Board Of Selectmen Approves Creation Of Bicycle Task Force

GREENWICH, CT — The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously on Thursday to create a bicycle task force that will look at addressing cycling access, improvements, and safety in town.

FIrst Selectman Fred Camillo presented the idea for the task force during the board's regularly scheduled meeting. A topic of conversation for years, Camillo said it's time to finally make some progress on cycling for residents. A $50,000 study on an east-west bike route across town did not make it into the budget this year.

"If we want to have a discussion then we should just do it and not waste any time," Camillo said. "We do such a great job in this town on walking paths and hiking paths. The issue with bikes is you're sharing the road with motor vehicles, and that could be very, very dangerous. You have to put a little more thought into it."

Camillo said the task force could be made up of members from the Department of Public Works, Police Department, Parks and Recreation, and someone from Risk Management.

Selectperson Jill Oberlander questioned the need for a task force, but Camillo said it's the best option to get things done.

"Any time there's a committee, a commission or a task force proposed, it's to do work and to see not only how we can move the ball down the field, but to see what can be done," he said. "To have a dedicated group of volunteers who are passionate about this is the way to go."

Although there are some limitations in Greenwich with regards to roads not being in compliance with federal regulations for bike lanes, Camillo hopes the group can come up with solutions, even if it's just closing off areas around town when the weather is nice so people can get out and ride safely.

"Even if most of our roads don't meet the federal requirements width wise, we could do an abbreviated version — two and a half feet for a bike lane, or at the very least put some type of notice down on the roads just to remind drivers that they're sharing the roads with people who may be on bicycles," Camillo said. "I think there's some things we can get done. I'd rather just get going with this and have people on this task force really do their research and suggest things and present the ideas to us to go over, discuss, vote on and implement."

Ernst Schirmer, a biking advocate in town, said communication will be key in working through issues such as dealing with traffic lights, figuring out how and when the police should enforce traffic laws, and determining if bikes are even allowed on town sidewalks.

"From my perspective, I'd very much welcome a task force that could focus on bicycling and could be a coordination and support function to the various areas where there are formal approvals or formal work and these types of issues [are going to be brought up]," he said.

Selectowman Lauren Rabin supported the idea, and also said communication between all stakeholders is important.

Vin DiMarco, another bicycling advocate in town, said he hoped the task force could not only recommend improvements and bike routes, but also make Greenwich more bicycle friendly through policy.

"I would like to see the task force to develop a proposal for an ordinance that DPW would follow when it does any work [on projects], to add bike lanes or widen roads," DiMarco said. "I hope it becomes part of their job to make sure all users can safely access a road or intersection."

He also said he'd like the group to include educational outreach on safe cycling.

Oberlander suggested that there should be a designated co-chair from the town "to have some departmental accountability" on the task force. "Fred would sign on to support the initiatives and advocate for them so that we're not just repeating the efforts of the last 20 years and that we're actually making full progress both for the safety of residents currently who ride but also for the future as well."

Camillo said there could be some public forums in the future to allow the community to share ideas.