Complete Streets & Bikeway Committee

City of Middletown Complete Streets Committee Meeting Minutes Monday, November 9, 2020, 7 PM Location: Online WEBEX Meeting PRESENT​: Lisa Liesener, Laura Baum, Beth Emery, John Hall, Zoemma Warshafsky New/Current Projects ● CT Connectivity Grant o Grant application was submitted (was discussed at special mtg on 10/19/20 meeting) ● Bike Walk CT train-the-trainer opportunity o Opportunity for a one-day workshop for Middletown teachers to learn about the BWCT 4th grade bike education curriculum. o Laura Baum talked to people about this at the Middletown Public Schools Wellness Committee meeting in October. People sounded interested but Laura hasn’t heard back from anyone about pursuing it. She will follow up again. ● Plan of Conservation and Development update o Discussion of the version that Lisa Liesener passed around prior to the meeting o Planning & Zoning Commission will be the ones to decide whether to accept the final plan. Common Council and RiverCOG will review and can provide suggestions and send to P&Z for them to accept or reject. o Public hearing on Nov. 18th. Any committee members unable to attend should submit comments to Beth Emery. Ongoing project updates ● Spring St. one-way conversion - meeting with Damian Reardon o Committee discussed the city's design for Spring Street near Macdonough school. Committee is in favor of a designated westbound bike lane on the North side of the proposed one way street. Patrick McKenna has created architectural drawings of 2 possible solutions for this bike lane. o Laura Baum and John Hall outlined a meeting they had with Damian Reardon (Principal of Macdonough School) and Izzi Greenberg (North End Resident & Executive Director of Middlesex Children’s Coalition) o The Jonah Center is planning to organize people to go out on a Saturday with flyers advertising that the following Saturday there would be a gathering outside Macdonough to talk about options for an alternative to the City’s current plan that is more bike-friendly. o Members stressed the importance of making it clear that this is a serious equity issue (speeding cars/pollution/access)  ● Newfield Corridor Trail update o Phase 1 of the project is supposedly beginning now - no work has been noticed yet, however. ● Bike Friendly Middletown application o Public Works has created an account and Cat Young was able to log in to create access for all team members. John and Cat have access as representatives of the CSC. o Stephen Bank has been very proactive with regards to the police department and making contact with our new traffic director Mike Inglis. He is taking the lead on the questions from the Enforcement and Safety section of the application as a way to begin a conversation with Mike-- perhaps mentioning the Vision Zero action plan. o Cat Young had a conversation with Rob Smernoff at Middletown Public Schools and he is happy to share information with his department regarding the BFC. Cat has offered to create a flyer for him to share. o Cat thinks something should go out in the new year. ● MPD accident data acquisition o Stephen Bank and Lisa Liesener have been working on this. ● Saybrook Road improvements o Project is ready to go out to bid (in the next couple of months). Hopefully it will be done in the next construction season. ● St. John’s Square project (CTDOT) o Contractors expect to have all the work done by December 31, 2020. Nearly all the major work related to St. John’s Square has been done at this point. Finish work remains. ● 2018-20 Road Bond lists o Beth suggested that we keep the Road Bond on our agendas, but what's more important is that we keep a list on the agenda of upcoming projects that we know about. Reports from other pertinent regular meetings/events: ● Middletown Public Schools Health & Wellness Committee o Laura reported that she attended the meeting in October. More about this above in the train-the-trainer opportunity. ● Sustainable CT o Permanent Building Committee ordinance to be reviewed before the council in December. Cat Young encourages people to attend or email comments in support. o The Middlesex Pool and Tennis Club has been acquired by the town and people could submit ideas for consideration on possible recreation-related ideas for the property. ● Complete Streets Information Exchange (Oct 27&28th) o Lisa Liesener attended this event. ● Multi-Modal Transportation Summit o Nov 23 – John Hall will be talking about CT Loop Trail  Nov 17 – Laura Baum will be part of a panel talking about how to do Walk o Audits ● Connecticut Transportation and Climate Initiative Coalition biweekly meetings o Lisa Liesener is continuing to attend these meetings - Next meeting: December 14th, 7 p.m. – WebEx - Next quarterly Public Works/Planning deps. Meeting: Jan 6, 2021 at 10 a.m.