Meeting Summary November 16, 2023
Attending: Hultgren, Waldburger, Gosselin, Sarazo, Clark, Palmer, Thorne
This meeting began at approximately 7:10pm in the lobby of the Nash-Zimmer Transportation Center.
Thorne said that he had secured a temporary storage garage for the Cycling Without Age trishaw that will be purchased with the ARPA grant funds. This has been arranged with the Town’s Housing Authority. The location for permanent storage of the trishaw has yet to be determined, but the bike can be purchased and stored now until the program gets underway presumably in the Spring of 2024. He also said that probably a second battery should be purchased with the bike. Hultgren said we need to do our “due diligence” in determining/comparing which of the trishaws in use by CWA chapters should be purchased for use in Mansfield.
A discussion ensued as to which agencies/people should be invited to the organizational meeting(s) to be held to see who will participate and who will be in charge of the local CWA program. The following agencies/organizations were agreed upon: The Mansfield Center for Nursing and Rehab, Juniper Village, Glenn Ridge, The Town Human Services Dept (incl the Senior Center), the Housing Authority, the Parks and Recreation Dept, the UConn Office that recruits and refers student volunteers, the Eastern Highlands Health District, the Town Commission on Aging, and Bike Mansfield. Hultgren said he would send out the list and ask for the contact persons/email address for each agency. He also said that Bike Mansfield was in a facilitative role to get the CWA Mansfield Chapter up and running, but he did not think we should be in charge of it.
Hultgren then read his notes paraphrasing the comments made at the Bike/Ped Master Plan public hearing held at the Nov 13th Town Council meeting. He said that he and the Assistant Town Engineer will review the comments to try to determine which suggestions should be incorporated into the plan prior to its adoption (now scheduled for a Council meeting in January). He thanked those in attendance who spoke at the public hearing.
Hultgren said that a 4th grade bike education program meeting was set for next week (Nov 21st) at the Mansfield Elementary School with the new Principal, two of the PE teachers, Dave Waldburger and himself. He said he had obtained two additional training manuals from BikeWalkCT to give to the teachers and hoped that the program start date in the Spring would be determined at the meeting. Serazo said that she can help with getting volunteers, and would like to know the dates ASAP. Hultgren also said that he had applied for a $1500 grant from Outride to purchase two adaptive (3-wheeled) bikes for the program (only one is in the current projected budget), and bids for the 16 ft bike storage trailer are due to the Town on the 16th. Hultgren and Waldburger are prepared to help teach the “off the bike” parts of the program while the PE teachers are teaching students “on the bike”.
Clark summarized UConn’s Bicycle Working Group’s recent activities and reported that the campus intersection of North Eagleville Road and Discovery Drive was soon to be modified to make it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians. She said the Parking and Transportation committee meeting was rescheduled for February, and they should be discussing limitations of campus bicycle parking at that meeting. She is also looking for ways for the Town and UConn to work together on obtaining federal grant funds targeted for greenways and bicycle infrastructure perhaps as a joint demonstration project.
The meeting concluded about 8:30pm.
Lon Hultgren, Sec-Treas
Bike Mansfield