 This program is brought to you by cable franchise V's and generous donations from viewers like you I will now take a roll call board members as you hear your name called unmute yourself Answer affirmatively, and then please place yourself back on mute Michael Burt whistle. I'm here Maria chow here Jack gemstick here David Levenstein here Doug Marshall present and Janet McGowan Did I can I hear you Janet No, it looks like she doesn't have the sound connected on her computer Can you sort that out? Yeah, do we Chat function Did you provide a cell phone number? Can you text or a caller? Yeah, let me um, do you Hey Janet, how about a thumbs up? No, I'm not even sure she's hearing us. Yeah, I like it. All right. So while you sort that out Sean, I'm going to continue to read my opening comments as that's just general stuff. Okay board members If technical difficulties arise such as this We may need to pause temporarily to rectify the problem and then continue the meeting If you do have technical issues, please let the it support representative or Pam know Discussion may be suspended while the technical issues are addressed and the minutes will note if a disconnection has occurred Please use the raise hand button Or function to ask a question or make a comment You will see the raised hand Sorry, I will see the raised hand and call upon you to speak after speaking. Please remember to remute yourself Opportunity for public comment will be provided during the general public comment period and at other appropriate times throughout the meeting Please be aware the board will not respond to comments during the general public comment period If you wish to make a comment during the public comment period any of them You must join the meeting via the zoom teleconferencing link This link is shown on the slide Which I think Pam is going to put up a slide I'm sorry. I was texting Sean. No worries. So I do you want to see That your general information how you can connect with this meeting That shows the zoom link Great. So there you can see you can type that in So you can enter that into a search search engine That web address the link can also be found on the meeting agenda Which can be located at least in two ways on the town website One is through the calendar On the home page listing this meeting and you can find the link within the event details Which you can click on a second way is to go to the planning board webpage and click on the most recent agenda link On the agenda document. There is a link towards the top of the page where it states virtual meeting Please indicate You wish to make a comment by clicking the raised hand button when the public comment is solicited If you have joined the zoom meeting using a telephone Please indicate you wish to make a comment by pressing star nine on your telephone When called upon please identify yourself by stating your full name and address And put yourself back into mute when you're finished speaking Residents are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes and at the discretion of the planning board chair If these guidelines are not complied with or the speaker exceeds his a lot of time their participation will be disconnected from the meeting Moving onward now The slide will show the meeting agenda, which I think we have that next there we go Thanks Again note the virtual meeting zoom link At the top of the page As chair I am taking the liberty to move public comment Which is shown on item two to the end of the meeting after item five This will give the public additional time to be able to log into zoom and familiarize themselves with this technology So now moving to item one Uh, we have minutes and it is my understanding that we do not have any minutes That's correct chris That is correct. Yes. That's correct. No, great wonderful. Okay. So now we will move to item three Which is a uh preliminary presentation Okay, uh kendrick park playground design preliminary presentation by nape meloy senior planner And christine bestrup planning director Park grant and cpa CPAC funded playground here is uh, and then they provide a link On our agenda or on the agenda to the information on the town website so I believe we have nape meloy with us Yes, i'm here. Can everyone hear me? Yes, I can great. Yes Thanks Yeah, nape meloy here planning with the town Uh christine as you stated all this reaffirmed the town applied for a park grant. It's a stake grant For 400 000 dollars for kendrick park. We were awarded it. It's a two-year grant and so Um, the idea is that this is a a preliminary presentation And um, you know the town will follow up with a site plan review application to the planning board You know for review early next month This is also in lieu of A public forum You know this can serve as that, uh, you know, we have a web page So this this presentation can go online and then we have an online comment form and Possibly tonight there may be comments. So this is also a way to For the planning board and for the public to view the preliminary plan Next slide pam or I don't think I can control it This one Yep There's a product overview Great. Yeah, so the town we received the grant in fall 2009. It's a two-year design build grant You know, we received four hundred thousand dollars. So the um You know, we had to receive some matching funds or local funds Town council approved two hundred sixty thousand dollars of cpa funds This past winter the so the total amount for the project is about six hundred and fifty thousand dollars The um, the state has a pretty rigorous schedule and it hasn't been extended yet. So by june 1st They'd like to have the plans be finalized to almost be bid ready. They'd like the town to Um bid the project this summer and have construction start in the fall And it needed to be it needs to be concluded by june 1st next year of 2021 Maybe with the south crisis that may be extended, but just uh yesterday They hadn't yet so We're moving forward with the design plans now and we're talking with vendors And you know trying to figure out um how to complete it within within this get within the schedule Next slide pam Great. So the you know the town applied um You know last year we did we've held a few public meetings. We also used the 2011 process Um as guidance as well uh to inform Some design decisions. So through the public comments Last summer in this january's meeting, you know, a lot of the public really would like naturalized elements. So um Minimize the amount of manufactured equipment and offer You know the ability for people to play on stone surfaces or natural surfaces and with natural materials You know keep the hardscape to a minimum preserved the existing trees and vegetation and then have an inclusive play area that's been you know a theme that's been Um recommended Uh, so the design you'll see, you know, there's a team of staff from public works leisure services and planning That have been working on this preliminary design and in addition to Uh The comments from the public meetings and those summary Notes from the meetings are on the kendrick park webpage, you know staff also looked at making sure everything's accessible Uh, the equipment is accessible. So not only is it, um, You know meets accessibility. We're also trying to include some some play equipment that uh can be used by different different Different users, uh, you know, we have utilities and storm water to manage their safety and maintenance, uh, which are important uh factors And then also trying to maintain as much of the existing park as possible So, you know, the earlier plan by the Cecil group and you know, some other plans that may have um, You know, maybe available online They didn't necessarily preserve all the existing trees or topography. So the current design scheme really tries to Again minimize the impact on the landscape of kendrick park Next slide pam thanks On january 9th, there was a meeting at the bank center and we showed a few different boards with images of You know various types of play equipment and playground design and so we had asked members For the public that were attending to You know use green dots to indicate things that were preferred and red dots for items that were Least preferable and so, you know, there's this slide and the following slide shows what What people liked and so, you know, just summarizing what what's shown here visually Again, it's the natural features. It's um You know, not the hardscape Or thematic play equipment. So, you know, sometimes at some parks, you might see whether it's bold colors or certain themes That was something that was not seen as favorable in kendrick park Um next slide pam Yeah, great Yeah, that's fine Yeah, so again here you can see that, you know in the upper left corner, you know, uh members also liked, um Things that could be manufactured but had a more natural looking appearance um, you know Not necessarily things that were bright in color and so this is something that staff You know, there's a number of staff at this meeting And this was all part of the consideration when developing the preliminary design Next slide Great. And so this this is the 2011 schematic design that was prepared by the Cecil group and you know, they they there was a You know, kendrick park design advisory committee And a you know, a long public process to determine How to program kendrick park and so within the park, you know in the southern area of the park You know, they had a more urban Landscape and then there was green space and then in the red circle They had already identified an area for a playground or a play area And then a larger green space to the north and so staff still Located the playground in the general area of the 2011 plan You know with the idea that this plan could be implemented in phases and so There was a reason that the playground was located there There's some slope right to the south of it On the lower on the lower portion and so You know the the location of the playground remained generally the same And it doesn't have the same shape necessarily because the Cecil group Didn't take into account existing trees or topography. So this was almost as if they Considered kendrick park a clean plate. And so they didn't try to preserve anything Existing on the park and we determined we really wanted to Next slide Pam So this slide actually shows the The design in its current form when the town applied for the park grant It may have looked a little different And now it's again because we we needed a concept design to apply for funding And it wasn't ground truth in terms of trees or topography Um, if you go to the next slide Pam, I have a few callouts. I might be easier to read You know, what's important is on the lower portion of the design There's a paved walkway that goes relatively east to west across the park And so there's a wider walkway that you know would be maintained In the winter months to it become essentially a you know A sidewalk that could be used throughout the year Um, just north of that, you know, is the main formal playing area the You know staff is still considering using a rubberized surface with some equipment manufactured equipment here This helps with making it inclusive and universally accessible And you know, we've looked at different options for surfacing Um having it be permeable rubber But there would still be there need to be some safe surface there for Fall safe zones from equipment. So if any, you know, if users are up on An elevated platform or even on play equipment. It's now required to have some type of Accessible safe surface underneath Um, you know, there's also a sitting area further I'm not sure how you'd see it on your screen closer to north pleasant street, but You know, there's a separate sitting area. We're envisioning that with a low sitting wall around it and tables and chairs and possibly some space for It could be for, you know, art installations or for just, you know, Things to be displayed there The walkways are shown in yellow on this plan. Those are all accessible walkways and they're all Um, you know, they're considered walkways. They're not ramps. So they're all, you know, five to six feet wide And you know, they someone could walk through this doing a loop Along north pleasant street, you can see on the outside of the design There's a lot of plantings and there's some if you looked in the details There are some rocks and certain things. So instead of a formal fence, we're using Vegetation and other elements as a barrier because we're close to that side of the street Moving north up in the design There's um, I didn't have a drop area to it. There's a naturalized play area So it's something that's shown in brown outside of the yellow walkway We're looking at that as an area where there would be You know, actually rocks, um, you know logs tree stumps and other things that would be On the ground with possibly wood chips underneath, but that would be a natural play area So there'd be no manufactured equipment in there And it would be, you know, outside the other Formal play area still within visibility and walking distance, but you know, somewhat separated And I guess I'll continue going up. There's a stage area just inside the walkway and So if you see the stage area and then there's a sand pit with the digger further up The walkway Close to the north pleasant street is actually a sloped walkway and it goes up to a five and a half foot hill hill top There's a round little Platform up there with you know, there's gonna be stones like a turret But that that walkway on the left is all sloping up And so the stage is built into the hillside And then the sand pit is built into the hillside and then there's a hillside slide that goes down to You know to a flat area and there's Stairs shown in like red and gray And you know the sand pit has a digger It has you know natural logs that are Vertical as a border and on the other side of the walkway There's granite blocks and other stones for kids to play on and so it's a you know It's a more of a linear play area And there's different elements throughout the You know, this would be a daytime use park Like every other park in Amherst, there's no we're not envisioning any lighting within the park There may there will be some lights along the the walkway the east-west walkway You know, there there'll be a sign with rules and regulations There's a pollinator garden Just below the stage You know, most of it will just be grass At you know outside the areas and different plantings We're trying to preserve as many trees as possible and also plant a few um I think that's Good for now Pam if you go to the next slide So these are some images uh one one vendor Emmy O'Brien is a larger company they represent a number of different vendors for um playgrounds for outdoor equipment for various things and so they're um, you know, they represent probably about a dozen different companies And these are some images that they provided You know, we've given them our our Our schematic design and so these images are actually to scale and trying to show what some some equipment would look like And so these are manufactured equipment In the formal play area This is just to give you a sense for what the spacing would be like What works with our budget and then you know, what would actually fit in that play area? so You know, it's anywhere from three to five pieces of equipment Because of the safety zones that need to be around them You know, the the play equipment is really targeted at two age groups the way it's manufactured two to five year olds and five to twelve year olds Although, you know, they say, you know, anyone can use it adults. It's supposed to be sturdy enough But um, they really do have, you know, those two age groups are what the The vendors use as specific targets for sizes and levels of of equipment The next slide Pam, thanks Here's the upper right is showing the hillside slide with the steps and then the sand pit and the digger Uh, you know, that you know, the slope will be pretty steep on the hill not not um, You know, not, you know, maybe three to one enough so that grass can still grow But it'll be something that you know can be used again another um Concept of the play area showing just different equipment with natural colors and A few different types of equipment for different age groups Next slide Great for the resources, you know, we do have a web page. The link is here It's under the planning department Planning projects and then kendrick park. It's also on the lscc web page and um, and the public works Department and so we're trying to encourage people to use that as a as a resource There's also an online comment form that's linked from the web page, but people can submit comments and upload files For instance images or anything if they have um things they would like to show Um, there's also from the kendrick park web page the 2010 process the kendrick park design advisory committee. There's a link to the you know this that committee's web page Um, there's a lot of information there Um, and I think that's it for now If there's any comments or questions um We can I can write those down Okay, so I'll open it up to the board For questions. I just first want to check in with chris bestra. Do you have anything to add? The only thing I'd like to add is that um the public and Everyone will have at least two more Chances to look at this In a formal setting. Um, the designer view board will be reviewing this next wednesday And I think their meeting is at four o'clock in the afternoon And they'll be using the same format that we're using but they'll be reviewing it again Um, hopefully we'll have some more details by that time And then the planning board will be reviewing this on may 6th. So both of those meetings will be online and open to the public and I believe that they would both accept public comment verbal and written comment Thank you So at this time, I'll open it up to questions To the board. So if you can hit your raise hand and I will call on you as I see you pop up And then just please remember after you speak to remute yourself I don't see oh, I see a hand. Oh, no it disappeared I see dougs Oh, there's all right. So uh doug you have a question Yeah, I had a question about the Hard surfaced walkway that's shown maybe on the close-up plan of the area back two or three Slides it looks like it doesn't go straight across the park And I'm wondering whether it might be More usable to people who are crossing the park if it's followed The desire line or whether it's just supposed to be a sort of meandering path that Doesn't it's just for somebody taking a walk rather than Trying to get somewhere Sure. Yeah, the um right the park uh or the walkway in your north pleasant street goes south and that's because uh There's a cross walk just down there near mccullin street So otherwise it would the path if you just went straight across would not bring you to Anything on the other side. It would be a mid mid block crossing And so uh, it's it I think it's two purposes one, right? It's a bit of a meander It works with the topography Well that way and the drainage and then it brings you to a To a crosswalk so that you know, some people aren't trying to um cross Somewhere where they're not, you know, where we may not have a corresponding curb could on the other side If I could just add to that while you're talking about that, um Just a long east pleasant there appear to be if we ham if you could switch to the other schematic design Picture showing the whole park. There's just a lot of crossings. I was wondering, you know I know this is a balance between trying to balances Doug was saying, you know The paths that they they choose to take and providing but there's Four just along the park and then there's a lot Pam, can you switch the slide to the Yeah, one slide up, Pam. Yeah, there you go. So you can see on the east hand side, there's four Crosswalks, but then there's a bunch of crosswalks around. Um, actually this doesn't show the roundabout. There's a lot of crosswalks now um So just from a driver's perspective, that's a lot to watch and these are pretty close together Yeah We have been contemplated any crosswalks on these pleasant yet um as part of this But it is a consideration Yeah, just if they could, you know, I know the dpw is working on this design So they're aware of that kind of thing, but I just noticed there's a lot of crosswalks So it's that balance putting enough but yet keeping it to the minimal that you can And funneling pedestrians, you know, if there is certain controls you can use to push them in desirable ways Okay, um, I see two other hands. I'm going to recognize up now. I see three. So I'm going to go with Maria first Um, thanks for that. And I really like the presentation. I really like the variety of Um activities and age groups and being very inclusive. I think that makes a lot of sense To promote sort of the diversity of the community you're hoping to bring to this um, I would like to just add As you move forward with the design to consider the future implications for the rest of the park and to um Think about what we were just talking about like the connections to not only the other urban spaces and crosswalks, but also I don't know if um Utilities were considered as far as if there's public restrooms in the future and um other lighting But um, I think yeah, we kind of touched on it already where right now as it's drawn on the plan you're showing You know, I think it hits the side of nothing on the uh east Sorry No, that's correct on the east side of um East pleasant street. So hopefully there'll be a better connection to like A point So that it's not just hitting the side of that existing building that um the new building that's there now um So just yeah, and then as you move forward to sort of think about future implications of what it's connecting to as well As like I think you're showing some angled parking and one way for that street on the west Um, so think about yeah, like how other future steps will impact the park So you're not kind of bottled into a corner or have to undo anything that you plan right now But otherwise, um, yeah, I like the variety and how you've sort of You maximize as much as you could um with the existing trees and topography Mm-hmm. Oh, thanks. Yep That's it. Okay um, I'll recognize Michael next You are okay, um Nate I I agree with maria that it's an excellent collection of spaces for which kids can enjoy themselves um And I I I'm concerned in this kind of the same way that uh while it makes sense to connect to mclellan street on the On the north pleasant uh street side I'm unclear Looking at the schematic the original uh, seasonal schematic design Where it would come out on the east pleasant side It's it's Can you give me a a building location that where it would terminate? Yeah, so the um, it comes out right now across from the uh The entryway to what was, you know, the vertuci's restaurant So there's there's an existing area where there's a had been a curb cut where dpw often Um, we'll pull their trucks up from east pleasant I know this. Yes. Okay. So that's the area and the hope is that from east pleasant street this Entry into the park would become you know, you can see it on this plan now It becomes what could be a main entry to other interior walkways So that would become you know, as christine mentioned in a funnel point. Hopefully without this could serve as a You know another main entry point. We have bike racks near east pleasant We are anticipating putting some benches there. So it becomes a you know a A major entry there That's where it connects to you when the uh, when you come back To the planning board for a for permitting It would be really useful. I think if we could see some kind of overlay where The current proposal is overlaid on the schematic design So we can see exactly how the original relates clearly the new proposal for the play area is larger than the one in the schematic design Uh, but exactly how much larger and what that means for the rest of the park would be useful information Okay Can you do that? Uh, yeah, we can do that. Okay, great. Thank you. Uh, that's it for me At this time, I'll recognize Janet Okay, am I here? You are Great. Um, I didn't I didn't really like the playground and I I had trouble I went out and looked at the site today And I had a little trouble locating where it would be partly because it's not this is an overlay on a much older map of the area So it's hard to sort of figure that out Um, I thought the seating areas were really great. I just like the idea of it overall I had a couple of very specific concerns like some of them are very overarching ones um about you know safety of kids playing in the park and running into the street and I wonder if A little hill or some shrubs would really be enough And if you need to put some kind of fencing around the playground To make sure kids little kids are in the park stay in the park Or don't go out and chase the ball or something like that into traffic Um, you know because it's and I understand like not wanting offense, but I also think it'd be good to contain um kids in And then questions that have been raised By members of the public is about students that this is kind of a walkway for college students from umas On a thursday or friday or saturday night walking into town And then possibly walking back to umas in a different condition And using that park um in in ways that weren't expected. So I wondered if the um If you had looked at just having a fence an access point and a gate where you could lock it Kind of like a true urban park would do Especially one for younger kids to keep kids in and to keep other you know older adults out and I wondered if you had thought about that Oh, yeah, thanks. That was a consideration. I mean we had said that you know, unless it's a extremely high fence Uh, it's something that college kids would could you know get over or it necessarily wouldn't keep them out um You know, it is something that has been mentioned. We still consider about right how you know, how the long-term maintenance of this um Of this public space, um, you know, how it can be maintained if there's If it does become attractive uh after dark, um, you know, there may need to be As it is a park, you know, we can there can be a greater You know, there can be a sign saying that it's closed after dark and that allows the police to tell people to Leave we hope it doesn't become you know a patrol issue, but um You know, that's something that still you know has to be seen In terms of a fence, you know, that was discussed too in terms of even different types of fencing Um, you know, we were weighing the the aesthetic of offense against the maintenance of it and then also the um You know, how effective is it? um You know, right now there's no barriers at kendrick park and oftentimes there's families and kids playing there And it's actually more open to the streets both east pleasant and north pleasant So You know on the north pleasant side where the play area is closer to the street. We do have You know, there's a sloped area off the walkway. There's a curb. There's curbing Six foot high curbing in places. There's a sitting wall. Uh, there's rocks and boulders and what will be a pretty dense um You know plantings of shrubs and bushes and ground cover um So, you know, we were trying to use that as a as the as the fence as opposed to, you know, a um Something that is, you know, like a chain link fence or a metal fence Um, it's still something that we were discussing but we were learning we're leaning towards more of this Other, you know, this alternative type of a barrier Yeah, i've seen some very attracted fences in urban parks I think students are college students will be in that park it on weekend nights and nights I think that i'm not sure I would even bother waiting to see and just assume that's going to happen And is that going to add to you know, like in a way would a fence work? And I think the answer is probably yes Um, and I just think I think, you know, you have hundreds of students walking back and forth. Um, at least three nights a week Um, the other thing I have a lot of really specific things. Um And I don't know if you want to hear this all now or if it would be better to get it by email later Um, I I had a quick question about I was looking at the budget like it's kind of preliminary budget figures You had presented in the fall and the most the biggest ticket item was the rubber um You know surface and I was wondering Um, that just it was like over 200 000 and that seemed really high to me And then when I've gone to other parks, there's like six or seven other parks and playgrounds and amherst and they almost all use wood chips um, and I just wondered You know, that seems like a huge ticket item Yeah, I think, you know, most places wood chips are, you know, have to be maintained And the state is actually considering Not allowing them because typically not accessible. Usually you have to you know, you have to use that it's considered like a wood fiber Um, and it has to be raked and maintained quite a bit So the massachusetts architectural asset access board, you know, um I everyone thought it was going to happen last summer, but it may happen this summer. They would actually um You know prohibit wood chips because they're often not accessible I agree the rubber surface is pretty expensive as a per square foot cost um, and so You know, that's just that's something that um You know, there aren't many other surfaces right now Uh under play equipment that would be accessible and also have the you know the padding um to meet the fall safe requirements as well So when I went to crocker farm because um, they have an accessible playground that a preschool program That was built a few years ago And it did it had wood chips and it had some rubberized kind of pathways At least 40 of it like from the building out to the equipment was concrete And I know that kids in wheelchairs, um and with different disabilities use that playground So I thought that was a good model Maybe for some accessibility issues, but it you know, I was and then I walked out and some wood chips You know, I feel like one of the this is like an area of expertise I've had after In a playgrounds and having kids that constantly running around the wood chips weren't that hard Like they weren't they seem like you could get a wheelchair over them And so I would just consider that because it seems like you take a really big Ticket item and the wood chips are very forgiving for kids that fall um I wondered about the sandbox. Is it going to be covered at night? Are we going to have cats in there that kind of issue? Um I'm not sure that's that's that's a good question Okay, I'll take note The other thing I thought is um, you know at at wildwood School now, which may be closed in the future There's a really amazing wood kind of castle playground there And there used to be a similar one at fort river But it was taken down because it became I guess after 40 years to um, it wasn't well maintained It became sort of dangerous And I wondered if you had looked at that because I remember that as one of the most creative playground equipments And also that fits that natural wood Look, is that Something that you considered should also seem like it got a lot of votes from the public too Yeah, no, I think um Yeah, and they're used to going to jackson street school in north hampton Um, yeah, we I I've been to all those with my kids. I think the um You know when when we talk to vendors they they say now that that type of structure Won't meet certain codes or standards. And so, you know, we we actually did look there are a few that um Do something similar and so Um, there are a few different vendors out there that have Uh more of a natural wood structure. And so we are we are looking at those Um, isn't the pressurized wood a bit of a problem? That's why I think a lot of these that we like wouldn't actually be built now It is it also made them more affordable Hmm. It was and it was a real wood Yeah, I think that's a it's a good point though. There are some Now that are using a combination of real, you know, wood and maybe synthetic wood And they're doing it in a way that it can meet the current standards. Um So that's yeah Yeah, because I thought those those two of my kids have played on those a long time Then kids seem to love them It's sort of very creative spaces and they're turning running around and the one that is being built Um at grove park there was there was an accessible ramp to to get onto parts of that And I thought that was kind of cool too um other questions I had were um about bathrooms because that seemed like a the kendrick park committee That they saw the needs for bathrooms and so You know, if you go to a lot of the playgrounds, there are bathrooms So you can get into a wildlife school or you know, you can get there's a bathroom at the middle school That nobody knows about until you do know and so it just seems like if you are bringing young kids to a park And have people of all ages the need for a bathroom is really important and if you're going to Want people to visit it they have to and you know, my kids have also sold Christmas trees For years and they used to run across the street to like a um sub shop across to use that bathroom Um, and so I just you know and the people in the sub shop were nice to let them do that But are are the local businesses willing to open up their bathrooms to kids? Um, You know, what's what's the solution to that problem? Yeah, I'm just trying to tell that's been um Yeah, you know, we've talked with the the bid a little bit in chamber about this Um, the town has and you know, there's still ongoing discussions. I'd say, you know, there hasn't been You know, I don't I don't think you know a resolution on that You know public restrooms are outside the scope of this project It has been mentioned that it is something that may be a necessity. So um Yeah, that's something that Is still part of the conversation For for this area of down even of downtown in general Um, and the last thing I'll say at least this point is I I I love the idea of having lots of equipment and having the wood area and for kids to have sort of free play Um, I you know the the slide is built into the side of the hill is you know An amazing feature don't make it too big because the kids can really rock it and I can give a long story that Involves at the end of me having a broken nose. So it doesn't look like we're going to run into that situation I did when I looked at the plan. I'm I really kind of questioned in the amphitheater space I thought that I just thought kids are probably not going to use that that much and maybe that could be dedicated to more of um A play space or some kind of another structure Especially if the amphitheater to the south is built like I think kids would throng to a big amphitheater and be standing If their hands out, you know in front of a crowd Or have more play in a larger space than that kind of little space and I my fear was that We put money into an amphitheater and it wouldn't be that well used Is is there some kind of programming of little theater groups? Or is it just you're hoping the kids will use that because to me that was probably the least attractive If I was like a five or six year old I was sure. Yeah, I mean it was you know, there is the idea that there'd be some granite curbing You know as the seeding that is nestled into the hillside and then just a flat area So, you know, we're calling it a stage or amphitheater area Uh, what we haven't envisioned necessarily programming yet. I mean, I guess kids can play with it. However, they'd like, um You know to your point, you know, could there be a way to Keep you know, we could there be a way to rearrange the space or something um to allow more free play You know, yes, you know, my thought is we're calling it an amphitheater. We could have called it something else Um, and maybe we can look at how to you know, um, you know tweak that area or adjust it a little bit. So maybe it's not Uh, so formal as you know seeding for a stage or for a you know, flat area, but maybe it's just a another play space Oh, you know, I just remember my last thing my last last my real last thing is what happened to swings Because swings are like the most fun thing like little kids me on swings kids and wheelchairs can be on swings Adults can be on swings. Is there any plan for swings here? I'm not I don't think so swings are really interesting. There's um I agree swing people like swings. They also take up a lot of area so the required fall safe zone around a swing set is quite large and so the um, you know The way they the regulations work now is you need quite a bit of space around a swing set to make it work And because the swings are moving you sometimes you can overlap fall safe zones depending on the type of equipment But with swings, it's pretty much a dedicated area. So it's um You know again, it's something we could look at at groff. We you know, we decided to use some toddler swings and we have you know a larger swing that Can be somewhat accessible or someone could transfer to it So there's not the typical They don't do like the old style swings necessarily anymore that have like the 12 foot chains and you know, you can Get really high and do flips off of that's just not um, they don't make those anymore But let me yeah, that's a you know, that's a note we can bring back to the group So that's something I I have written down in that kids in wheelchairs and that's an x I mean that's a you know, there's not a whole bunch in the park that a kid could do And that's I've seen kids in wheelchairs or with disabilities using those swings and it's just fun So I would yeah I think for me You know, I don't know. Yeah, there are some accessible swings. We also in this play area. There's um Um, what we've we've asked the vendors about there's an accessible spinner So it's actually at grade and it's pretty big and it has um a seat on it and someone That's in a wheelchair can get on it and it actually spins and a number of people can be on it and so We've uh, we've inquired about that. Um, just because we like it is that grade and it could be you know, it seems like it's Based on the research we've done online. It seems like it's something that doesn't require a huge fall safe area Uh, and it also looks like in you know, it's like a lot of fun Every should have the opportunity to get nauseated in one of those too, so Thank you, Nate, um, Chris, I've seen you raise your hand a few times Do you want to add some comments to some of these questions? I think Nate's covered it all every time I raised my hand. He came up with the answer I would have come up with so Great jack's hand is up. Yes. I see that. Thank you. Um at this time. I will call on jack Hello, um, I agree with pretty much What everyone has said Um This schematic I was a little confused, you know, it is outdated as mike, uh had mentioned um, then I was kind of a little bit Conflicted with the number of crosswalks that That Christine brought up and then I'm thinking Would you know the number of crosswalks be a calming factor if there's no fence But then I'm just thinking how hard it is just to turn on to East pleasant, you know, if you're on pray street with all the traffic and What was the purpose of the rotary but yet to, you know, get traffic through there sort of things so all these things were uh competing in my mind in terms of You know making this area um You know, acceptable to vehicle traffic, but also safe for uh, you know the kids and and uh other park participants so Those are, you know, things to to think about and The parking is that all going to be normal? Um parking Not free parking, but it'll be meter parking Actually, I'm glad you brought that up jack I just want to point out to people that right now currently at the bottom of the of that picture There's some 50 cent per hour Meter parking, but most of it about two thirds of that north pleasant street is currently Town center permit So just add to your comment if Nate, I don't know if you all have discussed or thought about parking I do like seeing the angled parking it fits more cars in and if you could address how it looked like Uh, that was proposed as a turning it to a one way which Reduces traffic and could open up more parking. Yeah, I think the um We haven't um fully addressed the parking around the park, but in and um, you know, I in the um In the CISO group plan, you can see here They have angled parking on north pleasant and the idea had been discussed about making it one way and so in the current um in the current concept that um, we've been working on staffs from working on You know, the playground is located far enough in from north pleasant street that if angled parking was to be included We wouldn't disrupt the playground area So we're you know, we've designed the playground with that consideration in mind that if we needed to Put parking along north pleasant street angled in we'd have the space To do that because you know, it would it would come into the inside the green space a little bit inside the curb Um, so although it's shown on the current concept That's just You know, that's something that isn't hasn't really been discussed It's you know, just to make sure we have the space for it if needed Any other um questions jack? Oh, uh, I was just going to say uh, the crocker farm is an interesting example because uh, I love my property at butt's crocker farm um, and the the playgrounds that janet mentioned are to the north of the school and that's one Uh situation but the the playground that's off the basketball courts there have all the wood chips and that it's just It's kind of a disaster area in terms of the washout and things like that So I can understand how wood chips just You know, they don't you know for certain settings. They might be okay, but it's uh, it can be a disaster Unless there's a lot of maintenance involved Thanks jack That's all I have. Thanks. Thanks. Um, I have a question for Nate. Um What are the hours of operation right now for the parks that we have in town? They're typically open, you know dawn till dusk. So there's not um You know, I'm not sure some may be more specific in terms of hours But you know public works opens them pretty early and closes them in the evening So, I mean it could be more like, you know seven to in the summer say seven to seven Um, but you know typically just during the daylight hours So I can see in a lot of these parks how that would be very reasonable and natural people would just stop going Especially it does not lights Downtown um as others have brought up, you know, we we're trying to attract some people downtown to use the businesses Go out for ice cream in the evening, whatever Um, so that might have to be a little different and I noticed you said that you're not planning for lights in the park That'd be on the outer edge of the park Um, and I know you don't necessarily want to put lights in the play area because that would entice people But is there any discussion or thought about having motion? um sent, you know motion lights so that You know, this would help the police and stuff to be able to see if people are in there because if it's dark Then people can be sitting in the, you know, in those areas and sort of hanging out But if you put motion then that would signal to the police or whoever that there might be activity there They need to check Right. Yeah, I think we're um The idea is to bring, you know, have Lights along that east west walkway and Public works had suggested maybe running Electrical up into the play area and maybe along one of the walkways to the north just to have it Um, so then in the future if we needed to bring in ballard lighting or you know, the motion sensor lights interesting You know, the utilities would be there. So It's been a part of the conversation Um And you know, there is there are other electrical points at Kendrick There's some new boxes on the along east pleasant so we could always run Some utilities later, but we're planning to run at least electrical Um, and then now it'd probably be the time at least to run run some more conduit Just to have that ability that Yeah, that would give options. Right. Yeah Chris, do you have something to add? Yes, I wanted to say that there is a plan for lighting the entire park But we just didn't have enough money Right now to light the playground and I'm not sure there was a plan to light the playground But as far as the park as a whole there is a plan to light the park So we can have a discussion about lighting the playground, but I just wanted to let people know that you know The overall scheme will have lighting Well, I understand a cost has so much to do with this But if there is the ability to at least run conduit into the playground area Then they can give thought to adding like I said, like it's security the motion lights kind of thing Thank you At this time I'm gonna call on david janet. I see your hand, but I'm gonna I'm trying to get everyone to have a first shot So david I call on you Thank you Nate thanks for the presentation. I think you hit a lot. I look forward to the site fan review Um, I'm wondering if since a lot it seems to be one of the goals of the this Is to try to attract more people and people from outside of abammers to to The north end of downtown Excuse me. Uh, can you I'm hoping that that the next Picture that you show us the next plan you can also show me where there may be some signs that point people to go To visit more of the town once they're there to get that ice cream in that milkshake That's it. Thank you. Yep. Okay now. Yeah, yep right Thank you janet um Let's see and pan could you put it back on the park? The schematic design that's when it is muted Thank you Hey, and can you unmute janet? I'm trying I'm trying to To see what what happened Janet if you go to the lower left You should be able to it should pop up and you can touch it. Okay. Am I here? Yeah, we hear you. So in terms of christine, I want to thank you for sitting in the kendrick park um Kind of summary to me and I really I built and building on the work of the committee Which was don't cut into the park to create parking I was down there today and it seemed to me that you could add more Public spaces just parallel parking along the street. There's plenty of room for that Especially if it went to a one way or you could maybe when you're looking at this Nate to like look at There's like business spaces across the street Maybe they can be used also for become public parking spaces There seems to be a lot of parking on that street without having to cut into kentrick park to do the pulling spaces Um, and then the hope would be that people could take the bus downtown and use the park too That everyone's not always going to drive there and things like that Or maybe they're parking at a different business for a while and they walk over with their kids to play too So but if you're looking at parking needs My preference would be just to keep the park as a park and kind of work with that street because it's you know It seemed ample to have more um parallel parking along the north side further down Instead of just a few spaces they have there without and it seemed like cars could easily pass by so I just want to encourage that if if the road is turned to a one way that Freeze up some of the width so that you could do that angled parking without cutting as much into the park Just so if they as they're looking at this in the big picture um I'm gonna call on maria um Uh, right since we're talking about access, um, maybe just a couple more bike rack It's I see you have to and then I think there's one of those rideshare stands Yeah on the east side of the park. So that's great. I think we are encouraging multi modes of transportation of people getting to the park would be great, but I think yeah, just a few more bike racks maybe On wherever you make the connection points, you know, maybe there's some on the west side as well, but Yeah, I think it's great location. I mean it's it's hopefully, you know, encouraging people to walk downtown ride their bikes and take public transportation But yeah, just a couple more bike racks probably and I think we say that on every project That's it Thanks. I see uh, Doug Yeah, I was gonna Just say that I don't see any sort of uh, ed continuous edge sidewalk on every facet of the park And uh So when you come back and you have the revised entire plan of the entire park it would be helpful Just to have some conversation about the circulation that is expected on the perimeter and Then we'd have a better picture of the Other walkways that are proposed inside at least as part of this project Okay So at this time, I don't see any other hands raised. Uh, do the board members anyone else have a question before I, um I haven't Open it up to public. I see one hand on our attendees Board members any other questions? I see none um So this is our first go at this, uh So Pam are you ready? Um Allow to talk. Yes. Are we ready? Yeah, so I'll call on barbara pierson We assume it's barbara pierson if you could um give your name and your address Oh Yes, my name is barbara pierson. I live at 11 page street not too far from kendrick park Welcome. Thank you and I had two two kinds of comments one is Um selfishly without kids here I cross the park to get to the bus at pray street and um Seems to me that where the crosswalks are now we're not very ideal for getting to the pray street, but they're not terrible But one of the problems is all winter. You can't or whenever there's snow It's hard to get across the park. So if there is some kind of a walkway. Do we think it will get cleared in the winter? Nate Sorry, I was muted the um the gray the the walkway that's east to west or the gray walkway The idea would be that that would um become um, you know, just like a sidewalk and wouldn't be paved during the winter So the idea would be to have at least a five foot walkway that's maintained year-round And then the other the other comment that I had about the parking the ankle parking as opposed to parallel parking Um was just that it seemed to me that when you're taking kids in and out of a car It would be nice to have access on both sides that wouldn't be Into the traffic so that in a way the angle parking would be better that way Thank you for your um Your questions and comments. Is there anything else? No, thank you. Well, I mean, there's times but that's enough I'm glad you got to your important ones. Thank you Okay, at this time. I don't see any other hands in the attendees. Pam. Did we get any on phone? Or are we good? As far as I know, we did not get any on the phone Okay, so I'm going back to panelists. I still see no hands um Nate, do you want to Or chris want to give a summary at this point? Um, when we'll see this again Yeah, I think, you know chris had said that, you know, even for the public listening the designer view board is meeting um April 22nd to look at this project And hopefully we'll have you know further um Further the plans and some of the um some of the amenity choices And then uh, we're also applying for site planner view With the hope that the planning board would take this up on may 6th So that would you know return to the planning board And if you know, I guess three weeks or so Okay Well, thank you for this very helpful and informative presentation. Um the slides were great And uh chris, I I think we might see it on may 6th Yes, that's right. Yep Okay, great. Well, thank you Nate, I thanks everyone So I'm gonna leave the meeting and I've I've taken all the comments and notes down So that's really helpful. Uh, and I can share them with staff. So thanks so much Thank you Okay, so Pam is going to be um changing out the uh the view And we're going to move to item four public hearings scenic roads Uh joint hearing with the tree warden. I want to say that I I saw him earlier on the screen Uh, yes, we have alan snow the town tree warden with us You're a little bit more in the dark now than you were earlier So I'm sitting So I'll move to the preamble in accordance with the provisions of mgl chapter 40 Uh section 5c scenic roads and chapter 87 Section three shade trees this joint public hearing between the planning board and the tree warden has been duly advertised in daily Hampshire gazette and posted in town hall Uh 705 it's now 734 Scenic road tree removal for a driveway cut at leveret road at the southeast corner leveret road map 3a parcel 21 public shade trees impacted by this project include the following trees And it says um six less than six inch Diameter uh maples Are there any board disclosures you could hit your um Raise your hand if you have a board disclosure I see none. Um, so at this time we'll uh move to I think mr snow Or chris bestrip Which one is going to speak first I think alan should give the presentation Okay All right, um I'm assuming that you can see me Sort of you're you're like hiding in the dark Sorry about that. But we can hear you so that's important dark is good. Um So I did I met with the uh applicant out on um leveret road um he discussed the uh development of that parcel and uh We discussed potential locations for a curb cut that would minimize the damage to trees in the area And this is the area that was selected They are It's really only five trees Two that are roughly four inches in diameter of sugar maples two that are about three Excuse me two that are about two inches in diameter and one three inch diameter tree They're all sugar maples one of the um Too much trees actually is just about completely dead at the top of the trees Um Is all dead. Um, so I really wouldn't even include that in the tree during ultimately But uh, so we we did design the or determined location based on tree preservation and meeting the goals of his project the The development Is so is it what I when I read the preamble it says six trees And now you're saying it's five. Oh great. Pam put up a picture So it's five. But are you saying one of those is pretty much dead so it's more like four Yeah, so uh, it's really only four trees because I um, I don't think we just didn't notice Um, when we were looking at them before at the top the lower branches of the tree were alive the bottom Say the bottom eight feet of the tree is alive. The top eight feet is um is dead So I probably shouldn't have included that in this at all But so we have four trees that are healthy sugar maple trees that are very young That would be removed And your recommendation My recommendation is to allow the removal of the trees Okay, so that he can uh, you know do his project Okay, thank you Um at this time we could uh have a report of a site visit That I actually don't have the date of when that happened. Chris Bester probably does And I do believe Michael volunteered to give the um site visit report Yes, uh Well, Chris has the date I guess The date was st. Patrick's day Oh 17 how could I forget that? Well, there were many of the planning board members were present. I'm not sure exactly which ones but it was it was almost a quorum Or maybe it was a quorum in any event. We uh, saw the site Basically as mr. Snow described it, uh, the maple trees The small maple trees in question are very small even smaller than that they show in the pictures and uh The surrounding trees there are a number of mature maple trees. I presume they're maples. I'm not sure but the number of mature trees uh in the general vicinity along the roadside and uh Uh, it would appear that the smaller the four or five smaller trees which were uh discussing Would not significantly impact the the uh townscape the streetscape And uh beyond that that's about all we we noticed Thank you, michael um at this time, um, I will open it up to the board for anyone who has questions Especially to mr. Snow And I see no hands raised um At this point, I will open it up. Let me click here to see um, are there any uh public out there that would like to ask questions I see no hands raised there So, um Did we receive any I think did we get any um letters or emails Through today before this meeting chris or pam on this issue chris We did not I asked pam to check right before the meeting started and we hadn't received any emails about this And we didn't receive any letters either Okay, um I just have one question. Um, I assume there's a replacement fee for removal for these trees still Um under our another new um tree ordinance that we uh Came up with last two years ago um I excluded trees under five inches in diameter um Because it was becoming obvious that uh on heavily brushy roads Under master in a law chapter 87 It's um, you know every tree that's you know, I think it was an inch and a half in caliper Would be included. Um, so we we we set the limit at five inches So none of these trees actually do qualify for replacement value Seems reasonable Um, again, I'm going to ask uh, if there's any questions. I see michael has his hand up Oh Unmute michael I would like to move that we approve the removal of the trees And so you're making a motion yes to vote to um Our recommendation would be to support the tree warden Yes, and his recommendation to cut these trees and to close the public hearing And and so I see and not all right. Um, I think david I'm calling on david. Are you seconding doing the motion? You are thank you. All right. So we do have a motion on the table. I uh had seen janet's hand up I'm going to open it to her because she might have had a question. So we're opening your questions Janet, thank you I had a question for mr snow is even if you're not requiring people to put money in the tree replacement fund Have you has the town in the past asked people to you know, if you're taking four trees down to put four trees You know young trees somewhere else on the property Is that happened or is that an idea that you would recommend? Yeah, so um during my site visit with the applicant we discuss, you know, um his His landscaping plans for the area and then we did discuss planting trees further back from the road If he uh, you know was interested in planting trees When he's finished with his project and he you know, he and his uh um partner Seemed to really enjoy trees and they are very excited about the landscape in the yard and Maintaining a rural Treeed road. So so that would be sort of their option But not like we've the towns never required them to replace it somewhere else. Is that just I'm just wondering Correct. I you know under master law chapter 7 the tree warden doesn't have you know really empowers um To tell people what to do with the private property essentially just wondered. Thanks Okay, I see no other hands at this time from the board members um So we have a motion on the table so we can take a vote Um still see no hands. So we'll go with a vote. We have to do it like a roll call sort of like how I took attendance or In the very beginning did a roll call. So um, I will Go through the list of members again. So unmute yourself and um a or nay and Or abstain and then remute yourself and we'll go through the list So I will go to michael first. Hi Maria Yes, hi Jack Hi Um david Yes Doug Yes Janet Yes And myself also yes So I believe that's unanimous um So we will be sending um an agreement to mr snow's uh statement that this will go to the town council Chris, is there anything else we need to do? No, there isn't. Thank you. Okay So at this time We're um, we're going to go to item five topics not anticipated 48 hours prior to the meeting. Chris, is there anything? Um, nothing at this time Okay So at this time i'm going to move back to item two which was the public comment period. Um If there's any hands raise them now, um And I don't see any hands. So I don't think there's any general public comment for tonight and I do believe we're at item six a german Good job everybody. This was very successful. Thank you Thank you, bam. All right until the next time everyone everyone stay well. It was good to see you