2005-06-27-WALKS-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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SIDEWALK COMMITTEE Minutes of June 27, 2005 Meeting The Lexington Sidewalk Committee meeting was convened by Chairman Craig Weeks at 11 AM in the Selectman’s Meeting Room. Of those present there were four guests: John Frey and Karen Longeteig representing the Lex.. Tree Committee, officer Paul Jenkins of LPD, and Mary Jane Bohart from the Lex. Chamber of Commerce. A motion to accept the minutes of the April 14 meeting with corrections was moved seconded and passed. Craig first asked John Frey to outline the interests of the Tree Com. in our project and John talked about his committee agenda on tree plantings along public ways. He discussed bio-barriers which would minimize tree root damage to sidewalks and bikeways. He introduced Karen who showed a map of tree plantings in the Center where tree type and age will be entered in data banks also giving GIS position for access to town planners and citizen groups. Questioned about computer access to the GIS and related data, Karen said it was not yet on the Town web site and would take time and resources to get it there. She described the need for water and air for healthy tree growth and the modern methods used to keep the soil permeable at tree bases to allow this to happen Craig thanked the Tree Committee for the update and asked for continuing close cooperation in making Lexington more walkable. Our committee would hope to generate a similar data base for walkways and bikeways and would benefit from the Tree Committee experience with GIS and other data entry. The Lexington Collaborative Association held a charette on June 11, accepting citizen input on ways to improve the center. John Davies emphasized the importance of improving the walkways between shops on Mass Ave and parking areas on both sides of the avenue. Ideas on beautifying the parking areas, minimizing the loss of vehicular spaces and adding bicycle racks were touched upon.. John Davies gave a report on the Inventory subcommittee. Work sheets are complete on 2 of the 6 inventory areas with progress on the others to be completed hopefully for the next meeting. John emphasized the value of map entry to check on the completeness and accuracy of the work sheet results before submitting the data to computer spread sheets. The focus of different inventory takers varies somewhat since data in the field are taken without access to others, and the map entry which will be done collectively is necessary to produce a cohesive result. He said he would get a map of proper scale and arrange for a map coloring session where all work sheet data would be reconciled and entered. Thereafter, unified work sheet data would be submitted for web site entry. Olga Guttag questioned the value of map entry. She said it would be better to get students and others involved in computer entry from the start and that corrections and/or additions could be made subsequently in a more efficient way. John countered that maps gave a better overall view, both in