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.
