Trustees Meeting 5/24/21

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SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, May 24, 2021

7:00 PM

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau Jr., Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Via Zoom: Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Elisabeth Nance, Economic Development Coordinator; Karen Sentoff, VHB; Mark Rocheleau, Selectman; Gordon Winters, Darcie Benoit, Kevin Lothian, David Winchester, Nicole Draper, Selectperson; Michelle Nordberg and Ch. 16.

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.

1. Call to Order:

Neal Speer, Village President, called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m.

2. Pledge of Allegiance:

Everyone stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.

3. Agenda Review:

None.

4. Public Comment:

None.

5. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, May 10, 2021:

Chris Leach made the motion to approve and accept Minutes from Monday, May 10, 2021 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

6. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, May 20, 2021:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants #43-47 through Thursday, May 20, 2021 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

7. Elisabeth Nance, Economic Development Coordinator, VHB Public Presentation on Downtown Scoping Study Report:

Neal Speer stated this presentation is not cast in concrete and this is the recommended route they want to go in. He said if they want to change things or improve things they can do that in the future. Elisabeth Nance stated this has been a number of years in the making. It was started in the 1990’s with great ideas it just never came to fruition she said. She said they applied for and received grant fund for the VTrans Bike/Ped grant program to do a feasibility study. She said there is still a long way to go and they’ve had some great feed back during the hearings they had. She said there are some great opportunities to make the downtown area safer for bikers and pedestrians. Karen Sentoff, Transportation Consultant from VHB, introduced herself and said this has been many months in the making. She introduced the project team who are Elisbeth Nance, Reg Beliveau, Neal Speer and Gordon Winters. She said Mark Rocheleau also did a ton of work for the project as well. Karen said the project purpose of the Swanton Downtown Scoping Study is to identify and prioritize improvements to traffic circulation, mobility, safety, and aesthetics that will foster a vibrant and multimodal downtown in support of local businesses while accommodating vehicle and truck traffic.

Project Needs

Deficiencies in the existing transportation infrastructure define the needs for this project, which includes the need to:

• Improve Traffic Circulation and Safety: Lack of clear delineation and access management makes the current traffic pattern and parking area confusing to navigate and inaccessible to users. In this high crash location environment with significant truck volumes, the current configuration enables vehicle and truck operation that is inconsistent with a multimodal Village Center.
• Enhance Pedestrian and Bicyclist Mobility and Safety: Long pedestrian crosswalks, infrequent crossing opportunities, insufficient pedestrian accommodations, and lack of bike infrastructure increases vulnerable user exposure to traffic and limits access to local community amenities, including businesses and recreational opportunities.
• Enable Placemaking Opportunities: Expansive pavement without clear delineation provides a thoroughfare for traffic but lacks the aesthetic and streetscape elements to promote local community assets and provide a sense of place that is vital to Village Center activities and economic growth.

She said she wanted to start her slides with the intersection of Grand Avenue and First Street showing how an all-way stop should be installed, clearer marked crosswalks and bumping out the green line of the park to make it a wider intersection. She talked about the painted median giving a visual cue that the traffic needs to pause there. She said moving up Grand Avenue they wanted to maintain the parking there and focused their attention on Church Street. David Winchester asked if there was enough room for trucks to make the turn on Grand Avenue in either direction. Karen said for two trucks there is room and cars wouldn’t be able to cruise past them. She said the advantage is they are now at an all-way stop to make it safer. Karen said they wanted to provide visual cues for better navigation. She discussed keeping the parking on Grand Avenue and adding additional parking on Church Street by cutting into the Village Green some. She talked about adding bike/ped lanes on Church Street as well. Reg asked about the parking on Church Street and Karen confirmed that it is approximately 8 feet of the park that would be needed for additional parking spaces. She showed some additional bump ins at the north end of the park and the added parking there as well. She said they tried to balance maintaining as much of the green space as they can and provide safe paths for pedestrians moving from parking to restaurants etc. Adam asked if the crosswalk at the north end of the park that goes over to Canada Street has been shortened. Karen said with the added bump out at the end of the park it reduced it significantly. Mark Rocheleau asked if any of the trees in the Village Green would need to come down. Karen said three trees would need to come down and two utility poles would need to be moved.

Karen talked about the crosswalk at Marble Mill Park being relocated and adding some bike lanes through this segment of road. She talked about the sidewalk accessibility on Merchants Row and pulling it out to in front of the buildings. She said this gives them more space to meet the grade of the retail spaces there and still provide access. She said there’s no ramp access on one end and they’ve added that. Adam asked about the Chamber building and the proposed sidewalk in front of it. He wanted to make sure there was enough room in their plans. Karen stated they did take that into consideration. Kevin Lothian tried asking a question but his computer wasn’t working properly. Gordon Winters called him on his cell and relayed Kevin’s questions for him. He said he was concerned about the lack of parking in front of Merchants Row and said elderly and handicapped individuals would not want to walk from Church Street to Merchants Row to shop or eat. Elisabeth Nance said she has talked with Kevin about this and he is concerned about the parking in front of Scampers being blocked out and the parking on Church Street. Gordon said the design in front of Scampers was designed for safety reasons but the Board of Trustees didn’t have to accept this in its entirety. He said he didn’t think anyone would want to take spaces away from in front of Scampers and the Swanton House of Pizza. He said the board doesn’t have to take everything on this plan. They discussed the parking on Merchants Row and backing into traffic being so dangerous. Karen said their vision was to get people off the thoroughfare and be able to park safely. She said they wanted to have accessibility for pedestrians and bikers while maintaining safety and codes. David Winchester suggested they change the direction of the parking in front of Merchants Row so that all businesses were accessible. Elisabeth thought a lot of these issues could be worked about before they got to final design. Neal Speer thought if they put other ideas into affect and found they were working maybe they wouldn’t have to do all modifications downtown. Reg agreed with everyone else and said eliminating parking for Scampers and the other businesses on that end were not a good idea. He said they are sensitive to that and they don’t want it in the plan. Neal agreed and said they are looking at safety first. More discussion took place regarding the traffic flow in front of Merchants Row and whether or not it should be changed to a one-way direction. Karen said there are opportunities to modify some of these plans but would like to push this vision forward and see how they proceed from here. They also discussed simplifying the intersection on Canada Street and Grand Avenue. Eugene LaBombard thought the bump-outs in front of Peoples United Bank and the Auto Parts Store would affect snow removal for the Village. Karen said they could do painted visuals instead of hard cut ones. Neal said regarding the traffic change on Canada Street people will have to educate themselves regarding the changes until they get accustomed to it. He said after all the changes are made, our local residents will need to adjust but in the end they will applaud what we are trying to achieve. Elisabeth said she hopes that if things are made safer for bike riders and pedestrians some of the locals will be walking and riding where it makes sense. Mark Rocheleau said they are gaining so much and the trade off is worth it, he said it’s a big positive. Darcy Benoit asked if the sidewalk on Canada Street would be raised so that all businesses are accessible. Karen said the opportunity to raise up to businesses and get all drainage design details worked out would be in the next phase. Kevin Lothian stated they seem concerned about bikers and pedestrians but what about the elderly. He suggested taking more of the park away so they didn’t need to walk as far. Elisabeth said they tried to not take from the park too much because of its historic value. Karen said ramps would be installed at all crosswalks and sidewalks so that people with mobility issues will get around safer and easier. She also said they tried really hard to maximize the parking without taking too much from the park.

Adam Paxman said with all the changes they discussed tonight what would be the price tag for all this work. Karen said they have laid out some short-term and long-term projects detailing the costs. She said improvements could be made incrementally. Below is a road map of those projects:

Short Term Projects

1. Grand Avenue between First Street and Canada Street Implement pedestrian bump outs with installation of curb extensions. Install one on each end of the crossing at the Post Office and one on the crossing at the Public Library. $70,000;
2. Marble Mill Park Install crossing and formalize entrance to parking with curb extension. Align with efforts on Marble Mill Park master planning. $37,500;
3. Canada Street Quick build project to pilot back in angled parking with temporary striping to gauge community acceptance (not shown). $1,000;
4. First Street Intersection Implement an all-way stop. $2,500;
5. Church Street Stripe bike lanes on Church Street to formally accommodate the north-south bicyclists and add sharrows to the segment in front of Merchants Row. $9,000;
6. Merchants Row Shift sidewalk on the east side of Merchants Row and stripe bike lanes on Merchants Row between Church Street intersection and Marble Mill Park. $40,000 *Costs include construction, contingency, engineering and design, traffic control and mobilization/demobilization. Does not include Right-of-Way or property acquisition costs.

Neal Speer stated this is just the scoping study and this would need to go before engineering for actual costs. Karen agreed with this but said design, engineering and contingency are included in those costs.

Long Term Projects

1. Merchants Row Area Install sidewalk and curb ramps along frontage of commercial block; relocate the midblock crossing at the north corner of the buildings. $220,000;
2. Grand Avenue and Canada Street Intersection Update the intersection geometry by shifting curb lines, removing the Canada Street left turn lane, and relocating the Ace Memorial Hardware driveway separated from the intersection to the north. $320,000;
3. Merchants Row Area Formalize “parking island” pocket park and surrounding parking area with curbs and crossings $435,000;
4. Canada Street Extend sidewalk along frontage on northside, implement preferred angled parking style (nose-in or back-in) and stripe bike lanes or sharrows appropriately. Install new sidewalk and curb extensions on south side with improved access management for parcels in southeast quadrant. $570,000;
5. Grand Avenue and First Street Intersection Relocate curbs and formalize parking on western (Village Green) side of Grand Avenue with parking bump-ins to better accommodate truck movements. $115,000;
6. Church Street If supplemental parking is seen as a need for the Village district, add parking bump-ins on eastern (Village Green) side of Church Street (not shown). $160,000

*Costs include construction, contingency, engineering and design, traffic control and mobilization/demobilization. Does not include Right-of-Way or property acquisition costs.

Karen asked the Trustees if this was a preferred alternative and vision that could be supported at this juncture. Neal Speer stated the Trustees have agreed to the scoping study and would like to move forward. Elisabeth stated this is just a feasibility study and not the design study and those will be what comes next, the implementation and design. Chris Leach stated he sees more things he likes than not likes. He said the only thing he really wanted is the bypass needs to be mentioned because the quantity of trucks that go through town is not a small deal, it’s a really big deal. He said they’re lucky they haven’t had any issues with trucks making the corner on First Street and Grand Avenue. He said he would like the study to state they would like to eliminate the trucks that are just passing through Swanton not doing business here. He said he would like to see that statement in the study. Neal Speer stated there is more good than any kind of evil in this study. He said he was present in the 1990’s when a study was done and what was absent was public participation. He said the concerned citizens here tonight was lacking back then and they didn’t have no where near the positive improvements like mentioned tonight. He wanted to thank everyone involved in this.

Adam Paxman made the motion to endorse the preferred alternatives feasibility study presented with the modifications they discussed. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: Elisabeth Nance said this is not going to sit on a shelf, that they were going to get these things done. Karen stated she wanted to thank everyone as well for their input and participation and said this is community effort. Gordon Winters asked if one of the modifications Adam mentioned in his motion was to keep parking spaces open in front of Merchants Row. The Board agreed to that statement. Motion carried unanimously.

8. Any Other Necessary Business:

Adam Paxman stated someone asked him if the Village could provide WIFI in the Village Green. He said he has some concerns about this but they can think about this and discuss it at another meeting. He said he attended the Highgate Selectboard meeting regarding the Highgate Airport infrastructure. He said they will hold a bond vote on August 3^rd and if that fails another one will be held in September. He said they are concerned about losing Field Days which is state funded. He said Senator Parent and Representative Hango are working on this and they will be mailing out information to their voters soon. He said they may do mail in ballots for their bond vote as well. Adam said Swanton is hopeful this passes because it’s a great project for the community and the county. Adam also said he’d like to thank the Swanton Police Department for patrolling on Spring Street and stopping several speeding cars.

Any Other Business: Chris Leach said he wanted to thank the Village President and his wife for all their work on the flowers planted on the bridge. He also said the hill at Marble Mill looks good now that it’s been cleared and asked about erosion. Reg Beliveau said the roots are still there and they had specific steps to follow. Chris asked if by chance Webster Terrace could be made into a bike/pedestrian path. Reg said that is in the master plan for Marble Mill. He also asked when the art boards would be installed and ready for paint. Adam Paxman said SPAN is in the works of getting them ready and installed. He said one will go at the Swanton Beach, the dam over-look and on Route 7. He said the Village needs to replace the one board that was damaged while being removed. Chris also stated the Farmer’s Market went very well and they had a great turnout. He said they will be held the third Sunday of each month through September.

Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau stated he had the Annual Financial Plan for Town Highways filled out for the Village and said it needs to be signed by the Board of Trustees. This financial plan certifies that funds raised by taxes are equivalent to or greater than a sum of at least $300 per mile for each mile of Class 1, 2 and 3 Town Highway in the municipality. The board signed this document. Reg also said he needed the Certification of Compliance for Town Road and Bridge Standards and Network Inventory signed by the Board. He said he has applied for a structures grant and is hoping to receive over $300,000 to do the bridge repairs that are needed. Reg also said his meeting with Richard Copperthwait is Tuesday evening from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Any Other Business: Neal Speer, Village President, said ACE Memorial Hardware will be holding their grand opening after a year of waiting from May 28 through May 30. He said there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Neal also said the beautification committee did a great job as well as the volunteers that showed up to help plant flowers on Saturday.

9. Executive Session to Discuss Personnel and Customer Accounts:

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter Executive Session to Discuss Personnel and Customer Accounts at 9:05 p.m. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to exit Executive Session at 9:35 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: Adam Paxman made the motion to authorize the Village of Swanton to eliminate $7822.32 in the electric department uncollectible accounts and $128.68 in the water department uncollectible accounts. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

10. Adjournment:

Adam Paxman made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 9:35 p.m.  Eugene LaBombard seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 9:35 p.m. Motion carried.

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Neal Speer, Village President                            Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date