A plan to upgrade existing sidewalks and crosswalks in the town center—and add a new sidewalk along Still River Road in front of the Congregational Church and General Store—is sparking pushback by citizens concerned about its effect on store parking and historic district aesthetics.
The surge of opposition came up as final details were discussed at October meetings of the Historical Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Select Board. Changes to the General Store parking lot are part of the plan because of its proximity to the proposed new sidewalk and its status as a town-owned lot.
The project will be paid for by a $370,000 grant from the state’s Complete Streets program, which promotes “safe and accessible options for all travel modes—walking, biking, transit, and vehicles—for people of all ages and abilities,” according to the Department of Transportation website. Of the 11 grants awarded in the current round of funding, Harvard’s was the largest, with the maximum possible amount being $400,000, according to Department of Public Works Director Tim Kilhart. “Bids must go out this winter and the work completed by June 2020 or we don’t get the money,” Kilhart said in an interview with the Press.
As shown in the figure, much of the sidewalk work will consist of renovation, though the Still River Road section from the Congregational Church to the General Store is new and will affect parking. All walkways touched by the plan need to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and as such must be 5 feet wide with 6-inch granite curbing and a curb-cut ramp at each crosswalk. The angled crosswalks at the four-way intersection, deemed hazardous by a 2016 Montachusett Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) traffic study, will be re-aligned at near-right angles. Also new will be two driveway crosswalks: one to meet with the upgraded Ayer Road sidewalk ending at the Hildreth House driveway north of Town Hall, and the other to cross the new exit-and-entrance to the General Store.
One possible reason for the delayed reaction to the plan could be its four-year gestation period. It bobbed in and out of view while staffing at Town Hall changed, and several iterations of the grant application were rejected by two different grant programs. Even after the grant was awarded in the summer of 2018, complaints about the parking lot—from the General Store and Congregational Church—resulted in some changes. A one-way traffic pattern with angled parking spaces was replaced with a two-way pattern and straight parking spaces, a change made possible by the sacrifice of 4 feet from a patio to be built on town land between the store and the church. And instead of a reduction in parking spaces as originally planned, the number of marked parking spaces will remain at the current 19, though the new sidewalk and curbing will act as a barrier to the currently unrestricted entrance and exit to Still River Road.
Back-to-back meetings
It was the new Still River Road sidewalk that provoked many comments at back-to-back meetings of the Historical Commission and ZBA on Oct. 9, and at an Oct. 22 Select Board meeting. According to the MRPC study, the sidewalk and curbing would interrupt an “undefined street edge” that has led to chaotic traffic patterns and “unsafe conditions” in the center of town. But critics were having none of it.
“This piece of curb is a danger to that historical building and will make it harder to do business,” said Al Combs of Oak Hill Road at the Historical Commission meeting, referring to the General Store. Combs characterized safety issues in the lot as ‘nonexistent,” while Jack Spero of Deerfoot Trail also questioned the plan’s safety angle. “Who the heck is going to be on that sidewalk?” he asked, calling the focus on safety “nebulous.” Similar sentiments were echoed at the Select Board meeting, where Jared Wollaston said he was “against the entire plan,” adding: “I think it is safer to keep [town center] as-is.” Along with several others, Wollaston said he has “never seen a single pedestrian accident” in the town center. The Elm Street sidewalk upgrade will end in front of Wollaston’s home.
In response, Kilhart said, “I don’t need to wait for the first fatality or accident on my watch,” and Police Chief Ed Denmark, also in attendance at the Select Board meeting, said pedestrian safety improvements have been on his to-do list “since 2003.”
Store owner questions plan
Despite his opposition, General Store proprietor Scott Hayward said he has worked with Kilhart to make the best of the parking lot but still questions the entire plan. “The design incorporates urban and suburban design standards, not rural standards that are appropriate for the Harvard Common area,” Hayward told the Press. “It does not address the actual pedestrian needs of the center, it addresses the needs as dictated by the grant.” A letter to the Select Board, signed by Hayward and 23 other citizens, denounces the proposed new sidewalk as “restricting traffic in the parking lot like a minnow trap.” The letter asks the board to “fix the process and correct the plan.” But according to Kilhart, to do so would be to forfeit the grant and “jeopardize Harvard’s chances for future state funding.”
The other tenant in the General Store building, Craig Kilmer of CK Bikes, told the Press his main objection to the plan was its apparent failure to make the exit in front of his shop a one-way, right turn. Each day, he said, he sees drivers making awkward left turns and failing to notice pedestrians approaching from Massachusetts Avenue. “They’re so intent on looking left, they don’t see the mothers with the baby carriages coming from the right.” Kilmer said he’d like to see the exit be enforced as the one-way exit he believes it to be.
A piecemeal approach?
In considering the objections, Select Board members asked Kilhart to petition the state to allow 4-foot instead of 5-foot sidewalks, but nobody on the board spoke against the plan, nor was a vote taken.
One signatory to the Select Board letter, Margaret Nestler of Cruft Lane, told the Press she was particularly worried about an apparent piecemeal approach to the town’s pedestrian paths, given that the new sidewalk will end abruptly in front of the bike shop. Nestler wondered what had happened to Mass. Ave. sidewalk plans, discussed over the years, emphasizing the need for connectivity between the school, the library, and the churches.
The Mass. Ave. plan is not dead, Kilhart told the Press. He said those sidewalks might be funded by a separate grant program, Safe Routes to School. By law, a school’s superintendent must apply for the grant; a question from the Press about the grant’s status was not answered in time for publication.
