Chicago City Wire

City of Wheaton Bicyclist & Pedestrian Commission met Jan. 17.

Here is the agenda provided by the commission:

I. Call to Order

II. Approval of November Minutes

III. Public Comment

A. Guest-Abby Svestka

B. Guest-Mike Bock from Fine & Cultural Arts Commission

IV. Chair Report

A. Updates on Requested Signs from City

a. Cromwell Path Signs- no update

b. Carlton/Roosevelt Sign- no update

c. Directional Signs to Underpass- no update

d. Welcome to Wheaton Signs on IPP- no update

B. Sidewalk along Roosevelt Rd- John DuGuay shared with us the following: 

Wanted to inform you that the City has procured a grant that will assist us installing sidewalks along Roosevelt, and we've targeted in particular, the area from Westhaven to St. Francis.

We are working with some property owners along this stretch for a construction easement since the property line in that area (in general) is pretty wacky. For instance, the Marianjoy/Franciscan's property actually goes right to the curb. No right-of-way, which is very unusual... it is also unincorporated Wheaton. To date, they have refused our requests for an easement. We haven't given up hope and are continuing discussions.

We are also challenged in that area crossing Winfield Creek. IDOT will be working on the bridge in 2024, and we asked them to widen it for pedestrians and bikes as part of the construction. They denied this. Therefore, at some point after their construction is complete, we will look to see how we can add a ped/bike bridgeway onto the existing structure or perhaps a stand-alone structure. Lots entailed with that obvious: special permitting, flood zone, cost, etc. So, we'll see how that goes. But we do expect to put sidewalks in where we can along the south side.

C. December City Newsletter- City Announces Inaugural Sustainability Award Winners

At the Nov. 20, 2023 City Council meeting, four adults, a high school student, one business and a school received Wheaton’s first-ever Sustainability Awards from the City’s Environmental Improvement Commission. The commission encouraged the community to nominate outstanding individuals, businesses/organizations, and students whose actions influence others to adopt sustainable practices. The recipients of these awards demonstrate a commitment to improving our local environment in a wide variety of ways.

Bill Nieman & Rita Nathanson are models of sustainable living in many ways, including riding their bikes anywhere they can, driving fully electric cars and using an electric lawn mower. In their yard, they use a rain barrel, compost, grow many of their own vegetables and have native plants throughout their landscape. Both serve on the Wheaton Bicyclist & Pedestrian Commission and volunteer for the DuPage County Forest Preserve.

D. December City Council meeting

Of most interest to our group was the first reading of some proposed changes to the logistics around Washington School.

https://www.wheaton.il.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/11238?fileID=15058

E. 2023 Virtual History Ride

Bill wrote the notes for each stop and Michelle & Alyse reviewed them. Michelle emailed the communications department in the City to ask them to create the 2023 Virtual History Ride for us to share in Apr/May.

F. Annual Report Feedback to the Commission

Going forward we will not need to report 2 years back, we will submit our annual report based on the year just finished. According to Andrea we were one of the few commissions that actually followed directions to report on the prior year. For our 2024 Annual Report we will combine 2023 & 2024.

Suggestions on our Annual Report from City Council were in 4 areas:

1> Proposals-City wants us to propose updates based on the 2011 bike plan. 90% of our proposals do come from the Roadworks section of the bikeplan. I will make sure this fact is included in our next Annual Report. Other proposals are based on items brought to us from the public and the commission feels have merit. This will also be included in our next annual report.

2> Safe Routes/Engineering-they want us to work with the Engineering Department on Drop off/pickup improvements. The City's starting with Middle Schools. We will discuss who this commission member should be during ongoing business.

3> Safe Routes/Grant writing-they want us to work with city Grant writers for opportunities for funding to improve safe routes. We will discuss who this commission member should be during ongoing business.

4> Bike plan-they want us to work with city staff to secure a consultant to complete an initial analysis of the plan. Cost $5,000. We should finish our initial review of the bike plan as a commission before we talk to the city about bringing in a consultant. This way we can give the consultant our notes before they start.

G. Election of Co-Chairs

V. Ongoing Business

A. Cultural Walk 2024-guest MIke Bock

B. Action items from Annual Report Feedback

i. Safe Routes-one commission member to work with the Engineering Department for Drop off/ pickup improvement.

ii. Grant writing-one commission member to work with Grant writers

iii. Update of Bike plan-more on this after we finish our review of bike plan

C. Photo contest/underpass art

D. City Council Meeting-plan for who will attend in Feb

VI. New Business

A. Possible updates to our Resource section on our webpage

a. sportsdegreeonline.org/introducing-kids-to-biking/

b.https://idot.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idot/documents/transportation-sys tem/manuals-guides-and-handbooks/safety/il-dot-vru-2023-11142023-final-spreads.

B. 2024 Volunteer Opportunities

a. IPP Clean Up 4/27/24 9 am- 12 noon

b. Recycling Extravaganza 4/13???? (date not yet published)

VII. Upcoming Meeting: Feb 21, 2024-discuss Executive Summary of Bike Plan

https://www.wheaton.il.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01172024-2460