USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Wilbraham > Wilbraham annual report 1951-1955 > Part 27
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We first listed a group of starting subjects for current consideration. This is our first preliminary report and recommendations on the items thus first listed. We will welcome suggestions from our fellow citizens as to these subjects or any other subjects recommended for our atten- tion. Our first list of subjects was developed as follows.
WILBRAHAM CIVIC SURVEY COUNCIL
A. Traffic control at bad intersections
1. Boston Road - Maple and Main Streets
2. Stony Hill Road and Springfield Streets
3. Stony Hill Road - River Road and Old Boston Road
4. Three Rivers Road and Boston Road
5. Lake Shore Drive and Boston Road
6. Main and Springfield Streets, including request of Mr. and Mrs. J. Loring Brooks, Jr. for us to study the best use of their land acquired in this vicinity
B. Potential traffic - flow problems of future which might make present easements or land titles advis- able for possible future use to build street if ever needed
1. Cross Street - Memorial School area of Main Street to Stony Hill opposite Dipping Hole Road
2. Possible parallel street to Main Street, either Faculty Street to Tinkham Road, or Mountain Road to Tinkham Road
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C. Parking congestion now and in future
1. Vicinity of Springfield and Main Streets
2. Vicinity of Wilbraham United Church and the Grange Building
3. Vicinity of St. Cecelia's Church and the Town Offices
4. Vicinity of North Wilbraham Post Office
D. Potentials and needs for additional neighborhood service or store establishments without adverse effect on the Town
1. Wilbraham Center has the only apparent current problem in this respect
2. The potentials and best usage of land offered by Mr. and Mrs. J. Loring Brooks, Jr. for future retail or service needs and for fire sta- tion site and for park
E. Potentials of Town (and any indicated need of a program) for securing :
1. Additional commercial establishments or light industry in our Business District
2. Means of encouraging a more balanced influx of new residents (e.g. retired or older families as well as younger families) to provide in the future a more balanced population as to school load, etc.
3. Long term planning in respect to all phases of public safety (e.g. traffic, police, fire and education)
The following is our Report as adopted unanimously at our meeting of January 14th on each of the subjects above listed :
In the field of traffic control at bad intersections, through the courtesy of the Department of Public Works and the Wilbraham Highway Department, we were able to confer here in Wilbraham with Massachusetts Department of Public Works Highway Engineers and to actually examine local trouble spots with those engineers. We learn that local traffic controls whether a stop sign or a traffic control light can be installed only after traffic counts and specific approval of the Department of Public Works
Subject to these limitations we submit the following recommendations on this FIRST of our list of subjects -
1. A traffic count and an application for traffic control lights at the following intersections - either at Boston Road and Chapel Streets or Boston Road and Main Streets;
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Stony Hill Road and Springfield Streets - so installed as to be fully visible to cars travelling east on Springfield Street; Main and Springfield Streets
2. Application for engineering studies of opening up and widening the point of intersections at - Main and Maple Streets (while we still own the Perry Building lot and the park across the street) ; Old Boston Road, River Road and Stony Hill Road; Three Rivers Road and Boston Road; Maple and Chapel Streets
3. Engineering studies to safeguard traffic moving west- ward on Boston Road and wishing to turn left into Lake- side Drive at Bliss Curve
4. Acceptance of land from Mr. and Mrs. J. Loring Brooks, Jr. to provide readily accessible, other-than-Main Street parking to serve the vicinity of the above intersec- tion of Main and Springfield Streets and also near the Wilbraham United Church and the Grange Hall. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks originally submitted their offer in the form of a large typical square parking lot to be screened with planting and to be reached through Burt Lane for the com- pletion of which way they have acquired the necessary land rights and possibly also through the land of the Wilbraham United Church where their land has a right of way. We have recommended the acceptance of this gift in somewhat different form, namely as long, rectangular strips along the northern and western boundaries, wide enough to permit two moving lanes of traffic, diagonal parking, and a blending lane for safety. Such a layout would permit these strips being handled as highways and completed with Chapter 81 or 90 State highway funds and would provide unobtrusive, de-centralized supplementary parking very close to the points of need, e.g. one point near the Village Store, one near Tiffany's and one near the Church and the Grange Hall. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks who have not attended any of our meetings, not only readily accepted this counter-suggestion, but offered to additionally contribute the sum of $1000 to offset the Town's share of the Chapter 81 or 90 cost involved so that Wilbraham would attain such parking facilities without any tax rate cost whatsoever. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks further suggested the gift to the Town or the Church of all the land between the east-west strip and the present United Church lot to provide additional parking and also for convenient access between the present Church and the site for the proposed new Church.
To carry out the above recommendation we have sub- mitted article number 10 to appear in the warrant and
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recommend thereunder the acceptance as a gift of the land shown on this committee's Plan of Land No. 1 dated January 14th and filed with the Town Clerk, roughly described as follows: A strip about 60 feet wide starting back of Crane Park and running southerly a distance of about 560 feet to Woodland Dell Road - with such strip becoming 150 feet wide directly back of the properties of the Wilbraham United Church and of Mr. Harold L. Sullivan, and a strip of land at right angles to the above extending along the northerly boundary of the Brooks land about 375 feet.
The Department of Public Works have indicated that if the cash gift offered by Mr. and Mrs. Brooks were devoted to the preliminary grading of the north-south strip that Chapter 81 funds would subsequently be allocated to complete this as a street which might be known as Meeting House Lane. In respect to the east-west strip, the Depart- ment of Public Works recommend that this be connected with Springfield Street through Crane Park and that as Springfield Street it be turned north and carried through to Mountain Road as an excellent means of further traffic relief (e.g. left hand turns) at Springfield and Main Streets. The Department indicated that if this were voted that this extension of Springfield Street would without doubt be accepted for Chapter 90 State and County funds for 1955 construction. Under the circumstances our recommenda- tion has been extended to suggest the above to you and in order to make it possible for you to vote on it at the Annual Town Meeting, we have asked that the Selectmen file a bill in the Legislature which would authorize the Town's vote to do so if it wishes. This part of the plan appears to be important to the possibility of a traffic control light at Main and Springfield Streets; the Department of Public Works indicates that such a light is legally permitted only opposite public ways and not opposite park drives or other such roads. We believe the monument should be relocated with- in the park.
Since an option is now available to acquire without expense to the town sufficient land to extend Burt Lane through to the above east-west way, we recommend the laying out of Burt Lane as a public way for the ready circular flow of traffic into and out of the parking areas which we have recommended.
The SECOND SUBJECT on our list was that of possible future road routes for which easements might now be sought. This is a wide and difficult subject. We would appreciate any suggestions townspeople might care to give us. In the meantime there are two places where we believe
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the Town should pick up easements if readily available - one being from Main Street near the Memorial School to Stony Hill Road at a point near the intersection of Dipping Hole Road - and the other a street to run parallel to Main Street either between Faculty Street and Tinkham Road or between South Mountain Road and Tinkham Road. Our council has appointed a sub-committee to determine the availability now of such easements as a gift against possible future need when the easements might not be available.
The THIRD SUBJECT was that of parking congestion, present or potential, in various parts of the Town. Since this subject was tied in with traffic control at the inter- section of Main and Springfield Streets, it was covered above in respect to that locality. We believe that early study should be given to the acquisition of space for park- ing in the vicinity of the post office and stores in North Wilbraham and we have asked a sub-committee to ascertain such possibilities for gift to or purchase by the town. Perhaps one of our worst current traffic congestions which threatens both public convenience and also public safety occurs in the vicinity of St. Cecelia's Church. Father Scanlon has done everything possible to alleviate the problem by extensive filling, grading and reclaiming of parking area from the land behind the Church and by grad- ing out a lower level parking area adjoining the town's highway lot. To make this second lot more useful with an adequate approach from the Boston Road level, we recom- mend the conveyance to St. Cecelia's Church through the Roman Catholic Bishop of a small strip of town land and the further extension of evening and Sunday parking priv- ileges beyond that strip into the highway and water depart- ment lot. The exact area covered by our recommendation is shown on our Plan of Land No. 2 filed with the Town Clerk. We have further endorsed article number 19 in the warrant for the Town Meeting which would permit a vote on this land conveyance. The area involved is a strip about 25 feet wide along the westerly boundary of the St. Cecelia Church which is common with the easterly boundary of the town lot.
The FOURTH SUBJECT on our current list of subjects to be studied was the problem of available potentials for the town's future needs in neighborhood stores or services. This subject was occasioned by the request of Mr. Brooks that we study and recommend on the town's best interests as to the use of land in the center of the town which he and Mrs. Brooks have acquired. There is no problem in the northern end of town in this regard since a substantial area is zoned for business. However, there is no unused land in the area known as the Center which is zoned for
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shopping and without doubt there will be future needs for a drug store and perhaps a beauty parlor-barber shop, in addition to possibly a site for a new, larger post office. We have, therefore, recommended that Mr. Brooks apply for a change of zoning for a limited parcel of the land at the end of Burt Lane and hold that land for potential future needs of the town along such lines. We endorse the article in the warrant to cover this change to correct the problem of no such space presently being available anywhere in that section of the town. Mr. Brooks has also offered the town a gift of a site for a fire station and a park or nature preserve. Since we understand that the site of the present post office might become available for the town's acquisition and since we know that the town should acquire land at this INTERSECTION TO OPEN OUT THE THROAT OF SPRINGFIELD STREET, we recommend further study on the part of the Fire Commissioners as to whether the town should accept the gift of a fire station site, acquire the property at the intersection of Main and Springfield Streets for a fire station and bus waiting room, or continue to rent facilities for our apparatus as at present. On the matter of the park or nature preserve, we would like more time for study before reporting and have suggested two articles in the warrant which may help determine whether we study this and other subjects further. These articles seek a vote as to whether you wish our Committee or Council to continue in our study and advisory program and whether you wish us to study the matter of the acceptance of a gift for park or nature preserve purposes. Some towns- people have indicated some concern as to where such an area should be and how it could be effectively controlled and policed. Others have indicated that the land on the heights now owned by the town to the east of the Memorial School would be an ideal civic area of this sort without tying up other land and that approach to it through our school-community center area would provide a greater potential for control. We hope that in your Town Meeting discussion of these two articles you will give us some guidance as to the general preliminary thinking on such a subject.
The FIFTH and last of our currently listed items, cover- ing potentials for commercial and light industry growth together with possible advantages or disadvantages to our town, ways and means to encourage a more balanced growth in new residents between younger and older fami- lies, and planning for long term benefits for public safety in all phases in which our municipal actions can affect safety - all these things extend beyond the point of bring- ing you any further specific conclusions or suggestions at
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this early date. All we can say on these items is that if you vote to continue our council as a permanent advisory committee, we hope that you will continually favor us with your suggestions on these and other subjects for our cor .. munity's future benefit.
CARL NELSON, Chairman
WALLACE TIFFANY
LEO E. KUEHN
JOHN F. BALDWIN
HERBERT F. SWETLAND WESLEY HOLDRIDGE
RAYMOND F. GURNEY
BERT MOUNT
RUDOLPH L. SHULTS
JESSE L. RICE
DR. J. CLARENCE ALLEN
JAMES F. CARROLL
RICHARD L. DANFORTH
LLOYD M. HOOVER
HARRY R. JEFFREY
Report of the Financial Committee
In the Town Warrant for each Annual Town Meeting, Article 5 covers the various accounts which together make up the town's operating budget. It is the town's policy to include under this article only routine expenditures which recur year after year, reserving for special articles those proposed expenditures which are of a non-recurrent nature and which should be given special consideration by the people of the town.
Under Article 5 for 1955 are 53 items totaling approx- imately $531,000.00. After deducting two school bonds and one water bond, which last year were covered by special articles, an increase over Article 5 for 1954 of approx- imately $66,500.00, or 161/2%, is indicated. The major part of this increase is accounted for by increases in three budgets - $4,500.00 for Civil Defense, $12,000.00 for Police, and $35,000.00 for Schools. The remaining $15,000.00 of the increase is divided among the other 50 accounts.
Last year the town voted $2,000.00 for Civil Defense. However, because substantial state funds to augment our own in carrying out the proposed program were not made available in time, our $2,000.00 appropriation was not touched and thus reverted at the end of the year to avail- able funds in the treasury. This year the Civil Defense Committee proposes to purchase a two-way radio communi- cation system which will include 5 mobile units to be installed in 3 fire trucks, the ambulance, and one other town vehicle. Of the $4,400.00 cost of this system one half will be paid by the state which will thus return $2,200.00 to our treasury. The balance of the $6,500.00 proposed
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budget will provide audible air raid warning devices placed at strategic locations throughout the town where they would all be set off simultaneously by radio impulse, together with an amount for operating expenses. Even if the disaster of war should not occur, the Finance Com- mittee believes that the outlay is justified by increased efficiency in the saving of life and property in time of peace.
Last year's Police appropriation of $500.00 was increased during the year by a $250.00 transfer from the Reserve Fund for extra protection following a series of breaks at the schools. A budget of $12,500.00 is proposed this year to provide for the purchase of a radio equipped police cruiser and the hiring of a two man crew to operate it during a seven hour period in the middle of the night. The Finance Committee agrees with the Selectmen that in view of the trend toward greater delinquency and the need for real and personal property valued at close to $9,000,000.00, the expense would be worth while if only as a preventive measure. It is, however, up to the people of the town to decide whether they wish to spend the money for this added precaution.
The School Committee has presented a very carefully prepared budget which calls for the appropriation of $289,706.00. Against this amount we will receive credits from the state estimated at $65,000.00. At the end of last year the School appropriation had a balance of approx- imately $7,000.00 which was added to the town's available funds. Although the 1955 budget shows a decrease in both unit cost of plant operation and maintenance and per pupil cost of instruction there is an over-all increase in the total budget. The increase is due principally to items directly related to the increased number of school children and to an increase in teachers' salaries. More teachers will be required and the salary schedule has been revised upward with a starting figure of $3,000.00 instead of $2,800.00. There will be an anticipated increase of 85 in the number of students in the elementary grades and 25 in high school. Tuition paid to Springfield for high school students is $416.00 up $16.00 over last year; and $275.00 for trade school, up $25.00 over last year.
The School Survey Report shows that additional school rooms will be needed for occupancy in the fall of 1956. Of the $250,000.00 required for this purpose, the Finance Committee recommends that $125,000.00 be appropriated from available funds in the treasury. Provided this is done, the state, under a new provision, will pay to the town its share of the cost of construction in five equal annual installments. Under this plan a considerable saving in interest will be effected.
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With the completion during the past year of the new 16" main along Miller Street, the maximum volume of water available to us from Quabbin Reservoir has been brought to the corner of Main and Maple Streets. In the opinion of our engineers, the next steps, in the order of their impor- tance, to bring our existing system up to the greatest over- all efficiency would be: (1) laying a new 16" main parallel to the present main from Maple Street along Main Street to the corner of Springfield Street, (2) completing a loop with 10" pipe from the dead end on Stony Hill Road along Tinkham Road to South Main Street, (3) laying a new line, probably 12", from Main Street to Stony Hill Road starting somewhere near Memorial School which would relieve for several years existing bottlenecks on Boston Road and Springfield Street, and (4) paralleling the present 6" main with a 10" main on Stony Hill Road just north of Springfield Street.
For this year, the Finance Committee recommends that only the first step be taken and that the town approve the borrowing of $120,000.00 to complete the project. Although the pressure at the dead ends on South Main Street and on Stony Hill Road will still not be all that could be desired, we are assured that when the job is completed they will be much improved and that further steps can be safely postponed to another year.
From the standpoint of the town, the assessment of betterments has worked out very well in connection with street acceptances and we recommend that this plan be applied to water extensions on a 50% town and 50% abuttors basis except where such extensions are made principally for the benefit of the existing system.
Articles 16, 17 and 18 in the warrant are concerned with the acceptance and development of land which Mr. and Mrs. J. Loring Brooks are offering to the Town of Wilbraham and the rezoning of land adjacent thereto as a neighborhood shopping district. The over-all plan, accepted by the Civic Survey Council and the Planning Board, is designed primarily to relieve traffic congestion at Main and Springfield Streets and provide off Main Street parking where it will be convenient and still not detract from the rural atmosphere of Main Street. In as much as these articles do not involve any appropriation which will result in a net cost to the taxpayers, the Finance Com- mittee, without prejudice, refers these articles to the Town Meeting for action.
In its annual report in previous years it has been the custom of the Finance Committee, with the cooperation of the Selectmen and the Assessors, to forecast the tax rate
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for the coming year so that this information would be avail- able to the people of the town at the Annual Meeting. This year the so-called Cherry Sheet furnished annually by the state covering estimated charges and credits which must be used in figuring the tax rate has not been received in time to allow any calculation to be included in this printed report. However, since the Board of Assessors is the sole body responsible for fixing the tax rate we trust that at the Annual Meeting the townspeople can look to them for this tentative figure.
In closing, we wish once more to express to the various town officers and boards our appreciation for the assistance and cooperation they have given to us in the preparation of the annual budget.
ALDO ALBERICI
IRVING J. CORDNER
STANLEY J. BORYCZKA
RICHARD L. DANFORTH
CHARLES W. BRIERLEY JOHN W. GALE
FREDERICK M. COHN, JR. ALBERT H. HOWES
RUDOLPH L. SHULTS
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Miss Ruth T. Abbott, Librarian, in children's room of Library with a group of children from the Perritot Kindergarten School in Wilbraham.
Town of Wilbraham BALANCE SHEET - DECEMBER 31, 1954 GENERAL ACCOUNTS
Assets
Liabilities and Reserves
Cash
$392,872.73
Payroll Deductions : Federal Taxes County Retirement System
$2,138.30
Accounts Receivable : Taxes :
312.44
$2,450.74
Levy of 1953:
39.01
Dog Licenses - Due County
24.40
Levy of 1954:
Tailings
241.90
Poll
$2.00
Post-War Rehabilitation Fund
241.05
Personal Property
1,901.47
Cemetery Perpetual Care Fund Income
29.07
Real Estate
19,329.73
21,233.20
Federal Grants :
Disability Assistance : Administration Assistance
$146.68
Motor Vehicle and Trailer Excise : Levy of 1954
2,729.13
Unapportioned Highway Assesments
2,547.54
383.55
Tax Titles
$1,254.51
Tax Possessions
223.98
1,478.49
Old Age Assistance :
212.69
Assistance
7,759.06
School Aid 3,939.70
$16,780.41
Departmental : Motor Vehicle Excise Tax 1953 - Section 95, Chapter 60 General Laws
$42.86
Selectmen's Licenses
2,645.00
Public Welfare 142.74
Aid to Dependent Children
435.88
Veterans' Services
4.00
3,270.48
Highways, Chapter 90 Bridge Construction School Debt and Interest
$49,995.00 23,277.50
73,272.50
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1,798.94
Aid to Dependent Children : Administration Aid
2,539.79
Administration
School Lunch Fund Appropriation Balances : Revenue :
1,436.95
Real Estate
Water: Rates
$999.64 611.41
1,611.05
Aid to Highway : State
$42,222.11
28,117.61
County
17,000.00
59,222.11
Underestimate 1954:
Levy of 1954
8,831.38
County Tuberculosis Hospital Assessment
48.98
Revenue 1954 : Appropriation Voted
1,375.00
Overdrawn Account : Dog Officer's Fees
27.50
Tax Title and Possession 1,478.49
Departmental
3,270.48
Water
1,611.05
State and County Aid
to Highways
59,222.11
70,858.80
Surplus Revenue
276,583.76
$486,455.22
$486,455.22
Overestimates 1954 : State Parks and Reservations Tax County Tax 399.49 $3.02 396.47
Miscellaneous
Road Machinery Fund
7,187.16
Reserve Fund - Overlay Surplus Overlay Reserved for Abatements : Levy of 1953 $39.01 8,792.37
Revenue Reserved Until Collected :
Motor Vehicle and Trailer Excise $2,729.13
Special Assessment 2,547.54
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Town of Wilbraham BALANCE SHEET - DECEMBER 31, 1954 (Continued) DEBT ACCOUNTS
Net Funded or Fixed Debt : Inside Debt Limit Outside Debt Limit : General Water
$325,000.00
$325,000.00
$240,000.00 103,500.00
343,500.00
Inside Debt Limit : School Addition Loan Outside Debt Limit : General: Memorial School Loan
$240,000.00 103,500.00
343,500.00
$668,500.00
$668,500.00
TRUST AND INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS
Trust and Investment Funds : Cash and Securities : In Custody of Town Treasurer In Custody of Probate Court
$15,927.28
901.96
204.53
In Custody of Treasurer: Chloe B. Stebbins Charity Fund Deacon Warriner School Fund School Lot Fund
935.39
Chloe B. Stebbins Library Fund
134.98
Abner Bell Library Fund Henry Cutler Library Fund
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