From: Michael Behrendt Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 11:51 AM Subject: Mill Plaza - email from Diane Freedman To the Planning Board (and TRG and applicant), Please see the email below from Diane Freedman, forwarded to me from Todd Selig. Michael Behrendt Durham Town Planner Town of Durham 8 Newmarket Road Durham, NH 03824 (603) 868-8064 www.ci.durham.nh.us --------------------------------------------- On Feb 22, 2016, at 5:26 PM, Freedman, Diane <> wrote: 28 Laurel Lane Durham, NH 03824 Comments on Mill Pond Plaza for Town Council and Community Members: I have read with interest and concern the plans for and letter about proposed development in and around the Durham Market Place. Here is some of my takeaway from the conversation and my own long experience here and in other communities and college towns. Thank you for taking it, too, into account in ongoing discussions, plans, and protests! Diane Freedman 1. The Plaza represents too small a land mass in too dense an area to sustain all of the development proposed for it. The plans represent too many people, too many activities, too many structures, too much traffic congestion, and, in the end, too much taxpayer inconvenience (= too much “cost”). That does not mean no redevelopment! But concerns follow. 2. Whether it is legally possible, I do not know, but I would prefer NO residential housing on the site in question. Period. a) It is clear from the facts and from the sentiments already expressed that there are too many residences and residents nearby who will be disturbed by the resultant projected noise and activity (I say this as a non-abutter, please note, though probably I could hear “party” noise from such a location were it to occur). Noise and other pollution along with stalled traffic negatively impacts human quality of life along with that of the ecosystem of which the Town of Durham is a part. b) Even if the Town adopts Beth Olshansky’s proposal to forego the a parking- space requirement for such projected residents (which I believe she hopes would mean plaza residents would thus not have cars), realistically speaking, it is to be expected that residents able to afford the rents likely to be charged for in-town new housing will be happy to shell out large sums of money to buy or rent parking spaces in the plaza or downtown, thus depriving residents of much needed parking for current and proposed retail activities and generating too much traffic for one small town with few and narrow streets in the area. If, on the other hand, parking spaces are provided for residents, whether in a parking structure on site or not, the result will still be lost parking for current area residents and day workers who stop in the Plaza to shop, too much traffic, and too much noise. Current amounts of plaza parking somehow need to be preserved. c) Durham already has or soon will have more than enough housing. Any more in a historic time when residential college-towns and college life are being challenged by on-line learning and when populations of students, families with children, and workers desiring in-town accommodations wax and wane risks no capacity to ebb and flow in kind. On the other hand, WERE there to be a real housing crunch, nothing is stopping the Town from encouraging homeowners to open their doors as they were asked to after the second World War right here in Durham. Many residents feel that students (in very small numbers–this as opposed to densely occupied low-square-footage downtown or even campus apartments) integrated into family homes builds/represents a better, more balanced community and more directly helps the economics of families than does building new buildings that necessitate expensive upgraded infrastructure and likely busier Police and Fire Departments. Maybe the Town should go a little easier than it seems to at present on homeowners thus opening up but a bedroom or two. 3. By all means attractively redevelop the site to accommodate a larger grocery store and continue to accommodate a drugstore/variety store, a variety of restaurants, a drycleaner/tailor, medical offices, fitness businesses, banks, coffee shops, ice cream stands, and more (garden supplies? Art supplies? Healthfood store/restaurant? Bookstore? Jazz club? Small cinema? Clothing store? Housewares? Music shop? Bicycle shop?) but leave as much open-air parking (not to mention open-air greenspace) as possible. a) parking garages are not conducive to speedy in-outs such as by area adults and families or area employees on quick errands, which, I venture to say, forms a lot of the business on site today (if one is shopping for bargain prices or large lots of goods one doesn’t come to downtown Durham). I know my friends and colleagues and I would by-pass downtown if shopping there became any more of a time-sink and hassle than it has recently become. As it is, we drive to Newmarket or the UNH post offices to avoid the downtown crush (not to mention the difficulty of getting in the door carrying packages). b) parking garages are not conducive to the community socializing so many letters to the town re: the Plaza feel the current Marketplace so often has made possible. c) parking garages only begin to add spaces to what existed before their construction by floor 2 ½ (the first floor simply echoes what was there before and the structure walls, stairs, elevators reduce the space further), need higher maintenance, incur higher energy costs and repair and clean-up costs, have more down time, age quickly. That does not mean do not have some elevated parking, just not a giant edifice of it! d) parking garages are unsightly and cut off views, people, spaces from one to another. They are cold physically and visually. 3. That said (about parking garages), I wish to underscore that there still will ever be need for driving to town and (thus) parking, especially directly adjacent to retail establishments, especially grocery stores, hardware stores, drugstores. a) However motivated, young, and healthy one may be to walk or bicycle from outside the downtown to the downtown, Durham is not a weather-free or darkness- free locality. Ice, snow, sand, uneven pavement, and, certainly, lack of bike and walking paths (even though plans for such have been in the Town of Durham files and on past and present “master” plans for more than seventy-five years) impede safe transit. b) There are tremendous numbers of us not able to walk, bike, carry our way to and from our residences or work and downtown Durham. Disabilities, children in tow, dogs in tow, climate issues, economic, and time constraints necessitate living/working distance from downtown and driving when desiring good, services, or community therein, at least much of the time for many of Durham’s residents/taxpayers. And there is also a tremendous need for close access (such as the Marketplace represents) to food and drugs and some of life’s other conveniences as one ages and does not want to or cannot easily drive far/farther (age, weather, or time-related reasons might apply or the fact of a power outage at home but not in the downtown, where supplies may then be gathered to cope with such a situation). 4. Whatever happens, the Town must seriously reconsider its present traffic pattern and street layout. Madbury and Pettee Brook Roads need to be restored to the sort- of two-lane traffic each “enjoyed” prior to the last year or two’s addition of on- street parking. There are too many situations of snow pile-up further narrowing passage and progress, of stuck trucks, of event-based delays. As Richard England points out, there is already a need for better flow. Since there will be much objection to opening up Chesley Drive, the first option to be employed is letting the existing streets operate again. a) I feel that education and signage and the practical reality of a visibly vibrant downtown is having and will have on its own the desired effect of making drivers drive as safely as they can without the atherosclerosis of the parked and parking cars. b) As a long-time resident, I think sightlines, safety, and frustration much worse with the new parking/traffic arrangements, including the too many meters, than ever was the case formerly. c) I have no objection to an ordinance that would fine anyone crossing a street with a phone glued to one’s ear or being looked at while being held in one’s hand; riding a skateboard on the sidewalks or in the streets of downtown Durham; or not waiting for an opening in the traffic (as the existing laws direct).