The city of Oneonta Common Council approved the submission of a grant application to the U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All Program to fund a comprehensive safety action plan for the city at its meeting, Tuesday, June 17.
The plan may include supplemental safety planning and demonstration activities for the city of Oneonta, according to the agenda description.
The project would have a total cost of up to $375,000 with up to 80% grant funded, or $300,000 of total eligible SS4A project costs. The council also authorized a local match of 20% of total eligible SS4A project costs, not to exceed $75,000, to be funded from the Streets and Sidewalks Reserve.
The city’s Community Development Director Judy Pangman said that the plan could include elements relative to safe streets such as pedestrian safety, bicycle safety and street safety for vehicles.
“We have to define what it’s going to include, if we get the funding,” she said.
Elayne Mosher Campoli, D-First Ward, said that the Quality of Life and Infrastructure Committee has discussed bike lanes in the past, and Kaytee Lipari Shue, D-Fourth Ward, said she was interested in addressing speeding and where stop signs are in her ward.
Pangman said that she would ask City Administrator Greg Mattice to make sure that he includes input from the council on the plan’s scope.
“The overall plan is very simple,” she said, “but we can drill down. One of the things we want to look at is, doing a more comprehensive study on (the) Route 7 and Chestnut Street corridor … We’ve already talked about is figuring out doing some smaller demonstration projects to figure out which types of bike lanes would work best in certain areas of the city.”
The actual details would be determined after the city receives the grant, she said.
The city’s financial match would be funded from the Street and Sidewalks reserve fund. City Finance Director Virginia Lee said that the city currently has an uncommitted fund balance of almost $1.2 million.
The application submission date is June 26, and the award date might be sometime in the fall or winter, Pangman said.
Beatles concert returning
In other business, the council unanimously approved an application by local band The Mopar Cams to close part of South Main Street for a “Beatles rooftop concert” and waive the $100 application fee, a request from event organizer Mark Pawkett.
Last September, the band played a reenactment of The Beatles’ rooftop concert on the Autumn Café back patio, which overlooks South Main Street — hence the rooftop effect — as part of the Greater Oneonta Historical Society’s fall fundraiser.
Despite the request for a street closure during last year’s event, the barricades were set up late, about halfway through the concert. Given last year’s snafu, and since the event benefits downtown businesses and essentially is a gift to the community, the band requested that the application fee be waived.
The upcoming concert is scheduled for Aug. 30.