Minutes of SW Trails PDX Monthly Meeting April 28, 2016
Topics: Multnomah/Garden Home intersection; Red Electric; Safe Routes to Schools; Work Parties and Parks
The Watershed Building in Hillsdale
6388 SW Capitol Hwy
Portland OR 97239
DRAFT
Attendance: Don Baack, Lee Buhler, Dave Manville, Sharon Fekety, Keturah Pennington, Hans Steuch, Barbara Bowers, Chris Mays, Dianne Mays, Michael Kisor, Leigh Schwartz, Andrea Wall, Barbara Stedman, Lisa Frank
The meeting was called to order at 7:02pm.
After introductions the agenda with the addition of a discussion of gravel on 25th was approved.
Minutes: Hans made a motion to accept the March minutes. Keturah seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously
Don said there was a request by a real estate agency to sponsor our SW Trail hikes. Barbara read IRS regulations on the consequences of the income. She said sponsorship is OK but advertising is not. The hikes are currently sponsored by the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association. Don said he would find a lawyer that could give an opinion. Barbara said she thought it was not appropriate to include advertising with hikes. Keturah pointed out that a $100 sponsorship was fine. Dave suggested tabling the issue and there was no opposition.
Multnomah/Garden Home Intersection:
Michael introduced Lisa Frank who is a member of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance. She talked about the Multnomah/Garden Home intersection area. It is in Portland but in Washington County. There have been a lot of crashes at the intersection. She handed out information on the project from the City of Portland. They would like to re-align it to make it more of a tee. There is possible funding from Washington County. They have a list of projects. But there is not funding for all of them. The estimated cost of this project is $2,000,000. There will be open houses on the funding. Don said Glenn is suggesting a traffic circle at the intersection. Michael suggested that people let those who live in Washington County know about the open houses. Lisa suggested people go to the Tigard open house as there will be City of Portland personnel there as well. Dave suggested asking what data from previous crashes is being addressed by the projects. Don pointed out that minor crashed are not reported and suggested talking to neighbors. Michael said he will put up a website about the intersection and put signs up directing people to it. Barbara suggested positing to Nextdoor.com. Lisa said this was one of the least expensive project on the list and would make a key bicycle improvement. Don said he would be against it if it did not have a signal.
Dave made the following motion: SW Trails supports improvements at the Multnomah/Garden Home intersection to improve all modality safety. Lee second the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Don talked about the Red Electric Trail and improved bike traffic on Barbur near Capitol. He showed a diagram of possible improvements at the Barbur/Capitol intersection. He said Metro has data showing that 3,000 bikers could use the route if the improvements were made. Don went over the rest of the Red Electric route. He said it would be good to have cooperation from BTA on it. Lisa said Barbur was one of the important issues for the BTA. She said ODOT’s cost estimates on the projects there seemed high. She said some of the improvements could be funded through the Southwest Corridor Plan but it would be nice to fund some project earlier.
Lisa said BTA is working hard with the Safe Routes to School project. She said that Metro will vote soon on funding Safe Routes to School program and asked people to contact Metro with their support.
Lisa said BTA will have a Bike More Challenge event in May.
Keturah made a motion to support Safe Route to School funding. Barbara seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Hans said he met with Rich Newlands and Alexis Gabriel about the Southwest in Motion program. Hans explained the program which include future trail improvements. He said there are a lot of improvements on right-of-way that could be done. He said this is a way to get those projects going. It would be a much easier process than the PBOT trails process. Don said there are 100-200 connections in southwest that could be used. Don said Rich was worried about being overloaded with busy work and SW Trails could do a lot of the work. Lisa said it was hard to get people interested in small projects and it helps to include them with Safe Routes to School or Southwest in Motion programs. Don talked about extended shoulders. He said Maplewood Road was the first one constructed. They are now working on Stephenson.
Don said he got a note from Parks that said they would like to include SW Trail work parties with other work parties. He said he thought we should work on Parks trail not the trails that are not in the Urban Trail system as it might become too much. Dave said he thought we should not make this decision and see what we can do. He said it should not put restrictions yet. Chris said we do not need to tell Parks anything at this time. Don said he did not want to overload our volunteers. Dave said he talked to Mary at Parks and she is very willing to help us with outreach. Dave said it would be good to attract younger people to the work parties. Sharon suggested work parties on Saturdays. Hans pointed out that we can tell Parks that we cannot do more if we get over extended. Dave said both we and Parks have been flexible.
We discussed signage for work parties. Don displayed a sign in Himes Park from Friends of Terwilliger. Dave volunteered himself and Hans to work on the signs. Barbara asked if there should be a money limit and Don said he thought under $500 should be OK.
Don said he and Dave have been working on the trail at St. John Fisher. He said there would be a sidewalk on California. St John Fisher does not want to build sidewalks and instead build trails that would be ADA accessible.
Dave said he heard that there would be gravel at the 25th Safe Route to School site. Two permits will be issued but no one has seen them yet. Andrea explained how the gravel was procured. Dave said when the gravel appears, we will schedule a work party.
Membership: Barbara B. said that 5 people joined or renewed last month. Don said he got two more.
Social Media: Barbara S. said SW Trails is getting more like and she is posting information about SW Trails and walks. Don said there will be a video on the 4-T Trail.
Hikes: Sharon said Mark Turner will lead a walk on May 14. Hans will lead June and Lee will lead July. Don suggested visiting the old houses in Tryon Creek Natural area. Hans said he will ask.
Don said he did a walk around with two people from Homestead to look at the Capitol/Barbur area.
Don said he and Dave looked at the zoo crosswalk with people from PBOT. They were open to the idea but there is no funding. Don said signs were there but they were taken down. Don said the project started a few years ago and then it stopped.
Don showed a topographical map of the bridge at Boones Ferry. Fund has still not been completely identified.
Don said the date for the Metro trails symposium is June 22 from 11:30 to 3:00.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:
Work Party: Dave said the next work party will be on May 5. It will be on the 4T trail by Patten Road.
Respectfully submitted
Lee Buhler
SW Trails on Facebook
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