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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee - 02/17/2019Bike & Pedestrian Committee - Meeting Minutes Sunday, February 17, 2019 @ 5:30 pm Meeting Location: South Burlington Police Station, 2nd Floor Conference Room @ 19 Gregory Drive (Note: February 13, 2019 meeting postponed due to weather) Members Present: Dana Farr (Chair), Cathy Frank (Vice Chair), Shawn Goddard (Clerk), Bill Wooden (Co-Clerk), Bob Britt, Amanda Holland, Donna Leban (remotely between 5:30 & 6pm) Members Absent: City Representative: Ashley Parker, Project Manager (Absent) Also Present: Paul Conner, Nic Anderson Meeting documents can be found in the folder named: 2. February 2019 & updates can be found in the document Talking Points February 2019 Note: Items requiring follow up listed in red. Meeting began at: 5:30pm 1. Welcome and directions on emergency evacuation procedures 2. Changes or additions to the agenda a. Bob said that Ashley wanted us to put together a summary for the City Council that would layout all of the P4P money we plan to spend. b. Moved Street Type discussion up to #5 because Donna has to leave early. c. Adding a bike share discussion d. Shawn asked Paul to comment on the City Council not entertaining backfills for the two committee members we lost. i. Paul stated that it’s a logistics thing - the interview process is time/labor intensive so it only happens once a year. ii. But, the City does encourage committees to figure out what works and non-official volunteers can participate, but they can’t vote. e. Cathy asked about roundabouts and would like that to be included in the March committee meeting. i. Roundabouts can be a great solution for cars & car congestion, but they can be challenging for pedestrians and bikers. ii. Cathy has posted 2 articles for the committee to review before next months meeting. f. Cathy also asked about a DRB recommendation for the crosswalk on Shelburne Rd because there is planning going on to renovate the gas station & surrounding area at the corner of Queen City Park Rd & Shelburne Rd. i. Picture in the DRB document of the proposed changes to the crosswalk ii. Crosswalk would have to go diagonally because a straight walkway would dump pedestrians into the business parking lot on the eastern side of Shelburne Rd. iii. Committee was on board with recommending the diagonal crosswalk. 3. Comments from the public not related to the agenda - None 4. Consideration of minutes from the previous meeting(s) a. Cathy moved to approve minutes, Bob seconded, all approved except Bill who abstained. 5. Report & Discussion: Updates from the City - Ashley and Kevin Dorn a. See Ashley’s report - Ashley was not in attendance i. They’re looking for volunteers to help with the Bike Rodeo - we’d be helping out as general volunteers, not as bike/ped committee. 1. Amended - Ashley later clarified that they are not looking for volunteers but would like the committee to participate in the event in an official capacity. ii. They’re also looking for some suggestions on some canned bike route options for different types of rides and there may be an opportunity for someone on the committee to lead a community ride. b. Bob relayed that Kevin asked if the committee would like to take an official position on the new proposed sales tax. i. Current ask for the ballot is just to give the city the authority to go to the legislature to approve a charter change to enable going to the voters to get the tax approved. 1. Paul wasn’t sure but he thinks that the ballot item authorizes the additional tax, but doesn’t set the tax in place. ii. It is possible that this funding source could be used in the future as part of the funding for the I-89 bike bridge. iii. Committee would prefer not to take a position at this time. 6. Discussion: Planning & Zoning Street Types - Donna & Paul Conner (SB P&Z) a. Paul said the city currently has 3 different zoning road groupings - South East Quadrant, City Center, and everything else. b. City currently doesn’t have plans to build another wide road in the foreseeable future. If they did that project would have an entire plan on it’s own, so the street type planning doesn’t really need to account for that. So, we should probably focus on 2-lane road definitions. c. Paul suggested that we look at current new roads that meet the proposed guidelines - this is all about zoning new construction, not retrofitting current infrastructure. i. Support: Mary Street Extension ii. Neighborhood Street - Narrow & Neighborhood St: In the O’Brian Development 1. Narrow dead end street that has a 15’ road with a connected non-elevated sidewalk for a total width of 20’. iii. Donna liked the NACTO guide because it provided both recommendations & pictures/illustrations of different street types. 1. Paul is planning to include images with the South Burlington design guide, but first they have to settle on the specs. iv. Donna specifically mentioned the idea that narrowing streets and using design features to make it clear that cars, bikes, & pedestrians are all moving in the same space will help slow the cars down. This methodology can be used in areas where the right-of-way (ROW) is not wide enough to create separate spaces for each group. v. Donna relayed that in lower traffic areas it becomes paramount to remove the curbs to allow an escape route for bikers when there is not a separate bike lane. This occurs where bicycles are expected to share a lane with other vehicles on narrower streets. vi. Paul also suggested we look at Rye Circle off 116 1. Falls under a “Neighborhood Street” 2. Pavement is 26’ - two 9’ lanes and an 8’ parking lane vii. Paul said that we’re beholden to state law where the minimum maximum speed limit is 25mph except in defined downtowns, which South Burlington doesn’t currently qualify for. viii. City can use bump-outs & other design features to help slow traffic when speeds need to slow to 25 from higher speeds, because the 25mph speed isn’t a problem if traffic stays at a maximum of 25mph. ix. Committee liked the idea of using tinted colors for sidewalks that are at the same grade as the street to help distinguish. x. Paul suggested we focus on the street types that we are most likely to see used in new construction in South Burlington. The 5 types are: 1. Neighborhood Street - Narrow 2. Neighborhood Street 3. Neighborhood Street - Bike Boulevard 4. Support Street 5. Industrial Access Road xi. Discussed whether some small streets should be built without a sidewalk. 1. Major downsides of having lightly used sidewalks on small streets are cost & maintenance xii. Bob asked what the difference was between arterial and collector 1. White St & Swift St would both be collectors 2. Hinesburg Rd is arterial 3. Paul did state that a Rural Connector and Rural Highway both have 5’ bike lanes currently defined. xiii. Paul said that these guidelines don’t have to be restrictive - just because a type of road is designated for bike lanes that doesn’t mean that the city can’t have a plan for a specific section that has a bike lane. xiv. Shawn asked Paul to consider the implications of removing curbs from specific street types because currently streets without curbs don’t get swept (sweeping is to keep storm drains clear, and they only exist where there are curbs). Bike lanes on streets that don’t get swept can get very cluttered with debris and result in bikes having to swerve into the car lanes. xv. Specific ask from Paul to the committee: 1. Review Donna’s comments 2. Focus on the most common street types (listed above) 3. Come back to Paul with feedback on our preferences/concerns. xvi. Paul will give us a revised draft in the next couple of weeks & would like feedback from our March meeting. 7. Discussion: Topic - Annual Plan/Goals - Shawn & Bill a. Amanda asked about the the bullets under the Top Priority Projects section that suggests we specifically define 2019 projects. We combined two bullets to make it more succinct. b. Regarding mapping, Nic Anderson has been working on Open Street Maps to update mapping on that site. It’s used to rate cities by People For Bikes for walk/bike friendly communities. c. Cathy moved to approve, Bob seconded, vote was unanimously in favor. 8. Penny for Paths spending summary (Added item) - Bob a. This was discussed during the Financial Planning portion (see #10 below). b. See also Ashley’s update for this meeting (which was not discussed). 9. Report & Discussion: Meeting with City Council (Tuesday, 2/19 @ 8:30-9pm) - Bob a. Bob took the team through the proposed presentation. i. Committee liked all the information in the presentation, but worried that it would run too long. ii. Bob will practice and target the presentation for ~20min to allow for Q&A session. 10. Financial planning discussion a. Bob proposed that we advise the city to move forward with the engineering on the Dorset St project using Rec Impact Fees (currently $52k available, but only through 6/30/19). i. Even if we do get a grant for this project, we will be able to get the project done more quickly if we get the engineering done this year. ii. The downside is that if we do get a grant for the project we would have to provide matching funds and the engineering money wouldn’t count toward the match if we do it ahead of time. iii. Amanda asked if adding this would fit within the resource time Ashley has available for our committee. iv. Committee decided to change the language to “recommend” the City move forward with the engineering on the Dorset St project using the Rec Impact Fees in the presentation to the City Council. b. Ashley would like the committee to put together a document to define and track our priorities (similar to the OSNAP Priority with Status Report_9-2018- 1). i. Committee feels this requires too much expertise for this committee and should be done by city staff. Bob will relay that back to Ashley. c. Report on the Strategic Plan for Funding meeting that Bob, Dana, and Shawn had. i. Amanda asked about the project listed as “Spear St - From end of current path (near Gutterson) down to Williston Rd.” 1. Concerns that there’s not enough space right in front of the Gutterson parking area. 2. That area is all being renovated with the new arena, so this path could be included in that planning. 11. Updates: Ongoing Committee Work a. Review: Homework Review - Dana i. Cathy is waiting on the TOP article until after the City Council presentation. b. Update: P4P Project Updates - Ashley c. Update: Policy and Safety Recommendations Update - Bob d. Update: Monthly DPW meeting - Bob & Shawn e. Update: CCRPC Update - Amanda & Donna f. Update: Interim Zoning - Amanda & Donna g. Update: DRB Update - Cathy & Shawn h. Update: SBBP Committee content on SB Website - Cathy i. Update: General Business - Dana 12. Bike share discussion - general - Nic Anderson a. Greenride Bikeshare - Phase 1 effort has been fairly positive. b. They are talking with Gotcha about Phase 2 proposal and they are proposing replacing the entire fleet with e-bikes and e-scooters. c. Gotcha & Greenride Bikeshare met with SB City Reps to review the current proposals. d. Kevin has asked that the committee provide a recommendation regarding the plan. e. Kevin & Ashley has proposed we have a public meeting on March 5th or 6th, and they’d like Bike/Ped input on the proposal before their 3/18/19 meeting. f. Gotcha’s system has established hubs so bikes/scooters couldn’t just be left anywhere. g. We’ll have a discussion at the March committee meeting on our proposed input. 13. Review: Homework for next meeting - We did not keep track of homework separately. Members can update the homework list with their tasks. 14. Confirmation: Next meeting - Wednesday, March 13, 2019 15. Adjourned @ 8:20pm - Motion by to adjourn by Cathy, second by Bob, all in favor.