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11/03/2020 03:52 PMThis week, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) approved a contract for the Safe Streets Task Force to hire a consulting firm that, over the next year or so, will seek to accelerate the town’s progress toward pedestrian safety, traffic efficiency, and accessibility, focusing on a broad and comprehensive plan that follows the state Department of Transportation’s Complete Streets initiative.
The $210,000 contract, awarded to Schmidt Design Group out of Milford, is meant to guide the task force and other town boards and agencies through policies and best practices, as well as more directly prioritizing the completion of a handful of specific projects, according to Task Force Chair Sam Gerritiz and Town Engineer Janice Plaziak.
“This work is going to be invaluable to getting...the public engagement process involved in planning on where we want to prioritize pedestrian improvements in town,” Plaziak said.
At the end of the contract period, Schmidt will deliver a “complete plan” with priority projects based on data and input from the public, according to Gerritz.
Selectman Sue Renner was the only BOS member to vote against the contract, saying that it was “putting the cart before the horse,” and arguing that the town should be reaching out to residents to see what they wanted before committing to a lengthy process and a $210,000 contract.
“I fully appreciate the idea that an all-volunteer task force would like to engage a consultant to provide some direction,” Renner said. “Going from zero to $210,000 on a consultant seems like a lot to me...We don’t really have any idea what the public does want.”
The Safe Streets Task Force grew out of a series of contentious initiatives involving pedestrian walkways, road reconstruction, and the proposed Nut Plains Pathway, with discussions and negotiations on those items stretching over a handful of years back to 2017.
The Task Force was granted a total budget $350,000 when it was formed around two years ago.
At this week’s BOS meeting, First Selectman Matt Hoey characterized the Nut Plains Pathway process, specifically, as “a complete disaster,” faulting public outreach efforts and overall lack of management for that failure. He said he supported the plan as a way for the public and town boards and agencies to both coordinate and build consensus on what is needed, feasible, and acceptable for the town’s streets and sidewalks.
“I applaud the task force for getting to the point where you realize you reached your capacity to move this forward without this kind of assistance and this kind of expertise,” Hoey said.
Plaziak said one of the most important things that Schmidt will be able to help the town with is engaging residents in order to ensure the town can prioritize and dedicate resources to work that will ultimately garner the approval of the townsfolk.
“In year’s past we’ve had grant money that we had to ultimately turn away because we couldn’t get the consensus of the community on those projects. This will hopefully set us up for successful projects in the future as well as [give] us a clear plan that has community support,” she said.
Being able to identify and track grant money is another important thing Schmidt will be able to help with, according to Gerritz, which will feed into how projects are prioritized.
Hoey said that despite the false start of the Nut Plains Pathway push, the BOS should be cognizant that residents had expressed concerns about these issues dating back years and the town had a responsibility to respond.
Gerritz said that there are four “quick build” projects that Schmidt is ready to help the town complete “right out of the gate.”
“A quick build is saying, ‘Here’s a spot where you’d like to do something different,’ rather than invest all the money in a full-blown project,” Gerritz said. “This is a really standard method of trying out new approaches to crosswalks, pedestrian safety...all that.”
Exactly what those projects are will grow out of future conversations between the task force and the consultants, Plaziak told the Courier via email.
Other work will potentially include decades-long initiatives or projects, Plaziak said, as the town updates its 2003 Transportation Plan. One of the most important things Schmidt will be able to do is navigate state, federal, and local regulations for these larger issues, Plaziak said, leveraging their expertise to make sure the Task Force can smoothly explore or implement its goals.
Though there were only cursory discussions about specific areas or projects, Plaziak said that studies by Schmidt will reveal those specifics early on, and expand out through many areas and departments in town.
“The amount of hours and the costs of this seems in line with the deliverable that we’re going to get,” she said.
Plaziak said she also expected significant public outreach by Schmidt outside of simply holding public meetings.