The Revere Traffic Commission held its regular monthly meeting last Thursday, September 17, in the City Councillor Joseph A. Del Grosso Council Chambers.
DPW Director Christopher Ciaramella presided over the session that was attended by Revere Police Executive Officer Lieut. Glenn Malley, Fire Chief James Cullen, City Engineer Nick Rystrom, and Chief of Planning and Community Development Tom Skwierawski.
The commission took up a large number of matters that the members disposed of in less than 20 minutes.
The first was a request to amend the ordinance pertaining to stop signs that was put forward by Ward 6 City Councillor Chris Giannino to place stop signs on Marshview Terrace for northerly traffic at No. Marshall St. and on No. Marshall St. for westerly traffic at Salem St.
“I’m looking for a top sign on Marshview Terrace itself as you approach No. Marshall St.,” said Giannino. “Currently there is no stop sign there and no stop line. With the park opened up recently in the last couple of years, traffic has increased up there. Cars are turning around and there is a lot of walking going on.”
As for the No. Marshall St.-Salem St. stop sign, Giannino informed the commissioners that a stop sign presently is there, but it is not officially “on the books” (a situation that is not uncommon in the city’s traffic regulation ordinances.)
There were no opponents and the commissioners unanimously approved both amendments.
The next matter on the agenda was a proposal, “To Amend Chapter 10 Section 10.34.020 – Resident Parking Sticker: In cases where Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are located with a 0.5 mile radius of an MBTA train station, only ADUs located on a lot with a single-family dwelling serving as a principal dwelling shall be permitted to have additional on-street parking permits.”
Skwierawski noted, “This corresponds to our zoning ordinance which states that if you are within a half-mile (of a train station) and you’re not a single family home, you cannot have an on-street parking permit, so this just aligns with our zoning ordinances.”
The commission unanimously approved the amendment.
The third matter taken up by the commission was an amendment to do as follows:
Amend Chapter 10 Section 10.34.020 – Resident Parking Sticker:
Residential developments shall be included under Section 10.34.020 as Non-
Eligible for Residential Parking Stickers:
8 Revere Street 9 Units
500 Revere Street 112 Units
331 Revere Street 62 Units
1559 North Shore Road 8 Units
114 Shirley Avenue 78 Units
1 Shirley Avenue 30 Units
76-82 Revere Beach Blvd. 80 Units
349 Lee Burbank Highway 29 Units.
Ciaramella noted that a condition for these developments, which required approval from the Site Plan Committee and the Zoning Board of Appeals, was that the residents would not be eligible for the city’s guest and resident sticker on-street parking program. The commissioners unanimously approved the amendment.
The members then took up a proposal to add stop signs on Bixby and Sewall Sts. at the three-way intersection of those streets.
Ciaramella noted that these were requests from the neighborhood that came up during the recent meeting pertaining to the implementation of one-way traffic on Harris St. He also added that these stop signs already are in place. There was no discussion and the commission unanimously approved adding the stop signs to the traffic ordinances.
The commission next took up a request to create a new handicapped parking space at 36-38 Oxford Park on the southerly side. The Commission on Disabilities provided the necessary information to the commissioners and the members unanimously approved it.
The next item was a request, “To Amend Chapter 10 Section 10.34.020 – Resident Parking Sticker: from Prospect Ave. to 46 Suffolk Ave., 24 Hours a day – 7 Days a Week.”
The measure had been put forward by Ward 4 City Councillor Paul Argenzio to address the issue of Broadway shoppers and commuters using Prospect and Suffolk Aves. for free, all-day parking. The commission unanimously approved the amendment.
The commissioners then took up two new items. The first was a motion by Ward 3 City Councillor Nicholas Cogliandro, “To amend § 10.99.080 Schedule VIII: (Parking Restrictions Generally) by removing the following: Rossetti Street, Northeasterly from Broadway, 100 feet up Rossetti St., No Parking Anytime.”
There were no opponents and the commission voted to move the matter to a public hearing at its next meeting.
The second new matter was a request by Councillor Argenzio to amend the ordinance pertaining to the parking of commercial vehicles, auto homes, mobile homes, recreational vehicles, boat trailers, and certain plates as follows:
A. No driver shall park or stand any commercial vehicle or trailer, combined vehicle and trailer, semitrailer, auto home, mobile home, recreational vehicle, boat trailer, transporter plates, repair plates, or dealer plates between the hours of eight p.m. and eight a.m. on any day, or at any time on Sunday, on any part of any street, way, highway, road or parkway under the control of the city where parking or standing a vehicle is not otherwise prohibited.
B. Notwithstanding subsection A, no driver shall park or stand, at any time, any of the following on any part of any street, way, highway, road or parkway under the control of the city: (1) any commercial vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of ten thousand (10,000) pounds or more; (2) any commercial vehicle equipped with six or more wheels;
(3) any truck-tractor or tractor unit, with or without a trailer attached; or (4) any trailer, semitrailer, or flatbed truck.
C. The prohibitions of subsection B shall not apply (1) during the actual loading or unloading of materials, or (2) to any vehicle while its operator is actively engaged in construction, service, delivery, repair, or other work being performed at a property abutting or in the immediate vicinity of the street on which the vehicle is parked.
Vehicles holding a valid permit issued pursuant to § 10.32.211 shall remain exempt on the street for which the permit is issued.
The commissioners unanimously approved sending the matter to a public hearing for its next meeting.
The final item for discussion was the commission’s approval last month of a measure that allowed parking on school grounds during school hours for school employees only. School Committee member Stephen Damiano, Jr., who noted that he was not speaking on behalf of the committee, informed the commissioners that the School Department has the authority to restrict parking on school grounds.
“The issue is that we approved 4:00 p.m., but the School Committee approved 6:00 p.m. at its most recent meeting,” said Ciaramella. “They think that we don’t have the ability to make that judgment because it is a school ground property which they oversee and make jurisdiction rulings for. So if that’s the case, we should let the School Committee make that call if that’s what their purview is. It’s just the enforcement issue that we have to figure out a way forward.”