Salem Bicycling Advisory Committee
Draft Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
A meeting of the Salem Bicycling Advisory Committee was held on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 at 7:00 PM in Meeting Room 311 at Salem City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street.
Members Present: Chairman Jeff Bellin, Bruce Mabbott, Brad Sandler, Ernie DeMaio, Will Peck, David Bowie
Also Present: Jeff Elie, Energy and Sustainability Manager, City of Salem,
Members Absent: Dan Cooper, Kristin Anderson
Public in Attendance: None
Chairman Bellin called the meeting to order at 7:08 PM. He acknowledged those members absent and present for the record.
Chairman Bellin asked if there were any comments or edits for the November 11th draft meeting minutes. Bruce Mabbott noted that the agenda item concerning the master plan update was not correct in the minutes as it happened in the meeting. Several lines of text were removed and everyone agreed. Other minor grammatical errors were corrected. J. Bellin asked for a motion to approve the corrected minutes. Motion was made by B. Mabbott motioned, W. Peck seconded, all approved.
Chairman Bellin asked if there were any public comments at this time. There was no public comment.
Bike Circulation Master Plan
To begin the process of updating the master plan, the Committee discussed whether or not to use Fay Spofford and Thorndike (FS&T) as the consultant/engineering firm to do the update. FS&T completed the original Master Plan and is most familiar with the completed and ongoing work relating to bicycle infrastructure and accommodations in the City of Salem. Because FS&T is an on-call contractor with the City, the Master Plan update can be carried out as an additional Task Order so the project does not necessarily need to go out to bid.
In response to the other initiative started by J. Pelletier of Mass-in-Motion to use MAPC’s technical resources to help with the master plan update, the Committee agreed that John Pelletier needs to attend a meeting or smaller meeting with 2-3 members in order to go through MAPC bike master plan scope.
Action Item – J. Elie to request John Pelletier to attend January 14th, 2015 regularly scheduled meeting.
Scope of Plan – E. DeMaio and B. Mabbott questioned whether this plan should be an entirely new plan or an update of the old plan?
The Vision 2020 plan should be incorporated into the Master Plan update to have new goals and projects to target that will help achieve Vision 2020.
B. Mabbott offered to reach out to FST’s John Hendrickson to request his presence at the meeting so we can discuss the update and work out a plan to move forward including MAPC’s technical assistance. Members of the Committee will have the chance to get on the same page as Mass-in-Motion so efforts by MAPC, Mass-in-Motion and FST are coordinated to maximize the resources of each party.
Discussion of new member for committee
J.~Elie sent Tess DeMatteo and Tracy Ware,~interested to join the SBAC,~emails to inform them that they need to submit a letter to the Mayor's office that they are interested in joining.~
Tracy Ware is a biology professor at SSU,~on the Sustainability Committee at SSU,~lives downtown and commutes to SSU by bike
Action Item – J. Elie to reach out to two interested parties to see if they are still interested in joining or if they have any questions
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. Because Mass-in-Motion cannot spend its money on physical bicycle infrastructure like racks, the Committee was asked to allocate funding for this need.
The Committee voted no on the issue. This is their official response:
“An advisory committee,~while we agree that putting racks is highly important in the City,~the Committee is purely an advisory role rather than actually expending funds to implement infrastructure.~This committee is much more useful as a planning committee.~The SBAC will be glad to make suggestions where racks are applicable for future resource allocation.”
The Committee had the same decision about the data collection tools.
Miscellaneous Business
B.~Mabbott -~Clarify the Canal St.~bike path extension timeline and design status Domino's to Riley Plaza connection
W.~Peck -~Bridge St widening?
B.~Sandler -~Bike Path on Grove St?
Action Item - J.~Elie to get update from David Knowlton,~city engineer about status of above projects
D.~Bowie motioned to adjourn at 8:32
Summary of Action Items
J. Elie - J. Elie to request John Pelletier to attend January 14th, 2015 regularly scheduled meeting.
J. Elie - Reach out to two interested parties to see if they are still interested in joining or if they have any questions.
J.~Elie - Get update from David Knowlton,~city engineer about status of Canal St. bike path extension project, if Bridge St. will be widened and will there eventually be a bike path on Grove St.
Chairman Bellin asked if there were any further items to discuss tonight. There being none, D. Bowie asked for a motion to adjourn. B. Mabbott seconded the motion. All approved. The meeting was adjourned at 8:32 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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