Salem Bike Path Committee
Minutes of Meeting
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
A rescheduled meeting of the Salem Bike Path Committee was held on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 7:00 PM in Meeting Room 313 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: Christine Michelini
Public in Attendance: Joanne McCrea (Salem Resident)
Chairman Shuman called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM and acknowledged those members present and absent for the record.
Chairman Shuman mentioned that since the last meeting in December, Committee Members Nancy Sachetti and Rachel Hunt have resigned. The Bike Path Committee is now a five (5) member Committee.
F. Taormina stated that the City Council established this Committee as having between 7 – 10 members at this time it is not a full Committee. He stated that he has put in a request to the Mayor’s Office to appoint at least two more members to the Committee. He also asked if any of the current members know of any dedicated residents that would be interested in joining the Committee. Discussion ensued. F. Taormina stated that is they do know of anyone, to have that person submit a letter of interest and their resume to the Mayor’s Office for consideration.
Motion was made by D. Pelletier to approve the December 9, 2009 Meeting Minutes seconded by W. Peck and approved unanimously.
No comments were taken at this time.
- Discuss production of Bike Safety Material for the City of Salem Website and distribution throughout the Salem School System
F. Taormina stated that Committee Member W. Peck requested that the Committee consider producing bike safety pamphlet that could be posted on the City Website and distributed to all the schools.
D. Pelletier suggested that the Committee not ‘reinvent the wheel’ and instead of producing their own bike safety information, that the Committee use what is already out there. For instance, Trek bike safety pamphlets that the Committee could likely get for free and distribute to the schools and place on the website.
J. Bellin suggested that perhaps the Committee could also consider adult oriented bike safety information as well. Discussion ensued.
Chairman Shuman recognized Joanne McCrea in the audience. J. McCrea stated that any information that is sent to the schools should be in English and Spanish.
D. Pelletier stated that he believes that bike manufactures have bike safety info in English and Spanish.
Chairman Shuman offered to reach out to some bike manufactures to see if they can provide the Committee with English and Spanish Bike Safety Pamphlets.
W. Peck asked if the Committee could/should invite the Chief of Police and the Superintendent of Salem Schools to attend the next meeting to discuss the production of the material and to determine if the material could be sent home with each child’s final report card, to ensure that it is also read by their parents.
F. Taormina suggested that the Committee reach out to the Police Department and the Superintendent first and see if by chance bike safety material already exists, and if so, has it ever been distributed throughout the school system.
J. Bellin stated that bike laws differ from state to state and if material is taken from a nation bike manufacturer, information may not apply to Massachusetts.
D. Pelletier stated that the basic bike safety info regarding helmets, turning signals, etc.
J. Bellin suggested that the safety material also include more advanced bike safety info for adults that outline Mass Laws regarding biking.
Chairman Shuman stated that that he would like to stick to tonight’s agenda and only address what is before the Committee at this time which is safety material that we can distribute to Schools and place on the website. He asked for a motion regarding the matter and suggested that Jeff’s suggestion could be addressed in another motion or at a different meeting.
J. Bellin asked if he could read the Committee’s Mission Statement prior to a motion being made. Chairman Shuman agreed.
J. Bellin read the mission statement aloud to the Committee Members and pointed out that one of the objectives of the Committee is “to advocate for bike safety”, and he feels that this is important and should not be belittled or considered ancillary to the bike route planning. He and W. Peck feel strongly that bike safety should be brought to the community in a creative way, not scale it back.
D. Pelletier made a motion to create a general one page bike safety pamphlet, one side in English and the other side in Spanish, with a link to additional bike safety info for adults and for children, which will be distributed to Salem Schools at the end of the school year with their report cards. Seconded by J. Bellin and approved unanimously.
W. Peck offered to reach out to the Police Department and the Superintendent of Schools. He made a motion to contact them and see if they have already prepared bike safety material and distributed it throughout the school system, and if not, will ask if they would be interested in attending the next meeting to discuss the Committee doing so. Seconded by D. Pelletier and approved unanimously.
Chairman Shuman asked the Committee if they had any further questions or comments. There being none he closed the item and asked if there were any old/new business items to discuss.
Bike Path Extension Update
F. Taormina updated the Committee on his ongoing efforts to extend the Salem Bike Path to downtown Salem. He stated that there are two remaining items that need to be resolved in order for the City of Salem to enter into a lease agreement with the MBTA to utilize an abandoned railroad right-of-way (ROW) and a portion of their active railroad ROW: Environmental Insurance and confirmation from Pan Am Railways that their freight rights have been abandoned in the ROW. He continued to explain that his discussion with Pan Am Railways have not been that productive until just recently. He stated that he is finally speaking to the appropriate individual at Pan Am Railways and hopes that he will have better news to report at the next meeting.
City of Salem Bike Circulation Master Plan
F. Taormina reported that the final plan has been produced by FST Engineers. He stated that the City only received on color copy of the final plan, one high resolution copy of the plan in electronic format for reproduction, and one lower resolution electronic copy of the plan which is already up on the City Website for the public to view. He stated that he has requests quotes from copy centers and the City will produce at least 12 more original copies of the plans. Once completed, he stated that he would give one to each of the members.
D. Pelletier asked about the implementation of the Priority Bike Route (formerly know as the green line bikeway).
F. Taormina stated that FST will be giving the City a cost estimate to have construction and bid documents prepared. Once FST is on board, he would notify the Committee.
Draft Comments Letter regarding the MBTA’s 30% Design Plans Submission for the Salem Commuter Rail Station Intermodal Center
F. Taormina informed the Committee that he has reviewed the 30% design plans. He brought the plans to the meeting and showed the Committee that the MBTA has included an enclosed bike storage facility. He pointed out that in addition to that, the recently completed Bike Circulation Master Plan also has two other key recommendations for the site which he discusses in the draft letter. He stated that the MBTA will be holding a Public Meeting to review the 30% Design Plans on February 23, 2010 at 7pm at the Carlton School on Skerry Street, and recommended that some or all the members attend that meeting. D. Pelletier and W. Peck stated that they would be there and J. Bellin and Chairman Shuman stated that they would try to attend. F. Taormina stated that he would forward the draft letter to the Committee
Members via e-mail after the meeting for their review and comment. After the Committee has review and approved the letter, F. Taormina stated that he would run it by the City Planner prior to sending it to the MBTA.
Chairman Shuman asked if there were any further questions.
D. Pelletier asked if the members could each look at one website regarding the bike safety info and report back at the next meeting. The members all agreed to do that.
Adjournment
Chairman Shuman asked for a motion to close the Public Hearing. D. Pelletier made a motion
to adjourn, seconded by W. Peck and approved unanimously. The meeting was officially adjourned at 8:25 PM.
Respectfully submitted by:
Frank Taormina,
Planner/Harbor Coordinator
BPC 2-17-2010
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