Worcester Finance and Operations subcommittee: Flagg Street pathway

As previewed here; agenda is here
Foley and McCullough; no Comparetto
Flagg Street item being taken up first
Allen: administration was requested to explore the feasibility of designing the path to Flagg Street School from St. Paul Drive
300 feet long by 5 feet wide; cost between $25K and $30K
recommendation to use existing building renovation funds
additional approvals needed due to how close it is to existing waterways
bollards to prevent driving
construction in 2020 summer

speaker: concern for flooding on Saxon Road, has happened since 1999
concern is that the opening on St. Paul Drive is Beaver Brook, which floods
flooding occurs on a pretty regular basis
none of those on Saxon Road were asked to sign the petition for this pathway
several along there have been victims of consistent flooding
city engineers have come to neighborhood meetings
"building that area raises a concern for us" that the flooding will be worse
"certainly not opposed to the children of Flagg Street School"
"we don't believe that the School Department is aware of this problem"
the city's proposed solution would involve digging up part of the schoolyard, as the piping in that area cannot accommodate the drainage in that area
is identified as a wetland; property farther along is a pond owed by three residents, one of whom could not build on part of his property due to it being a wetland
"this is a highly travelled area, more than people do know"
have seen cars drive through playyard during the day
"an area that is easily flooded"
Foley: can appreciate the issue, as someone who has flooding in my own backyard
"I think what I heard from Mr. Allen...I think our intent here is with the other reviews from the city is not to make it any worse"
the bollard would make it harder to drive through the schoolyard
neighbor: according to the city maps, this is a protected wetland, have put calls into ConCom on that
Allen: we know that ConCom approval is required; we understand that it could be "a limited scope" for this path
neighbor notes that DPW engineering has laid out may recommendations and only one has been put into practice
a grandparent: don't understand how a path of this length would impact the field of this size for drainage
"when we had to walk Flagg Street, I'd to walk my grandchildren in the street"
safety feature; would be a great safety feature
parent who started petition: whole goal of this was to make our community more walkable
gravel was put there when city construction equipment was there
"we live in that community; that is our home school"
should be able to get to school "without wet shoes or...muddy knees"
"an emergency, where are those children going to run to?...that should be a safety point"
"so far the flooding tends to happen near the swing sets"..a lot further away
we have a lot of amateur engineering happening here
Foley: will ask administration to move forward with planning but work with DPW on drainage to be sure
want to make sure whatever we've done here doesn't negatively impact drainage going on here