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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1956-02-27' PLANNING BOARD MEETING February 27, 1956 A regular meeting of the Planning Board was held in the Town Engineer's Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, February 27, 1956 at 7:40 P.M. Present were Messrs. Abbott, Grindle, Hathaway and Jaquith, the Planning Director and the secretary. Chairman Adams arrived at 8:10 and Mr. Irwin at 9:55. Mr. Stevens,., Town Counsel, was present.from 8:45 to 9:20. It was moved, seconded and unanimously voted that Mr. Hathaway be temporary chairman. It was moved, seconded and unanimously voted that the following bills be paid: H. B. McArdle, for of- BILLS fice supplies -- $5.80 and -$ .50; Anne H. Milliken, for secretarial services.-- 10.00. The following Form A applications were taken under consideration for determination of Planning FORMS A Board jurisdiction: #56-15, submitted on February 27, 1956 by Warren E. Dumas; plan entitled "Subdivision of Land Court Case No. 24306, Land in Lexington, Mass.% Scale l`= 401, dated February 18, 1956, Miller and Nylander C. E.ts & Surveyors, Lexington, Mass. #56-16, submitted an February 27, 1956 by William H. Lyon; plan entitled "'Plan of Land in Lexington, Mass.", Scale 1" = 2010 dated February 14, 19560 Miller and Nylander, C. E.'s & Surveyors, Lexington, Mass. It was moved, seconded and unanimously VOTED: that the plans accompanying applications #56-15 and #56-16 be signed bearing the endorsement "Lexington Planning Board approval not required under subdivision .control law". Mr. Adams arrived at 8:10 P.M. and assumed chair- manship of the meeting. 1 - BOARD OF The Chairman read the Board of Appeals notices ' APPEALS for hearings to be held on March 13, 1956 and re -read said Board's notices for hearing to be held on Feb- ruary 28, 1956. It was decided to take no action in regard to the petitions. Mr. Stevens arrived at 8:45 P.M. At this time the Board discussed with him the following Form A applications. #56-17, submitted on February 27, 1956 by Frank H. Ready for Helen A. Mc Caffrey; plan entitled "Plan of Land in Lexington, Mass.", Scale 1" = 401, dated February 17, 1956, Miller and Nylander, C. E,1s & Surveyors, Lexington, Mass. #56-18, submitted on February 27, 1956 by Harold E. Stevens, for the Town of Lexington; plan entitled "Plan of Crosb; Road and Adjoining Lots Lexingtonp Mass." Scale. 1 = 401 dated January 6, 1955 and revised February 20, 1956,. William M. Burns, Town Engineer. After this discussion it was moved, seconded and unanimously , VOTED: that the plans accompanying applications #56-17 and #56-18 be signed bearing the endorsement "Lexington Planning.Board approval not required under subdivision control law". Mr. Burnham Kelly arrived at 9:15 at which time Mr. Stevens left the meeting. The Chairman gave Mr. Kelly a brief explanation WORTHEN ROAD of why the Board had requested, his and Mr. Greeleyte AND MAJOR presence at its meeting. It was stated that the. Board STREET PLAN was very much concerned with the Worthen Road project, that the road had been planned to have access onto Pleasant Street adjacent to Route 2 but that the State planned to make Route 2 a limited access highway ex- tending Pleasant Street over Route 2 by means of an overpass and had taken a strip of the Carrig land along Pleasant Street and Route 2 so that Worthen Road no longer had an access onto the highway. It was also stated that Worthen Road took on an added importance with the Hayden Recreation Centre being located ad- jacent to the road. The Centre was reported to be planning a parking area for 600 cars and to break ' ground for the building sometime during the summer. The Chaimman said it was too much to ask Mr. Snow, with all he had to do, to make a traffic study to plan for Worthen Road and that the Board desired to hire a firm to make such a study. It was thought that Messrs. Kelly and Greeley would have some sug- gestions on firms undertaking these studies and some advice concerning the problems involved in the Worthen Road project. Mr. Roland Greeley arrived at 9:35 P.M. at which time the Chairman repeated for him the gist of the ex- planation given Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kelly began the discussion by stating that he thought the problem was more one of land use than traffic tests. He said that Mr. Duffy of the Fisher Company would be worth his weight in gold if he could give some idea of where major streets should be loca- ted, especially in view of the fact that Lexington will have a population of 40,000 before too long. He felt that when and where a sub by-pass should be located, such as the proposed Worthen Road, was a problem. It was pointed out by some members of the Board ' that people do not use Route 2 and 128 to drive around Lexington but drive through town via Bedford Street. Mr. Snow stated that to his knowledge there was no information available as to the origin and destina- tion of this traffic and felt that, if most of it were through traffic, much of it might be reduced consider- ably if Route 3, as a limited access highway, were ex- tended from Route 128 through Woburn and Winchester Mr. Greeley said that the major problem, as he saw it, was traffic that had either an origin or a destination in Lexington and related to the land use in town. An engineering firm which knows something about highways could help the Board to a great extent with its traffic problem but might not concern itself with traffic originating from or destined for Lexington. Citing an example, he stated that what was finally done about the Worthen Road project might make little dif- ference to people who drive to Waltham. The Chairman said that people were driving off side streets onto Massachusetts -Avenue and Bedford Street to continue into Boston to work and that rather than widening the avenue, the Board was considering recommending the construction of Worthen Road, a pro- -ject which would cost between two and three million dollars. ' Mr. Kelly stated that if Worthen Road were not made a limited access way, it would become nearly as congested as Massachusetts Avenue. He recog- nized the cost of making land takings for such a limited access road but stated that this type of road would be better from the Town's point of view - and that it might be possible to convince the towns- people of the value of this kind of road. Mr. Irwin arrived at 9:55 P•M• Mr. Greeley felt that since the location of the Hayden Centre had been set, that the Worthen Road project was a problgm. He,asked if it were too late to relate the problems to each other and if it must be assumed that Worthen Road had to be located through the Centre Playground. He was not convinced that Worthen Road was necessary. It was pointed out that in a 1947 agreement the Town was obliged to provide a road from the Ryder land to Waltham Street, that there was a necessity of the,Town providing for the future by reserving a strip of land crossing the Hayden property and that Worthen Road could be so located through the Play- ground Land to take care of both matters. The Chairman stated that the lack of such a road would ' create a local condition about which something must be done, that what had been recommended had been the opinion of a group of laymen who, with some help, had looked into the matter rather seriously. He added that Planning Board surveys to evaluate the project would take too long, that because of the pressure of time it was necessary to obtain consulting services to make the necessary studies and asked if either Mr. Greeley or Mr. Kelly could suggest three or four potential sources. of such help. Mr. Greeley said that he would rather see the Board obtain necessary funds to hire someone to work with Mr. Snow than to hire an engineering firm, pointing out that such a firm might do too much of the studies on its own rather than with Mr. Snow. Mr. Kelly took somewhat the same view stating that a general planning firm would be better than an en- gineering one. Mr. Greeley added that he would not know the names of several consultants who would be eager for this kind of contract. It was determined that the Board would need some origin -destination counts and Town -wide plans. Mr. Greeley thought that the traffic should not be treated solely as a highway but rather as a Planning ' Department problem relating future school sites, 1 1 1 studies of sidewalks and other matters to the major street plan. He stated that his was a job which re- quired a concentrated amount of expert time and a great deal of foot work by persons skilled enough so that they would not take 24-hour supervision. He added that it would take three or four months' time to determine how to cope with Town and then with out-of-town traffic. He said that the more amateur the help, the more of Mr. Snaw's time it will take to supervise the work. The point was em- phasized that one or several persons should be hired to assist in carrying out .this project. It was also thought that it might be a good idea to obtain the services of a consultant in traffic who could be em- ployed from time to time on a continuing basis. Messrs. Greeley and Kelly left the meeting at 10:20 P.M. In discussing the subject further, Mr. Snow was asked to look into the matter of hiring someone from the schools and colleges and to report his findings as soon as possible so that the Board, at the coming Town Meeting, would know for what to ask in the way of funds to provide help in the preparation of a major street plan study. The secretary was dismissed at 10:30. The Board spent the remaining time until adjournment at 11:00 P.M. discussing details of the proposed Historic Dis- tricts Legislation to be presented at public hearings scheduled for March 8 and 15. Charles T. Abbott Clerk