Advisory Bike/Walk Taskforce

City of Norwalk Norwalk Bike/Walk Taskforce Meeting Minutes April 3, 2017, 6:00-7:30pm Health Department, 2nd Floor Library 137 East Avenue, Norwalk CT 06851 Attendance: Jim Carter, Peter Franz, Emily Gayton, Kevin Kane, Kaitlin Latham, Peter Libre, Nancy Rosett, Gunnar Waldman, Susan Wallerstein 1. The March 2017 Bike/Walk Taskforce minutes were unanimously approved. 2. The March 2017 Public Works/Taskforce minutes were reviewed and approved. 3. Nancy and Kaitlin discussed Aetna’s Cultivating Healthy Communities grant opportunity. The Taskforce agreed to apply for the grant in order to mark and sign the East/West and North/South bike routes, which align with the grant’s domains of improving the built environment and promoting healthy behaviors. Nancy and Kaitlin will collaborate on the phase 1 application, due Friday, April 14. 4. Susan Wallerstein from the Norwalk Arts Commission provided an explanation of the Commission’s self-guided and mobile art tours throughout the City, and presented their idea for a guided bike tour through Norwalk with stops at local art and cultural assets. The tour program, called Art Wheelers, starts at Pedego Electric Bike Shop in South Norwalk and stops at several attractions, including the Maritime Aquarium, Oyster Shell Park, and Mathew’s Park. Susan asked for feedback on the bike route and for any suggestions for volunteers to lead bike tours. She also suggested promoting Art Wheelers and the Bike/Walk Taskforce at Slow Art Day and/or Connecticut Open House Day on June 10. 5. Kaitlin provided the following walking updates: a. The South Norwalk, Tracey School, and Downtown Norwalk NorWALKer maps are now translated into Spanish and available on the NorWALKer website. b. Community walks are now occurring regularly in West Norwalk, South Norwalk, and Silvermine. If you have suggestions for new locations or interested walk leaders, please have them contact Kaitlin Latham (klatham@norwalkct.org or Deborah Lewis (dlewis@bredeson.com). Upcoming walk dates include: i. April 23 – 9am in South Norwalk (meet at Sono Baking Co. at 101 Water Street) ii. April 29 – 8:30am in West Norwalk (meet at Fox Run Elementary School at 228 Fillow Street) iii. May 6 – 8:00am in Silvermine (meet at Silvermine School at 157 Perry Avenue)  c. The Norwalk River Watershed Association is including several NorWALKer routes on their updated trail map, to be released later this year. Collaborative trail clean ups and walks will be scheduled for the fall. d. Stamford’s transportation planner and Stamford Walks are interested in learning more about the NorWALKer design process. Nancy and Kaitlin will meet with them within the next few weeks. e. NorWALKer was selected for a presentation at the National Walking Summit in St. Paul, MN. Kaitlin will be attending the conference in September. 6. Peter Franz displayed his drafts for new Bike/Walk Taskforce educational materials, including PDFs on Connecticut Bike Laws and a business card prototype. Peter will work with Kevin to find appropriate pictures to include on these materials. Kaitlin will review the City’s branding guidelines to determine if the City’s logo should appear on the documents, or if the Taskforce logo will suffice, and will also get a quote for printing the business cards. 7. The Taskforce discussed their progress on the 2017 Strategic Plan goals. Updates were as follows (in italics): a. 1 – Get organized. i. 1.1 – Gain recognition as an official advisory board to the Mayor. 1. Nancy and Tim attended two ordinance committee meetings to discuss the creation of a Bike/Walk advisory committee. b. 2 – Have all roadwork comply with the 2009 Complete Streets law. i. 2.1 – Participate in the revision of the City of Norwalk, Connecticut Department of Public Works Roadway Standards. 1. This is complete and available on the website. ii. 2.2 - Work with Bike/Walk CT and other groups to sponsor a regional Complete Streets workshop. 1. No progress to report. c. 3 – Promote biking in Norwalk. i. 3.1 – Provide signage and public communication for the north/south and east/west bike routes 1. We’re applying for Aetna’s Cultivating Healthy Communities grant, which would cover the costs for this goal. ii. 3.2 – Participate in the development of Norwalk’s Plan of Conservation and Development. 1. Tim and Nancy are regularly attending POCD meetings. iii. 3.3 – Work with other City departments to promote a bike share program. 1. The Economic Development office arranged meetings with e3think and Zagster. We are waiting on the Mayor to clarify the Economic Development office’s participation in this. Mayor Rilling suggested that the Taskforce spearhead this effort, but we can’t because  we’re not part of the City government. If the ordinance passes, we can work on this once we are officially part of government. d. 4 – Promote walking in Norwalk. i. 4.1 – Translate 50% of walking maps into Spanish. 1. Three of 17 maps are currently translated, and more are in- progress. ii. 4.2 – Launch three neighborhood walking groups. 1. This goal is complete, with established walking groups in South Norwalk, Silvermine, and West Norwalk. More groups to come. e. 5 – Educate bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists in how to safely share the road. i. 5.1 – Work with City departments and private organizations to evaluate the feasibility of developing a children’s bicycle education center. 1. Kevin and Ian will collaborate soon, and possibly reach out to Stepping Stones for a meeting. ii. 5.2 – Support the Norwalk Kiwanis Bike Rodeo. 1. The Taskforce and the Norwalk Health Department are sponsors. Anyone that would like to volunteer should contact Nancy. iii. 5.3 – Add educational material to our web page. 1. Peter developed materials and once approved by the Taskforce, the materials will be uploaded to the Taskforce’s webpage. iv. 5.4 – Understand the methodology used by the Norwalk Police to record the frequency and outcomes from pedestrian, bicyclist and motor vehicle collisions. 1. Health Department intern Nikki Lewis is reviewing the police crash reports from 2013-2017. She finished collecting information from the 2015-2017 reports. Prior to 2015 the reports are on paper, and she is reviewing them and will target a completion date of late April. 8. Peter Libre and Gunnar shared their suggestions for changes to East Avenue / Route 53. Present members reviewed their plan on Streetmix and discussed the feasibility of the suggestions. Concerns included the addition of parking where it does not currently exist, bicyclist/motorist confusion with changing from sharrows to bike lanes, and the ‘slolem’ of bike lanes and parking lanes. Peter and Gunnar will make changes to their design based on feedback from the Taskforce. The design will be presented to DPW at the next DPW/BWTF meeting. 9. Jim shared information on the NRVT cleanup day, to be held at 10am on Thursday, April 20. Shop Rite, Grace Farms, and Keep America Beautiful will be sponsoring/participating. Kaitlin will promote this event via social media. Meeting adjourned: 7:47pm