The December meeting of the Walk Bike Council of Addison County was held on December 10th, 2018 at the ACRPC. See below for full notes.
Present: Doug McKain, Adam Franco, Mary Yates, Tim Clark, Bethany Yon, Nate Burt, Claire Tebbs, Larry Buck, Laura Asermily, Erik Remsen. Mike Winslow for introduction. Missing: Carrie Macfarlane & Bud Reed
Introductions
Mike Winslow - new Transportation Planner, taking on official ACPRC role in this group - [email protected]
Vision for Mike’s interaction: coordinating during infrastructure improvements & consulting with this group
Class 1 paving projects - a contact for these? Yes. Infrastructure group will follow up.
Helping with scheduling of future Walk-Bike meetings.
Claire to stay involved as community partner - Dec. 28th final date, but not leaving town -
Introductions around the room
Triangle Loop Grant status
Claire:
Grant received! $35K for Triangle Loop Master Plan; Vergennes & New Haven provided funding; coordinated effort with boards, multiple towns
Excellent grant - state approved
Goal - create clear road map, retrofits required, details of route (intersections, corners)
Advisory group - RFP to get proposals
Already received two basic estimates for the purposes of the application
Claire will call meeting with Mike & team to outline next steps
Larry and/or Doug, plus reps from New Haven & Vergennes (Carrie for V.)
Selectboards - keep in loop
Reach out to planning commissions to the towns, and keep them posted, but keep advisory team size manageable
Ferrisburgh & Waltham representation? - Tim Clark as Waltham contact
Scope, deliverables, community engagement, stakeholders list
Grant active for up to 18 months from when New Haven gets the project started - early 2018
RFP - will provide details for scheduling purposes
Action Items:
- Claire will provide grant news to towns first: Waltham at planning commission meeting, and also to Middlebury, Bristol, New Haven & Vergennes
- Claire will also introduce Walk-Bike council (Adam) to Ferrisburgh
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Claire will copy Bethany, Adam, Larry & Doug in those notifications, and after this is done:
- Bethany will contact the college - Nadine B., & reach out to the students with the news
- Bethany - will contact Christopher Ross - Addy Indy
- Adam - will write/post a Walk-Bike Council news piece
Electric Scooters/ Bike share
Laura:
“Lime” approached Middlebury - Andrew Savage (former college student) as a contact
Midd College Sustainability Office, Midd Energy Committee, and Transportation Taskforce
Bikes & scooters - Electric assist bikes (swappable batteries); charge scooters
200 devices
Pricing - see website for detail (like Bird in Montpelier)
Identify parking lots (ex. Grocery stores, downtown, college, hospital)
Pick them up at night, charge them, put them back in lots (staff referred to as “Juicers”)
Timing of intro - to police, to this group, public health & safety committee, having a demo event
Walk-Bike Council’s role? Interest expressed in hearing about the project, but not clear that WBC will take any active role
Ordinance - change in volume of traffic on sidewalks?
Competition for other transportation? - probably not
Bethany:
Bike-friendly community in Kansas - free, low-cost loaner bikes at libraries; some businesses also involved
Originally interested in promoting tourism, but bikes used more by local folks for local transportation
<$500/bike spent
Snowshoes too!
Poultney library - snowshoes in the windows
Come Alive Outside in Addison County, and a Rutland County program
Librarians very receptive in Addison County - many already on board (Bixby - next round?)
Action Items:
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Bethany - Send Webinar link:
“What a great Walk Bike Council meeting last night! As promised, here is the link to more information about the Complete Streets Webinar from November that talked about the free bike share program in Kansas:
https://smartgrowthamerica.org/webinar-recap-small-places-smart-mobility/
Highlights were that the program was utilized not only for recreation, but also basic transportation for residents to jobs and appointments. So easy to set up… My brain has been trying to figure how to make this happen. And, as I shared, it Is already happening in my backyard. As we’ve been calling our Rutland County libraries to follow-up on the snowshoe lending program, we’ve heard some heartwarming stories. Community members in Poultney were so inspired by our snowshoe lending program in local libraries, that they wanted to make something available for summer months. The local bike repair folks in Hampton NY (who fix up bikes and donate them to kids/families in need), donated 5 bikes with new helmets to the library to begin a free bike lending program. They recently installed hooks in the library basement so that the bikes can be stored there all winter, before coming out for a free tune-up as the spring lending season begins. Something to consider/explore come warmer months…”
- Nate - Send info: on Middlebury College bikeshare program
VOREC Groups
Claire:
Addison County Bike Club meeting - applying for Community Grant Program from Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative - a Dept. of Forests, Parks & Recreation - for Vt. Economic development
Up to $100,000 to go to one or more communities
Trail feasibility from south end of MALT trail (from Middle Road near Middle School, through Middle Road, under Route 7 (cattle underpass), across fields to East Middlebury)
Creek Road as alternative
Family-oriented trail - off-street - wider than single track
VIMBA (Mt. Bike group) - $3K to support grant-writing effort by Jamie Montague of MALT with Claire
Dec. 14th due date
Letters of support from Health Dept., Walk-Bike Council, & others
Non-motorized for this trail, yet discussion of collaboration with VAST (snowmobile group) for shared trail use
Middlebury lacking a walk-bike master plan - this project is more about the periphery of the towns, and thus not interfering town plan
Who gets money - and who manages the project?
Mary:
Bristol group chose not to go for this grant
Parking policy
Laura:
Provided reminder about email she sent about spectrum of vehicles we need to park -- not just autos, also electric cars, bikes, etc.
Summit Update
Claire & Bethany:
Adam L, Claire, & Bethany met
Mike coming into organization - new year - project team: Bud, Bethany, Erik, and …
May 8th likely meeting date
RPC & VTRANS have met - will be outlining tasks & schedule
EMail Forum Naming
Adam:
Midd Bike-Ped Coalition
Transformation over time - walk/bike, safe routes, was an informal local chapter
More of a county focus?
Mailing list associated with council? Or separate from the council?
“Walk-Bike Addison”?
Claire:
Confusion when discussing with folks
General discussion:
Middlebury focus with some discussion, but numerous folks from about - ACBC,
“Forum” rather than “Coalition”?
Basic footer information? - give folks options a list of other groups of interest? Basic description?
Walk-Bike Council sponsorship? Doesn’t sound like it - as it would need to be representative of the county
Not changing the name, but seeking more clarity
Action Item:
- Adam to look into adding footer information with basic description of purpose, etc.
Next Meeting:
January 14th 5:15-7
Mary - note-taker
Working Groups Break-out
Safe Routes:
Grants: collect data & submit online, buy-in from teachers for data collection
Parent groups - possible financial support for rewards, free helmet co-hosting?
Lawn signs - sponsors
Walk and Roll Days:
Skipping January; February - 1st or 2nd Wednesday - the winter day
Discussion about plastic signs & verbiage
Rewards:
February hot chocolate milk? Alternatives - heart tattoos from Local Motion - all kids!
March - pencils or bracelets? April - jokes. May & June - leftovers
Vt. Safe Routes - managed by Local Motion
Way to Go - Go Vermont, reducing car use; providing funding to support Safe Routes
Governance discussion - working with community groups, in concert with town, other.
Group rides - ride to Middle School, Kelly Boe Ride, Kingsland Bay, etc.