Salem Bike Path Committee
Minutes of Meeting
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
A regular scheduled meeting of the Salem Bike Path Committee was held on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 7:00 PM in Meeting Room 314 at City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street.
Members Present: Jeff Bellin, Dan Shuman, David Pelletier, and William Peck. Also present was Staff Planner Frank Taormina
Members Absent: Rachel Hunt, Nancy Sachetti, and Christine Michelini
Public in Attendance: none
Chairman Shuman called the meeting to order at 7:07 PM and acknowledged those members present and absent for the record.
He also mentioned that committee member Stan Franzeen has resigned. The Bike Path Committee is now a seven (7) member committee, unless the Mayor’s Office appoints more members.
- Approval of Minutes and Annual Report
J. Bellin pointed out two spellings errors on page 1 and page 2. J. Bellin made a motion to approve the minutes as amended, seconded by W. Peck and approved unanimously.
Motion was made by W. Peck to approve the fiscal year 2009 Annual Report, seconded by J. Bellin and approved unanimously.
- Status of finalizing the City of Salem Bicycle Circulation Master Plan
F. Taormina updated the Committee on the status of the Bicycle Circulation Master Plan. He mentioned that all the comments compiled from the Public Hearing on the Draft Plan back in October have made its way into the final draft plan. He mentioned that he has reviewed the entire document and found several minor errors that need to be corrected. He mentioned that he forwarded his edits to the City Planner for her final review and approval before it is sent back to the Consultants.
D. Pelletier asked if the final draft plan was sent to the Committee.
F. Taormina stated that he did not send a hard copy of the plan to the Committee but he did let them know that it is available for review on the City Website. He reiterated that all the public comments and the Committee’s comments did make it into the final draft plan, but if the Committee wants to review the final draft plan again they can review the plan on the website and forward their comments to him as soon as possible so that the plan can be finalized and the Committee can start implementing the plan.
D. Pelletier asked about the implementation of the priority bike route (formerly know as the Green Line Bikeway).
F. Taormina stated that he has asked FST Engineers to provide him with a quote for the cost of putting together BID Docs/Plans for the construction of the Priority Bike Route, but he hasn’t received that yet. Once that is received, the City will likely contract with them to have the BID Docs/Plan put together. He stated that the City Planner asked him to review the entire length of the bike route and determine how much of it is located in the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) eligible areas so that the City could potentially allocate CDBG Funding to pay for that segment. The portions of the bike route outside of the CDBG eligible areas will need to be funding using a different funding allocation.
Chairman Shuman asked about the status of the Salem Bike Path extension.
F. Taormina updated the Committee on the status of the bike path extension. He stated that he is still trying to get confirmation from PAN AM Railways that the freight rights in the unused MBTA right-of-way are abandoned or not. Discussion ensued.
W. Peck asked when the next MBTA Commuter Rail Station Parking Garage Public Meeting was being held.
F. Taormina stated that he wasn’t sure, he would have to check with the City Planner.
W. Peck asked if he could forward the time/date of meeting to the whole Committee. F. Taormina agreed.
D. Pelletier suggested that the Bike Path Committee send a formal letter to the MBTA to address their recommendations to install an at-grade crossing, install bike sharing station, and other goals and recommendations identified in the Bicycle Circulation Master Plan. The Committee Members agreed and asked Frank to draft a letter for their review/approval prior to the next meeting. F. Taormina agreed.
Chairman Shuman asked the Committee if they had any other questions relative to the status of the draft final plan. There being no further questions he closed the item and asked if there were any old/new business items to discuss.
F. Taormina mentioned that he passed out copies of the 2010 Meeting Schedule to the entire committee prior to the meeting. He asked if they had any question about it. The committee agreed that it look ok.
F. Taormina mentioned that the Mayor’s Office received an e-mail request to have a dog waste station installed on the bike path.
The Committee discussed the request and ultimately determined that pet owners who walk their dogs on the bike path should be responsible for bringing a bag to pick up their dogs waste, and felt that the City should not be responsible to provide bags for them.
F. Taormina asked the committee to come up with a recommendation to forward to the Mayor’s Office regarding the matter.
The Committee recommended that the City either install signs on the bike path stating that pet owners are responsible for picking up their dogs waste, or be subject to fines or perhaps the Dog Park Committee (S.P.A.C.E) could pay to install and maintain a dog station at the bike path. F. Taormina stated that he would forward the Committee’s recommendations to the Mayor’s Office.
Chairman Shuman passed out some literature regarding the Bicycle Benefits Program. He described the program and mentioned that he has forwarded it to the Salem Chamber of
Commerce and Salem Main Streets to get the word out and asked the Committee Members to help advocate for the program as well. The members agreed.
Adjournment
Chairman Shuman asked for a motion to close the Public Hearing. J. Bellin made a motion to adjourn, seconded by W. Peck and approved unanimously. The meeting was officially adjourned at 7:52 PM.
Respectfully submitted by:
Frank Taormina,
Planner/Harbor Coordinator
BPC 12-09-2009
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