Complete Streets & Bikeway Committee

Middletown Complete Streets Committee May 10th, 2021 Meeting Minutes Attendees: Joe Samolis (host) Beth Emery Lisa Liesener Officer Peter Botsacos Laura Baum John Hall Tom Quirk March and April minutes approved Newfield Corridor: meeting with River Cog and Middletown City representatives (Mayor, Bobby, Joe S., etc.); River cog will take the lead with compiling application city will provide assistance as needed (financial and staff). John sent around a Transportation funding bill coming out soon; he recommends that Middletown get things designed now to be ready for upcoming funding (for shovel ready). Multi-use trail might be a good candidate; if only portions that don't require easements and land acquisition. Malone & McBroom should be in design now. Get wish list items designed now! Mattabassett Bike Trail: there was a request at a recent meeting that some benches be added to the trail; Joe S. noted that Public Works will look into it. Public Transportation: City is also working on some bus stops/shelters. City investigating going with designated stops on roots. Also looking into diversifying public transit with: micro-transit (bikes); main street bus line; direct ride service. Common Council meeting: had some pushback on reorganization plan; anything CS can do to support plan and move it along? Planning & Conservation Development initiative would be reorganized to two departments: the Dept. of Economic & Community Development (includes parking, possibly Complete Streets) and the Dept. of Land Use (regulatory arm). Where does CS prefer to reside? With the click fix app more issues being reported and become a potential liability. Existing road bonds include $$ for sidewalk repairs and a separate bond ($500,000) is occasionally pulled specifically for sidewalk repair on streets outside road bonds (safety hazard and ADA compliance). East Street subdivision: going for a multi-use greenway in lieu of sidewalks. Who is responsible for care? If development owns the property then the home owners take care of it; if it's given to the city as a public greenway then the city would need to care for it. City reorganizing departments to better evaluate this type of situation. Middletown Health & Wellness: will be getting bike safety training going ECOIN: nothing new Sustainable CT: Bike-friendly Middletown application to be submitted in late summer 2021. Middlesex County Chamber Environment & Infrastructure Committee: Sam Gold mentioned that the River Cog is buying street data to study transportation use and needs ( https://www.streetlightdata.com/ ). Can this data be made free to public entities? Page 1 of 2  Middletown Complete Streets Committee May 10th, 2021 Meeting Minutes Climate initiative: remind your representatives on your stance and how we feel they should vote Meeting with Durham Complete Streets this week: They want to connect to Middletown through Millbrook Rd for bike route. May want to discuss a Rt 17 corridor study to have available if the road gets redone. Last meeting with PW Dept.: CS listened to list of upcoming projects. They will definitively work on Main St. Extension up to Silver St. Vine St. has a couple of designs to fix issue. CS should check back with PW in June. Joe will check with Chris Holden. CS requested a sidewalk from Washington Terrace to SE corner of Washington & Vine through the park; State had proposed a plan - what is the status and approved plan? Riverfront Redevelopment: Includes a plan for a multi-use trail from closed section of River road to the Riverfront park. Page 2 of 2