Questions I’d Like to Ask Planning Board Candidates

Here are the questions I'd love to ask candidates for the Framingham Planning Board. In fact, I'm going to try to send them out by e-mail and if necessary postal mail, and post any responses here.

What is your vision for downtown Framingham? What if any changes would you like to see implemented downtown?

What do you see as the most important planning issues facing the Rte. 9/30 Golden Triangle?

If you had the power to ask developers along the Golden Triangle to make changes in design, scale or use, what would you ask for?

What are your thoughts about business districts outside of downtown and Rte. 9, and what you would like to see happen in places like Nobscot and Saxonville?

Is it the Planning Board's place to be concerned about creating pedestrian-friendly streetscapes as well as dealing with vehicular traffic issues? If so, how successful to you believe Framingham has been in doing so?

How to Kill Off Foot Traffic: Framingham State College

It was a gorgeous spring yesterday, and you'd expect people to be out in droves. Yet in Framingham Centre, as I was stopped at two cycles of the light by Framingham State just before lunchtime, you could see a ton of cars but no pedestrians. (Well OK, not entirely true, there was one older man walking swiftly somewhere who didn't look very happy to be out and about walking). Now, college students are among the demographics to most naturally flock outside on foot on nice days after long winters. Have you ever been in the Boston University area on a nice spring day? The area is flooded with foot traffic, and it's NOT because of a rustic campus and lack of vehicular traffic. In fact, many are out sunning themselves along busy Storrow Drive. However, it IS because the area around Commonwealth Avenue is designed with pedestrians as well as cars in mind, encouraging both to share the streetscape. Framingham Centre around the college, on the other hand, is just about optimally designed to kill off foot traffic.

There are technically sidewalks that exist on Union Avenue and the ramp up from Rte. 9 around the college, but they are so exceptionally unpleasant as to discourage all but the most desperate users: They're narrow, they have absolutely no buffer between multiple lanes of traffic and pedestrian, and the streetscape on the other side is decidedly unappealing. There's also an existing bridge over Rte. 9 to get to the stores on the other side, but the pedestrian path to that bridge from either side is also unappealing.

This is nuts. There's a ready-made, large groups of would-be walkers who could bring pedestrian life to the business district immediately around the college. But instead of being designed in a way to encourage a flourishing retail center in symbiosis with the college, the design of the area maximizes the separation of campus and community, discouraging pedestrians to stroll out from their dorms to Union Avenue just about as effectively as if the campus were surrounded by barbed wire.

250 condos OK’d for Natick Mall Expansion

The Natick Planning Board unanimously approved 215 condominiums as part of the Natick Mall expansion, according to the MetroWest Daily News. The units are expected to be priced between $300,000 and $1 million.

Unless the design has changed markedly since I've seen it, though, those residents won't be living in a very walker-friendly environment. Sure, they'll be able to walk inside to the mall stores; but I don't see the outdoor ambiance being conducive to any sort of strolling or pleasant outdoor activity. Nor is the new center being integrated well with the surrounding residential and commercial area, such as the nearby movie theater and Shoppers World. And the promised spur of the Cochituate Rail Trail just dumps into a parking lot, instead of being a well-thought-out part of the complex.

Update: Josh added a comment below, about the West Natick Neighborhood Association meeting regarding the mall expansion.

Mayor in Florida Seeks More Pedestrian-Friendly Bridge

Jackson, Fla. Mayor John Peyton supports reducing a traffic lane on a Main Street bridge in order to make it more appealing for walkers, according to News4Jax.com. "One of the first things the city would do to make the bridge more pedestrian friendly would be to expand the bridge's sidewalks to make pedestrians feel safer and create a lot more space," the story explains. "After the sidewalks are expanded, the mayor wants to take away one lane of traffic and create an environment that would attract more people with outdoor cafes and a large open area."

Note the concept here: Sidewalks already exist on the bridge, but apparently they're not sidewalks that many people would actually want to use. This is a key issue that far too few of our public officials here understand. Simply installing sidewalks does not make an environment where people will actually walk. There are definite streetscape requirements to attract pedestrian activity, including a buffer between walkers and whizzing traffic.

Web Site of the Month

Thanks to Eric Fredericks at Walkable Neighborhoods, who named Planning Livable Communities their February Web site of the month!