Advisory Bike/Walk Taskforce

City of Norwalk Norwalk Bike/Walk Taskforce Meeting Minutes May 1, 2017, 6:00-7:30pm Health Department, 2nd Floor Library 137 East Avenue, Norwalk CT 06851 Attendees: Jud Aley, Chris Bisceglie, Tim Callahan, Peter Franz, Colin Grotheer, Kaitlin Latham, Peter Libre, Nancy Rosett 1. The April 2017 Bike/Walk Taskforce meeting minutes were unanimously approved. 2. Nancy Rosett reviewed the DPW/BWTF minutes from April 2017. 3. Nancy Rosett reviewed changes to the ordinance draft, and opened the floor to Taskforce members to suggest further edits, as follows: a. Tim Callahan asked if non-appointed members could still participate in the Bike/Walk meetings and join subcommittees, and the group believes that since the meetings are open to the public, any Norwalk resident is eligible to attend meetings and join subcommittees without being officially appointed to the Commission. Nancy will follow up with Brian Candella on this question. b. Present members agreed to remove the word ‘advice’ from the document and replace with a variation of ‘confirm compliance’, ‘provide guidance’, ‘review and confirm compliance’, etc. c. It was suggested that a Master Sidewalk/Walking Plan be created to accompany the Master Bicycle Plan. The ordinance draft will be presented at the May Ordinance Committee meeting, and if approved, will go to a public hearing soon after. 4. The Norwalk Health Department is being recognized by the Business Council of Fairfield County for being a “Best Place to Live, Work, Play – Car Free”. Kaitlin Latham applied for the award on behalf of the Health Department, noting the achievements of the NorWALKer program and the Bike/Walk Taskforce. She will attend the awards ceremony in Stamford on May 16. Colin Grotheer asked if present members knew of any engineering/public works awards the City could apply for, potentially focusing on bike lanes or making the City more pedestrian-friendly. 5. Colin Grotheer presented his slideshow of bike trough designs and recommendations for improving Norwalk’s current design. Additionally, Nancy Rosett remarked that she spoke with the Redevelopment Department on the faulty design of the trough, and while they understand the issues, the engineer/design company does not have a current contract with the City, so they are waiting for them to be in town to address the issue. The group agreed that a phone call should be placed to the designer, and Colin Grotheer  should be included on the call. 6. Kaitlin Latham updated the group on walking efforts in Norwalk: a. Kaitlin will be presenting on the success of the NorWALKer program at the National Walking Summit in September. She asked for input and feedback on the poster content and design once it is drafted. b. Community walks for the month of May are as follows: i. May 6 in Silvermine: Meet at Silvermine Elementary School (157 Perry Ave) by 8:00am. ii. May 20 in East Norwalk: Meet at Marvin Elementary School (15 Calf Pasture Beach Road) by 8:30am. iii. May 21 in South Norwalk: Information TBD iv. May 27 in West Norwalk: Meet at Fox Run Elementary School (228 Fillow St) by 8:30am. c. Kaitlin will be meeting with Bobbie Kinn on Thursday, May 4 to discuss a weekly walk series before the summer concerts at Calf Pasture Beach. Present members also discussed the lack of appropriate sidewalks on Beacon St. Several youth baseball players walk along Beacon St. during baseball season, as games are played at City Hall’s field, and the lack of functional sidewalks is keeping them from walking safely. The group agreed to discuss this with Public Works. 7. Health Department intern, Nikki Lewis, has been working with the Police Department on analyzing collision data from the past five years. She has completed her internship and will send a project summary to Kaitlin and Tim, and it will be presented on at the June Taskforce meeting. 8. The Taskforce discussed the strategic plan goals that have not been started on as of May 2017. a. 2.2: Work with Bike/Walk CT and other groups to sponsor a regional Complete Streets workshop. i. Chris Bisceglie and Colin Grotheer will join Kevin Kane, Mike Heslin, and Jud Aley on this goal. Nancy will share her conference call line to make meeting remotely easier for all involved. b. 5.1: Work with City departments and private organizations to evaluate the feasibility of developing a children's bicycle education center. i. Peter Libre will contact Ian Ray and Kevin Kane to put together a presentation on Safety Town to present to Stepping Stones. Chris Bisceglie also offered to help with this goal. 9. Peter Franz presented his business card design, suggesting that the card remains one- sided instead of two-sided to decrease printing costs and to allow for space to write contact information.  Colin Grotheer will work on a short survey about biking and walking in Norwalk that can be housed on the Taskforce’s Facebook page and website. Tim Callahan will determine printing costs for the business cards. 10. Chris Bisceglie shared that Calvary Baptist Church is hosting a health fair on May 20, and offered to distribute NorWALKer maps at the fair. The meeting adjourned at 7:30pm.