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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee - 09/11/2024 1 South Burlington Bike & Pedestrian Committee APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Wednesday September 11, 2024 @ 5:30 p.m. Room 301, City Hall AND Virtual Committee Attendees: Havaleh Gagne (Chair), Bob Britt (Vice Chair), Doug Goodman, Nic Anderson (Clerk), Donna Leban, Ken Burkman, Timur Tsutsuk, Josh Minot Committee Attendees – Remote: Dana Farr Committee Absent: Mark Pasanen Other Attendees: Erica Quallen (City Staff) Public: Amanda Holland, Ryan Doyle, Kathy Allaire, Larry Kupferman, Buffy Caflitch 1. Welcome, Emergency Exit and Virtual Meeting Instructions, Gratitude a. 9/11 gratitude for first responders b. ATP Meeting – Member from VTrans really impressed by SB and us. c. Ryan grateful for shift of talent to young members of committees with great work experience. d. Grateful for courteous drivers e. Gratitude to Amanda 2. Additions, deletions, or changes to the agenda a. Bob attended full day City Council meeting today. Would like to give summary after City Update. Comment on minutes too. 3. New Member Introductions a. Welcome to Josh and Timur. Went around the table and did introductions. b. Elections for committee members. Chair, Vice Chair and Clerk roles. c. Motion by Havaleh to re-elect incumbent members d. Seconded by Ken e. All in favor. 4. Comments and questions from the public not related to the agenda a. Kathy Allaire – Lives next door at Allard Square. Asking what can be done about electric bikes on the walkway along Market Street. Current resident goes at least 30MPH on the shared use path. Conflicts with neighbors. Skateboarders, kids on bikes and needs to be some educational process on common courtesy on sidewalks. When passing people need to yell out. Also has issues with crosswalk at Market and Mary. Nic asked where the mid road sign went. Ken asked if there is an ordinance about what types of bikes can use the shared path (throttle vs not). Donna noted that if its that fast, it should not be able to use a path. When there was the conflict, met with Jessie Baker and posted on FPF, Other Paper and TV outlets. Doug noted speed of e-bikers could be due to being not “bikers” but don’t understand the courtesy issues. b. Buffy Caflitch. Lives in Queen City Park. Support what Doug is trying to do in getting good pedestrian facilities before and after the one lane bridge. Asked about funding. Last night the city painted double yellow lines on Central Ave which are unnecessary and should save the funds. Nic believes all double yellow lines are painted by the State. Still a waste of resources. Don’t need to do it every year. Erica confirmed it is a class 2 which is painted by the state every year. c. Larry Kupferman – Bridge in CIP at Queen City Park Road. Noted that the shared use path is planned but not the bridge. Concerned about lack of discussion of bridge. Hoping that SB will partner up with Burlington on bridge replacement and timeline so they coincide and we have a know what is proposed. Also noted that no one is taking care of the vegetation growing on the bridge. No DPW from each city does not seem interested in maintaining it. When the CIP for QCP is reviewed, should know the timing and plan for bridge 2 d. Ryan – We now have a new Official Map. A bit of a mess. Doesn’t make much sense for vehicular flow and bikes. Thinks should have Bike Ped Committee input. Keep in mind so that we can keep on it. Reminded of the DPW portal to request the landscaping issue. Larry noted that SB Parks do not manage. Burlington bridge. Jurisdictional issue. Would appreciate coordination. e. Bob noted that a neighborhood group could take matters into their own hands. f. Ryan asked about line striping and communication from DPW. Erica noted shared street standards where sometimes they just let people figure it out. Ryan asked about the alternative lane markings being communicated or in policy recommendations. g. Rules of the Path Discussion i. Kathy noted that there used to be a difference between asphalt and concrete. Could the concrete be split between users? ii. Donna noted VT state law differences between e-bikes. Most e-bikers aren’t going a lot faster on shared use paths. There are a lot of other types of other mobility devices. Should have people on wheels yield to walkers. iii. Timur asked about speed radar signs iv. Bob suggested taking to the safety subgroup. v. Havaleh – Problems have been identified. Education around rules of paths should be helpful to know about. vi. Nic noted that it needs to be multi-pronged and look to humans to be kind, sharing the path, with signage and education. Can’t be solved by enforcement. vii. Havaleh – Do need to focus on education and laws. Need to educate ourselves. Safety committee can discuss. 5. Consideration of minutes from August 14, 2024 Changes proposed from Bob: a. 10. b.) Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee’s August 14 meeting recommendation to Staff and Council to include in the listing of #1 – Embedded Policies in support of City Plan 2024’s goal #42: “Continue to make progress on connecting the gaps on the City’s bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure network through the completion of individual projects, maintaining the network, improving network safety, and spending Penny for Paths funding accordingly.” (this was updated in light of discussion at this meeting and comments made earlier in the day, not what was specifically said in the meeting). Other Aug 14th Draft Minutes Comments: b. 6. b.) Add sentence that reads: “Erica stated that of the 9-person Streets staff positions, 4 remain unfilled as of today and one is on leave.” c. 6. f.) Insert “on ROW easements” after “… move forward…” d. 9. a.) add “Memorial Park” after the word Veterans. e. Donna asked Bob about the process for easements on Dorset St. How many are we missing. f. Erica – Have 5. Another close. 2 other cooperative but challenging. 3 parcels to negotiate with. g. Donna asked if we should do an “Other Paper” article to get the others to sign. h. Doug noted that any private citizen can write any letter. i. Motion by Doug to approve with edits above. j. Seconded by Timur. k. Vote: All in favor. Ken abstained. 6. City Updates – Erica Quallen (6:05 PM) a. Read through updates from packet b. Stencil. Amanda asked about size and placement. Nic recommend that it be on the concrete pieces of Market St. And on entry points such as intersections. c. Donna noted the original discussions and that Market St could at some point be pedestrian only and walk bikes or wheeled vehicles. d. Could be reasonable to have dismount area in front of City Hall and Allard Sq. Very public. 3 e. Bob asked about paving plan. Erica noted on DPW website for next 5 years. f. Bob asked how much maintenance money is left? Erica can find out. Erica noted sidewalk assessment is being taken out of CIP project g. Donna asked why there is not a sidewalk on the east side of Spear Street near UVM? Bob noted it was difficult on the west. Ken frequently sees students walking in the street. Donna thinks we should assess that and add. h. Bob noted from City retreat meeting today the naming of public spaces put on hold for next year. Also, Hubbard Park permanent conservation easement became a may-do instead of must do. Lower priority. i. Bob noted that the Long Property letter was approved by majority at City Council. Wide discussion on the details and the path. Got wording changed to Asphalt 10ft wide and “adequate” parking lot. 7. Bike/Ped Committee Website Discussion (6:20 PM) a. Erica – Have been doing a lot of updates to City Website. If we have edits for content or deletions etc. just email Erica. Put agenda item off to next month. Asked committee to review before next meeting. b. Email from Ryan regarding website. Bob will forward Ryan’s and his comments to all committee members to review and Nic will include in minutes as a submission. 8. Review FY25 CIP (6:50 PM) a. Havaleh asked what the ask of the committee was for this item. b. Erica sending out templates to Dept Heads this Friday. This is the idea to get ahead of items to make sure edits are included in a timely way. Included other departments such as Roads, City Center TIF etc. which are bike/ped related. Big Q is…is something missing, should priorities be shifted, should we remove one for the sake of something new. FY28 is last year of collecting penny for paths. Will be on groups work plan on not-so-distant future. Will need to discuss. Bob thinks once we have completed some big projects, it will help for advocating for a future of c. Doug concerned the timeline for Queen City Park Path being in FY29 and FY30 starting. Concern of current situation and read a letter from Emily Heckler from Humane Society. Concern of them for walking their dogs. There is 40K in sidewalk work allocated. Could some of that be used for the approach to the bridge? Need to do something with the sidewalk. Section in front of VELCO does not exist. Nothing being done in that part of town compared to other parts of City. 100ft of sidewalk so could it be done earlier. Erica could do a sidewalk that is not made to last, as an interim measure while the path comes. Could be asphalt and not built as well/costly. Doug says area needs bollards too. Discussion of the Champlain Parkway path and how they don’t connect from Buffalo Wild Wings path and QCP path that already exists. Erica noted that traffic study assumptions from Champlain Parkway may be out of date. City are going to be doing an updated study with City of Burlington and CCRPC to find out movements once the parkway is in place. d. Erica noted that there is Active Transportation Projects line to allow for additional items. Could look at that. Starts with 100K from AARPA for this year and then grants and general fund after that. e. Bob asked about ATP. Final due in 2025. Havaleh thinks there is nice overlap of our projects and ATP. f. Timur asked about Dorset St maintenance in City Center. Erica noted that would be a CIP project. Nic seconds adding Dorset St replacement on CIP. g. Amanda – Shelburne Road path from Imperial to Macintosh. Originally just adding an asphalt path beside the sidewalk. Now using may not be a great idea. Happy that there is focus to replace with 10ft instead. Supports that item. h. Bob noted three: i. Should add Long Property path. Prob Rec Impact Fee and PFP ii. Still need Elsom Parkway crosswalk on Williston iii. Add Wright Court crosswalk (Nic noted that we are hoping it will be done by VTrans). iv. Swift Street Extension to Hinesburg Rd/Fox Run Lane/Landon Rd. 4 v. Road behind Burger King road connecting new Hannaford’s bike lane to Hannaford Drive path i. Nic asked to add sidewalk sections on Williston Road east of Kennedy Drive j. Amanda hopes that the laundry list of Active Transportation Plan Projects are shared before its in draft form. Erica noted they would share in October. k. Erica will bring back in October. 9. Active Transportation Plan Discussion (7:20 PM) a. Havaleh read notes. Most recent meeting, reviewed criteria that was used to assign point value to projects. Noted who is responsible. Asked if the right partners were listed in each item. What is missing. Needed specificity for maintenance. Cannot be inferred. And need to have section on Financing. Homework assignment to review. Need to have vision of what we want to accomplish that is easy and concise. Helps with making compromises. b. Ken happy to see how much work was done. Relied on data and covered all components. See limitations of scoring and may need shifting. c. Nic wants to see where does winter clearing fall under the rubric. Always missing. Needs to be included. d. Amanda hopes that structure is about a replicable product. When we get street scan that shows issues that become a project we need to be able to run the rubric or tweak based on a different variable. Erica noted they have access to all the documents with their Sharepoint. e. Havaleh asked for clarification of the need. Amanda hopes they have a narrative on their assumptions. Her vision sets the framework that can be reworked or rerun each year if needed. f. Donna noted new member of Planning Commission comments around transit. Not seeing that piece but know its implied. Sometimes people are trying to get to a transit stop. A lot of people could potentially use transit but don’t. Need a lot more people to use. Want to see more on transit. Do they offer passes, do we need more micro-transit yet? Hoping to see that information in this plan. Planning Commission got slammed for things happening people didn’t know was going to occur. Insinuated that we should be calling every business. How can you get more people aware of opportunities? g. Erica asked about TDM standard and if they have been approved yet by Planning Commission. Donna – A bit amorphous right now. So many different pieces. h. Erica noted they meet with GMT every 6 weeks or so. Have been doing a lot of mapping of transit routes and how to get people to use them. Lay out future routes etc. Donna noted transit is good for seasonal use. i. Nic asked about Swift St extension. Should be in ATP. On Official Map. j. Ken and Doug discussed Burger King and Hannaford connections. Lots of people could walk to shop but don’t. k. Nic wants to make sure that the Spear Street Alternative Wiggle is shown on maps and becomes a key route for encouragement. l. Ryan noted that Hinesburg Road should be multiple projects. Concerned that the intersection methodology doesn’t get scored high enough compared to linear features. Erica notes that linear does pick up more. Can bring up with consultants. m. Havaleh would like to have group review as homework. Also focus on the Policy and Program recommendations. Want to make sure the leadership is correct, are we missing things etc on the slides. All the slide decks are on the CCRPC page already. n. Ryan – Evaluation Criteria for equity. Is census the only demographic data. Erica noted vulnerability index score was made up of a lot of different metrics within that one score. Ryans concern is the size of the census tracks and the diversity within them. Need some highlighting of the high priority places within those tracks or bonus score. o. Amanda noted that connectivity bleeds into other towns too for those on the periphery. 10. Sub-Group Updates (7:40 p.m.) 5 a. Nic discussed Neighborhood to School Route and encouraged all people to share or complete the survey. b. Amanda will need to be taken off agenda items. c. Should have subgroup summary next agenda and discuss where new members may want to fill in. 11. Confirm October 9, 2024 meeting 12. Adjourned at 8:00 p.m.