Ward Meeting, City Budget, Middle School Traffic and More

Jim4Concord
4 days ago
3 min read

Ward Meeting, City Budget, Middle School Traffic and More

There will be a Ward 7 Meeting (open to everyone) on Tuesday, June 16, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at the West St. Ward House, located at 41 West St. Community Concordia, a local neighborhood engagement effort, will meet at 5:30 pm right before the Ward Meeting. Feel free to come early and check out their plans and ideas.

City Budget

The City Council has been meeting as the Finance Committee (committee of the whole) since May 15 reviewing the City Manager's proposed FY27 budget of $156.6 million. This budget proposes a 5.5% property tax increase. While staffing shows little change, as proposed, the budget includes

5.5% increase for union wages for Fire and Police
9.5% increase for health insurance premiums (all city workers)
27% increase in property and liability insurance
27.6% increase in debt service (partially offset this year by use of reserves and fund balance)

Appreciating the difficult economic times for many resident, my goal is to work with other Councilors and city staff to reduce the overall tax increase to less than 5%. I likely will have the final results of budget deliberations by the time of our Ward Meeting on the June 16th.

Middle School Traffic Configuration

Some area residents are concerned about the proposed Middle School traffic plans. The proposed plan (see below) separates bus and parent traffic. The school planners have worked hard to develop a traffic plan that promotes student safety and efficient queuing of buses and parent cars. Impacts on various neighborhoods around the middle school were evaluated under multiples scenarios. [See this link for an updated Traffic Report (as of May 18, 2026). The full set of Traffic Report appendices are on the Middle School Project site under Documents, Reports and Presentations 2026.] Alternate scenarios considered include (Figures and a listing of the Benefit and Issues/Concerns with each can be found in the updated Traffic Report):

Buses enter via Conant Dr. (Fig. 16)
Reverse bus and parent flow (Fig. 17a)
Parent traffic loops around field (Fig. 18a)
Buses exit to Conant Dr. (Fig. 19a)

None of these alternatives were assessed to be superior, overall, to the proposed traffic plan..

The proposed traffic plan is shown in the picture below.

The Building Committee heard clear testimony from the Cypress/Noyes St. residents about concerns with the buses coming and going through those streets. While the Building Committee felt the recommended plan was the best and deemed safe, they did suggest that sidewalks on Cypress and Noyes St. be considered in the future.

A sidewalk on the north side of Noyes would require installing drainage piping, removing several stately old trees, and residents loosing front yard space. Also to be considered, the Noyes St. sidewalk ranks below several other important South End sidewalk projects (as ranked in the 2021 Sidwalks Priority List). City-wide there are 41 sidewalk projects ranked higher than Noyes St. Finding the best balance between student safety, neighborhood traffic. and costs has been a difficult challenge.

South End Sidewalk Priority Rankings (2021)

Broadway at Main St Traffic Accidents

There was heartfelt public testimony by two Ward 7 residents at the May 21st Finance Committee (Budget) hearing regarding the impact of multiple auto accidents at the end of Broadway where it curves to meet Wiggins St. and South Main St. I had previously referred this issue to the Traffic Operations committee and various changes were recommended (short of a costly redesign of the entire Broadway/Main St. intersection). Staff are currently estimating the cost of these recommended changes and we hope to be able to include necessary funds in the FY27 budget.

Recommended Changes at Broadway/Wiggins/Main Sts.

Bike Park Plans

Plans for a Bike Park at Martin Park are moving forward. A very rough conceptual plan is shown below. There is strong, although not unanimous support for the project which will be funded entirely with donations (no city tax dollars). As you may know, city staff reviewed every park in the city as a possible site for the Bike Park. Overall, Martin Park was the best suited for this project. Proponents cite strong interest from both adults and kids. The prospect of one more healthy, outdoor recreation option (away from screens!) resonates with many. Concerns expressed include environmental impacts, noise, parking and impact on the existing trails.

Step 1 is for the project to get City Council approval to proceed with design. It is anticipated to come to City Council in the next couple months. After designs are completed, it will need to come back to City Council (step 2) for approval before any construction can begin.