From: Kate Ruml Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2016 4:04 PM To: Karen Edwards Subject: To the Planning board re: Public Hearing on Mill Plaza Redevelopment To the Members of the Planning Board: I will not be able to attend the Public Hearing this evening, but I wanted to submit a couple of thoughts about the most recent iteration of the Mill Plaza Redevelopment proposal. First, I would just like to add my voice to those of many others who have serious concerns about locating student housing in the rear portion of the site close to Chesley drive and the Faculty neighborhood. Other types of housing developments (such as senior or workforce housing) could work well in that location, but whatever is placed in that portion of the site absolutely must be a use that is quiet at night; otherwise quality of life, and property values in the abutting residential neighborhood would certainly be diminished. Second, I want to urge that pedestrian paths crossing the site be intentionally designed, rather than simply being space leftover once the buildings and truck routes have been accommodated on the site. As has been pointed out many times, one of the important walking paths through the site is the route used by children walking from the Faculty neighborhood to the Middle school. I'm concerned that the path shown in the current plans would be significantly worse, and much less safe, for children to walk than the route that they currently use. The new plan shows a much less direct path across the site from Chesley drive to the Post Office (including a switchback to accommodate the retaining wall along the north edge of the site), a greatly narrowed passage between the Hannaford Building and the adjacent building, and perhaps most concerning, a drive-through along the northern edge of the center building, which would dump cars right into the path that school children would be walking, forcing them to navigate cars (and trucks) in a very tight space with not very good visibility. I think this is a disaster waiting to happen. If the pedestrian experience of this heavily used site can be truly used as a driver of the design, rather than being treated as an afterthought, I believe that the resulting development has a chance of being a place where people want to walk, shop, and visit. This will be good for business and residents alike. Thank you for your consideration. Respectfully, Kate Ruml 7 Thompson Lane