Salem Bike Path Committee
Minutes of Meeting
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
A regular scheduled meeting of the Salem Bike Path Committee was held on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 7:00 PM in Meeting Room 314 at City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street.
Members Present: Jeff Bellin, Christine Michelini, Stan Franzeen, Dan Shuman, and Will Peck. Also present was Staff Planner Frank Taormina and the City’s hired engineering consultant Gary Hebert from Fay, Spofford & Thorndike Engineers (FST).
Members Absent: Rachel Hunt, Nancy Sachetti, Jerry Judge, and David Pelletier
Public in Attendance: none
The meeting was started late because the Chairman was waiting for one more member to arrive in order to meet quorum to hold the public meeting. Chairman Shuman called the meeting to order at 7:27 PM and acknowledged those members present and absent for the record.
J. Bellin pointed out an error on Page 3 of the July 8, 2009 Minutes. Motion as made by J. Bellin to approve the minutes as amended, seconded by S. Franzeen and approved unanimously.
No public comments were taken, as no one from the public was in attendance.
Chairman Shuman opened up the item, and turned the floor over to Gary Hebert (FST).
G. Hebert (FST) gave the Committee an overview of the Draft Plan and walked them through some of the changes to the Draft Bike Routes Map.
J. Bellin asked about the status of the Salem Bike Path extension.
F. Taormina updated the Committee on the status of the Salem Bike Path extension. He explained the he has received a Draft Lease Agreement from the MBTA. The stated that the City is required to provide two things before the Lease Agreement can be signed: environmental insurance and a letter from Pan Am Railways stating that the freight rights in the right-of-way (ROW) have been abandoned. Once those two items have been obtained, the City will execute the Lease Agreement and the ROW will be under the City’s control. He stated that the City Engineer added the bike path extension from Gardener Mattress to Riley Plaza (near Dominos Pizza) into the Canal Street Improvement Project, which is currently being engineered and will be paid for with Chapter 90 Funds.
G. Hebert (FST) reviewed the proposed East Coast Greenway Bike Route through Salem. He mentioned that in the Draft Plan he recommends that there be two routes that riders could take in order to go from Beverly to Marblehead through Salem. Option one is via the Salem Bike Path (from Marblehead) and future bike path extension (off-road), through Riley Plaza and Downtown Salem (on-road, portion of Rte 114 and Washington St), to the Bridge Street Bypass Road (on-road, Rte 107), over the Beverly/Salem Bridge (on-road, Rte 107 and Rte 1A) into Beverly. Option two is the proposed Pilot Route (green line bikeway) which is mostly on-road taking riders from the Salem Bike Path (at Lafayette Street, Rte 114) through several City Streets and connection to Bridge Street (Rte 1A), over the Beverly/Salem Bridge (Rte
107 and Rte 1A) into Beverly.
The Committee discussed several different scenarios, but ultimately agreed with G. Hebert (FST) recommendation.
G. Hebert (FST) stated that at the last meeting the Committee wanted FST to recommend the top five bike routes to implement after the Pilot Route. G. Hebert (FST) explained that he would prefer not to recommend that, as the bike routes should be implemented to create connectivity to the existing off-road bike path and on-road bike lane routes.
Chairman Shuman asked about the costs of each of the bike route facilities. G. Hebert (FST) reviewed all the costs with the Committee.
F. Taormina explained that one of the recommendations of the Plan will be that the City Engineer/DPW will use the final City of Salem Bike Circulation Master Plan as a blueprint when City Streets are resurfaced, reconstructed, or improved in the future. For instance, If Lafayette Street was slated to be resurfaced, the City Engineer would review the Plan and determine if the Street will need to include a bike lane, sharrows, signage, etc or not and budget for those improvements to the roadway, thus implementing that planned bike route as stated in the Plan. F. Taormina also stated that the bike routes identified in the Plan will likely be implemented in that manner, not necessarily as we would like to have them implemented.
F. Taormina explained the next meeting in October will be advertised as a Public Hearing to solicit input on the Draft Plan. He also explained that he will be distributing the Draft Plan to several different City Departments, Boards, and Commissions for their comments. He would also post the Public Hearing Notice on the New Link on the City’s Website, which in turn e-mails that notice to individuals that signed up through he City’s Website to be notified of upcoming meetings and important new.
F. Taormina discussed the details of facilitating the Public Hearing with the Committee. He stated that the Chairman would run the Public Hearing and the Consultant would be present to answer any technical questions that may arise. He stated that he would touch base with both of them prior to the public hearing in October to discuss further details.
J. Bellin asked if the scheduled meeting in October will be rescheduled because Staff Planner Frank Taormina mentioned last month that he will be away on his honeymoon the first couple weeks in October
F. Taormina agreed that the October Meeting will need to be rescheduled. He suggested that the meeting be rescheduled to Wednesday, October 21st. He stated that he would send an e-mail to the entire Committee to let them know that the October Meeting must be rescheduled and get a quorum for the Oct 21st date.
4. Old/New Business
F. Taormina stated that he has completed drafting the Fiscal Year 2009 Bike Path Committee Annual Report. He stated that after the October Meeting he will forward it to the Committee, likely via e-mail, for their review and approval at the November Meeting.
Adjournment
Chairman Shuman asked for a motion to close the public meeting. S. Franzeen made a motion to adjourn, seconded by C. Michelini and approved unanimously. The meeting was officially adjourned at 8:16 PM.
Respectfully submitted by:
Frank Taormina,
Planner/Harbor Coordinator
BPC 9-9-2009
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