2006-01-03-WALKS-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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SIDEWALK COMMITTEE Minutes of the January 3, 2006 Meeting The Lexington’s Sidewalk Committee meeting was convened by Chairman Craig Weeks at 11 AM in the Selectman¹s Meeting Room. Fourteen voting members plus committee liaisons were present. It was MSP to accept the minutes of the December 5 meeting as submitted. Wayne Brook’s proposed plan for sidewalk repair and resurfacing in 2006 was discussed. At the December 2005 meeting, the SWC had voted their support for a $200 K supplement to the DPW proposed budget for 2006 for sidewalk repairs and resurfacing with a percentage increase in future years based on true cost. This was based on fixing 5% of Lexington’s sidewalks each year, assuming a 20 year failure rate. In light of this level of support, Mr. Brooks came up with a list of 27 priority sidewalk projects. An additional sidewalk project at the behest of the Center Committee amounting to $92 K for sidewalk rebuilding on Mass Ave from the library to Waltham St. was mentioned. Mr. Weeks had made a map for the committee showing the location of these 27 proposed sidewalk improvements and asked the SWC members to consider the list for the next meeting. There was some discussion on how these two separate items would be presented at town meeting. Ms Lazarus suggested asking for a larger amount since the SWC estimate might be low. Ms Guttag questioned whether separating both sidewalk requests from the general DPW budget request would be preferable. It was finally MSP that the SWC would separate the two items, recommending $200 K for the sidewalk work town wide, keeping the $92 K engineering dept. estimate for the center costs as a separate item. Mr. Weeks said the sidewalk map and repairs spreadsheet would be e-mailed to all members. He asked the SWC to be ready to comment on the proposed sidewalk projects at the next meeting in February. Concerning Wayne’s priority list for 2006, Ms Briggs said she thought the primary committee focus should continue to be the Safe Routes to School program (SRTS) with secondary emphasis on general sidewalk improvements, waiting for the positive attitudes of the school children to sway the parents and other adults. She noted that the focus on the schools defuses the debate on which sidewalks should be repaired first and gives citizens time to consider the general benefits of better walking conditions on the town. She also felt that the SWC should not spend the time discussing each street, that this level of detail is better handled by DPW and that our committee should focus more on policy and promotion in a more general sense. Mr. Weeks stated that the funds for sidewalks will not be available until July, plenty of time to amend the priority items on Wayne’s proposed list. The important step is to have Town Meeting vote some level of funding for the sidewalk repairs this year to get the positive feedback for an ongoing program.