Lodge Street/Temple Beth Shalom of the Blue Hills

Marvin and Andrea Gordon who are residents of Gun Hill Street have generously offered to donate a portion of a large parcel of land they own between Gun Hill Street and Lodge Street to the Congregation of Beth Shalom of the Blue Hills (formerly known as Temple Shalom) to build a Temple.

The Lodge Street community welcomes the Temple and the Congregation. We are, however, opposed to the use of Lodge Street as primary access to the Temple. Lodge Street is a densely populated residential neighborhood with many young children and families. Lodge Street has well‐documented traffic issues and is an active point of discussion for the Traffic Board.

Our primary concerns include:

 Increased traffic on an already busy cut‐through street. See photo below of 12 car backup on 10/8/13 at 5:30pm on Lodge Street as commuters attempt to avoid traffic on Pleasant Street by cutting down Lodge Street to take a left onto Randolph Ave. The current traffic levels on Lodge Street are unsafe. We simply cannot handle any more traffic.

 Safety in the vicinity of the access road: the width of the lot frontage, which will be the access point off of Lodge Street, is well below the required standard set in Milton’s Zoning By‐Laws and will create dangerous conditions for pedestrians on adjacent sidewalks, motorists travelling on Lodge Street and Maitland Street, as well as vehicles entering and exiting the Temple.

 Inadequate parking: congregation representatives have stated that they intend to use offsite parking and shuttle buses to accommodate their congregation during peak times. This is absurd. Lodge Street and adjacent Maitland Street are not capable of handling buses of any size.

VIABLE ALTERNATIVES EXIST: As shown on the map on the back of this page, there are viable alternatives for the location of the access road on Gun Hill Street. Common sense dictates and public safety demands that those alternatives be pursued.

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!