February 2, 2006 Issue                                               

©2005 The Chestnut Hill Local

Intersection reconstruction debated by CHCA, issue may not be settled despite vote of support
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI
Staff Writer

The CHCA’S vote, 14-8, to support the reconstruction of Winston Road and Germantown Avenue’s intersection was the result of a divided discussion at last Thursday’s meeting. This drawing is a sketch of what Winston Road will look like as 90-degree intersection with Germantown Avenue.

The Chestnut Hill Community Association voted at last Thursday’s meeting to support the Development and Review Committee’s recommendation to turn the intersection of Winston Road and Germantown Avenue into a 90-degree intersection and add a traffic light. The motion passed 14-8, with 11 abstentions and 16 absences; a roll call vote had been called.

Since August, a group of about 30 community members, most of whom live along Winston Road, Germantown Avenue and Mermaid Lane, have been meeting with the CHCA Traffic, Transportation and Safety Committee and the state Department of Transportation to discuss options for controlling the traffic congestion and speeding in the area where these roads converge. During the meetings, various options were investigated and discussed – including four-way stop signage, closing of Winston Road, road divider and the traffic light. The final result of these meetings was a 26-4 vote for the traffic signal and 90-degree intersection.

“Considering all the issues, this seems to be the appropriate compromise,” said Chestnut Hill Business Association’s Robert Previdi, former chair of the traffic committee who began discussions about the intersection and has been very involved in all the meetings.

The discussion at Thursday’s CHCA board meeting, whether to support this change or not, was very divided.

Sanjiv K. Jain, head of CHCA’s physical division, was representing the 26 community members who had voted for this decision and had made the presentation to DRC that led to its recommendation. He said that the board should trust the committee’s judgment and the “complex but extremely thorough process” that this group went through to get DRC’s recommendation.

The community members were not present for the meeting’s discussion due to a more than two-hour executive session that took place at the meeting’s 7:30 p.m. start.

The opposition to the committee’s recommendation was due to a 2,500-signature petition, headed by CHCA board member and Mermaid Lane resident Mitchell Melton, regarding the reconstruction of Winston Road. The petition stated:

“We unalterably oppose the permanent closing of Winston Road at Mermaid Lane and Germantown Avenue as proposed.

“We also vigorously oppose any narrowing of this roadway and maintain that its integrity as is, must be maintained.”

Though the closing of the road is no longer an issue, the reconstruction of a 90-degree intersection would result in a narrower roadway and is the current concern, as it is listed in the petition.

Members opposed to the petition questioned the validity of its representation of 2,500 residents.

Melton said that his petitioners are opposed to any reconstruction of the intersection, though it does not specifically read that on the petition. He said they are not opposed to the addition of a traffic signal, but are against the narrowing and reconstruction of Winston road as part of it.

Claire Lemisch, board member who signed the petition and attended the community meetings as a transportation committee member, said that she signed the petition before she attended the meetings and heard the concerns of those community members. She signed it because she was concerned about Winston Road closing

“When I read the petition, all I thought in my head was, ‘They’re going to close the road – no way,’” said Lemisch, who voted “yes” in support of the intersection’s reconstruction. Melton said he would take her name off the petition.

The residency of the signers was another issue at the meeting. Board members voiced their concerns that the signatures were partly commuters and not “near neighbors.”

Both the community members who have been discussing the reconstruction and the petitioners are calling themselves “near neighbors.”

Melton said signatures came from door-to-door presentations and approaching people at supermarkets and train stations. “We made sure they were ‘near neighbors,’” Melton said. The Local was shown the signatures and counted at least 82 Mermaid Lane residents’ signatures, which Melton feels alone outnumbers the 26 members who met and voted for the change.

Previdi still does not think the petition represents the views of the near neighbors, claiming that those who have met at the community meetings are the “true near neighbors, the ones suffering from the constant speeding and congestion” present on these roads.

“Mitch’s solution does nothing to address the very real safety concerns that were documented with real traffic data,” Previdi said. A Winston Road traffic study indicated that more than 85 percent of drivers were speeding at least nine miles over the 25mph limit southbound, and at least 10 miles over the limit northbound.

Melton said he believes the speeding issue is a totally separate issue from the traffic congestion, and said he has his own ideas of what can be done in regards to the speeding that does not require the reconstruction of the intersection.

“Whatever it takes to deal with the speeders I would be behind or even in front of,” Melton said. He does not consider the “cutting up of the intersection to deter speeders” as necessary, however.

Another issue regarding the petition is Melton’s concern with emergency service access.

In a letter to the editor for the Local from Melton, dated Oct. 17, he wrote: “The response (from the fire department members) was that if the road were closed, then it would be a disaster. The thinking was that they would have to find another way in ... Which would necessitate increasing the response time getting to an emergency, by a minimum of eight to 10 minutes.”

Last week, Philadelphia Fire Department’s Lt. John Turk told the Local the eight to 10 minute delay was “extreme.” Philadelphia Fire Department Executive Chief Daniel Williams said it was “inappropriate” for those who spoke with Melton to make those judgments, and an investigative process must be done to reroute and determine a response time.

The entire issue was brought to the CHCA in an effort to gain definitive community support, according to Previdi, so that they could ease PennDOT’s concerns about a lack of community support.

The reconstruction of this intersection was to be part of PennDOT’s Germantown Avenue restoration. PennDOT was part of the various community meetings and discussions regarding the intersection. However, the decision to create the 90-degree/traffic light option was presented to PennDOT but rejected. The reasoning, as stated in a letter to Previdi on Dec. 21 from Rita Cutler, deputy secretary at PennDOT, was as follows:

“Due to the complex nature of this proposal, the lack of community support and the need to advance the reconstruction as quickly as possible, we have decided to eliminate this work from the project.”

PennDOT has decided to push this restoration project up, from 2008 deadline to 2007, after a section of Germantown Avenue had to be repaved for safety reasons in December.

Tim R. O’Brien, capital projects portfolio manager for PennDOT, who has been in contact with both Previdi and Melton, said that with the CHCA’s support, keeping the intersection’s reconstruction as part of the larger project is not out of the question, however, doesn’t seem likely.

“If we are going to fit the reconstruction within our highly aggressive schedule, it will be difficult to work this part into the plan,” O’Brien told the Local Friday, though he had not yet officially heard about CHCA’s decision.

Previdi would like to see PennDOT readopt it as part of Germantown Avenue’s restoration, but said either way they will look to complete the project. “We’re going to work hard with PennDOT to find a way to get this done sooner or later,” Previdi said.

PennDOT has said that even if the project does not become part of the 2007 Germantown Avenue reconstruction, they have “offered cooperation in seeking to advance it in the future,” O’Brien said.

Melton said he had been surprised to have opposition voiced at Thursday’s board meeting, expecting it was a “closed issue” with PennDOT’s response and the signature of 2,500 residents. He considers the vote of 26 community members and the 14 CHCA board members as incomparable to the 2,500 petitioners.

“(The vote) doesn’t, to me, show any community support for the item,” Melton said.

He was also concerned that PennDOT never let him, representing the petitioners, know that the issue was still being considered. They had sent him a letter dated Dec. 22, stating identical reasons as were in Previdi’s letter, for not considering the Winston Road and Germantown Avenue intersection’s project as part of the Avenue restoration.

Melton told the Local, “The fight has only just begun.” He mentioned that a strategy was being developed and attorneys are “on alert” to the issue.

“Be assured that all steps will be taken to be sure the best wishes of the petitioners are carried out,” Melton said.

As listed on the CHCA secretary’s tally, the following 14 board members voted “yes” to support the 90-degree intersection reconstruction and addition of a traffic light to the intersection of Winston Road and Germantown Avenue: Louis F. Aiello, Maryanna Ross Cowper, Maryanne Dwyer, Thomas Hemphill, Dina Hitchcock, Sanjiv Jain, H. Marc Keintz, Dana Klein, Joshua Klein, Sr. Jean Laurich SSJ, Claire Lemisch, Suzanna Lentz, Virginia Mallery and Pamela Waters.

The following eight voted “no”: Janine Dwyer, Stewart Graham, Mitchell W. Melton, John O’Connell, Ron Recko, Ann Ward Spaeth, Jonathan Sternberg and Walter J. Sullivan.

The following abstentions were made: Jane Becker, K. Tia Burke, Jeremy Heep, Bright Judson, Thomas Kessler, Janice Manzi, Cecile Mihalich, Jane M. Piotrowski, John L. Shea, Brien J. Tilley and Sr. Jean Carol Vale.

Absences included: Robert E. Bacino, Jamie Baker, Amelia Carter, Douglas Doman, J. Leigh Filippini, Sally Hargeshiemer, Robert Hendrick, Christopher Kemezis, Caroline King, Elspeth Lodge, Ann McNally, Stanley Moat, L. George Parry, Michael Schantz, Frank Steel and Lawrence A. Walsh.