HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-09-24-GMA-min.attachSeptember 24, 2015
Dear People,
Thank you for making this morning's meeting so productive. I am enormously
encouraged by what I see as significant progress having been made by Groundview
in responding to our criteria and evidencing a better understanding of Lexington
"culture ".
I believe we can select elements from what they presented this morning as a go-
ahead to finished design and am recommending to the committee that we continue
to work with them - and on an accelerated schedule that will put this project on a
track to construction funding at next spring's town meeting. The alternative is to
defer the project for a year - something I personally oppose and believe will be
hugely disappointing to a public which has begun to appreciate the potential in this
space.
In order to move ahead quickly. I'm asking for a meeting soon. At this meeting we
would formally agree to engage Groundview for the final design and construction
spec, and agree on which elements from their presentation today we would support.
My recommendation (and Melissa's) are that we pursue a design that
1) uses the larger space for the transportation node (giving up two parking
spaces) ,
2) provides the large raised square traffic - calming bump -up on Edison Way,
3) provides a 3" raised sidewalk 6 feet wide with granite curb alongside the
Hammond building (planter removed),
4) treats the space between the buildings with two planter beds each with trees
in the middle of the space (allowing for pedestrian circulation alongside each
building and in winding paths between the beds),
5) provides a planter bed along the Mass Ave end (with bollards installed at the
roadway edge but within the bed) curved to provide a visual barrier on the
west side, and seating on the periphery of this space in L's to encourage
conversation),
6) treats the center of the Mass Ave public space as a stage for changeable
seasonal activity (e.g. checkers /chess, sculpture, busker performance),
7) uses ground -based fixtures to light the trees from below and the Mass Ave
public space from the sides.
These recommendations have the support of the adjoining owners of the private
space, and reflect many of the comments written on the sketches posted on the
walls of our meeting room this morning.