by Frank Schroth

Last night’s meeting of the Board of Selectmen was short but traumatic. While receiving an update from Richard Wells, Chief of Police and Chair of the Traffic Commission, a gentleman in the gallery suffered cardiac arrest.

It happened suddenly and the response from the Chief was equally quick. He assumed control of the situation. The room was cleared and the victim, a representative of Milton cab, was attended to. Emergency personnel arrived and he was transported to Milton Hospital. We are sorry to report that despite a quick response and strenuous efforts the man did not survive.

The Chief reviewed with the Selectmen various traffic measures that are being taken around town. These included but were not limited to regulating parking along Edge Hill and continuing to assess pay systems for parking in East Milton Square. He said that the square has “way more violations” than it should. A final decision on a pay system has not been made. In the subsequent discussion with the selectmen it was acknowledged that input from merchants was needed. The Chief said that it seemed about 50-50 in terms of merchant support. Some are strongly in support, others not. He also has submitted comments regarding Hendries 40B proposal. The primary concern being parking in an area that does not have much. The chief noted that it is a thickly settled area with little on street parking and the parking spaces for the building (~1.2 spaces per unit) may not be sufficient. This topic came up later in the session.

The Selectmen will be holding a hearing this coming Tuesday to receive citizen input on two 40Bs: the one 131 Eliot (Hendries) and one on Randolph Ave. A site walk of the Hendries property is scheduled with Mass Housing for March 13th. The selectmen have directed Town Planner Bill Clark to request a 60 day extension to the comment period for the Hendries property. An extension had already been requested for the Randolph Avenue 40B proposal. You can find more information on next week’s hearing here.

And on the topic of extensions, the Board agreed to grant Pulte an extension until the end of June to complete engineering analysis of the property. The firm is conducting borings to determine if there is a ledge present in certain sections. The took down some trees in the process of initial testing. Chair Keohane asked that neighbors be notified when work was being done. This conversation among the selectmen was in their capacity as Trustees of the Stoughton land.