Planners can’t agree on benefit of closing street near firehouse
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff Writer
After close to 45 minutes of discussion on the subject of just what to do with Washington Street adjacent to the City of Burlington fire department, Mayor Bob Miller listened to a moment of silence, then posed a question Tuesday night.
“Have we beat it up enough?” The question seemed reasonable enough after the city’s Plan Commission had gone back and forth on another round of whether or not to close Washington Street to through traffic, partially close the street – or send it back to city staff for yet another round of revisions and more options.
As it turned out, the last option ended up being the way the Plan Commission went after the first option was voted down 3-2, and the second option didn’t get a second for a motion to formally be considered.
As a result, it is unlikely that the city will be able to complete the parking lot and street work – slated to expand parking for the fire department and make more room for the department to enter and exit the department safely – this year.
City Administrator Kevin Lahner advised as much Tuesday when Miller laid out the two options – and offered the third of sending it back to city staff again.
Finishing the project this year didn’t seem to be a concern to the commission, not when it came to the possible traffic implications and safety issues that could occur by closing Washington Street.
Commission members Bob Prailes and John Lynch Jr. both argued that closing the street might make things safer for the fire department, but tie up traffic and create accidents as cars looked for ways through or around backups.
They also pointed out that, for all of the fire department’s evidence that there are dangerous drivers coming down Washington Street and ignoring the department trucks, there hasn’t been an accident.
Even a traffic study – done when Washington Street was closed for repairs in late April – wasn’t enough to convince anyone of anything. While the counters showed traffic moving to other roads, there was also a question of whether the city should be encouraging those changes – especially since some of those streets take drivers into residential areas, past a pair of churches and also schools.
“If we are pushing traffic into residential areas, is that something you really want to do?” Lynch asked.
Commissioner Mike Deans pointed out the City did not receive any complaints about the street being closed, and felt he could support option one.
“We’ve done our due diligence,” he said.
Prailes followed by saying, “I cannot support closing the road.”
Other options – such as placing barricades or gates that could drop when the department or the rescue squad were dispatched, or putting in flashing lights to alert traffic when the department was leaving or coming in – were also discussed.
Those, some argued, would make the situation safer and leave traffic to flow normally when the department wasn’t leaving or coming back from calls.
Finally, though, both options were voted down, leaving Miller to say, “that kills the project, guys. We send it back. City staff will bring it forward to you once more.”
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