Traffic Looms Large For Centerville Civic Assoc.

By: James Kinsella
Published: 02/04/11

There were the ideas that came from the coziness of a traditional New England village: a bicycle path that would run from the playground to the beach, Friday night coffeehouses for young people at the recreation building, distinctive signs that would help visitors get around town.

And then there was what resident Shirley A. Fisher of Old Stage Road, Centerville, called “the broken record": traffic.

Traffic, especially on the stretch of Route 28 from Old Stage Road to Phinney’s Lane, was the recurrent bugaboo that emerged from the facilitation groups formed at the annual meeting of the Centerville Civic Association, held Monday evening at Centerville Elementary School.

Forty-five people attended the meeting.

The congested and sometimes dangerous traffic conditions along Route 28 may well become the next major focus of the association, which just wrapped up a battle lasting several years to bring stricter development rules to the Craigville Beach area.

Last month, the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates approved implementing regulations for a District of Critical Planning Concern for the Craigville Beach area.

The regulations are set to take effect February 19.

In a sense, the Craigville Beach DCPC battle represents an interlude in Centerville’s longstanding concern over traffic, especially over the four-lane stretch of Route 28 that effectively cuts the village in half.

Various suggestions were put forward for the stretch, including a traffic signal in its middle to control access to retail development along the road; a reduction in the posted speed limit; the closing of one or more curb cuts on the highway; an interconnection between the Centerville Shopping Center and the Bell Tower Mall; and a prohibition on left turns into the Centerville Shopping Center.

Association members also pinpointed additional traffic concerns, including the potential need for four-way stop signs at the intersections of Pine Street and Strawberry Hill Road, and at Old Stage Road and Main Street, and for a reduction in the speed of vehicles traveling on South Main Street between Centerville and Osterville.

On the non-traffic front, residents called for the association to back the proposed town purchase of the so-called “Best Buddies” lot on Craigville Beach Road, both as a way to gain public recreational access to the Centerville River and to accommodate overflow parking from the public parking lot at Craigville Beach.

Improving water quality in the Centerville River also was listed as a concern.

Residents also suggested better and more signs showing residents how to get to destinations in the village.

Clark Square, the home of war monuments at the intersection of Main Street and Old Stage Road, was cited as an example of a destination worth seeking out.A further suggestion called for construction of a bicycle path between the Centerville Playground off Main Street and Craigville Beach.

Another suggestion was a Centerville map that would feature businesses and destinations.

The association’s wish list included the opening of an eatery where “everyone would know your name,” and the return of a drug store to the village following the closing of the CVS store in the Centerville Shopping Center.

The relative lack of representation at the association’s annual meeting by younger parents and young people was listed as an area of concern.

“They are not identifying with the village,” said Ms. Fisher, who facilitated one of the discussion groups. “They aren’t really assimilated into our culture.”

A potential way to reach out to younger people, residents suggested, was to hold Friday night coffeehouses in the recreation building on Main Street.