HomeMy Public PortalAbout20210824 - Upper Charles Trail Committee - Meeting Minutes1
UPPER CHARLES TRAIL COMMITTEE
Tuesday August 24, 2021 5:15 PM
Basement Meeting Room, Town Hall, 18 Main St., Hopkinton, MA
MINUTES
Members present: Bob Snyder, Jane Moran, Eli Post, Eric Sonnett, Barry Rosenbloom, Cynthia
Esthimer, Ken Parker
Alternate member present: Brian Fitzgerald (by Zoom)
Members absent: Irfan Nasrullah,, Jim Ciriello
Town officials present: Dave Daltorio – Town Engineer
VHB staff present: Matthew Chase, Christine Champeau
1. Draft minutes of the 4/21/21 meeting: Approved unanimously.
2. Draft minutes of the 8/11/21 meeting: Approved unanimously with the addition of the
following item – the “on-call” VHB allocation was extended through the current fiscal year.
The corrected minutes are attached.
3. VHB Update:
• Christine presented a segment by segment overview of the Hopkinton UCT, as defined
and redefined at the 8/11/21 UCTC meeting. Twelve segments comprise the Hopkinton
UCT traversing from the Hopkinton State Park to the Milford trail head parking lot on
Rte. 85. This end-to-end plan is the trail “alignment”. Each segment is described in the
8/11/21 Meeting Notes prepared by VHB.
• Discussion of the VHB ranking system took place during Christine’s presentation.
• Matt stressed the importance of resolving right-of-way issues for any particular segment,
before seeking state funding for that segment.
• Alternative alignments for some segments were discussed.
• Matt presented an overview of the approaches for proceeding with the Campus Connector
Project, with time lines for each approach. He noted that the state “Safe Routes to
Schools” money is uncertain at this time.
• Eli noted that we have already agreed to go to the Mass Trails program to seek funding
for final design work on Segment 5 and for preliminary design work on Segment 6.
• Eric asked about negotiating with the TIP program for funding.
• Barry asked how we can “pull the whole thing in” in terms of time frame.
• Matt is going to put together a list of options for the next step. He will update the
Environmental Notification Form (ENF) to reflect the current alignment plan. VHB is at
work now on the ENF.
• Members voted unanimously to accept the revised alignment presented by VHB for the
purpose of the ENF.
• Cynthia moved to authorize VHB to move forward on the ENF using the revised
alignment. Eric seconded her motion. The motion passed unanimously.
4. The public meeting was adjourned at 6:58PM.
2
Submitted by Bob Snyder
Approved: November 17, 2021
Documents used at the meeting:
Meeting agenda
Segment Description Spreadsheet
(VHB drafted) UCTC Meeting Notes