Salem Bicycling Advisory Committee
Draft Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, February 11th, 2015
A meeting of the Salem Bicycling Advisory Committee was held on Wednesday, February 11th, 2015 at 7:00 PM in Meeting Room 312 at Salem City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street.
Members Present: Chairman Jeff Bellin, Bruce Mabbott, Brad Sandler, Ernie DeMaio, David Bowie, Kristin Anderson
Also Present: Jeff Elie, Energy and Sustainability Manager
Members Absent: Will Peck, Dan Cooper
Invited Guests: None
Public in Attendance: None
Chairman Bellin called the meeting to order at 7:01 PM. He acknowledged those members absent and present for the record.
Chairman Bellin asked if there were any comments or edits for the January 14th draft meeting minutes. Kristin Anderson added to “Members Present” of draft meeting minutes. Motion was made by D. Bowie motioned, K. Anderson seconded, all approved.
Chairman Bellin asked if there were any public comments at this time. There was no public comment.
D. Bowie asked J. Elie to add Project Tracking Form online in View only form so the Committee can access and view it anytime as changes are made.
Complete Streets Working Group
Complete Streets meeting was held at Salem City Hall Annex on February 5th. Bruce Mabbott attended meeting. J. Pelletier who led the meeting, updated the Committee on Bicycle related issues that were brought up. He noted that there was not much that came up related to bicycling but they are still waiting on the road paving schedule from DPW and Engineering.
J. Elie could not attend meeting but Dana Menon and Erin Shaeffer of the Planning Department attended. An update was provided on the District Courthouse property that is proposed to be redeveloped and adding Complete Streets accomodations in the form of proper sidewalk curb cuts, and bicycle access through racks on site. Potentially a contra-flow bicycle lane may be considered on Church St. which would require slightly widening the street when the property is redeveloped.
Canal St. Bike Path Extension
MassDOT has submitted 25% design plans to the Engineering department for review. The plans have been shared with the Complete Streets Working Group. J. Elie printed several copies of the plan and the entire length of the path was laid out for the Committee to comment and make suggestions. The main focus of review was to determine appropriate access points on Canal St that would allow people to access the path from other spots besides the start and finish of the path.
The points that were deemed most appropriate by the Committee were at Ocean Ave, Hancock St, mid-way between St. Paul and Roselyn St., and between Cypress and Ropes St. Because at several areas of the path there is a drop in grade of up to 1 foot, instead of using ramps to meet grade and ADA requirements, the path could be swailed up to sidewalk elevation and eliminate the need for ramps.
Because the design is already at 25% and the SBAC has yet to make official comments regarding suggestions and potential issues with current design, the Committee decided that it was best to write a letter to MassDOT, cc’ing the City Engineer, Mayor, AECOM, and Mass-in-Motion that would make the suggestions from the meeting.
Bike Circulation Master Plan
J. Pelletier and J. Elie attended a MAPC meeting at 60 Temple Place, Boston, MA on January 22 at 10am, to begin discussing how MAPC will fit into the whole update process. FST did not attend meeting but J. Elie and J. Pelletier asked MAPC to work with FST to develop a comprehensive plan and collaborate on the Master Plan update. FST will provide engineering analysis and specific plans that show improvements and suggestions to bicycle infrastructure in the City while MAPC will help with outreach, meeting coordination, and funding for a pilot project as the Master Plan update nears completion.
FST predicted that the process to update the plan would take 4-5 months and could be completed by June 2015. MAPC is okay with that timeline and will re-work their proposed scope of work to reflect FST’s work.
Discussion of new member for committee
J.~Elie sent 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 has submitted her letter and has been invited to this meeting as well as the next. 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 again to Tracy Ware to invite her to attend the meeting.
New Logo for SBAC
The Committee motioned to table the major discussion about the Logo for next meeting but did suggest J. Elie to reach out to local Salem graphic designers to work on a new logo.
E. DeMaio suggested Glen Kennedy, a graphic designer, and member of the Salem Design Review Board.
J. Bellin suggested Tessellati.com located on Church St.
Action Item: J. Elie to reach out to both graphic designers and open dialogue about designing a new logo for the Committee. Bring some potential designs to the next meeting for feedback.
Summary of Action Items
J. Elie – Upload Project Tracking Form online and send link to Committee members
J.~Elie - Reach out to both graphic designers and open dialogue about designing a new logo for the Committee. Bring some potential designs to the next meeting for feedback.
J.Elie – Send Committee PDF plans of Washington/Dodge St redevelopment to show changes to intersection and Dodge St.
J. Elie – Send Committee PDF aerial image of Riley Plaza parking lot to begin drafting how the Canal St. path will connect to the Downtown corridor.
J. Elie - To reach out again to Tracy Ware to invite her to attend the meeting.
J. Elie - To reach out to both graphic designers and open dialogue about designing a new logo for the Committee. Bring some potential designs to the next meeting for feedback.
Chairman Bellin asked if there were any further items to discuss tonight. There being none, D. Bowie asked for a motion to adjourn. B. Sandler seconded the motion. All approved. The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 PM.
Respectfully submitted by:
Jeffrey Elie,
Energy and Sustainability Manager
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