Tonight I saw a mother, and a young boy, hand in hand, running across Route 20 from Commonweath Street to the north side of Rout 20. The north side has the sidewalk. Commonwealth Street comes from Heritage Green Drive. That road is where the Heritage Green apartments are. Heritage Green has a lot of people living there, and they do walk along Route 20.
Now, if you are not familiar with this area, let me fill you in. There is foot traffic out of that apartment complex, and out onto Route 20. People walking to McKnucks, the bank, Dunkin's, and elsewhere cross Route 20 to get to the north side of the road where the sidewalks are.
They actually run across Route 20. Why? Because there is not a crosswalk there. How was this ever overlooked when Heritage Green was presenting its plans before the Planning Board? We've gone from a major oversight to worrying about the color of reflective tape, and seed dispersal into the river.
Amazing. In front of the largest apartment complex in the town of Sturbridge, there is not a crosswalk. In fact, there is not any sidewalks on the south side of Route 20 going to the intersection of Route 148, Holland Road, and Route 20.
Great planning.
This is not the first time I have seen people bolting across the road in this area. Tonight, with the setting sun in my eyes, it was almost tragic. Fortunately, I am familiar with the road, and what to expect here, and I was flying. Someone else may not be cautious.
For those of you in the know, what is required to have a crosswalk placed across a road in town? Is it a simple matter of filling out an application, or do we wait until the need is seen with an accident? Will the town say that it is a state road, and they cannot do anything about painting a crosswalk without an engineering study, or will Chief Ford say that there is an immediate safety issue at this location, and order a crosswalk to be painted.
I am hoping for the latter, but I would be surprised if it was just that easy.
I'm in the mood to be surprised.
MassDot Crosswalk Requirements
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Well, If you ask the Planning Board, one of the members just might insist that any crosswalk allowed there be painted the same color as the road not to affect her particular sensitivities.
ReplyDeleteOh, and the contrast of a color like yellow or white on the paved road might prevent river cooling should it happen to reflect about a zillion feet away.
someone should bring this up to the planning board before its too late..
ReplyDeleteThere are planning board meetings coming up, Sept. 4 and Sept. 25, where the roundabouts will again be discussed. I believe the date of Sept. 25 will be the "public" meeting. (Although they are all public meetings - right?) Anyway at the Sept. meetings there will be "education" on roundabouts. There will also be a discussion on alternatives for gateways and, guess what, CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS OF ROUNDABOUTS at Routes 20 and 131, AND at Routes 20 and 148. That should make things interesting for the walkers from the apartments you mentioned, Wally, and for cyclists, too. In the next August meeting the Planning Board will be discussing streetscape treatments.
ReplyDelete"ROUNDABOUTS" - you know, those things that the Planning Board didn't want to discuss with us when they were brought up in public - at a town meeting, held after the first "public" kickoff meeting for the Gateways and 2 miles of Route 20 Renovations. It was at the Town Meeting where someone pointed out that the Gateway Zoning proposition was a foot in the door for the Roundabouts and lots more.
Can you see the dollar signs?
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."
-Thomas Jefferson
Question: Route 20 is a State Highway, wont this have to be presented to them first for safety reasons. I hate to think the State will want to make a bottleneck on a road that currently is well traveled. Look at all the accidents and congestion this will bring. Go to Kelly Square in Worcester and see the big mess first hand when its prime time.
ReplyDeleteYou talk about crossing the street, imagine you need a ambulance or police call. They will never get there. Notice they put the sirens now and people dont pull to the side, imagine in the rotary, laughing this will be a nightmare.
Do you think its going to be better in a congested rotary or roundabout we are calling it.
And what about Conservation Committe who just shot down CVS they are going along with this, those roundabouts are going to cut into their land and cause more uprooting of the river,groundwater and all.
Thus they are very quiet on this, not even a comment on their side...
I do not see why a rotary would be such a big problem.. traffic would flows better compared to stop and go traffic lights. There's too many traffic lights in very close proximity, one after another. A big city such as Worcester has a roundabout also known as Washington Square. Even with the large amount of traffic that the city has, I rarely even encounter any traffic jams or long waits there such as I do in Sturbridge trying to drive through Main St/Route 20
ReplyDeleteWashington Square has no where the amount of traffic that our Route 20 has per cars. As you know in Worcester everything runs off 290 ramps.
ReplyDeleteSo if your going to say St.Vincent Hospital you will get off E.Central Street, or Belmont Street to go to UMASS/Memorial or Shrewsbury Street to go to UMASS and Biotech or Plantation Street coming in the back way.
Your talking about a rotary that was changed like 5 times in Worcester at Washigton Square and its still having accidents and all. Even the buses work around it go down Southbridge Street to 290.
Wait till you see here at 5.00 pm when people are coming home on Route 20 and the pike and have to hit the first rotary at New Boston Road, then go further and hit the second further down. And the School Buses will be having a heck of a time, and in winter good luck if someone has a accident. Our winters are rough here along with the flooding we get on Route 20. Let address those problems and forget this wasteful spending.
Worcester eliminated even the rotary at Lincoln Square because it was a bottleneck
Its a similar situation like we have here. Nobody in this Town ever takes a trip to other cities or towns to see the real situation.
You talk about traffic lights, the rotary is not going to eliminate it. we have too many cuts in Route 20 and 131 and all these jughandles. When someone takes a turn everyone is beeping and slamming the brakes.
Same is going to happen in the rotary when everyone will be going 40 mph and then have to slow down to 20 for the rotary. Sturbridge Towing is going to have a lot more tow work after this comes with fender benders.
Do you remember this rotary happening in Boston a few years ago? 145 people fled. It "Looked Like a War Zone." TWO NEIGHBORHOODS WERE TURNED TO BURNED RUBBLE:
ReplyDelete"A building (center) on Main Street in Everett survived an inferno caused by the crash of a gasoline tanker yesterday, while its two neighbors were destroyed." Here's the link:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/06/it_looked_like_a_war_zone/?page=full
And there have been others. In May 2013, in a roundabout in Everett, a fuel truck flipped and caused a spill into the Mystic River. We don't want that to happen to our river in the area of Route 20 and 148.
Some of the same people who are way over the top about protecting the river want the roundabouts. Go figure.
Sometimes it appears that "we" just want to find a way to spend money. Why? I really do wonder why?
ReplyDeleteAbout 2 years ago there was a consultant brought in by the Planning Board who was promoting NARROWING both the entrances to Route 148 and Cedar St.
Can you imagine either one? He could, and it appeared that the Planning Board agreed with him. I wonder how many of them ever drove a school bus or a large truck at either intersection?
From one extreme to the other, the only sameness I can find is in spending money. Why? For the benefit of whom?
According to the new traffic studies by the "traffic experts" roundabouts are much safer and move traffic better than traffic lights. Might be interesting to go and see the presentation by these experts.
ReplyDeleteWhat experts is this, good luck getting out of St. Annes on a Sunday Mass when the cars will be fighting to get into the rotary. You will constantly have backed up traffic. Look now people try to jump over the median strip or take a left at Sturbridge Village at the lights. And now this. I have not see the state propose a rotary for 84,20 and 90 the pike. Its a straight line to the toll booths.
ReplyDeleteThis is just going to be a bottleneck every day. Who is the Expert that is designing this.
Quickest way between two points is a straight line. Thats basic Geometry or did this expert flunk that course...
Well, then, there certainly is disagreement between "traffic experts" and many of senior professional civil engineers who actually have to work on and study these things. Perhaps you should be talking to more people other than the experts and consultants we hire to tell us what some of us want to hear.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the invitation to to presentation by these "experts", I heard that at the last meeting some townsfolk who voiced an opinion other than yours were told they shouldn't be there, simply because they didn't agree.
Isn't it strange that the Planning Board tried to stop someone from speaking about the roundabouts at the Town Meeting when we voted on the Gateway zoning, claiming that one had nothing to do with the other. Ummm...Gateway zoning, Route 20 "renovations" (Read that as "alterations"), streetscapes, the roundabouts etc. are all part of the plans being worked on, then and now, which were dependent on what? Gateway zoning.
ReplyDeleteThe "kickoff" meeting made that very clear long before the Town Meeting. It's all quite tricky, isn't it?
Wait until after the Town Meeting and the passage of the Gateway Zoning, and then, with their foot in the door,"Oh,yeah, let's talk about roundabouts, now."
WHY CANNOT STURBRIDGE FOLLOW THESE TOWNS AND DO THE SAME. WE HAVE THE INFRASTRUCTURE TO ACHIEVE THE SAME RESULTS.
ReplyDeleteMonday, August 12th, 2013 | Posted by Community Advocate Staff Shrewsbury named top town by Money magazine
Shrewsbury – Shrewsbury was recently ranked number 15 out of the 50 best places to live in the U.S. for 2013, according to Money magazine.
With a population of just over 36,000 and a median home price of $288,250, Shrewsbury was named one of America’s best small towns, based on a thriving economy, green space, good schools and a strong sense of community.
“Shrewsbury offers scenic small-town life with easy access to jobs in Worcester and Boston,” the article noted. “While property taxes increased by 5 percent last year, the town still has one of the lowest rates in the state. The town center is packed with shops and ethnically-diverse restaurants, and more than $8 million worth of renovations are in store for the public library.”*
“For outdoor fun, there are 75 acres of recreation fields and fountains at Dean Park and crew regattas on Lake Quinsigamond,” the article continued.
Additional criteria included job growth (3.83 percent from 2010-2012), personal and property crime, and reading and math scores.
Other top Massachusetts towns were Sharon, ranked number one, and Westford, ranked number 11.
The full list can be found at http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/best-places.
Hey Sturbridge Selectman & FinCom how come they can do it... Are we not capable of doing the same.
ReplyDeleteProperty Tax of Shrewsbury:
The major source of revenue for the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts is the property tax.
In Shrewsbury, approximately 52% of the revenue needed to run the government and schools is derived from the property tax.
The property tax is an "ad-valorum" (based on value) tax. The tax is apportioned to individual properties based on the value of the property.
In Massachusetts, estimates of value are called assessments. The assessment of a large number of parcels for property tax purposes constitutes a highly specialized field of appraisal. It is termed mass appraisal, and requires significant statistical analysis in order to develop accurate values.
In Massachusetts, the property tax, both real and personal property, is assessed to the person who is the owner of record on January first. Any ownership subsequent to that date can not be reflected on the tax bill.
In Shrewsbury, the physical condition of real property on July 1st is the determining factor when establishing value for the fiscal year. It is, therefore, important that any new construction be inspected as close to that date as possible in order to determine the level of completion as of the assessment date.
In 1999 the Town accepted Section 2D of Chapter 59 which allows the collection of a supplemental tax based upon the date of the issuance of an occupancy permit after the July 1st date. This tax would be in addition to the actual tax bill that was determined based upon the condition of the property on July 1. It is computed on a daily basis and covers the period from the date of the signing of the occupancy permit up to the end of the fiscal year (June 30).
The FY 2013 rate is $11.67 per $1,000 of valuation.
Selectman & FinCom why can't you achieve this?
ReplyDeleteProperty Tax of Shrewbury:
The major source of revenue for the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts is the property tax.
In Shrewsbury, approximately 52% of the revenue needed to run the government and schools is derived from the property tax.
The property tax is an "ad-valorum" (based on value) tax. The tax is apportioned to individual properties based on the value of the property.
In Massachusetts, estimates of value are called assessments. The assessment of a large number of parcels for property tax purposes constitutes a highly specialized field of appraisal. It is termed mass appraisal, and requires significant statistical analysis in order to develop accurate values.
In Massachusetts, the property tax, both real and personal property, is assessed to the person who is the owner of record on January first. Any ownership subsequent to that date can not be reflected on the tax bill.
In Shrewsbury, the physical condition of real property on July 1st is the determining factor when establishing value for the fiscal year. It is, therefore, important that any new construction be inspected as close to that date as possible in order to determine the level of completion as of the assessment date.
In 1999 the Town accepted Section 2D of Chapter 59 which allows the collection of a supplemental tax based upon the date of the issuance of an occupancy permit after the July 1st date. This tax would be in addition to the actual tax bill that was determined based upon the condition of the property on July 1. It is computed on a daily basis and covers the period from the date of the signing of the occupancy permit up to the end of the fiscal year (June 30).
The FY 2013 rate is $11.67 per $1,000 of valuation.
I would ask if the Shrewsbury valuations are higher than ours, as what usually happens is this: Higher valuations equal lower tax rates, and Higher tax rates equal lower valuations. I am not arguing here at all, just wonder if we are comparing apples to apples.
ReplyDeleteAnother question would be the following. Do they have a surtax on top of their property taxes for the Community Preservation Act as we do? We raise quite a bit on that CPA tax that ends up out in the woods for the trails, and for things like slate roofs, and uninsulated period windows that cause us to have high municipal electric bills which we are trying to mitigate with a controversial solar energy plan.
What differences in services exist between the towns - water and sewer bills, schools, any public transportation, major building or infrastructure being constructed or paid for all at one time, stores, industries, signage, etc.
How diverse and inclusive are the shopping opportunities? I have no idea, but perhaps someone who reads this does. Let's face it, some of our residents don't think that the dining here is town is high end enough for them, and others would appreciate more places that are real easy on the budget. Some of us think nothing of buying sports footwear that costs hundreds of dollars, and other of us look for sneakers in the $10 to $14.99 range.
I would like to see a Dollar Tree and a Taco Bell come to Sturbridge. What are the chances?
Some of us would love to see a manufacturing facility (or 3) come into this town and provide jobs other than the jobs of being store clerks, maids, and other minimum wage opportunities. Are the existing businesses here joining forces to keep others away, and working on the new Route 20 plans to hopefully get funding to fix up their own buildings? It looks that way.
One of the latest excuses for trying to keep a CVS pharmacy out of Fiskdale is that they would be a "rectangle" of a store and that would be unfair "competition." There is no pharmacy in Fiskdale, so what's the competition - that they might handle some little do-dads at sale prices? So what?
I hope Shrewsbury looks out for its own citizens better than we do.
Well Shrewsbury has a CVS and Walgreens and not a small one but a large one of each. Remember Spags was home to Shrewsbury and he did a lot for the town.
ReplyDeleteWhat this tells us is they can manage their revenue better, have business, parks and all.
Restaurants there are anything from a McDonalds to high end Italian, Steak Houses, Seafood, etc.
What the difference is they have a good Town Manager open for business, a strict budget and know what their people want to live.
If our FinCom ran Shrewsbury they would have a tax rate of $33.00 and buildings that look awful.
The difference is nobody travels and looks what is going on in different communities and take notes on what we should do to duplicate the good things they have.
Do yourself a favor and take a ride, they even have a Christmas Tree Shop there and small and large business. This is not a big box town.
Spags was a one man show a start up and town person with a cowboy hat who started with a small store and was doing millions. People came from all over the country to see the store.
And he gave back to the community. Tom Creamer living in Worcester knows about Mr. Borgatti alias "Spag" his nickname.
Here you can read about him. This guy was a legend in Massachusetts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spag%27s