Salem Bike Path Committee
Approved Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
A meeting of the Salem Bike Path Committee was held on Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at 7:00 PM in Meeting Room 312 at Salem City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street.
Members Present: Chairman Jeff Bellin, Dan Cooper, Bruce Mabbott, Kristin Anderson
Also Present: Jeff Elie, Energy and Sustainability Manager, City of Salem,
Members Absent: Brad Sandler, Will Peck, Ernie DeMaio, David Bowie
Public in Attendance: Kevin Cornaccio(Salem Community Preservation Committee), Ed Moriarty(Salem Community Preservation Committee)
Chairman Bellin called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. He acknowledged those members absent and present for the record.
Chairman Bellin asked if there were any comments or edits for the September 10th draft meeting minutes. A change was made to the September minutes correcting the fact that Dan Cooper was not in attendance while the minutes said he was there. There being only a few minor edits, he asked for a motion to approve the corrected minutes. Motion was made by Kristin Anderson, seconded by Dan Cooper, and approved unanimously.
Chairman Bellin asked if there were any public comments at this time. There was no public comment.
Jeff Elie, Energy and Sustainability Manager and BPC staffer, asked the Chair to move agenda item about Salem Community Preservation Act from last item to the first so the CPC members in attendance could give their presentation first so they did not have to wait until the end of the meeting. Chairman Bellin agreed to this change.
FY15 Community Preservation Plan – Request for Comment/Input
Kevin Cornaccio and Ed Moriarty of the Salem Community Preservation Act Committee updated the committee on the details of the Community Preservation Act and the projects associated with the Act relating to the Bike Path Committee including the formation of recreational trails in the City. Possible locations of recreational trails are on Winter Island. Future funding may support the building of these recreational trails.
These two gentlemen on behalf of the CPC asked for comment via a form passed around to the members.
Complete Streets Working Group
Complete Streets Working Group is still being formed by the Mayor’s Office. John Pelletier of Mass in Motion is coordinating Complete Streets Working Group activity including meeting times and agenda. The first Complete Streets Working Group kickoff meeting was held on October 6th at 4pm and the Bike Path Committee representative, Bruce Mabbott, as well as Jeff Elie, Planning Staff, attended meeting.
B. Mabbott noted that the meeting had sparse attendance nothing was really accomplished. Nobody from Fire, Police, DPW, or the Engineering Dept. attended the meeting so important representatives could not provide input to meeting agenda.
Discussion about October 29 Meeting with Mayor
A meeting between several BPC representatives, Planning Department Staff, and the Mayor will take place on October 29th to generally talk about the role of the BPC in City development. The BPC wants the Mayor to think about responding to how bicycling is considered in the City. The BPC also sees this as a good opportunity to discuss how bicycling can be incorporated in the Canal St. and Jefferson/Loring/Canal intersection redesigns.
As part of the overall theme of the future direction of the Bike Path Committee, the Committee thought a good step forward would be to change the name of the Committee so the name would connote overall bicycle policy and have the Committee serve as an advisory board when thinking about overall transportation planning.
Bruce Mabbott motioned to change the name of the committee
Will Peck seconded the motion
Approved unanimously
Discuss name possibilities - brainstorm names over email
Bike Circulation Master Plan
The Bike Circulation Master Plan was discussed and the MAPC grant secured by Mass-in-Motion was discussed to clarify next steps. The funding allocation that the BPC has to update the current Master Plan will be supplemented by the MAPC technical assistance; however, because FST engineering firm did the original Master Plan, the scope of work will need to be updated to include FST’s expertise and engineering technical services. J. Elie suggested that the BPC review the scope of work and coordinate with John Pelletier of Mass-in-Motion and MAPC to develop an updated scope-of-work that better incorporates the BPC’s original plan to update the Master Plan in accordance with the Vision 2020 plan.
Action Item – J. Elie to send the MAPC Master Plan update grant scope of work to the BPC members.
Bike Audit 10/6/14 Discussion
MassDOT and MassBikes led a walking audit of the Washington St. downtown areas of potential cycling issues and solutions. Members of MassDOT, MassBikes, Safe Routes to School, Police, Nina Cohen, Mass-in-Motion, K. Anderson and J. Bellin of the Bike Path Committee, and City Planning were in attendance to walk and discuss safe and effective cycling in the downtown area, current and potential situations.
K. Anderson - frustration with Police's reaction to biking and general thinking it was ridiculous to even have people biking in Salem
BPC agreed that bring police into the conversation and proactively engage them to the BPC's plans and goals could help in their general understanding of cycling in Salem and making it more safe for people currently riding and hoping to ride their bikes as a viable means of alternative transportation.
J. Bellin - Post-audit discussion brought out additional issues about accessibility from East Salem.
Discussion of new member for committee
J. Bellin - potentially a neighbor may be interested in joining the Committee
K. Anderson – suggested that the Committee use the BPC’s Facebook page to advertise the Committee opening
Action Item:
K. Anderson – post BPC opening on Facebook
J. Elie - Send roles and responsibilities to BPC for posting on Facebook and on the BPC City website
Funding for Bike Racks and Data Collection tools – Discussion
J. Elie discussed the potential for the Committee to spend some of its funding on putting new bicycle racks in some of the commercial sectors in Salem. Mass-in-Motion asked Jeff to ask the Committee to vote to approve funding so the City can install racks in various locations, specifically in commercial areas so people can have bicycle parking near places of businesses. MAPC is offering a discount on bicycle racks until the end of the calendar year 2014. The BPC took no vote on the issue but agreed that they needed more information on what the demand was for bicycle racks and where they should be installed. The issue was tabled for the next meeting.
J. Elie also brought forward the proposal introduced by J. Pelletier of Mass-In-Motion to have the BPC support the purchase of a mobile and permanent pedestrial/bicycle counter that would be installed at a determined location in the future. The BPC would need to vote on encumbering those funds to Mass-in-Motion and the issue was tabled for the next meeting.
Summary of Action Items
J. Elie - Send roles and responsibilities of members to BPC for posting
J. Elie - Invite J. Pelletier to next BPC meeting
K. Anderson – Post BPC opening on Committee Facebook page
Chairman Bellin asked if there were any further items to discuss tonight. There being none, he asked for a motion to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM.
Respectfully submitted by:
Jeffrey Elie,
Energy and Sustainability Manager
Minutes approved by the Salem Bike Path Committee at their ___________ meeting
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