With our second meeting (February 11) under our belt, the
City Council is getting busy. Here’s a
re-cap of what we have going on and will be working on in the next month.
- Appointed of Robert LaPlante to the Planning Board and Mary Louise Bartley to the District 2 Municipal Council.
- Issued several new business licenses, including 4 for businesses’ working out of Kitchen Local at Barbara Lorenc’s 14 Cedar Street building.
- Received several measures from Mayor Gray related to the planned improvement of the Route 150 corridor in Amesbury, from Route 110 to Main Street. This is a stage in a broader plan for this road that began under Mayor Kezer. As part of the water improvement bond project approved when I was on the Council in 2008-9, a new water main was laid down Hillside and Sparhawk Streets (Rt. 150). This phase is a Mass. Highway Department project. Information about the project can be found HERE. Here is the description of the project from the Mass. Highway project website:
The purpose of this project is to improve vehicular and pedestrian
safety and improve vehicular capacity and traffic operations within the project
limits. The portion of Route 150 included in the project limits includes a
section of Hillside Avenue and Sparhawk Street from Route 110 to School Street.
Greenleaf Street is also included from Sparhawk Street to Friend Street, and
Highland Street from Hillside Avenue to Locust Street.
The Council has been asked to
approve plans to make alterations to the layouts of Hillside, Sparhawk and
Greenleaf Streets. We have also been
asked to appropriate $413,758 “in order to acquire the fee interests and/or
permanent and temporary easements in certain parcels of land.” This includes temporary construction
easements (e.g. to have construction equipment with property lines) and
permanent easements. I believe that these
funds will be raised by issuing a 20 year bond.
As I currently understand the project (the Mass. Highway project site
doesn’t have much detail), the project will involve widening the corridor and
improving pedestrian safety (e.g. adding crosswalks). This project will have a major impact on
District 6, during construction and beyond.
Maps and explanations of the project
have not been provided to us yet, but I expect that they will be presented by
the City at our public hearing on this.
I have scheduled a direct meeting
this week with our DPW Director, Rob Desmarais, in order to find out more
detail. I have already received
constituent communications with questions and concerns about this project; I will share what I know as I learn more
about this project.
- A few things are popping with the Lower Millyard redevelopment.
o
The Council got a preview of a request that will come back to us later this Spring, when
we will be asked to sub-divide the City-owned property that the Department of
Public Works currently occupies. One of
the buildings will be re-purposed for the Carriage Museum. The building used for repairing and storing
vehicles will be torn down and that lot will, in part, be used for the
re-alignment of Water Street. And the
property across the street (#22 Water) from the 2 existing buildings will be
surplused, for likely sale to a developer.
The question for the City will be how and for what purpose we
will surplus the #22 Water Street property.
We can sell the property to a developer with conditions that it
be developed along specific lines (e.g. residential, commercial, retail, mixed
use) or leased to a developer for a particular purpose. Mass. Development funded a market conditions study
conducted last year by a consultant to help the City assess its options. The study looked at condo and commercial
market conditions both downtown and in Amesbury overall and provides some good
context for thinking about this property and general market. You can read the study HERE.
o
HERE
is a link to a Mass. Development overview of the LMY project.
o
HERE is a link to a great set of
graphics that visually indicates the where & what of this project, using
photos of current conditions. This was
provided to the Council at my request, as part of the presentation on the Water
Street properties.
- The Council has several workshops scheduled, including:
o
February 25, with Fire Chief Brickett, focusing
on an overview and update of the Fire Department Headquarters improvements.
o
March 5, with School Superintendent Michelle
Robinson and Ass’t Superintendent Deirdre Farrell, giving an overview of the
School budget, including Chapter 70 funding from the Commonwealth.
- Finally, we have two medical marijuana measures working their way through various committees. I will save those updates for their own blog post.
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