Downtown Concord Improvement Committee Meets for the First Time

Well, they had the first meeting of the Downtown Complete Streets Improvement Project Advisory Committee. And already they have decided that in regards to following city council directives they are more independent then the city’s Board of Ethics. Chairman Steve Duprey has decided there is no need to follow the council's directive that they  “...shall follow Robert’s Rules of Order to ensure that consensus is reached on matters pertinent to the project.” 

The problem as I see it, is that without the committee members making motions, having discussion and public input before voting, that some of the members (and public) voices may not be heard. The committee can still have discussion and reach an informal consensus during the discussion phase of a motion. But this is too important a project for our city to risk by having members of the committee go with the flow because of a lack of a formal process.

What became obvious throughout the meeting is the tight timeline that must be adhered to. The committee must have a written report completed by Nov. 15. The city council is slated to vote on that report on Nov. 26. By July 1, 2013, the city must have all specifications of this project completed and all construction bids returned to the city. Construction is slated to start on Sept. 1, 2013 and will continue to December 2014, with a winter break in 2013-2014. Should the bidding process not be completed on time, in all likelihood the city would lose its funding for this project.

So for a project the mayor stated, “This is probably the most important project, I believe the city will take on for the next 50 years,” it sure seems like we’re rushing the details.

Mark Ciborowski asked: “Is there the opportunity to put something out and paint it on the streets and give it a dry run, so to speak, for a few months, and does the schedule allow for something like that?” The answer, probably not due to the tight timeline.

When committee members asked how much leeway they had in deviating from the specifics of the grant application, city staff was uncertain. It was thought that as long as the goals in the grant are adhered to, perhaps the specifics could be adjusted (e.g. three lanes changed to four lanes). But the city wasn’t confident with their answer. The consensus, could there be an ongoing dialog with the Federal Department of Transportation to ensure that any changes would be acceptable to them before the city ran out of time. The city will look into this to see if it is feasible and to see if this is something the Feds would be willing to sign onto.

And now onto the real meat and potatoes of the project. Remember when the mayor said everything is on the table, nothing has been decided, except that there will be no loss of parking on Main Street? Well, not so much anymore. Again, due to the tight timeline, it now appears that the project, as detailed in the grant application and the Rethinking Main Street Report will be the guiding forces for this project. 

While the city council was clear when it accepted the report that it was not accepting or approving the reports recommendations and that no action would be taken until the report was fully vetted at a public hearing, the grant application stated that the city council had accepted the recommendations of the report after holding a public hearing. Unfortunately, neither statement in the grant application is true. 

And, unfortunately, for the residents of our city, the opportunity to fully vet this project in a thoughtful manner is precluded because of the timeline imposed by the awarding of and acceptance of the grant.

When I spoke before the council at its Aug. 13, meeting, I stated my concerns regarding the timeline imposed on this project. Yet there was a smug disbelief by the council regarding my concerns. Now we are warned by city staff that this project needs to move along quickly. There is little time to discuss options and even less time to test the projects conclusions before making them permanent.

And yes, it appears that you and I are still all on the hook for 20 percent of this project as stated in the grant application. It is yet to be determined if the last 20 percent of the city’s financial obligations will tie up even more of our downtowns taxes for the next 20 years or if  financing options can be found to at least provide some stream of new revenue for city services should assessments increase in the downtown.

Stay tuned for updates as to whether or not the committee decides to follow the Rethinking Main Streets report on backing into angled parking spaces on Main Street. It only gets more interesting from here.

From now until the Nov. 15, deadline, the committee will be meeting every Tuesday and Thursday. All meetings are open to the public and time has been set aside for public comment at each meeting. Most meetings will be held at the City Council Chambers on Green Street. Check the city’s calendar under city government, for any changes in location. 

http://www.ci.concord.nh.us/concordv2.asp?siteindx=H0a