From:	Michael Behrendt
Sent:	Tuesday, February 23, 2016 1:41 PM
Subject:	Mill Plaza - traffic and other issues - Susan Richman

To the Planning Board (and applicant),
Please see the comments below from Susan Richman.

Michael Behrendt
Durham Town Planner
Town of Durham
8 Newmarket Road
Durham, NH  03824
(603) 868-8064
www.ci.durham.nh.us



From: Susan Richman []  
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 10:13 AM 
To: Michael Behrendt; England, Richard; mtgooze@comcast.net; David Richman 
Subject: Mill Plaza development

Hello Michael Behrendt,
 
            I have read Richard England’s letter to you, concerning the possible further 
development at Mill Plaza.  I agree with his concerns regarding increased 
traffic.  Please share this letter with the planning board and other concerned parties.
 
      Downtown Durham is circled by a brief narrow roadway, on which crisscrossing 
traffic enters, switches lanes, stops to park, pulls out of parking spots, dodges buses 
entering and exiting the traffic stream, and pedestrians cross – sometimes darting out 
from behind poles and cars.  Under these conditions, I experience near collisions daily.  
       
      If I will be traveling during a heavy traffic time (morning rush, lunch rush, 
afternoon), my driving time increases.   Because I live in the Cowell Drive area, I have 
no alternate route.  Cars backed up and waiting to travel through downtown Durham 
add to our pollution.  This summer the traffic jams and pollution were extreme.   Any 
greater strain to our traffic is sure to result in accidents or fatalities.
       
      Those of us who live in the Cowell Drive neighborhood behind the Post Office 
(this includes Sauer Terrace and Glassford) have already been greatly impacted by 
increased traffic.  The only egress from our neighborhood is onto Madbury, between St. 
Thomas More and the Post Office.  That short block has traffic converging from 108 
south, Main Street north, the post office parking lot, and trucks making deliveries to 
businesses along the street -- and these same vehicles then diverge onto Pettee Brook 
or Madbury going north.   The wait to leave Cowell Drive and enter Madbury is markedly 
longer this year.  
       
      At times of heavier traffic, it is only through the kindness of a driver ceding the 
right-of-way that I am able to enter Madbury traffic at all – presuming there are no 
pedestrians at that time.  However, there generally are a number of middle school 
student pedestrians at these times of greatest vehicle traffic.
       
      I hope you are able to measure current traffic loads and adequately predict how 
that would be affected by greater downtown population. 
 
            Finally, I appeal to Durham’s commitment to the quality of life in our town.  I 
imagine greater population would mean a sacrifice of the relative tranquility we enjoy, 
the sense that faces on the street are familiar – those less measurable qualities that the 
town plan seeks to preserve.  There would be more refuse for our early morning 
crews.  And with denser building, could we lose our designation as a “Tree City”?
 
            Thank you for your consideration.
Yours,
Susan Richman
16 Cowell Drive
868-2758
Susan7richman@gmail.com