January 24 meeting minutes

Monthly General Meeting Minutes
January 24, 2013

The Watershed Building in Hillsdale
6388 SW Capitol Hwy
Portland OR 97239

Attendance: Don Baack, Lee Buhler,  Barbara Stedman, Sharon Fekety, Virginia Hendrikson, Cole Trusty,  Dave Manville, Dianne Mays, Chris Mays, Glenn Bridger, Keith Liden Doug Rogers, Michael Harrison, Andrew Holtz

Don called the meeting to order at: 6:59

After introductions, the agenda and December 2012 minutes were approved.

Walks: Sharon said Dave Manville will lead the February hike in the Ash Creek neighborhood to show trail work that has been done and planned work. Don has an idea for someone who might want to lead the March hike. Sharon said Cole lead a great January hike.

Don said we now have 1005 people on the email mailing list.

Don said we need to send receipts for contributions for last year and ask people to re-join. Glenn said it should be done by the end of January.  Barbara said it was especially important for people who made large contributions.

Chris talked about the PayPal account on the web page.  Lee showed the web page to the group on his computer.  Chris said when we get a contribution a email comes to him.

Treasurer’s Report: Chris said we have $1344.68 in the SW Trails checking account. He had spreadsheets and bank statements. He had the balances at SWNI for SW Trails, Stephens Creek and 4T trails. He said he would keep in contact with SWNI about the SW Trails monies in their accounts.

Glenn said it was important to send the notification to members to re-up their membership.

Keith talked about the construction project on the Barbur bridges. They are doing maintenance. They will make the railings higher and improve the ramps. The work will be done next year. Many people want to have a road diet implemented. ODOT said it would cost $500,000 to do good safety improvements. Keith pointed out that that section of Barbur does not have too much auto traffic most of the time although it can get heavy at commuting times. Keith said a road diet is part of the Barbur Concept plan. He said ODOT is not interested in the idea and it has become political. Don suggested talking to elected officials about the idea. Keith said the city may not want to press too much because they receive money from ODOT. Sharon said Barbur was narrowed in another section of Barbur closer to town without much consequence. Glenn pointed out that Natio was narrowed with no consequences as well. Keith said this portion of Barbur was designed in another time for different conditions and it should be reconsidered.

Keith suggested a reduction of one lane in the northbound direction. Barbara pointed out that it is just a matter of paint. She said they could try it and if it didn’t work, change it back. Dave said he is opposed to a road diet due to the economy and if there is a problem on I-5.  He said we should do nothing on the bridges until they can be re-built.  Keith said it is important to at least have a study. Glenn said ODOT will be at the Hillsdale NA meeting on February 6th. Glenn said he told ODOT he wanted to discuss the road diet at that meeting. Glenn said the auto bottleneck on Barbur is at Hamilton.  Therefore a narrowed lane at the bridges will not affect that. Don said that the Barbur Concepts plan is a long way in the future.

Lee made the following motion:

SW Trails asks ODOT to do a complete analysis of a road diet on Barbur from Hamilton to Terwilliger with the intent of removing one northbound lane from Miles to Hamilton or portions thereof and look at the option of using Slavin Road as a connecting bike/ped route.

Keith seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.

Doug said he was concerned that the heightening of the railings not be affected by a road diet.

Don said BES will be doing some work at the intersection of Terwilliger and Capitol Hwy.  Keith passed out a drawing of the area with his suggested improvements. Don described the drawing. He said they will drive a new sewer under Capitol Hwy. There will be a temporary bike path as they will need to use much of the area for construction. The trail will be gravel. The Water Bureau will then put in a water main. Glenn said they will re-establish vegetation. He said the most important issue is what the best route for a bike route. Keith said the city wants to just have a bike lane in the street and he was concerned that this might not work too well due to the curves and steepness of the area. He said that bike boxes may not work in areas with a slope. Keith suggested a similar path as there is now except that there be separation between bikes and pedestrians. He also suggested a wider bike lane on the other side of Terwilliger. Barbara pointed out that the lane as it is now cannot be used with a bike trailer. She also suggested moving a drain. Dianne said it was important to avoid conflicts between bikes and pedestrians were the bikes enter the street.

Lee made the following motion:

SW Trails supports concept presented by Keith and we appoint Keith as our liaison

Glenn seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.

Don talked about another possible improvement on Terwilliger near 7th. He suggested a way to have a separate bike lane.

Michael said he now works for OHSU in public relations. He brought in maps of the Marquam Hill area. Don said there are problems on SW Trail one, between Barbur and Terwilliger. The stairs are in bad shape an need to be repaired. He said many people who work at OHSU use the trail. He said there is another trail at 4th that is also well used and not in good shape. The third  trail is at 4800 SW Barbur.
Don pointed out some stairs that are dangerous and need work. Don suggested people from South Portland and Homestead to meet to talk about solving the issue. Michael suggested a walk-around to look at the issues. Andrew said there was a commitment in the Marquam Hill Plan to do traffic calming in the area. Michael said he has been talking to Homestead and people at OHSU on how get OHSU employees to use roads in Marquam as little as possible. He said they are considering giving some parking spots to Car-To-Go to avoid parking problems on Terwilliger.

Andrew talked about a development at 4700 SW Humphrey. It is a large development. They will divide the property into three one acre lots. The sale price was $3.2 million. There was a pre-app in October. The city said there needed to be a road connecting Greenhill Road to Humphrey. They said if a street cannot be built there at least has to be a path. However, now the City may be backtracking on it. Andrew is the Transportation chair for SWRL and they want at least a path. He said this path would open up a huge area for walkers.  Sharon asked if it would be a paved path. Andrew said it should be paved and wide enough for emergency vehicles.

Glenn talked about the Red Electric video. It is on the SW Trails website. It is about 4 minutes long. They are adding a little more content. He will ask us to approve purchasing a few pictures from the Oregon Historical Society. Cole said he has a letter from the Oregon Historical Society giving permission to use some photos. Barbara suggested informing the BTA about the video.

We will try to put more brochures out in public places such as Coffee Houses and schools. Cole said everyone he has talked to is happy to put out brochures.

Don said they had a meeting with BES and PBOT on SW Tunnelwood.  People are currently walking in the storm sewer. There is a tentative agreement to grade a trail and and have SW Trails gravel it.

Don said PBOT is putting in an extended shoulder on Maplewood. Don suggested a press conference to high-light it. Dianne said Jill Gaddis has also expressed interest in a celebration.

Don said Greg Raisman of PBOT is working on the the unbuilt right-of-way permit process.

Don said there will be a memorial service for Phyllis Towne at 2pm at the Good Samaritan Hospital Chapel on February 4th.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:34pm

Respectfully Submitted,

Lee Buhler