MINUTES

 

Mansfield Advisory Committee

on Persons with Disabilities

Regular Meeting   - Tuesday April 28, 2009

2:30 PM - Conference Room B - Audrey P. Beck Building

I.                     Recording Attendance:

Present: K. Grunwald (staff), J. Sidney, C. Vincente (staff), J. Blanshard, J. Tanner, W. Gibbs (Chair),

            Regrets: C. Colon-Semenza

II.                   Approval of Minutes: the minutes of the March 24, 2009 meeting were approved as written.

III.                  New Business

  1.  Accessible Parking Fines: K. Grunwald reported that he received information from Sgt. Kodzis on the process of changing the ordinance for accessible fees.  This will be brought to the Traffic Authority at their May 7 meeting.

      J. Blanshard pointed out that the Traffic Authority             web     page states that there are no roundabouts in     town,   but that this is incorrect.  Lon Hultgren will be notified      of this.

  1. “Other”: J. Sidney reported that she saw an SUV without an accessible tag parked in the accessible parking space across from Chang’s Garden.  She confronted the driver, who was unwilling to move from the spot.  K. Grunwald will remind Sgt. Kodzis about having troopers patrol this area.  The issue of posting the amount of the fine on the sign was raised again, and committee members would like to see this done.  K. Grunwald will check with Bill Hammon on getting signs changed on town property.  C. Vincente believes that Planning & Zoning approves standards for signs, and they could possibly create a new standard.  J. Sidney suggested that we send a letter to Mike Taylor and the Haidous family (Friendly’s Plaza) to see if they can change the signs.  Attendees at the Traffic Authority meeting will find out what the process is to request that a traffic light be added (e.g. the entrance to Glen Ridge/ 275 and Maple Road.).

 

IV.               Old Business

 

a.           Follow-Up re: web page for this committee: the web page is live.  C. Vincente reported that the IT Department is in the process of looking for a consultant to assist in changing the design of the website.

 

b.           Storrs Post Office Follow-Up: K. Grunwald had forwarded an email from Armand Perrier about the accessibility issues at the Storrs and Mansfield Center post offices.  J. Blanshard suggested that we go over their head with this concern.  J. Sidney suggested that we contact Stan Koslowski to find out how to proceed.  The group does not want to take this on as a fund-raising effort until other alternatives have been exhausted.  K. Grunwald will pursue this.

 

c.           Whispering Glen Development Follow-Up: John DeWolf has reviewed these plans.  K. Grunwald will follow-up with a letter to the developers around the design aspects of the units.

 

d.           Status of other accessibility issues previously identified: C. Vincente responded to the request to relocate the accessible parking spaces at the Community Center.  He has presented this to the Traffic Authority, and is waiting for their formal response.  It appears that they will not approve the relocation of the spaces.  There continue to be compliance problems regarding cars stopping in the driveway, resulting in congestion, and in general there are safety concerns about relocating the spaces.  There was some discussion about changing the culture around traffic violations; J. Tanner will draft an article to publicize these issues; J. Blanshard will work with her on this.  C. Vincente will look into putting crosswalk signs up in front of the Community Center.

K. Grunwald reported on the process of getting a program amendment done as part of the Town’s Small Cities grant to modify a changing room at the Community Center to make it accessible.  C. Vincente will get an updated estimate done on the cost. 

 

K. Easley asked if this committee has access to data regarding the number of people in Mansfield who have disabilities.  There was some question as to whether or not there is census data about this.  W. Gibbs has access to this data on UConn students.  K. Easley feels that this would assist the committee in publicizing these issues.  We can check with the Disability Advocacy Coalition.  K. Easley suggested doing an online survey on the web page to attempt to collect some of this data.  She will also check with Stan Koslowski on this.  DMV was also suggested as a possible source of this information, although J. Sidney questions the accuracy of this data.    

 

V.                 Adjournment: the meeting was adjourned at 3:30 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Kevin Grunwald