Seven Villages, Janet Joakim

The Town Manager gave a preliminary overview of this year’s town survey done annually by Bridgewater State College during a budget workshop on May 1.

The survey gives us further insight into what is on the minds of the majority of Barnstable residents.
We use our survey as we develop our strategic plan, and it is considered in issues like zoning and the town manager’s budget priorities.

Year after year the number one complaint from residents is traffic. In village meetings, citizen’s groups, and around town we hear about how bad traffic is, from Cotuit to Hyannis on Rt. 28 and from Barnstable to Hyannis on Rt 132, you have told us you want us to do something about traffic.
The citizen’s survey reflects this sentiment.

Further, our local comprehensive plan addresses traffic issues overall and each village plan does the same.

In the survey - with a choice of excellent, good, fair or poor - 71.5% of Barnstable residents surveyed responded that traffic conditions in town are fair or poor.

Additionally, a specific and important question asked last year and again in this year’s survey was:
Do you favor or oppose a plan which would limit retail growth as a means to improve traffic on areas such as Route 132, the Cape Cod Mall area, Rt. 28 or in your village? This year - 61% FAVORED, 31.4% OPPOSED with 7.7% not responding.

How do we reconcile all of this with Zoning Board of Appeals decisions like the recent Blanchards decision? This project dragged on for 2 years, but that long process was not the town’s fault. The town and ZBA were not responsible for those delays. Yet, a piece of each statement explaining a vote to grant the special permit was that the property owner has “waited for two years.”

The developer purchased the property with the assumption they would get this special permit. 

Why?

We have serious problems on route 28 that need to be solved. People are suffering from life-altering traffic accidents. People are frustrated with sitting in traffic.  Just getting a set of traffic lights installed in one of the most dangerous intersections is taking years and demonstrates that the state is not going to jump to the plate with initiatives to fix problems. I have learned that the state has lost and is losing more federal dollars used for our roads, essentially, to places beyond our own shores leaving our state roads budgets short.

It is up to us to control what goes on on the sides of these roads. We need to limit the traffic issues to what is there now.

Currently several of the more difficult areas of Rt. 28 are zoned for HB, which allows for office buildings and banks. Zoning doesn’t even allow for medical offices. This is all meant to curb development that would generate busy curbcuts!  The only tool to get around those zoning ordinances is to apply for a special permit via the ZBA. The ZBA then uses the information given to them, their knowledge and understanding of the area’s needs, and input from citizens to determine if a project does not mean that: “Such uses do not substantially adversely affect the public health, safety, welfare, comfort or convenience of the community.” Barnstable Zoning Ordinance HB District § 240-25. sec C - 1- (c)

Blanchards 9800 sq foot liquor store is looking at adding 1600 trips a day, and will add to an already overburdened section of Rt. 28. The CVS that sits on the corner was was granted a special permit and it has added too much traffic. Did this set a precedent? Does this mean we should add more to that mess? In the hearings and discussions, there was little to no discussion about how a person would access this store from the west. In order to access the CVS from the west, a customer can use the left turn lane at the Strawberry Hill rt. 28 lights. How will anyone get into this store without a left turn from rt 28? The argument that people will simply not come from the west to this store doesn’t hold water, and I would bet doesn’t work into the overall business plan for this spot.

Left turns from the west have the potential to back traffic up to the intersection of Rt. 28 and Strawberry Hill Rd.

The ZBA’s approval of the special permit to allow the Blanchards, 9800 sq, open till 11pm, 7 nights a week, left turn “discouraged” curb-cuts project, is indicative of a larger problem.

We need to work more with our boards and committees about reconciling the Local Comprehensive Plan, the village plans, citizens surveys, and other tools with the zoning ordinances they use as guidelines. Our staff is developing a training manual and a program for our volunteers. Communication has to be better established among boards and commission and the council and staff.

The Town Council appoints the members of these committees, and you vote for us.  As councilors we need to examine appointments and consider more outreach, because often particular appointments are made simply because there was only one person on applying for an open seat.

We need to reconsider that people who serve on boards must be people who are familiar with or  who are in a business that interacts with these boards and committees,  and thus have a better understanding related issues. There are a lot of intelligent people out there, who are capable of learning the in’s and outs of zoning or planning issues, of licensing or waste water or shellfish or moorings. We just need to find them and ask them to apply to serve.

Serving on these boards are are major commitments.

Just as it is hard to get a commitment, it is hard to give criticism to sitting members because the perception is that we don’t appreciate their work.

We do appreciate all of our volunteers. We just need to understand that ultimately we are responsible for the results of their work.