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Lexington Sidewalk Committee Meeting Minutes of April 5, 2009: 11:00 am, Selectman’s Board Room Members Present : Jerry Van Hook (chair), Judy Crocker, Lucy Fletcher-Jones, Suzie Barry, Margaret Lotz, Francine Stielglitz, Jeanne Krieger Liaisons Present : Elaine Celi (Transportation), Hank Manz (Board of Selectmen), Wayne Brooks (DPW), Richard Canale (Planning Board) Visitors: Those discussing possibility of a sidewalk on Hill St. Sharon and Andreas Olofsson 36 Hill St., Tom Hamilton 122 Bedford St., Edith Petterson, 6 Hill St., Simona Raffioni 80 Hill St.,. Lawrence Woods 1 Hill St., Kristine Wise 19 Hill St., Claire Bertucci, 50 Hill St., Dave Robinson 15 Hill St., Gail Arnold 62 Hill St., Marilyn Kolb 64 Hill St., Anne Marie Healey 21 Hill St., Bettina McGimsey 11 Hamblen St., Makiko Wada 23 Hill St., Charles W. Goodell 31 Hill St. Requesting a sidewalk on Hastings Rd: Tim Spriano 20 Childs Rd. Hastings SR2S representatives: Jane Kalinski and incoming chair Bettina McGimsey Agenda topics: 1) Discussion of the possibility of a sidewalk on Hill St. Sharon Olofsson and 14 others in the Hill St. neighborhood attended the discussion on the dangers of walking and biking on Hill St. Sharon Olofsson started the discussion and noted the following points:  She has been living on Hill St for about 4.5 years, and soon after moving in was almost hit by a school bus as she was walking on the Bedford St end.  She does not let her 3 children walk to school.  Hill St. runs between Paul Revere and Revere St., both of which have sidewalks.  The road has pronounced curves and blind spots and almost no shoulder in places.  She and her husband estimate that some car are speeding at 50 miles/hour.  She finds that buses (school buses coming back and forth from Diamond, Hastings and the High School, Lex Express buses and small school vans) are going particularly fast considering their width.  There are no speed limit signs and almost no blind driveway signs.  She feels that those with no choice but to walk (folks walking to Temple and those walking down to Bedford St. to catch the MBTA bus) are in danger.  Hill St is only 0.7 miles long. The bottom part near Bedford St. is flat and relatively straight and could easily have a sidewalk. The part from the conservation land to the main entrance of the golf course curves and is steep with the least visibility. This length poses the most danger to pedestrians and bikes, but also poses more issues for engineering a sidewalk. The part from the main entrance of the golf course to Cedar St. is straighter, although drops steeply down on the north (odd-numbered) side. Questions arose about the speed limit on Hill St. One neighbor said the speed limit should be 30 in a residential area. Jerry recommended that the neighborhood should contact TSAC and ask for speed limit signs. The possibility of speed bumps was discussed, but they are not feasible on a connecting road on which emergency vehicles may have to travel at high speeds. Judy and Jane Kalinski noted that Hill St. has been at the top of SR2S priority list of streets needing a sidewalk in the Hastings district because of its high connectivity and high danger to pedestrians and bike traffic. Simona Raffioni, who has lived on Hill St. for 5.5 years, walks her children to Hastings along Hill St. and commented that traffic comes down from Cedar St. really fast. She has stopped some of these speeding drivers to remonstrate with them and has been harassed. She thinks that Hill St. is a cut-through to Bedford St. and that the drivers are very aggressive. She notified the PD and they put a speed-monitoring unit on Hill St., but in her opinion, this failed to make drivers aware of their speeding. She has seen cars passing other cars that were going more slowly. She ended