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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-02-08-LBAC-min Town of Lexington Bicycle Advisory Committee-2/8/2024 Meeting Minutes February 8, 2024 / 7:00- 9:00 PM / Virtual Meeting on Zoom ATTENDEES Committee Attendees: Dave Armstrong, Betty Gau, Jim Cadenhead, Mike O’Connor, Tom Shiple, Suzan Chen, Arnav Arora Also Attending: Mike Tabaczynski, Mark Sandeen (Select Board), Sheila Page (Assistant Planning Director), Susan Barrett (Transportation Manager) 1. Approve January 11, 2024 Meeting Minutes The Committee voted to approved the Minutes. 2. Bike/Ped Plan Update from Sheila Page Sheila Page says that Jill Hai (at January 27th Select Board meeting) requested tweaking the plan to be clear about having more inclusivity with Lexington Center and the neighborhoods. Sheila notes that staff groups meeting to go over the prioritized lists and discuss how to get them done. She notes need for coordination with projects already in pipeline and pavement management plan. Also that projects that will need more investigation (e.g., connecting Minuteman Bikeway to LHS, making Muzzy Street one-way) will probably be capital requests and need public engagement. She also notes that Select Board will have to answer questions about staff level and funding to do this in addition to other commitments (like plowing snow). Jim Cadenhead asks that given the plan is a “living document”, can we ask that it is references whenever street work is to be done. Sheila likes the idea and will ask Select Board to add that to policy. Tom Shiple asks if completing one or two high profile projects (like LHS bike access) would be good for getting the public on board. Sheila agrees. Jim Cadenhead relates that he sat in on the Arlington bike committee meeting. Notes that they’re making a log of grant proposals, and asks if we can do similarly. Sheila says they are always looking for money, that federal grants are quite challenging, and that, the Wood Street design work will hopefully have Safe Streets For All funding. Susan Barrett notes that having the Bike Ped Plan approved will help us get grants. Betty Gau asks about next steps for the Bike/Ped Plan. Sheila Page says there will be staff meetings to make scenarios, and that people feel good about the prioritized list. She is not sure what more Select Board wants to do. 3. Discuss MWRA proposal of bikeway closure and bike detour plan (See below for recap on MWRA’s three proposals with some discussion notes from the last meeting, in which this proposal was presented. The third option, which they saw as best, called for postponing the Bikeway work until November 2025) Jim Cadenhead agrees that option 3 is best, noting that MWRA’s further proposal to make the Bikeway open during weekends will be a lot of extra work for them. Tom Shiple agrees, saying MRWA did their best with this difficult situation. Dave Armstrong also agrees, and notes that the committee will need to monitor difficulty spots like Waldorf School. Jim Cadenhead suggests that we have a point person assigned to us, and Betty Gau agrees, and will add these suggestions to our guidance. She notes that we need a letter to Select board supporting option 3 plus a point person for feedback. Jim says we should be sure crossing guards and Waldorf can also reach out with concerns. Betty Gau proposes writing the letter to the Select Board with our suggestion that the MWRA Option #3 is the best option for this project. Jim Cadenhead moves, Dave Armstrong seconds, and the proposal passes unanimously. 4. Review letter to Select Board on Worthen Road Bike Lane https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Up9XBWM2a1neNTWEKQqjVC2_B288BT8bwOBABa7MP1s/edit?usp=s haringDiscuss MWRA proposal of bikeway closure and bike detour plan Tom Shiple relates that he reached out to Sheila Page, Melissa Battite (Director of Recreation & Community Programs) and Town Meeting members. Sheila Page says she thought that parking on Worthen Road would not be affected. Susan Barrett agrees. Tom Shiple clarifies that relocating parking is only an option. Relates that Melissa Battite was concerned about after school parking conflicting with sports at Lincoln Field. Tom explains that the School Building Committee has focus groups, one of which is Site Safety and Security, which looks at circulation of bike, car, and bus traffic. Tom is now part of that focus group. The parking proposal got a good reception at their first meeting, and he expects it to be part of ongoing discussion. Susan Barret says she is also in that focus group, and suggests connecting to the Transportation Advisory Committee, and also suggests possibly charging money for parking. Charging a fee for school parking has been an idea that Michelle Ciccolo introduced many years ago and has been discussed in various projects over the years. Betty Gau notes that the Transportation Advisory Committee is different from the Transportation Safety Group. Tom Shiple proposes sending a letter. Sheila Page suggests adding that there is room for a side path, and putting less emphasis on parking. Also asks if the Conservation Commission would be on board. Mike O’Connor sees this as a mitigation of a possible difficulty, and that this will help keep the project in mind. Betty Gau also likes the letter as a fresh idea. Suzan Chen asks if there is a quantitative analysis relating to parking space numbers. Tom notes that he has counted 80 cars parked on the east side of Worthen Rd, and that there are 180 parking spaces at the Lincoln Park parking lot. The motion to send the letter is passed unanimously. 5. Discuss/develop agenda for Tri-Town Bikewaly Meeting Februaly 21, 2024 Betty Gau: The last Tri-Town meeting was last October, and we are hosting the upcoming meeting, which will be 2/21/24 from 7:30 to 9:00PM. Suggests bringing forward from last meeting’s agenda e-bike legislation, and encouraging better behavior on the Bikeway. Jim Cadenhead agrees that we should come up with uniform verbiage. (Betty notes that Bedford is using our signs already.) Jim suggests publicizing the Bikeway Block Party to Tri- Town. Betty suggests as a topic making the Bikeway more inclusive/adaptive. Notes that Arlington is working on this, with an adaptive bike parking spot. Also asks if we should add bike parking as a topic. Jim Cadenhead: The future MWRA work is another topic to bring up. 6. Liaison Reports Susan Barrett: Has been focused on event planning: — 4/25 The author of “Paved Paradise” Henry Graber will be at Cary Hall — 5/11 Bike Rodeo — looking for volunteers. 6/8 is the rain date — 5/17 Bike to Work Day, and Bikeway Breakfast — Bike instruction offered on three dates — 2/12 Safe Routes to School meeting Transportation Safety Group: (TSG Liaison Ram Reddy not present tonight) Planning Board: Tom Shiple says there are no new bike-related items to report at this time. Arnav Arora relates that the School Committee minutes do have bike-related items. He will be attending the next meeting. 7. Other Business — Discuss bike rack and bike parking guidelines and bylaws next meeting Tom Shiple notes that Mark Sandeen suggested updating town bylaws regarding bike parking, Blue Bikes, etc. Suggests making a working group to catalog what we know now, see what other towns are doing, and make proposals to Select Board and Planning board. Mark Sandeen relates that he has been saying to select Board that bike and especially e-bike parking needs have to be considered. — Friends of Lexington Bikeways update Jim Cadenhead reports big progress on the bikeway block Party. Recapping the plan, it will be September 15th, with 10 parks turned into event spaces for arts, sports, poetry hip hop, DJs, yoga, bands, drum circles… Hopefully all the way into Somerville. He is working with chambers of commerce, and relates that this type o event worked very well in Los Angeles. Jim asks for help doing outreach to small businesses. Finally, he notes that FOLB is revamping the Bikeway map, and that their finances are OK right now. To Shiple notes that the Bikeway sign near Maple Street needs to be moved to the eastbound side. Discussion ensues, and we decide to let Ross Morrow know that we are willing to move the sign ourselves if that’s OK with the town. Finally, there was discussion of behavior of a school bus driver honking behind young cyclists, with Susan Barrett suggesting that the topic be brought to the School Committee as well as to the individual school. The meeting was adjourned. The next LABC meeting is scheduled for March 14th, 7-9PM MWRA was challenged by the Committee to mitigate impact of the bikeway construction MWRA suggests they break construction into 2 phases Maple Street ramp and start with pipe construction They need truck access from Bow St to Foller St. There will be dump trucks full of soil on the bikeway, full of gravel and front-end loaders Ellen Dana Court is a private road and we would have to get approval to use that road and make improvements to widen it and improve it – get approval for use and temporary easement. Detour would be on Follen Rd Then could do a 2-way protected bikeway Challenges – MBTA Bus route 62 Town has jurisdiction over the roadway General consensus from the Town is detouring traffic off Mass Ave doesn’t have town support? Betty asked how they determined there was no support from the Town – Answer is the initial consultation with Engineering and Traffic Department Alternative 3 – Initially looking to construct in the winter but the lex 2025 then they created an alternate scheduled of construction after 2025. Now they looked at starting Maple St right after Lex April 2025 and then do the bikeway usage from Nov – May in 2025 Weekend usage is about triple the weekday use – Then it would be possible to open the bikeway to weekend traffic – creating a surface RAP – and create signage When bikeway is restored, it will be 12 feet wide and RAP will be on either side Permanent restoration is to duplicate 12 foot wide with 2 feet RAP on either side of the paveway Temporary weekend will be back to 12 feet also Open the bikeway on weekend Implement the bike lane detour as designed – Paint roadway bike lanes green – both existing and proposed Add safety measure – temporary signalled crossing – flashing crosswalk at Maple and at Bow From Bow to Pleasant they are proposing temporary lanes that can be painted green