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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-04-10-LBAC-min.pdf1 Town of Lexington Bicycle Advisory Committee 4/10/2025 April 10, 2025 / 7:00 PM / Parker Room Members present: Betty Gau, Tom Shiple, Jim Cadenhead, Dave Armstrong, Jonathan Schwartz, Ben Alperovich (LHS Student Liaison) Also Attending: N/A Guests: N/A 1. Motion to approve March 13, 2025 LBAC meeting minutes was approved 2. Discussion of wayfinding sign project 3/13/25 presentation Historic District Commission has approved the mural, so there will be no need for our committee to send a letter to the Select Board. After reviewing the sign project presentation, the design of the Depot column mural was discussed, with some concerns expressed that the murals may be distractions causing some hazards due to people stopping on the Bikeway. 3. Review of the new LHS building plan, and draft letter to the Permanent Building Committee (PBC), Tom Shiple presented an overview of the planned new LHS campus, including the placement of parking lots, shared-use paths and solar panels. He noted that bike parking is planned near the new front doors. He explained the LEED guidance for the amount of bike parking (5% of the number of people in the building), which results in only 145 bikes being accommodated. This seems insufficient, especially given that “wave” style racks, which don’t do a good job holding bikes, are planned. Tom noted that Dero (the vendor that LBAC has recommended for other bike rack projects in town) is not on the state vendor list. Discussion followed regarding budgeting concerns and whether LBAC should push now for parking for 300 bikes at the new LHS, or should instead ask for 200 with space to go to a larger number in the future. 2 Also discussed was whether solar panels do a good enough job at weather protection, with the consensus being that they aren’t great, and that we should generally at least try to get more effectively covered bike parking. Next was discussion of the draft letter to the Permanent Building Committee. Tom reviewed the executive summary, noting that: — 10% charging accommodation for ebikes seems sufficient given that students don’t have long-mileage bike commutes to LHS, and that staff probably need the ebike charging stations more since they generally have longer commutes — The “wave” racks are not favored by Dero, which even sells them — The hoop-style racks that we prefer, that support bikes at two points, only cost ~$90/bike, which is a tiny part of the new LHS building project. Regarding the recommendation to install bike racks under the parking lot solar panels, the consensus was that solar panels provide better than no protection at all. It was pointed out that there are bike racks under the solar panels at Hastings and the panels are too high and have too many gaps to be considered good protection. With that in mind, Tom plans to add a sentence proposing better bike rack coverage/protection as a future consideration. Discussion of bike racks followed, with points being made that the committee should note that “wave” racks don’t meet LBAC’s guidelines, and that the need for bike racks with two points of contact should be emphasized. Tom also noted that LBAC needs to get the letter out to the Permanent Building Committee by May 1st. There was also discussion of how Ben might be able to enlist student support for the LBAC recommendations at LHS. The committee voted to add the amendments to the letter, and to add that Ben, as the LBAC student liaison, approves the letter, with the possibility to also add endorsements from LHS Student Council and/or other concerned LHS groups. 4. Bike Safety Working Group Jonathan Bernays was not able to attend the meeting, and the edits to his working group were not available, so further discussion was put off until the next meeting 5. Review Planning Board projects Tom Shiple (Planning Board Liaison) noted a new project on Waltham Street of around 15 condominiums. Also noted was that the Bike Parking recommended bylaw changes have not yet been made, and that the Bike Parking Working Group will work with the 3 Planning Department (Abby McCabe) and the Planning Board after Town Meeting ends. The plan is to first work on the proposed Bike Parking with the Planning. Tom listed three projects still needing attention: — The new police station still has no bike parking, but some racks may be installed near the sidewalk soon. Betty also related that, in her tour of the new police station, she learned that 25 police officers have gone through bike training. — The planned path from the Bikeway to Cary Hall was ready to be constructed, but EV chargers were installed exactly where the path was planned to go. There is still no update on this. — The Valley Road tennis courts still have no bike parking planned, despite their proximity to the Bikeway and our November 2024 letter to the Recreation Department and Select Board. The Recreation Department says they will do it later, or maybe the DPW will do it, but there are still no plans showing any racks. Tom noted that a single bike parking space needs only 17 square feet, as compared with 180 square feet per car space, and that a number of car spaces are planned for the tennis courts. 6. Worthen Road Working Group update Dave related that Ross Morrow (Assistant Town Engineer) expressed disapproval of “offset speed tables” for Worthen Road that would allow emergency vehicles to weave around the speed tables. He disapproves because he believes that other motorists will also weave across the centerline to avoid driving over the one-lane speed table on their side, and that this would reduce safety. Ross did note, however, that he is still hoping to have crosswalks raised a bit to give additional traffic calming. Betty noted that some sort of raised pavement just before a crosswalk, Middleby Road being an example, might be suggested. Dave will run this idea by Ross. Tom related that the fire chief’s response to speed tables was that they are hard on the fire truck suspensions, and that each such speed table would add 10 seconds to any response time, and that therefor speed tables should not be installed. It was noted that other towns have not reached the same conclusion. 8. Next LBAC meeting May 8, 2025, 7:00 - 9:00PM — Will be hybrid (in-person plus Zoom) 9. Other Business Upcoming Registered Events on the Bikeway: 1. April 20th - Tough Ruck Marathon – From the Bedford line of the Bikeway to 4 turnaround at the DPW – 100 walkers 2. May 11th - Charlie Proctor Memorial Ride 100 bike riders 3. May 17 - 8 – 1:00 - Global 6K for water event - walkers and runners • Friends of Lexington Bikeways (FOLB) Report • Patriots Day Parade • Bikeway Clean up May 4th Sunday 9-11:00 am need volunteers – Betty will email the sign-up link • Bikeway Breakfast May 16th 6:30 – 9:00 am at the Depot – volunteers needed • Coffees on the Bikeway April 26 – at the Depot • Dates so far: 11-1:00 Saturday April 26, May 16th and into the summer • May 17th Concord Reenactment Ride – Reformatory Trail leaving Lex at 8:30 a, riding to Concord on the Reformatory Trail to the Concord Museum. The Museum is then sponsoring 3 rides.