City of Wheaton Bicyclist & Pedestrian Commission met June 21.
Here are the minutes provided by the commission:
I. Call to Order
7:00 pm
Members present live:
Michelle D , George S, Bill N, Laurel S, Bob V, David D,
Members present via Zoom:
Members absent: Alyse Kondrat, Cate Brady
Public Present live: Lou D
Public Present via Zoom: None
II. Agenda Item
Approval of May Minutes
Motioned: Bill
Seconded: Laurel
Unanimously approved via voice vote.
III. Agenda Item
Public comment from Lou Deter: Bike Racks:
We discussed the need for more bike racks at Wheaton Parks and neighboring forest preserves. Will pursue with park district first, and reach out to DuPage Forest Preserve contacts at a later date
Chair Report- Bike Shelter Dedication
Michelle worked with John Duguay to get QR code to our map at the shelter. It is now on the shelter Used the same metal sign IPP is using at Mile 0 .
24 Bags given away
Picture with Mayor and John Duguay
Bob contacted Daily Herald bike columnist about future column about the bike shelter dedication
Chair Report-Cronwell Path Dedication
Michelle, George & Laurel attended
Nice presentation by FP
Michelle introduced herself to President of Forest Preserve President-Dan Hebreard
IV. Agenda Item
Bike Skills Bonanza/Bike Valet
● Bike Valet will end at 10/10:30 next year, mainly valet for the race
● Alyse could not attend the June meeting but sent her thoughts on the BSB that Michelle read at the meeting:
From Alyse:
● The event is enjoyed by the littles who attend.
● Parents seem appreciative.
● It's a great interaction with the police and community.
● Obviously the numbers are not what we want. I can flip a coin on whether to continue it.
Pros to continue
It's an extremely small amount of work for us now that we pair with Bike Valet. We spend more time talking about it than executing it.
It does provide visibility to our group and the police.
Although only a dozen kids, we impacted 12 kids.
○ Cons
■ Closing off the street and using 3 cops time for 12 kids seems a little excessive, but if Wheaton or police don't complain about it, not sure we should either.
○ Things to consider
■ If we continue, we should change the age group. Seems like kids 8 and under is more appropriate.
■ Should we try to pair with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, or some other community event?
■ If we discontinue, because our mission is to educate, we should replace it with some other educational event. Even if it's a library seminar, or possibly a Safety Series in the monthly city newsletter - or any other idea anyone has, something that focuses on our mission to educate.
● Michelle received a letter from Hope Church asking for help on August 26 for a back to school bike rodeo with the Wheaton Police department , 10-noon. Laurel will contact both Susan Vromen (Hope church) and Wheaton Police department to see how many folks they need and what support they are looking for .
● We have to decide at a future meeting if we are doing our safety rodeo/bonanza next year
● David suggested partnering with Library potentially if we decide to continue offering it.
V. Agenda Item
Warrenville Rd Proposal
Unanimously approved via voice vote
*** Will present at city council meeting July 3rd (Bill will attend if on the 3rd) If 3rd meeting canceled due to holiday then we need someone to attend the Monday in July 17 city council meeting Motion: Michelle, second Bill
VI. Agenda Item
West St Proposal
We need to do more research on this proposal, north of the tracks do white line and sharrows. This one can be presented sooner than the proposal for West street south of the tracks. South of the tracks to Roosevelt is 4 lanes. We need to do more research on traffic patterns and if we can propose a road diet. May contact the church as well to see if they have suggestions. Bob also suggested investigating wide sidewalk shared with peds and bikes. Michelle will also consult with John Duguay before the proposal is written.
VII. Agenda Item
2023 History Ride
● Alyse contacted police in May, will follow up with them
● Write press release/article for newsletter and ad for FB/Twitter. Tell Susan to put on social media
● Printouts to distribute; a few posters-need to vote, flyer has been created, Bob will add new logo , need to print after July meeting
● Route creation: George has started
● Michelle will contact city about the virtual ride
● Bob V is suggesting a rehearsal route with speaker Bob if he is available
● Will City add to City Calendar? Bob V suggesting that we do that like we did last year. Will need this done before the press release. Michelle to contact city to ask to add to calendar
VIII. Agenda Item
Safe Routes to School Committee report
● Subcommittee has been reaching out to schools to gauge interest
● Bill will contact schools again this summer
IX. Agenda Item
Google Form/Helmet raffle
● All winners have helmets
● City has released press release about survey results
● Michelle showed group graphs of answers
● Michelle will follow up from folks who gave suggestions and we can use suggestions to see which ones may generate proposals from us
● Very useful data included here, we can refer back to this data for many years. Definitely has ongoing value!
X. Agenda Item
New Logo
● Rita sent group final design, it is official now. Very nice!
XI. Agenda Item
2023 History Walk: not for this year. Maybe instead connect with August National Night out, George will check to see about National Night out. Maybe instead painted hydrant walk using map from cultural and arts commission and lead a walk in the fall.
XII. Agenda Item
Bike Plan Sign Up Homework for July
Add your findings to spreadsheet by July meeting, columns C, D and E
XIII. Agenda Item
Group Walks/Rides
July 8-10am Egg Harbor
XIV. Agenda Item
New Business: Bill talked about Vulnerable Road User Safety Plan. Key items that Bill highlighted: They are doing a survey and it closes June 30, they have a map where folks can specify dangerous intersections/roads etc . They will be using data from this survey to drive future work.
Everyone in commission can fill out one dangerous intersection/crossing etc. Is important to add to the data since the state will be using the data to address major issues.
Michelle will look over survey responses to see if anything can be added as dangerous intersections, road sections.
Bill will send email reminder to group about survey .
XV. Adjournment - 8:38 pm
https://www.wheaton.il.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_06212023-2311
Alerts Sign-up