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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-0314 Draft Minutes LCPC 1 Local Comprehensive Planning Committee Minutes Thursday, March 14, 2024 at 5:30 PM Call to Order Wendy Northcross opens the meeting at 5:30 p.m. with an introduction of Committee Members. Member Present Absent Wendy Northcross X Cheryl Powell X Mark Hansen X Amanda Converse X Sue Rohrbach X Meaghan Mort X Alyssa Chase X Asia Graves X Fran Parks X Katia DaCunha X Lindsey Counsell X Jennifer Williams X Bob Twiss X Avery Revere X Also in attendance are Planning & Development Staff; Elizabeth Jenkins, Director, Kate Maldonado, Senior Planner, Karen Pina, Principal Assistant, CALL TO ORDER Wendy Northcross calls the meeting to order NOTICE OF RECORDING The meeting will be televised live via Xfinity Channel 8 or high definition Channel 1072. It may also be accessed via the Government Access Channel live stream on the Town of Barnstable’s website: http://streaming85.townofbarnstable.us/CablecastPublicSite/watch/1?channel=1 In accordance with Massachusetts General Law Chapter 30A Section 20, the Committee must inquire whether anyone is taping this meeting and to please make their presence known. APPROVAL OF MINUTES  Approval of Minutes from February 22, 2024 Wendy Northcross entertains a motion to approve, moved by Bob Twiss, second by Cheryl Powell All aye PUBLIC COMMENT - None TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION Kate Maldonado – overview. Experts here tonight in these specific fields. DPW - Dan Santos and Griffin Beaudoin. CCRTA - Tom Cahir. 2 Village Community Meetings Calendar review – April. Community outreach. Going to each village. All meetings posted online. Goal of these meetings is to present chapters that have been discussed with the public. Will have open house for public. Press release went out earlier this week. Project website too. LCP newsletter and enews and social media as well. Flyers also in several languages. Special Town Council meeting is conflict for Centerville meeting time, to be held Tues. April 9 th . Calendars will be updated. Met with Chair and Vice Chair to make sure have representation at each of the meetings. Still have Natural Resources survey online. 287 responses. Tom Cahir in attendance.  Infrastructure and Facilities discussion for current and anticipated regional needs and best practices by Tom Cahir, Administrator of the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA) Tom Cahir, Administrator for Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA). Mission statement read. 400 sq. miles that are responsible for, 15 communities. Fixed route service runs hourly. Several lines. ADA transportation also. Dial a Ride service to schedule within 24 hours, this is a successful service. SmartDart, App based service. In Barnstable and Yarmouth, pick up within a half hour, intended for short trips. CCRTA.org has all info. Smart Dart for entire Cape. Boston hospital bus. $15 one way, $30 round trip, this is popular service. Trolley, free in summer. Train, Capeflyer, weekend rail service from Boston to Hyannis. Work with Hyline and Steamship Authority. Planning needs – housing crisis, state taking very seriously. He’s interested to see how this will work. Transportation is a big piece that goes with housing. Work with several committees. This is a big senior population here. 40% of senior population is 60 or over. Free fairs for everybody all the time, 60 and older. Go Card is new card. Would like to see this one card get all your transportation needs done. Work with Council on Aging. 500 people have come in to do this, take picture for this new card. Transition to electric vehicles. 55%, been aggressive in planning to convert. Also need charging stations. Have 20 level two charging stations on site. Visitors are calling to see if we have adequate charging stations, this could impact tourism, working on this. Cape Air, smart micro grid grant, ground transportation concerns. They are co partners with them in this. Working with Technical Vocational schools to make sure jobs in electrical world. Technology and multi modal. Smart traffic management systems. Autonomous vehicles. Funds, sources. 47% from Federal Government. 5307 funds. Who gets credit for the ferry miles. Our region should get the funds for this/transportation needs. National Transit Data – (NTD) funds. Get resources back. 10 year strategic plan. Website has information as well. Asia Graves, likes all the expansion. What about working people, transit doesn’t run after 5 p.m. Smart Dart, now limited to 10 mile limit – had to take two each way. Year round people don’t benefit on the off season. Tom Cahir, developed a committee to identify gaps in weekend and evening service. Looking at comprehensive look. Winter some of services limited. Smart Dart is new. He has eliminated 10 mile limit. Smart Dart is for smaller trips. June schedule. Wendy Northcross future vision land use. Megan Mort, housing, all developments. Cut outs for public transportation, stream line for? Tom Cahir, yes, and providing shelters where needed and also state roads. Megan Mort, funding for that? Or putting in for? Tom Cahir, state legislature has stepped up and is helping more. Grant ability with bigger projects. 3 Mark Hansen, so any routes allow for passengers to stop along the way or futuristic? As we strive for walkability, this is important. Tom Cahir, Dart service, call day before if want to go shopping. Fixed route is an hourly service. H2O service. Most all stop. TDI been in works for several years. Need to dress up the area at the east end of Hyannis. Happy to contribute to improvements needed. Kati DaCunha, language accessibility – to help foreign speaking persons, Spanish and Portuguese. Need year round transportation. People don’t know what their options are. Large population for this need. Tom Cahir, trying to be prudent with where rides are needed. Bi lingual, have 5 languages that translate and have a bi lingual person to help with communication. Asia Graves, Haitian Creole speaking? No translation for this language and availability. Amanda Converse, what is major challenges see now? Tom Cahir, goal to provide safe, affordable public transit. Would like to make more accessible. Katia DaCunha, consulted population? How to address their needs, annual survey? Would like to spread out the survey to all. Tom Cahir, yes, surveys on the buses. Recognizes and will bring up with his team and get back to people. Sue Rohrback, concert about lack of parking at some of larger developments. Tom Chair, hard to get people out of their cars. They (CCRTA) go to all big stores and have fixed routes. Sue Rohrbach, would be responsive to go to places where didn’t have a car – could take bus. Tom Cahir, yes, would put shelter there as well. Sue Rohrback, other things needed – climate change. Tom Cahir, hired consultant and got guidance to see what we are supposed to do. Still challenges. Charging stations. Wendy Northcross, EV infrastructure, whose responsible for building? Tom Cahir, working with Eversource and a lot of companies, have had for 5 years now – grant money received for. Solar array as well. Wendy Northcross, has anyone done a forecast for how much we are going to need? EV infrastructure. Tom Cahir, yes, working with others, will need on route charging and will need to identify. Cape Cod Commission (CCC) is doing this kind of work now. Bob Twiss, are existing charging stations available for anybody, the public? Tom Cahir, all are level 2 and take 5 or 6 hours to charge. Level one is like what have at house. Level 3 is more powerful. The Tesla has a different kind of requirement. Can get level two for most. 4 Bob Twiss, can go to existing stations to get some charge? Is it posted on CCRTA to show where they are and where to look for the App? Tom Cahir, yes. There is a map, doesn’t think they have on their website. Asia Graves, does CCRTA charge for use of EV charging? Discussion regarding where and how for charging stations. Cheryl Powell, – parking, can people leave vehicles to charge? Is there a limit? Tom Cahir, 20 different stands, has never seen more than 4 or 5 at a time. Megan Mort , is there a place on website that marks all the bus stops? Tom Cahir, yes. Wendy Northcross thanks Tom Cahir for all his work and time tonight.  Infrastructure and Facilities presentation discussing the Town’s current status related to infrastructure and facilities as well as current and anticipated needs by Dan Santos, Director of Public Works and Griffin Beaudoin, Town Engineer Dan Santos and Griffin Beaudoin in attendance. Dan Santos, Infrastructure and Facilities Presentation. Three major programs. Two major capital projects/programs. Horizontal that are on or in the ground. Vertical program addresses all above the ground. Looking at most of horizontal. Facilities are buildings mostly like Town Hall. Comprehensive wastewater management plan. (CWMP) Tremendous amount of work that will go on for decades. Griffin Beaudoin, Town Engineer in attendance. Infrastructure, graph shown of divisions. Types of infrastructure. Horizontal will be the focus. Budget Cycle. Operating and Capital project budget. Submission deadline dates. Capital Improvement Plan. Have to prioritize these. Roads – 4th largest roadways in the state, out of 351. Public roads, 700 of these. Funds and how applied. 1100 private roads, over 190 miles, managed privately. Some are ancient ways. Town has some programs to help deal with private roads. Abutters can petition the town and town can prepare and estimate, have to be 51%, done through betterments, commonly used program. Town Council can approve to fix certain private roads. TIP – Transportation Improvement Program. Usually federal and state funds. CCC boards, joint transportation committee. Metropolitan planning organization. Funds broken down, three main types. Graph shown and how projects funded for TIP. State prioritized projects. Cape Cod Rail trail phase 3 scheduled for FY 2024. TIP is the regional planning. Distribution of funds. Eligible projects – listing of projects. Public roads. Maintenance program and preventative maintenance. Capital Improvements, larger projects and more involvement and money. Public road safety, prioritize safety. Areas listed with most crashes. Asia Graves, street lights? Does DPW handle lighting? Griffin Beaudoin, yes, lighting we take into account and has to be done for safety. Town projects the town owns and maintains these. Utility poles are maintained by the fire districts, not all but most are. Public roads, complete streets. Cape Cod Rail Trail. Received grants from the state. Phase 3 and Phase 4. Construction for Phase 3 to begin in 2024. Done in sections. Phase 4 will extend the trail from Mary Dunn to Sandwich, approximately 10 miles. Culverts and drainage. More than 4000 catch basins. Do over several years. MS4 – storm sewer system. Illicit discharge and detection elimination (IDDE). Green stormwater management. Bioretention areas. Projects working 5 on listed. Public Roads: Climate change. Sea level rise. Storm surge. Problems/needs. Priorities and needs. Safety, investment in maintenance. Replace aging infrastructure. Complete streets. Accessibility deficiencies. Climate change. Bridges, 7 town owned bridges with clear span over 20 ft. MASS DOT inspects each bridge. Town responsible for deficiencies. Wendy Northcross, what is the average age of our bridges? Griffin Beaudoin, Oyster Harbors over 70 years old. They range, not all done at once, but not new. Doing rehab and maintenance on them. Sue Rohrbach , how classified? Griffin Beaudoin, clear over 20 ft., rating ranges, some have lower ratings than others. Asia Graves, why no tolls on bridges? Implement temporary/seasonal tolls to pay for the bridge maintenance. Griffin Beaudoin, these are smaller bridges. Bumps River this is not a practical option. Not sure what process would be. Oyster Harbor bridge is beyond and need to look at the end of life for this bridge. Maraspin Creek also. Are we going to replace or rehab, have to consider climate change. Marine infrastructure. Bulkheads. 8 Town owned bulkheads. ASCE recommends inspections every 5 years. Priorities, replacement of Bismore Park bulkhead. Preventative maintenance. Consider climate change and sea level rise. Revetment, Breakwaters, dunes, Barrier Beaches. Habitat implications. Synergies and dredging efforts. Dead Neck breach. Asis Graves, dunes? Can private citizens put sand? Griffin Beaudoin, they will wash away. regulations and restrictions, considered a resource. Every few years. Griffin Beaudoin if pre 1970 home you can put sand, otherwise you can’t. Regulated at the state. Sandy Neck project. Resiliency improvements. Channel Dredging. Comprehensive Dredge Plan. Beneficial Reuse vs. Disposal. 10 year permit progress. Priorities and Needs. Improve Marinas. Drinking Water. Only one is town owned (formerly Hyannis Water System), now Barnstable Municipal Water Supply. Need to improve redundancy of the program. Mary Dunn Water Treatment Plant, Straightway Water Treatment Plant. Need to upgrade these facilities. Very expensive/large investments. Wendy Northcross, confirms rate payers pay for this? Griffin Beaudoin, enterprise funds. Pipe replacement. Wastewater. Water Pollution Control Division. Also enterprise fund. Pump station rehabilitation program. CWMP – Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan. 30 year plan. Town staff manages and controls plan. Barnstable waters web site has information. Barnstable’s Infrastructure Needs Challenges & Goals. Six steps. Meahgan Mort, Fish & Wildlife – outreach for local groups as far as bridge repairs. Griffin Beaudoin, reach out to stakeholders and make aware that bridge would be out i.e., Blish Point. Hold public meetings and to get input. Meaghan Mort, parking. Is there a lack of parking? Griffin Beaudoin, parking study done for Downtown Hyannis – certain times of year and day where can be an issue. Ferry has parking issues. Thinks have and provide sufficient amount of parking. 6 Amanda Converse, familiar with study, states there is a perceived lack of parking, but there is adequate parking. Are road service readings public? Griffin Beaudoin, yes, can be made public. Doing study will have new data at end of the year. Katia DaCunha, timeframe of work being done. Some ride bicycles and have concerns with lighting. What is the priority for this? Griffin Beaudoin, work to implement projects as fast as can and to prioritize. Do have plans to improve safety and address where the needs are. That is our goal. Cheryl Powell, is there a list of evaluations and areas that need lighting? Griffin Beaudoin, don’t have a lighting study, but this is a good idea. Project by project basis. Should have surveyor. Lindsey Counsell, storm water, been worked on for decades, and have gotten many grants, great job. Hyannis water is the model have done good job with PFAS. Yarmouth Rd. to Route 6 - update for? Griffin Beaudoin, intersection now, need continued prioritization for this. Needs to be addressed moving forward. Lindsey Counsell, energy, renewable. Duct banks in roads, is that something for complete streets? Griffin Beaudoin, yes needs to be planned holistically and in advance of the duct bank. Limited space, Lindsey Counsell, ponds. CWMP areas, over 100 ponds in Barnstable, treated individually? Griffin Beaudoin, annually, twice a year, advance this program. Monitored and have a prioritization list working with natural resource and data based on what we are seeing. Do a study, intense and more sampling and land use analysis. And then come up with recommendations, have done Shuball and Long Pond, Lovell’s . Mystic Lake done. Science based approach. Allen treatment. Sewering is the answer. Wastewater treatment. Pilot project, Lovell’s Pond. Lindsey Counsell, long range studies – pond study/and/or beaches study. Griffin Beaudoin, can provide some of this information - come in and do presentation. Mark Hansen, seems very labor intensive, is there a staff shortage in labor for this? Griffin Beaudoin, hard time hiring engineers on Cape Cod, have many vacancies. Focusing on younger people and trying to move up through their program. Operations staff has a number of vacancies. Griffin Beaudoin, most likely due to lack of housing. Can’t afford to live here or commute for a job. Bob Twiss, drinking water. Is there town oversight also being done by other districts and water companies? Griffin Beaudoin, no, we provide support as necessary and appropriate. Sue Rohrbach, good presentation. Excited about construction on Cape Cod Rail Trail. Has taken long time. Lighting? Future needs for buildings? Maintenance of roads? Housing and density and the effects. 7 Griffin Beaudoin, town architect deals with this. Studies, mechanical equipment, take systematically. Funding for roads, we have data and ratings, could be more investment. Always a need for more funding. Housing/density how to accommodate for – They have initial meetings when a development comes in. Planned growth and unforeseen growth. New sewer pump station is a direct result of growth in the population. Needed to build something bigger anyway, no problems with the Growth Incentive Zone (GIZ). Road improvements and need. Studies for traffic. Wendy Northcross, do we have structural engineer? Griffin Beaudoin, not on staff. Sue Rohrback, - would like copy of presentation done tonight. GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE MATTERS NOT REASONABLY ANTICIPATED BY THE CHAIR NEXT MEETING  March 28, 2024 at 5:30 PM to be held in person at the Barnstable Town Hall James H. Crocker Jr. Hearing Room 367 Main Street, Hyannis, MA ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn made by Cheryl Powell, moved by Lindsey Counsell, All Aye The meeting ended at 8:04 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Pina Principal Assistant Planning & Development Dept. The list of matters are those reasonably anticipated, which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law.