Bike Committee Launches The New Year

A GOOD START FOR THE NEW YEAR
The Costa Mesa Bikeways and Walkability Committee met again Wednesday night at the Costa Mesa Senior Center for their first meeting of this year and stayed pretty close to the published agenda, HERE.  I'm still fighting this darn cold, so a big thank you to the lovely and efficient Teresa Drain, who attends all these meetings with her husband, Jim, who offered to provide the information for this report.

AGAIN, NOT A FULL HOUSE
Once again there failed to be a full committee present, with members Kathleen Brown, Tony Capitelli, Jim Kerins and Brian Valles absent.  Council liaison Katrina Foley and Newport-Mesa Unified School District Liaison Dr. Kirk Bauermeister were also absent.

FINE TUNING THEIR DOCUMENT
The committee made the final finishing touches on their Goals/Objectives/Policies/Programs document for the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.  Staff will incorporate the final, approved document and have it ready for presentation by Chairman Ralph Taboada and Vice Chair Cynthia McDonald to the City Council at it's meeting on January 19, 2016.

AND...
The committee also reviewed the Master Plan of Bikeways during this meeting.

BIKE INFRASTRUCTURE FEE LEGISLATION
Member James Kane made a brief presentation of Senate Bill 1183, HERE, which provides for local jurisdictions to impose a $5.00 surcharge on motor vehicle registration fees for bicycle infrastructure.  He will return with a more comprehensive presentation at the next meeting.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH PLANNED
Apparently there will be some community outreach conducted by a consultant hired to work on the West 19th Street Bicycle Corridor beginning in the near future.

FUTURE PRESENTATIONS
There will be a presentation by an Orange County Bicycle group at the March meeting and someone named Steve Clark, representing "The Bike League", wants to make a presentation to the City Council in the near future.

ONCE-A-MONTH MEETING SCHEDULE
With the heavy lifting of the creation of the document mentioned above behind them, the committee voted to meet only once a month, on the 1st Wednesday of each month, beginning with their next meeting on February 3, 2016, at the same location and the same time, 6:30 p.m.

SEE THE RESULTS ON JANUARY 19TH
If you attend the next City Council meeting - or watch it on Costa Mesa Television or streamed live on the City Website - you'll be able to hear the results of these many months of hard work putting together their foundational document, which becomes part of the General Plan update.