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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1974-05-06-BOS-min 524 SELECTMEN'S MEETING May 6, 1974 ' A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Select- men's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, May 6, 1974 at 7 00 p.m. Chairman Kenney, Messrs Bailey, Buse, Brown, and Mrs Battin; Mr O'Connell, Town Manager; Mr McSweeney, Director of Public Works/Engineering; Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were present. Mr O'Connell informed the Board that bids have been received on con- trol system revisions for the Brook Street Pumping Station Hall Pump Contract Sales & Service Corporation, Stoneham, $43,202; Jackson Rand Corporation, Brook St Framingham, $44,200 Whitman & Howard reviewed the two bids and recom- Pumping mended that the contract be awarded to the low bidder The bid prices Station were somewhat higher than earlier anticipated but this is due to cost in- creases in electrical supplies and higher wage rates for electricians Mr Bailey Where would the money come from? Mr O'Connell It comes out of the contract, which is subject to litigation. The Town ends up owning the present controls Mr Brown There is no guarantee that we get this money back eventually? Mr O'Connell I would assume so, after litigation The Board also asked for, and Town Meeting approved, funds under Article 12 of the 1973 Annual Town Meeting Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to award the con- tract to Hall Pump Sales & Service Corporation for control system revi- sions for the Brook Street Pumping Station in the amount of $43,202 Mr O'Connell said that it is within the Town Manager's authority Life and he would like to review the Town employees' life and accidental death Insurance insurance policy with the Arlington Trust Company The Board had no objection Health Mr O'Connell advised the Board that the new Health Director, George Director Smith, reported for work today and arrangements will be made to introduce him to Board Members Mr O'Connell discussed the bid from Stanley Rokentenetz, Inc on the Garbage garbage contract It was bid on a one year, two year, and three year basis Contract and we have a deadline of May 15 to award the contract The Board agreed that it would not want to sign the contract for more than two years but to await the outcome of tonight's Town Meeting when the Article on trash collection comes up for reconsideration Wyman Chairman Kenney read a recommendation from the Director of Public Works/ Road Engineering that the Board vote an intent to take temporary construction Sewer easement on the Portnoy land with an award of no damages This is in con- Easement nection with the Wyman Road sewer construction. 52 Selectmen's Meeting May 6, 1974 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted an intent to take a 10 foot wide temporary construction easement on the land owned by Stephen L and Esther Portnoy, 18 Wyman Road, with an award of no damages Authority is contained in Article 22 of the 1973 Annual Town Meeting Warrant. Town Counsel was requested to prepare the necessary papers Chairman Kenney read a request from the Director of Public Works/Engi- neering for approval of the extension of the sewer system to the home of Mr Lucidino Burri, 14 Holland Street Holland Street is now being con- structed by Starrett Paving Corporation under Contract #73-6-E; presently, the contract calls for a dry sewer under the area to be paved and running part way through the easement between Holland Street and Mohawk Drive In Burri view of the public health nuisance due to an overflowing cesspool it is Sewer recommended that the sewer be continued through the easement to Mohawk Holland Drive under an extra work order We estimate the cost of this work to be Street less than $7,500 and would involve approximately a 250-foot extension of the main; funds are available under the original appropriations for work under this contract. Mr McSweeney When we put in the street, we were going to put in a dry sewer but now this would ultimately serve three homes, and it is the practical thing to do. There will be a drain installed also Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the recom- mendation of the Director of Public Works/Engineering for an extension of the Town sewer system to service the home of Mr Lucidino Burri, 14 Holland Street. Chairman Kenney read a letter from the Board of Appeals stating that a hearing had been held and the application denied for Antonio and Lucy Devito DeVito to build a home on lot 80 Valleyfield Street Under the circum- Betterment stances, it is felt that the Town should abate and refund to the DeVitos Valley- all monies paid for sewer and/or water betterments as they will be of no use field St to them A report was read from the Director of Public Works/Engineering that he had no objection to an abatement of monies already paid if that is what the owners wish, but Town Counsel would have to render a decision. A sewer betterment is the only assessment for this lot and, if abatement is possible, the owners would then have to agree to a sewer charge in lieu of betterment to be paid when they or a future owner would tie into the sewer Mr Bailey The request should come from Mr DeVito, and then we could discuss it The Board agreed to reply to the Board of Appeals that the request should come from Mr and Mrs DeVito if they want the Board to take official action regarding an abatement. Chairman Kenney read a letter from Attorney Frederick Conroy that 115 Water Kendall Corporation requests entry into the municipal water line located on 115 Hartwell Avenue in order to extend the line up Hinchey Road to service the Kendall 5` 6 Selectmen's Meeting May 6, 1974 houses located on Hinchey Road. Upon completion of this installation and service, it is proposed to abandon and discontinue use of the existing water line located in the path called Old Hinchey Road A report was read from the Director of Public Works/Engineering stat- ing that in view of all the confusion that surrounds this project and the fact that the request for a water main in Hinchey Road sheds absolutely no light on the proposed Town sewer and water main extensions required on the plans presently before the Board of Appeals we would recommend that the matter be tabled to allow sufficient time for the developer to present to the Board his overall requirements for municipal utilities We believe that only in this manner can the Town make a proper review and decision as to the extension of municipal services to serve this proposed development. Chairman Kenney The Board of Appeals has requested an opinion from us as they are holding a hearing on 115 Kendall Corporation tomorrow night. In view of Mr McSweeney's recommendation, we should write to them and say that the Selectmen feel the Board of Appeals should delay granting approval of a permit because there are too many unanswered questions regarding the development of the property The Board agreed. Chairman Kenney read a request from the Conservation Commission for the Board to vote to acquire or take by eminent domain, under Article 55 of the 1973 Annual Town Meeting, the land of John W Porter, 465 Lowell Street, for conservation purposes, including outdoor recreation as pro- Porter vided by Section 8C of Chapter 40 of the General Laws, as amended. Land Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to take by eminent Taking domain for conservation purposes the land of John W Porter of 465 Lowell Street Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the re- quest of Town Counsel and to sign the order of taking of the land of John W Porter Chairman Kenney read a request from Town Counsel to sign the Bound- Russell ary Line Agreement between the Town of Lexington and F William Smith on House the property located at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Woburn Boundary Street and adjoining the Muzzey Junior High School property owned by the Line Town. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the Boundary Line Agreement between the Town of Lexington and F William Smith BOUNDARY LINE AGREEMENT This Agreement between the TOWN OF LEXINGTON, a municipal corporation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (hereinafter called the "Town") , and F WILLIAM SMITH of Lexington, Massachusetts (hereinafter called "SMITH") , gl Selectmen's Meeting May 6, 1974 WHEREAS, the Town is the owner of certain property located on Massa- chusetts Avenue in Lexington, Massachusetts which is the site of Muzzey Junior High School, so-called; and WHEREAS, Smith is the owner of certain premises on said Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington, Massachusetts which adjoin said premises owned by the Town along the northwesterly side of the Town's land; and WHEREAS, reference is made in certain deed from Mary L. Russell to Galen Allen Russell and Warren Edmund Russell recorded with Middlesex South District Registry of Deeds in Book 4598, Page 463, conveying said premises owned by Smith to Smith's predecessors in title, to an agreement with the Town of Lexington relative to a division fence, dated July 18, 1855, re- corded in the Town Book of Miscellaneous Records, Page 46 (hereinafter called the "1855 Agreement") ; and WHEREAS, neither said Town Book of Miscellaneous Records nor any copy of said 1855 Agreement can now be located; and WHEREAS, the Town and Smith now wish to confirm the location of the common boundary line between their respective premises by this agreement, which shall supersede the provisions of the 1855 Agreement, and for that purpose a survey has been made of said common boundary line, as shown on a certain plan entitled "Plan of Land in Lexington, Mass " by Hayes Engineer- ing, Inc. dated November 20, 1973, to be recorded in Middlesex South Dis- trict Deeds herewith, (hereinafter called "said Plan") , NOW, THEREFORE, the Town and Smith each covenant and agree with the other that the common boundary line between their respective premises located on Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington, Massachusetts as shown on said Plan is hereby confirmed and established to be in the location shown on said Plan; and the Town and Smith further covenant and agree that the provisions of this agreement shall entirely supersede said 1855 Agreement, which shall be of no further force or effect as between them and their re- spective successors in title to their said premises WITNESS the execution hereof as a sealed instrument this day of May 6, 1974 TOWN OF LEXINGTON Allan F Kenney Fred C. Bailey Alfred S Busa Sanborn C. Brown Margery M. Battin Its Board of Selectmen F William Smith 52S Selectmen's Meeting May 6, 1974 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Minutes minutes of the Selectmen's meetings of December 10 and December 17, 1973 Special Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to appoint Frank Police- H Totman, Jr as a Special Police Officer for the Town of Lexington for men a term expiring March 31, 1975 Chairman Kenney read a letter from the second grade pupils of the Harrington School requesting the Board to encourage residents to recycle trash The Board agreed to inform the students that the Town has had a re- cycling program at the Hartwell Avenue sanitary landfill which has proven quite successful; also, to thank them for being such concerned and well informed residents of the Town Chairman Kenney opened an informational meeting with members of the Planning Board; Michael Burke and George Bezkorovainy of Tippetts-Abbett- McCarthy-Stratton, Engineers and Architects; representatives of the Bedford St Massachusetts Department of Public Works-Charles Johnson, Senior Civil Widening Engineer; Lionel E Labelle, District #4 TOPICS Liaison Engineer, to dis- cuss preliminary drawings prepared for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for improvements on Bedford Street between Route 128 and the Bedford Town line Members of the Street and Sidewalk Advisory Committee, Design Advisory Committee, and residents of Bedford Street were present, also Mr Nickerson, Chairman, Board of Appeals Mr Burke TAMS was assigned the project for initial study and we were authorized to pick priorities and we have three locations, at Route 128, Bedford and Eldred Streets, and Bedford Street at Hartwell Avenue jughandle At peak hours, there are cars coming from Eldred Street onto Bedford Street, and the jughandle, as designed, is not adequate to handle the traffic We understand that for some time consideration has been re- quested by the Town for a connector onto Hartwell Avenue, and it is under design In developing, it was necessary to consider a possible inter- change of this type We normally use 5-year traffic projections and it was necessary that we consider future traffic projections on Bedford Street including the possible alternate routes that might be constructed to divert some of this traffic. In our analyses, we have assumed that at least a partial interchange and connector will eventually be con- structed, for unless some of the existing Bedford Street traffic is diverted, none of the schemes we have analyzed can be expected to provide an adequate level of service on Bedford Street in 1980 Based on these analyses, we recommended to Commissioner Campbell and Town officials in March that Bedford Street be reconstructed to provide a divided facility with three lanes in each direction Subsequently, after discussions with Town officials, we developed two plans in some detail One of these calls for necessary circulation and access via Bedford Street and appropriate median openings The other calls for a frontage road along the southwest- erly side of Bedford Street 529 Selecemtmen's Meeting May 6, 1974 1 Under both plans, Bedford Street would be widened to provide three travel lanes in each direction between Route 128 and the jughandle, plus a median. Between the jughandle and Winter Street, there would be two lanes for traffic headed towards Bedford, and three lanes for traffic headed towards Route 128. The transition back to the existing pavement would oc- cur on the Bedford side of Winter Street 2 Similarly, both plans call for widening and constructing a median on Hartwell Avenue between Bedford Street and Westview Road, and, 3 Minor geometric changes at the jughandle intersection 4. A fully-actuated signal would be installed at Eldred Street, and, 5 The jughandle signal installation would be modified Under Plan A 1. The Bedford Street median would be 18' wide to provide for left and U-turn slots for traffic headed towards Route 128 at the Armory and at Eldred Street While this would represent a major improvement over present conditions, it has shortcomings in at least three of its aspects (1) If the corner property (Bedford Street at Hartwell Avenue) be- comes a major private development site with access on Bedford Street, there could be a serious weaving problem--particularly in the afternoon--between traffic destined for the site via the jughandle and the right turn out of Hartwell Avenue, due to the site's proximity to the jughandle (2) The signal at Eldred Street would probably operate on three phases--inherently less efficient than 2 i operation, and hence, more likely to cause future congestion Finally, (3) Future development on the Hanscom Field side of Bedford Street can be expected to generate significant additional traffic; circulation patterns of this traffic will create weaving and side frictions in the Bedford Street traffic stream which will add to accident potential Detailed consideration of these anticipated problems led to development of Plan B which would provide a frontage road on the presently vacant side of Bedford Street We've called this plan B The major differences inP lan B are that, 1 A frontage road would be provided as shown Access would be approxi- mately opposite the Armory, with a two-way section to serve properties on the Hartwell Avenue end, and a one-way section down to Eldred Street By designing access to the frontage road in this manner, the weaving problem is minimized 530 Selectmen's Meeting May 6, 1974 2 All left and U turns on Bedford Street between Eldred Street and the jughandle would be prohibited on the main line and take place via the jug- handle (for traffic headed towards Bedford) or the frontage road (for traffic headed towards Route 128 and Lexington Center) Consequently, the signal at Eldred Street would have efficient, 2-phase operation, and median and side friction on Bedford would be reduced. While Plan B represents a safer, more efficient design, it would be more expensive and require more land. Consequently, we have submitted both plans to the Town for comment before making a decision as to our final recommenda- tion to the Department of Public Works Dr Clarke In going from Plan A to Plan B, what about traffic coming from Bedford to the Armory, how would they get there under Plan B? Mr Burke Onto the frontage road and then off at Eldred Street and back Under Plan A, there will be a great deal of traffic coming out of places like Denny's and via the service road, which has a much lower speed volume, they would go without serious conflict and go on their way. Dr Clarke Another jughandle? Mr Burke It is, in effect, a jughandle Dr Clarke How far in our right-of-way does it extend? Mr Burke We understand the Town has put aside 200 feet; it would be 200 feet from the edge of the pavement. Mr Eisenberg, Street and Sidewalk Committee It appears there are major advantages of the second scheme. Is it possible to modify the jug- handle and eliminate that two-phase light and keep the advantage of Scheme A? Mr Burke I am a little hesitant to give an answer Normally, on a jughandle, you wouldn't allow access Keep in mind someone has to pay for the right-of-way and a jughandle would be less expensive than a right-of-way Takings might be very expensive After further discussion, Chairman Kenney announced that an informa- tional meeting will be held in Cary Hall on Wednesday, May 29, at 8.00 p.m. and all interested persons will be so notified. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 8 00 p.m A true record, Attest. � ,,� , Executive Clerk, Selectmen