September 2015 minutes

SW Trails PDX
Monthly Meeting

September 24, 2015

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

Attendance: Don Baack, Lee Buhler, Patty Barker, Dave Manville, Chris Mays, Dianne Mays, Michael Kisor, Elizabeth Duncan, Dale Sherbourne, Virginia Hendrickson, Sharon Fekety, Glenn Bridger

The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm.

Walks: Sharon said Dave will lead the hike in October. He has figured out a route that goes through five different parks in 5 miles. Don said there were 44 people on the September hike and it went well. There was a 6 month old baby and two three year olds on the hike. Don said some people took the TriMet Orange Line, which opened that day, to Milwaukie after the hike.

Don said we could advertise our walks in the AARP bulletin and Parks literature.

Don suggested people look at the transportation sections of the Portland Comprehensive Plan. He said City Council will start having hearings on the plan in a few months.

Dave said the Trails Policy hearing will be on October 14^th.

Dave said the met with the Far Southwest Neighborhood Association two nights ago. He said we have now talked to most neighborhoods.

Glenn said he Don, and Marianne attended a meeting with PBOT. They compared statistics from 2014 and 1999. There is a lot of information in the data including road construction and conditions. With GIS technology they can now update the data as roads and conditions change. Glenn said this would give us a much better idea of conditions. He said it would be good to add trails. Don said we should also ask them to include extended shoulders.

Don said he and Barbara Stedman went to the Transportation Summit. Don said there were 200 people there. Don said the session on vision zero was good. He said in Europe they have reduced pedestrian deaths with radar speed control. Don said there was a bill passed by the Oregon legislature that would allow for photo radar on high crash corridors for 9 years. He said there will be lots of warning signs.

Dave said the monthly work party is scheduled for the 10^th of October. He said we got a lot of work done in Dickinson Park at the September work party.

Don said Sara Schooley has suggested having Parks supervise SW Trails work on right-of-ways. Don said he did not think it was a good idea. Patty asked how the agreement with Parks is going and Dave said it is going fairly well. However, Parks could let us do more things on our own more. Don said Parks does not always do things to their own standards. Don said we should also finish the projects we start. Glenn said there were some stairs in Himes Park that washed away. Don pointed out that Parks also spend too much on some trail projects. Don pointed out that we also were allowed to spend several days on a project. Barbara pointed out that trails on right-of-way may have commuting as the main use.

Dave made a motion that we send a letter to Commissioner Novick, Art Pearce Sara Schooley, Erika Nebel, Leah Treat and all other commissioners, saying we want to work with PBOT alone. Barbara seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Don said there will be a new draft Trail Policy this week. He asked that people testify as they thought best.

Barbara asked about the trail on 25^th. Dave said we will try to avoid building a bridge and he will file the encroachment permit soon.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:49pm

Respectfully submitted

Lee Buhler