Connect the Junction: Public Open House

While I agree the use of bikes and walking is more realistic during the warmer months than colder months there will certainly be a segment of the population (especially with Vermont demographics) that would be unable to use those methods of transportation so somewhat unrealistic to base it under ideal conditions. But would be helpful to have safer ways to walk and bike around and to other communities.

Why do we continue to invest in grand plans with no effort to bring jobs to Essex/VT? You need to work with businesses that employ larger quantities to drive more tax dollars to Essex. You continue creating "affordable" housing/apartments but folks don't flock to VT for jobs. This needs to change to continue funding your projects....

YES! we should actively identify all the public owned mural locations both municipal and EWSD! and also private owned ones and then work with owners to approve the usage!

same, expand to 6 stories.

I would only expand hgt to 6 stories at this time!

YES! there are many spaces ripe for murals, we should become the top street art city in the state!!! it's how we can stand out!

AND, enforce replanting of trees which have died or a not doing well in front of existing builds!

YeS! upper level setback should be required!

YES! more trees! everywhere we can fit them in! let's keep planting and giving support monetarily to the tree committee!!

YES!!! love this!

Re: commercial on first floor. Clearly the developers don't need to fill those spaces to be profitable. We should alter the rules to not allow a new build until the bottom of the previous one is filled. if they don't rent it after a certain amount of time then it becomes useable by the city for public space like arts/gallery spaces, public gatherings etc. if we just build more commerical Units on the ground floor and they are NOT filled it just looks bad and that's important to the whole downtown vibe!!

re: entering the city center, we put speed limits at 25mph which is great! BUT, we don't MAKE folks slow down with well known and used Traffic calming infrastructure on each of the main roads. WE definitely should do this ASAP! chicains, speed tables, bump outs, etc should ALL be used!

5 corners is better since the crescent connector less traffic buildup in multiple directions is noticeable! love it!

I'd like to see the land behind the Expo used year round e.g. with multi family townhouses and apartments that allow for ownership and rental or businesses that utilize the land year round. I'd also like to see if we can support second story housing above the Pearl Street shopping centers.

The usability of this document is complete trash with a phone. Providing a QR code with none mobile compatibility !!!!!!! Can you retry

Imagine if we spent lots of money building roads for cars and trucks that didn’t connect safely (or at all) both to and from most destinations. Few would choose to drive in that scenario—yet that’s the reality for non-drivers today.

Multi-use paths, bike lanes, sidewalks and shoulders often vanish where they’re needed most: on busy, high-traffic roads. This forces cyclists and pedestrians into unsafe conditions - unpleasant, to say the least, for drivers and non-drivers!

As a car owner, I’d prefer to bike, walk or take the bus most of the time. But here’s what my commute to work in Winooski looks like as an example:

• Car: 15–30 minutes

• Bike: 30–40 minutes, navigating broken pavement, traffic, detours to less dangerous routes, roadkill, broken glass, sunken storm-grates, and roadwork signs in shoulders and bike lanes.

• Bus + walk:
To work: 50-60 minutes (not too bad).
From work: 1.5–2 hours (buses are unreliable and stops are too far apart)

• Walking: 2 hours (one way, 6 miles)

If we want people to drive less, effective and reasonably safe and pleasant non-driver infrastructure should be a priority with all planning, building and major road maintenance activities. (FYI: Painting a stick-figure of a bike in the middle of a road lane doesn't count.) ;-)

Stop spending money like taxpayers have any more to spend. We are tapped out!!! The bike boxes are not even used but we as taxpayers paid for them. We have no more money to spend on unnecessary projects that will not be utilized.

Again, this has proven to not be a realistic model, people will still use a personal vehicle and traffic will just get worse. You can build something that reduces the need for cars that does not mean people will actually change habits.

This is unrealistic to think that just because you build it people will use it. People will continue to choose a personal vehicle over public transportation or walking/biking in a winter state. We have buses now and as traffic shows people continue to use cars as the mode of transportation. These are idealistic dreams that will just anger residents and continue to make the downtown less desirable not more.

Not sure that food trucks add any value, as they are generally not pleasant to look at and they just take up parking spaces.

Buildings at 5 corners have no architectural interest. No more giant boxes, please

Hello,
I was born and raised in Essex Junction and I remain an Essex Junction resident currently. I did serve on the Essex Selectboard for a brief period of time years ago. I am pleased with the progress I have seen on the 5 corners area. Over 25 years ago The Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission responded to one of our concerns to "Connect The Junction" to Essex Town by way of a sidewalk on Upper Main Street (Rte. 15) to be located on the east side of the road which included considering a walking bridge over Indian Brook as part of the sidewalk. I know your current study area is not including Upper Main Street. However it would seem remiss to me not to include that major connection not only for a commerce reason to encourage people to walk to the 5 corners area from the Town but even more importantly to address a very obvious safety issue. For years I have witnessed pedestrians and bicycles attempting to navigate this very dangerous area without any proper night lighting, sidewalk or curbing. It is especially dangerous and treacherous during the Winter months. I am wondering if your committee might consider investigating my concerns (if not already being addressed in some fashion by the Town or city and I am not aware). I realize that there is a Bicycle Path that currently connects the Town and City but that is an entirely different amenity and should not preclude addressing a public sidewalk along our major traffic artery of Route 15 which is our main gateway from the East to the City. I think it is important to include addressing connecting the Junction safely on the perimeters for pedestrians and bicycles as part of any overall "connecting" plan internally. I would be pleased to receive any comments regarding this submission. Thank You for and please keep up the good work you are doing for Essex Junction.
Respectfully Submitted,
John Workman

I hope we can work on all main streets - throughout the city - to slow/calm traffic.

Agree that 7 seems like what everyone will do, but leave it open to 8. However, anything close to the historic buildings should probably be lower so blend better (a 7 story will tower over a 2-3 story in a way that I think would be bad).

I like the proposal of 7 with at least the top story set back

Will semis be able to navigate the Crescent Connector when it is at full capacity? There are many curves in that road, esp close to the tracks, and I am skeptical how this will work with the many large trucks that travel through.

While I like the idea, where will visitors park? I for one can't walk from my EJ house to 5 Corners, and the bus is also a bit too far from my house. I don't see anything about expanded parking accommodations to make up for Railroad St spots we'd lose. If we want to attract people from outside the area, as well as all city residents (including those of us on the edges, and/or who have mobility/health issues), then we need parking. [Please remember that not everyone who has mobility/health issues have Handicapped parking decals.]

Wondering if a sidewalk from the intersection of Park Street and River Street (Global Foundries Entrance / Exit) to Robinson Pkwy (Riverside in the village condo rentals) has ever been considered? Existing today is a very narrow shoulder and this section of road has foot traffic on the daily. People walking dogs, people walking to work at GF, etc...While the speed limit I believe is 35mph, people travel this stretch of road like a drag strip. A new sidewalk here would connect two existing sidewalks and offer a much safer environment in my opinion. Thanks for listening.

Please, please, please (for all parks, not just Pocket Park) only use native to Vermont plants, shrubs, wildflowers, etc in the landscaping! If we are building something from scratch, this is an easy win and much easier than pulling out invasive plants after the fact. I see so many spaces that look aesthetically pleasing, but after inspecting the trees and plants further, finding they are native to Japan or Europe. For example, Norway Maples are all over Essex Junction and provide breeding habitat for another highly invasive species, the Asian longhorned beetle.

Also, we should prioritize natural ground cover and clover instead of traditional grass or lawn turf. Lawns provide virtually no benefit or habitats for pollinators such as native bees, monarch butterflies, and swallowtails. If you need volunteers to help lead this effort of filling our public spaces with native, pollinator friendly plants, please let me know!

I am curious about this process and how it would work. I have often had the thought of like "why are there 3 different hair salons in 5 corners" or "why is a smoke/vape shope moving in behind the laundromat"? Is it realistic for a city to cultivate which businesses can move in or not? Or is this more of a proactive approach, like "we can't say no to someone, but we can nudge certain businesses to apply first"?

Pearl St improvements are crucial for public safety. Railroad Ave presents the most potential for markets, events, and local business opportunities for people on foot. Food trucks on Memorial Way sounds fun, and might be the easiest to achieve on a short timeline, but feels like it has lower impact than Pearl St and Railroad Ave.

I would love for this process to be easy, well documented, and available to residents who want to organize community events. I also think that this process should not be vulnerable to a single business being able to veto the application for the sake of customer parking (I believe permit requires unanimous approval right now, but I could be wrong about this)

I understand the motivation here, and support improving the section of Park Street in 5 corners for pedestrians and cyclists. In terms of priority, I would place Main St as more important. When I bike through 5 corners, I take the new Crescent Connector which is much quieter (less car traffic) and already has a painted bike lane, so a temporary solution sort of exists here already at least for non-car thru traffic.

7 stories makes sense to me given the cost benefit of jumping to 8 being more expensive.

Is it possible to say "max of 5 stories street frontage; no height limit on the center of the lot, provided that it is obscured by the portion at street frontage"? The appropriate height at the edge of Post Office Square is different than the appropriate height in the center of Post Office Square.

I'm dubious that people can visually differentiate between a 7-story building and a 9-story building; I do think we need to maintain some flexibility for changes in construction economics.

What is main street activation program? Can you add definitions of all of these or link to where we find them in this megadoc?

You cannot have the term "Road Diet" in a question pop up without explaining that term clearly. This is never a thing I have heard of. Also what's TOD?

I used to use CCTA much more (even as a car owner) because a bus stop was two blocks from my residential home in a R2 zoned area. I know costs limited how GMTA rethought things, but the home-to-schools traffic is still obscene and wasteful, given that kids in 6-12 could be taking public transit if the lines were more similar to how they used to be, following the West-South St. corridor, and looping up Park St. As it is, we have to do gymnastics to coordinate rides to ADL since biking is unrealistic for the early opens of band, chorus and extracurriculars, with instruments and all winter long, so my child is often in cars with 1-2 kids max getting rides to school. ALL sports and ALL music is now outside of school and bus hours. Restoring sensible busing (or, doing something like the college street shuttle or city loop, where a recurring circle is made) with major pressure/outreach/incentives at the outset (ie. EWSD or city pays families like $100/year to NOT drive their kids hence add to congestion and unsafe roads) would make a tremendous difference to some of the largest unnecessary traffic flow every day.

nice sharing public spaces ideas that have impact!

I think care should be taken when considering reduction of Pearl St car throughput west of West St extension. Certainly, some adjustments can be made but a fair number of cars converge there from West St and Pearl St heading west out of the junction. Same is true in the other direction. I like the changes made several years back to go to one lane each way with a single turning lane. east of West St Ext. VT15 west of the city is one of the few roads with capacity with limited curb cuts between communities in the county.

Crescent Connect doesn't work most times to go to Maple from Park because there is no right turn lane and you get stuck behind people going straight. Plus there is no way for a large truck to turn left onto Railroad from Maple if Main St is closed (and why no left turn lane to go from Maple to Railroad? While we need to allow safety for pedestrians and bikes people still need to get from their Essex Jct home to and from work (often outside the junction) and school and through 5 corners. While I would like to see Main St closed to cars at 5 corners I see no possible way with how Maple and Railroad are currently configured.

Along Pearl Street, buildings could be taller than currently there, perhaps 5 stories, but need to be set back enough from the road to not feel crowded.

The current buildings already exceed the height that fits the historical nature and character of 5 corners. Heights should not exceed what is already there and should taper down as you move away from 5 corners.

8

7 seems like the most economically viable, but I don't see why we should restrict it. The housing is needed