Streetscape, the Oak Bluffs project to revamp downtown with rearranged parking and expanded sidewalks, is forging ahead through blizzards and other winter obstacles as construction crews tear up the familiar sidewalks on Circuit avenue and the town begins to search for replacements for the trees that once lined the iconic main street.
Early on the revitalization project was embroiled in controversy centered around a planned switch from diagonal parking spaces to parallel on the lower portion of circuit avenue, near the Ritz Cafe.
Preliminary work began on the project in December when crews from Lawrence-Lynch Corp. of Boston began cutting down the trees and removing planters along the east side of Circuit avenue. Since then, the view up and down the avenue has changed even more dramatically. Traffic cones line both sides of the street in places where sidewalks have been demolished, and a revolving door of usable parking spaces spins as crews work their way down the street.
On top of it all, the recent blizzard covered work sites in a thick layer of snow. But in spite of all that, town administrator Deborah Potter said the project remains on schedule.
“The whole project was planned to include these kinds of delays,” she told the Gazette by phone Wednesday.
Weather-related complications have delayed the pouring of concrete on portions of the street where old sidewalks have been dug up. Instead of waiting for the weather to cooperate with the contractor’s need for warmer temperatures to pour concrete, Ms. Potter said crews are simply moving on to the next part of the demolition when they can’t pour.
“The schedule has had to be flexible,” she said.
That flexibility at times has meant more complications for year-round businesses whose doors now open out onto sunken patches of dirt.
For some businesses, Ms. Potter said the issue is solved by alternate means of entry — for example, a sign on the Circuit avenue door of Basics Clothing Company asks patrons to enter through Healy Square. But for other places with no secondary entrance, construction and concrete pouring will mean no way in or out while crews are at work.
“For a very short period of time, there’s an inconvenience,” Ms. Potter said. She added that the town and Lawrence-Lynch are working with businesses to coordinate solutions and mitigations to egress problems when construction blocks access to buildings.
Businesses with one entrance will be blocked off during the actual pouring of concrete, but as sidewalks set, plans are in place to put plywood or other bridge-like structures across the drying concrete to provide a way in and out.
“Once it’s poured and finished, they have a mechanism to put something on top of it,” Ms. Potter said.
She said the town is in regular communication with business owners about the schedule for pouring concrete, which will begin as soon as weather permits.
“So at least they have a heads up,” she said.
Ms. Potter also said a search has begun for new trees to line the street. She said the town is working with Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury to find suitable native species that can thrive in a dontown setting.
Decision makers and advisors for some of the street’s ornaments, such as trees and benches, include newly appointed members to the streetscape project review committee: Kathy Laskowski, Christina Izzo and Tommy-Ann Brown. The committee will join in on the regular on-site streetscape meetings.
The town is also eyeing other portions of the broad-reaching project. Last week the select board decided to refer plans for the North Bluff and Seaview avenue portion of the project to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. Preliminary sketches for that portion of the project are posted on the planning board page on the town website.
But for now, the focus remains on the Circuit avenue portion of the project, expected to run right up to the slated completion date just before Memorial Day weekend.
“We are just going to have to work around the weather conditions as they present themselves,” Ms. Potter said.
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