A scant majority of the residents who showed up at the Thurston Middle School cafeteria last night raised their hands in support of measures designed to reduce the impact of Westwood Station traffic on the Canton Street neighborhood.
Town officials are confident that the so-called traffic "calming" measures coupled with a new Westwood Station Boulevard will mitigate the impact of traffic generated daily by the proposed $1.5 billion shopping, residential, hotel and office complex off University Avenue.
The crowd filled almost every available cafeteria seat. Many of the residents who showed up are from the Islington section of town.
About half of the residents raised their hands expressing acceptance of moving toward a final design for median strips, T-intersections and roundabouts that would slow traffic to 25 mph or below on Canton Street, Forbes Road and Everett Street.
"That's about as close to a consensus as we're going to get," said Orlando-based engineer Dan Burden.
Burden is principal of Glatting Jackson, the engineering firm CC&F is paying $130,000 to design measures for slowing traffic and decreasing traffic volume on the three streets. Burden presented a conceptual design for the measures last night, but emphasized that it could be tailored to the needs and wants of the neighborhood.
Residents balked at the potential for some of the 21 measures proposed by Burden to infringe onto their lawns and remove trees and foliage from the streets, although Burden insisted that all of the work would be conducted within the town-owned right of way and that flowers, trees and general "beautification" would be part of the plan.
Many expressed skepticism that the $2 million cost cited by Burden to execute the plan would be furnished by Westwood Station developer Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, but Town Administrator Michael Jaillet was quick to assure them of CC&F's commitment, whatever the cost.
"All efforts will be made to secure the funds necessary to implement this plan," Jaillet said.
But complaints about the town's lack of transparency throughout the Station's permitting process project loomed large during the night, as residents questioned why the Board of Selectmen had sent Jaillet to the presentation in their stead, and why a copy of the engineer's design was not made accessible in advance of the meeting.
Resentment boiled over when the crowd was pressed by Burden to reach a decision on whether to back Burden's traffic designs or face more delays in producing a substitute.
"This is totally wrong," said Everett Forbes Neighborhood Association President John Harding.
"We had to beg borrow and steal to get this to be revealed to the public."
And when Dan Bailey, special counsel to the Board of Selectmen, stood up and retorted that he had given Harding all the information he asked for, Harding angrily protested that Bailey, whose salary is paid by CC&F, "could care less about everyone on this (Islington) side of town."
Six residents are suing the Planning Board for issuing a special permit for Westwood Station before taking into account its impact on traffic. Westwood resident Peter Fenn is representing the litigants, and says his clients understand the project's fiscal value, but believe it should not come at the expense of the residents of Canton Street, Forbes Road and Everett Street.
"I find it amazing that the Planning Board allowed a permit to be issued before the development agreement was signed," and the traffic mitigation plan was in place, said Fenn, who noted that the intent of his clients is not to kill the project but to modify it to make sure there is an effective plan in place for traffic.
The traffic anticipated from the Westwood Station project, which would be built at the site of a rundown office park, is expected to exacerbate the existing problem of motorists using Canton Street as a cut-through between I-95 and Rt. 128. Residents and town officials are also concerned about the additional traffic that would be generated by a proposed "slip" ramp allowing access to the MBTA station and to Westwood Station from I-95 north. The ramp would be paid for by CC&F.
Daily News staff writer Anna Kivlan can be reached at 781-433-8336 or at akivlan@cnc.com
