Technical Manual hearing rescheduled for Tuesday, November 22

[Winston Lumpkins]

Hi Folks,
I just checked in on the progress of a hearing for the Technical Manual, (which wasn't held on 11/8), and it's going to be held on 11/22.  Very likely the meeting will start at 4:30 in the afternoon, and the hearing will be first on the agenda. 

The Technical Manual is the document which governs how our streets are built, edge to edge.  It governs sidewalks (think sidewalks material), street trees, bike lanes, separated bike lanes, travel lane width, traffic calming options, traffic signals...  It's a very significant document & is entirely under the control of the Planning Board. 

There will be some new edits to the Transportation section in the latest draft, which will be available this Friday, 11/18/22, to review over the weekend (if you are so lucky as to have a weekend off right before Thanksgiving). 

Comments should be emailed to:
plan...@portlandmaine.gov &
planni...@portlandmaine.gov, with something like "Comments for the Technical Manual Hearing" as the subject line.

The last workshop was on September 13th and can be viewed here:

https://portlandme.civicclerk.com/Web/Player.aspx?id=2770&key=-1&mod=-1&mk=-1&nov=0

  Following the hearing in November, it will be voted on by the Planning Board & then adopted, with no further fuss. 

As I said in the email alerting you all to the hearing when it might have been on the 8th of November,  I would love to see traffic calming measures like raised crosswalks, speed bumps etc. applied equitably across the whole city wherever they make sense, instead of just given to neighborhoods who beg for them for years...  I tried to make  that very clear in my follow up comments, which you can read here if you want:

 Additional comments, Tech Manual, October 2022

My original comments if you're just now joining us:
https://portlandme.civicclerk.com/Web/GenFile.aspx?ad=16204

Even if I've said (wordily & at length) what you'd say, don't hesitate to email supporting, or even disagreeing with point's I've made. 

I'll try to share any further comments I have once the new draft is released. I'll be working straight through Thanksgiving starting on Thursday, so, I might not be able to offer much more towards this process...  However, I suspect that whatever gets passed on Tuesday the 22nd will represent considerable progress. 

~Winston

Winston Lumpkins IV (he/him/his)

Chair, Portland Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee
https://www.portlandbikeped.org/

winston....@gmail.com
207-408-1508

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[winston.lumpkins]

Hello again everyone,
Indeed, the planning Board is taking up the Technical Manual on Tuesday, November 22nd. 

https://portlandme.civicclerk.com/Web/Player.aspx?id=2783&key=-1&mod=-1&mk=-1&nov=0

Just hit the Download Packet link at the very top of the Agenda Items & Files tab to get the zoom link. 

If you want to offer written comments, email planni...@portlandmaine.gov by NOON ON THE DAY OF, TUESDAY the 22nd. 

I think they used to say the day before, but, now it's the day of.  Which is nice since so little notice is given out about these meetings.

From skimming the 3rd draft of section 1, few things have changed since the 2nd draft, however, they do reference the Mass DOT separated bike lane guide now, which makes me very happy. 

They don't include guidelines for raised crosswalks (that I found in my brief look, they aren't near curb bump outs...), which I think should be included, however, it's enough of an improvement that I think it should pass. 

They can always change it again later!

Thanks to those folks who have written in- I encourage you to read through it & offer more comments, comparatively few people have offered comment, so, yours could go a long way!

Even if you just say something like: I want Door zone buffers, they could save lives.  Please Pass Section 1 as written. 

I have no idea how likely it is to pass, though, it's a lot of work by staff so I don't think they're going to throw it out. 

~Winston