Minutes from July 15^th meeting:Present at the July 15^th meeting for discussion and update were:Dick Hierstein, Bob Peterson, Tom Kurth, Terry Briggs, Mary Wertzberger, Dana Bresler, Duane
Dixon, Jon Boston.   

Discussion and recommendation on UP and 2^nd Street  This committee supports the closing of 2^nd street for safety concerns, especially to move Marshalltown up in the UP timeline for replacement of directional signals at all crossings creating a quite zone.  The committee requested also permission for an underpass at some point in the future.  Sidewalk Task Force has met and are in the process of lining out the next 4-5 years of $50k per year allocated by the City.The committee selected the

signs to be installed by the City and paid for by several organizations including the Martha Ellen Tye Foundation. Mega 10, Rotary, Bike Club and we are still waiting to hear on a couple of businesses at this time.  This generous support enabled the group to select signs and posts that are large and will well mark the bike route.Discussion about communication and education, included requesting that Bob contact the expert on Bike Parking – racks for placement and design to give an educational talk that we would invite businesses.  Marty sent a report read that the Grimes Farm trail extension to Hwy 30 was applied for $800k and we’ll hear in October 2008.  Marshall Co should apply for the State Enhancement due on 10/1/2008. If either grants is received a committee will need to be formed for local private fund raising efforts. 

Respectfully submitted – Mary Wertzberger

The Imagine2011 Biking and Pedestrian Friendly committee met on Wednesday, May 28^th at 5pm at the Community Y Board room. Present:  Marty Wymore, Terry Briggs, Conrad Dejardin, Dick Hierstein, Tom Kurth, Dana Bresler, Stephen Troskey, Mary Brooks, Kim Schryver, Carol Hibbs, Mary Wertzberger            

Next Meeting Tuesday, July 15, 2008, at 5 pm in the Community Y Board Room Great meeting with much good work by many people in our great community!  Thank you everyone! Sidewalk Task Force update – the Task force committee met with city staff to discuss the city councils assignment to prioritize the $50,000.00 per year that will now be added to the city budget each year.  This is a great step.  The city is aware of the needs of the community to make it more accessible for the walking community, including and especially the safety of children.  The committee has decided as outlined to the city council that the schools should receive first priority.  The first year as Mary reported for Jon Boston, who was out of town:Franklin -

between
Main and Church.  They want to use this route as part of their mass evacuation route.  I have asked City Engineer to look at this portion since it looks a little tricky to install sidewalks.Fisher - 1)Meadow
Land south side from

Funding for signs Received $300.00 fro Mega 10 Received $300.00 from Rotary Outstanding requests 1.      Alliant Energy—should know by July 31, 20082.      Marshall County Foundation—should know very soon3.      Assistance League—no reply yet4.      Grant being submitted to the Martha Ellen Tye Foundation—should know by July 3, 2008In concert with our proposed request to make East Olive a bicycle friendly street and the new Emerson Data Processing Center on South 12^th Ave. Dana is to approach Mike Mason requesting Emerson to consider a bike/pedestrian path on their property south of Olive and 12^th Ave to the Data Center. Also discussed contact be made with Terry Buzbee, Bruce Johnson and Denny Cahill.

Bob has contacted Lynn Couch re suggested additional bike friendly streets.  He said Lynn will investigate and be contacted by us in late May.  Bike path improvements and maintenance by Iowa Valley Bicycle Club Terry to meet with Terry Gray re painting markers every ½ mile on the bike path. Spraying for weeds A Bicycle Safety Instructor course will be offered Aug 9 & 10, 2008 by the Iowa Bicycle Coalition—Charley indicated he will attend. Safe Routes to School update by Charley reported that $5000.00 of the grant money was designated  for payment of a coordinator over 2 years.  The coordinator’s responsibility will be to educate people about Safe Routes to School.
Portland, Oregon has a format in place and hopefully it could be used by us.  The balance of the grant is to be used for physical improvements such as paint crosswalks, etc.  Welcoming the new school superintendent to be proactive with the Safe Routes to School initiative. Requesting school principals to get their respective PTO’s involved and participating to insure long term success of the program.  Discuss Bike to Work Week May 12-17 Ken Black has been contacted by Charley and furnished information for his cooperation to promote it by articles in the TR.  None of us have seen any articles. First Nurse KFJB radio show had contacted Dana and group to do a radio interview about bicycling and it status in
Marshalltown.  The interview is to be done May 19/2008. Next meeting in early June is to be determined. Respectfully, Bob Peterson      

The IMAGINE2011 Committee congratulated this group for all their efforts and successes.  Much time and coordination with many different groups has lead to progress and many great successes! Trail update - Marty – update about grants and bike path from Grimes Farm.  Region 6 has allocated $220,000 toward the Trail Project linking the Grimes Farm to the Iowa Avenue Trail. 

In October 2008 Marty will apply for about $700,000  in Federal funds toward the project Education and Communication – Discussions – Terry/Bob/Dana will talk with the papers about possibly publishing a walking map- (the one that Kim Schryver did that told how many minutes to walk between locations) and an updated biking street friendly map.  The new bike friendly streets will be marked with the new signs sometime this summer.  This will help to let people know that want to use the streets and walks, as well as educate the drivers using the streets of the new designation.   

Next Meeting Tuesday, July 15, 2008, at 5 pm in the Community Y Board Room Great meeting with much good work by many people in our great community!

Thank you everyone! 

Mary 

Linn Creek River Walk Committee Meeting

Wednesday, July 2nd 2008

Community Y Board Room

In Attendance: Beth Akason, Carol Hibbs, Mike Miller, Dick Hierstein, Linda Holvik, Marla Knight, M. Dostal, Terry Gray, Sylvia Lowrance, Tom Podhajsky, Bonnie Thurston, Chad Kunc

 Minutes:

1. Group met with Marty from RDG to view the river walk master plan and discuss cost estimates
   1. Reviewed a few changes to the area surrounding the pond
      1. Commercial buildings drawn to include retail space, apartments/condos, a townhouse complex, and a multi-family complex
      2. A section of the pond was split off to allow for the creation of an ice rink in the winter - it will be a shallow wading pool during other seasons
   2. Group viewed 2 bridges created to allow pedestrians to easily cross from one side of the creek to the other
      1. Signature bridge connects pond to the amphitheater
      2. Secondary bridge connects the Fisher Community Center to the Cultural Center and the Community Y
   3. A plaza was added to the front of the Martha Ellen Tye Theater
   4. The Mega 10 playground was redesigned. Discussed the possible addition of a skateboard park at this location as well.
   5. The center street “clover leaf” ramps have been changed a bit to better accommodate local restaurant parking as well as the bike path
   6. Group also verified that this overall project does include the cleanup of the entire creek, as this is a key element of the project - the environmental team at RDG is still working through the details on this
   7. Group reviewed cost estimates which will be shared with the public in the near future
   8. Next Steps - Group to meet again to create a plan to unveil the final plan to the public