Willow Street vs. Dalton (...again)

I attended a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting recently.  I went in support of my Willow Street friends and neighbors who take issue with a proposal by Dalton Enterprises to build a second driveway for their place of business. 

Before I go on let me say that I have no beef with Dalton.  I'm simply bringing attention to a current issue in town which I learned about at the meeting.  

The gist of the issue is this:  Currently, all truck traffic for Dalton runs from West Main onto Willow and enters the business via an existing driveway across from the bottom of Spring Street.  

Entrance on the right.  Spring Street on the left.

Truck traffic then exits Dalton via a gravel driveway at the rear of the site which connects to Railroad Avenue.  

Gravelly road from premises onto Railroad Avenue.

This arrangement seemingly will not be viable when the Cornwall to West Main leg of Linear Park is completed in the next so many years.  Reason being, "no one" wants tractor trailer traffic crossing the pedestrian path.  Hence Dalton's proposal to make a second driveway from the premises onto Willow.  

Proposed driveway would be on the right just past the utility pole.

In practice, both driveways would be one-way with trucks entering only through the existing driveway and exiting only through the proposed driveway.  As one could imagine, Willow Street residents would be dramatically affected by this with a doubling of truck traffic on their street as well as the aesthetics of having the new driveway directly across from and next to existing residences.  

Conflicting numbers were discussed during the meeting but my takeaway was that current tractor trailer truck trips entering Dalton via Willow range from 5 to 30 per day depending on the season and would equal 10 to 60 trips per day with trucks entering and exiting via Willow.  

View from the residential property directly across from the proposed driveway.  On the other side of the tall vegetation past the pole is a private dwelling.

I must say I was very impressed with and proud of so many Willow Street residents who spoke with immense passion during public comment to defend their neighborhood, their families, their property values, and their quality of life.  Negatives mentioned included engine noise, engine brake noise, heavy vibration, diesel exhaust fumes and the fact that there are no sidewalks on Willow Street so that all pedestrian traffic, including kids walking to bus stops, must use the travel portion of the road.

Existing driveway on the right.  The residential driveway on the left serves as a school bus stop for several neighborhood children.

The Dalton engineer/agent who spoke seemed like a genuinely nice guy--not a villain--and he appeared sympathetic to residents' concerns while he detailed the proposal and laid out why several other considered options were not viable.  Some of the other options included an exit through the Ball and Socket property as well as running a driveway along Linear Park, without crossing it, and exiting on West Main.  These and other plans have been discounted entirely for various reasons.  The bottom line coming from the Dalton representative was that it was understood the second driveway would exist at the expense of Willow Street residents for the benefit of those using Linear Park.  

My position:  The planners are trying to be too smart by half.  They have spent tremendous effort, time, and discussion trying to solve a problem but have suspended the operation of logic when a very simple, common-sense solution is staring them right in the face:  Truck traffic should continue to exit via Railroad Avenue but just change the way it's being phrased.  That is, instead of the truck driveway crossing Linear Park we simply have Linear Park cross the  truck driveway.  I don't mean with a bridge--just a simple crosswalk with good sight lines and a few cautionary signs.  Such an arrangement would be no less safe than crossing any public road anywhere else on the lengthy exercise path.  Also, this would not be unprecedented--there are other sites where Linear Park crosses a private driveway, although they are not as wide as this one which would be 30 feet.  We can even say it'll be safer to cross the Dalton driveway.  It's a one-way as opposed to two-way traffic at public road crossings and there can be stop signs for the trucks, caution signs and/or stop signs for pedestrians, and a 5 MPH limit on the driveway.  Dalton can ensure all drivers are aware of the crossing and insist on maximum caution and of granting right of way to pedestrians.  Truck drivers are professionals.  They don't want to hit anyone.  They'd likely be more careful crossing Linear Park than anywhere else they go.  And let's face it--most of the time Linear Park is not exactly booming with pedestrians.  Most of the time there is sporadic pedestrian traffic at best.  The busiest times are weekends and holidays and even then only in good weather.

Darn tooting, this is an obvious and easy fix.  The alternative--if the proposal is struck down and crossing Linear Park is prohibited--is that all truck traffic would need to enter and exit via the one existing driveway and nobody wants that!  So don't upset the apple cart!  Protect the Willow Street families and allow the rear exit driveway.