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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-03-16 BABAB MinutesBozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board (BABAB) Meeting MINUTES, Weds, Feb 3, 2016 6-8 PM, City Commission Room A. Call meeting to Order Chair: Dillon Warn Members: Jen Peterson, Steve Blair, Sam Haraldson, Tony LeBaron, Jason Delmue, Candace Mastel, Bill Cochran Head of City Streets Dept: John Vandelinder Mayor Taylor, Commission Liason Guests: Ralph Zimmer – Chair PTSC, Marilee Brown, Ursula Neese, Mary Vant Hull Absent: Rebecca Gleason, Julianna Oliff, Zach Steffl, Daniel Davis B. Public Comment: 5 min a. None C. Cycle Greater Yellowstone Event – Mitch Overton – 10 min a. Mitch wasn’t here. b. [Covered out of order. This was at the end.] Cochran: 4th year. Put on by GYC as a fundraiser ride. Route changes every year. This year it starts and finishes in Bozeman. Aug. 13 – 20th. Want to use Beall Park as their in-town camp. 350 person cap. not all will camp. some will stay in hotels, B&Bs, etc. Mitch asked if Cochran would help coordinate. Not a paid position, but liason can direct a charitable contribution from GYC. Cochran been coordinating with Jennifer Drinkwater, the ride coordinator. Cost: $1,300 for a week. Supported. Food. Opportunities to volunteer. D. New Board Members – Mayor Taylor – 5 min a. Mayor Taylor: Journey of procedural difficulties to get this round of appointments done. He reappointed every one except Steve Blair, because his re-application came late and there were more applicants than spots. County rep hadn’t been coming. Thought term expired. Mayor Taylor was going to appoint. Turned out still one more year. Had Ursula shift her application to County. Need to get the non-attendee off. Mayor Taylor read the rule. County to recommend someone. City doesn’t want to boot someone that they didn’t recommend in the first place and doesn’t know who it is. County Commission will have to do it. b. John: we’re supposed to notify the commission after 3 no-shows. c. Mayor Taylor: we’ll use that procedure. Then proceed with the remaining 2 appointments. If County doesn’t recommend Ursula, then Mayor Taylor will appoint her to City spot. The Board is almost full. d. Sam: can we recommend to County to recommend her? e. Mayor Taylor: sure. f. Mayor Taylor: BONUS topic – it’s a citizen advisory board. he wants to maximize the citizen input to the board. He tries to stay out of the way. He may step in if we’re wondering what he thinks the Commission might want from us or how it might react to something. He prefers to stay in the background of the discussion so as not to lose the citizen input. E. TCC Meeting - Belgrade Path Updates – Bill Cochran – 10 min a. Cochran: Unusual – significant public comment, and on 2 items. 1. MDT slope-flattening project for a section of frontage road. Jennifer Nelson said wouldn’t be let to bid til 2018. Several citizens, including Ralph Zimmer, Kelly Pohl, Marilee, said should include a separated shared-use path. b. TCC vote was 8 yesses, 3 abstentions (from county reps), 4 no votes (3 were MDT people). Doesn’t require MDT to do it. Lots of interest. PTSC has written a letter to MDT. Cochran has drafted a letter o/b/o BABAB to Dir MDT, Jeff Ebert (Butte supervisor), Jennifer Nelson (engineer on the project) encouraging them to follow up and build this path not just for this slope-flattening section but for the rest, too. c. Zimmer: We have the support of TCC by last week’s vote. But the issue eventually will be resolved by MDT and County Commission. A couple more hurdles to clear. PTSC wrote a letter to Dir of MDT. Response was that MDT staff would consider the issue later this week. So, good idea for BABAB ltr to be sent by e-mail tomorrow. Still road blocks ahead. The design is currently underway and d/n incl a separated shared-use path, which is the language that PTSC, BABAB, and GVLT agreed to. If they do include it, they will have to revise the design. May have to spend more time on ROW considerations. May have the land in an existing easement. Will probably have to discuss with the landowner, which apparently is MT Rail Link. Will take more time. Surely more talk. Leadership of PTS, BABAB, and GVLT agreed to before TCC was that we are in consensus that if it were absolutely necessary we would agree to a slight delay in the slope-flattening project in order to get the separated shared-use path. d. Cochran: His understanding from Jennifer is that it is not just a slope-flattening project e. Marilee Brown: from Mtn View Sub (Sacajawea and Cooley Dr) to Hyalite Creek (Dollar Drive), so kind of in the middle of nowhere. f. Mary Vant Hull: Back when Safe Trails Coalition was going, we spent years working. Gene Townsend from Three Forks. Ran out of steam. We really need this. Even just a design would be good, even if the funding isn’t known at the time. She urges us all to use FB, Twitter and ask for people to contact MDT, Jeff Ebert. There was a plan update that said that non-vehicular traffic is just as important as vehicular. You can do a lot with squeaky wheels. The demand is huge. If you ask people, they agree that we should have a safe trail between Belgrade and Bozeman. Would be wonderful for tourism. Nordic ski club was behind it. g. Marilee: The MDT kept trying to say that they wanted to just do the shoulder, which would only be for the 1.6 miles. We would apply for TA funds. They are hard to get. Only 1 out of 3 projects in the County this year got funded. Even if they only do the 1.6 miles now, it’s the corner piece. It sets a precedent. Whenever they repair the road, they’ll do the path adjacent. h. Cochran: Prior Rob Buckvitch told Cochran that they were going to do a corridor study. There is ROW available. Good situation for a Tiger grant. Expensive. Story Mill to the M will be $2-3 million project. 9 miles to Belgrade might be $8 million, if built to fed stds (10-foot paved). i. Vandelinder: prior, the stopping point was MRL. frontage road is on an easement. for vehicular traffic only. for south-side. MRL said no. Would never allow. Could do north side. Should do the whole thing, though, b/c an unused section in the middle will degrade. j. Cochran: not as good b/c add’l roads and driveway crossings on the N side. k. Dillon: how can BABAB support? l. Cochran: He’s drafted a letter. Bare minimum. Project won’t be let for bid for approx. 2 more years. m. Tony: how much is the section of road? n. Marilee: part is paid out of safety funds. $1.6 million is paid out of discretionary funds that the district has. Left over from the airport project. County Commission wants that money to say in the County. Worried that delay could jeopardize that money going outside the county. o. Steve: A County Commission seat is up for election. Candidate Storm seemed receptive to bike issues. p. Dillon: Can we quantify the demand? q. Cochran: People can use the Transp Master Plan website to voice the need. r. Sam: T-Plan ends at City border. s. Ursula: Should go to the County Commission. t. Marilee: our group has calls out to anyone who might be able to influence the County Commission. First step – letter to MDT. Second step – after MDT response, will be letters to the editor, reaching out to the County Commission to let them know how much people who vote for them want this. u. John: there are two rounds of Tiger and TA (formerly C-TEP) grants between now and then. Competitive now. Used to be population based. v. Jason: Q – County residents probably use and value Streamline. County w/n fund. How can this outcome end up different? w. Marilee: Thinks that the County wants individual letters. Example, lowering speed limit at a certain location. x. John: County thought Streamline benefitted Bozeman and Belgrade more than County residents. y. Cochran: read draft letter aloud. z. Motion (Sam); Second (Jen). Vote 8-0 in favor. aa. Marilee: revise language so can’t be misread to suggest only for future projects. bb. Ralph: the existing T-Plan simply calls for a widened shoulder. It does not call for a path. POST Plan calls for a path. F. TMP Master Plan Updates – Bill – 10 min a. Rebecca attended in Bill’s place last time. i. land use forecasting they’ll do re: where to build out streets. ii. Community Outreach events and the comments rec’d today. 1. They have rec’d lots of comments. iii. Committed project list – lots are things we’ve talked about in town. One thing is Kagy. Most expensive project on the list. Engendered the most public comment. Everybody needs to weigh in. Will affect how the S side of the community is laid out. The projects are ongoing. Plan is ongoing. Things in the current plan haven’t been done. Comes down to funding. Kagy will get done, though. And the current plan is to do 5-lanes. iv. Sam: Craig Wollard suggested that five lanes seems most reasonable at this time but public comment will be considered v. John: with the traffic counts. high volume. b/c of the development potential of the area. will have more volume than the interstate. vi. Steve: why not 5 lanes? vii. Cochran: they always overestimate. overbuild. and the issue is whether non-vehicles can navigate 5 lanes. S-side kids cross Kagy to get to Sacajawea Middle School. viii. Jen: What’s going to happen at Willson and S 3rd? ix. John: They’re looking at every alternative from multi-lane roundabout to signal. x. Sam: need to look at more than just traffic. Social component. Need to make a strong case. If not, then it will be 5 lanes. xi. Candace: Work at MSU as campus planner and project manager. Working on traffic plan and bike master plan. Same consultants. MSU has submitted a list of 15 or so items to the consultant re: Kagy reconstruction. List included that they look at things like a shared-use path on the S side of Kagy. Also, certain things whether 5- or 3- lane, such as: grade separation, non-traditional traffic control. xii. Cochran: traffic engineers don’t like changing what they think is std and works. xiii. Candace: MSU has to get across it to for maintenance, ex. stadium. xiv. John: Boulder – had 5-lanes but everything was separated. ex. tunnels. Very expensive, though. xv. Dillon: BABAB simply comment in TMP phase? or do more? xvi. Cochran: we are the advisory board to the city. either way will have bike lanes. xvii. Sam: it’s the characteristics. Will be like an east-west 19th. xviii. Ursula: has MoR weighed in? xix. Sam: they were reported to have been at the table. xx. Candace: MoR is a campus constituent. At prior mtg, there was an idea to connect Galligator to MoR. MSU wants connection. Not sure where. The 7th Ave extension (currently a driveway) could be implicated. xxi. Sam: WTI wrote a really nice letter to the Kagy design team. We could do similar. Bike lanes are included, either way. xxii. John: could just refer to that letter and join in. xxiii. Tony: Could draft a letter in support of WTI’s letter. xxiv. Dillon: MoR is anticipating 5-lanes. xxv. Resolved: a letter voicing our support of WTI’s letter. xxvi. FOR NEXT MEETING: Put the above on the agenda xxvii. Cochran: the amount of attendance and comments at last TCC meeting was noteworthy. Prior history: maybe 2 comments in 5 years on TCC (except last time, and when the horse advocates showed up for the last T-plan) xxviii. Ralph: not all members of TCC are traffic engineers. At most, half are engineers. xxix. John: 3 are engineers. xxx. Ralph: 2 from MDT. G. Kagy Blvd Planning and Design – Rebecca – 15 min a. [Much of this was covered above. Rebecca could not attend.] H. 2015 Bike Counts – Zach, Rebecca – 5 min a. Sam: This is in Zach’s court. He has the data. Needs to put it into a graph. Not sure how his (Sam’s) own name got attached to this item. I. Bike Map Update – Sam – 10 min a. Sam: talked to Steve Bretson, then Massive. Massive “owns” the design. We’ll have to contract with them to update. Sam will try to get a price/estimate before next meeting. Massive said not expecting it to require a bid b/c won’t be $5k. b. Dillon: then printing. c. John: in batches. d. Tony: there are gaps. Can we delete some lines? Can we send a list? e. Sam: Yes. Please do. Anyone can submit items that need to be updated. f. FOR NEXT AGENDA. g. John: Can include “future” designation. Ex. Cascade. J. Feb. 29th City Commission Meeting – all – 50 min i. Dillon: He and maybe others will present. ii. John: I’ll have to do a staff memo. iii. Mayor Taylor: Where did the date come from? iv. A: Came from Mayor Taylor. v. Mayor Taylor: didn’t put it on the agenda. Now that date is annual priorities discussion. 7th won’t work. no meeting the 14th. March 21st can work. First Monday after Spring Break. How much time do we want? vi. Dillon: 10-15 minutes to present; then discussion. 30 minutes total. vii. Last presentation to Commission was Feb 2012. b. What have we done? i. drivers ed classes ii. Bike Week iii. bike counts iv. sharrows v. Peach vi. cell-phone ordinance vii. T-Plan viii. TCC ix. Sam: would like to find old list of projects and show them what we asked for, what they did, what’s left, what we’re asking for now. Willson, 11th, 23rd – others. x. John: Willson still needs a water main – next summer or summer after. Won’t make sense to do anything prior. Need to figure out what to do with the bulb-outs. Snow plow drivers will be happy to lose the bulb-outs. xi. bike ped – repeated requests. xii. Jason: Kagy project is the kind of thing that bike-ped coordinator would handle. It’s too much to expect from a volunteer board. c. What are we going to do? i. Kagy ii. Main Street? iii. Candace: bike master plan at MSU. bike ped coord in in the master plan as a vital part of the plan. Q re: how many FTE? empowered to make change? how to fund? We’re doing the functions spread among other people, but really we need a dedicated person. Could be good timing. iv. Jason: same person? any reason why not? v. Candace: MSU always has to compare with U of M re: positions. vi. Mayor Taylor: Could City and MSU jointly fund one position? vii. John: Not sure who to talk to on the City side. viii. Jason: I agree with Mayor Taylor. That was my prior point. ix. Candace: MSU has found recently that it’s kind of a project coordinator position. Bring together the minds that need to be brought together. Maybe find funding. x. John: City could fund ½ FTE. Maybe MSU could fund ½. City might be waiting to reach 50,000 population = MPO status. xi. Cochran: xii. Candace: Such as a Transportation Demand Management Coordinator position. Not sure exactly. Could be WTI with multiple funding sources. xiii. Mayor Taylor: Yes – something along those lines. Push at the notion of a creative solution. xiv. Sam: the prior list of projects included: Willson, 11th, 23rd. We got 23rd. See above re: Willson. Joe Gilpin w/n in favor of Willson. So need some north-south way. S Grand. Could be good if re-paved AND cross streets get stop signs. xv. Mayor Taylor: S Grand coming up for potential SID. N Grand given up on – residents don’t want it. xvi. Jason: whatever the project might look like should be figured out before the SID is presented, b/c the residents’ favor or disfavor will depend on what’s being proposed. xvii. Tony: maybe have those round planter islands in the intersections. xviii. Sam: maybe use the term “bicycle boulevard” so as to leave flexibility. xix. Mayor Taylor: room for parking on 1-side and bike lanes? xx. John: maybe not. xxi. Candace: would be good to coord with MSU. They’re trying to coordinate beyond their borders. Ex. 15th. Need an eastern N-S route. If Grand, then should be the same for MSU and City. She’ll share what they’re working on. xxii. Cochran: If Grand, then Grand, 8th, and 15th would be north-south connections to campus. xxiii. Sam: part of T-Plan discussions of upcoming projects? xxiv. John: no. local street. Ex. Wallace Street residents wanted traffic calming. Their SID will include these increased costs. Was just going to be a re-paved street. Wallace from L Street to Lamme. xxv. FOR MARCH AGENDA: see above xxvi. Dillon: What about east-west connection? xxvii. Cochran: Oak, Durston, Baxter – all going to be finished. xxviii. Steve: north-south? xxix. John: Fowler going to go through from W Babcock to Oak. Depends on the owners/developers. That’s un-annexed land. d. What would we like to see from the city? i. See above – Bike-Ped coordinator or similar position. K. Old Business L. New business a. Sam: anything further with Dylan re: Bike Week? b. Dillon: he’s turned over our stuff. Jessie May will help. c. Cochran: Dylan and Jessie May met on Monday. ADJOURNED at 7:49 pm.