9 December, 2011
Several residents and downtown businesses voiced their dissatisfaction with the plan for downtown improvements presented to selectmen at their meeting last night, claiming that the plan was not the same one prepared by consultant The Beta Group and presented at two recent public hearings held by the Downtown Initiative Steering Committee (DISC).
The feedback came after an update of the community meetings by DISC Chairman Tom Nealon and committee member Ken Driscoll. According to Nealon, the forums heightened public interest in the project, but also highlighted the competing interests. The committee is dealing with tradeoffs in several areas along the stretch of Main Street from Wood Street to Ash Street, including having to balance the number of on-street parking spaces with traffic flow through the intersection at Rt. 85 and Rt. 135, weighing pedestrian safety concerns with ease of access by marathon runners at the intersection of Hayden Rowe and Main Street, and current traffic versus future predicted traffic at Main Streets two main intersections. Also an issue is the undergrounding of utilities which Nealon said is estimated at $7-8 million dollars and would not be paid for by the state as part of the roadway improvements.
“The alterations we would like to see will not fit in the public way,” continued Nealon. “The town will have to make the decision about land takings.”
Driscoll explained that the work on the downtown corridor can be broken down into two separate categories; roadway and drainage improvements and streetscape improvements. According to Driscoll, the committee is ready to make recommendations for and move forward with the road project.
“It’s not if, but when,” said Driscoll.
The next step for the committee is to submit a 25% concept plan to the state where Nealon and Driscoll both say Hopkinton is in the queue for funding. Nealon also said that, in reality, the 25% plan is really the 75% plan.
“Now is the time to make decisions,” said Nealon.
Driscoll assured the board that the committee would welcome all feedback and input.
While selectmen had questions about some of the issues, residents and members of two downtown businesses had much more to say. The first to speak was Jackie Potenzone of 12 Wood Street and the owner of Jackie and Company Hair Salon, a business located near the intersection of Main Street and Wood Street, who said she was very dissatisfied with how the committee had handled things.
“I haven’t had a good night sleep since December 3 when I attended the public forum,” said Potenzone.
She also accused the committee of presenting a “bait and switch” with the proposed plans. According to Potenzone, the plan presented at the community forums was not the same one that selectmen were seeing on Tuesday night, and the new plan would be detrimental to her family and business.
Colella’s Supermarket owner Dale Danahy also spoke against the current plans and said she was surprised to see that the aligning of the downtown intersection was back on the table, a solution that would involve taking her land. According to Danahy, who was until recently a member of DISC, that proposal had been voted down at previous meetings of DISC and was not presented at the community forum. Danahy also said that she thought she was on the board to represent the downtown businesses, but that she was always out-voted and therefore decided to resign.
“I will never come back to this committee,” said Danahy.
Echoing Danahy’s and Potenzone’s dissatisfaction with the process, Planning Board and Historic District Commission member Claire Wright also shared her concerns about the plan, saying that no general cost estimates were given at the forums and that the forums were contentious.
While Board of Selectman Chair Todd Cestari listened quietly to residents’ complaints, Selectman Brian Herr said that while he appreciated their concerns, he felt it was unfair to criticize the DISC volunteers who had spent an incredible amount of time on the plans to date.
“I just heard an hour of yelling,” said Herr, who asked that residents try to take a step back, work together and treat each other civilly.
In a telephone interview following the meeting, Nealon again confirmed that his committee will continue to take feedback.
“There will be changes,” said Nealon. “The committee will certainly do its best to balance all of the competing concerns.”
Below, watch the Downtown Initiative Steering Committee discussion at the December 6, 2011 BOS meeting:
