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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1927-10-04MM REGULAR MEETING, OCTOBER 4, 1927. A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held at the Selectments Office at 7.30 P.M. Messrs. Custance, Burnham, Robertson, Ballard, and Chamberlain were present. The Supf. of Public Works and the Clerk were also present. The records were approved. Edson A. Pero was granted a public garriage license to operate one Otudebaker Sedan in the Town of Lexington. Mr. Burnham reported that the watering trough located at the corner of Lowell and Woburn Streets was broken off so that it would not hold water. Inasmuch as the watering trough has outlived'its usefulness, it was voted to have the same removed. The Board deemed it necessary to construct a sewer in Locust Avenue and Plainfield Street from Mass. Avenue to Tower Street respectively and voted to pass the following order: Commonwealth of Massachusetts Middlesex, ss. Town. of Lexington. ' WHEREAS the Town of Lexington at a town meeting duly called and held on September 22, 1927 duly adopted under Article 10 of the Warrant the following vote: Voted that the Selectmen be authorized to provide for the laying of sewers in the following streets: Locust Avenue, Massachusetts assachusetts Avenue to Tower Street; Plainfield Street from Massachusetts Avenue to Tower Street; Percy Road, from present end a distanc-a of approximately 300 feet; Lincoln Street from Parker Street to Audubon Road; Audubon Road from Lincoln Street to Mass. Avenue; and Woburn Street from Fletcher Avenue a distance of approximately 650 feet, and that the sum of $25,000. be appropriated, and for the purpose of raising the money so appropriated the Town Treasurer be and hereby is authorized to sell, under the direction and with the approval of the Selectmen, bonds or notes of the town bear- ing interest at a rate not to exceed 42% per annum, issued and payable in accordance with law. VOTED by the Selectmen, acting as a Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners under the authority conferred by Statute 1897, Ch. 504 and acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto, and of votes of the Town of Lexington pursuant thereto, that a sewer be con- structed in Locust Avenue from Mass. Avenue to Tower Street and r'lainfield Street from Massachusetts Avenud to Tower Street sub- stantially in accordance with a plan made by John T. Cosgrove, Acting Town Engineer, dated October 4, 1927 and entitled, "Plan of Proposed Sewer in Locust Avenue and Plainfield Street, Lexington, Mass. October 4, 1927. Scale 1 inch - 40 feet. John T: Cosgrove, Acting Town Engineer.11 240 Betterments will be assessed fear this improvement in r-, C7 accordance with the provisions of Chapter 221 of the Acts of 1926. They area which it is expected will receive benefit or ' advantage other than the general advantage to the community from such improvement is described as follows: That portion of those properties on each side of Locust Avenue and Plainfield Street. The said area comprises the several lots shown upon the plan hereinbefore referred to which are designated in the schedule here- to' annexed and made a part hereof. We -estimate the betterments that will be assessed upon each parcel of land to be as shinm in the schedule which is hereto annexed and made a part hereof. Witness our hands at Lexington aforesaid this 4th day of October, 1927. Theodore A. Custance William H. Ballard Selectmen Albert H. Burnham of the James G. Robertson Town of Francis Chamberlain Lexington. ' Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Middlesex, ss. Lexington, Mass. October 4, 1927. Then personally appeared the above named, Theodore A. Custance, William H. Ballard, Albert H. Burnham, James G. Robertson, and Francis Chamberlain and severally acknowledged the foregoing in- strument and statement by them subscribed to be their free 'act and deed and the free act and deed of the Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners of the Town of Lexington; before me, William S. Scamman Notary Public A true copy of the records, Attest: Helen C. Gallagher Clerk, Selectmen Schedule of Estimated Betterments Referred to in the foregoing order ' Locust Avenue and Plainfield Street. Plainfield St. Owner as of April 1,192 Assessment. Minnie A. Tillson $65.00 Daniel R.& Jane P. Knight 100.00 Edna H. Atwood 145.00 Louis J. Reynolds 140.00 Wilbur F. Atwood 130.00 James G. Robertson 155.00 William B. Foster 220.00 Fred H. Moulton 120.00 1230.00 Locust Ave. Nelson W. Jenney $105.00 Town of Lexington 40.00 Albert G. Ross 105.00 Francis L. Buttrick 200.00 John E. & Josephine R. Kennedy 105.00 Herbert F. Howland, Heirs of 115.00 Kate E. Thompson 100.00 Franeis:H. Gray 120.00 Annie Pierce 140.00 ' $1030.00 Tower St. Minnie A. Milliken $95.00 Wilson E. Leighton 200.00 295.00 The Board voted to approve the plan of the taking bf land which is to be deeded to the Town by Robert L. Ryder, and which is located near the corner of Lowell and North Streets and includes a five foot strip of land along each side of Lowell Street. The Chairman read a letter which included a bid for the Town Hall property. After discussing the matter of sale of the property, it was decided to invite bids and to insert advertisement for bids in the Boston Globe, Herald, Transcript, and in the local newspapers on.Thursday of this week. The Board also voted to approve the agreement of sale and form of proposal drawn up by the Town Counsel.,,- Sydney ounsel,Sydney R• WrightingtorL.. The bids are to be received at the Town Hall on October 18, 1927 at 8 P.M. 1 nm 142 The following notice having been inserted in the local papers, "Invitation is extended to the Citizens of the Town of Lexington to attend the meeting of the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday even- ing, October 4, 1927, at 8 P.M., at which time they will be given an opportunity to -iiiew the plans of the intended relocation of Massachusetts Avenue, Bedford Street and Hancock Street along the Buckman Tavern property. Theodore A. Custance, Bhairman, Selectmen." the Chairman declared the meeting open for discussion. Mr. Emery, Chairman of the Planning Board, asked several questions in regard to the intentions of the Selectmen in making the layout, plan of which was before the meeting. He also made the statement that it was rather unfortunate that Mr. Hollis Webster and Mr. W. Roger Greeley were unable to be present at this meeting inasmuch as both of these parties were very much opposed to the proposed widening. Mr. Emery explained the work which had been d6ne by the Planning Board in establishing a public line from the Town Hall to Meriam Street, and felt that the Selectmen could remedy the situation by establishing a building line rather than making a taking and widening the avenue at this time. Mr. Ballard was called upon by the Chairman to explain the. procedure that the Board had entered upon toestablish this widening, and he explained that it w4.s intended to construct the sidewalks and set curbing along the line of the widened street. He explained that the Town hoped to get the cooperation of the County and possibly the State to do this construction work under the authority of Chapter 90. Mr. Ballard pointed out that a widening along gbe Depot Park was contemplated when the Town voted to purchase this strip of land and the Board felt that it was a business proposition since the avenue is to be rebuilt, to have the street widened to that no work need be done on the street for some time. It is also true that it will cost less today to make the taking of land along the Boutelle Block than it will in the future. Also if Mass. Avenue cannot be widened at both this point and the location where the Hunt Block lies,'at this time, the Board will have progressed in the widening'�of the avenue as far as possible when the present plan is carried out, and if at any time the Hunt and Boutelle Blocks are demolished, the new buildings may be set back and the street widened at that tiae. Mr. Emery felt that it was not necessary to expend the rjoney for this widening now especially when a new office building is to be erected, and felt that the amount of money expended for this purpose should be applied toward the cost of laying out a parallel route such as the connecting link between North Hancock Street and East Street which would divert traffic from the center of the Town. Mr. Emery also felt the traffic would be speeded up on account of the additional road space, and the beauty of the Buckman Tavern property would be marred if the lawn and trees were removed that were included in this widening. Mr. Ballard presented a report on the condition of the Trees to be removed, from the Davey Tree Expert Company, Inc. The report was read to the meeting. 1 1 Mr. J. Henry Duffy came before the Board in behalf of the ' Historical Society and Planning Board, and stated that he felt that the proposed widening was nct necessary at this time, and that the Historical Society were not in favor of the same. He stated that the street was now wider than Beacon Street in Boston in front'of the State House, and that the width' of the street proposed is wider than any state highway that he knows of. Mr. Chamberlain inquired of Mr. Emery as to what his opinion was in regard to the widening at Depot Park. Mr. Emery felt that this could be treated as a separate proposition and widened some- what, but he preferred a parking space in some other section of the town. Dr. Clarence Shannon informed the meeting that the Board of Trade, an organization made up of the business men in the centre of the Town, and who were more particularly concerned about the traffic situation than perhaps those who were not in town during the day, felt that the avenue should be widened. They also felt that it might be possible to return to diagonal parking if the avenue were widened and thereby take care of more parking of cars. He stated that if the traffic increases as much im the next five years as it has in the past five years it will be a serious problem, and this proposed widening will help the situation considerably. He felt that it would be useless to build new sidewalks now and have them town up at a later date, whereas the sidewalks could be built permanently now. Edward P. Merriam expressed the opinion that he felt the town ' could afford to wait for some time before making this change. Dr. J. Odin Tilton spoke against removing so many trees and felt that it took too long to get trees to grow to take so many away at once. He also stated that when he was a member of the Park Commissioners that a lay out wasagreed upon the same being a taking of five feet. He was opposed, however, to the taking of 10 feet, which was called for in some places by this plan. He felt that the corner of Elm Avenue and Bedford Street was a very dangerous point and that it might becone more dangerous if the street below is widened as it will tand to in- crease the speed of traffic. Mr. Wesley T. Wadman, Robert H. Holt, Christopher W. Collier, Edwin B% Worthen, Howard S. 0. Nichols all spoke against the propo- sition either from the standpoint of beauty or speeding traffic in- crease and danger to the public. Mr. Nichols spoke of the increased danger to school children. Lights overhead were spoken of as an addition to the safety of the traffic, also warning signs might be placed near Elm Avenue. Mr. Leroy S. Brown, who resides nearer to the proposed widening than any other person, stated that he was in favor of the proposed widening and felt that it was a necessity owing to the amount of traffic on the street caused by the historical interest in the town. He felt that persons visiting the Common should be provided with a space where they could park their cars not too far away and should het be forced to look for side streets to park upon. He stated that at least fifty cars stop each day to read the tablet -in front of his house. He dialled attention to the fact that when the Buckman Tavern property was pur- chased it was specifically mentioned in the vote of the Town that a part of the property could be used for highway purposes, and this was also true of the vote of the purchase of Depot Park, and he was entirely o favor of this plan. 144 �.., M. Robert L. Ryder also spike strongly in favor of the plan as C7 proposed and stated that in a few years from now no one will be able to tell whether the trees were removed or the sidewalk widened or not and will be wondering why the improvement was not made before. He cited a case which showdd the short sightedness of the town which cost the town money when the school committee urged the purchase of land for the Parker School and the town did not vote to purchase same until three years later when it cost a great deal more money, then when it was built i was not built sufficiently large and an addition had to be added in five years time. He felt that short sightedness had cost this town a great deal of money in the past and it was time to become more aggressive. Representative George E. Briggs spoke in favor of the propo- sition, feeling that it was good business to do the work now. Edwin M. Slocombe spoke against the proposition. The Board were requested by Mr. F. L., Emery to continue the hearing until such time as Mr. Greeley and Mr. Webster had an oppor- tunity to express their views and until a larger delegation could be obtained to express their opinion. The Board informed the meeting that a long letter of protest had been received from Mr. Greeley and that they dtd not see any necessijty of extending the.hearing. After the hearing adjourned the Board read the letter of Mr. Greeley in which he set forth his objections, and discussed the opinions ex- pressed by those present and voted to write the following letter to, the County Commissioners and to insert the same in the local papers. October 5, 1927. ' Notice having been given to the citizens of the Town that an opportunity would be given them on the 4tY inst. to view the plans of the proposed widening of Massachusetts Avenue, Hancock Street, and Bedford Street, in Lexington, twenty-nine persons appeared before the Selectmen. After hearing the arguments for And against the proposition the Board of Selectmen felt that it would be for the best interests of the Town to carry out the proposed widening in accordance with the original plan on fila in the County Commissiones4s Office, and voted to request the Commissioners to issue the decree for this widening. Yours very truly, Theodore A. Custance, Chairman. A commitment for the Water Department was signed by the Board in the amount of $10,836.61. W. F. Morang and Ralph H. Marshall came before the Board to find out I how to proceed to establish a cemetery on what is known as Ryan Park. 145 Mr. Morang explained that it was their intention to have a burial ' park made out of a territory of. about 90 to 100 acres, the makers to be similar to those in the Westview Cemetery. 8e stated that a similar cemetery existed just outside of Chicago and there was also one at Miami, Florida. The Bbard informed Mr. Morang that they would not take any action upon the matter until they were advised by the Town Counsel. The meeting adjourned at 11:30 P.M. A true record, Attest: Clerk. 1