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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-10-19 PTS MinutesBozeman (Area) Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee 1 Minutes of the April 10, 2019 Meeting 2 Upstairs Conference Room Alfred Stiff Office Building 3 4 Attendance: 5 6 Voting Committee Members: 7 Ralph Zimmer (Gallatin County), Chair 8 Tony Gaddo (At-Large Member), Vice Chair 9 Marilee Brown (At-large-Member), Secretary 10 Danielle Scharf (City of Bozeman) 11 Sherry Heis (City of Bozeman) 12 Tom Foster (Gallatin County) 13 Douglas Kellie (Bozeman School District) 14 Douglas Fischer (Bozeman School District and Board of Trustees) 15 16 Official Non-Voting Committee Members: 17 John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman Streets Department) 18 Todd Swinehart (School District) 19 Absent: Bill Brownell, Road & Bridge Supervisor (County) 20 21 City Commissioners, County Commissioners, and School Board Trustees 22 Terry Cunningham (City Commissioner) 23 Douglas Fischer (School District Trustee but also Voting Member of the Committee) 24 Absent: Scott MacFarlane (County Commissioner) 25 26 Law Enforcement Liaison Officers 27 Steve Crawford (Chief, Bozeman Police Department) 28 Absent: (Sheriff’s Department) 29 30 Frequent Attendees and Guests (City, County, Bozeman School District, and Montana 31 Department of Transportation Staff): 32 Levi Ewan (Engineer, County Road Department) 33 Shawn Kohtz, (City Engineer) 34 Duane Liebel (MDT Butte District Preconstruction Engineer) 35 Candace Mastel (BABAB Chairperson) 36 Mike Hope (State District Transportation Commissioner) 37 Addi Jadin (Bozeman Parks and Trails Division Manager) 38 39 Citizens and Other Guests: 40 Matthew Campbell (MSU ITE) 41 Andrew M. Williamson 42 Janice K. Whetstone 43 R. Dale Beland 44 Ray Strother 45 Sandy Strother 46 Ralph W. Steele 47 Pierce Mullin 48 George Matson 49 50 Quorum: Present. 51 52 1. Call to Order and Introductions. 53 Ralph Zimmer, PTS Committee Chair, called the meeting to order at 12:00 PM and 54 introductions of attendees were made. 55 56 2. Agenda. 57 Ralph offered the opportunity to provide comments on the agenda. Several items were 58 rearranged due to time constraints and XI Consideration of accommodating non-motorized 59 travel along Huffine will be discussed at the next meeting. 60 61 3. Public Comment. 62 Janice Whetstone talked about Paul Wiley being run down on Grand and Main on March 25, 63 2019 by a 16 year old. She is concerned about the disregard for pedestrian’s downtown and 64 the number of people that run red lights in their vehicles. A group of concerned citizens have 65 met with Chief Crawford and want the public educated. They want the MDT to help and 66 additional signage to yield and fines instituted including cell phone use. They can be found at 67 Ted’s Place at noon every day if anyone wants to talk to them. 68 69 Dale Beland, retired urban planner for Gallatin County stated that the Downtown Plan should 70 integrate specific measures. We should define the issues and then they could be adopted. We 71 should not destroy walk ability in the plan. 72 73 Ralph Steele spoke about how he sees pedestrians running out of crosswalks and avoiding 74 cars. Speed is an issue. 75 76 Pierce Mullin believes that we need to raise the consciousness of drivers and pedestrians. 77 78 George Matson – friend of Paul Wiley also spoke. 79 80 81 4. Minutes. 82 Minutes of the February 13, 2019 meeting had been distributed electronically prior to the 83 meeting and hard copies were distributed at the meeting. The minutes were approved with no 84 amendments. Tony moved and Doug seconded. 85 86 (The committee’s March meeting was cancelled so the February 13 meeting was the last 87 meeting prior to this meeting.) 88 89 5. Report on Results of Previous Actions & Consideration of Follow-Up Action. 90 PTS recommended to both the City Planning Board and the City Commission the approval of 91 the Downtown Plan provided the engineering would be subject to further study and approval. 92 93 6. County Commission, City Commission, and School Board Member Reports. 94 Terry Cunningham. We have two new police officers and now have 62 total. Chief Crawford 95 is authorized to hire a total 65. 96 On April 8 the commission will be hearing about the subdivision on the South West corner of 97 Valley west, which is, zoned B-1 and it will trigger improvements on Cottonwood. 98 Comments are open until April 15th on the Downtown Plan. Send comments to 99 agenda@Bozeman.net with any concerns. 100 The new Director of Public Works has still not been appointed and a reevaluation is in the 101 recruitment process. 102 Addi Jadin is the new planner for the PROST Plan update. We are to remind her at a later 103 date that PTS needs a member on the PROST update committee. 104 105 Douglas Fischer (School Board Trustee and PTS voting member) stated that Gallatin High is 106 40% completed and on budget. It will open in the fall of 2020. Then we need a new 107 elementary school built. He attended the most recent PCC (the Planning Coordination 108 Committee for the Bozeman/Belgrade/Four Corners Triangle Area) meeting and felt it showed 109 how hard it is to plan for traffic and where schools. We need a regional park and corridors for 110 connectivity with trails and parks. This will help in planning where we put future schools. 111 Paths should not be an afterthought. 112 113 7. Reports from Law Enforcement Liaison Members. 114 Chief Crawford met with Janice and her group to discuss downtown pedestrian issues. He has 115 some resources available but encouraged the group to come and work with PTS. Crash data 116 in an eight year time period showed there were 18 crashes – eleven of them with significant 117 injuries. Three serious injuries have occurred in last 6 months. There are 12,000 cars and 118 6,000 pedestrians daily downtown. Community effort is needed. 119 120 Message trailers will be placed at 11th and Graph and the area north of Ferguson and Durston 121 where people are cutting through neighborhoods to the northwest in order to avoid the 122 intersection. 123 124 8. Reports from Non-Voting Official Committee Members. 125 Todd Swinehart (Bozeman School District) attended PCC meeting and was frustrated at lack 126 of current planning within the Triangle. The school district is working with the Woodland 127 Park development and is considering a school site. Gallatin County donated two acres for a 128 school. Safe routes to school are not being planed for in subdivisions and need connectivity 129 with each other. 130 131 John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman Streets Department) reported that they lost half their 132 crew due to not paying competitive wages. Local contractors pay twice the wages of the City 133 so every time the City train someone new they leave for better pay. The schools are having 134 the same problems. 135 This year potholes are the worst they have seen do to “frost boil’s”. Danielle asked about 136 Westridge having so many potholes and was told that the City cannot keep up with all the 137 damage. 138 139 9. Reports from Related Groups. 140 141 Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board. Matthew will be attending meetings in the future. 142 The Board is being more proactive with the City Commission in the prioritization of the 143 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) process. 144 They are also looking at things with Linda DuPriest (a consultant to the City) between 145 meetings in order to be more proactive. 146 147 Galla10 Alliance for Pathways (GAP) announced that the first phase of Frontage Pathway will 148 commence this summer and if built as currently planned will allow Jackrabbit to M via Valley 149 Center and Frontage Pathway. 150 151 10. Comment on Third Public Draft of County Transportation Construction and Design 152 Standards. 153 PTS recently submitted comments on the second draft. Two voting members attended the 154 first roundtable. Subsequently we have received more comments from members and will be 155 submitting them. 156 Levi welcomes written comments. Around twenty engineers and surveyors attended the first 157 roundtable. There will be another roundtable with them on May 14 to review the third public 158 draft of the Standards. Then the public process will take place at public County Commission 159 meetings. 160 Ralph asked about the County Trails Plan(s) – Levi stated that the 2001 Plan was adopted but 161 lacks needed details. The 2010 Plan was not adopted because of fiscal considerations but is 162 being looked at again. 163 164 11. Discussion of Topics of Mutual Interest with New State Transportation 165 Commissioner. 166 There are 5 districts and Mike Hope of Bozeman has been appointed by the Governor to 167 represent our District, the Butte District. His first face-to-face meeting will be the 24th of 168 April. Commission responsibilities include oversight over MDT. MDT District 169 Administrator Jeff Ebert plus District staff members Duane Libel and Joe Walsh have met 170 with Mike. 171 172 Ralph highlighted some of our committee’s concerns including: 173 a) Lowering the speed limit on I-90 in the Belgrade/Bozeman area. 174 b) The MDT has not responded to a request for slow down and move over signs. 175 c) Valley Center Spur concerns – local government requests and MDT have a difference of 176 opinions. 177 d) Downtown development plan – the difficulty of moving trucks off of Main Street because it 178 is a designated highway. 179 180 Mike shared that he got here in 1981 and owns the Rocking R Bar and is currently developing 181 some land on 7th. He is not afraid of discussion and has no political agenda. He has a passion 182 to make community and the state better and move all modes of transportation effectively. 183 184 12. Consideration of Topics of Mutual Interest with New City Engineer 185 Shawn Kohtz has been working with city for 4 years now and is stepping into Rick Hixson’s 186 position. A number of items were discussed: 187 188 a) Main street – supporting the downtown plan that will reduce lanes to 3 lanes will help 189 protect pedestrians. There will be a downtown implementation study and PTS will be 190 included. 191 b) Requests for speed studies and RFB’s (Rapid Flashing Beacons) can be made to him. We 192 can improve pedestrian crossings with RFB’s. 193 c) He is hoping to have a new engineer at our meetings in the future. 194 d) Ralph asked about the Spur connection to the path. Approval required the developer to try 195 and get Prince Lane to Spur approved by the railroad. Does the City know or MDT know if a 196 communication occurred. Duane stated he does not know and the issue is at the director’s 197 office. The decision for a light was made with safety money and May 9 is the letting date for 198 signalization of both ends of the Valley Center Spur. 199 Shawn stated that they have had discussions with MDT and it has been forwarded up to the 200 director level. 201 202 Duane stated that regarding pedestrian facilities on the Spur under the I-90 overpass, it was 203 thought that the original construction plans were correct in showing the columns were 33 feet 204 apart but they actually are 37 feet across. There is room for a path. The MDT will be meting 205 with the City next month. 206 207 Ralph asked who does he envision doing the work and who will pay for it. Shawn stated that 208 it will go through the CIP process. 209 210 Ralph asked MDT and Shawn if there is anyway that we can help make that occur please let 211 us know and we will do our best. 212 213 Duane stated that the County could put a sidewalk under I-90 right now. 214 215 Shawn – Billings’s clinic may kick-start annexation in the future. 216 217 Shawn grew up in Idaho. He went to MSU. Always wanted to work here for the City. 218 219 13. Meet and Greet New Recreation and Parks Department staff member for Trails. 220 Addi Jadin is the Park Planning and Development Manager under open space and trails. She 221 used to work in the City planning department. 222 223 The PROST plan update will be important and a future focus. Currently the path update to the 224 M is her main focus now that it is under construction. She is interested in being part of the 225 dialogue about vistas and water. Policy issues of that contributes to parks. She is an architect. 226 The PROST plan needs to acknowledge increase of open space in new developments. School 227 land sits under the parkland dedication as a public amenity in the past. 228 229 Another goal is Civic engagement from the bottom up instead of top down to interface with 230 the parks. They are getting more and more people in integrating with the parks. She wants 231 people to feel free to shape her job. 232 233 Ralph asked Terry about the PROST 2007 plan. Getting the update has been postponed until 234 the vote on the proposed Parks and Recreation District occurs at the November election. This 235 delay is due to two factors. The original funding for the update was (temporarily) diverted to 236 facilitate the work on the Bozeman Public Safety Center. Then the vote on the District was 237 delayed to avoid having the public vote simultaneously on two significant tax increases (the 238 Center and the District). 239 240 Ralph asked how the PROST update relates to the County Trails Plan. Addi worked for the 241 County planning and was aware of the 2010 plan that was not adopted. PROST will consider 242 a large donut area past Bozeman City boundaries. The 2010 plan was not a political priority. 243 244 14. Community Transportation Safety Plan. 245 No report. 246 247 15. MDT State Bike/Ped Plan. 248 The plan was released this last Monday and comments are due on May 5. 249 No funding to maintain pathways is included in the plan and there seems to be no real 250 substance to encourage the building of separated paths. 251 252 A motion was made by Marilee with a second by Doug that the Chair should write a letter 253 with assistance of others. It passed unanimously. 254 255 16. Next Meeting. A quick straw poll of the members present suggests we might not achieve 256 a quorum if we met on our normal meeting date, the second Wednesday of the month, if we 257 meet on May 8. It appeared meeting on May 15 would be better attended. We tentatively 258 agreed to meet on May 15 rather than May 8. (Electronic postscript: the next meeting 259 occurred on May 15.) ay 15 at Noon. 260 261 17. Meeting Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 2:30 PM. 262 263 Minutes by Marilee Brown 264 Initial edits by Ralph Zimmer 265