BRATTLEBORO — Members of the public have voiced concerns regarding the Selectboard's perceived lack of public hearings regarding new mast arm traffic signals slated for downtown.
This summer, the Vermont Agency of Transportation plans to repave Route 5 from Fairground Road in Brattleboro to Putney including replacing the current pedestal traffic signals on Main Street with mast arm lights. On mast arm traffic lights, the signal lights hang from a long boom stretched across the street.
There are also plans to install traffic lights at the “Malfunction Junction” intersection at Main and Bridge streets.
Funding for the project will come from the town, the state, and federal government. The Selectboard approved the AOT plan at a Selectboard meeting Oct. 6, 2009. The project is at the bid stage.
Fire Chief D. Michael Bucossi described the current pedestal signals as “band-aided” together and “antiquated.” Finding parts is difficult.
By contrast, the mast arms can be fitted with optical devices that allow emergency vehicles to control the lights and with cameras to assist traffic flow.
A public process
Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis requested the traffic light issue be on the board's June 1 agenda.
“Didn't seem like there was a lot of public input on this,” she said.
Bouboulis said she was concerned the mast arm lights would not fit the historical character of downtown, adding that the public should have had a chance to discuss something that would change “how Brattleboro looks for many years.”
Town Manager Barbara Sondag said the Oct. 6 meeting had been properly warned, fulfilling the public hearing requirement. Bouboulis disagreed, saying the public had never been given the opportunity to find alternatives to the mast arm lights.
Selectboard member Jesse Corum and town resident Steven K-Brooks squared off at the end of the discussion.
K-Brooks said that the Federal Highway Administration requires public input specifically for areas like downtown which are on the National Register of Historic Places.
“Public participation means that people really have the chance to know what's going on,” said K-Brooks.
“I don't mind hearing from the public, but I don't have to hear from the public three to four times,” said Corum.
The process
Ken Upmal, the AOT's manager on the Route 5 project, spent nearly a day and a half consolidating reports and meeting minutes to demonstrate the agency had done due diligence. A call came down from Sen. Bernard Sanders' office via the upper echelons of AOT to “find out what happened.”
As Upmal understands it, a Brattleboro resident called Sanders' office concerned about the lack of public participation.
“It's frustrating to work as hard as we do and then this happens. We're not trying to do anything secretive,” he said.
He said the Route 5 project started in 1996 under a previous project manager and a required public right-of-way hearing was held in 2003. At the hearing, the Agency of Transportation heard public concerns about pedestrian crossings, bike lanes, and concerns about loss of business.
“From the agency's perspective, we were thrown out of town,” said Upmal.
The project sat.
Upmal took over the project in 2008. He worked with Sondag, Planning Director Roderick Francis, Public Works Director Steve Barrett and planner Matt Mann from the Windham Regional Commission to redesign the project balancing concerns voiced in the original 2003 hearing with the needs of the project. The Traffic Safety Committee approved the redesigned project on December 2008. The Selectboard approved it in October 2009.
A second right-of-way hearing was not required, but Upmal did obtain a “106 clearance” required by the National Historic Preservation Act.
Upmal said he didn't hear a thing about mast arm traffic lights until three weeks ago, when he received an e-mail from Sondag.
“We did due diligence and maintained communication [with the town]. Don't know what else we could have done,” said Upmal.