Merritt Parkway Trail Alliance

Attendance:

Ann Berman, Environmental Concerns Coalition-Milford; Franklin Bloomer, Greenwich Safe Cycling; Tom Bruccoleri, Stamford Land Use Bureau; Richard Dupuis, Stamford Tree Foundation; Betsy Jordan Hand, Old Greenwich; Linda Hoza, Regional Plan Association (RPA); Steve Kraffmiller, Environmental Concerns Coalition-Milford; Sue Prosi, SWRPA; Robin Stein, Stamford Land Use Bureau; Frank Vonnela, City of Stamford; Jane Waugh, Shippan Point Garden Club & Stamford Tree Foundation


	Don’s Cycles of Fairfield is the newest member to join the Alliance. Ray Rauth is working hard to get other bike shops to join the MPTA and is in contact with Cycle Dynamics in Westport, Westport Cycles, Spin Odyssey, and Hat City. He has also had an inquiry about membership from the Fairfield Bridle Trails Association. Stamford Tree Foundation has agreed to be on the Alliance Steering Committee. Discussion: Linda Hoza reported that she had emailed several health care groups in the area about membership in the MPTA but had not received a response. She said it would probably be more effective if she called or made personal contact which she will do in the coming weeks. Robin Stein suggested that she contact Pam Koproski of the Stamford Health System. Jane Waugh suggested contacting the Tully Health Center of Stamford Hospital. She also suggested that health clubs and gyms might be interested in joining but there was some discussion that a trail would be in competition with their aims. Again Ms. Hoza requests that everyone to be proactive inviting other organizations to join the Alliance. Please invite them or email your suggestions and she will contact them.

	Ms. Hoza reported that the Alliance did not get the requested funding from the Fairfield County Community Foundation. She spoke with their Program Director, Karen Brown, who said that while everyone thought the project had merit, they had some concerns about its scope and the ability of the Connecticut office to manage it. She said there were also concerns about RPA’s long-term commitment to Connecticut. But she said the main reason the Alliance project did not get funded is that the foundation had less money to allocate this period than they had expected. Ms. Hoza said she explained to Ms. Brown that there is a strong Alliance behind the project, and the resources and support of the RPA New York staff, as well as the backing of the Mayor and the city of Stamford. She said she explained to Ms. Brown that while the Connecticut office is presently without a director, a search is being conducted for a replacement and RPA is in discussions with several excellent prospects. She said there is not, nor has there ever been, any intention of closing the Connecticut office and she was sorry she had not had the opportunity to address these concerns with the foundation. She said she asked Ms. Brown if it would be advisable to submit an application for funds in the future. Ms Brown told her that the foundation thought the project was a worthy one and that she would suggest applying again when more funding was available. Ms. Hoza reported that the grant application to Newman’s Own Foundation was also not successful. That foundation only contacts winners so she does not know the reason for the refusal but she will continue to investigate it. Ms. Hoza said on the positive side, RPA has a new development associate, Amanda Jones who is working with the Connecticut office on raising funds and she feels confident that effort will be successful. Ms. Hoza reported that she and Mr. Nason had met with Fairfield SAFE KIDS. She said it was a productive meeting and had discussed several new funding sources and funding strategies. Ms Hoza reported that the Alliance and the City of Stamford have jointly submitted an application for federal Enhancement funds for construction of the Merritt demonstration trail. The applications are first submitted to SWRPA and, after approval, are submitted to ConnDOT in April. Discussion: Mr. Bruccoleri said the Merritt is one of three projects being submitted for Enhancement funds by Stamford, the other two are the Mill River Corridor and the Stamford Urban Transit Way. He said the only other town in our region applying for enhancement money is Norwalk, which is submitting one project. Ms. Prosi said the enhancement funds would not be available until 2005 so ConnDOT will probably not allocate them until sometime in the fall. She also reported that federal transportation funding to Connecticut will be level this year or possibly even lower than in the past because of population loss. She said the New Haven Q Bridge project, which will cost a billion plus dollars and take 12 years to construct, is taking money away from other Connecticut transportation projects. And to make matters worse, because it is a mega-project it also qualifies for special additional money for peripheral enhancement projects. She said it is estimated that an additional 150 million will go to renovate the Old Yale boathouse and for reconstruction of the Longwharf waterfront area. She said the cost of the mega project means many other road improvement projects have been put on the back burner, including Merritt enhancement projects. But she pointed out that this could be a good thing. The delay of Merritt improvements will give the Alliance time to advance the trail project and have trail access designed into the new Parkway interchanges. Mr. Stein and Mr. Bruccoleri suggested that the Alliance approach Connecticut’s US legislators about funding for the Merritt trail. Mr. Stein mentioned that Sen. Dodd had written an op ed piece about obesity and lack of exercise for our youth. He said this would be a good way to approach him about the Merritt trail. He said there is special federal funding available to them for local allocations. Ms. Prosi said she would email Ms. Hoza the questionnaire and application form that needs to be submitted.

	Ms. Hoza reported that Diann Thome of Rootgrafix has designed an MPTA Website. She said Ms. Thome did an excellent job and the site is simple and user friendly. It is almost ready to go online but due to a staff change in RPA’s New York office it will be somewhat delayed. Ms. Hoza said she would email the temporary website address so members can check the work that is in progress. (Subsequent to the meeting, the Website went online. It is www.MerrittAlliance.org Discussion: It was suggested that newspaper articles relevant to the Merritt trail be made available on the Website.

	Ms. Hoza reported that Jennifer Cox, RPA’s GIS expert, and David Kooris, an RPA intern, have designed a Merritt Trail "places" map. It is complete, except for one picture, and will be available on the RPA and MPTA Website. The map identifies nature preserves, parks, rail stations, schools, colleges and office parks within bicycle or walking distance of the Merritt Parkway. Discussion: Everyone agreed the map would be a good resource and selling tool for the Merritt trail.

	Ms. Hoza reported that the September 30th walk along the Merritt right-of-way in Fairfield was well attended and got good press coverage. Channel 12 News sent a camera crew and aired a 2-minute segment on the 5,6 and 11 o’clock newscasts and Jonathan Lucas wrote a front-page article for the Stamford Advocate. Several legislators and first selectmen participated. They were all positive about the trail, with the exception of one legislator who thought there were privacy and safety issues for residents living along the right-of-way.

	Mr. Bloomer reported that the Coastal Corridor TIA gave approval with reservations to the Transportation Strategy Board recommendations. He said the CCTIA was opposed to double-decking I95 and widening the Merritt Parkway. He said among the reasons they were against widening the Merritt Parkway was that it is in the wrong place. Getting to businesses and town centers would require connectors similar to the ones at Norwalk and Milford. He said there were no cost figures available for doing this. He said even the DOT’s Acting Commissioner Burns opposed widening the Merritt. Discussion: Ms Prosi was questioned about SWRPA’s Vision 2020 report. She said the report does not call for expanding the Merritt Parkway.

	Mr. Bloomer reported that he and Ms. Hoza attended the Hutchinson meeting. He said it was a well-attended and well-organized all day meeting convened by the Federated Conservationists of Westchester, the Purchase Environmental Protective Association, Manhattanville College, the Village of Pelham and the Westchester Historical Society. He said the trail does not have as wide a ROW as the Merritt however it borders several nature preserves. He said there is an existing bridle trail, which would easily be converted to a multi-user trail. Discussion: Ms. Hoza mentioned that a Hutch trail is good news for the Alliance. If both trails are completed and connected it would be possible to walk, ride or bike all the way to New York City. Mr. Bloomer said the trail system would, of course, be part of the East Coast Greenway.

	Ms. Hoza reminded everyone that a spring fundraiser is being planned at the Italian Center. She reported that the East Coast Greenway Executive Board would meet in Stamford around the same time. She said they are interested in doing an event with the Alliance to raise awareness for the Merritt Parkway trail so she was thinking of combining the events. She asked that anyone interested in helping with the event stay for a subcommittee meeting immediately following adjournment.

	After much discussion, it was decided to delay the fund raising event until the fall. The committee came to this conclusion for the following reasons: It will require some effort and time to host the weekend-long ECGA Board meeting and public relation event. Combining the PR event and the fundraiser is complicated by objective and time constraints We are planning a casual outdoor event and spring weather is unpredictable The Merritt right-of-way could be wet and muddy and we would be unable to hold guided walks We need deposit money to hold the date at the Italian Center and we have no funding at this time The Spring Fundraiser is now the Fall Fundraiser!