Capital
District Transportation Committee
Bicycle
and Pedestrian Task Force
Record of
Meeting on
Attendance: Mark Cashman
(MHCC/LAB), Dom DeCecco (Private Citizen), Don Odell,
(Albany County), Henrietta O'Grady (Saratoga County Heritage Trails Committee),
Don Robertson (NYSDOT - Region 1), Paul Russell (Town of Colonie), Bert Schou (CDTA), Jannell Shaw (NYBC), John Stangle
(Village of Menands), Katherine Forster (CDTC)
Regrets:
Ivan Vamos
1.0 AGENDA AND MEETING NOTES REVIEW
It
was eroneously reported that The Canal Trail Trek
from Albany to Schenectady will be held on Saturday. In fact it will be held on
Sunday, July 9th.
2.0 UPDATE ON ACTION ITEMS
(May 11, 2000) B. Schou will verify the Two Guys owner's address. John Stangle confirmed that the Two Guys property is owned by the private firm Vernando. The property manager has still not been determined. Paul Russell is interested in getting the right people at the table and having a discussion of the big picture - getting the bike paths to connect between municipalities on the next agenda.
3.0 PROJECTS/PROGRAMS AND OTHER UPDATES
3.2
Second Chance
Enhancement Program: The CDTC Planning Committee was very interested in funding more that
a couple of projects and ensuring that there was some geographical coverage for
the funded projects. After much
discussion it was decided that a letter would be sent out to the top priority
list asking if they were still interested in being considered for the Second Chance
Enhancement Program under the following criteria.
If
the project required less than $200,000 of federal funds than the project could
be resubmitted as is. However, if the
federal request was over $200,000 than the community would have to consider either
modifying the cost sharing basis to a 50% local and 50% federal share and/or
reducing the scope to under $200,000 (federal).
It should be kept in mind though that if the reduction in scope
significantly changes the expected benefit of the original proposal, the
modified proposal will be reevaluated and its ranking among the competing
proposals could change. Those interested
were asked to contact CDTC by July 14, 2000.
The Planning Committee would then aim to reach a final determination of
who would receive funding by mid-September.
4.0 ONGOING TASKS
4.2
Regional
Bike/Hike Map:
A draft of the regional map was presented for discussion at the meeting. Many of the longer bike and hiking trails
were on the map, as well as state bike route and state and local parks. The task force helped identify some of the
missing local bike routes and other trails or items that should be on the
map. There are many mountain-bike trails
in Rensselaer. The question of how much
information we could provide was asked.
It was felt that the map in its current state was not a user-friendly
size. The scale was too large for it to
be used to locate bike routes and trails.
Four maps, one for each county was suggested, with blow-ups for trails
or city networks. Another suggestion was
having the map available on the internet.
4.3 CDTC New Visions 2030
Update: The
Task Force furthered their discussion on the New Visions Update. The questions considered included: What
circumstances have changed since New Visions? What issues have changed? Are we
on target? And what changes are needed to New Visions? All comments and suggestions received at this
meeting from the Task Force will be incorporated into a draft report and
distributed to the Task Force to review.
5.2 NYSDOH Conference at the
Desmond:
NYSDOH is holding their annual Health Professionals conference at the Desmond
next week. Mark Fenton, the editor of
Walking magazine will be there for a couple of presentations, including the
dinner speech and a presentation on how health professionals can get involved
in promoting a more walkable environment.
He will also be holding a couple of walking tours including a walk to
Wolf Road. NYSDOT will be participating
in the conference in a variety of ways.
They have helped organize the Wolf Road walk, they will have a bike/ped display and Eric Ophardt will
present information on the Walk your Child to School event.
5.3 Clifton Park Trails Master
Plan: The
Town of Clifton Park has produced a Master Plan for trails. It discusses the benefits, the Vision for
Clifton Park, trail design, resources, management and maintenance and completed
and proposed projects among other items.
For a copy please send your request, along with $10, to the attention of
Pat Haffner, Director, Department of Parks,
Recreation and Community Affairs, Town of Clifton Park, 1 Town Hall Plaza,
Clifton Park 12065. If you have any
questions please call Ms. Haffner at 371-6667.
- Sunday July 9, 2000: NYS Canal Cruise and Trek - Albany to Schenectady