Email: June 6 PB Meeting Notes

PB members Brion Carrol and SueEllen Quinlan were absent, public attendance was very low, perhaps only a baker's dozen.

J. Leonard began the "discussion" of the roadway system followed by introduction of Ron Mueller, the lead traffic engineer who described more specifics and options. Mind you the word "discussion" was used over 40 times at the last meeting by Mr. Leonard. No lie. I lost track at this meeting. Correct me if I'm wrong Mike, haha. After a few hours the only thing that stuck was that the applicant was going to look into reclassifying the Sagamore Bridge Rd to allow ramp entry from the East other than Lowell Rd. They are now asking to be on the agenda for 2 hours at the Aug 8th meeting.

What did I take home from the meeting? I'm afraid not much. More round and round talk. The Friels do not have another developer yet. Nor do they have a definitive site plan depicting what is being proposed for the parcel for what they are still calling phase one and phase two. I do have a hunch however that they may have made some sort of deal with W/S on the way out the door, call me crazy. That would be for the entire ownership of the site plan package of drawings/specifications. Ask yourself, what value would this plan be to W/S at this time? These drawings are site specific and would still have great value to the property owners especially in a "time saving" measure. Remember, they keep saying that getting approval of a retail development plan is very "time sensitive." This was expressed by not only Bob Fraizer and Ed Vydra on several occasions but also Jay Leonard.

Two things I want to see happen:

1. Develop some sort of charette with the town planning department, as they are doing in Reading, MA. Whether this is an advisory board that Bill C. suggested years ago or something similar. At least it would represent input from residents, town officials and professionals so that we do what's in the best interest to the town. I spoke to Marty Kennedy at break and he again said that this should have been done years ago.

2. Assuming something does get submitted for review, I want to see NEW traffic studies done which include the multitude of new projects being built in the surrounding region that did not exist before the last bunch of studies were done. This is the only way to have meaningful information. These of course MUST include traffic numbers from the FULL build out, not just phase one.

Have a great week everyone!

Email: Ed Thompson