Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-01-14-LCC-min Town of Lexington Lexington Center Committee Minutes for the meeting of January 14th, 2021. The meeting was held remotely pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of G.L. c. 30A, section 18 and subsequent orders imposing strict limitations on the number of people who may gather in one place. Members present: Richard Brown, Michael Boudett, Katherine Huang, Frederic Johnson, Howard Levin, Pamela Lyons, Innessa Manning, Jerold Michelson (Chair) Pamela Shadley Liaisons and Town Staff: Jill Hai, Select Board, Bob Creech, Planning Board, Frank Smith, Capital Expenditures Committee, Sandhya Iyer Economic Development Director, Casey Hagerty, Economic Development Coordinator, Chief Mark Corr, LPD, David Pinsonneault, Director, DPW, Sandra Shaw, COA, Dawn McKenna, Chair, Tourism Committee, Sean Dugan, Public Information Officer, Erin Sandler-Rathe, Chamber of Commerce, Carol Kowalski (title), Upasna Chhabra, Artwalk Dave began with the DPW update: The Center Streetscape bids are going out in two weeks with bids due in mid-February. Selection of a contractor should be done by mid- March with work to begin right after Patriot's Day. DPW is hiring additional on-site contractors to ensure work is done as required by the contract. The work will take up two full construction seasons - April through November, 2021 and 2022. There will be extensive coordination with businesses and residents. Sean told us that a dedicated email will be set up for taking questions and pushing out information to the public. Some big belly trash cans are malfunctioning —new parts are on the way. Black History Month (February) banners are up. Because the Farmer's Market space will be used as a staging area for the Streetscape Project the Market will have to be moved for two seasons. The new location has not been determined. Mike raised the concern as to how much foot traffic will be affected based on other towns' experiences. DPW will work on creating safe and accessible pathways for travel to minimize impact on businesses. Pam S. inquired if construction could continue into the winter months weather permitting. Dave — typically construction ends on November 15th and the goal is to have that stage completely wrapped up. Innessa having inquired about the appearance of the barriers, Dawn asked if it would be possible not to use the orange and white barriers so that the messaging would be consistent with Tourism's rebranding. Jerry brought up the imminent renewal of the parking permits on March 1. Given that parking is not being enforced should we be charging permit holders $250 year? Stores are at 25% capacity now so it does not really make sense to charge for permits. Fred suggested that the 2020 permits be extended for a year. And then our attention turned to whether or not to eliminate parking meters in favor of kiosks. Pam S. : eliminate parking meters, go with kiosks and pay by app. Mike: prefers kiosks and appa to meter heads. Dick: kiosks are the future. Innessa: prefers apps to kiosks. Howard: concerned over disability access, people who don't have smartphones or are wary of apps. Jerry: will kiosks really eliminate "all those poles?" Jill noted that the Select Board is still seeking more information on this issue. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council has found a single vendor that offers all of these options. Chief Corr noted that parking is an agreement between the Town and the businesses. The LPD can make anything work. What is going to happen in the back parking lot. A personnel decision will have to be made. Then we veered back to the annual parking permits. The Lexington Center Committee voted 8 to 0 to recommend extending the parking permits (issued March 1,2020) for one year (to March 1, 2022) at no additional charge. We then discussed whether parking should be advertised as free. Chief Corr noted that the main issue was Center business employees parking in the most desirable spots in the Center and feeding the meters so as to park all day. This was a troublesome issue when he began as a patrolman in 1983. We don't want this behavior to start again. Also, LPD is still enforcing handicapped and delivery zones. Jerry noted that it seems that people are still paying at the meters. We are running about 1/3 of the usual meter collection. Multiple scenarios concerning paying and enforcement of meters were discussed. Fred suggested enforcing the meters. Pam S. suggested making the Depot Lot free, paying for meters. Howard asked if there is any data that supports the idea that paying for a meter discourages shoppers in the Center. Innessa described the Artwalk installation at Emery Park. Sandhya told us that a telephone museum, currently in Waltham, is looking to move to the Center, which, unbeknownst to us, has a historical connection to the telephone. We are looking forward to learning more about this.