For Acton residents who do not have the luxury of attending town meetings in person or via Zoom, I have summarized the history of the Forest Road Sidewalk Project below.
2024-11-18 Select Board Meeting
Agenda
I attended this Acton Select Board (https://actonma.gov/87/Select-Board) meeting in person and read the following prepared statement (emphasis added):
Hello, Erik, E-R-I-K, Heels, H-E-E-L-S, 17 Forest Road.
I have a prepared statement to read. I have seven points to make.
First, since September, I have been attending DPW Building Committee meetings to advocate that sidewalks be constructed on Forest Road in conjunction with the proposed $40M DPW building project for the SAFETY of the people and pets in the neighborhood. I am here today because I believe that the Select Board can actually make the Forest Road Sidewalk Project happen. I estimate the cost of adding sidewalks to Forest Road to be about $950,000, or about 2.5% of the current DPW building project budget.
Second, sidewalks on Forest Road would make biking and walking SAFER for all of Robbins Park, not just for Forest Road. With sidewalks on Forest, Robbins Park residents east of Hosmer Street would be able to walk from the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, to Alcott Street, then to Whittier Drive via Longfellow Park, then to sidewalked Forest Road to both the Acton Arboretum and the Luther Conant School. From 2013 to 2019, two of our children attended the Conant School, but even though we live only about 3,000 feet from the school, they were not able to SAFELY walk to school due to the lack of sidewalks on Forest Road.
Third, I respectfully request that the Select Board commission a sidewalk survey and plan so that it can be brought to Town Meeting in conjunction with the DPW Building Project. I note that the property line on “my front lawn” is about 10 feet from the roadway, about twice the space needed for sidewalks. The width of Forest Road in front of my mailbox is about 27 feet.
Fourth, I understand that sidewalks were provided for the SAFETY of the neighborhood near the North Acton Fire Station, which was completed in 2022. One of the reasons for prioritizing the North Acton Fire Station sidewalk project was that a new governmental function was being introduced into a residential neighborhood. By this standard, sidewalks on Forest Road are now 55 years overdue. Also, the minutes of the April 5, 2021, Select Board meeting (https://actonma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/14517) state that there was a “Shared Winter Streets and Spaces Grant from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) … to create new connections to the Nathaniel Allen Recreation Area [AKA NARA Park] and the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail by building a sidewalk on the north side of Harris Street connecting the new North Acton Fire Station to the existing sidewalk on Main Street.” May I get a copy of this approved grant application so that we can use it as a model for the Forest Road Sidewalk Project?
Fifth, I understand that “everyone wants sidewalks,” but not everyone has had 55 years of industrial traffic in a residential neighborhood, speeding traffic going to the dump, Town of Acton vehicles fueling up, the very dangerous Hazardous Waste Day traffic jams, and a $40M multi-year construction project.
Sixth, it does not take a lot of imagination to understand that those most impacted by any construction project are those in the neighborhood of that project. Perhaps we need a “Pedestrian 2 1/2” bylaw to permanently set aside 2.5% of a construction project’s cost for the SAFETY of people and pets. Residents should not have to beg for SAFETY improvements in their neighborhood. The DPW stands for SAFETY, sidewalks stand for SAFETY. As Project For Public Spaces founder Fred Kent so wisely said (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2001770363606799/posts/2044431276007374/): “If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places.” What is true for cities is true for towns.
Seventh and finally, for Acton residents who do not have the luxury of attending meetings like this one in person or via Zoom, I have summarized the history of the Forest Road Sidewalk Project on one of my company’s websites: https://www.giantpeople.com/acton. GiantPeople LLC was founded in 1999 and is a single-person LLC owned by me.
Thank you.
Erik Heels, 17 Forest Road, Actonian since 1995.
Minutes
TBD
Video
TBD
2024-12-12 DPW Committee Meeting
Agenda
I attended this Acton DPW Building Committee (https://acton-ma.gov/831/Public-Works-Facility-Project) via Zoom and read the following prepared statement (emphasis added):
Hello, Erik, E-R-I-K, Heels, H-E-E-L-S, 17 Forest Road.
I have a short prepared statement to read. I have two points to make.
First, I ask that these DPW meetings be scheduled on a rotating weekday basis rather than always on Thursday nights. (I will be making this same request to the Acton Select Board, to the Transportation Advisory Committee, and to other relevant committees.) Thursday night is choir practice for me, and I should NOT have to choose between being an active member of the Town of Acton and an active member of Acton Congregational Church. Any Town of Acton committee that meets on a fixed day necessarily excludes anyone with a conflict on that day.
Second, as an FYI, I sent a direct mail piece (at my own personal expense) on December 1, 2024, to 1,506 addresses, in and around Acton’s Robbins Park neighborhood, advocating for the construction of sidewalks on Forest Road (for the SAFETY of people and pets) in conjunction with the proposed DPW building project. I am glad to provide a copy of this mailer to this committee, if you have not already received one.
Thank you.
Erik, E-R-I-K, Heels, H-E-E-L-S, 17 Forest Road, Actonian since 1995.
Here is a scan of the 2024-12-01 direct mail piece:
Here is a the full text of the 2024-12-01 direct mail piece:
Acton-Boxboro Common
Attn: Erik J. Heels
17 Forest Rd.
Acton MA 01720-4508
978-761-7808
heels@alum.mit.eduDecember 1, 2024
RE Acton Department of Public Works (DPW) Proposed Construction Project
Dear Neighbors:
The Town of Acton is proposing to rebuild the DPW property at 14 Forest Road starting in the fall of 2025, with construction taking two years at an estimated cost of $47M. The current plan is for the DPW facility project to be brought to Town Meeting in May of 2025 for voter approval.
The DPW stands for SAFETY. Sidewalks also stand for SAFETY. I am IN FAVOR of the DPW project with sidewalks. I am not in favor of the DPW project without sidewalks, as that is inconsistent with Acton’s greater goal of public safety.
The North Acton Fire Station (NAFS), another public safety project that was completed in 2022, included the addition of sidewalks for the safety of the neighborhood, but the DPW project budget currently includes zero dollars for sidewalks. The DPW project should include a budget for sidewalks at funding levels similar to the NAFS project.
Contact info and meeting schedules for the DPW Building Committee (DPWBC@ActonMA.Gov) (https://actonma.gov/831/Public-Works-Facility-Project) and the Select Board (sb@actonma.gov) (https://actonma.gov/87/Select-Board) are on the Town of Acton website, and most meetings have an option to attend virtually (via Zoom).
Resources:
https://actonma.gov/ – click on “Public Works Facility Project” on the home page
https://www.actonexchange.org/ – search “DPW” from the upper-right of the home page
https://www.facebook.com/ – search for “Acton-Boxboro Common” (a public group)Thank you.
Sincerely,
Erik J. HeelsP.S. This letter has been sent to 1506 addresses in postal routes 01720-R017 (including Whittier Drive), 01720-R007 (including Alcott Street), and 01720-C008 (including Forest Road).
DPW = SAFETY.
SIDEWALKS = SAFETY.
Minutes
TBD
Video
TBD
2024-11-18 Select Board Meeting
Agenda
I attended this Acton Select Board (https://actonma.gov/87/Select-Board) meeting via Zoom but did not make any statement.
Minutes
TBD
Video
TBD
2024-11-07 DPW Committee Meeting
Agenda
I attended this Acton DPW Building Committee (https://acton-ma.gov/831/Public-Works-Facility-Project) meeting in person and read the following prepared statement (emphasis added):
Erik Heels [SPELL NAME], 17 Forest Road, Actonian since 1995.
I continue to have several concerns about both the approved and unapproved portions of the DPW project. My concerns are in three broad categories.
1. FACTS & PHYSICS. We need to agree about facts and physics before we can move on to productive discussions about projects and priorities. In response to the Town of Acton’s “2024-09-30 Notice For Public Comments On Proposed Land Disturbance Permit” (in relation to the fuel island project), I submitted several questions to the Engineering Department. The following is my question #6 and the Engineering Department’s reply:
QUESTION 6. PDF page 3 of the 10/2 application states: “The proposed location of the fuel island is currently a wooded knoll, and the project will require a significant amount of earth removal, with the deepest cut reaching approximately 8.15 feet.” Presumably earth removal will also involve tree and shrub removal, closest to the 11 Forest Road and 13 Forest Road properties. Noting that the inverse-square law states that the intensity of both sound and light is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law), and noting that the new fuel island will be significantly closer to both the 11 Forest Road and 13 Forest Road properties (and thus that the sound and light both significantly more intense), what is being done to mitigate the greatly increased sound and light pollution from 14 Forest Road?
ANSWER 6. The purpose of the Land Disturbance Permit is to review the stormwater runoff controls during and after construction to ensure it complies with the town requirements. There are light shields proposed under the fuel depot canopy. The proposed new access for the fuel depot is located on the existing driveway of the DPW facility. This project will not impact the road shoulder. Following the installation of the new fuel depot, the Tree Warden will be providing some additional native landscaping alongside the fuel depot when the contractor completes the construction. THE DESIGN IS NOT ANTICIPATED TO IMPACT ABUTTERS.
It is the final sentence that I object to. Any design that brings two things closer together impacts the intensity of the light and sound between those two things, and not just for abutters, but for all within the reach of light and sound. I have hearing loss, and the inverse square law is why I sit as far away from the organ as possible in Acton Congregational Church, at least when I am not singing in the ACC choir.
I can demonstrate the inverse-square law with this microphone. Let’s say that the sound level is at intensity level #3 when I speak about 2 feet (arm’s length) away from the microphone. When I move to one foot away (half the distance), the sound is now at intensity level #9 (3 squared).
The design of all aspects of this project impacts abutters, neighbors, all of Robbins Park, and all of Acton’s residents. The Election Day fire and smoke at the DPW is just one example of this impact. And it should be noted that Robbins Park was here long before the DPW moved to 14 Forest Road.
2. COMMUNICATION & TRANSPARENCY. The DPW has done only the bare minimum with regard to notifying the Robbins Park neighborhood about the proposed project, mailing only abutters with property within 100 feet of the DPW (as required by law). If the DPW is looking for buy-in from the Robbins Park neighborhood, then they will have to do more than the bare minimum of communication. Such as inviting ActonTV to all events like these, measuring traffic with traffic counters on Hosmer Street (not just on Forest Road), and including dates of next meetings on the DWP website page itself. When DPW workers pave, plow, or sweep the roads, I am sure that they do more than the bare minimum.
3. PEDESTRIAN & PET SAFETY. Adding sidewalks to the approximately 3000 feet of Forest Road would greatly improve safety for pedestrians and pets, yet I note that in the “Town Manager’s 10-Year Capital Improvement Plan,” sidewalks are not planned for Forest Road, one of the busiest and most dangerous roads in Acton. Sidewalks were added for the North Acton Fire Station project, sidewalks should be added for the proposed DPW project. Traffic control, such as additional stop signs and/or a right-turn-only rule for traffic entering and leaving the DPW, would also greatly improve safety for pedestrians and pets.
In summary, I want to be able to endorse this project at Acton’s 2025 Town Meeting, but only if we can agree on facts, communicate better, and ensure the safety of pedestrians and pets.
Erik Heels, 17 Forest Road. Thank you.
Minutes
TBD
Video
My statement is at the 58:40 point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NlAY7qrb1U#t=58m40s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NlAY7qrb1U
2024-10-08 Acton Finance Committee Meeting
Agenda
I watched a recording of this Acton Finance Committee (https://actonma.gov/98/Finance-Committee) meeting (and, as such, did not make a statement).
Minutes
https://actonma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/21161
Video
The Acton DPW Building Committee presented its budget estimate for the proposed DPW project at this meeting. In addition to the $40M price-tag and how that could be reduced, Finance Committee members also tried to find a way to approve this project without raising taxes (since this project would add debt to the budget while other debt gets paid off and removed from the budget).
At about 31:01, Steve Noone discusses $2.4M of debt servicing coming ON the books (as a result of this project) and 1.5M of debt servicing coming OFF the books (as a result of other projects):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4PJH0mNcHg#t=31m01s
At about 52:12, Corinne Hogseth mentions trying to find savings (preferably from the schools) to offset the $900K delta (without mentioning the $900K delta) so that taxes do not go up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4PJH0mNcHg#t=52m12s
At about 1:26:35, Steve Noone explicitly mentions the $900K delta and trying to find savings to offset this (whether operational or capital savings):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4PJH0mNcHg#t=01h26m35s
2024-09-26 DPW Committee Meeting
Agenda
I attended this Acton DPW Building Committee (https://acton-ma.gov/831/Public-Works-Facility-Project) meeting in person and read the following prepared statement (emphasis added):
Statement Delivered To Public Meeting Of The Town Of Acton DPW Building Committee
Hello Acton Friends,
My name is Erik Heels. I am 58 years old, an Air Force veteran, a small business owner (Clocktower Law), and a longtime Acton visitor and resident. In 1975, I first visited Acton when helping family friends move from Andover to Acton’s Indian Village (no longer the preferred name, I understand). In 1983, those same friends moved to Acton’s Robbins Park. In 1995, shortly after graduating from law school, I first moved my family to Acton, but we could not afford to buy, so we rented a ranch in West Acton. In 1996, we moved to Marlborough, again because we could not afford to buy in Acton, but also because Marlborough high school students, at that time, could attend the newly expanded ABRHS (to offset the cost of expansion and to use up some of the high school’s excess capacity).
In 1998, my work resulted in a 2-year stint in Denver, Colorado, but we returned home to Acton’s Minutemen Ridge in 2000, just before my oldest child entered first grade. Divorce and remarriage resulted in two more moves, and since 2013, Rebecca and I have called 17 Forest Road home. It’s the yellow house with the chainsaw bear out front and the fenced back yard. Together, Rebecca and I have put five children through the AB school system, and our youngest (Freddy) is now a senior at ABRHS.
I have been a good steward of 17 Forest, and I have been a good neighbor to the DPW and to others. (For example, I store a snowplow on my property for a Venezuelan friend (who plows for the Town of Acton) because he is not allowed to store the plow at his condo.) Over the years, many vehicles have pulled into my driveway or rung my doorbell, looking for directions to the DPW. And while I live across the street from the dump (AKA “the transfer station”), I have never been to the dump. (I much prefer Marlborough’s centralized recycling and trash system, which, like school buses, is much more efficient than having thousands of cars doing the same task.) In fact, the only time I have been to the DPW is to deliver mail and packages dropped off at my house by mistake.
The DPW, on the other hand, has not been a good neighbor. Robbins Park families, in general, and residents of Hosmer Street and Forest Road, in particular, already bear a disproportionate amount of traffic (especially on Saturday afternoons) going to the dump, often speeding at close to twice the posted speed limit. And some of the worst offenders are those who work at or fuel up at the DPW.
The majority of residents of Forest Road own dogs, and the lack of sidewalks in the neighborhood combined with the amount and speed of the traffic, makes walking (with our without dogs) treacherous. I was a cat person for 47 years, but our family decided to rescue a stray dog last year. Her name is Piper. We walk Piper twice daily, and multiple times per week, we have close calls with Acton bus, DPW, fire, police, and rescue vehicles. When driving on the highway, we were all taught to move over a full lane for cars on the shoulder. We should all do the same thing on neighborhood roads. Recently, a dog was struck by a speeding vehicle on Minot Avenue, and the dog had to have one of its legs amputated. Yet when sidewalks were added to Minot Avenue and Taylor Road a few years ago, the entrance to Forest Road from Minot Avenue was inexplicably widened, allowing speeding cars to take that corner even faster! It’s also where the sidewalk ends.
The proposed DPW construction project will add additional noise, traffic, and danger for already overburdened Robbins Park families. So I believe that much more needs to be done for the residents of Robbins Park before this construction project starts. The “vegetative buffer” referred to on the project website (https://www.actonma.gov/831/Public-Works-Facility-Project) has decreased in density and effectiveness every year that I have lived here, most notably due to the 2011 October snow storm and the September 2023 microbursts, both of which took out many mature (mostly oak) trees.
If you lived here, what would you ask for? Sidewalks? Narrowing the Forest-Minot intersection? Planting evergreens (such as hemlocks, rhododendrons, or the like) on the perimeter of the “vegetative buffer”? Replacing the always-on DPW spotlights with motion lights? Being a better neighbor?
I understand that this project has been in planning for quite some time, but the first direct communication that I received about it was Acton’s September 18 letter announcing this public meeting.
I have been a good steward of every property that I’ve ever owned, and I have been a good neighbor everywhere I have lived. The Town of Acton can – and should – do better.
Sincerely,
/erikjheels/
Erik J. Heels
Actonian since 1995
Minutes
My statement was summarized in the minutes (https://acton-ma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/21062) as follows:
Eric Heels read a prepared statement regarding his concerns with the current facility, proposed new facility, traffic speeds along Forest Road, noise level from current facility and future facility, the need for sidewalks along Forest Road to allow abutters the ability to walk safely along Forest Road, site lines into the DPW from both his house and abutters, noted he did not hear about this meeting until 8 days before the DPWBC meeting.
Video
My statement is at the 49:35 point:
https://civplus.tikiliveapi.com/embed?scheme=embedVod&videoId=155129
Erik J. Heels claims to publish the #1 blog about technology, law, baseball, and rock ‘n’ roll. GiantPeople LLC was founded in 1999 and is a single-person LLC owned by Erik.
