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Date: 7/5/2023
EASTHAMPTON — At the Easthampton Planning Board’s June 27 meeting, the board reviewed updated traffic plans for the Sierra Vista Commons project, also known as the Tasty Top Development.
Per the latest plans for the project, which will span from 93 to 95 Northampton St., the site includes 10 apartment buildings with a total of 188 units along with three mixed-use commercial units, a restaurant pad site, a bank site, one retail space, a Roots Learning Facility and a Roots Gymnastics facility.
Keri Pyke, a traffic engineer with Howard Stein Hudson, the firm putting together the traffic plan, provided an update to the number of anticipated traffic trips per day after a restaurant site was replaced with a bank site, the retail space was reduced by 13,000 square feet and one residential building was removed, with those units being added to other buildings.
“By making those changes with the reduction in program, on a daily basis we have 1,378 fewer trips. 101 less in the morning rush and 108 less in the afternoon rush. In going through the analysis, obviously that has a positive impact on our impacts on the surrounding intersections, and what we are still proposing for those locations is some signal timing and phasing changes,” she said.
With the updated traffic plan, which is set to be presented to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office since the project is slated for a state highway, the two options for mitigating traffic are a potential roundabout or a traffic light.
“They’re going to tell us what they want us to do in terms of the access, whether it be a roundabout or a signalized intersection. This does provide safe pedestrian crossings on all three legs; another added benefit is traffic calming. Typically, you can navigate these at about 15 miles per hour, particularly in off hours when there is not traffic,” she said.
In terms of peak traffic times, Pyke said the amount of traffic could prove difficult for all three legs of the roundabout, but ultimately that decision is up to MassDOT.
“We think either one can work, and we can be OK with whatever they tell us they prefer,” she said.
Pyke explained that one potential issue with using traffic lights instead of a roundabout would be the removal of additional trees for the construction.
In either plan, Pyke said that MassDOT will include bike accommodations.
“We’ve heard from the city that the preference is for a shared-use path, and not on-street bike lanes. We’ll have to coordinate with MassDOT about that, but we think we can accommodate the shared-use path on our property along our frontage,” she said.
As part of the conditions for the project, Pyke explained that the applicant would be in favor of conducting a traffic monitoring program once the roadwork is complete. With the monitoring plan, the initial step would be to begin monitoring six months after the full occupancy of phase one of the project, followed by annual monitoring or monitoring six months after the full occupancy of each subsequent phase. Adjustments as a result of the monitoring could include changes to traffic signaling.
When asked by board member Harry Schuman about how Mountain View Street would be affected, Pyke explained how either plan would affect the street.
“With the roundabout, cars coming from Mountain View Street can come out, use the roundabout to reverse direction, so it will make it easier for them to make a left turn. With the signal there is a small benefit that the signal is creating gaps in the traffic, but there is a potential for queuing back from the southbound direction to Mountain View Street,” she said.
With the updates to the traffic plans, Richard Bryant, a senior associate with Stantec, the firm conducting the peer review of the traffic study, discussed some concerns about a roundabout.
“We’re kind of reluctant to pursue the roundabout. It’s our opinion it really doesn’t fit if you try to squeeze it entirely onto the project site. You can make it fit but it’s a bad design and it doesn’t operate very well, so we would envision that option not having legs,” he said.
Looking at the traffic signal plan, Bryant said that the biggest hurdle is deciding on the position of the signals. Bryant also suggested meeting with the neighbors to discuss how best to accommodate with the signal.
“If we’re given permission we can talk with the people across the street and might be able to reach some conclusions on the best location. Stantec thinks the board benefits from getting technical input from those property owners and understanding their needs, their issues, alternatives that may or may not work for them,” Bryant said. “Not to say that the applicant can comply with all the demands but there may be something there.”
By meeting with the neighbors as well as the owners of the new Starbucks, Bryant said it would help the applicant put together a more complete plan for MassDOT.
Ultimately, the board agreed to allow the applicant to meet with the neighbors as well as the owners of Starbucks.
The Tasty Top project is slated to appear before the Conservation Commission again on July 10, ahead of a continued hearing at the Planning Board’s July 11 meeting.