Final Common Plan goes to Selectmen
Published on August 18th, 1999
STONEHAM, MA - The proposal for the new Town Common is final. The Town Parking / Common Committee will formally present the design to selectmen at the Aug. 24 meeting of the board.
Selectmen will then approve, deny, or alter and approve the plan; the resulting design will be the final plan for Phase II of Stoneham's $4 million downtown development project.
All the money has been approved, the Phase I parking lot is near completion, but townspeople still disagree about what the Common should look like.
"All they are doing is retreating from a prior position and continuing to screw things up," said former selectmen Jack Mahoney.
Parking/Common Committee Chairman Mark Vaughan described the plan as a reasonable compromise.
"After a lot of discussion and reflection on the comments and feedback from the June public meeting, we tried to redesign the Common to reflect what people wanted," Vaughan said.
Central Street will remain open to two-way traffic, but the road will be narrowed from 40 to 26 feet by landscaping. Special pavers will be laid down in front of Town Hall, linking the Common and Town Hall. Also, parking will be restricted along Central Street in front of the Town Hall between Emerson and Church Streets. Some of the spots will be 15-minute, "drop-off" spaces behind the First Congregational Church.
Church Street will remain one-way, but in the opposite direction, heading out onto Main Street. Angle parking will be provided along the north (church) side of Church Street.
Winter Street will be eliminated, but another road stretching from Central to Main Street will be added lining up with Emerson Street. The new Winter Street will be one-way from Main Street toward Central Street and have angle parking on both sides.
"We need this parking near the businesses," said Chamber of Commerce board member Kathy Bray.
According to Parking / Common Committee figures 13 new spots will be created on the relocated Winter Street for a total of 23.
The redesigned Common will provide 19 more spaces. Twenty-two old spaces were eliminated, mostly along Central Street in front of the Town Hall, and replaced with off-street parking next to Town Hall and off of the relocated Winter Street.
"This is an abomination," said former selectmen Jack Mahoney. "I'm a voice of the multitudes."
Mahoney did not think eliminating any parking spaces made sense. He also said narrowing Central Street and reversing the direction of traffic on Church Street would snarl traffic in the square.
"The whole purpose of the project is to create off-street parking to allow for the free flow of traffic," said Common Project Manager Joe Slavet.
The business community is excited, according to Chamber of Commerce board member Eric Swanson.
"I think the Common is going to be great," Swanson said. "Along with the parking lot, the theater, Spot Pond and the new schools, Stoneham is looking good."
However, several citizens and both Police Chief Eugene Passaro and Fire Chief Lawrence Lamey spoke against narrowing Central Street at the June hearing.
Mahoney said if the selectmen approve the Parking/Committee's plan on Aug. 24, he may bring an article before the next Town Meeting to alter the design.
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