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Home My Public Portal About2021-02-23 Community Path ToWN OF 163U WATERTOWN • Office of the Town Manager Administration Building rsf = 149 Main Street Watertown,MA 02472 Phone: 617-972-6465 Michael J. Driscoll www.watertown-ma.gov Town Manager townmgr@watertown-ma.gov To: Honorable Town Council From: Michael J. Driscoll, Town Manager Date: February 18, 2021 RE: Community Path Attached please find email correspondence regarding the subject from Steven Magoon, Community Development &Planning Director/Assistant Town Manager. I will bring this up under Communications from the Town Manager at the February 23, 2021 Town Council Meeting and respectfully request the matter be referred to Committee for policy consideration and guidance by the Honorable Town Council. cc: Steven Magoon, Community Development & Planning Director/Assistant Town Manager Laura Wiener, Senior Transportation Planner, DCDP Gregory M. St. Louis, Superintendent of Public Works Matthew Shuman, Town Engineer, Department of Public Works Kevin Duffy, Project Engineer, Department of Public Works Community Development&Planning Department Heads Mark R. Reich, Esquire, KP Law Hand, JoAnna From: Driscoll, Michael Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2021 3:07 PM To: Hand,JoAnna Subject: FW: Community Path Referral Attachments: Comm Path update TC memo 1-18-21.docx From: Magoon, Steven Sent:Thursday, February 18, 2021 3:00 PM To: Driscoll, Michael <mdriscoll@watertown-ma.gov> Cc:Wiener, Laura<Iwiener@watertown-ma.gov>; Stlouis, Gregory<gstlouis@watertown-ma.gov>; Shuman, Matthew <mshuman@watertown-ma.gov> Subject: Community Path Referral Mr. Manager, please see the attached summary regarding the Community Path project. I would respectfully request this be referred to the Council joint committees on Planning and Economic Development and Public Works for further discussion. Steve Magoon Assistant Town Manager, Director, Community Development and Planning Administration Building 149 Main Street Watertown, MA 02472 Office 617 972-6417 Cell 617 987-1136 i TOWN OF WATERTOWN Department of n , « Community Development and Planning PLANNING OFFICE Administration Building g 149 Main Street Watertown, MA 02472 Steve Magoon Phone: 617-972.6417 Director Fax: 617-972.6484 smagoon@watertown-ma.gov www.watertown-ma.gov To: Steve Magoon, Director of Community Development and Planning and Assistant Town Manager From: Laura Wiener, Senior Transportation Planner Date: February 18, 2021 Re: Community Path progress There has been some recent progress on two sections of our plans to build a Community Path through Watertown. For the sake of clarity I have named the sections of the path as follows. • Section 1. Arsenal Street from the DCR Greenway at School Street to Arsenal at Irving Street, is fully constructed and in use. • Section 2. Arsenal Street from Irving Street to Taylor Street, and Taylor Street to and across Mt. Auburn Street. • Section 3. Mt. Auburn St. and Taylor Street/Baptist Walk through the parlcing lots behind the commercial district and municipal buildings to Linear Parlc. • Section 4. Linear Parlc(Winter Street behind Town Hall to Waverly Avenue) is fully constructed and in use. • Section 5. Waverly Avenue to Main Street • Section 6. Main St. and Bacon St. to the DCR Paul Dudley White Charles River Path. Section 1 and 4 are completed. Section 2 has been in design with VHB. This has taken longer than anticipated because of the presence of Cambridge's water line underneath Arsenal Street, so needed their review and approval. We now have a preliminary design that is approved by Cambridge and ready for public review and discussion. Section 3. This critical and complicated section that runs through Watertown Square has gone through a preliminary design development. We recently submitted a grant to the MassTrails program to finish the design process and develop engineering plans and specs, that will get us ready to construct the path. If we receive the grant the process will begin in July, 2021. The budget is roughly$100,000, and requires a 20% local match ($20,000). The goal would be to have Sections 2 and 3 ready for construction bidding in 2022. When constructed, this will connect the two already-built sections of the Community Path and will provide a safe means to walk and bike 1.5 miles through Watertown. Section 6 is funded through developer contributions, and is awaiting a license agreement with Cambridge Water in order to proceed with construction. This will be another important piece of the pathway that can be completed in 2022.