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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-09-15-LBAC-minTown of Lexington Bicycle Advisory Committee 9/15/2022 15 Sep 2022 / 7:00 PM / Hybrid Meeting in person at the Cary Hall Hudson Room and via Zoom ATTENDEES (present in bold) Committee Members: Betty Gau, Ram Reddy, Jim Cadenhead, Suzan Chen, Dave Armstrong, Mike Tabaczynski, George Gagliardi, Matthius Beebe, Mike O’Connor (not present), Arnav Aora Also Attending: Susan Barrett (Transportation Manager), Peggy Enders (Bike Lexington), Richard Canale (Battle Road), Suzie Barry (Select Board Liaison), Sandhya Iyer (Economic Development Director) FoLB/Bike Lexington 7:00 – 7:15 pm 1. Treasurer’s Report Our cash balance is $20,702.15. Federal tax returns are filed for FY 2021-22. Also, our application with Massachusetts Attorney General's office of Public Charities is filed, along with 4 years of Form PC. I have not heard back from the Mass. Attorney General's office, but they did say expect a long delay for processing the 4 years of forms. Still on Omar’s (Treasurer) to-do list: ● File 2022 Annual Report with Massachusetts Secretary of State (deadline, 11/1/2022). ● Register DBA “Bike Lexington” at town offices ● Create account with Techsoup ● Create Google G-suite nonprofit account (requires Techsoup account) ● Request updated Form ST-2 from Massachusetts Department of Revenue (so we can buy things without paying sales tax) 2. Update on signage (Burma Shave Signs and Walk Your Wheels) ● Dave Armstrong and Ram Reddy finished it - Burma Shave Signs ● Walk your wheels - Temporary are signs up in Lexington Center. ● Permanent Signs are being discussed in Town Meeting 3. Upcoming Events – Volunteers Needed ● Farmers’ Market Bike to Market Bike Corral October 11 th (Mike Coyne volunteered) ● Discovery Day October 8 th - Ram will volunteer ● LexDoingGood October 22nd - Omar will run it 4. Fall Bike Rides ● Being organized - Jim, Peggy, Omar, and Patty Grasso 5. Bike Node and Center Bike Racks ● Thanks to the Center Streetscape project. New racks are good. ● Discussion that there are more racks needed at LHS and Diamond. Suzie Barry suggested contacting Dave Pinsonneault to find out about ARPA funding for bike racks. Lexington Bicycle Advisory Committee – 7:15 pm 1. Approve July 14, 2022 Meeting Minutes ● All approved 2. Town Manager’s Proposal on Committees ● Betty listened to the 9/12/22 Select Board meeting and gave a brief summary - Jim Malloy/Town Manager was asked by Select Board to review ALL the committees ● Suzie Barry - Select Board was not unanimous in agreement on what the Town Manager emailed. There is an act that delineates roles of Town Manager and Committees. Diversity is key - needs to be represented in the Committees. Texts, phones were received. A citizen petition opposing the Town Manager’s proposal with 600 signatures was received by the Select Board. ● Richard Canale - Context - The Town Manager supervises all the people so he is looking at it from a staffing perspective. Question - How much work does Town Staff spend on Committee work? Suzie - Staff adds only if there is a long-term need i.e. sustainable ● Peggy - Different skill set between Town Staff and Volunteer Meetings of the Committee ● Suzie Barry - Unlikely LBAC will be disbanded. Budgeting Process has started - unlikely that there is money in the budget to add resources to Town Staff. 3. East Lexington Wayfinding Project presentation by Sandhya Iyer, Economic Development Director ● Grant for Arlington+Bedford+Lexington towns - East Lexington, Arlington Heights and Bedford Center were beneficiaries for wayfinding ● Wayfinding signage for East Lexington was our project - Dawson Associates is consultant ● Distance, Icons, Signage - Design being done - 50% Done by Consultant ● Looked at other town’s signage ● Maps being worked on. QR codes will be added. For Business names and Other languages ● Peggy will share documents from previous assignments (from Tool Design) ● Richard Canale - Signs should work/reinforce with each other (Mass Ave vs. Bikepath, Minuteman Bikeway vs. Battleroad Byway, Streetscape vs. Battleroad Byway, Streetscape vs Minuteman Bikepath) - Should Town look into this? Richard to talk to Sandhya 4. Signage: ● Signage on Minuteman Bikeway - Who owns it? Economic Development? Dave Pinsonneault DPW? ● Kiosks? Interpretive signs? - Money is already there (CPA Money) - Should work with Economic Development (Sandhya) so it is a collaborative effort ● Peggy displayed Messages from other towns. Cost: 2 messages on 1 sign - approx $150/sign + post + installation ● Suzie - Sign making machine is that possible? No, says Peggy. Suzie will check. ● ACTION: (COMPLETE) Betty will contact Dave Pinsonneault to schedule a meeting. Mike, Jim, Ross, Peggy, Sandhya, Richard, Betty to meet to discuss how to work together - so that all these signage projects are coordinated. ○ Betty, Peggy, Dave Armstrong, David Pinsonneault, Ross, Sandhya Iyer, Casey Haggerty and the consultant met on Sept 21st to review the East Lexington signage design and discuss funding for the kiosks and 8 interpretive signs. 5. Bike/Ped Plan Update - TSG - Ram to email draft Bike/Ped Plan RFP doc to committee for review. Sheila Page plans to issue the RFP for vendors by the end of September. 6. Comprehensive Plan Transportation Goals Update - Dave ● By June the time to make changes was closed. So, that the Planning Board has the changes in a timely manner. Susan B - please look and see if you need any updates - send the updates asap to Dave - consolidate and send to Susan B. 7. Liaison Reports Select Board/Suzie Barry: ● Special Town Meeting - Nov 1, 2, 3 - Remote. ● We have until Sep 23rd to submit a Citizens petition ● Budget is being discussed. Last week of Nov/First week of December Richard Canale: ● Rte 2A resurfacing - Federal Project - no news ● Submitted 1.3million project on Byway - MassDot sent to Federal government - Early fall ● Engineering - Safer crossing on Hancock Project - put in a budget request for the S-on the bike path - Early Fall possible approval Susan Barrett: ● Wed October 12 - Bike Train to Hastings school - Need adult volunteers. Near High School - Will send route map to Bike Committee (Suzie - suggested contacting DPW to use Electronic Sign Boards a few days prior to notify residents about the bike train ● BikeSmart program - 4th to 8th October Arnav Arora: ● Ridership to High School - Up 50% ● More racks at LHS are needed. Maybe Covered Racks (2 bikes to one locking point, many unlocked points) - Same situation at Diamond School where many students are biking and there are not enough bike racks/places to park and lock ● Susan - Curriculum changed in Elementary and Middle Schools to add Bike Safety ● Suzie mentioned that she can talk to Dave P - get ARPA funds for Bike racks ● Jim asked if there a LHS Bike group? Arnav-No. But could be an interesting idea Police/Alex Hagenah: ● Since 6/6 we have had nine bicycle crashes in town. I have attached the journal notes for you to review if you choose. One crash in particular (22.010227) may have been preventable if the bikeway had flashing lights warning motorists a bicyclist is approaching the roadway. The flashing lights help to alert drivers of the presence of cyclists and encourage caution. ● The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in Chelmsford has these flashing warning lights and it’s nice to be forewarned somebody on the bikeway may shoot out in front of you.