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Home My WebLink About2018-05-10-LBAC-min `OVS MORN' O� 1775 tic (7 N P APRIL 19' �FXI NGSO� APPROVED MEETING MINUTES Committee Name: Lexington Bicycle Advisory Committee Date, Time and Location of Meeting: Thursday, May 10, 2018, 7 pm, Ellen Stone Room Members Present: Peggy Enders (chair), Mike Tabaczynski, Jennifer Melot, Lou Savarino, George Gagliardi, Bob Hausslein (chair, FoLB), Kevin Falcone Others Present: Sandra Shaw (Recreation Committee Liaison), Joe Pato (Selectmen's Liaison) The March meeting minutes were approved. Discussion of policy issues/project goals for Input to Board of Selectmen Goal Setting: • Commit to comprehensive plan • Get school committee to commit to bike safety ed program. Joe Pato points out that the selectmen can't control what the school committee does. Suggested we identify tangible steps to improve bicyclist safety. • Discussion of how Lexington's bike infrastructure is inadequate. How should this be represented in the goals? Joe acknowledges that sharrows are not met with a great deal of enthusiasm/aren't clearly effective and noted that protected bike lanes are more likely to result in meaningful changes. • Peggy listed other things that might be added: bike crash recording, bike counting, etc. Discussion of proposed "haiku on the path" • Kevin mentioned various issues that have been considered, including need to be aware of HDC historical issues, advantages of using painted art (as it can't be stolen), need to locate "safe place" to put them. • Lou/Kevin discussed the idea of using them as mile/half-mile markers. • Peggy discussed artistic vision - community sourced haikus • Sandra raised issue about when these would get painted given the high level of traffic on the path • Kevin mentioned that September was the goal to coincide with the celebration • Mike T said we should use marking paint as it looks vivid while it's there but goes away quickly • Peggy mentioned the new Maple St ramp might be a good location. Kevin suggested other"pull off' areas such as near the AGM would be good locations. • Mike points out that artist must identify volunteers and put the paint down at a time when it won't be smeared. `OVS MORN' O� 1775 tic (7 N P APRIL 19' �FXI NGSO� • Peggy/Joe noted that Selectmen and DPW would have to approve. Joe was nervous about it becoming a maintenance issue but was basically ok with it. The issue of this potentially encouraging the community to do their own (less carefully executed) DIY projects was noted. • Need for"expiration plan" for getting rid of them reiterated • Our haikus will probably be clustered. There is a judging group. The need for a veto power suggested. Bike Counters • No "magic bullet" answer - it will be "A Project" • Thousands of dollars for infrared sensors that just tell you something went by • Putting a motion-activated camera out also an option, allowing you to review faster than real-time. Systems that classify the users based on video only not available • Peggy points out that it's not understood how many bikes are traveling on roads because we don't count this; automatic counters would enable more reliable data of on-road bike use • Critter cam suggested by Bob H. Kevin raised the potential privacy issue. Mike said you just can't keep the photos and that obviates the privacy issue. • Bob H will look into putting the critter cam out on the bikeway • Mike points out that if it's obviously on the bikeway, people will try to take it. Said people on the mailing list he queried mentioned that people tried to remove these on other trails. So you need a steel box. • Mike also points out that we don't necessarily know what data we're looking for. Peggy said we want to know who is using the bikeway and what they're doing, that she is often asked what the gender demographics are on the path. Mike points out that knowing racial demographics might be good too. • Peggy notes how helpful it would be to be able to use something like this to facilitate counts, for economic development etc. Peggy mentioned commuter data continues to increase. Various people mentioned that data is generally a good thing. • Idea of looking at Strava counts raised. Bike Crash Reporting • Kevin summarized history of crash report draft document • Kevin mentioned police are still doing a paper and pencil report. • Peggy said Captain McLean encouraged working more closely with Paul Callahan. Many times the report is taken while the cyclist is still disoriented from the crash. `OVS MORN' O� 1775 tic N P APRIL 19' �FXI NGI • Apparently exactly what Waltham is doing is still somewhat mysterious. Cambridge should be the model. • Kevin will resend the link to the google doc. • About half of the form is said to be present in ProPhoenix already, possibly due to our earlier versions of the draft. Liaison Reports • Joe: The town manager is retiring (August 3) and a new one will be sought. Aaron Henry has resigned. • Peggy: working group on center streetscape will report to Selectmen. June 11 - community meeting. Peggy worries about concern of disabilities commission. Joe said blend of concrete and brick is best from the perspective of that commission and they are still concerned. Joe said the decision of the board is to wait, see what happens in East Lexington, and come back to Woburn Street intersection and try to fix some of the problems there. People noted that the current narrowness of Mass Ave has slowed traffic and Peggy noted again that we need to be cognizant of where the bike lanes will go. Plan is to slow the traffic quite a bit. • Lou/Peggy noted it would be good to do more recreation program focused on bike safety. Other business • Richard Fries may apply to be a member of LBAC. BoS Chair Barry asked Joe to update LBAC charge to have Police representative as a formal liaison. ( Having a conservation person is less important now that we're less of a "trails" group. Peggy will send Joe suggested changes. Possibility of associate member/local student raised. Kevin/Mike said we should generally advertise despite Richard's interest. • Protected bike lane pilot is not going to happen on Hartwell this year due to force main excavation. Committee agreed we should try to get a PBL *somewhere* even if it isn't (immediately) where we wanted. Jennifer will draft a letter to the DPW. The meeting was adjourned. `OVS MORN' O� 1775 tic (7 N P APRIL 19' FXI NGSO� Record of the Discussions of the Friends of Lexington Bikeways • Bob Hausslein gave the Treasurer's Report. • Idea was discussed once again of having people "adopt a section" of the bikeway. • Garlic mustard: Grace Chapel volunteers helped a lot. George discussed the lifecycle of garlic mustard. Section between Camellia and Bedford, much progress has been made. Garlic mustard has become more manageable near the solar panels. • Anthony Lasakris from CycleLoft will be doing the Bike Maintenance Workshop during Bike Walk `n Bus Week (on Saturday, May 12). • Sunday afternoon bike ride on ACROSS routes A and B. Peggy and Keith Ohmart will lead. • Discovery Day - Peggy will do more volunteer recruiting. There are 80 bike helmets to distribute to kids. • Peggy reminded Joe that the Bikeway signage program has halted; the kiosk signage is needed, both for local business map but also user courtesy guidelines. This aspect of the signage project was the principal goal of the original bikeway signage grant to DCR. Raised issue of Great Harvest sign on the bikeway and guidelines provided by Board of Appeals. E. Lexington businesses have been eager to be more visible to bikeway users. • Richard Canale - planning board workshop on "what Lexington do we want" coming up on June 4. Recorder: Jennifer Melot Editor: Peggy Enders