Office of Outdoor Advertising
Public Meeting
February 11, 2016
11:00 AM
Ten Park Plaza
Conference Rm 5 & 6
Boston, MA 02116
Present:
John Romano, Executive Director
Eileen Fenton, Esq., Counsel
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Office of Outdoor Advertising February 11, 2016
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P R O C E E D I N G S
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JOHN ROMANO:
Good morning everyone.
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Welcome to the February meeting for the Office of
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Outdoor Advertising, MassDOT.
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signed in, we have sign in sheets at the table.
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can sign in on your way out.
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month’s meeting minutes as well as the agenda for
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today.
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In case you haven’t
You
There are copies of last
My name is John Romano; I am the head of
Outdoor Advertising for MassDOT.
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This meeting is accessible to people
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with disabilities and individuals with limited English
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proficiency.
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assistant technology, sign language, alternate format
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documents, an interpreter, translated documents, or
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other such services to be available here today, please
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see Lydia.
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that.
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If you filed a request with us for
I don’t think anyone has called us for
We also have amplification devices.
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you need any other similar assistance to participate
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today, please let Lydia know.
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receive any requests for that.
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If
I know we did not
First thing up here is the minutes from
the January 14, OOA Public Hearing.
Are there any
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questions or comments on those?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
Seeing none we will mark
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those approved.
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applications for transfer of permits between Total
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Outdoor Corp. and Lamar Whiteco Outdoor.
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eight permits as listed.
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Peabody.
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Outdoor or Lamar?
They are all in the Town of
NORM LAGASSE:
Norm Lagasse, Lamar
Advertising.
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JOHN ROMANO:
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DREW HOFFMAN:
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There are
Is there anybody here from either Total
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First items up on the agenda are
Okay.
Drew Hoffman, Total
Outdoor.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Okay.
Looks like
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everything is in order here gentleman.
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paperwork is in place.
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or concerns on these.
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either of you would like to add?
All the
We have received no comments
Do you have anything that
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NORM LAGASSE:
No.
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DREW HOFFMAN:
No.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Great, we will take those
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under advisement and we will let you know shortly on
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them.
Everything appears to be in order.
Thank you
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very much for attending.
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Next is an application for electronic
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permits.
Outfront Media; we have 1775 Washington
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Street Routes 53 and 3, application number 2016D006
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and 2016D007.
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in Hanover.
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to the Town Clerk.
These are as I said digital.
Notice was sent to the Town on January 8,
Is the applicant present?
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JOHN MAHONEY:
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JOHN ROMANO:
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JOHN MAHONEY:
JIM MCGRAIL:
Jim McGrail, Attorney for
JOHN ROMANO:
Is there anybody here
representing the Town of Hanover?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
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Any abutters here today?
Seeing none.
Is anybody
from the District Office?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
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John Mahoney from
Outfront Media.
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Can you state your name
Outfront Media.
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Present.
for the record, please.
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They are
Anybody here from MassDOT
Traffic Office?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
I do want to make a note
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that I have not yet heard from them.
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all the electronics, so we will make sure that we
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touch base with them before any approvals go forward.
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If there are any issues, we will let you know.
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certified mail was sent out to the abutters at least
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30 days to prior to submitting your application?
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JOHN MAHONEY:
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JOHN ROMANO:
They do review
John,
Yes it was.
I have a copy of your
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letter that you sent out.
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Post Office receipts for both applications, so thank
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you for that.
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favor or opposed?
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I also have a copy of the
Have you guys received any comments in
JOHN MAHONEY:
Some of the abutters
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called asking when it was going to go up because they
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wanted to use it.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Okay.
I can tell you
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that I spoke to the Assistant Town Manager because I
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had a question and he sent me an email that said the
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Town was in favor.
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receive anything else.
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or variance, is that correct?
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That is all I received, I didn’t
You received a special permit
JOHN MAHONEY:
Yes.
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JOHN ROMANO:
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the file.
Thank you.
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now, Marc.
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appreciate it.
I have a copy of that in
We will here from my inspector
If you can give your report, I would
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MARC PLANTE:
This is an existing on-
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premise unlicensed, unpermitted sign located on the
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Hanover Mall property.
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construct a new monopole with digital application.
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One side facing north, one side facing south.
It is the application to
There
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is definitely a business character with Sears and
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Walmart within 500-feet of the location.
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spacing issues with any other signs.
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playgrounds, parks, or recreational areas within 50-
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feet.
There are no
So it is conforming with the regulations.
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There are no
JOHN ROMANO:
Any other concerns or
issues with your inspection?
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MARC PLANTE:
No.
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JOHN ROMANO:
Gentleman as you know
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with an electronic sign there is a ten-second static
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display.
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public service announcements, as you know from your
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other boards.
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a monthly basis.
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sound, no light, the standard items that are in our
There is a requirement for 15 hours of
Jerry will coordinate with you guys on
You know there is no video, no
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CMR that will apply to this as part of the digital
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board goes.
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JOHN MAHONEY:
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JOHN ROMANO:
Understood.
One thing I did want to
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call, it was mentioned in your drawing application
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that the board is a minimum of 13-feet away from the
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state highway layout.
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mentioned to you the other day we were a little
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unsure, there are a couple of fences there but as we
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had suspected the layout fence was on the other side
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of the trees.
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property and not our line.
Marc did review that.
As I
The first fence was the Hanover Mall
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So we feel there are issues with that.
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I just wanted to point that out because I had brought
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that to your attention.
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everything that seems to make that all set.
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else you would like to add at this time?
So we have our drawing and
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JOHN MAHONEY:
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JOHN ROMANO:
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Anything
No.
Any other questions or
concerns from any of the members in attendance today?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
All right.
Great, we
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will take this under advisement and we will let you
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know in a short period of time on that once we hear
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from Traffic Operations.
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Thank you very much.
Next up on the agenda is an application
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from Zoomkube, LLC.
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furniture.
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kiosk.
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kiosks.
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of the doorways coming in.
This is kind of a new one, a digital
There are two applications.
They are for two
They are right here at 10 Park Plaza at both
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This is actually street
The City of Boston application number
2016006 and 2016007.
Notification was sent to the
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City Clerk and the Mayor’s Office on January 14.
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Actually, that was the hard copy.
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made prior to that on January 10 or 11.
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notification sent to them ahead of time as we were
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getting the paperwork prepared to send them.
So they
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were notified before the 30 day time period.
Is there
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someone representing the applicant?
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JARED EIGERMAN:
JOHN ROMANO:
(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
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Jay Eigerman, Attorney
Is there anybody here
representing the City of Boston?
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There was
for Zoomkube.
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A notification was
Are there any abutters
here today?
(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
Anybody here from
District 6?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
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Anybody here from Traffic
Operations?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
I can tell you that
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Traffic Operations did take a look at these a while
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ago for me and based on the location and what they are
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they had no issues with their placement.
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As these are classified as street
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furniture there was no requirement to send a letter
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out to abutters.
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MassDOT held a public meeting on these last Thursday
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and Zoomkube was in attendance.
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raised.
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wanted to make note of that.
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February 4, right here in this building.
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However, I want to make note that
No issues were
As a matter of fact, no one came.
I just
That meeting was on
Have you guys received any comments,
letters, or anything either for or against these?
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JARED EIGERMAN:
No, just to note for
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the record we work closely with the Mayor’s Office and
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the BRA starting last May.
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issues.
So, no there are no
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JOHN ROMANO:
Great, thank you.
I know
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that the BRA did sign off on these on the
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applications.
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street furniture, they are electronic so all of the
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rules with digital and instant sign change, no less
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than ten seconds display, no light admitting, sound,
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video, or anything like that is allowed on these.
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previously discussed with a pillar type set up there
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are three sides to these.
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As I said earlier even though these are
As
One side will be for public service
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benefit, similar to the street furniture pillars that
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you see around the city.
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discussed that and that has been confirmed and we will
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work with MassDOT and the MBTA to work with you guys
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to get what we determine to be up on the public side.
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Do you have anything else you would like to add or
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discuss at this time?
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I know that we have
JARED EIGERMAN:
has been covered.
Thank you.
JOHN ROMANO:
Any comments, questions,
concerns, from anybody in attendance?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
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No, I think everything
Great.
Seeing none, we
will take these under advisement as we do with all of
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our items in the hearing and get back to you.
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you.
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Thank
Please note that under items D and E
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there were a handful of licenses and permits that were
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renewed since the last meeting and they are listed
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here.
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that are For the Record?
Does anybody have any questions on the items
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
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Great.
Any other
questions or concerns in general?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
Before we break up, I
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have a couple of things.
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hearing, believe it or not.
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pretty fast.
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would be looking at some things that we do to see
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whether we can do things different or better to help
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for all of us.
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kicking around one particular issue that seems to come
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up all the time.
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This is actually my 13
Kind of scary, it went
I did say that when I started that we
So myself and my staff have been
It seems to be one of the most
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challenging things out there and that is kind of
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determining if you are looking to put a sign near a
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ramp.
Where the point is where you measure the 500-
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feet from.
Where the pavement widens.
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get questions and we are trying to look at things
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where you have Google Earth or something and we can’t
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necessarily give you good answers that way.
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Many times, we
Also, noting it is our policy that we
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don’t do any preapprovals or pre-inspections for you.
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However, we have talked about this issue and we think
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that in order to make everybody’s life easier
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including ours, if there is a time where you are
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looking at putting a board that is somewhere near a
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ramp and you are having trouble determining where on
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our little Chart where point C is, where that would be
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the point that you then measure the 500-feet from.
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will be willing to assist you and come out onsite with
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you if need be.
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We
We will not be giving you any
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preapproval.
We will not tell you that your sign is
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good.
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and try and help you establish that this is the point
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that you will measure the 500-feet from and we will
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mark it on the ground.
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will take your picture standing next to it, so you
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don’t go erase it and move it.
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extra step to help people because I feel that it is
None of that will change but we will come out
We will spray paint it.
We
We will take that
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important to get it right.
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Whether the board ends up fitting or
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not fitting is to me not the ultimate goal for me.
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get it right and we all know where we are going to do
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the measurement from so that you can then make the
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proper determination maybe that 500-feet is out of
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where your property is and you can’t put the board up.
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To
I think there is a lot of work
involved getting to the municipalities and getting the
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local approval only to find out that you measured 10-
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feet too close or 50-feet to short.
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of it will all be left up to you.
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say your board is good.
We are not going to say you
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can have a board there.
We will just help you say
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that is the point you should be measuring from to get
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that 500-feet from that point.
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Again, the rest
We are not going to
I think that will go a long way.
That
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seems to be the biggest question that I get from most
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of the industry is trying to get some help in finding
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that location.
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best we can.
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I do feel like we are here to help the
I just wanted to let you know if it is
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something, please don’t inundate the inspectors with
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phone calls saying can you meet me out here, can you
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meet me out there.
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and we will find the time that works for us.
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all call tomorrow, we are not going to be out there on
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Monday but we will do our best to accommodate it as it
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fits in our schedule.
We will be happy to try to
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assist you with that.
I think that will go a long way
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to help people.
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biggest question that I have.
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Call our office at the main number
If you
As I said, I think that is the
Many times, we can look at something
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quickly or we know the answer but this is one that
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most times we can’t give a good answer by doing it in
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the office.
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So we are willing to make that available.
JOE MURRAY:
May I be heard in response
to that?
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JOHN ROMANO:
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JOE MURRAY:
Sure.
My name is Joe Murray.
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There are a couple of occasions where there will be an
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auxiliary lane between two interchanges and that
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really makes an ambiguous task to where the widening
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is there.
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close.
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quarter of a mile or something of that nature.
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Especially when the interchanges are fairly
When I say fairly close, I mean less than a
So I am curious if maybe we can add
another definition that might make it a little less
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ambiguous.
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the pavement as starting where the apex of the ramp is
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then there is never a question.
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apex of the ramp is you know where the widening of the
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pavement begins.
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For example, if you define the widening of
JOHN ROMANO:
You know where the
So I would say right now
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the definition and the rule that we follow is through
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guidance from Federal Highway.
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use what they give us and if there is something
So we will continue to
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ambiguous like that we will be happy to come out there
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and try to help you work towards that.
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we will change any definitions at this point.
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JOE MURRAY:
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JOHN ROMANO:
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We will try to help you.
Okay.
(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
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But thank you for that.
Anybody else?
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I don’t think
Eileen, any update on the
regulation changes?
EILEEN FENTON:
Yeah.
I reported last
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month that we have undertaken some changes to all our
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regulations including the Office of Outdoor
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Advertising Regulations.
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I may have said we planned to have a
hearing in March that has been pushed out.
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have a final date on that.
We are not ready yet to
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present a draft of the changes at this point.
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minute they are final you will all get it.
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on the website.
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list.
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is still a work in progress but the good news is the
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hearing will not be in March, it will be pushed out to
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early spring.
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For now, it is moved out a little bit.
It will be
We will probably send it out to the
I know there is probably a lot of interest.
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JOHN ROMANO:
other questions or comments?
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(No response)
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JOHN ROMANO:
adjourned.
Great, thank you.
Any
Seeing none, we are
Thank you all very much.
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It
Once I get that date, I will share it.
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The
Whereupon, the proceedings were
concluded on February 11, 2016, at 11:23 a.m.)
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C E R T I F I C A T E
I, Tammy A. Hillery, do hereby certify that the
foregoing record is a true and accurate transcription of
the proceedings in the above-captioned matter to the best
of my skill and ability.
Tammy Hillery
_________________________________________
Tammy A. Hillery
**All names not provided were spelled phonetically to
the best of my ability.
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