this is the Acushnet bicycle and pedestrian Safety Committee um our meeting for the month of March and can I get so can I get an a motion to open the meeting okay I make a motion we open the meeting second all in favor all all
right so we just have a couple things to go over and then we have a a guest a presentation from Chris Welch of cir at South Eastern Regional planning and economic development District so first
of all uh we need to approve our minutes from last meetingone review we did review them already on email okay motion accept I second all in favor I yes
I okay next is the spring safe roots to school event last month we did last year we did um a Bike Rodeo that was in the fall we didn't want to do that again
this year uh we talked last time a last meeting with Angela rogerio from the school and we were thinking of maybe doing um a bike walk but only having them walk around the track so we're I'm
still trying waiting to hear back from Colleen from safe roots to school as far as anything goes with that so she can uh help us plan that so until then uh it's kind of on hold yeah all right okay yeah
very good and uh we talked last week too I mean last month too I think about pop Park parking lot with M was somebody mentioned that it needs repainting and the some of the you know where the parking area is and where the cars are
supposed to drive it's kind of hard to see so we I guess have to contact UM epw DPW about that yeah and that I haven't done yet you want me to do that yeah all right I'll go over there and uh is it
Dan is his name Dan I I'll go right to the office yeah they know me little B all right that sounds good probably not a good way Eric's going to get in touch with them and see what we can
do and that gets us to number five which is a presentation from Chris hi everyone Hi hi Chris hi thanks for having me today um so as you guys said I'm here to uh present about the the master plan I'd like this to be more
of a conversation though too um to definitely get you guys' insights on uh B bicycle infrastructure in town and just general traffic safety and the like um so just to quickly Breeze through for people that aren't familiar can I just
uh we have a guest uh Rick merci who's interested in maybe joining us can you can sit over there see the screen yeah um yeah certainly so the master plan which if you're unfamiliar is a 10-year
document meant to kind of develop these long-term strategies for a variety of different uh different topics including Transportation Economic Development housing land use and the like um so we operate in 27 uh different communities
in the region um here's included um we've run I think furthest in the west is planville furthest in the East is wam um so yeah so that's fine here and uh the project leads on this are the town
planner of Acushnet U Victoria and uh my co- project manager Liz um she's actually at the uh master plan committee meeting right now presenting um so that's why she cannot join us uh tonight um so just to quickly walk
through the project timeline um so we've already kicked off the um the project and we've also held several uh meetings with the MPC uh in the public we've also had a uh Discovery Workshop so essentially what that is is a uh event
where we put on the um existing conditions findings that have taken place since the project has started um so that's mapping so that's looking at you uh you folks's infrastructure roads uh it's looking at hard data and statistics that we kind of gathered from
State databases um and in that packet actually we have a bunch of the um boards that we had kind of showcased at that open house I think it's closer to the back of the
yeah uh I got a quick question yes are the government cutbacks going to affect your operations plans uh so uh this plan in particular is state funded so no so we should be good to go on that front but good question
um uh so yeah so currently we're still kind of in the discovery phase we're going to have more events um I I can talk about those a little bit more um in a little bit um and essentially what we're trying to do right now is gather feedback from the community um from town
staff and committees such as yourselves uh to kind of put all of this information together so we can distill what the final goals and strategies will look like and that's what the end product is in the master plan is goals and strategies um for what you folks
would like to see in the town uh over the next 10 years um so the kind of next leg of this after the discovery is the feedback phase where we bring these draft goals and strategies to master plan committee and we uh go through a review to determine which ones are uh going to need
adjusting or which ones we're planning on keeping and like um and finally the plan should be in a draft stage by the end of the calendar year in December so that's kind of the timeline for this right now uh and concurrently with this we also have a water management plan and an open space and Recreation plan that's
also taking place at the same time uh to develop a open space and Recreation plan and then the Water Management um will be kind of looped into the master plan as a separate chapter topic um so yeah and then just to quickly go through we have
a project website up already um we have two surveys live as well we have a master plan survey and we have the open space and Recreation Water Management plan survey um just to quickly Breeze through uh we just have some general information about what a master plan is
for folks um we also have connections to where resources are regarding the plan and we also have a timeline of events like I mentioned and we also have the boards posted that we showcased at that Discovery uh Workshop which I believe
was I want to say either last month or January um so yeah feel free to Prov this I'm more than happy to send the link over uh to Lori and she can send it to you folks um also on here we have some of our mapping that I had mentioned
uh and this is pretty timely it's funny that the bike and pedestrian Roots kind of popped up on there um that I'm going to go into in a little bit um on our uh story map um and just get back to the
slides this your website what was that is this your website yes we can go to this website yeah yeah all of it is public so residents can uh Peru it and view all the and you have a on it is that what a survey is so uh plan survey
on that so the survey itself I can actually um show you guys real quick um especially if you haven't taken it yet which I highly recommend you do right I I haven't personally know um so we have an online version right now we're also going to make paper copies potentially to put at um either town hall or the
party ways building um so essentially what the master plan survey is asking is for Resident feedback on these specific topics um um so for example um we we go through topic by topic so the first one is land use and
Zoning so we ask residents their perceptions on the zoning or the current state of zoning and land use in town then we go to housing Economic Development open space uh actually open space is the separate survey um but um it it goes through a variety of topics for us to get your feedback uh uh for
the plan Chris Jon just for the residents of C yes yeah okay and we do parse out in the survey whether you are like you list yourself as a resident as well because we're mainly trying to get ACC cushion it feedback for an acate master plan right like um but yeah um so
yeah here's the survey um I'll include this in the materials I'll send to Lori um so you can access it uh if you prefer a paper survey too just let us know we could get you a copy um where was I going with that right so we have a a pretty robust
engagement uh timeline right now so what that means is we're planning on attending a variety of events or meetings such as this one um like we have here March 18th today or not today sorry um that would be next Tuesday we're also presenting at the PTO um we're trying to get a wide variety of
input from a wide variety of demographics as well as town that way we can get as much information and feedback as possible from as many residents as possible um our next Deep dive uh that is going to focus more on open space and Recreation um and as well as National
cultural resources that'll be April 10th um we're also we've partnered with the library at a couple events um one of which will be a seedball activity for kids um so essentially what that is is um kids put together a little um ball to
place at home that has like native flowers or and seedlings in there that they can play at home um so that will be taking place as well and this is updated periodically to make sure that we're as up to date as possible we're also adding events um
pretty um or pretty actively for example this one which I think we put together in what maybe a week or two Lori um since we were in communication um but yeah so um these activ or sorry these events um also pop up on the website um
near the bottom and it will be updated uh periodically good yeah um can you sign up for like emails from you guys yes be a form when the yep want to something that it updated oh nice yeah yeah so we actually have that at the end of the survey as well so folks that are interested they can provide their
contact information they're they're under no obligation to do so or required to do so but if they like updates they certainly can good question yeah for sure for sure know what's going on um get so many emails emails that I
made of them we we'll try not to spam you too much though right um so something I definitely want to to speak with you folks because of your interest and expertise in um biking and um just pedestrian safety and
general um we ran this activity at our previous NPC meeting to try and gather some more information about what folks are looking for in the master plan in terms of um for example safety um or
pedestrian safety so this is where we get to the conversation part so feel free to to chat so basically I'll ask you these questions and we have this really cool interactive map that residents can go in and they can click on
particular areas in town to highlight specific things that they yeah I did that I just Ed the survey oh gotcha gotcha okay yeah so this is a great way for residents to kind of showcase their interests as well as um any ideas they
have for improvements as well uh so just looking right here for example we'll just go to po Park is close to the top uh so we had a comment from someone to add another Park a more amenities at po par so a resident can go in and make a
suggestion there yeah I'll have to do the one I think I I think I comed on this Sandy had shared that with us but I haven't done it myself oh yeah yeah we we can kind of walk through it right now too with um that's kind of what the guiding questions are for to it's very
location based so um I believe the first one um how the heck do I get back to it one second uh AR no don't is that red C didn't that V again oh I see back arrow
there we go um who would have thought um so my first question to you folks um where in a kushit um do you or have you heard or you personally feel unsafe walking driving or biking
back roads almost everywhere everywhere F Street yeah think the biggest problem is uh cushion at roads is are pretty narrow mhm it's very unnerving to ride on a back road like for instance Perry
Hill or halfway Road half theway Road and have a car go by with 60 M hour 18 in off your handle now is this specifically for biking or is it for walking well there's no side there's no sidewalks Road there's no sidewalks
almost very few sidewalks fush anywh just basically I think really it's here there sidewalks and then down to um the right after the park right just a couple of blocks after par after the parket stops the liquor store right
after the liquor store then what's the road that they redoing is it H H Street H where it ends h hlin country all Country Roads uh you said Hamlin as well Hamlin Street it ends at Hamlin pave Hamlin
Street now that's a question I have is there any way maybe they can put some paint some markings on there I don't know even Hamin Street isn't very wide either if you make a b if you make a bike path and and and paint it off
you're Clos no I mean they wouldn't be able to paint a path in but they could paint shows that just I think they just make people aware that there's bikes on the road if there's nothing else can be done it's one way anyway where is uh Hamlin Street in it's
off off of Main Street they're just it's closed right now they just repaired the bridge and I heard that they're going to repave they got to repave the road before they can is it North of Lake Street no it's south of Lake Street right before Lake Street okay right near
the par leard before Leonard before Leonard yep there's Leonard see should be per Hill no going the way I got you I got you so South on Main Street right there hlin yep gotcha okay looking for hlin
tree so also no sidewalks right sidewalks are about the only place you can ride in this area we're not worrying about getting killed because of how narrow the roads are Yeah well yeah and there are certain roads like for instance a lot of bikes bikers don't
like to ride on sidewalks to me that's the safest place there is for instance Beville Avenue from Wood Street to cogo Great sidewalk all the way you know there and back that's New Bedford yeah you know again it's the safest way or if
you have a painted breakdown Lane for instance Middle Road has one mhm and also Christian Avenue out towards Freetown that's a good ride too cuz that has a pretty wide breakdown because of the breakdown L okay that's one thing about Middle Road that we at least
thought maybe like starting out between the library and the schools having some kind of some painting or some kind of something done yeah B they can actually put the pained bike path in there or from from like the center of town to pop
Park which is not that far cuz Pope is on the aush river correct no it's not oh wait I'm thinking of the it's more like Central north right of here yeah that's right it's where you are it's right there right right across from Hamlet almost right here right yep yep gotcha
okay cool cool um so were there any other areas you guys wanted to highlight for like potentially is a little bit dangerous for for walking I think Wing Road is bad because a lot of people walk and go if you go there like this time night there's a lot of people walking
their dogs and walking around Sor right here what Wing Road and there's no sidewalks anywhere on R Wing Road no say that five times I know yeah that's a safe neighborhood to ride though is uh John Street James Street
get I I crisscrossed them maybe five times you know to to stay away from the traff that's so that's what I do over here for running right so I leave my house and as soon as I get over here to what is it pekam or whatever I go up and then I go up and down all those John and all those because you get a car once in
a while but you don't have non-stop traffic so you're not playing Dodge no at least you can be prepared if you see a car or a car behind you right right that's the problem with riding in the road especially on the county road or the back roads you can't hear the vehicles coming and all of a sudden this
guy's right there you know yeah I don't understand what people's heads when they do stuff like that yeah I don't know they probably never bicyle since they were kids lot of people think well I think well that's what I was going to say I know for me as cuz I I don't ride
a bike but I run and I sometimes I see people so I run facing traffic cuz I want to see them so I can die if I need to right and sometimes I'll see people looking right at me and it's almost like they're annoyed that I'm even there so
they're like I'm not moving how dare you be on the street you know which I do belong on the street that's where I should be to run along the curb right there's nowhere else for me to be um so I think that's a part of it is that that there's sort of this this attitude of go to the park or go someplace I've seen
comments lately at say that's why we have bike paths right so I think that's part of it you know yeah when to get to the bike path you got to go all of course we we could use a safe route that's going to be the South Main Street when that gets redone maybe maybe and I
right yeah so this was actually some of the mapping we have done is mapping out the sidewalks actually and as you can see it's very much localized to the town center and nowhere else um it was actually interest interesting we took a walk down to the COA because we wanted
to um check out the Buzzards Bay Coalition Trails behind there I didn't know how far the walk was we actually walked all the way from town hall down there I think it took about 20 minutes or something like that um there were definitely parts of the um I think the sidewalk kind of like petered out and we
had to walk on the close to the curb um for a couple minutes which big trucks going down there it's a little scary right um but yeah even with sidewalks right it still feels a little uh dangerous in that particular area but um
yeah we had there was a a guy that a cyclist got killed there oh really did you see do you see a bicycle over there bik no no the Aging yeah oh wow there's a ghost plik there we reinstalled how long ago is that last year couple of
years no was like 3 years ago two years ago and the bike was put in last year where did he get hit right on Main he was he I couldn't he um he was basically Crossing on the sidewalk in
front of the COA and a Truck turned in or out of the turned turned into the and didn't see him and took him out yeah well I've been hit twice but I've been riding for 30 years first time I got hit by a young girl who
was on the phone M right and I was crossing the street and I figured she'd see me she didn't pay any attention hit me I smacked the windshield cracked with my face but luckily enough I didn't I didn't get really hurt too bad right
second time I was hit from behind and they never stopped jeez so yeah you thinking you know you're going to be really careful where you going have mirrors going to have your mirrors on well not only any mirrors but you got to be careful what road you using yeah you know some roads are that's like peam road if you come go
up Christian Avenue Freetown and you come back and you want to get on Middle Road you got to go down pek that's another dangerous Street he said fly up and down that one pekam yeah pekam and you said that's free toown border it's up near the Freetown L it's New Bedford
it's newford and then you come down and goes into a Christian oh okay gotcha gotcha where do you live uh tton you something about taunt we went through there played golf Wednesday and on the way back they're doing a heck of a job with downtown there oh it's beautiful there they're doing real I'm
I'm impressed with that place they did you know instead of building a mall and killing downtown they they're fixing it all up they've got that I went to a concert up there in that in that uh building it used to be the court building yeah yeah you know what that is
is that right on the green that's past the green it's it's it's got column it's the oldt building I foret what it's called but they they bought it guy couple of guys bought it they refurnished it and they have Conant in
there that's neat as you can tell I'm a recent mover from or to TA I actually moved just in June but I I'll have to look into that you said it was the court building it's the old court building fantastic got they have all these bands in here these like 50s and 60s bands
yeah all right cool um I'll check that out but that's another bad Road pek y yeah I mean in all honesty they're pretty much all bad roads yeah all your back roads it's not like I mean it's not like we expect to see uh sidewalks on all that
back no no of course not but M I don't think you're going to see sidewalks anywhere I I wouldn't want they're supposed to do uh slok street over this year right we were just talking about that yeah we just can't even you can't even walk on that sidewalk it's a disaster yeah that's coming though well
we're going to have we're going to have new new Street and new sidewalks and have sidewalks they said something about at the meeting at the police station they're going to put curbs in they're going to have curbs and parking spots uh painted all like street parking
right on the road well theys on on that side but it's paring on one side one side south side of the street and then we're trying to get trees yes right on the other side I don't know if they got enough money
for that well we're going to find the money we're going to find the money and we're going to we're going to try to do it I agree once they once those side walks are in we'll never have any trees right so that's that's well they appointed I think they said 1.8 million
I don't know if that'll be enough for trees well trees are cheap we just planted unification Committee just planted four this past fall I got them for $25 a piece with my veterans dis at Home Dep cool so they're beautiful
going to be beautiful red red Maples nice very nice U just circling back are there any other uh particular areas that I should know in the map and just to let you know you guys have access to this as well so if you think of anything after the meeting feel free to populate the map well like she said before just about
every street it's true I mean the town is built back in the late 17 early 1800s when it really came into aiset and you know they it was wagon tracks you know they weren't going to go through and make uh city streets with
sidewalks mhm another one that that that is a a fairly busy and dangerous because it's narrow is n Lan n Lane uh what part of town is that so that one would be off Middle Road yeah off the Middle Road so
yep keep going yeah near White St right near the library I think somebody else might have already put some I I did to you yeah uh uh how close am I sorry where are you are you on middle no find middle you're on main so you need just there you go
the other side of all that green should be middle on the way oh yeah I see middle right there okay so if you follow middle down the other way oh North yeah sorry no no no you're good keep going
peum keep going right is p Isn't it past pekam it is yep north of pekam no no okay sou South ofek what was the name of it again n n
okay uh it's near I don't know if the library is marked on there but it's near the library and it runs through to if you go back to Hamlin Street it's not far from H what was the name of the mar mar Howard cuz I went there white seventh
grade oh yeah someone did do n already this right here right yep yep someone yeah someone wrote All of n Lane yeah I think a lot of that's my comment there you go shout out there you
go um but yeah um if you guys can't think of anything else right now like I said we'll get this sent over to you uh feel free to take a look um and it doesn't just have to be Transportation as well because you're all aush residents correct so anything uh topic based like we've been talking about to
like Economic Development like if you're if you want a particular new business in town or something like that um or if you want a new park um definitely feel free to to post some that and I'm sure a lot of um your neighbors may have posted about some of this stuff already too so feel free to like give their comment a
like just so like you can do that too comments yeah um yeah cuz it's good for because if we see those likes we know a lot of people are agreeing about it right so um definitely draws attention for us to it um and in terms of
perspective new bike Lanes or bike trails is there anything in particular um that you guys want us to be aware of in terms of like future projects or anything like that the trouble is is dollars and cents
we're we're discounting that right now pun intended if we could if we could it's a dream yeah it's a dream right now but so I mean well one of one of the things right his South Main is supposed to be redone and reportedly there will be shared
access on that so I don't know if you all play a part in making sure that happens yeah but South Main is State isn't it yeah yeah State that's a state highway so yeah it's not going to have any say on what goes on in yeah we don't
include um specific goals and strategies aside from like working with M doot on things like that because um this document won't really have that much teeth into that particular idea okay um but if it were to change like if ownership Chang or something to the town
that would yeah we don't want that yeah I I know it's a lot to maintain so that makes sense why and there's major trucks there so the road is yeah gotcha yeah they're coming out of PJ keting right my neighbor um I I think at the NPC uh
meeting Lori correct me if I'm wrong a bike trail from Fair Haven had been brought up as well mhm yeah some one of the Selectmen brought it up I think I'd like to see and talked about because I think we were talking about the little park down there near the river the river
and they're saying something about extending that somehow that little walk maybe so but that's still what could third of a mile if that yeah but just trying to find a way you know to extend
it and uh actually I'm not sure what if it's the what the which organization has they're they're working on getting a um a bike route from Fall River to New Bedford and right now they they're almost they almost got the funding they
need to have a bike path put on the side of um in New Bedford it's it's on uh the Old Fall River Road that goes behind the airport okay and that that's going to connect to um where almost near where the new train station is in that area
and then they come through a Kush net into to by Main Street M the regular Main Street you know North nor just regular off taken Hill into Main Street and I think their route goes down South Main so we thought well maybe if they
did put some kind of little hat cuz that could that could take you away from the center of a Kush net right go from to slow near you and if there was a say little path and then came out somewhere else further down on a one of the side streets I don't be nice to be a to get
something to connect us with that's what we talking because alen road is all marked already yeah but getting alen Road I've done that alen road ride to get to the bike path and the problem is crossing Route Six yeah
yeah you got that's a nightmare yeah yeah there are the other ways I I go by you can go through Fair Haven and cross over where the school is yeah the East Fair Haven School Street there's other ways you go down Adam Street anyway e
we'd like to see that connect somehow connect to the uh I I I don't mean to interrupt the conversation but where maybe geographically on the map do you kind of like aspirationally you would like to see that potentially take place so like I could just like put a marker down on
here and put a comment down oh be down the bottom of SL right yeah yeah theoretically well the best route now would probably be go the bottom of Slum to Belleville avenue sidewalk to Coga sidewalk we don't want to go that we
want yeah we all sidewalk up Coga to you can go through the lights and then you end up on Alden Road no they have a they already have it P marked out and they're coming through a Kush oh really yeah yeah yeah when is that going to take place did they say Well they're working
on it right now they're still they're trying to get the rest of the funding for that path that's going to go along wall River Road so that'd be nice yeah they're close to it too from what I heard so but so that yeah would be the bottom
of and then behind would it be adjacent to the river yeah right back there the riv it's kind of where it cuz I went back there and walked to it at the KE the trails there Trail yeah to see what was back there and it's nice back there back there oh it's very very scenic but
there's the the um the wiring it's National Grid or whatever some of that because that they have path driving I think it runs north to south right right right along the river um yeah because I think the trails they eventually were buffered by the power
lines I think right and you can like see across the river but you couldn't make it completely to shore a little fence there mhm I'll just say Buzzards Bay Coalition properties back here Sherry how's it going job do it's very busy
she's going to leave in like five s 8 minutes five minutes ago no no no I did leave by quarter of oh quarter of okay yes all right pop that back there uh anywhere else in town that you potentially might want to see like an
expansion of biking infrastructure or sidewalks like we said before the whole town all the back roads right yeah um I mean we've talked a lot about Middle Road right cuz Middle Road the schools are there um there's you know there's
there's several sort of main access roads to Middle Road Middle Road itself is really it's probably the only wide a break you know so that is a but that ends up just past school yes it does it Narrows down when you get to the
bottom of Peking road to Middle uh Middle Road there's no that that's a bad area right it Narrows right down but but at least like the the the town part the where it's more congested if we had a shared space or some sort of a marking there shared use path
yeah yes yes because that and then maybe that would get families to bring their kids to school and they go into the library too and right yeah but after it it does it Narrows right down till I'm not even sure it's too car
wide gotcha gotta yeah um so yeah I'll I'll make sure to send this over to Lori and she'll share with you folks um like I said feel free to PR the map definitely take the survey very important that you guys do that um and anyone that ask questions about it I have my business card in that packet
there um so feel free to give them my contact information and be more than happy to talk with folks about this um and I don't mean to hold you guys any longer if you had any questions for me uh definitely now's a good time appreciate it what so when you send her
you're going to send the actual link I'll send whatever you guys want I'll put I'll put it in here so that way there when it's posted the link will be in there as well for sure um so I'll make sure to send the website um you guys have the survey links already I think on the little
handout that's on there um I'll make sure to send the um story map too so that's this document here this working document here that has like some of the mapping um we also talk through some of the because we already ran a survey in town
to like kind of kick off the project and get a good idea of what folks are interested in um we have a um kind of summary of the results of that as well if that pequs you guys' interest um so I'll be I'll be sure to um spam you guys with a lot of info um from from what's
been accomplished so far and like I said if you guys have any questions um after this meeting um feel free to let me know um I I'd like to think I'm punctual with answering uh emails or calls so um uh so yeah um any any questions no no I don't
have any Wella yeah no worries um yeah thanks for the time again I really appreciate it I think this is this is this is what we were looking for with the last MPC so I I hope that there at that oh you were too I was last didn't
run very well the master plan meeting they didn't talk too much about the I I think this is the kind of vibe we were trying to do at hopefully tonight smaller groups yeah yeah like I said keeping a conversational is a little bit easier um that way people feel like
they're more comfortable like talking in a in a setting like this so um but yeah like I said if you guys have any questions I'll definitely get that information to you in the next I'll probably do it when I get home so I don't forget but uh keep an eye out for that okay okay Christoper thank you thank you
very much wow very I guess that's it for today no new no new no new business no new business only thing on on May meeting when is that do you remember the May 8th okay cuz I thought we might be the same day
as the master plan meeting they wanted us to go to but that's is it May 18th Chris the last the next meeting with the open space master plan that they asked us to go to I think it's the 18th of May double check the timeline on that
yeah I I think we're okay if it's May then I don't think that's going be it but if it is I'll let you know I know we have the open space and wreck um topic Focus that's May 8th we also have the natural and cultural resources that's the one in April um I wasn't sure which
one you may I think it's May 8th that they asked us to open space one yeah yeah so you want us to change this one now we're going to have to reschedule our meeting let's do that right now before this CU it's uh we after is fine for me anybody else
okay that would be the 15 let me just check my work because that's what I did this time is I didn't look and sorry I'm just going to steal the rest of uh you got one as well yep okay okay what we doing for May May 15
May why you open yeah May 8th we may 15th uh yeah all right perfect thank you guys it was nice me thank you thank you buddy
all right meeting motion to adjourn yes can I have a motion to adjourn motion made second all in all all in