HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-12-06-WALKS-min
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LEXINGTON SIDEWALK COMMITTEE MINUTES 3rd DRAFT
Monday, December 6, 2010 11 am Selectmen’s Meeting Room
Attendees:
Members:
Jerry Van Hook, Judy Crocker, Francine Stieglitz, Lucy Fletcher-Jones, John
Davies, Bettina McGimsey
Liaisons
: Elaine Celi( Transportation), Marc Valenti (DPW), Wayne Brooks (DPW)
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1.Letter to Minuteman in response to Dec 3 article on pedestrian safety:
Judy Crocker drafted a response outlining the need for all street users (bicyclists,
pedestrians and vehicle drivers) to follow the law and safety rules. After discussion a
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final version was agreed and should appear in this week’s Minuteman (Dec 9).
2.November Minutes
: approved.
3.DPW:
Wayne Brooks is retiring after sterling service to the Lexington community.
Jerry van Hook thanked him for all his help since the committee formed 5 years ago,
in installing sidewalks, signs and his knowledge on town public works procedures.
Wayne reported that there was now a procedure in place for requesting and installing
new sidewalks, that the GIS was now updated with sidewalk status data and would be
shortly available on the Town web site. Marc Valenti will take over his duties.
4.Photo:
Photo of committee for annual report was taken by DaveTaberling.
5.DPW Master List of Sidewalk Repairs and Construction priorities
: This is almost
complete now. DPW/Engineering will maintain one master list sorted by street name in
alphabetical order, showing whether a sidewalk is ‘new’ construction or needs
repairing and a priority calculated from such criteria as connectivity, usage and safety.
School reps may request a printout of their school neighborhood streets only. This list
will be added to the GIS so it may be viewed by the public. Priority is presently
calculated within each school district. Discussion ensued on whether to give an overall
priority across all districts.
6.SRTS:
Judy Cocker reported that the November ‘Turkey Trot’ successfully took place
at the schools and the photos were published online in wicked.lexingtonlocal.com but
not in the Minuteman newspaper.
Diamond Middle School
Discussions at on improving bus access to the school are
ongoing. There is not enough manpower to put buses on Sedge Road. Pat Goddard of
Town Facilities suggested putting in a segment of 3 lanes which could be achieved in
FY2011. Supported by the Committee, Elaine Celi is concerned that this will allow cars to
drive by busses while loading students, which is dangerous.
Clarke Middle School:
The Principal has received many complaints from parents about
the safety of the constricted 90˚turn at the front entrance to the school. He favors installing
a crosswalk and ‘Stop’ sign at this place to allow students to walk safely to Marrett Rd
along the dirt pathway. School Facilities agreed this could be done but must go through
TSAC first. Stedman drainage path improvements will be looked at in the spring.
MassRides is producing a webinar on sustainability of SR2S programs.
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7.Annual Report
: Jerry asked for feedback on his drafted annual report which he
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handed out. It needs to be submitted by December 22.
8.Other Business:
Jerry informed us on the latest developments of the Safe Mass Ave
(SMA) committee which met with Traffic Safety Advisory (TSAC) on October 20
and on November 29 received a letter from their chairman. In it, TSAC
commended SMA for raising public consciousness on the problem of
pedestrian visibility at specific crosswalks on Mass Ave in East
Lexington and supports more extensive training and public relations to
explain the process.
The SMA committee still considers the flag/crosswalk program as
experimental at this time and does not advocate its extension to
locations other than Mass Ave in East Lexington. Anticipating future
efforts to extend the program to other areas in town, the TSAC
chairman's letter called for more specific guidance on flag use from
State and Federal sources and a clarification on the potential for
liability to the town before broader application could be considered.
9.
The meeting was adjourned at 12.30 pm. The next meeting will be on Monday, January
10th 2011 at 11 am.
Respectfully submitted
Lucy Fletcher-Jones