Attendees: Mario Madrid, DPD; Colin McNiece, DPD; Brian Connors, DPD; Father John Cox, St. Joseph the Worker Shrine; Sandra Swaile, DPD; Kathleen Plath, Chamber of Commerce; Brown Miller, Boott Cotton Mills; Bill Lipchitz, Center City Committee; Peter Aucella, Lowell Nat. Historic Park; Mark Goldman, Center City Committee; Captain Brian Staveley, LPD; Orlando Salazar, MOBD; Brian R. Keaveney P.E; Pennoni Associates, Inc.
Thomas Galligani opened the meeting by introducing Brian Keaveney, the traffic consultant from Pennoni Associates who has been working on the Downtown Traffic Study project. Mr. Keaveney presented an overview of the Study. The traffic study will make recommendations for Downtown Traffic improvements in the form of signal timing/ phasing; directional modification (one- ways versus two-ways) and improvements of intersections widening the turning radius. The traffic consultants are hoping to present the data collected and the recommendations to the City and the Downtown Plan CAC members in the next few weeks. Traffic data and recommendations from the Study will be incorporated in the final draft of the Downtown Plan.
CAC member presented their concerns regarding two-way traffic pattern and traffic flow. CAC members mentioned two types of traffic: people who drive to downtown for working, shopping, and visiting reasons; and people who drive through downtown only as a short-cut route. CAC members are hoping that the recommendations from the traffic study will bring good suggestions in how to improve the traffic flow in the downtown area, and facilitate visitors and shoppers to travel around Downtown. Captain Staveley from the LPD mentioned that with the expansion work on Rt. 3 more drivers will use downtown Lowell as a cut through, bringing more traffic to downtown. Peter Aucella suggested that on-street parking should be limited to certain areas and certain hours of the day to provide an extra lane for traffic flow. Captain Staveley stated that some cities have adopted for limited on-street parking, however this action would reduce the supply of on-street parking in the Downtown area. Captain Staveley also mentioned that we should raise the parking fines in order to encourage people to park in our public parking garages. The need for parking signage was again mentioned as essential to eliminate the perception of non-existent parking.
Some members of the CAC attended a two-day workshop at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (DHCD) on the topic of Downtown Revitalization. Bill Lipchitz presented a brief summary of these two workshops to CAC members. One of the workshops focused on the creation of a Business Improvement District (BID). Kathleen Plath, Executive Director of the Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce, stated that could be possible to create a BID in the downtown but the interested parties should take a closer look at the possible physical boundaries of the BID and the potential drop-off rate by property owners. The workshops also focused on downtown's marketing strategies. Peter Aucella mentioned that: retail recruitment, a solid leasing strategy, and promotional activities should be our main focus to revitalize downtown Lowell. Peter Aucella and Father Cox mentioned once again that the coordination amongst different groups (DLBA, CVB, DPD, Chamber of Commerce, among others) needs to be improved.
Sandy Swaile, Design Planner, made a presentation to CAC members on the major potential developable parcels in the Downtown as follows:
Dressing Mills Place: Located both at Fred C. Church Site and at the Riverplace Towers parking lot, this parcel could provide a good opportunity to improve connections between the Downtown and the Merrimack River and to create something very attractive along the river and the Riverwalk. This multi-use building includes retail, a restaurant, and parking for the future development of Boott Mills.
Retail Supermarket on Arcand Drive : Encompassing the Professional Building at 75 Arcand Drive and the Masonic Temple parking lot, this site is envisioned as an urban scale supermarket to serve daytime population and downtown residents. The plan also includes a small parking garage.
Arena Parcel: Located adjacent to the Tsongas Arena, the site is envisioned as a recreational center similar to the "Chelsea Piers" in New York City. This "athletic center" would expand upon the recreation theme of the area and could also be used by the high school (which is just located across the street) during the day and used by the residents during evening hours.
CAC members were very excited with Swaile's development scenarios. Peter Aucella suggested to DPD staff to include photos and maps of similar projects from other cities as illustrative examples. Sandy Swaile mentioned the implications of the high costs for the construction of parking garage due to the lack of state funding. CAC members agreed that the construction of a parking garage should be mentioned in the Downtown Plan in order to accommodate future development.
Thomas Galligani concluded the meeting informed the CAC that the final draft of the Downtown Plan was close to be complete and DPD is just awaiting for the results of the Downtown Traffic Study in order to be incorporated on the Downtown Plan.
The next meeting of the Downtown Plan CAC has been scheduled for:
Thursday, May 31st, 2001 at 6:00 PM in the
Arthur Hammar Conference Room at the JFK Civic Center - 2nd Floor.
Send questions and comments to:
Thomas Galligani, Downtown Plan Project Manager
Division of Planning and Development
J.F.K. Civic Center
50 Arcand Drive
Lowell MA 01852
(978) 970-4276
tgalliga@ci.lowell.ma.us
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