HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee - 10/14/2015
BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN COMMITTEE
MINUTES 10-14-2015
Approved 11-11-15
The Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee held its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, October 14
2015 at 5:30 pm in the small conference room at the city office building.
Members Present: Dana Farr, Chair; Jamieson Goodwin, Clerk; Bob Britt; Amanda Holland; Donna
Leban; Roy Neuer
Members Absent: Cathy Frank, Vice-Chair
City Representative: Maggie Leugers, Director of Recreation & Parks; Justin Rabidoux SB DPW
Director/City Engineer
Also Present: John Calcagni, Kim Maxwell, Thomas Chittenden City Council member attending as a city
resident
Meeting began at 5:35 pm.
1. New Items to Agenda –
a. Review of Minutes from 9-9: Motion to Approve – Amanda, Jamieson second.
Approved, Donna and Roy abstain.
b. Review of Minutes from 9-23: Suggestion from Roy on item G in minutes. Seek
clarification on recommendation to include surface type on paths. Roy moved, Dana
second. Approved. Donna and Bob Abstain.
2. South Village Development Update; Patrick O’Brien – Mr. O’Brien was unable to attend, so this
agenda item was passed over and time allotted for continued discussion with Justin Rabidoux.
3. Updates from DPW Director/City Engineer Justin Rabidoux - This discussion was held to focus
on the areas for improvement previously identified and tracked by Bob Britt from prior
committee meeting on September 9.
a. DPW current struggle is focused around resources and their allocation in relation to
department priorities. The committee feels meetings with Justin or an identified
delegate are a good way to open lines of communication and help to highlight areas that
are felt to be of import. Justin has provided information to Amanda on budgeting/fund
seeking. Amanda to distribute among the committee. Recommendation for attendance
on a quarterly basis to continue this dialog.
b. Below are the items previously identified and tracked that were communicated to
Justin:
i. Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFB) software/configuration – Failure to
operate, short operating durations, and other observations. Justin commented
that the city of South Burlington can be considered an early adopter of this new
type of beacon. As a result, there have been later revisions that other locations
(external to South Burlington) may have. Justin notes that vendor support is
excellent, but changes will need to be evaluated for ease and cost before any
potential implementation. Justin recommends evaluation of features (flashing
length) – some guidance/guidelines from state are where some of these issues
are addressed. Justin to review potential changes further, but requests the
committee and users within the community to continue providing feedback.
ii. RRFB – Flashing lights on both sides/hardware modification – Justin reports he
would not support this recommendation due to aforementioned resource
constraints, and deemed a lower priority than other current projects. The
RRFBs are designed as a supplemental device, and shouldn’t be a mechanism
whose use is solely as protection. Discussion highlighted that maybe working
through alternate avenues to inform users and drivers of intended use and
functionality, but also to advise of law standards and expectations.
The committee still feels it worthwhile to review the duration/adjustable
configurations of the RRFB hardware. A highlight was that to improve the
possibility for funding and resource allocation to this effort, regular
communication between Justin and the Committee is useful. The Committee
and attendees agree that a multi-faceted approach is necessary here, including
public outreach, research into possible RRFB modification, and review of
crosswalk sections for other safety factors are necessary. Justin also felt if the
committee feels strongly about the addition of flashing lights to both sides of
each beacon, the Committee should draft a more formal recommendation to
the Council and himself.
iii. Traffic control crosswalks – duration and exclusivity concerns – Justin informed
the committee of federal guidelines that highlight 2 phase types for crosswalk
controls. Concurrent phasing, in which traffic movement is allowed during the
pedestrian crossing phase, and Exclusive phasing, during which pedestrians have
exclusive access to the intersection during the crossing phase. Justin felt that
there are studies which inform as to the benefits of either type of phasing in use
at intersections and decisions are lead by an informed community and
government desires for managing traffic, safety and multiple other facets of this
interaction. He asked the committee to evaluate the tradeoff, between
decreased throughput efficiency, or “potential” increased safety. For example,
he related knowledge of studies, which found that drivers may not be attentive
to the restriction on their ability to enter an intersection during a crossing
phase. Justin encouraged focused policy discussion for recommendations to
Council.
iv. Crosswalk modifications for the intersection of Swift St and Spear St. The
committee feels that the design leaves a lot to be desired for pedestrian and
cyclist safety. Justin will review and advise at a later date if this change can take
place. Justin feels that due to this location’s current layout, there is a little more
flexibility for implementing the Committee’s desired improvements.
v. Crosswalk marking maintenance concerns – Many are faded and only painted
once a year – Justin advised that this is primarily a resource issue as constrained
by his budget and staffing. He is currently engaged with the council and
budgeting to add additional seasonal employees to perform these periodic tasks
and will free up dedicated resources for other projects as well. Goal to improve
all services as a result of adding seasonal positions.
vi. Leash ordinances – concerns on lack of community compliance. Justin and
Maggie highlighted that the leash issue is more enforcement than anything.
Primary concerns are the inconsistency of enforcement combined with staffing
issues as well. The city’s animal control resource is currently very limited and
responds in a reactionary manner to issues that arise and is not currently
capable of providing proactive enforcement such as this. Discussion continued
briefly and it was decided that the Committee should engage in public outreach
with educational information about leash ordinances and safety concerns. Justin
relayed that DPW would be happy to advise/co-author articles for publication.
vii. Landscaping issues - low branches across paths, foliage and detritus removal –
Justin’s recommendation for follow-through on these types of issues is to notify
DPW through seeclickfix.com or other method that is most convenient to
individuals in the community.
Closing discussion – Justin advised that DPW is currently scoping projects for 4 new
sections of pathways. Areas being scoped are:
1. Connecting the path along Dorset St,
2. Connection of the recreation path and sidewalks along Allen Rd,
3. Connecting sidewalks and establishment of bike paths along Airport
Pkwy, especially but not exclusive to Kirby Rd and White St.
4. The construction of a path by the UVM “Jug Handle” between East
Terrace and Spear St.
Justin also advised that the Tilley Dr. sidewalk extension project is ongoing – hoping to
open bidding in spring 2017.
Justin informed the Committee that due to staffing and local funding constraints, DPW
can feasibly pursue one federal grant or project at a time. Due to the nature of
restrictions placed on those federal level grants, he feels driven by the need to prioritize
those projects. Justin is pursuing the addition of a full time position, similar to a
Transportation Coordinator, and would dedicate said resource to further grant
applications and project tracking. He asked the committee to affirm his Human
Resources Investment Plan (HRIP) and to make a recommendation about it to Council.
He requested that a subcommittee meet to formalize a recommendation for discussion
at the November SBBPC meeting.
Justin will return for the next committee meeting (November 11) to discuss staffing,
resourcing plans and related items.
4. Review of Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) projects list – The Committee set to review the items
identified in the 2012 CIP Appendix A. Some members of the community wished to speak about
one of the identified items. Specifically the Dorset St. path completion in the South East
Quadrant.
a. Public feedback:
i. John Calcagni provided some great feedback as a result of his efforts to seek
input from the community and drive interest in this project. Some of which
included feedback via online surveys and personal direction in favor of
extension and improvements to Bike Path down Dorset St.
ii. Kim Maxwell inquired to the committee seeking direction on where to focus
efforts to provide community input for the Bike & Pedestrian Committee.
Highlighting questions about how is the committee reaching out to the
community as well. The Committee agrees with concerns and highlighted
efforts for public outreach via articles in the Other Paper, prior online surveys,
as well as direct interactions with community recreational path users, but also
as users of the recreational path as well.
iii. Thomas Chittenden – as a resident, supports the prioritization of the Dorset St
path extension/completion project, as he bears witness to foot traffic concerns
along the Cider Mill Market area, including unsafe conditions especially
surrounding kids seeking summer treats from the cider mill from the
surrounding community.
The committee sought input from those present as to a potential course of action. Roy
identified that prior efforts for this extension have been stymied due to a lack of rights-of-
way and homeowner concerns in the immediate vicinity. Attendees’ felt that the
committee/city seek to open dialogs with private property owners again as past views may
have shifted. Dana feels the committee should also support Justin and DPW’s efforts to
create and fill a dedicated position to pursue these types of projects. Roy proposed the
possibility of fund raising potential via levying a bond to the community. Jamieson
contributed that all of these items should likely be communicated outside of these meetings
through outreach into the community. Roy agreed, highlighting that it would be beneficial
to provide clarity and transparency into how the committee prioritizes the list of identified
projects. The committee then conducted a brief review of the items from the 2012 CIP
appendix.
a) Review of Appendix A from CIP:
1. Shelburne Rd.– Keep
2. Hinesburg Rd/Tilly Dr – Keep
3. Allen Rd – Keep
4. “Jug Handle” – Keep
5. Joy Dr. – This needs further review, potential to lower priority.
6. Dorset St. – Keep.
7. Kimball Ave. – Keep – Additional potential via future development planning?
8. Airport Pkwy. - New
Open discussion review highlighted use of the Chittenden County Regional Planning
Commissions Active Transportation Study/map available for review/input from members of the
community. This could be an important tool for the committee to review the identified
priorities. Discussion also revealed the need for proper management of community input, for
example the effect of directed and focused input from special interest groups, like communities
pushing for a specific project. Amanda provided the updated list of active projects and
highlighted review of these may help focus the identified priorities as well.
The committee then began discussions on how to best move forward with prioritizing these
items appropriately. Amanda proposed reviewing identified or newly added projects by
quadrant in subsequent meetings. Additionally, Jamieson contributed using social media and
articles in the Other Paper for reaching out to obtain input from community members to
advance feedback and discussion. Maggie can provide access to the city’s social media
presence, Amanda to follow-up. Committee agreed with a focused quadrant review. Review to
start with the Southwest Quadrant in the next committee meeting (November 11). Subsequent
meetings will review the other quadrants in a clockwise procession.
5. South Burlington Comprehensive/Master Plan Additional Recommendations –
Due to time constraints, committee has decided that further review of remaining
recommended changes for proposed Comprehensive Plan items is untimely. The
committee then agreed that further review was not possible given time constraints and
that individual members could provide input directly as private community members
through accepted channels.
6. Next Committee meeting scheduled November 11 @ 5:30PM
Motion to adjourn Bob, Seconded Donna. Unanimous approval.
Meeting ended at 8:25 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jamieson Goodwin, Clerk