2013-01-07-WALKS-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Lexington Sidewalk Committee Meeting Minutes Monday, January 7, 2013, 9 AM Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building Present: Jeanne Canale, Judy Crocker, Mary Hosmer Fanucci, Bettina McGimsey, Francine Stieglitz, Jerry van Hook; Liaisons: Hank Manz (BOS), Marc Valenti (DPW) The meeting of the Sidewalk Committee (SWC) was called to order at 9:05 AM. 1. Review of the December 2012 minutes: The minutes were approved as amended. 2. 2013 Meeting Calendar: Meetings of the SWC will be held on the 1s Monday of each month at 90 AM in the Selectmen's Meeting Room. Judy Crocker's schedule was amended to reflect that the meetings are held on Mondays. 3. Lexington Bike /Walk /Bus Week May 5 -11: A meeting will be held on 1/8/13 to organize this week. Ms. Crocker will attend. The intent is to have it coincide with Lexington 300' activities, the May Safe Routes to School walk in Lexington, and the final date for school bus registration. Jerry van Hook noted that this would also tie into Bike to Work week. 4. Safe Routes to School: The Safe Routes committees are quiet due to the time of year. 5. Ad hoc School Transportation and Safety Study Committee (STS) Update: The last article submitted by Ms. Crocker for this committee to the Minuteman was subsequently published in the December e- newsletter of the National Association for Pupil Transportation. The article discussed how the middle schools embody the new balancing fulcrum on the school transportation scale as this population drives the flexibility of the Lexington tiered bus system. Ms. Crocker noted a current problem of Diamond Middle School, which involves students walking out to the traffic queue and attempting to board the buses before they arrive in the dedicated bus lane. C &W has asked Diamond to keep the children in front of the school, while Diamond administration has said that the bus drivers should not let the kids onto the buses. STS informed Dr. Paul Ash of the situation at their last meeting. Elaine Cell is meeting with Diamond administration and C &W Transportation presently. Also raised in their last meeting with Dr. Ash was the importance of maintaining the parent fee for the school bus at $300. Dr. Ash agreed and will submit the parent fee recommendation to the School Committee as part of the LPS budget. In order to absorb this parent fee price point, the administration will be asking to increase the transportation budget by $420,000. The STS is recommending that the parent fee be subsidized at a cost of $300, provided parents register their children during the designated registration period. Should the signup occur later than that date, there will be no subsidy and no family cap. The STS and school administration is then recommending that parents then pay the actual cost of the bus /student of $722. Ms. Crocker then raised the issue of school zone signs, noting that signage is outdated and not consistently in compliance with the law. Marc Valenti noted that he is working on a proposal to get recommendations from transportation engineers to do a study evaluation. School signage and pavement markings would be limited to the elementary and middle schools and would be consistent across the schools. Mr. van Hook asked about the implementation cost for redoing the signage. Cost would be determined based on the study findings. The major cost would be removing pavement markings. Ms. Crocker noted that on Lowell Street a crosswalk has been moved, but the old markings still exist. A suggestions was made that LED flashing speed limit signs be used on arterial streets. Jeanne Canale asked about the source of funding for the study's recommendations. Mr. Valenti noted that he has the money for the study, but is not sure where the funds for implementation would come from. Ms. Crocker noted that a MAPC grant is available that might be able to cover the cost of this study.