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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-10-18Dryden Rail Trail Task Force and Friends Minutes of the meeting Oct. 18, 2021 Varna Community Center Attendance: Diane and Chris Tessaglia Hymes, Tony and Janice Bretscher, Milo Richmond, Todd Bittner, Paula Parker, Bob Beck, Alice Green, Kyra Stephanoff, Rose Borzik, Steve Winans Call to order at 7:09 pm Additions to agenda: Game Farm crossing report September minutes approved unanimously Story Walk on the Trail - Alice The Family Reading Partnership has updated the story on the Schug section of the trail, and the Freeville PTA is interested in installing a Story Walk that would be accessed from Freeville Village. New Dryden Rail Trail website - Diane Diane presented the template for a new website. She started by showing the URL that resulted from the Town’s recent website upgrade. The purpose of the new page is to provide one easy link to all info about the Town of Dryden Rail Trail. The URL has been obtained for Dryden Rail Trail.org and Dryden Rail Trail.com. This provides an alternative to Facebook, but is also linked from both Facebook and Instagram, and from the Town’s website. Todd said that if there are ads bought on Google, and lots of likes from Google, that moves the page up on searches. The new URL for the Dryden Rail Trail can be announced at the Tompkins County Parks & Trails Network meeting later this month. Diane asked Task Force members to review the website content and send any comments and suggestions via the contact us function on the website by Friday. She also asked members posting pictures of activities on the Trail to Facebook to please share them to the Town of Dryden Rail Trail account on Instagram, too. Game Farm Crossing Update – Todd Todd explained that the Trail is now open from the Stevenson Rd. to Game Farm Rd., and the crossing across Stevenson Rd has now been striped by DPW. Todd had his crews install barriers to make sure folks don’t enter from Game Farm Rd., because that Crossing Plan has not yet been approved. Users can now enter from Stevenson and go up to Game Farm and then back. Trail User Count – Todd Three years ago, when the DRT got a County Tourism grant, they required some way of counting use, with the goal of studying how trails attract tourism. Todd described an initial measure that is currently underway. The study will use East Ithaca Recreation Way to benchmark trail use and then use this as a comparison with usership on the Dryden Rail Trail once it opens from Game Farm to Route 13. Cornell Botanic Gardens uses an infrared counter to measure usership. It sends a beam to a mirror across the trail, and registers each time the beam is broken as a use. It has been out for two out of three weeks. They have preliminary data, broken down by day and number of users. EIRW gets about 102 users per day. Will be able to report to the county these usership numbers when the DRT is fully open. For another kind of measure, the number of clicks on the DRT link at IthacaTrails.org can also provide a metric on interest in the trail. Tony wondered if there’s data on peak times of day. Todd said this is included. Nancy asked about the effect of the new ball fields that are planned for the corner of Ellis Hollow and Game Farm Rd. Todd said there could eventually be a pedestrian bridge crossing at Cascadilla Creek and a sidewalk there. The baseball field is SW of the current soccer field so not so close to Game Farm Rd. Review of grants and assessment of funds remaining in OPRHP EPF grant - Todd Todd offered a benchmark report on this grant, acknowledging that the Town bookkeeper keeps the official record of spending and revenue. Bob noted that we are still waiting for Department of State to review the final right-of-way agreements for the trail. Until they complete that review, the contract for this grant can’t be signed. The grant is a 50/50 match; the Town’s contribution can come from other grants, volunteer and Town staff work. The EPF grant can reimburse the town for purchases like lumber and gravel. So far, the project has met $158,880 of the match; $13,120 is left. On reimbursable side, $42,000 has been spent, leaving about $150,000 available for spending on the Game Farm Rd to Route 13 section. Request to attend Town Planning Board meeting in November - Bob Bob said that he, Todd and Alice will be happy to talk with the Planning Board about what is happening at the area of Route 13 and Pinckney Rd. Todd noted that this node has been identified as an area that both the Town and County recommend for further development. This is a good time to talk with the Planning Board about how the Town can help folks get to and from the trail as it crosses through the industrial park. Game Farm Road Crossing Report – Todd The DRT has received comments from the County Highway Department on the crossing plan that was submitted. Todd said we’re disappointed that they have added some stipulations, and have not yet approved the plan. It had already been reviewed by engineers from both towns. It’s still confusing about what County Highway wants. There was a question about whether the plan is based on the current speed limit, 55 MPH, on Game Farm Rd. Bob noted that although the speed limits on Route 366 and Ellis Hollow Rd. are both 45 MPH, NYS DOT has not yet responded to requests from both town’s to make the Game Farm speed the same. The town requests went to the county and on to DOT in February 2020. Alice noted that the Town board voted last Thursday to request a speed reduction on both Game Farm Rd. and George Rd. This will be the second request for speed reductions on both roads. TCAT Connect Program report Dan reported on the pilot program for on-demand transportation to bus routes that traverse the Town. He displayed a flier describing the new “last mile” bus route service, as well as a new “on demand” service which can be accessed by a web application or by telephone. This will allow people to get rides to and from grocery stores, medical appointments, etc. The service is provided by Gadabout vehicles. TCAT to Trails project Design Connect group at Cornell partnered with Cayuga Trails to create a set of maps that will go up on bus stop shelters, etc., to allow folks to find bus transportation to trails. TCAT worked with the students so that the website automatically updates if routes change. Milo noted that the original Design Connect group was a big help to our original project. He suggested they might be employed again to do some work on part of the trail. Todd said it works well when there’s a 4-5 month semester’s worth of multi-disciplinary work that needs to be done. Milo asked if the FH Fox bridge issues have been settled. Kira said the gravel on the bridge is too soft for bicycles. Todd said it’s not yet ADA compliant, and some of the remaining money from the EPF grant could be spent on adding proper stone dust on the bridge. Milo also asked if the vet school alums have responded to the proposal to fund improvements at the bridge. Bob said he has been in touch with the leader of that group, but so far no acceptance of our proposal. The DRT asked for a $50K donation to the project to commemorate FH Fox with a graphics panel and bench on the trail, and signage on the sides of the bridge. With Diane’s graphics expertise, we did provide some ideas about what a prototype would look like. Milo got about six names of local veterinarians who might donate to this project. There’s no decision about how much of the graffiti might be retained. Asked about safety measures for the bridge, Bob explained that the DRT hired engineers to prepare a plan for a NYS DOT work permit, and then put into place the safety measures that were approved. Next meeting set for 7 pm Monday Nov. 15 Adjournment at 8:25 pm.