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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-02-18-GCC-minApproved Meeting Minutes — February 18, 2011 Committee Name: Lexington Greenways Corridor Committee (GCC) Date, Time and Location of Meeting: February 18, 2011, 8 am, Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building Members present: Peggy Enders, Bob Hausslein, Stew Kennedy, Paul Knight, Deb Mauger (Selectmen's Liaison), Keith Ohmart Members Absent: Duke Bitsko (Conservation Commission Liaison), Alex Dohan, Mike Tabaczynski Others present: Richard Canale (unofficial Planning Board Liaison) Previous Minutes: Initial meeting; no previous minutes. Personal Introductions: Individuals introduced themselves as needed. Election of Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary: Candidates were nominated, and elected by unanimous voice vote. Election results: Chair: Keith Ohmart Vice Chair: Stew Kennedy Secretary: Paul Knight Term Lengths: Keith Ohmart reminded members that initial terms of GCC members vary in length up to three years, to provide for staggered three -year terms in the future. Meeting Schedule /Time: It was proposed and accepted that future meetings should take place on the third Friday of each month, at 8:00 am. Next three meetings: March 18, April 15, May 20, at 8:00 am, in the Ellen Stone Room, Cary Hall. Liaisons from Town Committees: It was proposed that Liaisons be identified from additional Town Committees. For the Sidewalk Committee, [Action] Peggy Enders will contact Judy Crocker, coordinator of the Safe Routes to School program. Deb Mauger suggested that a liaison with the Sustainable Lexington Committee would be valuable. [Action] Keith Ohmart will contact Mark Sandeen, chair of that committee. Keith suggested assembling a list of the affiliations of the individual members and liaisons of GCC. Compiling that list could be an agenda item for the next meeting. Additional GCC member recruiting: It was proposed that the GCC should fill the two remaining open GCC positions, for a total of nine standing members (not counting Liaison members). The possibility of inviting some of the suggested new Liaison members as standing members was discussed. [Action] Stew Kennedy will contact Dick Thuma and /or Rick DeAngelis regarding establishing a liaison or maybe a standing member from the Recreation Committee. Creating GCC web site as part of Town web site: Peggy Enders noted that Candy McLaughlin in the Town Office can provide information and assistance on developing the GCC web site. As GCC secretary, Paul Knight will coordinate materials for the web site. Stew Kennedy offered to introduce Paul to Candy after the meeting. [Action] Paul to begin setting up web site. Creating GCC email account: GCC email intended for all committee members should also be sent to a Town - provided GCC email account for archiving purposes. [Action] Paul Knight to ensure a GCC email account is established. Request Board of Selectmen letter in support of federal Recreational Trails Program (RTP Keith Ohmart discussed the threat to funding of the program which has enabled trail construction around Lexington, and distributed a proposed letter supporting the continuation of the RTP. Peggy Enders mentioned that she had received news that the RTP was no longer considered to be in danger. Consideration of the proposal was tabled. Brainstorm Goals & Objectives for GCC: Keith Ohmart asked for each attendee to discuss their views on the goals and objectives for the Committee. Keith: Conservation areas are a great resource. The GCC can help give inspiration to link them into a regional network. Other towns nearby can be linked through the GCC's efforts and example. The work of the GCC can result in a valuable legacy, as the next phase of evolution of the sustainable development of conservation land. Richard Canale: Many Town Committees have a tight focus. The GCC can be an umbrella project, to look at green and open space corridors from a systems perspective. The GCC can help coordinate actions of other Town organizations which affect greenways corridors. Deb Mauger: The GCC needs to coordinate with traffic groups to develop corridors which are officially recognized and considered as a part of traffic planning. In particular, the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee and the Transportation Advisory Committee. Paul Knight: The GCC can encourage and facilitate increased non - motorized travel by providing safe and enjoyable off -road connections around town and with other nearby towns. Connecting the conservation areas will help spread out the usage and encourage more use. That will help increase public appreciation for the value of conservation lands. Peggy Enders: There are various groups looking at transportation in Lexington. The League of Women Voters is involved with one activity on April 1, 2011. Lexington needs to work toward becoming more pedestrian - friendly. It has been difficult to organize the various interests, and the town is missing some opportunities for developing non - motorized transportation alternatives. The GCC should avoid focusing on streets and roads. Keith: Agree that the GCC should primarily focus on off -road issues, and the interfaces to the roads and sidewalks. Stew Kennedy: The GCC should see connectivity between conservation areas, both in Lexington and regionally, as a key goal. With the GCC formally established, we also need to take over the goals and objectives of the West Lexington Greenway task force, which was not an official entity. The GCC has some advantages over the WLG task force in representing the town in a more official capacity. We need to manage the WLG master plan completion, and move that project forward, particularly the "Minuteman Connector" concept. Keith: Yes, the WLG work is a key item for the GCC to pick up. The initial WLG study has made it clear that the first approach would result in considerable need to mitigate wetlands impact, and we need to investigate alternatives. Bob Hausslein: The vision of providing connectivity for pedestrians and bicyclists, while helping avoid conflict with cars is thrilling. The GCC should keep that vision as a primary goal. Richard Canale: The GCC should have as an important goal to improve community awareness of the value of green corridors for travel. This will help prevent an attitude of marginalizing conservation lands. When people appreciate that they can travel around town or to other towns without depending on a car, it raises awareness of the value of the connections, and maintaining them, for instance, by plowing the bikeway in the winter. There is synergy — as people benefit from the connections, they support their development and upkeep. Peggy Enders: The GCC work can provide a significant financial benefit and support economic development by attracting visitors, and making it easier for residents and visitors to travel to and around the town center without driving. Keith: In looking at near -term objectives for tangible results, producing a map is a clear objective. In particular, an overall map or a guidebook which is a convenient size. It could be developed for a specific event or for general use. Peggy: There has been some discussion of putting together a "Biker's and Walker's guide" for Lexington. We should track that activity and coordinate with it if possible. Paul: A few years ago I assembled an on -line map depicting a loop of trails and low- traffic roads encircling Lexington, about the length of a marathon in total. That could be used as a basis for some kind of more -or -less competitive event, as well as to demonstrate that there are already very good corridors of connectivity among many of the conservation areas. Deb Mauger: There are upcoming events, such as the Town's 300 anniversary in 2013, which would be a good target event for publicizing some kind of town greenway corridor network. Also, there has been some interest in reviving the earlier practice of the Selectmen annually walking the Town perimeter, which could be tied to identifying and marking the trails around the Town. There are also ties to various historical sites which can be connected off -road for pedestrians or bicyclists. Identifying those connections and making them easily available to tourists or citizens would be a valuable goal. Carryover Business from West Lexington Greenway Task Force: Keith described the remaining tasks identified by the WLG task force. He noted that the contractor VHB has not completed the 25% design or Master Plan document to the Town's satisfaction, although both are nearly complete, with much valuable information. The key part GCC needs to focus on immediately is the Minuteman Connector concept, to link the Minuteman Bikeway with the Minuteman National Historical Park's Battle Road. The initial design concept was for a universally accessible route which would meet guidelines for state or federal funding as a bikeway. Based on the 25% design work completed so far, the initial design would most likely lead to excessive wetland impact, as well as a very deep cut into the hill near Wood St. A narrower single -track route would almost certainly have lower environmental impact. Richard Canale: We need to be aware of the state cycles to include projects in the long -term plan (Massachusetts DOT Traffic Improvement Plan) and thus be eligible for consideration for funding. The Minuteman Connector plan will need to be added to the long -term plan by August of 2011, or it will have to wait five years to be added to the list. If there is an officially accepted Town plan to add a trail, it can be included in the state long -term plan, even if the design is not complete. There appear to be several options or alternate routes for designing the Minuteman Connector, and once a MassDOT project number is assigned and the project is in the TIP, the specific design can be modified to meet various environmental or other requirements. Keith: We will need to meet with Karen Mullins and John Livsey to prepare the materials needed to get the Minuteman Connector included in the TIP process. [Action] The meeting was adjourned at 9:30. Summary of Action Items: [Action] Keith Ohmart will arrange meeting locations for next three meetings. (completed) [Action] Peggy Enders will contact Judy Crocker. [Action] Keith Ohmart will contact Mark Sandeen [Action] Paul Knight to begin setting up web site. [Action] Paul Knight to ensure a GCC email account is established. [Action] Stew Kennedy to contact Dick Thuma and /or Rick DeAngelis. [Action] Keith Ohmart will contact Karen Mullins and John Livsey regarding Minuteman connector and TIP. Handouts: — GCC Agenda Topics (Keith Ohmart) — Proposed letter to Congressman Markey in support of continued funding for the Recreational Trails Program (Keith Ohmart)