[1:05] Okay,
done speaking.
[1:12] Your video stopped. Your microphone is
unmuted.
[1:21] I don't know what it's doing.
[1:26] » I think it should be unmuted. Give it a
thought.
[1:39] I don't know what to do.
Samsung is speaking.
[2:00] Yes, Samsung, we can hear you.
[2:13] Done speaking.
Your microphone is unmuted. Your video
[2:18] is stopped.
I don't know what this is doing.
[3:31] done speaking.
[3:39] testing.
[3:45] We hear you.
[6:49] a lot of people
tuned into this
[7:04] bigger. Are you going to start the
meeting?
[7:06] » I am. I'm waiting for one more minute.
>> Okay.
[7:19] In case anyone has the overunder, we're
waiting to get to 40.
[7:29] » How much do we have to bet?
All
[7:34] right, we're going to get started. So,
welcome everyone. Uh, I'm Vic Duca. I'm
[7:39] a member of the Maplewood Township
Committee. And, um, I chair the
[7:44] engineering, public works, and planning
committee, which is, um, the committee
[7:48] that will be discussing and working on
this, uh, potential bike lane project.
[7:54] Um, I'm going to ask Mayor Adams if
she'd like to say hello.
[8:01] » Thank you, Vic. Hi everybody. Um, as Vic
said, I'm Nancy Adams. I'm serving as
[8:07] mayor right now of Maplewood on chair of
the township committee. Um, and a member
[8:13] of engineering public works and planning
subcommittee. So, we've been talking a
[8:17] lot about pedestrian safety and traffic
calming for all the nine years I've been
[8:25] on the governing body so far. So, um,
this is yet another iteration. So, we
[8:31] won't um I'm going to let Vic run the
meeting and um because it's his his
[8:36] group and he'll gather information and
he'll explain the process and what we
[8:42] will and won't do at this meeting, for
example. But, um thanks for thanks for
[8:48] being here and taking the time out of
your evening. Thanks. Thanks, Vic.
[8:52] » Thank you, mayor. Um just want to
recognize we have the deputy mayor on,
[8:56] Malia Herman. Looks like she's on the
phone. I know. Um, Township Committee
[9:01] woman, uh, Deb Engel is joining us and,
uh, Township Committeeman Dean Daffis is
[9:07] on vacation, otherwise he'd be on here,
too. So, uh, even though we have a
[9:11] majority, this is not a public, uh,
meeting where, uh, action will be taken.
[9:16] This is a community meeting, but, um, we
have a majority of the township here.
[9:21] I'm going to run through the agenda
and explain to you what we're going to
[9:26] be doing here.
So, here we are. Um, I'll we're doing
[9:31] the welcome, the introduction. I'll talk
about the meeting format and the goals
[9:35] in a bit. Then, our township engineer
will just talk briefly about complete
[9:41] streets and what we're doing here in
Maplewood to um approach street design.
[9:46] Uh, our business administrator, Weary,
will talk about the bike network
[9:51] concept. Um, and then, uh, Mr. Kitner
will be coming back to introduce our
[9:56] consultants and talk a little bit about
that process and then we'll hear from
[10:00] our consultants. They were the they'll
be the ones focusing on the project uh
[10:05] with maps and what have you. Then we'll
do questions and answers and we'll have
[10:10] some closing remarks. Um we haven't set
a time limit here, but let's uh try to
[10:17] end this at nine o'clock. I think an
hour and a half is probably the maximum
[10:22] that we can all um you know given uh to
this tonight. We are going to have other
[10:29] meetings. So and let me go to that um
back here to the agenda. So let's just
[10:36] talk about the meeting format. So um you
know again keep please make sure you
[10:43] zoom uh you have the audio out when
you're here on the Zoom meeting. We're
[10:47] going to ask at the point we get to
questions and public comment, please
[10:51] raise your hand, we'll recognize you.
We're going to ask you to keep your
[10:55] comments to two minutes. Questions and
comments. Uh and then if if a
[11:00] participant hasn't spoken, we'll
recognize that person before a second
[11:04] comment or a third comment from a
previous speaker. We are recording this
[11:08] and we'll be posting it on the township
website. Um so what are our goals for
[11:13] the meeting? Uh you know, basically we
want to hear from you. uh this is a
[11:17] community meeting. We know that there
are opinions on both sides and then
[11:22] there's just some people who want to
find out what we're talking about. So,
[11:25] we ask that you respect everyone um not
get into any kind of personal back and
[11:30] forth. Uh everyone's opinion is valued
by the township committee and uh in our
[11:37] making our final decision, we will
consider all the comments. We'll
[11:41] probably hear suggestions. We'll hear
concerns, I'm sure, and then we'll also
[11:46] get recommendations from our
professional staff and that'll be what
[11:49] we are uh going to be using to make the
decision. Here's the timeline. So, we're
[11:54] having our first meeting tonight and
just to tell you why we broke it into
[11:58] three sections. Um although you can talk
about all of this, all of Parker Avenue
[12:04] if you want to tonight, we don't want to
uh limit what you want to speak about,
[12:09] but we're really focusing on the section
between Maplewood Avenue to Prospect
[12:14] Street. And the reason being is that
section is a combination of residential
[12:19] uh business and institutional.
And um some part of that has no parking
[12:24] already. Uh other parts of it have time
limited parking on one side or the
[12:29] other. Then on March 10th, which is next
Monday, we're going to have another
[12:34] meeting and that's going to focus on the
section between Prospect to Bdon Avenue
[12:39] that is primarily residential except for
a couple of religious institutions. Um,
[12:46] and there's parking on both sides of the
street for most of it. So, that's going
[12:50] to be a sort of a different
conversation. And then lastly, uh, at
[12:55] the end of the month of March 24th,
we're going to have another, uh, meeting
[13:00] and that's going to focus on Parker from
Bdon Avenue to Irvington Avenue, uh, the
[13:05] business district there. Again, that's a
little different. It's a little tighter
[13:08] there. There seems to be more on street
parking. We have parking for the park
[13:13] there. We also have parking for some of
the businesses that are just off the
[13:17] corner of Boyden and Parker. Uh on April
9th, we'll take all the information
[13:23] we're getting from these three community
meetings. We'll discuss it at our
[13:27] regular monthly meeting of the
engineering, public works, and planning
[13:30] subcommittee. And um that's a virtual
meeting and that's at 8:00 in the
[13:35] morning. Then uh hopefully if things go
well, we will bring um the discussion to
[13:42] the full township committee. That will
be an in-person meeting on April 15th at
[13:46] 7:30 p.m. in town hall. There'll be a
further opportunity for public comment
[13:52] and then the township committee will
discuss the concept and any next steps.
[13:57] Um in May the township committee will
approve a capital budget and but right
[14:03] now the tenatively the budget includes
money for bike lanes. Whether it makes
[14:08] it to the end that's all going to be
part of this process. Uh if the bike
[14:12] lanes are approved, we will do the
construction bids, publicizing them and
[14:16] awarding the contract in the summer and
in the fall the construction of the bike
[14:21] lanes will be completed. So we're
looking to do this, if we do this, we're
[14:25] looking to do this within 2025.
Um just to give you some bearings as you
[14:30] talk as we talk tonight, just so you
know what we're talking about because
[14:34] you know sometimes our consultants are
going to mention north, south, east,
[14:37] west. So north is the high school side
of the building. It's also the side that
[14:42] has the odd street numbers on Parker. Uh
south is the 7-Eleven side and uh I'm
[14:48] sorry, south is is the even street. So
that's an error there. It should be
[14:51] south is the even street numbers on
Parker. Uh west is towards Maplewood
[14:56] Avenue and the South Mountain
Reservation and east is towards the
[15:00] Irvington Avenue business district and
New York City. So that's um that's the
[15:07] uh the plan for tonight. Um, you know,
we've dealt with the introductions,
[15:12] we've dealt with the welcome, the
format, and the goals. And now we're
[15:16] going to move to township engineer Paul
Kitner, who's going to give us just a a
[15:21] brief uh comments on complete street
approach here.
[15:25] » Committee Ben Duca, thank you. And I'll
try to keep this brief. I see a lot of
[15:29] people. I'm sure there's going to be a
lot of questions here. So, I was asked
[15:33] to talk about complete streets. I may
deviate slightly from that going into a
[15:38] little history, but uh I'm sure Mr. Duca
will let me know if I'm going out of
[15:42] bounds here. Um you know, prior to 2009,
the state took a car ccentric approach
[15:49] towards design and construction. I think
um you know, it's not to say that
[15:55] pedestrians weren't considered, but it
wasn't, you know, the same emphasis as
[16:00] it is now. It was more car centric. And
what complete streets is really, it's
[16:06] it's looking at people of all age
groups. It's looking at all modes of of
[16:12] transportation, whether it's
pedestrians, bicyclists,
[16:16] public transportation, our motorists,
and it's designing facilities that
[16:21] accommodate all of these uses. That's
really what complete streets is. Um, you
[16:27] know, I I think uh certainly when you
look at a a street that's designed with
[16:33] complete streets, you know, it operates
more efficiently. It operates with more
[16:37] volume. It operates more people, you
know, by encouraging bic bicycles, for
[16:43] example, you could uh reduce congestion.
So that's that's complete streets in a
[16:49] nutshell. We're going to get into it
with the design and you know, Mr. Down
[16:53] is going to present this, but I'm also
going to provide comments. I'll talk
[16:57] very briefly about the history. You
know, in the township did incorporate a
[17:02] bike plan in 2010. I think it introduced
more of those uh share the share the
[17:07] lane shar.
And I think most uh bicyclists found
[17:11] that they weren't as effective as a
dedicated lane. They prefer a dedicated
[17:16] lane. In 2012, the township passed their
own complete streets policy. And in 2016
[17:23] and 2017, the township uh performed
municipal aid grants and reconstructed
[17:29] Parker Avenue. We did a number of
pedestrian improvements, uh ramp
[17:33] upgrades at the intersections. That was
from Irvington A to uh Prospect Street
[17:39] over two municipal aid ramps. In 2018
and 2019, we incorporated a safe routts
[17:45] to schools uh program where we upgraded
handicap ramps and incorporated push
[17:50] button ped signs. In 2020, we
reconstructed the concrete refuge island
[17:55] that's located at Bdon Avenue and made
it more in Parker Avenue and made it
[18:00] more uh ADA compliant. And in 2023,
we improved daylighting of the
[18:07] intersection of Parker and Orchard Road.
In 2023, we also collected data uh you
[18:13] know with dynamic for Parker Avenue,
including speed, speed and volume data
[18:18] to come up with the bike plan that you
see before you. In 24, we installed the
[18:24] four-way stop sign at Parker Bur and
SuffK. So, that'll give you a little
[18:28] context, a little history of of where
we're at. Um why is Parker Avenue
[18:33] selected for complete streets? There's a
there's a number of reasons. It really
[18:37] connects a whole bunch of things. It
connects the business corridor in
[18:41] Irvington Avenue. It inh connects uh St.
Kim uh Church, Bordon Park, the
[18:48] residential along Parker Avenue and
surrounding streets, Clinton Elementary
[18:53] School, the Maplewood Jewish Center,
Ethical Cultural Society, Prospect
[18:58] Street, CHS High School, commercial
shops and buildings on West Parker,
[19:03] including the YMCA and the Gleon
property, and also incorporates the
[19:08] overflow parking for CHS and and the
greenway, which was constructed a part
[19:12] of it last year. And of course, it
connects Maplewood A uh which opens the
[19:18] doors for future uh bike lane
improvements. I want to stress to
[19:22] everyone that bicycles are legal on our
streets. Um you know, they have a right
[19:27] to be in our streets and that's part of
the complete streets. If you take your
[19:32] time and look at the bike racks at CHS,
you know that there's a lot of bikes
[19:36] being used. A lot of our student body
are are using bicycles. And I went the
[19:42] other day. There must have been 30 or 40
bikes and this is when it was cold out.
[19:46] In the summertime, I'm sure that number
goes up. Um, I want to stress too that
[19:51] this plan is not just for bicycle
safety. You know, it squeezes the travel
[19:56] lanes and also performs traffic calming.
It also enhances pedestrian safety by
[20:02] upgrading all the crosswalk striping and
signage. And I think would be a
[20:06] significant improvement to the corridor.
Um,
[20:12] you know, I I think also I just want to
mention a few things on the plan and
[20:16] we'll get into this more as well with
bike lanes. You know, parking is not
[20:21] allowed. So, it it's it's going to have
an inherent impact on parking and we
[20:25] could get into that as well. But if you
look at the corridor that we're focusing
[20:30] on tonight, the majority of it is no
stopping and standing or is restricted
[20:35] parking during school days, for example.
um you know re so just looking at it
[20:42] holistically uh you know I think this
project itself when you look at the
[20:48] projects we've done in the past this is
truly
[20:51] a complete streets approach that we
would be implementing for this road and
[20:56] you'll see it in the design uh hopefully
we can answer everyone's questions with
[21:00] that I think I want to I'm going to have
more comments I may interject as Mr.
[21:05] Downy's giving his presentation, but at
this time I'd like to pres uh present uh
[21:09] Patrick Downey.
>> Uh Paul, we're going to have Patrick
[21:13] Weary speak. The other Patrick.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, that's all right,
[21:16] Mr. Weary. I didn't mean to steal your
spotlight there.
[21:20] » Thanks, Mr. Kirner, Mr. Duca. So, I want
to share the uh total bike network that
[21:26] we have planned for um the town. This is
obviously a concept at this stage, but
[21:32] um it's a a you know can be a guiding
document for how we build this out. Park
[21:36] Rab being uh the first earliest um one
we have where we have dedicated bike
[21:42] lanes. And so I'll share that now. We'll
just describe a little bit of um our
[21:46] approach to this. So
we first talked about this network as
[21:53] part of the 2010 plan that Mr. Kitner
had referenced and it looked to connect
[22:00] parks and schools uh municipal amenities
uh like uh like the uh the community
[22:07] center uh the train station are special
improvement districts being Maplewood
[22:13] Village and Springfield Avenue. And so
uh we looked at the most traveled
[22:18] roadways and also the size of the
roadways and and our the preference
[22:24] recently is to move towards dedicated
bike lanes because uh they are the
[22:28] safest for the bikers and they do most
for traffic coming. And so we can this a
[22:35] public document that we can share but it
shows what could become bike lanes
[22:40] throughout Maplewood. And it also shows
a legend where we we look at the width
[22:44] of roadways needed for whether it be um
dedicated bike lanes with parking, just
[22:52] dedicated bikes, no parking, shar.
And so we'll use this as we consider
[22:59] when to um start to engage the public
around future roadways for bike
[23:05] improvements. That could be like Park
Avenue when we're looking to do overall
[23:10] um traffic improvements to, you know,
either reduce speed, manage flows, uh
[23:17] increase pedestrian uh visibility, and
that that's what we've been talking
[23:21] about along Parker Avenue. It could be
considered when we're looking to repave
[23:26] a roadway. So something like Prospect
Street where we expect to pave it in the
[23:31] coming years. We can now start to look
at Prospect Street for, you know, is it
[23:35] a viable candidate for uh bike lanes and
do we want to start uh engaging with the
[23:40] public in the process like we're doing
now for Parker. It could be to connect
[23:45] to other uh infrastructure like South
Orange is bringing their greenway south
[23:52] to us and it's going to connect through
Chesuit Field. So we have an interest
[23:56] now in looking at um network roadways
along possibly Dell and past the train
[24:02] station. Uh so there'll be a lot of
different reasons why we begin to talk
[24:05] about roadways in different areas of
town, but we want to have an overall map
[24:09] so that it'll guide our approach so that
we we roll this out somewhat
[24:13] methodically um and with a plan for a
larger bike network.
[24:19] » Thank you, Pat.
>> That is all from me.
[24:21] » Okay. Thank you.
>> Uh Paul, um I'm going to turn it right
[24:25] back to you again. Uh we talk about
dynamic traffic as being our traffic
[24:30] consultants. you just explain what that
means and then introduce Patrick and I
[24:34] don't know if John is here but just to
>> Sure. So uh you know given the breadth
[24:40] of their experience dynamic traffic uh
has been selected as our professional
[24:45] service consulting engineer for for
traffic engineering. Now we work closely
[24:51] with dynamic on traffic designs. we have
uh you know complete oversight and uh
[24:57] work with them provide input but you
know we're relying on their expertise. I
[25:02] know I've known John McCormack for many
many years and uh Mr. Downey has I've
[25:07] known him for a number of years now too
and I'm highly impressed with both of
[25:11] them. They're they're very good traffic
engineers.
[25:16] » So Patrick Dowy, take it away.
>> All righty. Thank you for that uh warm
[25:21] welcome Paul and Vic. Um, once again,
Pat Downey with Dynamic Traffic. Happy
[25:25] to be here. Uh, we love assisting the
township with these types of projects.
[25:29] It's really our bread and butter. Uh,
we're excited to start rolling this one
[25:32] out.
Gonna just share my screen, assuming I
[25:36] have the ability to do so. There we go.
Let me know if everyone can see that.
[25:42] » Yes.
>> Gonna really roll this out in a two-step
[25:45] process. First, I just want to go over
at a high level some of the planning and
[25:48] research efforts that have gone into um
establishing baseline conditions that
[25:52] we're working with here and then
segueing that into uh the proposed plan.
[25:58] So, um this graphic you see on the
screen is really the compilation of uh
[26:02] several months of effort to understand
existing conditions related to traffic
[26:07] volumes, travel speeds, crash history,
and parking utilization along Parker
[26:11] Avenue. And I'll kind of give some quick
highlights for each of those items. Uh
[26:16] starting with traffic volumes, uh we're
looking at about 5,000 to 7,500 vehicles
[26:21] per day uh for this uh corridor.
Depending on the location, it obviously
[26:25] varies a little bit, but in general
5,000 or greater. Just to put that in
[26:29] perspective, um some of the lower order
bike facilities you might think of
[26:33] shared lanes with shar sort of things
are most appropriate on lower volume
[26:37] roadways. Think you know 2 to 3,000
vehicles per day or less generally. So
[26:42] really a higher order than that here.
Hence uh you know the proposal to
[26:45] institute dedicated bike lanes.
Looking at crash history um up and down
[26:51] the corridor it's obviously concentrated
most at some of the major intersections
[26:54] particularly the signalized ones. Uh but
I do want to note some of those have
[26:58] involved cyclists and pedestrians over
the years. Between the two of them uh it
[27:03] accounts for about 7% of the crashes
that occurred in a 5-year period that we
[27:07] took a look at between 2019 and 2024.
speeds. Uh 25 mile per hour speed limit
[27:14] with um 85th percentile speeds. That's
kind of a design metric used commonly in
[27:19] the industry uh to represent what you
should design for. Uh is ranging higher
[27:24] than that, 28 to 34. So between 3 to 10
miles per hour over that posted speed
[27:30] limit, which is obviously something we
want to take into consideration with any
[27:33] design we put forth. Uh and then parking
utilization which is illustrated by this
[27:38] uh graph you see at the bottom of your
screen. Um essentially we took a look at
[27:42] parking utilization throughout the
corridor over the course of a full
[27:45] typical weekday. Uh plotted it on a
graph. What you see in green which is
[27:49] most of the graph is uh essentially low
parking utilization under 50% of the
[27:55] spaces being utilized. So when we look
to weigh the benefits of uh bike lanes
[28:00] versus potential cons of eliminating
parking, this is something we always
[28:03] like to take a look at and understand.
Okay, how much parking activity is
[28:06] actually taking place? What's being
displaced uh by a project like this?
[28:11] Uh so with that kind of setting the
stage for some of the proposed
[28:14] improvements, I'm going to flip to the
content plan. Some of you might be
[28:17] familiar with uh we'll walk through all
the pages that pertain to the section
[28:21] we're discussing tonight, but I put this
one on on the screen uh just to give a
[28:24] little bit of a preview because it shows
a couple different uh existing
[28:27] conditions that we're working with here.
>> So starting with the
[28:31] » I'm sorry. Go ahead. Could you um see if
you can zoom in a little bit as much as
[28:37] you can so that people can kind Yeah,
that's better.
[28:41] » Appreciate it. What you see at the top
of your screen is existing conditions
[28:46] with the bottom of the screen being
proposed.
[28:49] Uh so starting with some of the physical
geometry, the cartway width varies
[28:52] throughout this corridor between about
30 feet to 34 feet. Uh to the west of
[28:58] Valley Street, you can see there's no
striped shoulders in the existing
[29:01] condition. uh essentially 15 foot lanes
in each direction. Uh to the east of
[29:05] Valley Street for a lot of the corridor,
you have four to five foot narrow
[29:09] shoulders with uh roughly 11 foot lanes
or greater for lane widths.
[29:14] There's a variety of parking
restrictions in place out there. Uh just
[29:18] within the section we're discussing
tonight, there's at least four different
[29:20] ones, all moving towards similar goals.
Um mostly to restrict parking in front
[29:26] of the high school uh during school
times on weekdays primarily.
[29:31] Uh bikes are as Paul mentioned before
legally permitted to use the roadway as
[29:35] it is. Um whereas there's no formal
bicycle accommodations provided. Uh
[29:40] obviously no bike lanes, no shar etc.
And the sidewalks themselves are not you
[29:44] know bike width paths that can be
utilized. So while there's biking
[29:48] occurring, they're really not
accommodated in the existing condition.
[29:51] So, when we look to the proposed, um,
some of the key goals are obviously to
[29:54] provide a safe bicycle facility, uh, and
while we're out there, improve things
[29:58] for motorists and enhance pedestrian
safety as well, knowing they're always a
[30:02] priority. Uh, and keeping in mind the
constraints that we're working with as
[30:05] well. Um, one of the key constraints uh,
beholden to for this project is trying
[30:09] to work as best we can within the
existing cartway of Parker Avenue. We're
[30:13] not looking to make this a major roadway
widening project uh, to accommodate
[30:17] every single feature. is really making
the best use of the space we have
[30:20] available.
Uh so looking at the proposed conditions
[30:24] you see illustrated on the bottom, some
of the key features are consistent 5
[30:28] foot wide bike lanes uh oriented along
the curb lines in both the eastbound and
[30:32] westbound directions throughout the
corridor uh with one narrow exception uh
[30:37] toward [clears throat] the east end of
the limits uh outside of the section
[30:40] we're discussing today.
Uh you see the individual bicycle
[30:44] symbols. I'll zoom in a little further
on the proposed
[30:47] are not only the bicycle and arrow
symbol to denote the bike lane and the
[30:51] accompanying signage. Uh but also
enhanced with the green pavement
[30:55] markings beneath them. Uh the minimum
you could do the green's not required.
[31:00] Uh some situations with very high bike
activity get full green lanes the whole
[31:05] way. We think this is a fairly
appropriate middle ground approach for
[31:08] this location uh where the bicycle
symbols themselves are enhanced with the
[31:12] green to bring a little bit more
attention to the condition to motorists.
[31:16] Uh additionally through the major
intersections, specifically the
[31:19] signalized intersections, we have the
dashed bike lane extensions, these
[31:23] dashed green sections uh through the
intersection, very similar to what you
[31:27] would think of as a white pedestrian
crosswalk, but green to denote it's a
[31:30] bicycle facility. Uh so vehicles turning
through the intersection are again made
[31:34] aware that bicycles could be traveling
through them and they should be aware of
[31:37] them.
Uh some additional benefits throughout
[31:41] the corridor. Um part of making the uh
number one introducing shoulders to the
[31:46] western section where they do not exist
and widening the shoulders from four to
[31:49] five feet in the eastern section where
they do uh is it narrows the travel
[31:53] lanes. That's generally associated with
a a traffic calming improvement. with
[31:57] narrower travel lanes uh come more
driver attention and typically lower
[32:01] speeds.
Uh additionally, all the crosswalks
[32:05] throughout the corridor at a minimum
would be refreshed with high visibility
[32:08] crosswalk striping. Uh the example you
see on your screen currently is what we
[32:12] call the ladder uh style. That's one of
the high visibility options and there
[32:16] are some other ones. And there are some
additional crosswalks being added to
[32:20] some of the unsalized intersections uh
that currently do not provide any. So,
[32:24] it's certainly uh striving to address
the complete streets goals that have
[32:27] been laid out so far, trying to
accommodate all the users that we're
[32:30] looking at here, not just motorists, but
also uh cyclists and pedestrians.
[32:36] So, that's the plan at a high level. Uh
with that, I'll walk through uh from
[32:40] west to east through the limits we're
here to discuss tonight. Um you know,
[32:44] I'll I'll defer to the township reps on
the on the call if you want to jump in
[32:47] with questions as we go or if I'll just
get to the end. Uh we'll take them all
[32:50] at the end.
take them all at the end.
[32:55] » Sounds good. So, starting at the western
limit of Maplewood Avenue, which you see
[32:59] here, I'll give it a click in.
Uh, this is again the western section
[33:05] with no uh shoulders provided. So, here
I think uh it has probably the most
[33:09] significant traffic calming benefit
since not only are the shoulders being
[33:13] widened, but they're actually being
provided for the first time. Uh, bike
[33:18] lane markings throughout. uh refreshing
of center line striping, refreshing of
[33:22] side streeting, stop bars, center lines,
stop word markings, etc. Uh refresh sign
[33:28] package, not only for the bike lanes,
but upgrading uh you know, stop signs,
[33:33] no parking signs, etc. where
appropriate.
[33:36] Also to note in this section, the
hatched uh gray areas you see to the top
[33:40] left and bottom right, those are the uh
greenway plan paths. So, this is a
[33:45] pretty important block just to ensure
bicycle continuity between those two uh
[33:49] locations.
[33:54] Moving our way east to to where we
started showing the Valley Street
[33:57] intersection. Um this is one of the key
locations uh because it's one of the
[34:01] major crossings along Parker Avenue. So,
we think uh some of the supplemental
[34:05] features to enhance the bike lane,
specifically those bike lane extensions
[34:09] through the intersection are key. Uh and
this really uh divides the section into
[34:14] two distinct areas with the west having
no shoulders today and the east having
[34:17] shoulders uh in the existing condition
being widened to provide the bike lane.
[34:21] You'll also see to the bottom right of
your screen uh one of the first upgraded
[34:25] school crossing signs uh throughout the
whole corer plan. There's upgraded
[34:28] school and pedestrian crossing signs uh
depending on whether the intersection is
[34:32] just a typical crosswalk or an actual
designated school crossing.
[34:41] Moving further east along the high
school frontage, um you'll see this is
[34:45] kind of one of the key areas we think
will be most improved uh when it comes
[34:49] to uh the parking restriction. Uh
there's currently uh no parking in
[34:55] various sections of this block uh either
from 9 to 11:00 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. on
[35:00] school days. Essentially, you know, some
of the higher desirable times for that
[35:04] school activity to be parking there. yet
there is some parking activity
[35:08] occurring. Um so that's obviously going
to conflict pretty significantly with
[35:12] the proposal to provide bike lanes.
However, it should be reiterated that
[35:16] when you look at the uh the bike racks
in front of the high school, they're
[35:18] generally pretty well utilized. So there
are bicyclists currently utilizing
[35:22] Parker Avenue and likely other streets
to get here. Uh so we have to remember
[35:26] it is important to accommodate them
since they have the legal right to use
[35:29] the roadway as it is.
[35:34] Uh toward the east of Academy Street
really begins uh more of a predominantly
[35:37] residential character. Uh we do have one
more intersection to work through being
[35:41] Prospect Street uh which again gets that
similar enhanced treatment with the bike
[35:46] lane extensions uh full signage and
striping package complete with
[35:50] crosswalks as you would expect for a
major signalized intersection. Uh and
[35:54] then to the east of that you really get
to I guess what you would consider the
[35:57] breadandbut layout throughout uh the
rest of the blocks uh moving eastward
[36:02] which is those five foot bike lanes
narrowed up uh travel lanes uh and
[36:06] improved uh pedestrian crossings uh you
know getting just outside the limits
[36:10] here. This is an example I was referring
to where Summit Avenue currently has no
[36:14] crosswalk to cross Parker Avenue. Uh
this is just one of several locations
[36:18] where that would be introduced as part
of this project.
[36:25] So, I guess unless you want me to go
further, I think that's a pretty
[36:29] comprehensive overview of what we've
done to date, what the proposed plan is,
[36:33] and I'm certainly happy to answer any
questions.
[36:37] » Great.
>> Mr. Downey, uh, I have a quick question.
[36:40] So, for example, Prospect and Parker,
it's a very busy intersection, wider
[36:45] intersection.
Uh, you know, this this plan is a work
[36:49] in progress. Do you envision us looking
at this uh with the possibility of even
[36:55] improving some of the design beyond
what's shown now? Matable Ballards for
[36:59] example at the approaches maybe
something along those lines.
[37:04] » Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a few
key locations along the corridor. This
[37:07] certainly being one of them. Uh that
warrants additional attention as this
[37:11] gets advanced from a concept plan to a
formal, you know, construction level
[37:14] drawing. Uh I think all those ideas will
be even fully vetted uh more so than
[37:18] they have been now. Uh Prospect Street
also has the benefit of having an
[37:22] upcoming uh repaving of its own. So
between this Parker Avenue project and
[37:27] uh presumably a future Prospect Street
upgrade, I think that intersection is
[37:31] certainly due for an upgrade and we'll
receive one.
[37:37] » Okay, Patrick, can you stop sharing?
>> Yes, sir.
[37:43] » There you go. Okay. So, um we're now
going to open it up. Just just have that
[37:50] uh ready to put back up because I'm sure
we're going to get questions and you're
[37:54] going to want to show um in in your
responses. So, we're now going to open
[37:58] it up to uh comments and questions. I
see Andrew is the first. Um so, Andrew,
[38:04] go ahead.
[38:08] » Uh hi to thanks so much. Uh very
impressive presentation and plan. Um my
[38:16] question is about uh the area right in
front of Columbia High School. As a
[38:21] parent of high schoolers, I um will will
admit that I occasionally do pause in
[38:28] front of the high school building to
drop off or pick off pick kids up. Um h
[38:35] how do you see that bike path
interacting with the tendency of drivers
[38:41] to use that as a temporary stopping lane
for for that purpose and is there any
[38:47] way to prevent that happening because I
expect that folks are going to be very
[38:53] reluctant to discontinue that practice.
um what strategies could be used to make
[38:57] sure everyone is is safe and also
there's not a huge push back from the
[39:02] community who's been used to doing that
for many years.
[39:09] » Paul, would you like me to jump in on
that one or do you want to take that
[39:11] one?
>> Yeah, Patrick, why don't you why don't
[39:13] you show it and then Paul, you can jump
in too.
[39:16] » Okay,
[39:19] » sure. So, I'll just put that back on the
screen briefly. Um so, we can all be
[39:22] looking at the same thing. Um so
essentially the short answer is a lot of
[39:27] that activity now is is really happening
because there is no better option. Um so
[39:32] you know what are people to do? It's
it's the option that makes sense. So uh
[39:35] in addition to this project uh there's
other discussions taking place um with
[39:40] the school about where we could
potentially relocate that activity to a
[39:43] more formal dedicated location. Um
nothing ready to share at this moment
[39:47] that I'm aware of. Uh but that's
definitely a concern we're well aware of
[39:51] and we're looking for alternatives um
just so that actually has somewhere to
[39:54] go to.
>> And Patrick, you're thinking of Ballards
[39:58] there.
>> Yes. So I know there have been questions
[40:01] throughout the development of this plan
about where uh supplemental features
[40:04] like flex ballards along the bike lane
could be implemented. Um in this
[40:08] particular location, I think it's
definitely warranted. So, um, generally
[40:13] between Academy Street and Valley
Street, we would be looking to upgrade
[40:16] this bike lane to have, uh, flexible
Ballards located along that, uh, bike
[40:21] lane stripe just to further enhance its,
uh, visibility, provide a little more,
[40:26] uh, comfort to cyclists and also to
further deter that illegal parking
[40:30] activity that has been observed.
>> I I I think, yeah, I mean, the exact
[40:34] detail and design would have to still be
vetted with the school and worked out
[40:38] with the school, but that's our concept.
I mean, anyone who uh, you know, goes
[40:43] there when school is out or even when
school is, you know, in the beginning in
[40:47] the morning, it's it's congested. You
can't get through it. So, uh, it's a
[40:51] very good comment. Uh, Mr. How, thank
you for the comment and it's something
[40:55] that we're working on.
>> Okay.
[40:58] » Thank you.
>> Um, on my screen I have Matthew is next.
[41:04] » Hi, thank you guys so much for this. Um,
>> I was just wondering if you have
[41:09] considered or are considering at all a
stop sign on Parker, uh, and Academy. I
[41:14] know there's there's stop signs on
Academy, uh, but none on on Parker. Um,
[41:20] it's intersection that's not really easy
to cross unless there's a crossing guard
[41:24] in the morning. Um, so I just want to
know if that's something that's being
[41:27] considered.
>> Pat, you want to take that?
[41:30] » Yeah. So, at this time, we have not done
a full evaluation of that. Um, there are
[41:34] specific warrants set forward. um in by
the FHWA for when you can and cannot uh
[41:40] use an allway stop treatment. Um my
initial reaction is I do not think it
[41:43] would qualify for that. You're really
looking for roads where the two roadways
[41:48] are of similar character, volume, um
intensity, etc. That's really not the
[41:53] case in this location. Uh Academy Street
carries much less than Parker. So, um
[41:57] you know, while that could have some
traffic calming benefits, it's not the
[42:01] right tool for this particular location.
We're trying to use some of the other
[42:03] tools uh in the tool belt.
[42:08] Okay, I have Brienne.
[42:13] » Hi. Um, I'm on 44 Parker, so obviously
this is a huge impact for me. I do love
[42:20] biking. Um, but
there's a lot of things that I'm not
[42:24] sure if you're keeping into
consideration. Obviously, I know
[42:27] everyone's going to talk about the high
school and all the congestion around
[42:30] that, which is not going to go away.
people are going to park on the side
[42:33] streets even when and you can't even
drive through them because they're so
[42:36] narrow and it's like one ways. It's it's
a mess even right now. So, it's a
[42:41] problem now. But that's that's obvious
stuff. Um I think if you're thinking
[42:47] from the homeowner's perspective, a lot
of the houses um on across the street,
[42:54] so the south side of the street, we have
really big lots. So that means in the
[42:59] fall we have I don't know and then this
is a question for you guys like can we
[43:04] put right now we have massive amount of
leaves that go in the front of our yard
[43:10] I mean the front yard in what would be
the bike lane and it would it takes up
[43:14] like most of the street. It's huge cuz
we all have like soccer fields in the
[43:19] backyard. So
what are you have you guys considered
[43:24] that? Where are we supposed to put our
leaves in the fall? Um, and then in the
[43:28] winter too, like when people probably
aren't biking as much, like the snow
[43:32] impact that's going to be going, we have
to move cars in and out. Like, you know,
[43:37] a lot of us have to park our car on the
street in order to bring the other car
[43:41] out. We're already going against, you
know, people going up and down in the
[43:44] schools and everything else, but like
there's a lot of factors in that. And if
[43:49] you guys do go ahead and do this, even
if there's for all of us that are
[43:53] impacted, are you lowering our taxes
because this is an impact on us and what
[43:58] we are being taken away of what we can
utilize for our home.
[44:03] » So I I think uh in terms of the leaves,
I I direct the DPW department. I could
[44:08] say that we're not going to stop trees
from leaves falling and and dropping
[44:13] leaves. So the answer is I think in in
cases where properties are large enough
[44:18] uh you know you're not going to in some
cases you're not going to be able to
[44:22] avoid the impact. I think leaves are
going to have to be there. I think as
[44:26] residents it would be wonderful if if we
could maybe just coordinate better when
[44:31] it's closer to the pickup times for the
leaves. I mean you guys the leaves have
[44:35] you guys I I feel like a lot of you
working on aren't actually on the street
[44:41] like there's just a lot going on all the
time. So
[44:44] » and some of that's unavoidable where you
know
[44:46] » it is and the leaves though if you see
in this one area it's not just like the
[44:52] normal house leaves in the fall. It's
like the whole and it goes on until you
[44:56] know there are no leaves and it starts
and all of our trash and every I'm just
[45:01] saying these are things to consider for
this one area this of Parker that is
[45:07] already hit with the school impact with
all of the congestion. So it's
[45:12] » it's very it's a lot more intense in
this area than it is on like up the
[45:17] street and Parker at past prospect. Mhm.
>> Also, it's a hill, so like kids are
[45:22] coming racing down the mountain
>> right now as it is and like they're not
[45:28] really going people aren't riding their
bike up the street unless they're really
[45:31] good bicyclists, which there aren't that
many. They're really walking the bikes
[45:35] on the sidewalk up the street. So, just
something else to consider.
[45:40] » Yes, we did talk about the uh the leaves
and the snow and you know, we're going
[45:45] to figure out a a plan to to address it.
You're still going to be able to put
[45:48] your leaves on the street.
>> Yeah. How about parking for us when
[45:52] we're we have to move our cars like we
park in our driveway, but then you have
[45:56] to move a car out to get out. You know,
you have to put it somewhere or if
[45:59] there's construction or the landscapers
who they have to park on the street when
[46:02] they're doing our yards. There's nowhere
else for them. Where are they supposed
[46:06] to park?
>> Yeah, those are going to be
[46:08] conversations that we're going to
continue to have with um both the police
[46:12] and the DPW to figure out how we're
going to give instructions for that. I
[46:16] mean, you're not they're not going to be
able and you're not going to be able to
[46:19] park in the uh in the bike lane, but
we're going to, you know, we're going to
[46:23] talk about it. We understand that there
are some issues there.
[46:26] » And what about our taxes?
>> Uh no, the answer is no. We're not going
[46:30] to reduce them.
>> You're not going to reduce our taxes,
[46:32] but you're taking away something. So,
you can't reduce anything.
[46:34] » Well, we're adding, you know, I guess it
depends how you look at it. Some people
[46:37] think we're adding, some people think
>> the town is adding it, but it's
[46:40] impacting us. We can't have people, you
know, people come over to our house.
[46:44] they can't park on the street where this
is a park. Like it's just kind of a
[46:47] nightmare for people.
>> So, so the answer is that if in fact um
[46:52] anything we do impacts the selling of
the house, then that will be reflected
[46:57] in the next revaluation.
>> I'm sure it will.
[47:02] » Okay, Daniel.
[47:17] You're good.
>> Oh, hello. Is it my turn?
[47:20] » Yes.
>> Oh, great. Um, thank you for this really
[47:24] amazing proposal. I am really
enthusiastic
[47:28] to see progress in the
back master plan. Um, I just have a
[47:35] question on
the the width of the travel lanes. I see
[47:42] some areas are 10 ft and others are
wider. Is there any reason we cannot be
[47:51] consistent throughout the entire street
to be as narrow as possible? because um
[47:59] I'm concerned about the really high
speeds people travel across town and
[48:07] having 10 ft 10 foot lanes will help
kind of control the speed of those
[48:13] vehicles.
>> Pat, you want to take that too?
[48:16] » Absolutely. So, um the first iteration
of this plan really provided those five
[48:20] foot bike lanes we discussed uh
consistently throughout the corridor,
[48:24] but the cartway itself isn't a
consistent width. So really whatever's
[48:27] left was was dedicated back to the
travel lanes. Uh could they be narrowed
[48:31] up to 10 and provide wider bike lanes in
those locations instead? I think that's
[48:35] definitely something we could take a
look at. Uh and then in some locations
[48:38] the center line's not quite in the
center of the road. Um it's, you know,
[48:43] this is surprisingly expensive just to
move that stripe a couple of inches. So
[48:46] we're trying to hold the center line
where it is. Uh but if we can expand the
[48:49] bike lanes a little bit to keep the
lanes narrower on a more consistent
[48:52] basis, I think that's a good suggestion,
something we could take a look at.
[48:57] Yeah, that that would be amazing because
uh from a cyclist pers perspective, you
[49:04] know, 5 feet might be fine, but
you're close to the gard and
[49:12] some conditions might
uh necessitate you from getting too
[49:18] close to the middle of it. So having a
wider bike lane and
[49:25] keeping the private length 10 ft
throughout
[49:30] would be a massive massive help.
[49:36] » Okay. Thank you,
>> Craig.
[49:44] » Uh yes. Uh thank you. Uh could you hear
me?
[49:48] » Yes. Yeah. Um I I applaud the uh uh
effort to uh roll out bike lanes in
[49:58] Maplewood. Um I I focused a fair amount
on biking in New York City in various
[50:06] capacities. And I also applaud the focus
on the Colombia High School area as the
[50:13] first um node that you're addressing uh
for two reasons. one, uh, there are lots
[50:20] and lots of students and maybe teachers
who are and will continue to be taking
[50:27] their bike back and forth from school
regardless of u what the township uh
[50:34] does in this regard. And personally, we
live right up the street from Columbia
[50:39] High School on Prospect Street, six
houses in from uh Parker.
[50:46] Um, so I think working on this is
important. Uh, however, I I think the
[50:52] project as it's been presented tonight
is constrained in a way that leads to uh
[51:02] a less than desirable result. I I think
uh the engineers have done what they
[51:09] should do to look at Parker as a bike
lane um possibility potentiality, but I
[51:17] think uh more importantly is considering
uh better alternatives. I I think uh the
[51:25] way you uh opened it up in my mind uh
exactly explains why Parker going all
[51:32] the way up uh you know taking this as an
integrated hole is not not a good choice
[51:38] because there are many nodes of high
volume traffic um which uh we've seen in
[51:46] efforts to calm the traffic install uh
[clears throat] uh traffic signals
[51:52] install stop signs because there is a
high volume. Um similarly on Prospect
[51:58] Street, we've seen a very high volume.
We've seen accidents
[52:04] uh unfortunately for school children
crossing. I think a better uh approach
[52:09] conceptually instead of trying to have
bike lanes that share the road on uh
[52:17] roads that have high traffic volume is
to see if there are suitable ways to
[52:23] implement the admirable concept of
complete streets and ridable uh
[52:29] neighborhoods that uh make use of other
streets that don't have as high traffic
[52:35] volume. For instance, uh, Prospect
Street, I think, is a bad choice of a
[52:41] bike lane as opposed to Summit Avenue,
which is parallel. Summit has much less
[52:48] traffic. Uh, there is actually signage
for bike lanes on Summit. I think trying
[52:55] to put it on Prospect would be a
mistake. Similarly, I think uh for
[53:00] example, and obviously this is just
ideas being thrown out uh uh raised here
[53:06] uh siphoning the traffic from Columbia
High School uh off onto North Terrace
[53:12] away from Prospect and then perhaps on
um
[53:17] uh other parallel streets, you know,
further we have Elmwood and although
[53:23] there's some wiggles to get to it,
Midland is really ideal. It's a low
[53:27] traffic uh flow. Uh
[clears throat]
[53:32] and uh the my basic point is that I
think the engineers are doing a very
[53:38] technically uh astute job of addressing
uh safety of bike riders and traffic
[53:46] flow. But I think it's uh a very
suboptimal and not very creative
[53:53] approach. I think we should be looking
at other streets that recognize that uh
[53:59] there's going to be parking in front of
Columbia High School picking up,
[54:03] dropping off. There's no getting it's
never going to change. We're not going
[54:07] to want to be arresting people for doing
it. And going up uh Parker, uh the nose
[54:13] that you talk about will have the
traffic and I think there are parallel
[54:17] streets and having one or two turns that
make the bike lanes uh although not as
[54:25] neat and linear will lead to much safer
uh approaches.
[54:32] » Okay. Thank you, Rob.
[54:37] Hi there. Uh Rob Howley. I live on
Richmond Avenue, a few houses off of
[54:42] Parker. Uh first off, want to thank the
township for taking on the important
[54:46] task of making Parker Avenue safer for
all road users. Complete streets are
[54:50] crucial for building a safer, greener,
and more equitable community. Uh as a
[54:54] resident, parent, and person who bikes
everywhere with his kids, that includes
[54:58] in the the winter and whatever. Um, you
know, I support this project, you know,
[55:05] full like full stop. Um, so I take this
particular section quite often, whe it's
[55:11] like heading to the village, daycare
pickups at the Y or, you know, civic
[55:15] duty, voting at CHS. Um, like the fact
that Parker is high volume is what makes
[55:21] it good to invest in. It's an efficient
route to get around town. Um, and if we
[55:26] can make the that route safer for
everyone, then we can uh alleviate a lot
[55:30] of problems. Uh my main concern with the
proposed design was around the pickup
[55:34] drop off by CHS uh with cars being in
the lane that would undermine the value
[55:39] of so I'm really thrilled to hear that
you know there's a looking at doing
[55:44] Ballards flex posts or some equivalent
because if we're going to invest in
[55:49] safety you know we should follow best
practices and do we can to actually make
[55:52] it work. Um, I know I personally would
not like to have to swerve into traffic
[55:57] when it's at its busiest to get uh to
get around an illegally parked car.
[56:03] Right now, I just ride in the middle of
the lane because that's currently the
[56:07] safest. Um, I would rather have a
designated space off to the side and
[56:11] cars I'm sure would prefer to have me
out of their way. Um and as was
[56:16] mentioned earlier, uh this also like
putting in protection for the section of
[56:21] the of the road. It was good for cars
and pedestrians as well because it will
[56:26] improve the sight lines for drivers
seeing pedestrians. We've already had a
[56:31] CHS student hit pretty recently uh by
Academy and Parker. Um so like I'm sure
[56:37] they would have appreciated better sight
lines. Um, and if you're a driver, uh, I
[56:43] do drive sometimes when someone's
parked, uh, like doing a like throwing
[56:48] the hazards on, thinking they can do
whatever they want. You have to sw you
[56:51] have to move over into oncoming traffic
to get around them. And as a driver,
[56:55] that's also not great. Um, and the
concerns around speeding on Parker are
[57:00] huge. Uh, but a recent study, I guess
now two years old study out of Ruckers
[57:05] said putting delineators on bike lanes
reduce max speeds about up to 28%. So if
[57:12] you really want to address speeding,
it's not, you know, we'll never have
[57:17] enough cops to arrest everyone. So it's
like, you know, put some flex post up.
[57:22] It's a it's way more scalable. Uh, so I
I hope I hope you pursue that. It's
[57:28] great. Thanks.
>> Thank you. Thank you, uh, Kate.
[57:32] Hi, I live uh right on Parker Avenue.
I'm really excited about this project. I
[57:36] just wanted to um ask quickly something
you touched on in this stretch right off
[57:40] Maplewood Avenue. Um so it sounds like
there will not be road widening and
[57:43] it'll be working within the existing
streets and it won't be impacting
[57:46] sidewalks and front yards.
>> That's correct.
[57:49] » That's correct.
>> Okay, great. Thanks.
[57:55] » Okay. Uh Christina,
nope.
[58:01] Christina, but it's um I'm I'm just
using her computer. But I I wanted to to
[58:06] raise um yeah point around the high
school because I was a high schooler who
[58:12] uh tried to to bike and I often found it
rather like dangerous. Um so I really do
[58:18] appreciate um like this proposal and I
and I want to support it. I would strive
[58:23] to have more of uh more protection
around the high school with things like
[58:28] um Ballards because I mean now yeah now
I'm um I I'm doing urban planning at at
[58:34] Ruckers and I think that like from the
studies that like I've seen and been a
[58:40] part of they they really do help safety.
Um, and then I also wanted to address
[58:44] the thing, um, I think someone said
about, uh, bike lanes on side streets
[58:49] like Midland or Summit, and that it's
kind of difficult because you don't
[58:54] really need a bike lane as it stands
right now along those streets. Um,
[58:58] because there's just not enough traffic
to really demand them. And then also
[59:01] those streets are a bit limited where
they kind of they they end at a certain
[59:06] point. And the place the reason why you
also want to have bike lanes is because
[59:11] people are for obvious reasons going
down the most trafficked streets
[59:16] already. So they want to have a form of
protection on those trafficked streets
[59:21] that is currently not there for people
like myself. And then also another
[59:27] person made a point about not being able
to go up and down the hills or like but
[59:33] I mean with the advent of like ebikes
and I mean I see plenty of cyclists do
[59:40] frequent those uh those streets with
with no worries uh whatsoever. But
[59:45] that's that's all I want to say is uh
thank you.
[59:49] » Thank you.
>> Thank you uh Doug.
[59:56] Yes. Hi. Uh, thanks Vic. Um, so, uh, I
want to speak in support of the bike
[1:00:03] lanes and I want to thank the township
committee and and the administrator and
[1:00:08] the engineer, uh, for taking the
initiative on this. I commend the effort
[1:00:14] um to uh [clears throat] um first of all
the the bike lane plan which I hadn't
[1:00:20] seen before as well as to implement the
bike lane plan. Um I did have a couple
[1:00:26] of comments. Um so for one um
uh bikes need to be able to make left
[1:00:34] turns. So, the bike lanes are good as as
shown on the plan for going straight or
[1:00:40] making right turns. Um but um uh perhaps
uh some bike boxes would be helpful um
[1:00:50] at intersections for making left turns,
particularly at heavily
[1:00:55] uh um trafficked intersections like uh
the one that jumped out to me was
[1:01:00] Maplewood Avenue, but also Valley Street
and Academy as well as other hightra
[1:01:06] intersections.
Um
[1:01:10] uh in terms of the travel lane width, um
the um
[1:01:16] this is a street I think that school
buses use on. So um while a narrower
[1:01:22] train lift train, I'm sorry, a narrower
narrower lane width is helpful for
[1:01:28] traffic calming. Um, we also have to be
cautious about um when buses pass each
[1:01:35] other that they don't clip their
mirrors. Um, I think at one point New
[1:01:39] Jersey Transit was recommending a
minimum lane width of 10 and 1/2 ft, but
[1:01:45] probably dynamic traffic could verify
what the current minimum recommendation
[1:01:50] is for that. Um, and again, that's just
to avoid the buses clipping each other's
[1:01:55] rearview mirrors. Um,
one thing, um, I wonder about too is at
[1:02:04] Valley Street. I don't know if there's a
planned improvement for Valley Street by
[1:02:07] the county, um, as they're improving
other intersections.
[1:02:12] Um, if they are, this might be an
opportunity to install a bike signal as
[1:02:17] part of the signal. Um, you know, a
separate little signal for bicyclists to
[1:02:22] use. Um and [clears throat]
um this is this next thing is less about
[1:02:29] bikes but more about efficiency is that
I've wondered whether a barn dance type
[1:02:36] crosswalk situation would make the
intersection more both safer and more
[1:02:41] efficient. Um, a barn dance is where um
all the cars stop and it's all
[1:02:48] pedestrians. Not just to cross the
street corner to corner, but to cross
[1:02:53] diagonally across the street so that
pedestrians only have to cross one
[1:02:58] street, so they're crossing fewer
streets, so they're in the street for
[1:03:02] less time, which gives the cars more
time, more green time. Um, someone would
[1:03:07] have to obviously do the calculations to
see if that makes the intersection more
[1:03:11] efficient. I'm not sure that it would,
but I just thought I'd bring it up. Um,
[1:03:16] so again, I I
commend the effort. Um, I've worked with
[1:03:20] Dynamic Traffic before. It's a great
firm. Um, uh, thank you. That's all I
[1:03:25] have.
>> Thanks, Doug. Jason,
[1:03:33] » yes. Hello. Sorry. Um, yeah, you all can
hear me, I assume. Okay, excellent. Um,
[1:03:38] yeah, I just wanted to briefly speak out
in favor. Um, I'm very glad to hear
[1:03:43] about this. Again, I live um on the east
side of town, very close to Parker. So,
[1:03:48] this would have a I think very positive
impact my family. My children are in
[1:03:52] middle school now, but they would be
able to ride their bikes to uh Colombia,
[1:03:57] which would be fantastic if they could
do that. Um, and to be able to do it uh
[1:04:02] safely. I also think that um we have a
tendency to think of car infrastructure
[1:04:07] as like natural or godmade or something,
but it's it's not. We made decisions to
[1:04:12] make everything revolve around cars and
it's had very negative impacts on being
[1:04:17] able to get around without a car. Um
that's literally killing us in the
[1:04:22] planet right now. And so I think I mean
just in a holistic level like cutting
[1:04:26] back on car infrastructure is probably a
good thing to do. And I think um if we
[1:04:30] can get more ways for people to get to
Colombia, it would actually cut down on
[1:04:33] the drop off traffic. We wouldn't need
as many cars there. So I think um just
[1:04:38] on that level would be great. And again,
I do understand some people's
[1:04:40] frustrations. I just think that um I've
lived abroad in places that have bike
[1:04:44] lanes and it dramatically improves the
quality of life, I could say. And I'm
[1:04:50] glad to have that in our town. Thanks.
>> Thank you, Ken.
[1:04:56] » Yeah. Hi. Uh thanks. This is a a great
presentation. Um the I have a couple
[1:05:02] points. Uh one is about the high school.
It was like the first point I had. Um
[1:05:06] I'm in favor of uh the bike lanes by the
way. Uh in terms of the high school,
[1:05:11] that is a concern. I don't know if it's
possible to actually move all the bike
[1:05:14] racks for the school to the east part.
Uh, so it's completely separate from all
[1:05:20] the pickups and drop offs because I
think that's going to be a herculean
[1:05:24] task and it's only going to tie up that
traffic between the school and 7-Eleven.
[1:05:28] So, I don't know if this has been
presented yet to the high school, but if
[1:05:31] they could actually move where the kids
uh go to their bike racks, that probably
[1:05:36] would alleviate a lot of those issues.
Um, otherwise, um, will this affect the
[1:05:42] Jity stops that are on Parker?
[1:05:48] » I have to say we didn't talk about that.
It's a very good point. We'll have to
[1:05:50] Yes, it will. We'll have to figure that
out.
[1:05:52] » Okay. Because I I ride the Jitney. I'm
I'm near Bordon Park. And then, um, uh,
[1:05:58] uh, Patrick Downey, you mentioned about
the speed limit. Um, it's 25 right now.
[1:06:04] He said it's a little bit above average
from what you've done before or seen. So
[1:06:08] when will you know if the speed limit's
going to be changed?
[1:06:12] » So it's not necessarily that we would be
looking to change the speed limit. It's
[1:06:16] really to through a systematic design
improvements bring the travel speeds
[1:06:20] occurring more in line with that speed
limit. So right now what we're seeing
[1:06:24] the averages range between 24 to 30
depending on location. The 85th
[1:06:28] percentile which is a popular design
metric is 28 to 34. So, the upper end of
[1:06:33] that is getting to be almost 10 miles
per hour outside of what the speed limit
[1:06:36] is. Um, through narrowing the lanes, uh,
additional emphasis on pedestrians and
[1:06:41] cyclists. We're hoping that number comes
back down.
[1:06:43] » Okay. Okay. Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you, uh, Alex.
[1:06:52] » Hey, good evening. Um, I just want to
thank everybody for this really
[1:06:55] thoughtful presentation. Um, and the
effort that the council is making
[1:07:01] towards making our road safer. Um, so
I'm actually one of the statistics. Uh,
[1:07:05] two years ago I was hit by a high
schooler on Parker who was pulling into
[1:07:09] the faculty parking lot. Um, I was in
the middle of the lane. I think someone
[1:07:14] else said you take the middle of the
lane when you're on Parker cuz it's the
[1:07:16] safest thing to do. Um, and I'm a pretty
experienced cyclist. Um the the the kid
[1:07:22] legitimately probably he said he
couldn't see me because of the
[1:07:25] congestion from all the illegally parked
cars. Um and if you look at that
[1:07:30] corridor right now um during school
hours you it's basically illegal to um
[1:07:36] stop or stand um or idle I think is one
of the signs. Although most of them were
[1:07:40] pretty sun damaged at this point and
could use replacement which I think this
[1:07:44] project would do. Um, and so I like I
think there's a lot of really great
[1:07:50] stuff here. Um, everyone's made a lot of
really good points around that as well.
[1:07:54] I just have a couple of other
suggestions or considerations for the
[1:07:58] group. Um, the the first one is I would
strongly encourage a leading pedestrian
[1:08:03] interval um at the traffic uh signals.
Um, that would allow cyclists and
[1:08:09] pedestrians to cross ahead of the cars.
Um, and I would also, if it's not
[1:08:13] already a law for the town to make it
legal for cyclists to use the LPI, New
[1:08:18] York City implemented this and it made
intersections a whole lot safer. Um, the
[1:08:23] the second thing would be to re I didn't
see it specifically on the proposal, but
[1:08:28] to revisit um the top of Maplewood
Avenue and Parker. Um something like
[1:08:35] everyone's a lot of folks have said this
but like these improvements ought to
[1:08:40] make uh it safer for all road users
including drivers. Um frequently drivers
[1:08:46] are are driving into oncoming traffic
because they cannot judge that turn for
[1:08:50] whatever reason. Um so some some kind of
alteration to keep them on the right
[1:08:55] side of the road would be great. Um I
have been both in my I drive and bike.
[1:08:59] Um, I've been in my car and almost been
hit several times by people making that
[1:09:04] turn. Um, another suggestion for
consideration would be at Parker and
[1:09:09] Prospect. It we've had crash after crash
after crash. Um, I live a few doors down
[1:09:14] on Prospect by Parker. Um, I would
strongly encourage us uh at the town to
[1:09:22] ban right on red for that whole
intersection. Um, right now it says
[1:09:25] right on red when children are present.
I can tell you no one is looking to see
[1:09:29] if children are present before they
decide to make a ride on red. Um and I
[1:09:33] believe cars going around other cars to
make ride on reds have contributed to a
[1:09:37] number of accidents. Um
to address some of the other concerns
[1:09:43] like we we need when you reduce road
volume it it has the it has the effect
[1:09:49] of reducing the number of cars on the
road. Um I I know folks have made the
[1:09:53] suggestion to somehow redirect traffic
to the side streets. When you reduce the
[1:09:57] volume of the roads, it will have that
effect, which this project should
[1:10:01] accomplish. Um and roads like Summit are
already generally pretty safe to bike on
[1:10:05] because they have natural traffic
calming measures. Like they're
[1:10:09] staggered, they have a lot of stop
signs. Um so that's already in place.
[1:10:13] Um, and I also really appreciate the
thought that's gone around addressing
[1:10:18] and around Columbia High School
protecting that lane. Um, because the
[1:10:23] the drop off situation definitely needs
to be remediated. Um, I've I've talked
[1:10:27] to kids who are biking to school. Um,
when I was laying on the ground after I
[1:10:31] was hit, a bunch of kids actually came
over to me and they were like, "You have
[1:10:34] the right to be in the road." Um, which
like at at a really bad moment kind of
[1:10:39] made me like a little thankful when I
didn't know if my ankle was broken
[1:10:43] because it's like there's other kids
going through this. Um, we really owe it
[1:10:48] to our kids and other and family members
uh to to protect them as road users. Um,
[1:10:53] because like even if you are a a driver
or if you don't bike and you just walk,
[1:11:00] that area is super dangerous. Um, it's
more dangerous than a lot of
[1:11:04] intersections in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Um, you may not realize it cuz like it
[1:11:08] it feels smaller. Um, but it really is.
Um, and and these measures should make
[1:11:13] it a whole lot safer. Um, believe me,
you do not want to be in a car accident.
[1:11:18] You have to use insurance from your car
company, which sounds as bad as it is.
[1:11:23] Um, and and if a kid is hit or someone
that's like not lucky to work work at
[1:11:27] home like I do, um, it could have like a
lifealtering effect for them both
[1:11:31] economically and if they have to, god
forbid, take painkillers or anything
[1:11:35] like that. So, um, again, I applaud uh
the work that the the town's done. It
[1:11:40] seems really thoughtful. Um, but I would
also appreciate if you could take those
[1:11:44] suggestions under consideration. Thank
you.
[1:11:46] » Thank you.
>> Um,
[1:11:49] Carmen,
>> hi. how are you? Um, I am
[1:11:56] a almost a 30-year resident of Maplewood
and I live up the block from Columbia
[1:12:01] High School. So, I think that these the
bike lane is going to significantly
[1:12:07] significantly impact the residents of um
especially those within the Colombia
[1:12:13] High School area. Uh, I am not against
bike lanes. I think they're very good
[1:12:21] for the community and for the
environment. However, I think that
[1:12:25] choose that the area around Columbia
High School should be exempted in some
[1:12:31] way from the bike lane situation. I'll
tell you why. I have, like I said, I've
[1:12:37] been living here a very long time. I
have seen a lot in front of Parker
[1:12:42] Avenue. I have not been able to get out
of my uh driveway and I don't have the
[1:12:46] benefit of a very long driveway. Um, I
have a basically a twocar driveway. I
[1:12:52] have to go out to move my car and I have
to echo a lot of the concerns that Brian
[1:12:57] had um spoken about and also um um Mr.
Miller about uh looking at alternatives
[1:13:06] to routes for the streets. Um the first
of all,
[1:13:14] Parker Avenue and I understand that that
you would like to have this done to sort
[1:13:20] of lessen the speed of cars, but that's
not really going to change. I have seen
[1:13:25] cars speeding down here. There used to
be a time when the police would would
[1:13:29] actually stop frequently in front of my
house um because people uh cars and uh
[1:13:35] drivers are speeding down.
Um, as someone who uh has been very
[1:13:40] involved in the community, I worked for
the township for Soma Two Towns. I've
[1:13:45] been uh uh president of PTAs. I have
noticed that the the the
[1:13:55] I have noticed that Parker Avenue is is
is a is a very busy street, right? It's
[1:14:02] very busy. the cars are zooming down and
um
[1:14:07] just today um I saw a young man get out
of the parents' car, fling the door open
[1:14:16] and heaven forbid there would be a
bicyclist coming down that bicyclist
[1:14:21] would have been thrown onto my l onto my
uh lawn because that is that is what
[1:14:27] happens here. If if you have any
understanding of what Colombia um what
[1:14:32] the traffic is like here in the mornings
um uh for Columbia High School, you
[1:14:37] would know that this is a a disaster
waiting to happen, that kids are going
[1:14:43] to get hurt. Um when you come down from
Parker uh Crossover Prospect going down
[1:14:51] the hill, you can barely see uh what's
in front of you and there have been
[1:14:57] accidents, right? Um I think that's
that's a consideration. First of all,
[1:15:02] there's poor lighting on Parker. But you
know what? The most important part for
[1:15:05] me, and I know that there are others who
support the the bike lanes, um, and many
[1:15:11] of whom I'm hearing from do not actually
live on Parker. Um,
[1:15:17] as a Parker resident, I think that there
has to be some compromise here. Uh the
[1:15:24] compromise it should be that that
residents should be allowed to park
[1:15:29] during a certain uh time during the um
during the day. Right now the parking is
[1:15:36] from 9 to 11 and 1 to 3. What you're
proposing or what this plan is proposing
[1:15:41] is 247 no parking. And I think that's
very unfair to the residents to to the
[1:15:48] homeowners on Parker Avenue. It affects
their market value. Okay. And I, you
[1:15:53] know, I that's important to us and I
think that right now this plan is
[1:16:00] compromising the interests of the
residents, especially those around
[1:16:06] Colombia High School for the benefit of
maybe 40 or 50 bikes. And we don't even
[1:16:12] know if those 40 or 50 bikes are
students riding down Parker Avenue or
[1:16:17] they're coming from other parts of town.
Um, the other reason that there is low I
[1:16:22] I I heard that one of the evidence for
choosing Parker Avenue is that uh very
[1:16:27] little uh parking activity. Well, if you
come here between 9 and 11, no one's
[1:16:33] going to be parked because they're
following the rules. If you if you come
[1:16:36] here between 1 and 3, no one is going to
be parked because you're following the
[1:16:41] rules. So 247 prohibition against
parking in front of my own home where
[1:16:48] the surrounding um streets provide no
parking. Um let's say academy the board
[1:16:56] of education that's all part board of ed
parking. There's no parking there during
[1:17:01] the day on North Terrace. The parking is
also limited from 9 to 11 and 1 to 2. If
[1:17:09] I need work on my house, if I need to
have um people visit me for whatever
[1:17:14] reason, right, medical um we have to
think about seniors too, right? They
[1:17:20] cannot be uh driving and parking in a
certain area and walking up, especially
[1:17:25] if it's it's snowing, especially if the
weather is bad. So, I I think that, like
[1:17:30] I said, I I I I support bike lanes. I
think it's great, but I think that that
[1:17:39] bike lanes around Columbia High School
because I don't I think we're the only
[1:17:42] ones that are affected this
significantly as opposed to those over
[1:17:47] on the other side of Prospect. So, I
really would hope that this is not a
[1:17:52] done deal because I have seen that
before where you know you have community
[1:17:56] input and then it it's done anyway. Um,
but last thing I want to say is that I I
[1:18:03] really did not appreciate the the the um
the short notice of this plan of this uh
[1:18:10] meeting. Um I got a letter in on
Wednesday on my porch. Uh and then on
[1:18:16] Friday an email. Fortunately, I'm very
techsavvy and I and I and I I read
[1:18:21] emails. Um but at this point, um I think
that you may have a low uh response rate
[1:18:28] here. mainly because of the lack of
notice or adequate notice for this
[1:18:34] meeting which will significantly impact
um the the residents of Parker Avenue,
[1:18:40] specifically Columbia High School.
>> Thank you, uh Kate.
[1:18:47] » Yeah, thanks. Um I just wanted to voice
my support for the bike lanes. Um I bike
[1:18:52] all around town. I have an ebike. I bike
with my daughter on the back and I have
[1:18:56] a son who goes to Columbia and who bikes
there all the time and there's a lot of
[1:19:01] kids who bike there and there should be
more. I mean, part of the reason the
[1:19:04] traffic there is so bad is because some
kids aren't, you know, aren't choosing
[1:19:09] to bike or walk or or do other active
ways to get to school and anything we
[1:19:13] can do to encourage that would be great.
Um, so I'm strongly in favor Parker is
[1:19:19] the right place to put this in because
it's not safe um to cycle on the busy
[1:19:24] roads and that's where you end up going.
You're going to go the most direct
[1:19:28] route. You know, you're it's
transportation, right? It's not
[1:19:30] recreation. Um so you want to make them
as safe as possible. I think, you know,
[1:19:36] we're behind here in these towns when it
comes to this stuff and it's actually
[1:19:40] going to hurt our property values um at
some point that we don't have better
[1:19:44] bike infrastructure because a lot of
people are coming to expect it um as
[1:19:47] part of a safe, walkable, you know,
green community. Um so I am strongly in
[1:19:54] support. A couple more specific
recommendations. Um more protection and
[1:20:00] more ballards. those, you know, just
painting the road on the the line on the
[1:20:05] street, you know, it does not give you a
lot of protection from a car. Um, and
[1:20:10] I'm very, you know, worried when I have
my daughter on the back that, you know,
[1:20:15] we're not visible enough, someone's not
going to see us, someone's going to make
[1:20:18] a mistake. Um, so having any any
additional visibility or ideally
[1:20:24] physical protection you could put would
be would be wonderful. Um, it really
[1:20:27] makes all the difference. Um, someone
mentioned it, but bike boxes at the
[1:20:32] intersections, especially on um, you
know, coming up to Prospect going east
[1:20:37] because if you're on a bike and you have
a heavy load on the back, um, sometimes
[1:20:41] it's hard to get going if you're on an
angle and going up a hill. So, a bike
[1:20:45] box would allow you to be able to turn
left and would give a little bit more
[1:20:48] just a little bit more safety, a little
bit more space there. Um, and my other
[1:20:53] suggestion is maybe bike parking in a
couple different places of the at the
[1:20:57] school rather than all putting, you
know, the bikes in one area. Right now,
[1:21:01] they're all sort of combined in the
front and um, you know, people lose
[1:21:06] things,
helmets gets lost, things like that. So,
[1:21:10] maybe there's a couple other places at
the school you could um, you could uh,
[1:21:14] put bike parking. And there's study
after study that shows that bike lanes
[1:21:20] are good for local businesses. They help
local businesses help property values.
[1:21:25] And I think increasingly people who are
moving to a community like ours are
[1:21:29] going to expect a lot more safety on the
streets than we have right now. Um, and
[1:21:33] I'll echo, you know, what someone said
earlier that it's a lot safer, feels a
[1:21:37] lot safer to actually bike in New York
City to me at this point than it does to
[1:21:41] bike out here, even though the traffic
volumes are are um, you know, are much
[1:21:45] less out here. And that's because we
just haven't we just don't have the
[1:21:49] infrastructure yet, and we really
should. So, I commend you all for taking
[1:21:51] this important step. I hope it can be
part of a bigger network that the towns
[1:21:56] build um connecting to Soma and I hope
we can give people other ways of getting
[1:22:00] around that are fun and healthy and less
um impactful on the environment. Thank
[1:22:05] you.
>> Thank you, David.
[1:22:10] » Hi, good evening. Can you hear me?
>> Yes.
[1:22:14] » Terrific. U yeah thanks for the
presentation, but listen, I'm a
[1:22:20] homeowner on Parker A. Um, I live on the
north side of Parker Avenue, just uh shy
[1:22:26] of Prospect. And everything I hear from
this plan, it it it's apparent that the
[1:22:31] losers here are the residents. We're the
ones who are not being considered. Um,
[1:22:36] I've heard on during your presentations
more than twice uh this this idea that
[1:22:43] um uh that bicyclists have a right, have
the legal right to to to use a road. And
[1:22:50] they do. Um, I'm I'm not anti-bike. I'm
not anti- uh bike lanes, but before this
[1:22:57] plan goes into place, and it sounds like
it's going to go into place, you guys
[1:23:01] need to seriously consider the impact
it's having on us, as Carmen mentioned,
[1:23:06] and Brienne before her. Uh, for
instance, what are you guys going to do
[1:23:10] for homeowners
who still have oil heat and have the oil
[1:23:15] trucks pull up to fill up their tanks?
What are you going to do with the Amazon
[1:23:20] trucks? Uh, we all order from Amazon.
Uh, what are you going to do about the
[1:23:25] Fresh Direct trucks that park in front
of people's houses to deliver their
[1:23:29] groceries? Heck, what are you going to
do about the uh postal trucks uh who
[1:23:35] park uh uh on Parker and Prospect uh
when they deliver their their mail? It
[1:23:41] sounds like no thought has been given to
this. Certainly, it it's not being
[1:23:46] addressed. Um when we have guests or
contractors, they need to park somewhere
[1:23:52] and the surrounding streets here on
Kensington
[1:23:56] uh and uh North Terrace and Academy.
Some changes are going to have to be
[1:24:01] made if this plan is implemented to
allow us to park on those streets or
[1:24:07] allow our contractors who come and
improve our homes, to improve the values
[1:24:13] of our homes and improve the township
for them to come here and to be able to
[1:24:18] do their work. Um, so the residents I
think are being shortchanged. I would
[1:24:25] hope that you would seriously consider
um um doing something for us because as
[1:24:30] Brienne pointed out and as Mr. Duca
confirmed, something's being taken away
[1:24:35] from us, but our taxes are not going
down. Thank you.
[1:24:39] » Thank you. We did we did talk about the
delivery. It is something we're trying
[1:24:43] to figure out.
Uh, Stephen.
[1:24:48] » Uh, yes. I just want to echo uh my
thanks for holding this meeting and um,
[1:24:55] you know, all the work that has gone
into this and all the thought that's
[1:24:57] gone into this. Um, I particularly echo
what uh, I believe it was Jason and Kate
[1:25:04] said. Um, I think um,
especially for Maplewood, I I love I
[1:25:09] love this town and the progressive
values, but I always found it odd that
[1:25:13] there were no designated bike lanes um,
in a town like this. And again, I I also
[1:25:17] feel safer uh, bicycling in New York
City than I do here. Um, and again, it's
[1:25:22] a lack of infrastructure. Um, so I think
that this is a a great first step
[1:25:27] towards making the town safer, uh, more
equitable, and more desirable. And and
[1:25:31] to touch on that point again because
it's come up a few times. Um but you can
[1:25:34] uh look up that or it's very uh apparent
that uh property values rise with things
[1:25:41] like bike lanes um greenways and
basically like more pedestrian safety
[1:25:45] because that's what people want. They
want to live in a safe community where
[1:25:49] they can walk to places safely uh with
downtowns with trains. Like that's what
[1:25:54] will help raise property values. It's
not I I wish the bike lane was actually
[1:25:57] going past my street cuz my house would
rise in value too. Um, but yes, I just
[1:26:00] wanted to echo that and um say thank you
to uh everybody working on this to make
[1:26:05] this a reality. [snorts]
>> Thank you, Jen.
[1:26:09] » Hi, good evening again. Thank you for
this. Um, and we are avid bike riders.
[1:26:13] We're on Parker further up. So, more for
the next meeting. Um, and completely we
[1:26:18] would bike our kids to preschool in
South Orange from Parker. So, we're huge
[1:26:23] proponents of biking. But my concern off
the bat is you hadn't thought about the
[1:26:28] jitneys and you haven't thought about
the school buses. The traffic that we've
[1:26:32] all been in while while waiting for
school buses to pick up preschoolers or
[1:26:37] sorry kindergarteners
while they're waiting to for their mom
[1:26:41] or dad to let them on the bus. It backs
up from the high school all the way up
[1:26:46] to prospect while that one child is
waiting to get on the bus. So there has
[1:26:50] to be thoughts around the busing. I
mean, maybe this integration plan will
[1:26:54] change if we're going to do more biking.
Maybe we don't need as much busing. Um,
[1:26:58] but I think there's it's scary to park,
ride, or walk on Parker. Your speed
[1:27:06] numbers cannot be accurate based on what
we see. Maybe a little bit up, you know,
[1:27:12] as you head towards Armington, they hit
the gas a little more, but they are
[1:27:17] traffic is going way over 35 miles an
hour on this road. And when we have
[1:27:22] guests come over, we tell them to park
on the side streets because I do not
[1:27:27] trust anyone driving on this road. We
have been sideswiped numerous times. So,
[1:27:32] unless there's some kind of barricade or
maybe both the bike lanes are on one
[1:27:37] side of the street and you build
something, but it is it's scary up here
[1:27:42] to to be on the road. So, but thank you
and I hope these conversations continue.
[1:27:48] » Thank you, Casey.
[1:27:52] Uh yeah, I just wanted to thank you for
the presentation. I am a resident of uh
[1:27:56] Parker Avenue and I just want to uh echo
the sentiments from uh Carmen, Brianna,
[1:28:02] Craig, and David that uh you know, as a
homeowner on Parker, this is negatively
[1:28:06] impacting us. Um I can completely
respect the need to increase safety. Um
[1:28:12] but Parker Avenue, as was just noted by
Jen, is uh there's a lot of reckless
[1:28:17] driving here. Um, and I think congesting
those roads more with with narrowing the
[1:28:21] lanes and uh and trying to add more
bikes uh is just going to create more
[1:28:26] problems. I'd be interested to know if
you guys have more kind of specific bike
[1:28:29] data on the amount of of bikers that are
experienced on a typical day. Um, I'm
[1:28:35] also concerned about the jitney stops
being taken away. Guest parking workers.
[1:28:41] Uh, the heck the garbage guys coming.
Uh, where are they going to park their
[1:28:44] truck when they want to go grab my
garbage? are they going to end up
[1:28:47] charging me more? Um, and just echoing
the concerns of the actual residents of
[1:28:53] Parker who are going to be impacted, not
the um, not the others. So, thank you.
[1:29:00] » Yeah, just to be clear, we haven't said
we're going to eliminate the Jity stops.
[1:29:04] We're going to figure it out.
>> Right. Right. I just concerned because
[1:29:08] they have to stop and not be stopping in
the uh, bike lanes, which is just danger
[1:29:12] to the bike.
>> Well, we have to figure out something.
[1:29:15] » I appreciate it. So, I look forward to
hearing more.
[1:29:17] » Okay, Josh.
>> Yes, thank you. Um, it sounds like
[1:29:22] there's a lot that still needs to be
figured out. Uh, and I have to tell you,
[1:29:28] I'm a resident of Parker between Academy
and Prospect
[1:29:33] and the congestion is unbelievable,
particularly in the mornings. Uh, I'm
[1:29:39] often not able to leave my driveway or
it's quite difficult. Uh, and I was a
[1:29:47] little bit surprised when you began by
recognizing the problem at the high
[1:29:53] school
and then said you're waiting to hear
[1:29:57] from the high school about how they're
going to solve it. So, I just wanted to
[1:30:02] get your commitment that the next time
there's a meeting, there's a response
[1:30:09] from the high school so we know what the
situation is because that's really the
[1:30:14] serious part of this proposal. And
that's where I fear, you know, people
[1:30:21] are really going to be hurt. I can't
tell you. You know, people drop kids
[1:30:26] off. They open car doors into what would
be the bike lane. It It's pretty serious
[1:30:32] stuff. And I really would like a
commitment that we will understand what
[1:30:38] the high school is going to do about
this to uh eliminate this problem of
[1:30:43] very congested drop offs.
>> Yeah. Um just so we did meet with the
[1:30:50] principal at the high school and uh that
was our second meeting and we've had you
[1:30:55] know a discussion with him and he raised
a number of questions and concerns um
[1:31:00] that we're working through. I don't I
don't recall someone saying we're
[1:31:04] waiting to hear but we're not waiting.
We're working we're in conversation with
[1:31:08] the high school. We're we're going to
try to solve this.
[1:31:13] Well, we're waiting to hear how you're
going to
[1:31:17] » we understand that. Thank you.
Uh Martin,
[1:31:22] » uh yeah. Um I'm a resident of Parker. Uh
I just want to chime in here and say I
[1:31:27] think this is a huge win for families
that live on Parker that are raising
[1:31:31] kids here. Um you can look just on
Zillow in terms of property values.
[1:31:36] There's a walkability and a bike ability
score. That's that's reflected directly
[1:31:40] in your property values on Zillow. Um,
home buyers are looking for a walkable,
[1:31:46] bikable community. Um, they're looking
for safe streets. Um, the front yard of
[1:31:52] of my house on Parker Avenue should be a
place where my kids can play. We
[1:31:56] shouldn't be held hostage by dangerous
roads. Um, so when I hear people say
[1:32:01] like, "Oh, we should do bike lanes on
side streets because Parker's too
[1:32:06] dangerous," I I'd really push back.
We're we're we need bike lanes on Parker
[1:32:10] because it's too dangerous.
Um, so yeah, I just I just think that
[1:32:16] Maplewood is a town that's going to lead
the way and um, if we do this
[1:32:20] successfully, I think we're going to be
setting an example for all the towns
[1:32:23] around us and I think it's the right
thing to do. So, I want to thank
[1:32:26] everyone for this presentation today. I
think it was really good.
[1:32:32] » Thank you. Um, is there anyone else who
didn't get a chance to make a comment or
[1:32:37] ask a question?
[1:32:50] Okay, I see no one else. So, um, thank
you everyone for your comments. We heard
[1:32:56] from 18 of you. Um, and we are, you
know, this is exactly what we were
[1:33:02] looking for to hear what some of the
concerns are. Um, you know, we we
[1:33:08] thought of some of these some, you know,
the the thing on the jity, I'll be
[1:33:10] totally honest. We kind of missed it.
So, we'll be talking about that. Um,
[1:33:16] but we are we are going to be having two
more meetings. As I said, I'm just going
[1:33:20] to put that up again just to remind you.
We have a meeting uh next Monday and
[1:33:28] we're going to be focusing on the area
which is you know again primarily
[1:33:32] residential except for a couple of the
religious institutions and that'll be
[1:33:37] from Prospect to Bdon and then on the
24th we're going to be um looking at
[1:33:43] Bdon to Irvington Avenue business
district. uh you know, April 9th, we'll
[1:33:47] be talking about, April 15th, and you
know, until we have a decision, we're
[1:33:51] going to keep talking about it. And it's
it's not a done deal. We're still trying
[1:33:56] to figure out um I think there's a
desire to move forward um with
[1:34:01] something. Uh and we're trying to figure
out what makes the most sense. Uh
[1:34:06] Carmen, you spoke, but you can speak
again, but we're going to ask you to to
[1:34:10] be real quick.
>> I will be real quick. In the event that
[1:34:14] this bike lane proposal becomes a
reality, I would like I would like as a
[1:34:19] Parker resident to for this the town to
look at where residents will be parking
[1:34:27] in the area um and maybe um ex
limit the um or eliminate any of the no
[1:34:36] parking um on the side streets so that
people can park their cars. I mean,
[1:34:41] that's an alternative. Um but um you
know my position is that we should do
[1:34:48] something about not instituting this
around the Columbia High School area.
[1:34:52] And thank you.
>> Great. Thank you.
[1:34:55] » Okay. Uh members of the township
committee, anybody have anything to say?
[1:35:01] » We good.
>> Nope. Thanks for everybody coming out.
[1:35:04] » All right. Thank you everyone. Um you're
certainly welcome to come back on the
[1:35:09] 10th.
Thank you to all of our presenters.
[1:35:13] » See you.
>> Bye.