Town panel reviews $2 million plan to improve Pleasant Street sidewalks

Mike Burns, a town staff member, presented a set of design alternatives on behalf of the town and its consultant Apex for pedestrian improvements along Pleasant Street between Silver Street and Main Street. He said "$2,000,000 in funding for these improvements were approved at the 2022 annual town meeting."

The project focuses on three problem areas where mature street trees, narrow travel lanes and on-street parking create substandard sidewalks. Burns described five alternatives for the stretch between Silver and South Mill streets, ranging from a "do-nothing" option that rebuilds sidewalk surfaces to alternatives that would remove trees, remove a parking lane, or relocate sidewalk alignment behind trees with potential property impacts. "Alternative 5 would remove the sidewalk from the west side of the roadway, preserve the street trees on that side of the road, but it would require utility poles to be, moved to provide an accessible sidewalk on the east side of the roadway," Burns said, noting that would improve traffic flow but affect parking.

Burns summarized trade-offs for each option and said similar, smaller sets of options exist for the other two focus areas: one option for Candle House Lane–High Street would remove west-side parking to improve flow, and for High Street–Main Street the primary constraint is a 60-inch tree that narrows the sidewalk and travel lane. "This would, the traffic flow would not be improved under [do-nothing], but this tree would be preserved," he said of the preservation option. The alternative is tree removal to improve traffic and pedestrian access.

Commissioners raised competing priorities. Commissioner (Speaker 4) said preserving "those large trees on Pleasant Street between Silver and Lyon would be very important," while Angus favored Alternative 1 for Area 1 to keep the streetscape but recommended removing the particularly problematic tree in Area 3 where roots and leaning affect the roadway. Commissioner (Speaker 5) described the recurring conflict between trees and sidewalks: "The trees add incredibly to the landscape... but I'm not trying to get down the street in a wheelchair. I don't see any solution."

Several speakers suggested focusing improvements on one continuous side of the street to preserve trees. Sarah said she preferred "as long as you give crosswalk access and one side of the sidewalk...focus on that, even if it means moving the two utility poles," arguing it would better serve people with strollers and parents who walk to town. Burns clarified the utility approach under Alternative 5: it "would be keeping [poles] on the east side of the road, but widening the sidewalk out and keeping the utility pole...butted up against the curb" to create roughly three feet of clear width around a pole and to widen the sidewalk by removing the parking lane.

Burns also described outreach plans: a project survey is active on the town website, mailings with QR codes are being sent to abutters, and responses will be shared with committees (including the roads and right-of-way committee and the commission on disabilities) to inform a recommendation to the select board. He said engineering would proceed through the fall after a preferred design is selected and asked the board to circulate the survey; he proposed returning in April to review public input and seek a recommendation.

The presentation produced no formal motion or vote. The project remains in the design-and-outreach phase; staff asked commissioners and residents to respond to the survey before it closes in March and said the matter will return to the board for further consideration in April.