Marblehead board OKs ‘Y’ traffic changes

MARBLEHEAD – Selectmen unanimously approved a plan of traffic changes for the entrance to the Lynch/van Otterloo YMCA Wednesday night – but they will also seek the Massachusetts Highway Department’s permission to reduce the speed limit there from 30 miles an hour to 25.Planning Board Chairman Phil Helmes and a representative of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., traffic consultants hired by the Planning Board and paid for by the YMCA, said the new traffic plan includes stop signs on the “Y” driveway and Londonderry Road, sidewalks on the westerly side of Leggs Hill Road, a speed bump and a traffic island at the driveway and textured crosswalks at the driveway entrance and on Leggs Hill Road. Lanes on Leggs Hill Road will be 11 feet wide and lanes on Londonderry Road will be 10 feet wide. Speed limit (30 miles an hour) signs and No Parking signs will be posted in the area.The “Y” will also add notes to its program brochures “asking people to keep the speed down,” Helmes said. He referred to the plan as “a traffic calming method” and said that if it proved inadequate after a six-month trial, further measures could be taken.He said neighborhood reactions to the plan were a matter of “perception,” which could change if the plan is successful.The Planning Board approved the plan in July.Four neighbors spoke, all of them critical.Bernard Cummings, a 32-year resident of the neighborhood, called the changes caused by the “Y” mega-complex “traumatic.””My wife and I are afraid we won’t be able to sell our house,” he said.Chris Hartley called the consultant’s drawing “ridiculous” because it only encompassed the area around the “Y” driveway, where people going to the “Y” slow down after driving past his home at 45 miles an hour. He said the consultant’s traffic study was flawed because it took place while police were in the area monitoring motorists.”The town needs to make sure nothing happens to my daughter,” he said.Concerned after two serious accidents in the area, selectmen asked about speed signage.Town Administrator Tony Sasso told the board they could use the consultant’s traffic study to petition the state highway authorities for a speed limit change but the state may want more information – and could even raise the speed limit from 30 to 35. Selectman William Woodfin made a motion to seek the speed change as part of the process.