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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee - 03/11/2020 Bike & Pedestrian Committee Meeting minutes Wednesday, March 11, 2020 @ 5:30 p.m. South Burlington City Hall, Champlain Room 575 Dorset Street 1. Welcome and directions on emergency evacuation procedures (5:30 p.m.) a. Started at 5:33pm b. Committee attendees: Shawn, Cathy, Bob, Bill, Nic, Amanda, Donna, Dana. City employee: Ashley c. Public attendees: Ben Avery, Bryan Curries. 2. Changes or additions to the agenda (5:35 p.m.) a. No changes 3. Comments from the public not related to the agenda (5:40 p.m.) a. No additional comments 4. Consideration of minutes from the previous meeting(s) (5:45 p.m) a. Bob had updates sent (2/20) after draft minutes sent to Ashley on 2/18. Reviewed Bob clarifications to February minutes. i. Shawn - meeting minutes submittal sequence 1. Takes minutes during meeting 2. Need to send draft to Ashley (city) within 5 days of meeting 3. If any edits after a draft send to city, send to Bill. 4. Bill will collect all edits and send to Ashley to post with next months meeting package. Review edits as group and approve. ii. Nic - moves to accept minutes with Bob edits. 1. Cathy seconds 2. All approve - Shawn and Dana obstain. 5. Updates from the City - Ashley (5:50 p.m. - 15min) a. AARP Challenge i. Nic - would be an easier win to go for $5000-$10,000 grant. ii. Ashley - due April 1st - hesitant to start unless we can find a project to propose in that time. Asking committee to start thinking about it iii. Bob - Williston road crossings could be potential project 1. Cathy - meets community needs now 2. Shawn - I like Williston road projects a. Unanimous agreements iv. Nic - Hinesburg road crosses all exactly the same design 1. Ashley - have to work with State, may not happen as fast. b. NNECAPA i. Maybe have SBBPC lead discussion ii. Nic - Amanda and Nic are doing similar thing already 1. Under funding and advocacy piece 2. Need to brainstorm how to create a longer presentation. The current presentation is 10 minutes, they have allocated 1.5 hours. iii. Ashley - already been submitted 1. Next step - to review with committee c. Airport parkway d. Jug handle i. Already on priority list. ii. Bollards are in 6. Major - Review of bike/ped for the BlackRock project before the DRB - Cathy (6:05 p.m. - 15min) a. Objective: Provide committee input on the design b. Ben and Bryan from public presenting c. 32 residential units, 7 acres, loop road d. Proposing to connect 10’ wide rec path from Dorset street to internal development road, then 8’ wide to tie to existing rec path. e. Bryan - concerned new rec path be confused as private path instead of public? i. Add signing to both ends of rec path f. Alternate option: change side walk along development road to rec path to connect to existing rec path. g. Nic - plans show 12’ and 7’ widths? Has that changed i. Bryan - has changed to 10’ and 8’ since plans were submitted. ii. Bryan - 10’ rec path is just another means of egress from the development for “emergency”. Not for emergency vehicles. 1. No bollards on path. h. Nic - good idea of signs at intersection to existing rec path i. Use existing city path typology and requirements 1. Bryan - would be happy to use sign recommendations ii. Nic - likes how path meanders through the center of the development. i. Donna - could see potential differences to path, going around development, not through. i. Ben - Input from city staff - did like going through development 1. Ben - isn’t a large enough area to have a park. ii. Bob - like that community members can go straight out in the direction they want to go iii. Donna - are the paths using existing landscape and trees? 1. Bryan - will be completely new landscaping. Does not assume any existing vegetation can be saved. iv. Donna - would like to connect from east connection of existing rec path around the outside of the development to the Dorset rec path. v. Donna - will there be special surface treatment of crossing of rec path by two roadways to development? Could be dangerous for pedestrians and especially to bikes going downhill. Need some type of indicator for drivers. 1. Paint wears off in 1-year, some type of texture to stopping area. 2. Donna - also do not want landscaping to prevent visibility to rec path and oncoming pedestrains. 3. Nic - add signs 50-100 feet before stop to “look for pedestrain crossing”. Important for drivers to look right, in addition to them already looking left. a. Shawn - need to educate on a city level. Do similar to what Burlington is doing: raise crossings at intersections. vi. Shawn - we have cross walks all over the city that are not maintained well. vii. Bryan - will be striping crossings. viii. Donna - do you have landscaping plans yet? 1. Bryan - In process, nothing to share at this time. ix. Donna - Portion of rec path below lower access road was recently repaved. The upper portion will likely need repair or repaving after construciton is completed. Will there be protection or repaving? 1. Bryan - anything impacted will be repaved a. Utilities coming from Dorset. 2. Donna - we should expect it to be repaved with this project as it will be the least expensive time to do it. x. Bryan - fees are collected for rec department during construction, based on number of residential units. xi. Shawn - should make repaving Park Road section of rec path a priority - not in great shape. xii. Ben - would “happily” just repave existing paths instead of creating additional path. Was suggested by city staff to add path through development. 1. Ben - if SBBPC suggested would rather have improvements to existing path versus adding new path through development, would oblige. xiii. Donna - could do a “soft” path instead of paved/hard path. Could save money. 1. Nic - are harder to maintain - more weeds. 2. Bryan - worry about grade build up and maintaining. 3. Donna - All soft paths in Wheeler park, would match. j. Next steps: SBBPC supports design as presented. Suggest to use SB “way finding” sign package. i. Committee discussed other options but agreed to move forward with construction as presented. ii. Ashley/Paul to send “way finding” document to Bryan and Ben. 7. Major - Proposal to offer business sponsorship for bike/ped projects - Ashley (6:20 p.m. - 15min) a. Objective: Discussion of idea to gauge committee interest b. Objective: If there’s interest, define who will participate, and next steps c. Interesting way to get more financial support, community engagement, and business awareness. i. Cathy - there are benches that are sponsored by various individuals/companies/organizations ii. Bob - had discussed to have this done with the Kimbal path, but never pursued. iii. Cathy - UVM medical center has pump/workout stations on Burlington Bike Path. iv. Ashley - asking for help from committee. Next objective is find interest from SBBPC. Ashley could not lead it but could be involved. 1. Could partner with Economic Development Committee. v. Shawn - need to be deliberate with projects and ideas we work on as a committee. Need to review bandwidth. 1. Ashley - use for specific projects. vi. Cathy - certain projects and locations would be ideal for this type of fundraising. Need to be more strategic. vii. Bob - maybe not this year, but could be on projects for next year. Could be for projects near the hospital. viii. Donna - Adopt a highway program - can recreation path wayfinding signage be an avenue or potential option? Already an unfunded project of the city. ix. Cathy - we should make a running list that fall into this category. x. Shawn - 1) committee is interested. 2) Does anyone want to lead the effort? Not at this time. Will work on creating list of potential ideas projects, and start making priority once we have bandwidth available. xi. Shawn - will create central repository for ideas. Request all committee members to send ideas to him. We will discuss at future meetings. 8. Minor - Review of the SBBPC Project List - Shawn (6:35 p.m. - 10min) a. Objective: Review of final mid-year status update b. Objective: Review the project tracking process & get committee input on any adjustments needed i. Bob suggested we do mid-year review of projects. 1. Shawn - we should formalize this process and review. a. Repeat process next January. b. Shawn will mark completed ones as green and moved to completed tab. Then review new projects. 2. Bob - list is missing projects we are working on a. Tilley Drive crosswalk b. Should we add one for Kennedy and Williston road crosswalks? i. Ashley - not actively working on these projects. Could say they are in scoping. ii. Bob - worried if we don’t list as separate item, it may be forgotten. 3. Donna - there is work on Tilley drive right now a. Part of state review, crosswalk not part of current construction plan 4. Shawn - Need update from Paul a. Would need approval of scoping study and get public feedback. b. No real sense in listing projects if they aren’t scoped. i. Shawn - we can list what is involved in scoping study, so we don’t lose track. 5. Dana - she should be on the “Bicycle Friendly Community” sub- committee group. 6. Shawn - if anyone sees anything that needs to be corrected project sheet, send email to Shawn. 9. Updates: Ongoing Committee Work (6:45 p.m. - 30min) a. General updates from committee members (~3-5min per person) b. Cathy - DRB wants final approval on gas station (Shelburne road/Queen city park). Trying to move rec path crossing to be aligned on side of roads (moved west connector from the North to the South side of the intersetion) but could not do as desired because it would require new road striping. The DRB would like formal approval from SBBPC to approve as is. i. Ashley will send approval based on previous SBBPC meeting approval. c. Cathy - did not create articles for SoBu or Other Paper, because of election cycle. Next articles will be safety related. d. Donna - Schools i. Suzie hasn’t been able to get interest from PTOA. ii. Someone suggested that specific parents/families present, might be better reception. 1. Do we put out on Front Porch Forum (FPF)? How do we find these parents/families. 2. Nic - loosely asked PTOA, asked if he could present. Was told not this year. 3. Nic - we could contact Principal at Chamberlain. 4. Nic - how do we tap in middle & high school. iii. Donna - school buses do stop for kids that live closer to schools. Supposed to only pick up students >.5 miles from schools. iv. Shawn - if we want extended discussion, could add to next months discussion as larger item. e. Bob i. Met about Hinesburg road speed limits. Requested traffic study for Williston to southern border with Shelburne. ii. Two safety issues on our listing: 1. No right on red signs at intersection of Dorset and Swift. Right now - walk light goes on. Do we need to keep moving forward with signs? a. Nic - does Ped have time before cars get green light? Shawn - yes. Only activates when crosswalk is pressed. b. Donna - going south out of town is a critical location as people do not stop completely when turning right on red.. c. SBBPC - continue to move forward 2. Was recommending to City to allocate 3-5% to replacing rec paths. Should we continue forward with this recommendation or change? a. Ashley - should start when budget season comes b. Shawn - start talking with Justin to get his input before budget season. f. Shawn i. Target getting striping priority list before the April meeting. Will discuss at that meeting as a group. Will be asking for input and review before meeting. ii. One of the community members has reached about a sidewalk near Proctor Ave, near Rice High school. Has asked to be on agenda, will be on April agenda. Will determine if we want to add to next CIP. 1. Amanda - can we also look at the full project list again at that time. 2. Shawn - where is the list on the new drive? a. Amanda - will find and send out to committee to review. 3. Ashley - CIP list should review projects that are going to move forward. 4. Donna - is there a policy for sidewalks in existing neighborhoods? a. Ashley - will look into it. g. Ashley - public health announcement i. Can setup conference call if needed. 10. Confirmation: Next meeting Wednesday, April 8, 2020 @ 5:30pm 11. Adjourn (by 8:00 p.m.) a. Adjourned at 7:29pm.