HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee - 06/12/2019Bike & Pedestrian Committee - Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, June 12, 2019 @ 5:30 pm
Meeting Location: South Burlington City Hall, Champlain Room
575 Dorset Street
Members Present: Dana Farr (Chair), Cathy Frank (Vice Chair), Shawn Goddard (Clerk), Bill
Wooden (Co-Clerk), Donna Leban, Bob Britt
Members Absent: Amanda Holland
City Representative: Ashley Parker, Project Manager
Also Present: Nic Anderson, Ben McShane (of SB Parks & Rec - Recreation Specialist)
Meeting documents are in the folder named: 6. June 2019 & updates can be found in the
Talking Points June 2019 document. For homework, see the Homework Report 2019.
Meeting began at: 5:30pm.
1. Welcome and directions on emergency evacuation procedures - Dana
2. Changes or additions to the agenda - None
3. Comments from the public not related to the agenda
■ Nic relayed a request from Local Motion for the top 3 locations to do bike
counts in South Burlington. Committee will discuss it later in the agenda.
4. Consideration of minutes from the previous meeting(s)
■ One change proposed by Bob to make it clear that Amanda’s updates
were submitted, not presented (since she was absent).
● Approval moved by: Cathy, Seconded by Donna, all in favor
5. Report & Discussion: Updates from the City - Ashley
■ Installed bike path Bollards on Dorset and Swift
● Cathy reported that the bollards got expanded to the area we were
concerned with and was one of our Penny 4 Paths projects.
a. If P4P funds were used, this could be a candidate for a
P4P sign once the city gets the design complete &
signs/stencils in hand.
■ Striping Update
● Paint truck broke down, so striping is delayed
● Clarifying point on the striping priorities - Justin contracted the top
12 priorities on our list, but we made a slight modification recently
(divided Williston Rd into 2 sections) that isn’t reflected in the
contract. Williston Rd on the Williston end is now priority #1, but
that wasn’t in the list when Justin contracted the work. He’ll see if
they can fit it in, but it might not get done this year.
■ Spear/Swift pedestrian crossing - Bob & Shawn will clarify the design &
communicate it to Cathy.
● Dana suggested an article in The Other Paper when this is
completed ensuring that drivers know they need to stop for safety
reasons when there’s a no-right-on-red light. Cathy will write this.
● Bob & Shawn will also check with Justin to see how long the
RRFB is on Swift St because it was mentioned that they often see
people rushing and are worried it’s not long enough.
● Ashley reported that Justin may be using some P4P money to
help fund this project and we’d like to ensure we get a
promotional/informational sign to ensure the public knows the P4P
funds went towards this project.
a. Ashley reported that the city is working on a logo.
■ Ashley reminded everyone of the new city app - Consensus.
● It’s a pilot, and the City needs 400 users to be considered
statistically significant.
● Users need to update their settings to get notifications when there
are new questions.
6. Discussion: Improving SoBu’s People for Bikes City Ranking (and Bike Friendly
Community)
a. Overview - Nic Anderson
■ Nic provided a summary of the sub-committee meeting.
■ Bob asked about the League of American Bicyclists - Nic said that’s
separate and he thinks we should look at both (that application is done
1x/4 years).
■ Nic volunteered to lead this effort (once he’s an official member).
● Committee reviewed our priority list to see where this fits.
a. Not just raising our score, but actually taking action on
things that tangibly improve other committee priorities.
● Cathy moved that we make working on this score & associated
projects. Bill seconded. All approved.
● Dana moved that Nic lead the effort, Bob seconded. All approved.
b. Creating SoBu cycling group - Ben McShane
■ Asking committee for support and suggestions for 1-hour group bike
rides, Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings.
● Donna - Meetup group exists. Inform riders of level of difficulty,
route, who the leaders are.
■ Separate family rides from adult only longer distance.
■ Family rides primarily on bike paths and low-stress routes.
■ Committee recommended that the rides remain more recreational and
inclusive (vs rides for experienced cyclists that are riding fast - there are
options out there for those riders).
● Social rides monthly will raise the People For Bikes score.
■ Ben was on board with changing the focus to a family friendly ride.
● Looking at doing it weekly on Saturday or Sunday
● Could do it through Facebook and/or Consensus to gauge interest
in each weekly event.
● Ben will redraft the proposal & get it to Ashley.
● Ben’s looking for volunteers for leaders to run a ride or two.
● Donna suggested connecting neighborhood to neighborhood.
● Shawn - added a “sweeper” rider to trail
● Night ride - single event
c. Schedule a Mapping Party! - Nic Anderson
■ Update OpenStreetMap
■ Nic will take a look and figure out when would be good to do this (maybe
not during the summer).
■ Dana suggested putting this on the agenda for a regular check-in/update.
■ Ashley reminded us that we must be careful not to have a quorum from
the committee when we do this mapping work.
7. Discussion: Creating a SoBu cycling website - Nic Anderson
■ Nic is working on creating a centralized location for biking events in
Vermont. Through this he realized there’s not much out there for
resources about biking in South Burlington.
■ He created: https://tricknz1.wixsithe.com/bikesb
■ Cathy suggested we get a link from our city webpage to this page.
● Ashley will discuss with Coralee to see if that’s allowed &
understand what the constraints are that would keep us from
having our page look something like this.
■ Shawn suggested adding South Burlington businesses that offer
discounts through Bike Benefits
● There is a Bike-friendly Businesses
8. Discussion: Striping Update (SoBu and nearby towns) - Shawn Goddard
■ Still a work in progress
■ Need to get feedback still from Winooski & Colchester.
■ Some additional questions for Burlington
■ Bob & Shawn will have a discussion with Justin in their monthly meeting
to discuss how much it would cost if we decided to stripe all lines every
year.
9. Updates: Ongoing Committee Work
a. Review: Homework Review - Dana
■ Discussed the signage work the city is working on for paths.
● Bill will put together some instructions for how to edit our map to
help the city know where signage should go.
● We also discussed roadway signs relative to bike/ped...which is
different.
a. Ashley said that’s something Justin would need to review
because there could be safety concerns about stopping
traffic in some locations.
b. Shawn & Bob will discuss options with Justin in the
upcoming meeting.
■ Website submission form isn’t working. Ashley hasn’t had any luck
getting someone to take ownership to fix this.
● Dana & Cathy will draft a letter to City Manager to ask about
getting the website fixed.
b. Update: P4P Project Updates - Ashley
c. Update: Policy and Safety Recommendations Update - Bob
d. Update: Monthly DPW meeting - Bob & Shawn
■ No meeting in the past month.
■ Planning to schedule one before the July committee meeting.
e. Update: CCRPC Update - Amanda & Donna
f. Update: Interim Zoning - Amanda & Donna
g. Update: DRB Update - Cathy & Shawn
h. Update: General Business - Dana
■ Overview - June 2019 Cmte Chair Meeting
● City wants our annual report in August
● Want our annual work plan at the same time
a. Committee agreed to both of these.
● Thursday, 9/26 4:30-9:30 we’ll be having a Committee
Symposium
a. We need to put together a poster (or maybe a slide show)
b. We will have a presentation to the City Council (50% what
we’ve done, 50% what we’re planning)
● City is creating a new Google Drive space that all committees will
need to use.
a. They’re trying to avoid open meeting conflicts
b. More details to follow.
● Dana also reported that some other committees reported that they
rotate their committee positions regularly. The Bike/Ped
Committee can manage their positions similarly if we want to and
members who are interested in trying a position can and should
voice that interest and shouldn’t feel like it must be a pseudo-
permanent position.
10. Per Nic - Local Motion wants suggestions for 3 spots to do bike counts in South
Burlington. We recommended:
a. Spear & Songbird
b. Williston & Hinesburg
c. Kimball & Kennedy
11. Review: Homework for next meeting - Ashley
12. Confirmation: Next meeting Wednesday, July 10
13. Adjourned at 8:30pm