Panel approves one-way for West All School and advances Lindsey Street one-way, schedules abutter meeting

At a public traffic meeting, members approved a one-way on June Street for the West All School and agreed to move forward with a one-way conversion for a block of Lindsey Street, while scheduling an emergency meeting to notify abutters.

The approved June Street change was tabled earlier to obtain the fire department’s input; Fire Chief Bacon told the panel that “the proposed 1 ways…does not affect our operations, as far as the way our apparatus would be approaching anything in that area.” The panel then voted to approve the West All School one-way as presented.

The Lindsey Street proposal covers the block from President Avenue north to Brownell and was added to the agenda as a revision tied to a state milling-and-paving project. The city engineer signaled support for making Lindsey Street one-way northbound but opposed a separate restriction banning left turns from President Avenue onto Lindsey Street, citing delivery and tractor-trailer access. A staff member told the panel the engineer was “all good with making Lindsey Street a 1 way. However, he does not want to box it off to no left hand turn, from President Ave, for delivery reasons, tractor trailers.”

Panel members agreed that a northbound one-way would improve traffic flow and safety; Chief Bacon said he was “not opposed” and preferred the northbound configuration. Members voted to accept the Lindsey Street change and directed staff to notify abutters and schedule an emergency meeting—proposed for Wednesday, Oct. 1—to brief affected residents and collect final input before the state’s paving work proceeds.

Discussion items tied to the Lindsey Street conversion included the 2014 planning study that originally recommended the change and the state’s current ‘79 project that is beginning milling and paving on that block. Staff said the city would coordinate with the state and the abutters notification would be completed before signs and curb work were installed.

No formal legal citations or ordinance numbers were cited during the discussion; staff and the engineer framed the item as coordination with the state paving schedule and a local traffic-control change that will be finalized after the abutter meeting.

The panel’s actions were procedural approvals and scheduling rather than final construction work: the Lindsey Street conversion will proceed through abutter notification and subsequent administrative steps with the state and city engineering office before permanent signage or curb changes are installed.