WASHINGTON PLANNING BOARD

Town Center Vision Subcommittee – Working Meeting Minutes

January 8, 2020

Members Present: Lolly Gilbert, Jim Crandall (phone), Ron Jager, Kevin Provencher and Nan Schwartz

Public attending: None

Gilbert opened the meeting at 9AM and passed out an agenda. The minutes of the previous meeting were not available to approve.

1. Parking/Access issues - Crandall said he spoke with Noah Chidester on Monday and he was leaving shortly for Haiti. He emailed Crandall a sketch plan but he was unable to open it and share it today. Chidester will be gone for 10 days so we can't meet with him until he returns. Crandall is concerned with Chidester getting something for Ed Thayer so he can estimate numbers for a warrant article for Town Meeting. Gilbert said she would ask his brother Seth if he could access the file. Schwartz had prints of the drone shots so we took a look at those. Schwartz shared some lighting for walkways and the parking area that she found. It was LED, solar powered and period appropriate. Gilbert brought up landscaping and that Chidester should indicate some on his plan. Jager had a concept sketch of a set of steps from the parking area to the buildings. He had 16 steps in groups of 4 with flat areas in between. Schwartz will scan the drawing and share with Chidester. We will schedule a meeting with Chidester as soon as he returns.

Schwartz said that Hatch had contact with Jared Reynolds, recently, and they spoke about grant possibilities for the General Store parking area and drainage problems. He is willing to meet with us about this and help with a grant application. Schwartz gave Gilbert information about the grant and she will share it with Ryan Curran. We will try to schedule a meeting with Reynolds the same day we meet with Chidester.

2. Town Pound - Jager spoke about the marker for the Town Pound and whether it has too many words. He thinks it is worthwhile to have useful information on the sign. Provencher said if it fits put it on there. Jager asked if we should take it to a sign maker and get an idea of cost. He asked who should pay for it? Schwartz suggested we come up with a sign package that includes this sign, a welcome to Washington sign and the signs needed for the historic walking tour. She could take a package to MaineLine for an estimate. Jager suggested a logo along with a number for walking tour stops. Crandall asked about the state’s historic signs and Schwartz will look into what is involved with those. We are looking for consistency in the signs. Schwartz will do a mockup of sign designs.

Schwartz also shared an LED radar speed sign (solar powered) that she found that could be installed on the north end of Main Street; Antrim has one that is similar. We thought speaking with Ed Thayer and Ryan Murdough about it would be best. Provencher said that now that the house was taken down on the corner the visual site lines are improved because the owner did some new grading. He thinks maybe we could revisit the crosswalk with DOT. He said he could speak to Kevin Belanger (DOT) about it.

Crandall brought up the depth around the Town Pound and feels Chidester can deal with it in his plan.

3. Walking Tour - Schwartz came up with a list of possible historic houses for the walk. Gilbert said we looked at Harrisville's historic tour which is web based. She is going to go speak with them about how it works for them. She felt maybe a tour that relies on internet access might not work well for us. We will probably go with print and maybe also put it on the website for access. Jager asked about a cut off date (maybe 1800?) for age but we decided the house/building should have either architectural or historic significance. Schwartz will send the list to Jean Kluk and Jager. Provencher said that people might have information about their own homes. Schwartz asked Jager how difficult it is to find a date for a home/building’s age. He said it is difficult. Schwartz will see what information Kluk has on any of the homes.

4. Data from the boxes - Gilbert said we gathered the comment sheets from the boxes and Schwartz tallied the answers. She gave her a few more today to add to the tally. Schwartz will add those and send out the results. Gilbert asked if we want to put a box out again at Town Meeting and we will consider doing this. Jager asked if we should do a report for Town Meeting. Gilbert asked what we should focus on for Town Meeting. Crandall said the main focus should be Chidester's plan, the walking tour and signs. We will have visuals to display for TM and maybe someone can speak about the project.

5. Other Issues - We decided the next meeting will be sometime the week of January 20-24th when Chidester can meet with us and we will meet with Jared Reynolds on the same day.

Adjourned at 10:20AM

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz

Planning Board Secretary