Meeting Minutes

Atwater Park Civic Association

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Meeting Location: Bloniarz Residence, 247 Atwater Road

Attendees:

Steve Haddad

David Bloniarz

Kelli Moriarty

David Finn

Colleen Foley

Maurice Cahillane

Brian Sheehy

Bill Tarnowsky

Paula Schindledecker

Guests:

Josh Schimmel, Springfield Water & Sewer Commission

Michael Fenton, Springfield City Council

Call to Order, Steve Haddad

First Item On Agenda – Mr. Josh Schimmel, Springfield Water & Sewer Commission

Presentation of the Combined Sewer Separation Project, a federally mandated project

Josh stated that the main goals of the project were:

• Reduce the CSO activations from the CSO 007 (Rowland Street) and CSO 049 (Springfield Street) near Baystate MC combined sewer areas to 1 overflow a year. Currently CSO 049 has as many as 4 per year

• Reduce the CSO discharge volume to the Connecticut River by approx 99% from 29.1 million gallons to 450,000 gallons per year

• Improve water quality in the Connecticut River
• Upgrade sewer and drain infrastructure (the CSO pipes are some of the oldest pipes in the city!)

Project started in May 2009 and the target completion is June 2011.

Realistically, the portion of this project that focuses on Springfield Street/Chestnut Street will last between 8-10 weeks, and the work will take place during the daytime. Other efforts on Dover Street will be night work.

Josh suggests that if/when residents in Atwater have issues or concerns, they contact Kathy Pedersen at 413.787.6356, x111 and she will assist. John also offered to attend future APCA meetings to update the group on the project’s status.

Discussion Regarding Parking Ban on Springfield Street

Mr. & Mrs. Vecchiarelli

City Councilor Mike Fenton

Springfield Street neighbors came to present why they feel the current parking ban on Springfield Street should be lifted.

The ban was instituted because the street became too clogged, hindering Baystate MC traffic, including ambulances. Neighbors recognize that but are asking for relief in the way of short term parking abilities. Most often, residents must move their cars to accommodate service providers, etc. and have no alternative but to park their cars in the street temporarily.

Specific neighbors have started calling the Police to file complaints when people park on the street, even if their intention is to park for a short tem. The question of resident permit parking was raised, but permit parking winds up being at a cost to the resident and often times too challenging for the police to enforce. It was also stated that Officer Tom Long, Head of the Traffic Bureau, was not in favor of lifting the ban, nor is Baystate Medical Center.

Review of Tag Sale

The overwhelming feeling regarding the tag sale is that we should make it an annual event in the late spring. Consensus was that this year’s event should have had more advance planning and advertisement, especially seeing as how tag sale participants are required to obtain a license at City Hall in advance of the event. This discussion led to the group’s discussion of how we should augment the APCA website to tell people to call/email us when they have an idea for a neighborhood event, so that we may help grow the idea into a successfully executed event.

Review of Summer Kick Off Party

Everyone agreed that a great time was had by all who attended. Bill and Brian did great signs that helped us attract more than 30 people to Green Lane on a wonderful Friday summer evening.

End of Summer Party

We are still targeting this to take place the Saturday after the Labor Day weekend, with a rain date of that Sunday. Steve is going to check with the Bedford residents to see if they would approve of us using the street to hold the event ‘block party’ style.

Communications Update

Brian Sheehy has been in contact with Al Chwalek and as a result, we now have a speed limit sign on Springfield Street, which we hope will curtail the amount of speeding that takes place on the street.

Brian has also been in contact with Steve Bradley at BMC, and Steve has advised Brian to create a ‘wish list’ of items that we could request be included in work falling under a bond. Items such as period lighting, lighting the pillars at both entrances and a ‘Welcome to Springfield’ sign at the circle have all been suggested and Brian will be sending those ideas to Steve Bradley for consideration.

Directing People to the Website

The group discussed having signs made that list the Atwaterpark.org address. These signs would be strategically placed throughout the neighborhood in an effort to get people intrigued to check out the site. Dave Finn will be working with the company that created the Spring Cleanup signs to get these made.

Next meeting – Wednesday, July 14,2010, 7pm, home of Kelli Moriarty & Dave Finn – 63 Atwater Terrace