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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee - 02/12/2014 BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN COMMITTEE MINUTES 02-12-2014 The Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee held its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, February 12, 2014 at 5:30 pm in the small conference room at the city office building. Members Present: Michelle Connor, Vice Chair; Dana Farr, Clerk; Cathy Frank, David Jacobowitz, Roy Neuer Members Absent: Matthew Boulanger, Chair; Donna Leban, Miranda Voegeli City Representative: Todd Goodwin, Director of Recreation & Parks Meeting began at 5:34 pm and was chaired by Michelle. 1. Changes or additions to the agenda None. 2. Comments from the public not related to the agenda None 3. Accept & approve minutes of January 8, 2014 meeting Michelle requested that the date be corrected to January 8, 2014. Cathy: Moved to approve the minutes as amended. Michelle: Second Vote: Unanimous 4. Update on South Village and Goldberg Property Autumn Hill Road property: DRB talked to the property owners (Goldberg) and requests that we accept a change to our original request. Much of the area is private property, and supports local wildlife, and would not really support a multi-use path. There is a possibility of an easement from Cheesefactory Rd up to the Scott property. If that easement is granted, there is a possibility of parking and walking trails in the future. South Village: Paul Connor, Director of Planning and Zoning, reports that our request that the sidewalks connect was granted. There will be a multi-use path through the neighborhood. The wetlands, however, are not eligible for a multi-use path. O’Brien Property across from Country Farms on Hinesburg Rd: The DRB would like to know with more precision where the Rec Path the committee proposes would go. Would it be along the road? There is a gully that would have to be moved if this is the case. Who would do be responsible for this? The City is going to request an easement to move things forward. Since the new building planned for the property is set to be only seven units, the developer feels that it is not financially in their interest to continue with the project if they need to pay for a segment of rec path which, in the end, connects to nowhere. The city chose to go after impact fees for this development. Crosswalks along Hinesburg Rd: Justin Rabidoux, Director of Public Works, asked us to be aware that there may be an issue with the committee’s proposed crosswalks along Hinesburg Road. He will alert the committee when he learns more. Michelle asked the committee if we wanted to push back on any of the above. The committee agreed to accept the City’s amendments to our proposals. 5. FBCC Recommendations Matt reported via Michelle, that there is nothing requiring the committee’s attention at this time. 6. Future priorities for the committee David urged the committee to make a bigger commitment to earning the Bicycle Friendly City certification. He agreed to renew the effort by heading a subcommittee, which will include Matt and Dana, to work toward this goal. The sub-committee will plan to meet with Local Motion’s Director of Advocacy and Education, Jason Van Driesche. Roy asked that the committee look for opportunities to provide access to the city’s waterfront. He would like to see a right of way from Bartlett Beach Road to the beach. Roy also would like for the City’s Master Plan to officially identify multi-use paths in the Market Street area. 7. Development Review Interim Zoning ends on Feb 22 and Council will not be renewing it. Some of the associated committees will be disbanded. Kevin Dorn, City Manager, has delayed committee restructure until after the March 4, 2014 vote. There will be no interim committee placements. The plan is to restructure the city’s committees so that they have a broader scope, but are fewer in number. 8. General matters Impact Fees: Sometimes impact fees are earmarked for projects that later prove unfeasible. If the fee is not spent within a specified time period, the developer may be able to reacquire it. The committee asked Todd to look into whether those funds could be used to develop our sidewalk proposal. Button-activated, Flashing Crosswalk Lights: Cathy brought to the committee’s attention that the recently installed lights do not seem to be getting heavy use. She wonders if we need to educate the public about them. Others members indicated that some lights are not functioning properly, or are placed in such a way that the flashing lights cannot be seen from the pedestrian/cyclists perspective. Also of concern is that some of the buttons which activate the lights are on the opposite side of the pole from the sidewalk’s handicap access point. Users must reach around the pole to activate the lights. Can these buttons be reached by someone in a wheelchair? The committee determined to ask Justin for the location of all newly installed lights so that we can test each individually for both proper function and placement. Todd advised the committee that the lights provide an alert that there is a person in the crosswalk. They are not intended to provide a false sense of security. People crossing the street still need to pay attention to the traffic, and use sound judgment when looking for a safe time to cross. The flashers are not to stop traffic, but to warn traffic that someone is in the crosswalk. Regularly scheduled meeting with Justin: Members meeting who will meet with Justin- · Cathy, David and Roy · Donna will attend when she is available. Agenda- · Inform Justin of the committee’s concern about the button-activated, flashing crosswalk lights. · Request a list with the locations of all button-activated, flashing crosswalk lights. · Request more information about an email he received from Maida Townsend concerning walks/sidewalks. Garden Street Design Contract Approved: Donna reported via email that the Garden Street design contract has been approved. The committee would like more information about this. No other committee members had further information. Handicap Accessibility: Todd shared with the committee that a year ago Paul Connor and Tom Hubbard, Deputy City Manager, put a proposal in front of the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRP) requesting a review of the city’s handicap accessibility. This has been approved, and city is now looking at consultants. We may need to do an in-kind fund match and a couple of community outreach acts. Our committee may be asked to play a role in this. Cycle path safety vis-à-vis road cycling safety: Roy will bring information to the next monthly meeting about the security of cycle paths vs. road biking. 9. Adjourn David: Motion to Adjourn Cathy: Second Vote: Unanimous Meeting ended at 6:36 pm. Respectfully submitted, Dana Farr, Clerk