From Your Councilor - Precinct 6- Janet Joakim-

Visions of Centerville

It is spring and the promise of longer days and warmer temperatures are in the air.

The Centerville Village Association has hosted two visioning sessions with members, residents of Centerville, and Town of Barnstable staff. These meetings, led by Assistant Town Manager Paul Niedzwiecki and facilitated by Lynne Poyant, director of community services, have been productive in establishing and prioritizing issues in Centerville.

There have been two meetings so far with a third scheduled for June or July. Traffic patterns along the Route 28 corridor from Lumbert’s Mill to Phinney’s Lane are a major concern, as is the rising cost of affordable housing and zoning along our sensitive barrier beaches.

These meetings have been informative and have provided an excellent opportunity for a community to share its concerns with each other and town officials. The next step is to discuss planning for our future. If you are interested in joining us for the next meeting, keep watching for the date, time and place as we get closer to June.

Kudos to the Centerville Civic Association and all involved in arranging, setting up, and facilitating these important meetings, and to our town staff for taking the time and energy needed to help us understand the needs of our village.

• • •

Could we finally see a set of traffic lights at Lumbert’s Mill and Route 28? Word has come quietly, through Senator O’Leary’s office, that the state, after studying the intersection, has decided that we will get a traffic light at Route 28 and Lumbert’s Mill. Rep Atsalis had obtained funding for this project through a transportation bond years ago, but it wasn’t a priority for the state, and the highway department questioned the need.

Thanks to Senator O’Leary and all town officials and residents who have written letters and more to help educate the state about this position. I will post any further news about this on my Web site as it has been an ongoing priority for residents in my precinct. Let’s hope we actually see ground breaking soon!

• • •

Water, water – everywhere?

Where?

The contentious issue involving the Darby property and the agenda item introduced by Councilor/CO- MM committee member Crocker has people asking a lot of questions about drinking water.

Where would a well such as this, with a high volume of water flow but unsafe levels of iron, manganese and arsenic, fit in the list of wells if we were to prioritize? At the time of printing, we will have voted on this issue, but the lingering questions like priorities need to be addressed.

I have proposed that the council consider a survey, town-wide, of all wells: those that are working, those that have been identified, potential, tested, and to identify all well fields. This information can be gathered from each water district and, perhaps with the help of an expert or consultant, prioritized.

During the discussion about these potential wells in Osterville, it was stated that other villages, like West Barnstable, will need this water.

Will they? Who will need water from what water department, and when?

Are the water districts set up in a way that each will provide for its own residents, or will we be increasingly relying on each other? These questions need to be answered and that process should begin with an inventory.

Water is important, and issues like waste water, nitrogen loading and more will also be on our radars in the near future.

• • •

I have been trying to keep my Web site (www.janetjoakim. org) up-to-date with issues.

Please contact me if you would like to see anything added, or changed, I would like to make it useful for my constituents. Happy Spring!

. Past Barnstable Patriot Columns  

 

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Committee to Re-Elect
Janet Joakim
Town Councilor Precinct 6
205 Donegal Circle
Centerville, MA 02632
(508)420-2153
email:janetjoakim@aol.com