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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee - 01/14/2015 BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN COMMITTEE MINUTES 1-14-2015 The Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee held its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at 5:30 pm in the medium conference room at the city office building. Members Present: Matthew Boulanger, Chair; Dana Farr, Vice-Chair; Cathy Frank, Clerk; Donna Leban, Roy Neuer Members Absent: None City Representative: Betsy Terry, Interim Director of Parks and Recreation Also Present: Brett Bartlett and Peter Kahn from Willowbrook Homes, John Painter from South Burlington High School, Tom Chittenden, resident of South Burlington, and Pat Nowak, City Counsel Member and vice-chair. Meeting began at 5:35 pm. 1. Changes or additions to the agenda – none 2. Comments from the public not related to the agenda a. Pat Nowak, South Burlington City Council Member and vice-chair – Pat Nowak came to the meeting to thank the committee members for their service on the Bike and Pedestrian Committee and to listen to any concerns we had about our work going forward. The committee shared with her that we were in desperate need of more committee members as we had only 5 current members of the desired committee size of 9. The group also shared with her our support of expanding the role of the committee to include transportation concerns and to have someone with general transportation experience on the committee since the bike/pedestrian paths are not only a part of our recreational infrastructure but also serve a transportation function as well. b. Need for safe pedestrian path on east side of Dorset south of Chittenden Cider Mill- Tom Chittenden was present to discuss the need for a safe path for residents in the area, particularly from the south, to walk to the Mill Market & Deli”, (1580 Dorset St.), formerly the Chittenden Cider Mill, on the east side of Dorset St. for ice cream and groceries. His property abuts the Mill Market & Deli property to the south and he is willing to give the city a right-of- way along his Dorset Street frontage for an extension of the Recreation Path. The committee expressed their delight and gratitude but also lament that the funds to build the path are not immediately available. In order to make immediate improvements to the current dangerous situation Tom said that he would mow his frontage to make it welcoming to pedestrians. The Committee expressed their gratitude for his offer and suggested that he contact the city attorney and solicit his services in drawing up the legal documentation necessary to formalize his offer of a right of way. 3. Accept & approve Minutes of November 12, 2014 meeting Roy: Moved to approve the minutes. Dana: Second Vote: Unanimous 4. Proposed Development on Dorset Street (Peter Kahn, Brett Bartlett, Willowbrook Project) Brett Bartlett and Peter Kahn were present at the request of the South Burlington DRB in conjunction with their planned Willowbrook development on the west side of Dorset Street, just south of the Chittenden Cider Mill. After a discussion of the need for connectivity to Dorset Farms if the project were to be expanded westward in the future, the committee passed a motion supporting the proposed 20 foot easement along the eastern boundary of the current development with a request to clear the easement strip and thus make it useable for pedestrians in the immediate future. Moved by Roy/ seconded by Dana. Unanimous. 5. Proposed Project on the Trails Behind the High School (John Painter, SBHS Teacher) John gave a presentation of the proposed improvements to the informal trail system on the east side of the high school/ middle school playing fields that would transform it into a multi-use trail system. The project would include cleaning up the junk presently in the area, repairing and rebuilding the trail system to make it accessible to all ages of citizens, making it into an outdoor laboratory for the biology and environment programs at the schools, as well as to bird watchers. It would also give the x-country program at the high school the opportunity to have its own race course, providing 2 miles of trail in the woods. Parking would be available at the school. The project would be paid for by a $20,000 grant requiring a 20% local match. The SBHS Grounds Crew would do the upkeep. Motion to endorse this project was made by Cathy, seconded by Dana and passed unanimously. Matt was directed to send a letter from the committee in support of the project. 6. South Village Update, re DRB meeting – Donna and Cathy reported that Phase 2 of South Village will include a new northern entrance to the development and that the bike-pedestrian path will run from the current main entrance directly across from Allen Rd. up around the new houses set back to the north and loop back down to Spear Street along the new northern entrance. Additionally the developer was extending the uses for the easement along Spear Street to include the bike-pedestrian path. Through questioning it was pointed out that the land the easement crosses has significant drainage problems for being able to construct a path there without additional work. 7. Long Property Trail Easements Update –. As a follow up to a discussion with Mrs. Long concerning a possible easement across her property which runs along the east side of Spear Street from the northern boundary of South Village to the southern boundary of South Pointe, Cathy reported that she had talked to Caroline Long’s son Alan. It was clear from that discussion that the family did not want to commit to an easement on the property until such time as Mrs. Long no longer lived there and the children had decided what they wanted to do with the property. That did not necessarily mean they would not be willing to consider an easement at that time. 8. Underwood Property – Cathy reported that the Underwood Property Task Force has met 3 times resulting in excellent discussion on the possible uses of the property including a bike-pedestrian extension from Parkside Drive in South Pointe to Nowland Farm Road, walking trails, community/school gardens, informal playing fields, nature based play stations, a possible building structure for events, some riparian improvements to the wetlands and stream on the property, one or two bridges across the stream and others. There will be a public input session On Thursday, January 29 at 7:00, City Hall. 9. CVS Dorset Street and O’Brien Property Updates – DRB Discussion. Donna reported that she pointed out to the DRB that the CVS frontage along of Williston Road, while it had a sidewalk in the plans and an entrance to the drug store from the sidewalk, that the intersection of Williston Road and Dorset Street is one of the worst in the state for bicycles. After some discussion the developers agreed to add a shortcut for cyclists into the CVS parking lot just east of the Interstate exit, into the property and parking area. Likewise during the discussion of the O’Brien Property, Donna suggested that there needed to be a bike-pedestrian connection from the neighborhood to Kennedy Drive and from the planned hotel to Kennedy Drive, especially since it would be the closet hotel to the airport. 10. General matters DRB process - The committee had a general discussion as to what the relationship should be between the Bike-Pedestrian Committee and the South Burlington DRB. Roy said that he receives an email with the DRB agenda and asked Betsy if she could arrange for all R/P members to also get the DRB agenda (the agenda contains links to the plans to be discussed at the next meeting.). Betsy shared with the committee how Recreation & Leisure Arts Committee planned to monitor the actions of other committees, specifically by assigning one committee member to each committee to read the minutes and agendas for those of another City committee and share any recreation related news at the RLA Committee meetings. 11. Next Meeting: 2/11/15 12. Adjourn Dana: Motion to Adjourn Roy: Second Vote: Unanimous Meeting ended at 7:50 pm. Respectfully submitted, Cathy Frank, Clerk