Salem Bike Path Committee
Minutes of Meeting
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
A regular meeting of the Salem Bike Path Committee was held on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. in Meeting Room 314 at City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street.
Members Present: Chairman Stan Franzeen, Vice Chair Jeff Bellin, Dan Shuman, Nancy Sachetti, Christine Michelini, Jerry Judge, and David Pelletier. Also present was Frank Taormina, Staff Planner/Harbor Coordinator.
Members Absent: Rachel Hunt
Public in Attendance: David Knowlton (City Engineer), Ben Bouchard (Salem Chamber of Commerce), and Will Peck (Resident, 27 Broad Street)
At 7:12 p.m., Chairman Franzeen called the meeting to order.
1. Approval of Minutes
Chairman Franzeen acknowledged that the Committee could not vote to approve the meeting minutes because there was not a quorum of Members present, at that time, who were present at the 3/12/08 Meeting. Vice Chairman Bellin made a motion to vote to approve the 3/12/08 meeting minutes at the next May meeting. Seconded by D. Shuman and approved unanimously.
2. Public Comment
Chairman Franzeen acknowledged that that there were three people in attendance at tonight’s meeting, and asked if any would like to comment on anything on the agenda or if they would like to comment on anything else. Each of the people in attendance introduced themselves and stated that they did not have any public comments at that time.
3. Green Line Bikeway
F. Taormina introduced City Engineer Dave Knowlton to the Committee and mentioned that he was in attendance tonight to answer questions for the Committee regarding the details of the planned bikeway. Frank also mentioned that explained the concept of the bikeway to the City Engineer and brought him up to speed on the issued that surround the implementation of such a bikeway.
D. Pelletier gave a brief overview of the planned bikeway to the City Engineer and the other residents in attendance. The ultimate goal of creating a north south bikeway that links 11 schools and a number of parks, beaches, and other recreational and historical attractions via secondary and tertiary roads, essentially creating a safe route or safer route to kids and family to ride. He briefly talked about the Safe Routes to School Program.
D. Pelletier explained the methods in one could sign or mark the bikeway. The method that he recommended to the Committee and the City Engineer was the concept of “sharrows” as used in San Francisco, California and other USA and International cities/towns. D. Pelletier provided copies of the concept to all the Committee Members and to the folks in attendance. He also provided F. Taormina and the City Engineer with a copy of the report titled “San Francisco’s Shared Lane Pavement Markings: Improving Bicycle Safety” which identifies the successful use of this concept in San Francisco, CA.
D. Pelletier explained that “sharrows” are not bike lanes but pavement markings that are painted onto the shoulder of a street to lead or direct bikers to a destination and to let vehicular traffic know that this particular road is being shared by bikers. A “Sharow” is essentially a painted symbol of a bike with chevron arrows repeatedly painted onto a street in a determined linear foot interval.
F. Taormina asked the City Engineer if he had ever heard of “sharrows” before and how the City could implement this concept.
D. Knowlton stated that he had not and that he will investigate whether or not they could be used on local and/or State roadways. Dave also mentioned that he would need to consult with the Police Department and potentially the residents in the neighborhood. His major concern is that the secondary and tertiary roads that are proposed to be used in the Green Line Bikeway are very narrow and may not lend themselves to accommodating a shared bikeway.
N. Sachetti stated that bikers have the right to ride on any roadway despite its width and the markings, would seem to her, to help vehicular traffic be mindful of that fact.
D. Knowlton mentioned that this concept has great potential but there are some glaring issues that we need to work through. One of which is designating it as a Safe Route to School Program. This concept may not be recommended by the program, or may not be compatible with it, etc.
N. Sachetti asked if the City or the Committee has knowledge of the Safe Routes to School Program guidelines or if we have even researched that?
F. Taormina mentioned that Committee Member D. Shuman forwarded him a link to the program guidelines and he looked through them. He stated that in order to designate a route as a “Safe Route to School” there is a rigorous process we would need to go through which among other things need to be endorsed by each school involved, the police department, etc. Frank stated that he thinks that the goal of this bikeway could be to designate it as a Safe Route to School but at this time we should try to see if we can use the sharrow concept as a way-finding method to sign the bikeway and get the bikeway approved and endorsed by the City first.
N. Sachetti agreed that we should try to get the bikeway approved first and then try to designate parts or all of the bikeway as a safe route to school. She mentioned that it may require us to upgrade areas or even re-route areas, but at the very least we should get the bikeway approved and go from there.
D. Pelletier also agreed and began discussing the off-route portion of the bikeway which passes through Palmer Cover Park and where we are with that issue.
D. Knowlton stated that safety is his biggest concern and he would need to review the concept further. He stated that he would work with Frank Taormina and the Committee to try to make this work.
The Committee Members thanked the City Engineer for his attendance at tonight’s meeting and appreciated his willingness to assist the Committee in implementing the planning bikeway.
4. Bike Safety Day Event
Chairman Franzeen opened the item and asked that members to share their results of their respective research assignments. In particular he asked F. Taormina to share his conversation with Neal Todrys.
F. Taormina mentioned that he had a conversation with Neal Todrys, President of Todsen Incorporated, distributors of OnGuard Bicycle Locks and Topeak Bicycle Accessories. Frank mentioned that Neal is willing to assist the City in the Bike Safety Day Event in a number of different ways, either a monetary donation, donating a number of bike locks or other bike accessories as free give-a-ways, or having some of his knowledgeable staff come to the event and help run one of the stations. Frank asked the Committee what we should ask Neal to donate, money, bike equipment, or staff time.
Vice Chair Bellin mentioned that he liked the idea of t-shirts and thought that a monetary donation would be better.
Chairman Franzeen acknowledged Ben Bouchard from the Salem Chamber of Commerce. B. Bouchard mentioned that sponsors could provide t-shirts with there logo on them and then the Committee could add a message on them.
Chairman Franzeen mentioned that he thinks that we should ask for bike safety equipment since this is a Bike Safety Event. Items like reflective vests, reflective leg bands, or bike helmets, etc.
D. Shuman mentioned that he does business with Todsen Inc and he doesn’t believe that they distribute any bike safety equipment.
Chairman Franzeen acknowledged Will Peck (resident, 27 Broad Street). W. Peck stated that reflective vest would be a better free give-a-way. The vests could be used all year round…..whereas the t-shirts with the event or biking message could only be used part of the year.
D. Shuman mentioned that he like the idea of safety equipment as a free give-a-way also, particularly the reflective leg band.
F. Taormina asked if Neal cannot provide any bike safety equipment what does the Committee feel is the best donation on his part toward the event. Discussion of options ensued.
Chairman Franzeen asked what other progress members had with their respective tasks.
D. Shuman stated that he struck out with Mass Bike and it seems unlikely that they will partake in the event.
J. Bellin mentioned that he also was unsuccessful in getting Knuckleheads to come to the event. He mentioned that they do not have any bike oriented events to offer.
Chairman Franzeen recommended the organization as a option to assist in the events portion of the event and explained to the Committee that they were a part of a bike event in Boston and that they were they at it. Vice Chair Bellin mentioned that his conversation with the person from Knuckleheads was that they do not offer any bike oriented events.
F. Taormina told the Committee that he spoke to Michael Buckhalter, the owner of Upper Crust Pizzeria in Salem, and he would be interested in being a vendor at the event. He mentioned that they deliver pizzas via bikes with a pizza rack in the back. He also mentioned that the logo of their business is a guy on a bike delivering pizza. He stated that he doesn’t think that we need five vendors at the event. This vendor has a connection with the event, since they deliver pizza on a bike, and he feels that that’s all the event needs. He mentioned that at this point the owner hasn’t committed to whether he would be a sponsor, donate some free pizza for the event, or potentially sell pizza slices cheap. Frank mentioned that he needs to follow up with Michael to confirm.
Vice Chair Bellin asked about potential entertainment at the event. Discussion regarding various entertainment possibilities ensued.
F. Taormina asked is a site visit is warranted. He explained that if they hold a site visit at the Bentley School members could start to visualize and map out the locations of the different stations and work out other logistics for the event. Committee Members agreed and Chairman Franzeen asked Frank to coordinate a time/date for site visit via e-mail and Frank agreed to do that.
D. Pelletier asked if there was a way to squeeze in two meeting in the month of May, to finalize the details of the event in June. The Committee agreed, but no meeting date was voted on or approved. Discussion regarding the extra meeting will be discussed at the May 14th Meeting.
Chairman Franzeen asked to continue the discussion of the event until the next meeting and address the items under old/new business. Motion was made by D. Shuman and seconded by D. Pelletier, and approved unanimously.
5. Old/New Business
Chairman Franzeen mentioned that they are running short on time, and because the No Bicycling Ordinance issue was not heard at the last meeting he wanted to take the agenda out of order and discuss that now and table the rest of the items till next meeting.
No Bicycling Ordinance on Essex Street Pedestrian Mall (Ch.42, §43C)
D. Pelletier opened the item by discussing why he thinks the ordinance was created and lead into why he thinks it should be changed.
D. Pelletier asked for the support of the Committee to petition to the City Council to change the Ordinance to read instead “allow bicycling on the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall, but only fine those that are recklessly riding through the pedestrian mall”. The Committee verbally agreed.
Discussion regarding the Ordinance ensued. F. Taormina read the Ordinance to the Committee and told them that he would look into the process in which the Committee could petition to the City Council to change the Ordinance.
Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the Committee this evening Chairman Franzeen asked for a motion to adjourn.
A motion was made by D. Shuman and seconded by Vice Chair Bellin and approved unanimously. The meeting was officially adjourned at 8:32 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by:
Frank Taormina,
Planner/Harbor Coordinator
BPC 04-09-08
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