City of Wheaton Bicycle Advisory Commission met March 17.
Here is the minutes provided by the commission:
l. Call to Order
Meeting started at 7:04 PM, March 17, 2021
ll. Approval of Minutes
Laurel made the motion to approve the February minutes. Seconded by Michelle. Approved unanimously.
lll. Public Comment
None
lV. Chair Report
Laurel, Jim, Michelle, Bill and Rita renewed membership on the commission. Nancy asked to be replaced but will be reappointed and continue until she can be replaced.
V. Ongoing Business
A. History Ride Update Michelle reported Nancy Flannery agrees to Mid Century Modern ride. Janet and Nancy will work with Michelle on route for the ride. Duration of ride planned for about one and a half hours. We will limit the number of homes along the route.
B. Group Rides Each commission member will plan a ride. Members will lead the rides. As before, all rides will begin and end at Wheaton Library. April 17, Saturday, is first ride to St. James Farm. May 1, Saturday, ride is ‘South side short-cuts and hidden paths’. Ride will be added to Google Docs Group Rides 2021. We will revisit having riders from the community join us.
C. Back-To-School Update Dan not present. Michell will connect with Dan for Bike to School Day in May.
D. Safe Routes Update Bill will revisit this in April
E. Bicycle Friendly Community Update Bob, Alyse and Laurel opened discussion about the Application. Laurel suggested we treat it as a checklist of benefits to the community. We will need to connect with Wheaton engineering and police departments for parts of the application. Alyse suggested giving the city a list of benefits to the community. EG: less accidents, decrease in air pollution. Bob commented that the Bike Friendly City Committee “wants you to do certain things to get certified. Our interests overlap with theirs.” The membership decided 2021 is too early to take this on. We will revisit the application process in 2022. We will work on what we can do and use as a checklist to give WBAC activities a structure. Alyse, Bob, and Laurel will meet offline to discuss a checklist. Bob showed us slides of signs and maps in Warrenville displaying their Bronze standing as a Bicycle Friendly Community recipient.
F. Biking Challenge Bill discussed a way to challenge the bike riders in the community to achieve and record goals and accomplishments on our website. This would also encourage others to participate. Riders would input, for example, their mileage, how many times they rode in a week/month, how many trips downtown, how many bike racks they used. WBAC would keep track of the metrics as riders post their own mileage through an honor system, much like the ATA (Active Transportation Alliance). Riders fill out their own information via google docs form on WBAC website.
G. Bike Photo Contest Co-sponsor with the Park District and do this in place of the Bike Festival. We took an informal survey of membership about bike fest, bike challenge, and bike photo contest
VI. New Business:
● Library Request for Zoom: Wheaton Library asked the WBAC if they would like to create an hour-long Zoom about bike safety, bike routes, and bike maintenance which would be posted on their website and the WBAC website.
Meeting adjourned at 8:07 pm
https://www.wheaton.il.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_03172021-1600