Complete Streets & Bikeway Committee

City of Middletown Complete Streets Committee Meeting Minutes - Draft Monday, February 8, 2021, 7 PM Location: Online WEBEX Meeting PRESENT​: Lisa Liesener, Laura Baum, Beth Emery, John Hall, Jen Kleindienst, Steve Bank, Paddy McKenna Minutes from January 2021 approved New/Current Projects ● Sustainable Middletown (Jen Kleindienst) o Jen told us about a memo that went out to all city departments today, asking them to report back on what they are doing related to sustainability. Based on a recommendation from the mayor, Sustainable Middletown is not likely to try to become an official city committee in the near term. But the mayor plans to regularly attend Sustainable Middletown meetings. o Jen suggested this committee could think about what this committee really wants the mayor to know about our priorities, in the context of sustainability. o Jen is also looking for volunteers who are willing to help her and a few others go through the Sustainable CT credits, to identify opportunities for various city departments. ● Bike Walk CT train-the-trainer opportunity o No updates. ● CT DOT Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (​RRFB​) letter o John shared a letter from the DOT that went out to cities. The deadline has now passed. This committee would like to figure out how we can be notified by the city when they receive these types of opportunities. ● CT Connectivity Grant update o Middletown was not awarded this grant. The city had applied for a project that included sidewalks near Butternut Park. Ongoing project updates ● Spring St. one-way conversion o An event outside Macdonough school on Spring Street was held on January 16, 2021. o Attendees included the principal of Macdonough school, Chris Holden from the city, a representative from North End Action Team (NEAT), and members of the Jonah Center and the Complete Streets Committee. At the event, Chris Holden shared updated plans that included several bike/ped features this committee has asked for. 1  o Paddy McKenna reported on his work to investigate the opportunity to get funding from Sustainable CT for some street art on Spring St. Sustainable CT has a matching program and it requires an entity to receive the funds. Paddy hasn’t heard back from folks at the city about whether the city could do that. o John suggested we don’t try to hold up the Spring Street one-way project while we get our act together on the street art project. Perhaps Spring 2022 might be a more realistic timeline for completion of a street art installation. o Action Items – Lisa will email Tom and Chris to ask for the plans. Paddy will continue to pursue the street art work. ● Newfield Corridor Trail update o Jan 2021 Minutes - John Hall went on a walk with the city from Lawrence School ballfield area to check out the area on 1/11/21. The group identified a rough 100 ft swath of space where they can do a survey. Others on the walk included Mike Doherty (Milone & MacBroom), Jane Harris, and Chris Holden. o Paddy McKenna reported on attending a meeting about Veterans Park where there was discussion about adding car parking. There was some good discussion about walk/bike access to Veterans Park. ● Plan of Conservation and Development o The POCD was approved by the common council. ● Bike Friendly Middletown application o No updates this month. ● MPD accident data acquisition o Stephen Bank and Lisa Liesener have been working on this. The committee would like to invite the representative from the police department to attend our next meeting to talk about crashes and safety. ● 2018-2020 Road Bond list 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. o Action Item - Laura volunteered to update John Hall’s road bond document and highlight those that are on our priorities list. Reports from other pertinent regular meetings/events: ● Planning & Zoning o No updates. ● Local orgs: Middletown Health and Wellness Cmte; ECOIN o ECOIN is very focused on the power plant issue right now. John reported on a meeting they had with Brandon Chaffee, who represents Middletown in the state house and he serves on the transportation committee. ● Sustainable CT o No updates. ● Connecticut Transportation and Climate Initiative Coalition biweekly meetings 2  o Lisa Liesener has been occasionally attending these meetings. - Next meeting: March 8, 2021, 7 p.m. – WebEx - Next quarterly Public Works/Planning deps. Meeting: April 7, 2021 at 10 a.m. 3