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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2017-11-20_Mt_Auburn_Street_FINALTown Council Town of Watertown Committee on Public Works Meeting November 20, 2017 REPORT: December 12, 2017 The Committee met at 6:30 pm in the Town Council Chamber. Present were Committee members Aaron Dushku (Chair), Anthony Palomba (Vice -chair), Susan Falkoff (Secretary); Public Works Staff Gerry Mee, Dennis Sheehan and Matt Shuman; Senior Planner Gideon Schreiber; State Senator William Brownsberger; Governor's Councilor Marilyn Petito Devaney; Town Council President Mark Sideris and Councilors Woodland, Feltner, Kounelis, and Dattoli. Please note that some of the Councilors arrived for the Mount Auburn St discussion that began at 7:15 and may not have been present throughout the meeting. 1. RIDGELAWN CEMETERY Councilor Dushku read a list of concerns that were recorded in the April 24, 2017 minutes of this committee. Mr. Sheehan reported that the Public Works Department (DPW) had closed the Warren Street gate to forestall cut -through traffic and as a result less dust was being stirred up. Storage of material for non -cemetery uses has ceased; truck dumping is being done in a bin at the DPW yard. The exposed dirt pile has been grassed over. To deter illegal dumping, an open dumpster has been removed. There are ongoing water issues due to high groundwater on the property. Mr. Mee reminded the committee of the urgency of the DPW's need for an alternative staging location. The DPW has not begun work on a Property -wide Management Plan but they plan to do so as soon as possible. Councilor Dushku praised the Department for tree pruning and new fence screening on the Highland Ave side. 2. WEBSITE AND WORK -ORDER TRACKING Mr. Sheehan reported that a work order tracking system has been implemented "on the back end," i.e. it is not yet ready for public access. He said that the new town website will go live in January and the DPW site will also debut at that time. 3. WATER METER REPLACEMENT PROJECT Mr. Sheehan said that this item has been a Capital Improvement Project (CIP) item for several years. The Department plans to begin replacing meters for 109 large commercial users soon but before they do, they are requesting a change in the ordinance. Currently, DPW owns all meters unless they are larger than one inch in diameter. DPW inspected the 109 meters of this size and only six were working well. Property owners have no incentive to repair/upgrade meters. DPW would like to change the ordinance so the town owns all of the meters. Mr. Sheehan presented draft ordinance revisions. The committee found some of the language confusing and asked for a re- written version. This will be presented to the committee at the December 6th Committee meeting. 4. MOUNT AUBURN STREET PROJECT The room was packed for this discussion. Regina Villa Associates facilitated this part of the meeting. The slide presentation is available for viewing at www.Mountauburnstreet.com. Detailed minutes of the meeting are being prepared by Regina Villa Associates and will be posted on the same website once they are finalized. Generally -speaking, the project team explained their deeper analysis of previously -discussed bicycle solutions and with very few exceptions, separated bike lanes are now off the table due to a preponderance of constraints. In the case of the segment from Watertown Square to Patten Street, traffic volumes have also led the project team to discard the road diet option entirely. In the East End, the team is considering the addition of some new parking near a church and funeral homes. The team's next steps include developing a concept for the Coolidge Square area, and then finalizing the cross section from Arlington Street to Cambridge. The team anticipates a mid -January meeting to discuss those. The team will also analyze the Common Street/Parker Street area to evaluate future operations of the Common Street intersection. Based on the recommendations and outcome of the next meeting, the team will develop draft corridor -wide 'roll plans' that will be posted to the website in February. In February or March, the team will host an open house to discuss the draft corridor -wide roll plans. This project is slated for construction beginning in fiscal year 2022. Meeting adjourned at 9:10 pm. Report respectfully submitted by S. Falkoff, secretary and edited by A. Dushku, chair.