Andrew Daly, who requested residential commercial night parking, and we referred that one to the parking policy and enforcement group.
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah, and that was all pre parking policy enforcement. The intent with that one was probably even most of those was that they would come up with. It was a debate back in 2019 about whether or not a permit, I think they said something along the lines of someone who pays $400 a year for a commercial vehicle to park on the street so that we get a special permit as a commercial vehicle. Again, that went back and we started debating the size of vehicles and makeup of the vehicles. But it also just bumped into the same old issue. We only have so many parking spots and what's allowed and what's not allowed and to allow these variances.
[Bob Dickinson]: I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point.
[Tim McGivern]: There was enforcement issues too that were on the table about their system and how these get enforced and what the bigger picture is with commercial plates.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, there are a couple that I recall too, Tim, sorry. So there's unmarked versus marked. So there's several cases we've heard that have been unmarked commercial plate that's like a person that owns their own business. And those have been discussed as well. But there are potential benefits to someone doing something in a commercial plate under the business, tax or otherwise, right? So those are choices people make, whether to have resident, in some cases, resident vehicle versus a commercial plate vehicle. Not in this case that's proposed tonight, but in some other cases, that's been an issue too.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I mean, with a commercial vehicle, even if they're allowed to park and we grant it, it still has to be safe for fire or police. That doesn't change. Even if there are two vehicles parking or there are other equipment that's hanging off the vehicle, it's still safe.
[Unidentified]: Safety apparatuses.
[Alicia Hunt]: I was just searching our ordinances. If the issue was at the city council level, that would mean that it's in our ordinances somewhere. I cannot find in our ordinances where this would be. I thought it was in the regulations promulgated by the Traffic Commission, which we need to take up and address.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Standby.
[Todd Blake]: I think as Steve mentioned it's a slippery slope because in this case it may be perfectly fine like a pickup truck size vehicle but if a neighbor then comes next month and they have a box truck and another neighbor comes the next month with an 18-wheeler like if there's no size delineation and enforcement way to do that unless that's what you're going to kind of think about.
[Alicia Hunt]: In zoning we said that there were accessory wait I had it on my screen a second ago I'll get it but there was um In zoning, we used under accessory uses, home occupations had allowed and not allowed. And it said, here's it does not. Prohibited accessory uses, overnight parking except an enclosed garage of any commercial vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of more than 15,000 pounds. That's I think based on my energy work, 15,000 pounds is a line that is often used to delineate a large vehicle from a smaller vehicle. What we actually put in the zoning implied that if you were a home occupation and you had an accessory use, actually this is accessory use in all districts, And it just listed prohibited accessory use, overnight parking of any commercial vehicle. So this would actually imply, because it's in zoning, even outside, like if you had a private driveway, you couldn't park something over 15,000 pounds.
[Todd Blake]: That sounds like a decent delineation. I guess if you went that road for the on street, you'd likely have to, to be fair, not a case by case, you'd say commercial. Overnight under 15,000 over 15,000 split that delineation somehow so that then you had at least something to follow Well, right now there's an absence of that right right now It's just all commercial vehicles overnight. They have a plate and the plate could be on the passenger car or 18 wheeler Right.
[Jack Buckley]: So that is that is some degree correct I'm just reading so it is in the traffic commission rules and regulations and I have that in front of me they define a commercial vehicle as a gross vehicle weight in excess of 6,000 pounds so that's the first out of it so the standing the ordinance is this the standing or parking of any commercial and or overweight and or oversized motor vehicle whether occupied or not is prohibited overnight on any street within the city of Medford between the hours of 12 midnight and 6 a.m. Additionally no commercial vehicle shall be allowed to park on any city street regardless of time of day in excess of one hour unless the operator said vehicle is conducting a delivery of goods or services directly related to their business. The above restrictions shall also apply to the standing or parking of overweight in excess of 85 hundred pounds gross vehicle weight and or oversized motor vehicles exceeding 20 feet in length and or eight feet width and or eight feet in height regardless of registration classification. Goes on to just list no trailers regardless of size may be parked in any city streets. It also defines what a commercial motor vehicle would be with regards to signage on the vehicle. So anything exceeding six inches by 15 inches length would be considered a commercial motor vehicle. I think I got the gist of it here. That's what we're working on and that is what we have had in place for quite some time. This was done over in 2002.
[Alicia Hunt]: What do we think those were up to? Because I was thinking that when I heard those numbers that they're dated given the size of vehicles these days. Although from a sustainability perspective, I'm happy to discriminate against large vehicles.
[Jack Buckley]: Hey, stand by just for you. 1 more thing here. That's going to probably help us. Okay. I'm surprised I'm not aware of this, but a Medford resident may apply for a commercial vehicle parking permit if the following conditions are met. The applicant must be a resident of the City of Medford. The motor vehicle is properly registered and insured in Massachusetts. Proof of such must be submitted at the time of the application process. The motor vehicle must comply within the dimensional standards as defined in the Medford Traffic Commission Rules and Regulations Article 5, Section 12, which is what I just read. The motor vehicle must be owned by a partnership, trust or corporation. Motor vehicles owned or registered under a doing business as are prohibited from permitting under the section. The motor vehicle shall not have excuse me, the motor vehicle shall not have five or more wheels. The applicant must submit a notarized letter on company entity letterhead stating the vehicle in question has been used, has been issued to the applicant for their sole use and the application must include the name, title and phone number of the applicant's immediate supervisor. The motor vehicle may not have lettering, markings or signs affixed or attached used for the identification or advertisement of a business, goods or services. The motor vehicle may not have ladders, tools or equipment attached, affixed or carried on the exterior of the motor vehicle or in the case of a pickup truck in the bed area. The vehicle shall be submitted for inspections, which is automatic, and only one permit shall be issued per address, and the permit shall be valid on the street where the applicant resides. Trailers may not be attached to the motor vehicle. The fee for such permit shall be $100 and will expire on December 31st of each issuing year.
[Alicia Hunt]: So that's in our rules and regulations? It's in the paperwork.
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. What's that, Alistair?
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: paperwork, which would follow right and so forth, like you said.
[Jack Buckley]: And all that was submitted?
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Yeah.
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah. And so the petitioner has complied with all of those. And so I don't even know this is an issue for the traffic commission. I think this is just something we would have to notify the parking committee that it's in compliance. I'm so perplexed.
[Todd Blake]: Does the pickup truck have writing? Could we answer that one?
[Jack Buckley]: Well, the petitioner could answer that.
[SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, it's a van and it's owned by his employer and it does have lettering.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Violation. That would be a violation of the law. Oh, yeah.
[Alicia Hunt]: So I have a question. If the rules are traffic rules and regulations, then we have the authority to issue variances to them. I feel like the question in the past has been that if it's a city council rule, then we couldn't give a variance to a city council ordinance.
[Jack Buckley]: I don't disagree with that.
[Alicia Hunt]: But if it's ours, we have authority. I there's a piece of me that wants that that feels like these need to be reviewed the rules need to be rude they need to be updated and modernize and one way to do that is to start testing them by issuing. I'm sorry, Tim's getting, by issuing variances and then you start to see what the demand is and then you understand what the difficulties are in changing the rules because you understand more what the volume is. And at some point you say there are too many variances, we either need to stop or we need to change the rules to come into it. Because if we're issuing a variance, it's because we think it's okay. What's our concern with having marked signs, vehicles that are marked with the name of the business? It's free advertising for the business. Are we concerned that it's making Medford look junky because people who work for businesses with vehicles are putting the vehicles in front of them?
[Jack Buckley]: We don't know. We weren't part of the, we weren't the authors of this. Right. We'll never know.
[Todd Blake]: I mean, the fee makes sense to me anyways, because the vehicle's registered in a different city, so Medford's not getting excise tax for it. And the fee seems to be in line with the business permit fee, the $100 that you just mentioned.
[Alicia Hunt]: Right. Honestly, both that, so that feels kind of low to me for an annual fee, but it's clearly not outrageously high or anything.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, what Alicia said, you could start to issue them and then... figure it out, you know, as you go, but stipulate when you issue them, I would say that you reserve the right to revoke it if it becomes.
[Alicia Hunt]: Well, they're only good for a year. So, I think that we can say we have the right to issue a variance and say we're comfortable with it now, but we don't guarantee that every year for the foreseeable future we'll continue to renew it, that there is, you know, we're starting to issue these as like a pilot program. Because the worst thing that happens, so right, if we issue it, and then we realize that this is becoming a problem, and it does make something, some reason we don't like the look around the city, then we can say, well, in future years, we're not gonna issue it, we're ending the program. And then the person has to figure something else out. The alternative is that we don't issue it now, and they have to figure something else out now. And they don't even have the benefit of this window of time.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, I seem to recall some of the ones that the commission did entertain were more related to properties that didn't have any off street parking at all, or there was one where the person's vehicle wouldn't fit in their garage. I remember that one too.
[Alicia Hunt]: That's the one that sticks with me. And I don't know that we issued any of them.
[Bob Dickinson]: I don't think we did, I think we deferred all of them.
[Alicia Hunt]: And so that commission on parking policy enforcement, it doesn't exist anymore, it is suspended, and it recommended that we update our rules and regulations with a commercial parking policy. I don't have the exact words in front of me, but.
[Jack Buckley]: But that process has been ongoing and it's just slow.
[Alicia Hunt]: No, which process?
[Jack Buckley]: Updating our traffic commission rules and regulations.
[Alicia Hunt]: Okay, that that process, which I don't have any insight into right now. But the parking policy commission. That does not exist. All right, it ended.
[SPEAKER_12]: I'd also just like to point out that this is our 21 year old son. If he were not related to us, and we're simply renting a room in our house, he would not have access to the driveway period.
[Jack Buckley]: Well, I don't disagree that we could grant the variance, but I leave it in the hands of the commissioners to what they want to do.
[Alicia Hunt]: Okay. I am just going to say that the one that Todd and I were thinking about with the vehicle that didn't fit is still tabled on our agenda. That's the 25 Palmer Street one on the agenda.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Chief, if I can just speak on that. Alicia, just so you know, and we may want to take it off at some point, he has built the driveway and that truck is now in the driveway. It's not an issue anymore.
[Alicia Hunt]: Fascinating. I'm curious. I'm going to go for a walk and see how he managed that. I thought he had a garage and it didn't fit.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: He built a driveway on the other side.
[Alicia Hunt]: Okay.
[Tim McGivern]: Walcott Street, permit parking.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: No, not that part.
[Jack Buckley]: We don't believe that end, no.
[Alicia Hunt]: So, I mean, honestly, I feel like this is something we need to start dealing with and I'm I'm inclined to grant the variance and make sure that the resident is aware that this is in fact a one year, right, that needs to be renewed. And we cannot guarantee that we can renew it every year because we need to address our policies. But I'm willing to start trying this and see how it works.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Is it one year or is it January 1st?
[Alicia Hunt]: I think that we're granting it for the coming year. Honestly, if we pass this right now, I would say he could have it now and that this would, you know, in addition to this coming calendar year 2024.
[Tim McGivern]: We approve it doesn't just go to parking and the parking department just doesn't write this. Vehicle tickets or does there need to be a special permit placed on the data?
[Alicia Hunt]: They're going to get a permit. They're going to go into the permit system. I don't remember. Is there anybody's here to tell us does the parking department can they handle it if it's not registered to this in the city of Medford?
[Tim McGivern]: That's part of the issue that they couldn't.
[Alicia Hunt]: it has to be registered at the address that the parking is allowed at, and that becomes a problem in their system?
[Jack Buckley]: I'm pretty sure they've gotten beyond that.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Have they? We have the same parking system, and I'm pretty certain that when you run a plate, just like it would be any other vehicle, it pops a green checkmark, and it goes to paid parking costs.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, they may be able to track it, however, which way they track business permits, although those may not be commercial plates. The other question, based on what you're saying, is if you did approve it, it seems like based on what the chief read, there'd be a $100 fee, right?
[Tim McGivern]: And do we assign this per plate number? So we're assigning it to the registration number on the plate as opposed to the... Correct. Okay. So can we limit the size of the vehicle on the permit? Can we say under 15,000 pounds?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: But sorry, you can't do that in the system that we use now.
[Tim McGivern]: They put the plates on a larger, if the commercial entity puts the plates on a larger vehicle, for example, say, hey, yo, employee, we want you to drive this truck instead. And they put the plates on that truck.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, that would have to be regulated by us. And at that point, we would probably hopefully deemed that it would be unsafe to be parking that vehicle due to either a parking issue or a safety apparatus not being able to get through. But no, there is no way for us to physically know if they switched the place. We're going to be renewing them every year. So hopefully at that point, maybe we can keep up with the system where there's pictures that we have of the vehicle that they want to put it on.
[Jack Buckley]: Well, they'll have a copy of the registration in the office anyway, so we'll know if it's different.
[Alicia Hunt]: Do they check that?
[Jack Buckley]: They wouldn't be able to check it while enforcing, but if the police and or parking enforcement had a question, they could go back and refer to the historical data of what vehicle was registered, and if they found out it changed, we can rescind the permit.
[Tim McGivern]: Is there any need to add it as a condition to the permit, or is it covered, in your opinion?
[Jack Buckley]: Let's cover as best as we can cover. There's loopholes to everything, I think.
[Tim McGivern]: I just don't want to allow the variance and then all of a sudden the company swaps out the truck for something much larger in the future. But for one year, and if we can handle it a different way, then I'm good with this.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I would assume the neighbors would let us know quickly if that was the case. that usually are pretty on top of commercial vehicles or oversized vehicles parked on their road.
[Alicia Hunt]: My instinct is that what will happen is that we're going to hear from residents who don't like commercial vehicles parking on their roads, and so we may need to do some community conversation type education.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: If I do get complaints every night, yes. We get massive amounts of complaints on commercial vehicles parking.
[Alicia Hunt]: I understand when it's a big rig, but I mostly understand. I don't completely understand, but certainly nobody wants 15 wheel vehicles sitting on their residential street every night.
[Jack Buckley]: I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point.
[Bob Dickinson]: I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point.
[Jack Buckley]: I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point.
[Bob Dickinson]: And is that not something that this gentleman can check with his employer about if there's some sort of truck that doesn't have lettering on it that he can use instead? And then the other question would be for the petitioner would be what is, other than the fact that that's where he and his wife park, what is the reasoning that the gentleman can't use the driveway to park?
[SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, mostly because it's it's not his property. So he's over 21. And it's these are our spaces that are reserved for for us to park our cars. And my wife needs hers in a garage and be ready to go at a moment's notice to get to the hospital.
[Alicia Hunt]: So that's actually you actually parked in the garage. And if you were to park in the driveway, it would block your ability to get out of the garage. Correct.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: This was it right here.
[Jack Buckley]: Right. Can you describe the lettering on the vehicle? I mean is it, is there anything like crazy or?
[SPEAKER_12]: No, it's just. And so you have, or we provided a letter from his employer, Asher Nichols. And it's basically Asher Nichols Craftsman, carpentry and home remodeling, just lettering on the sides of the van. It's just standard white van that, you know, the plumbers and the carpenters and everybody's driving around in. And he did talk to his boss about getting a van with no lettering. And the boss basically said, are you crazy? This is how I get my free, you know, free advertising.
[Alicia Hunt]: And right. And obviously he doesn't mean to your six neighbors in Medford, but rather through when he goes all over the city, all over the region doing this.
[SPEAKER_12]: And parked in front of all the various places where we're actually working.
[Jack Buckley]: I would say, you know, at some point down the city, we as a commission have to not addressing these issues. My fear with this one is to remember that even like taxi cabs and those type of vehicles also fall under this ordinance. And we historically have people who will bring a business and stop parking their taxi cabs. So I think we have to be very careful as we move forward and think about this. But this is obviously not that situation.
[Alicia Hunt]: All right, so I think that we are leaning towards, and I'll make a motion, but I want to make sure I'm getting it right, a variance to allow him to have a commercial overnight permit for this vehicle, and that it's renewable, but we don't guarantee that that renewable program will stay in place every year. the variance doesn't have, he doesn't have to come to us every year and renew it, right? We just reserve the right that rules may change. That's true for anybody, frankly. We can declare no overnight parking on the street in Medford, you know, and then they can run us all out of town on a rail, but.
[Jack Buckley]: And how do we want to handle the December 31st expiration date?
[Alicia Hunt]: I think the rational thing is to say, so that's written into the rules, right? So the rational thing to say is that given that we are already into the month of December, we are approving it for the rest of this month and for next year.
[Jack Buckley]: With a fee waiver?
[Alicia Hunt]: Yeah, are they collecting fees on any permits if people show up right now? I'm not sure how they're handling that.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Say it was $100? Yeah.
[Alicia Hunt]: Right, but like if somebody needs a residential parking permit right now and shows up at the parking office, they're not charging them for the last. Month of December.
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, that makes sense. But we can deal with that on the side.
[Alicia Hunt]: Yeah, if they try and charge you for this month and then next year, like. The chief will work it out, right? Oh, yeah, I see my cute smile.
[Jack Buckley]: All right, so the motion is. to approve a commercial vehicle variance.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Oh, commercial vehicle.
[Bob Dickinson]: Can we put into the motion what we're varying, clarifying what? I think we're just using the permit, aren't we?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. Well, we're approving the permit, but it has to be a variance because it has lettering on the vehicle.
[Tim McGivern]: Oh, okay.
[Jack Buckley]: All right. So, motion would be to approve a commercial vehicle parking permit variance of Vicus Romero 93 Walcott Street. Is that your motion, Commissioner Hunt?
[Alicia Hunt]: Yes.
[Jack Buckley]: Do I have a second?
[Tim McGivern]: All right. I'll do it, Steve. Second.
[Bob Dickinson]: Yeah. I'll be candid. I'm reluctantly approving this just because I think this is something we need to think about as a team, and I hate that a homeowner would support it. but I really challenge us in 2024 to start prioritizing these things and fixing them, because I don't necessarily like these subjective determinations. I don't even know what the lettering looks like. I presume that it looks fine, but what's gonna be un-fine one day? I don't wanna necessarily second the motion, but I will support it today.
[Tim McGivern]: That's okay, I seconded it, we're good. I think it's good that we should take a look and I think that we're talking about it in our regular meetings on the administration level.
[Jack Buckley]: And as the chair, I'm going to go on the record that I have some real concerns about this and where it goes, but it is on the record here. I mean, it does fall under the permit parking, so the overnight vehicle, commercial vehicle parking permit. So I'll have a roll call vote.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGiven? Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Chief Buckley?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. A vote of four to nothing. The motion is approved. Mr. Morell, thank you for your patience and your participation and help in getting us through this. I do truly appreciate this. Give us a few days to document this and draft it up and get it to the parking department. We do not do the permitting. We have to get everything in order. We have to get the minutes typed up and get everything over to them.
[SPEAKER_12]: Okay, who do I just, who do I have my son contact about all this?
[Jack Buckley]: Have her reach out to Alva Erickson. I believe you have the email built with that.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: His wife could call because she was communicating with me.
[Jack Buckley]: And Alva says she's been speaking with your wife too, so either one will work.
[SPEAKER_12]: Right.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay. All right. Thank you very, very much.
[SPEAKER_12]: I appreciate it.
[Jack Buckley]: Yep. Thank you. 2023-60. Todd Blake, Director of Traffic and Transportation. Park Street. Fellsway West to Brogan Road. No parking. Any time. Toe zone. West side of Fellsway West. Southwood. 499 feet. 179 feet south of Fellsway. Extended 36 feet south and 273 be self-extending 90 feet to Brogan Road. Note parking on sidewalks will not be allowed. Parking will be allowed on street in designated areas as described above. Director Blake, where's yours?
[Todd Blake]: So on the screen we have on the north end of Park Street between Felsbury West and Brogan Road. So most of you may be aware that where the yellow arrows are on the screen and the light green arrows Cars seem to habitually park with all four wheels on the sidewalk. We do not want to condone or allow that anymore. We should never have. It's an accessibility issue. Among other things, it deteriorates the sidewalk. The plan is to formally notify everyone that that's not going to be tolerated anymore, but we're offering the light green zones on this map as parking on the street, within the street, and the yellow zones are areas of no parking on the street to allow for passage because it's quite narrow with parking on both sides. This emulates what exists at the next block down between Brogan and Tainter, and it's similar with the street. The dark green indicates where parking regulation-wise is currently allowed, The purple arrow shows where the parking on the sidewalk occurs. The yellow is going to be no parking in the street or the sidewalk on that side. The light green is parking in the street on that side. So we're kicking folks off the sidewalk that shouldn't have been there in the first place. We're giving them some options on the street. We reserve the right to revisit this later if the street becomes impassable, like Willis Ave at a previous traffic commission meeting was. So we robocalled this entire area, including Fellsway and Park Street. I don't know if anyone's in attendance for this particular item.
[Jack Buckley]: Can you show how many people are still there? Thank you, Director Blake. Is there any... Well, let me go to the commission's first. There's questions of Director Blake. Go to us, and then we'll do some public comment.
[Alicia Hunt]: So I just want to make sure that I'm clear, because we did receive stuff in our packet, but honestly, it was all in black and white, so I couldn't understand it. It would be helpful if these were just emailed to us. We'll get you guys a color scanner if you need to scan these. I see as you're going down. It's just this one that you're looking to change?
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, this graphic was one of the graphics. This also shows the block from Tainter to Grogan, parking on both sides, similar curb to curb width, and all the cars are in the street, not on the sidewalk, and it works at least right now with the volume that exists. So that's what we would be basically copying in this northern block. But because of the lack of driveways on the park side, the ballpark side, we artificially created some gaps in the middle there to allow vehicles to pass one another. That's what exists in this middle block right now. It's tight, but because of driveways, people could pull over to the side and let each other by, two-way street. But that only works up to a certain point, like Willis Ave and a previous traffic commission meeting. That has so much volume that that doesn't work anymore. So you do have to restrict parking on one side. So we're willing to try this and then take it from there. So the yellow arrows would be no parking in the street. The light green arrow would be parking. So this gives about seven spaces.
[Tim McGivern]: Hey, Todd? Yeah. Today parking is allowed on both sides to understand that correctly.
[Todd Blake]: Well, in the traffic commission records is no regulation restricting it accepts down with that red dot is near the hydrant parking, but so for whatever reason the historical use of this area. the vehicles park all four wheels on the sidewalk even though. Which I think in and of itself is against the rules, is it not? Correct. We're really not voting on the sidewalk necessarily at the commission because it's already an existing rule. It's because we're going to inform people that we're going to start to enforce that, we're explaining to them what it is available to them. which we're allowing some in the street on that side and restricting other areas in the street, formally restricting other areas. Because if we allow parking on both sides with no yellow arrows as restricted zones, then someone's going to come off Fells Way and back into Fells Way if someone's coming up at them because there's not enough width to pass each other.
[Tim McGivern]: Okay, so instead of just saying you can't park on this block on the side, so keeping it to one side, we're going to allow these small pieces because you can't, it sounds like from a geometric standpoint, have parking on both sides and have that street function the way we want. So people are kicking up onto the sidewalk and that's been allowed for years.
[Todd Blake]: Yes, essentially. So if a car parks directly opposite one another on this block or the middle block, then only one car could pass at a time, correct? And it's a two-way street. But again, we want it to be somewhat consistent. This middle block has parking on both sides with that caveat that only physically one vehicle could pass at a time, but there's enough driveways. So we're trying to be... We'll see if this works. If it presents a safety issue, then we'd probably come back with one whole site restricted.
[Alicia Hunt]: So one thing that I've Wondered about is so where the driveways are, it provides a gap for somebody to par to pull out. But my thought is that if somebody was. The street is so narrow that if somebody is parked right behind somebody's driveway. They won't be able to pull out of their driveway. They would hit the car across the street. I don't know if that's true or just my guessing and whether these yellow spots that the not allowed spots are positioned to be in line with where the driveways are so people can back out of their driveways. If you look at Google Maps right now, you can see a couple of different examples of vehicles parked right up on the sidewalk, and the sidewalk actually painted in a way to show people where they can't park so that people can get in the pedestrian path.
[Todd Blake]: I understand what you're saying in there. So yeah, this is on streets that are used to more space, they'll say if a car parks opposite them, they can't get out. But in this very street, the middle block apart between Brogan and Tainter, there are driveways that aren't opposite one another. So a driveway opposite, a car park opposite, and they somehow make it work. So I'm just using the local example of the block right here. all the driveways on either side of park in this middle block are not aligned with one another directly opposite each other. So that indicates to me that this width of street with that issue, somehow they're able to get in and out. It may be more challenging, but yeah, so, but that is a good point. So the end result would be signs saying no parking at a corner, no parking this zone, no parking at a corner at the bottom of the block. And then maybe would emphasize no parking on the sidewalk, even though you shouldn't need a sign for that, just because of habitual use maybe would do something like that as well.
[Alicia Hunt]: I will say I'm going to channel some friends and parents that I know who are really much in favor of getting the cars off the sidewalk. It's a safety issue. And so I understand what you're doing here and why. And so you said you robocalled. I am very curious to know if we have anybody who's, any residents who are gonna speak on this.
[Tim McGivern]: Hold on before we go into the residents. So I think Todd, we're talking about quite a number of signs here, right? Where each yellow and green arrow touch, we'll put a sign in.
[Todd Blake]: I think four signs. Yep, two, three, four, yep. Four poles, then there might be up to eight signs. There's another item that Alva correctly pointed out, a former tabled item that's related to Park Street as well for resident permit. And I figure once this is resolved, we could tackle that then at a later date. But yeah.
[Tim McGivern]: Why can't we, and maybe it's a number of spaces thing, get rid of that yellow triangle in the middle and just make one green zone?
[Todd Blake]: We can try it. That was to allow for, instead of just an area at each end of the block to see a car coming and know to wait, it was given another opportunity to do that. So it was an extra measure, but you could try that as well.
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, just feels a little bit confusing if I'm driving and I'm trying to grab a space. I suppose if you live there, you'd get used to where the spaces are and where they are.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, that middle yellow arrow kind of simulates on the other block if there was a, you know, several driveways in the middle versus the ends. The longer the block, the more challenging is this block kind of short. So maybe the fear would be that if vehicles take the right off Fellsway West, that they'd queue up enough that they'd back into Fellsway West and present a safety problem. But that top arrow is, I think, about 99 feet long, so it should allow for queuing of like four vehicles before going over the crosswalk. And then at the bottom end, it's about similar, like three or four vehicles. Okay. Yeah, you can go either way with this if you want to.
[Tim McGivern]: How many vehicles are we thinking in those green arrow spots?
[Todd Blake]: It was four and three, so a total of seven. Which again, if we just ripped the band-aid and said no parking at all, it would be zero. So we're trying to be somewhat reasonable.
[Tim McGivern]: How many cars are habitually parking on the sidewalk illegally? Do we know?
[Todd Blake]: That we don't know, but it's basically the middle green, yellow, and green, and a little bit of the top yellow portion. So it's probably 7, 8, 9, probably about 10 or 11 spaces. Not that that's always a car there, 10 or 11, but lengthwise, it's 10 or 11 spaces.
[Tim McGivern]: Are any of the sidewalk panels broken or crumbled? Yes. Oof.
[Adam Hurtubise]: All right.
[Todd Blake]: This is one of those things, if we ever did do no parking on one side, you'd almost do the resident side, because you'd probably save more spaces, because there's no driveways on the park side.
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, that's a really good point, Todd. I mean, to do that, do you get more spaces that way? There's no drive?
[Todd Blake]: Yeah I mean the other item that's on is resident permit in this area which I had mentioned to Alva and it's in the backup materials given. Now that Morton Street in South Medford we have an example where we did one type of restriction on the house side and one type on the park side to leave the park available to people to enjoy that amenity during the day that don't live there. That would be something that we could tackle going back to that other item later.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Do all of these houses have- I think three cars. They have driveways?
[Todd Blake]: Not necessarily all of them, no. They're mostly multi-family, especially the one on the ends, three to six family. But there is quite a bit of parking on Fells Bay West, as you could see on the top. That's only a portion of it.
[Tim McGivern]: We don't restrict parking on Brogan either. Because I know you can park there.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, currently it's unrestricted both sides of the program. In Fells Bay West, one of the residents in this area had complained to me that people park in Fells Bay West and leave it there all day that don't live there. But still, as compared to other neighborhoods, there's quite a few spaces available.
[Tim McGivern]: Who enforces the sidewalk rule? Is that parking department or is that police? Or both?
[Jack Buckley]: It'll be the police. I will add that, you know, it's our impression, although we have seen more, we generally consistently see three vehicles parking on the sidewalks.
[Tim McGivern]: Okay, and we're providing spaces in this scheme.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, most of the time it's probably like three or five. Those red dots are hydrant spaces too, by the way.
[Tim McGivern]: I like this. I think this is going up. I feel like we're going above and beyond the city is, I think, because really people shouldn't be parking the sidewalk and. You know, we could we could take the approach that says there's not enough room to have parking on both sides. But if we do this approach, then. We're mimicking the block next door, and we are providing seven spaces that can be used either for people who visit the park or the residents. So I think it's a good place. We're just going to enforce a sidewalk then.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, and I'll plan to see this. This is a backup plan, maybe a future plan down the road. One-way streets are always an option too, but we're trying not to go to that level at this time because that impacts more of the region.
[Tim McGivern]: Somehow the street manages to do it. I think it's because the blocks are pretty close. And only three blocks a week. You know what I mean? Because when the school is doing their thing at morning and afternoon, people somehow juggle the one-way slots. Yeah.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Sections are on my desk in my thoughts.
[Tim McGivern]: Anyway, this was a good way forward. Thank you, Todd.
[Jack Buckley]: The first one is that we traffic commission did receive an e-mail from Walker Bedford in support of director Blake's petition. They had seen it, reviewed it, and they're very much in support of it. So I mentioned that and put it on the record. The second part is regardless of where the commissioners move on this, I would suggest that they allow both the police department and the DPW to make sure we have a consistent rule in place for any snow emergency. Because we want to make sure, I think right now they park on both sides during a snow emergency because they're on the sidewalk. So we want to make sure that they are restricted to the resident side and not parking on that one side so that we can plow. And I think we're just going to have to go down there and take a look around. But whatever we do with that, we're going to notify the neighbors of whatever we have to come up with a concrete plan when it comes to that. And I don't want to wait until January because potentially we could have a storm. So I want to make sure we address that as we address this. No parking on the sidewalk.
[Todd Blake]: That's a good point. Doesn't it typically go odd, even, alternating years? Correct.
[Jack Buckley]: In a lot of places where we have residential houses in a park, we just park on one side only. And that would change generally to the resident side. I just want to make sure the neighbors are notified of this. I want to make sure everyone understands this before the next storm comes up, if the petition gets passed tonight.
[Tim McGivern]: That is that is what we would do to move forward chief for sure on the resident side and then we would address it later if there was an issue with that volume space issue or something like that.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay let's let me I know that we may have a few more questions from the commissioners are but let me ask and go to public comment can anyone wish to comment raise their hand to make themselves known good or for bad Okay, seeing none, I bring it back to the commissioners for your thoughts, questions, and concerns.
[Bob Dickinson]: I mean, I like it, I'm all for the safety, and I generally support what Todd is saying. Is there any way, though, the parking on the sidewalk, that seems basically like a police enforcement issue? Yes, that I mean, are we just not consistently over there enforcing these things? I mean, I know a lot of times we put these rules in place to assist, but it seemed should seem like we shouldn't have this big of an issue. if we're consistently enforcing the law over there.
[Jack Buckley]: There's two or three different locations within the city where historically individuals have been allowed to park on the sidewalks and we are moving in probably slower fashion but a community-friendly way to get everyone advised of what we're doing so we are up there sort of we're trying to do this with park and I think that combined with the enforcement that will come out, giving them the alternative plan, we'll put an end to all of this.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: sidewalk and it was whether it was owned or no curbing on this sidewalk. So whether it was owned by the city or if it was just an area in which they're allowed to park like on Tufts Park on the other side, they're allowed to park there because it's strictly a hot top and that was the confusion in the beginning.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Steve, just for the record, For years, since I've been in the early 80s, this was an extension of Hickey Park. All right, it was a dirt area. It was an extension of the park. So people parked there, and they got hot topped at some point, and then Um, so it became a sidewalk at some point, and there was still a debate whether it's an extension of the park or it was an actual sidewalk. And that's why the enforcement has gone back and forth since 1983.
[Bob Dickinson]: Can we clarify at this point that it is a sidewalk?
[Jack Buckley]: I think engineering now is being worked up. It's concurred with everything. I think we're at that point and beyond that we have to kind of make this next step and resolve it. Yep.
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, I think the sidewalk will break. It already is breaking. So designed for this type of loading over and over again. Every now and then.
[Bob Dickinson]: And I do appreciate Todd's approach of like, let's do something and then continue to monitor it. So I do appreciate that.
[Jack Buckley]: And I agree, enforcement, right? Because if this is going to work, if we're going to do this, we have to do the enforcement of the sidewalks to make it.
[Tim McGivern]: It's clear as day with the signs.
[Todd Blake]: I just wanted to note that Frances is also on the call. She mentioned some things in chat for safety and accessibility. She's in support of that.
[Alicia Hunt]: Frances is the Director of Diversity and Inclusion. Correct, thank you.
[Jack Buckley]: Yep. And I think we all agree with this. It is safety. It is accessibility and we cannot allow sidewalk parking. So. So, I haven't said that we have a motion.
[Bob Dickinson]: Yes, go ahead. second.
[Jack Buckley]: Motion to approve as designed. The motion of Commissioner McGiven seconded by Commissioner Brzezinski for Park Street, Fellsbury West to Brogan Road, no parking any time, tow zone west side from Fellsbury West Southwood for 99 feet, 179 feet south of Fells Way extending 36 feet south and 273 feet south extending 90 feet to Brogan Road. No parking on sidewalks will not be allowed. Parking will be allowed on street in designated areas as described. Alvaro Calvo, please.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGibbon.
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt. Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Chief Buckley?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. On a vote of four to nothing, the motion is approved. 2023-61 Lauren Bateman, LB Music School, 243 Central Ave and 93 Kenmare Road. One hour parking, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, tow zone alongside building on Kenmare Road. Is the petitioner present? Yes, I'm going to unmute yourself.
[SPEAKER_08]: Welcome. Yes, I'm here.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you for your patience.
[SPEAKER_08]: You're welcome.
[Jack Buckley]: Give us a second. We're going to pull this up on the map. But if you would like you can begin to tell us what it is you're petitioning for and hopefully we'll get some visual for you in a second.
[SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, absolutely. So I own LB Music School, which is on the corner of Central Ave and Kenmare Road. And I'm petitioning to have the, there's three parking spots kind of on the side of Kenmare Road to make those into one hour parking spots, mainly for customers that come in and out of the building. We're a music school, so we do have multiple rooms. So you can see that long side there on Kenmare Road. If people parked really well, you can maybe squeeze. I took pictures when I was there the other day. Three seems to probably be the best that would be on that road. You can see from this picture, we are able to fit some cars. The maximum number of cars we can fit off street would be five. I was there on Saturday and they really jammed four cars in on that side off street. So we do have, anywhere. We have six to seven rooms that sometimes are running during the day. So that's six or seven employees and that's six to seven customers at any time. So we do have a couple spots here on Central Ave as well in front of the building too. So we were just trying to make more opportunities and options for customers closer to the buildings. We do try to tell our employees to park on the side streets as best as possible to make some of that off-street parking available. But like I said, even I was there on Saturday and I actually had to block the driveway for me to park, for me to get out to go in the building because sometimes it is very busy there if we have six or seven rooms running.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay, thank you. Commissioners, questions of the petitioner?
[Alicia Hunt]: I guess my question is less of the petitioner and more for like toddlers. So the parking that is there now is unrestricted, right? Is it residential?
[Todd Blake]: So it's a good question. That's how I was raised my hand so that the business owner had reached out to us, Alvin and I asking what can be done because I believe she was aware of a potential petition for resident permit in this area. So wondering how is this going to impact her business. So we, I we highlight her that any resident permit would end next to the adjacent to the building. But furthermore, you could, you know, ask for restrictions of what you may want for your customers or patrons you know one hour or whatever it may be so it made sense for the business owner to come in here to ask for that knowing that the petition for resident permit parking may have come the same month which it didn't seem to but it's a good way. Currently it's signed as a loading zone apparently up that pole up near the crosswalk Jordan on Kenmare is signed as a loading zone. I think that's due to former businesses before the current business is there, maybe? Oh, I didn't even know there was a- It doesn't have any times of day or anything specified on it. What the business owners proposed, I think, is better for current business needs. It would leave room for the residents of Kenmare to proceed with their petition for resident parking. Central, I believe, in this proposal, it would remain as is, at least for now.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Thank you, Director Blake.
[Bob Dickinson]: And just to confirm, there would be the spots between the no parking side near Central all the way to the start of the driveway, is that correct?
[SPEAKER_08]: Yeah. So, you know, wherever that corner sign is by the tree up to the driveway.
[Bob Dickinson]: And is that your drive? Is that your driveway?
[SPEAKER_08]: That is our driveway. Yes.
[Bob Dickinson]: OK. And we want to see can be done.
[Jack Buckley]: Is a sign there.
[SPEAKER_08]: I think it just is a one. Oh, maybe there is. Yeah, there.
[Todd Blake]: As the business owner is saying, it's probably two to three parking spaces. Yeah. So it's loans on 7 to 7, but she's asking for, was it one hour? So she provides turnovers to students.
[SPEAKER_08]: Again, people park there all the time. I didn't even know there was a looking zone sign there, honestly. And I don't know if it's still there. I don't know how old this picture is. But people park there all the time.
[Todd Blake]: Elvin, did the petitioners for Kenmay ever submit their resident petition? No. No. So we were trying to work with the business owner to get ahead of that so that there wasn't any confusion of where the resident permit would end on the other side of the business driveway near the hydrant. If and when.
[Bob Dickinson]: Did we notify anybody on Kenmare?
[Todd Blake]: We did not because we were aware of the resident permit petition being circulated. So if Kenmore became resident permit, it would typically be for the whole street, both sides, with the exception of adjacent to a business.
[Bob Dickinson]: I'm trying to, is there another business in the area also like on Central Ave? I don't see anything.
[SPEAKER_08]: No, that used to be, actually that used to be where our music school was, but a car crashed through the building, so now it's completely residential.
[Todd Blake]: Yes, Central Ave is and would remain in this plan unrestricted both sides.
[Tim McGivern]: I'm good with this as long as we get more musicians out of it.
[SPEAKER_08]: That's the hope.
[Bob Dickinson]: I agree. I think it's a reasonable request. I will go on record just to say I encourage us to continue to do a better job of notifying other people in the area as to what's going on.
[Jack Buckley]: Yep. Heard. Commissioner Hunt?
[Alicia Hunt]: Good with this.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay, well, I get three goods. Do I have a motion?
[Alicia Hunt]: Oh, do we need to hear from the public? Are there members of the public? I just don't want to.
[Jack Buckley]: I don't know who's left. That's a good point. Yep. That's it. I will just say if there's anyone who would like to speak on the issue, one way or the other, just raise your hand, wave, any indication. Okay, seeing none. Back to the commission for a motion.
[Alicia Hunt]: Motion to approve.
[Jack Buckley]: Motion of Commissioner Hunt to approve 2023-S6-1.
[Tim McGivern]: Second.
[Jack Buckley]: One hour parking, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday, tow zone alongside building at Kenmay Road. Seconded by Commissioner McGiven. I'll have a roll call vote.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGiven.
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Chief Buckley?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. On a vote of four to nothing, the motion is approved. I thank you very much for your participation and your petition I call forward. 2023-62 commercial street, no overnight parking, 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. tow zone. So if I could speak on this.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Hold on, do we want to bring this from Forest Street? Do we want to go with this or do we want to just go with the commercial street and then go to that one after?
[Jack Buckley]: Let's do this first because I'm not really sure what the other one is.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Commissioners, Chief, so Commercial Street has been a parking lot for tractor trailers, commercial vehicles, most notably from Blake Street to the parkway. I have been relentlessly down here tagging for the commercial violation ordinance. Unfortunately, Chief, that does not give me the right to tow these trucks. What these trucks are doing is they're parking their trucks there and their cars, and they go home at night. Then they come back in the morning, they leave their car, and they get in their rig and take off. Basically, they're parking on commercial streets for $25 a day, and that's the ticket. Again, it does not give me the right to tow, Chief, the commercial violence. Also, we're getting complaints from 3920 of being woken up at 5 in the morning as these rigs are taking off in the morning. So with this, give me more enforcement and more alternatives, Chief, to try to clear up Commercial Street.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: The only thing that we've been able to tow on this street has been unattended to trailers that have been there, and then we've enacted the $48 violation. We were able to tow about 28 RVs, trailers, trucks, and so forth on January 1st of this year. And that's not even close to a number that we could have probably doubled that with the amount of trucks that were there, it's just due to rain, if the chalk is not still there, we have to post another 48 hours due to it not being a clear and visible line that this vehicle hasn't moved or not, et cetera. But trailers, we're lucky enough that an unattended trailer is a ordinance throughout the state that no unattended trailer can be parked on any street at any location for any period of time. When we have seen those, we've been lucky enough that we've been able to get those off. This has been a constant problem for us, as Sergeant Rodriguez had mentioned. And we don't see another solution that would be feasible in this situation. I spoke with Dunkin' Donuts, which is at the other end, which is probably the only business that would be affected by this. That's why we chose at 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. They feel that the majority of their customers are coming in after 6 a.m. If they're going to be parking on the street, that would be the time in which they were being wanted, they are open earlier than that, but they said most of the customers that are coming in at that time are drivers. That's all I have for that.
[Jack Buckley]: Excellent. Questions of the sergeants?
[Tim McGivern]: I think this is great.
[Bob Dickinson]: Did we notify everybody The Bronx commercial street, I see there are a lot of.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So the businesses that are there, they have either parking lots like a Cardi Foods and George's Bakery. There are commercial vehicles, aren't allowed to park on this side of the street as well. When it comes up to Ocean State, there is a, I guess we would call it like a private, sidewalk that they have that he owns up there, which he has allowed to park. I'll see if I can pull it up here for you, Steve, so you can kind of get an idea. He's able to park his vehicles there. So I was able to speak to them, but other than that, this right here, he has a parking lot, so he's able to park. majority of his vehicles in this fashion going forward now.
[Bob Dickinson]: Do we, do we have an idea who like the, where the majority of these trucks are originating from or are they just commercial drivers in general?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: It's everywhere. Wisconsin, Everett, Delaware, Virginia. Okay. So we think that there, the word is out. Yeah. We think that they're just, they're either sleeping somewhere else or they're sleeping in the truck and they, They don't answer when we're knocking on the doors, but this seemed to be an easy runoff for them to pull in here.
[Bob Dickinson]: I think it's a fair and reasonable request. Again, I just reiterate, I still would appreciate in these times to notify everyone in the area as to what we're doing and the issues we face. But I would support a motion.
[Alicia Hunt]: I'd like to understand, I'm honestly unclear what the concern is with commercial trucks parking in a commercial area overnight is.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Alicia, I'm getting complaints from the condominium that they're being woken up at all hours of the morning at night.
[Alicia Hunt]: The one that I can see through the trees in the distance when I look on, like I'm looking at street view and so it's like the one that's on.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: This is 3920, which the area, and I would even ask if it just be from Blake Street to the parkway, is at 3920 Mystic Valley Parkway. So if you keep on going down and then about 100 yards with the OGE plan.
[Alicia Hunt]: That one?
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: On the other side of that. This is no longer here. That's all gone.
[Alicia Hunt]: So that, they're bothering them with the noise of the vehicles.
[Tim McGivern]: Correct. Those must be... Also, what we're hearing too in the DPW and seeing is that truck owners are using this as a storage strip. So they're driving, they're parking their big things here like it's storage. So that's one of the issues.
[Alicia Hunt]: rather than paying for appropriate storage somewhere else?
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, exactly. The big commercial trucks, they should be storing them properly and they shouldn't be using our city streets to store their vehicles.
[Todd Blake]: Isn't there an issue with trash too and not being good neighbors and all that, leaving the place unsightly?
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, the sleeping issue is the other one where the trucks are parking here and sleeping. So, and they're throwing their trash out the window. That wetland is disgusting, has a lot to do with this being used as a rest stop. So that's why I'm in favor of this. I think it would need to change in the future because we're getting some development closer to the river. So, you know, that GE site's gonna happen and that Gold's Gym site, that'll happen. So it'll have to change, but right now we gotta do something and this is appropriate, I believe.
[Alicia Hunt]: So the Gold's Gym site is going to be residential. I believe all the building permits are issued for that.
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, so that'll go and the GE site will go at some point. Theoretically. So the nature of this little area will change over time.
[Alicia Hunt]: Yes, there's actually, I believe, a development plan for the other side of the wetland. I don't know if they've applied for their permits yet. I don't think so.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, Danielle has mentioned that one. I mean, if we look at it this way, too, knowing that those future developments are coming, those developments are supposed to accommodate their parking needs on their own site. So by restricting it now, it kind of segues into potential other uses like bike lanes and things like that in the future. Get people used to not counting on the street parking there.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Another thing Tom and I had mentioned about this, if it is residential and they put businesses at the bottom floors, we can always adjust this for business parking and another one hour down the road, but we don't want them to believe that they're just going to be able to use Commercial Street as the only place that they can park.
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, I think we have a little bit of abusive public space going on. That's how I kind of see this, and this is the solution.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: This will also segue into probably the next traffic commission with Mr. Gabb, Fulbright, James, and Swan that's coming up next month. So a little taste, I guess.
[Todd Blake]: Quickly on that note, Steve Brzezinski, you'll be happy to hear that we're holding a public meeting tomorrow about a future traffic agenda item from a different date.
[Bob Dickinson]: I love it. I would say, and again, I like Tim's perspective on this, we've got to do something. But I think it's reasonable to, you have to notify these people who are developing the Gold's Gym site to let them know what's going on because what's going to end up happening is when they do develop that site, they're going to request some sort of variance to allow for their construction workers to park on the street while they demolish this building. So I know that's not our purview, What's that? Yeah, just not overnight. Well, that's fine. But I mean, if you're going to, you know, I mean, it's going to be, yeah, it's probably going to be something they may want to require something to park like a trailer that holds in front loaders or demolition equipment, but it better not.
[Tim McGivern]: That's going to stay all on site. They're not going to have anything on their streets.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: It's massive. Their lot is extremely massive that they have, but they can,
[Tim McGivern]: I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point.
[Bob Dickinson]: Even if it wasn't, you would be amazed at what they can fit on the site.
[Jack Buckley]: I don't necessarily know. We confirm no one's left here? It's just a person for potentially forestry. Okay. Motion. Motion by Commissioner Bozinski, seconded by. Second this one. Seconded by Commissioner McGibbon. Alba, roll call vote.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGibbon.
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Motion to hunt? Yes. Senator Brzezinski?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Chief Buckley?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. The motion is approved. Now, do you have an understanding? We have one other individual, Mr. Chowdhury, who is present, and I'm not quite sure that he has a petition for a parking variance for Forest Street.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I believe all the paperwork is in order. I believe it just Through the translation, it didn't make it onto the traffic commission meeting agenda. So he is here and I guess if you're okay with that, if we could hear him out.
[Jack Buckley]: Does anyone object to hearing his petition? It's not on the agenda. but the paperwork is.
[Alicia Hunt]: I think that we can absolutely hear it depending on, since it's not on the agenda, I don't know what it is. If it feels like it might be something controversial and we should have notified the neighbors, then we might have to table it.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay, I agree, I'm not really sure, so why don't we hear what the petitioner has to ask and we can make a determination on that relatively quickly once we see how good or bad is it, agreed?
[Alicia Hunt]: right I just sometimes if it if it needs public notification then it's not appropriate to vote on it without it being on the agenda but it doesn't okay can mr. Chowdhury can you unmute yourself and present your request yes hello how are you thank you good how's everybody doing
[MCM00001654_SPEAKER_22]: So my request was for a variance parking on Forest Street because I live on 18 Salem Street, which is right above the modern pastry shop. And I had quite a number of exchanges with the parking department of the city hall, and they made it clear that there is no residential parking permit whatsoever for my street. but they did provide me with ma'am Erickson's email address. So I can see you pulled it up on the screen, it's yes. I'm requesting one for, it's not this building, but the one that has the modern pastry shop next to the church.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: 18th Settlement, sorry.
[Jack Buckley]: Yep. You live at 18th Settlement and requesting a variance for forest.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Correct. There are several variances granted to residents of that three Palm Street and Salem Street numbers. One second.
[MCM00001654_SPEAKER_22]: So it's on the other side of the street. You're looking at the wrong side. Yes, this one, the men's room with the men's room and the modern pastry shop. This building, I live here.
[Jack Buckley]: and we remind the commissioners we have dealt with this issue in the past and have granted variances to from Salem Street to Forest Street.
[Bob Dickinson]: I think it was the one that Alva just mentioned. I think it was a young lady who lived at the corner above the Dunkin' Donuts, is that correct?
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[Bob Dickinson]: What did we grant for her?
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: A variance to Forest Street.
[Alicia Hunt]: There was a long discussion about the fact that often it's hard to park on forest street because of the theater and even with the variance on forest street. That might not really solve the parking issues all the time. There was a conversation that maybe they should park on Ashland or garden. But I believe that, did we end up changing the signage on Forest Street so that people attending the theater don't park on Forest as much?
[Jack Buckley]: We've made a number of adjustments over the last couple of months on the parking there, so I mean, we're hoping that that is the case, yes.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, I may be missing something, but Forest, unless we did something recently, is not even current parking. I thought it was 7 to 7 or resident permit parking.
[Bob Dickinson]: I think the previous language came across as it's like restricted for a while and then unrestricted. And that's the problem that the theater visitors were able to use it because of the language on the signs.
[Tim McGivern]: It ended up needing some housekeeping on this stretch, which we have done. So there's some older signs and we needed some newer signs that match the other one. So I believe it was. Anyway, do we have, I mean, First of all, I think we need to disable this because it wasn't on the agenda and we can't really vote on it. So, I mean, we're gonna have to just do this again, I think.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Can you pull up a sign in front of the school condominium?
[Adam Hurtubise]: It might not be the new sign though. It's February 2022. It didn't have the resident piece on yet.
[Jack Buckley]: that's not going to show it anyway. All right, let's get back to this. So, Commissioner McGibbon, you feel like we need to table this?
[Tim McGivern]: I do, because it's not on the agenda. And even in the interest of announcing what we're doing, this would be the opposite of that. And I don't think we even can. Our vote wouldn't be good. Okay.
[Jack Buckley]: So from the chair to Mr. Chaudhuri, we do appreciate your time and efforts in putting this through there, and if there was a miscalculation, we do apologize. It's something that we can't address in the future, but we're going to have to place you on the January traffic commission meeting. Once a commissioner requests for table, it pretty much ends debate and we have to move towards tabling the item. And so we will table this for the January traffic commission meeting, we'll reach back out to you because we may have a few other questions for you. And I think it will also give us some time to do anything else that we would normally do such as neighborhood. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified.
[Tim McGivern]: We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified. We will make sure that you are notified I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it. I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it.
[Todd Blake]: I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it. I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it. I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it. I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it.
[Tim McGivern]: I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it. I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it. I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it.
[Jack Buckley]: I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it. I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it. I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it. I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it. That is it. Yes, sir.
[MCM00001654_SPEAKER_22]: No, I just wanted to ask if there's anything on my end that I needed to do just so it's easier.
[Jack Buckley]: At this time, no, we have your request and your petition. It will be on the January. But we may reach out to you if we have certain other questions. And we have your contact information, your email. OK.
[MCM00001654_SPEAKER_22]: OK. All right. Thank you.
[Jack Buckley]: So I really appreciate it. Thank you.
[MCM00001654_SPEAKER_22]: All right. Thank you.
[Todd Blake]: For him and everyone else, Salem is currently, I believe, unrestricted after 7 p.m.
[Jack Buckley]: So no new business. Anybody have anything else? they want to bring up. I think tonight, one of the things that I would like to do, and maybe my traffic sergeants can take a look at this. I think we've, what's come to light is we have a few tabled items that we could probably start to deal with them as well, based on a number of issues. I know Commissioner Brzezinski, we had talked about getting through some of these, so maybe we can meet after the 13th year and have a conversation about some of these that we've addressed tonight and maybe try to resolve and get them off the agenda slowly but surely throughout 2020. Or I think that might work, right? We can work as a team to kind of see where we are because it was a number that we want to just kind of confirm that we believe are already resolved. With that, I want to just thank you all for, I think, another year down, right? 2023. I feel old every time I say this, but we got a lot accomplished this year, and it wasn't easy. So on behalf of the police department and the traffic commission, I do appreciate all the work you guys put into it. And Patty Falasca, welcome aboard. Hopefully it wasn't too much for you. Hopefully I didn't scare you off, but I think it runs pretty smooth. And we are looking forward to your input on a lot of these subjects. I think it's Commissioner Brzezinski brings a great different look because of just being sort of civilian as we get caught up being employees sometimes and it really, really helps in this commission. So no problems. Patty, nothing? You liked it?
[MCM00001656_SPEAKER_09]: No. Interesting. Yeah.
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah.
[MCM00001656_SPEAKER_09]: I like that Park Street discussion because I deal with it every day.
[Jack Buckley]: Yep, there's no cookie cutter solution to anything either, so it always works out that way. Yes, welcome. And so I will say, happy holidays, happy new year. Everyone stay healthy, get through this and we'll get back on board in January of 2024. Oh my God.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: January 9th.
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah, January 9th, 2024.