2013-04-29-WALKS-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Lexington Sidewalk Committee Meeting Minutes Monday, Apri129, 2013, 9 AM Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building Present: Judy Crocker ,Mary HosmerFanucci, Bettina McGimsey, Francine Stieglitz, Jerry Van Hook; Members absent:, Jeanne Canale;Liaisons: Hank Manz(BOS), Marc Valenti (DPW), Elaine Cell (Transportation); Guests: John Livsey (DPW),Sean Osborne, residents of the Winthrop Street neighborhood: Vera Peidl, Marion Krupka, Alex Bonnier, Trish Green The meeting of the Sidewalk Committee (SWC) was called to order at 9:03 AM by Judy Crocker. Proposed Winthrop Road Sidewalk: Ms. Crocker opened the meeting by noting that she had asked the SWC to consider whether or not they had enough information to vote on the Winthrop Road sidewalk. If so, they would make a recommendation either pro or con to the Board of Selectmen. If not, they would determine what they still needed, get that information, and then make a determination. Ms. Crocker then read a prepared statement: After many interactions with citizens, the Sidewalk Committee, whose members include both municipal and school representatives as well as community volunteers, a few years ago recognized that Lexington citizens had no vehicle to concisely instruct our community as to how to go about the process of requesting a new sidewalk in their neighborhood. So, as it is our charge to "increase pedestrian activity and reduce traffic by considering the adequacy of the town wide sidewalk network, " the SWC set about to right this omission. Working with DPW, Engineering, and members of TSAC, the end result submitted by the SWC and approved by the Lexington BoS is the Resident Guidelines for Requesting New Sidewalks. This guideline is a good faith effort. It relies on the integrity of the members of our community, many of whom are elected representatives of our community thru Town meeting and members of Lexington's 75+ Town recognized committees and endless number of community civic organizations. Members of the Winthrop Rd neighborhood used this vehicle in good faith in an attempt to complete an existing sidewalk on their street. • This sidewalk is recognized as being a point of connectivity to the town center and the schools by both TSAC and the Sidewalk Committee. • Importantly, TSAC recommended that the proposed sidewalk be installed prior to the Sidewalk Committee being established in 2005. Given these facts and to be most fair to those who made use of this advertised, approved, best practice approach any present parties who have made use of the current set of guidelines should be heard. While recent objections to the process itself from Mr. Krupka to halt the good faith efforts made by members of the Winthrop Rd community and this committee are heard and the current set of guidelines will be re- examined by this Committee and re- approved by the BoS, I feel that it would not be in the best interest of our community not to grandfather this neighborhood group's request. Following Ms. Crocker's comments, Jerry Van Hook spoke. He noted that he had planned to just make some general comments regarding sidewalks and transportation safety but instead would also use his time to address Dan Krupka's email that SWC members had received the evening prior to this meeting regarding the SWC's process. He noted that he believes that the key to safe and enjoyable transportation lies in the separation of vehicles and pedestrians due to the differences in vulnerabilities of the two. Vehicles should be in proper travel lanes, bikes should be on the right, and pedestrians should be on sidewalks. The ideal of separation is cars on the road, bikes on a bikeway, e.g. Minuteman Bikeway, and