2007-02-08-LBAC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEETING MINUTES Committee Name: Bicycle Advisory Committee Date, Time and Location of Meeting: February 8, 2007; 7:00 pm; Cary Hall Members Present: Stew Kennedy (BAC chair), Harvey Bingham, John Frey, Marita Hartshorn, Abe Shenker (FOLB Chair) Mike Tabaczynski, Jerry Van Hook Others Present: Bob Wessells (Woburn resident) Members Absent: Richard Canale (Planning), Hank Manz (Selectmen), Sandra Shaw (Recreation), George Gagliardi, Jim Wichmann Record of Votes taken and issues discussed. Minutes from the January meeting were not ready and so weren’t reviewed. West Lexington Greenway CPC Application Status: Mike reported that the project was approved (unanimously) by the CPC and will go to Town Meeting for approval of funding in March. If Town Meeting approves it, the next task will be development of a request for proposals in preparation for putting the Master Plan work out for bid. Bedford extension (Reformatory Branch) public hearing report John, Jerry, Harvey : and George attended this hearing hosted by the Bedford Board of Selectmen and expressed the LBAC position recommending the paving (with asphalt) of the proposed extension of the Minuteman Bikeway. They also gave personal observations on the benefits paving has on allowing multi-usage by the community. A vocal and seemingly organized group of neighbors presented the usual fear-of-change arguments against paving. Jerry hopes to write a follow-up letter to the Bedford Minuteman supporting paving. Bicycling Safety: Bob Wessels, an in-line skater and heavy user of the Bikeway for skating, read a statement complaining about some rude cyclist he has encountered on the Bikeway and recommending some safety rules changes and new / additional signage accordingly. He thinks the main problem comes from some high-speed cyclists who have little regard for other users. We listened to his suggestions for improving safety but saw no practical measures among them we felt are necessary to adopt. It was agreed by all that, just like among auto drivers, some from the mixed types of users of the Bikeway can be rude, reckless and inconsiderate of others. (This includes some cylists, skaters, runners, walkers – all types of users.) There is not much we can do to change such behavior beyond continuing to educate users on best practices.