No One Thrilled With Plans for Hall's Corner Revamp

Plan to dump the decision on to the Selectboard about whether to eliminate parking spaces in front of people's in-and-out businesses; Dennison "I don't know if people would kill us if we did this."

June 20, 2025 — At the Selectboard on Monday, June 23, the Hall’s Corner Working Group will present a proposal for revamping Hall’s Corner traffic, parking spaces, and crosswalks.

Discussion at a May 13 meeting indicates that not even the working group members seem to support the changes, which would reduce available parking in Hall’s Corner.

The group has been meeting for nearly a year to develop a plan to revamp the area somehow.

The current plans, developed by Fisher Associates, involve improving pedestrian access to the area.

The Crosswalk Plan

Note the drawings are not on a north-south axis

The first drawing included more crosswalks at Hall’s Corner. That sounds great, right?

Well, according to regulations, we can’t have on-street parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk. We also would have to include curb ramps at some areas on the street.

The final result: 10 fewer spaces in Hall’s Corner.

Wayne Dennison suggested that the parking spaces could be made up at the Girl Scout House.

Chad Schneider of Fisher Associates said that the Girl Scout House is 500 feet from the Chestnut Street Grill, a three minute walk for the average person.

The Girl Scout House has 13 parking spaces.

They did not discuss the blind corner that is about 150 feet away from the Girl Scout House on Washington Street.

One of the participants suggesed making a pathway from the Girl Scout House to the Duxbury Marketplace on Depot Street. An informal pathway has existed there for decades.

Dennison also said that the sidewalk in front of Nouria needs to be blown up and repaved.

Someone else said that none of the sidewalks in the area are ADA friendly.

Five Way Intersection

The green areas are additional paved areas.

The consultant’s second proposal was to replace the roundabout with a five-way intersection. Significant portions of the area would be paved over or turned into green space. Hall’s Corner would lose 14 parking spaces. The sidewalk in front of Duxbury Pizza would also shrink to allow for more room for cars to drive. The flag pole would need to be moved.