Salem Bike Path Committee
Minutes of Meeting
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The October Meeting of the Salem Bike Path Committee was rescheduled and held on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 7:00pm in Meeting Room 312 at City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street.
Members Present: Chairman Stan Franzeen, Christine Michelini, Dan Shuman, Jerry Judge, David Pelletier, Nancy Sachetti, and William Peck. Also present was Staff Planner Frank Taormina.
Members Absent: Rachel Hunt, and Jeff Bellin
Public in Attendance: Hope Benne (SSC Professor & Beverly Resident) and Dinah Cardin (Outreach Coordinator for the North Shore TMA, Salem Resident, 14 Curtis Street)
Chairman Franzeen called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. and welcomed new member William Peck to the Committee.
1. Approval of Minutes
Chairman Franzeen mentioned that there was no meeting held in the month of August and the meeting in September was cancelled so they were reviewing the last meeting minutes from July 9, 2008. The Chairman asked for a motion to approve the July 9, 2008 Meeting Minutes. J. Judge made the motion to approve the minutes as submitted, seconded by D. Pelletier. The motion passed unanimously.
2. Public Comment
Chairman Franzeen opened the floor for public comment.
Hope Benne, Professor at Salem Sate College and resident of Beverly, mentioned that she and student leaders have concerns with bike safety in and around the college. She mentioned that because of prior engagements, all the student leaders were unable to attend the meeting, but she wanted to come to introduce herself to the Committee and express her concerns. She mentioned that she will return at the next meeting with the student leaders to discuss their concerns in greater detail.
Chairman Franzeen mentioned that the Committee held a Bike Safety Event earlier this year and they strongly advocate for bike safety and will do whatever they can within their purview to help.
D. Pelletier explained that the Committee also has a proposed on-and off-road bikeway from the Willows to the Salem Bike Path at the Marblehead Line via secondary and tertiary roads, utilizing bike safety and bike awareness methods.
Will Peck mentioned that he passed out some bike safety information that he got in the City Cambridge, which he use to live in and use to be a member of the Cambridge Bike Path Committee, to share with all the members prior to the meeting. W. Peck discussed several instances around town where he notices children riding bikes with dark clothing and no reflective clothing or bike with no headlight, which he pointed out was state law when riding at night. He mentioned to Hope Benne that he would like the Committee to reach out to the Salem School system and discuss bike safety with them.
Hope Benne also mentioned that SSC is willing to assist the Committee and the City with research projects relative to biking and bike safety. The committee discussed possibly research projects and agreed that they would keep that in mind in the future.
Chairman Franzeen asked that Hope Benne leave her contact info with Frank so that we could get in touch with her.
3. North Shore Transportation Management Association (TMA)
Chairman Franzeen opened up the item and recognized Dinah Cardin who is the Outreach Coordinator for the North Shore TMA.
Dinah Cardin introduced herself and explained what the North Shore TMA was. Among other things she spoke about the newly formed North Shore TMA, member benefits, the TMA’s marketing efforts, their Board of Directors, and that the TMA is headquartered out of the City of Salem Planning Department and covers the communities of Salem, Beverly, Danvers, Lynn, and Peabody. She mentioned that the newly formed TMA’s membership currently includes the following Corporations: The Sylvania Company in Danvers and Beverly and all the City of Salem Departments.
D. Cardin also mentioned that there are 10 other TMA’s in the State with approximately 300 corporate members involved. She added that Chairman Franzeen is actually the Director of the Junction TMO (Andover and Wilmington) and that Andrea Leary, who is the Director of the North Shore TMA, also runs the Merrimac Valley TMA (Lawrence, North Andover, and Methuen).
Chairman Franzeen asked if the North Shore TMA’s database was linked to the state wide database. F. Taormina said that he has joined the North Shore TMA and that he received a confirmation e-mail from the State Department of Transportation confirming his participation.
Chairman Franzeen asked if Dinah could talk about the “fire up your foot power” event. D. Cardin explained the event to the Committee and stated that among all 11 TMA’s in the State the newly formed North Shore TMA won the event, in large part because of City of Salem Employee Bill Wholley who rides his bike from North Beverly to work in Salem everyday all year round, regardless of weather.
D Shuman asked about the Bicycle Commuter Act that is part of the Federal Bailout Bill and the tax breaks for bike commuters. Chairman Franzeen mentioned that he doesn’t believe that that the Act hasn’t been enacted yet.
D. Shuman asked if small businesses could be a part of the TMA or if it is just for Corporations.
D. Cardin mentioned that she is working with the Salem Chamber and Main Streets Initiative to best determine how small businesses could be a part of the TMA.
C. Michelini asked if individuals could join the TMA.
Chairman Franzeen mentioned that it is too labor intensive to deal with individuals, Large groups are easier to target.
D. Cardin echoed the chairman and mentioned that the TMA is set up to target large employers that contribute to traffic and to get them on board. Chairman Franzeen mentioned that you can go to www.masscomute.com to see all the TMA’s websites and view the TMA guidelines.
D. Cardin mentioned that the North Shore TMA is going to meet with some of Salem’s other large employers like Salem State College and the North Shore Medical Center to get them on board.
H. Benne asked whom from the college Dinah has been talking to. D. Cardin mentioned that she has been talking to Beth Bower from the Presidents Office.
D. Pelletier mentioned that better access to alternative modes of transportation would help get more people to join. In particular he mentioned that there should be a grade crossing over the MBTA Commuter Rail tracks behind The Jefferson at Salem Station Complex, to allow easier access for residents that live on Bridge Street Neck and Willows, instead of them having to walk all the way around.
F. Taormina mentioned that the City and the MBTA are in discussions regarding the construction of a multi-story parking garage at the MBTA Commuter Rail Station and perhaps that might be a better opportunity to ask about the grade crossing.
D. Cardin mentioned that the North Shore TMA is putting out a Newsletter and the Salem Bike Path Committee and all their efforts to date will be highlighted in the newsletter.
D. Cardin mentioned that she has been working closely with the City of Salem Renewable Energy Task Force and is asking for the Bike Path Committee support as well.
D. Pelletier asked what the Committee could do to help the North Shore TMA.
D. Cardin stated that she is asking that the Committee spread the work about the TMA, because the more people that join, the more opportunities for carpooling and such there will be.
C. Michelini mentioned that she works at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) and if she should mentioned it to her Human Resources Department. D. Carding agreed.
Chairman Franzeen mentioned that joining a TMA offers companies a new kind of employee benefit.
N. Sachetti stated that she works at Winchester Hospital and she would love to have that option.
D. Cardin thanked the Committee for their time and mentioned that there are extra handouts regarding the TMA, their member benefits, etc, for the Committee and mentioned that they could contact her if they had any other questions.
4. Salem Bike Path Extension
Chairman Franzeen opened up the item and turned the floor over to F. Taormina to give an update on the City’s efforts to date.
F. Taormina mentioned that the City is making great progress in the Salem Bike Path extension to downtown Salem. He stated that he has been in constant contact with the MBTA regarding the potential use of a portion of their Railroad Right-of-Way (ROW) to extend the bike path through it. He mentioned that at the last meeting, he mentioned that the MBTA had asked the City to survey the ROW. Frank reported that the City hired a Land Surveyor and that the survey is complete.
F. Taormina stated that once the survey was complete he forwarded the survey and all deed research to the MBTA for their review. Following their review of the surveyed plan, he met with representative from the MBTA out at the ROW to discuss the survey and point out two pinch points that could prevent the extension of the bike path through the MBTA’s ROW. Frank mentioned that the City asked the MBTA to shift the fence behind the North Shore Fruit Basket/Hawthorne Animal Hospital property back 10-20 feet to accommodate the extension of the bike path out to Canal Street. At the meeting, the MBTA stated that they would review the City’s request to move the fence back along with the request to utlize the rest of the ROW.
F. Taormina said that the City is also looking to connect the new Bypass Road Bike Path to the Peter Tracey Walkway via an abandoned railroad ROW that the City of Salem owns between Cross Street and the bypass road bike path near Saunders Street. He mentioned that the City has requested that Mass Highway include this connection as part of the Bridge Street/Route 1A Improvement Project. Mass Highway said that they would consider the request but asked that the City get an engineer to put together a cost estimate for the project.
Mass Highway reached out to the City afterward and brought to the City’s attention that the existing granite retaining walls located in either side of the former railroad ROW may have historic significance because it is located within the Bridge Street Neck National Historic Register District and may trigger a Section 106 Review and local Historic Commission review/approval. In response to that, the City informally went before the Salem Historic Commission to explain the proposed bike connection in the ROW by filling a significant portion of the area to meet the grade differences from Cross Street to the bypass road bike path. The City further explained that the granite walls would not be altered in any way, but rather, a portion of the granite retaining wall will be filled in, exposing less of the
granite retaining walls. The Salem Historic Commission stated that they believe filling the area between the granite walls will help preserve it and supported the City’s efforts in connecting the bike path to the Peter Tracey Walkway via the ROW in the manner explained.
F. Taormina explained that they have not received an estimate yet from the engineer and the City has not received word yet from Mass Highway on weather or not they will fund the cost of connecting the bike path via the ROW.
5. Old/New Business
D. Pelletier mentioned that he met with Anthony Sasso, Marblehead Town Administrator, and discuss the conditions of the portion of the Marblehead Recreation Trail in Salem. He mentioned that T. Sasso said the Committee should talk to Dana Snow, Marblehead Town Engineer, to discuss potential improvements to the area. D. Pelletier mentioned that we should invite him to our December Meeting to discuss.
D. Pelletier also mentioned that he spoke to someone at Mass Highway Department regarding the use of Sharrows (shared lane pavement markings) in the State and asked what the bike pavement markings that Mass Highway used on the new bypass road were for. Dave expressed his displeasure that the person he spoke to at Mass Highway, whom apparently directs all Mass Highway’s biking initiatives, couldn’t answer either question for him. Dave mentioned that he did some homework and answered his own questions and passed out information regarding what he found.
D. Pelletier made a motion that Frank re-invites Dave Knowlton, City Engineer, to the next meeting to discuss the use of Sharrows in Salem again. Seconded by D. Shuman and approved unanimously.
Will Peck, who had passed out information regarding bike safety earlier in the meeting, discussed his material with the Committee and echoed what he had mentioned during the Public Comment period, to meet with the Salem School system regarding bike safety.
Chairman Franzeen explained to the Committee that he is stepping down as Chair and would like to turn the position over to another member. Discussion ensued.
D. Pelletier made a motion that the Chair position alternate male/female, seconded by S. Franzeen. The Committee discussed the motion. The Committee ultimately did not think it was appropriate, and the motion was denied by at vote of 4—2.
The Committee acknowledged that two other members were not present and they would like to wait till next meeting to vote for all new board officers. S. Franzeen asked that the item be heard first on next moths meeting agenda, as his resignation is affective immediately and the Board is currently without a Chair. Committee Members concurred.
Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the Committee this evening, former Chairman Franzeen asked for a motion to adjourn.
A motion was made by D. Pelletier and seconded by N. Sachetti and approved unanimously. The meeting was officially adjourned at 8:30pm.
Respectfully submitted by:
Frank Taormina,
Planner/Harbor Coordinator
BPC 10-22-08
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