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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-02-20 BABAB MinutesBozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board (BABAB) Meeting Minutes for September 2, 2020 6-8 p.m. Via WebEx BABAB’s purpose is to recommend safe bicycle practices throughout Bozeman in regard to enhanced bicycle circulation and design, community-wide bicycle education and safety programs, and other matters relating to bicycling in the Bozeman area. In attendance: Board Members: Andrew Brechbuhler, Barton Churchill, Candace Mastel, Chrissy Pepino, Danae Giannetti, Jason Delmue, Jason Karp, Joceyln Funderburk, Kristin Davis, Philip Sarnoff, Scott Lease Staff Liaisons: Taylor Lonsdale , John Vandelinder Commission Liaison: Terry Cunningham Members of Public: Matt Marcinek, Marilee Brown, Ralph Zimmer, Clare Menzel A. Meeting Called to Order at 6:06 pm B. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes (March 2020 Meeting) Motion to approve minutes by Jason Karp, seconded by Scott Lease. All in favor. C. Public Comment Marliee Brown: TOP Committee supported frontage path application being moved onto City Commission. BABAB wrote letter of support. There are questions and ideas; question: what happened to $10,000 allocated to Front Street allocated in 2020 CIP? Front Street may be taken over by developer. Would like $10,000 for East-West project for Frontage Path. Also, curious about funding that went through, understanding is that $50,000 CIP for STR20 half from general funds and half from maintenance funds. Helpful to not just receive maintenance funds (requires things to be done curb-to-curb) but also receive general funds. Also, would like to speak on suggestion by Mark Egge when $50,000 increase in funding that it is increased each year. If request increase $50,000 per year, then will it come out of general fund or maintenance? Where will it come from? Does it need to be split? Candace: We will try to answer some of these questions moving forward. D. Member Absences None D.2 - Introduction of new members: Barton, Phillip, Scott, and Jocie E. Update from City Transportation Engineer – Information Item (Taylor Lonsdale) ● Durston Rd and Ferguson roundabout opened; Cottonwood opened. Next year Rouse and other projects on east side of town will wrap up. ● CIP season (will answer some of questions above from public comment) ● John: trying to keep up with street sweeping; 2-3 times per month. ● Current project: North 7th Streetscape funding through Midtown Urban Renewal District; sidewalk improves on North 7th between Durston and Mendenhall. Also improving crossing at Villard (RRFB, median refuge island, and curb extensions). ● Fowler - Sanderson Stewart will do project; moving forward with scope, fee, contract in place. Big piece is working on community engagement piece. Anticipate getting underway this fall/early winter. Staff working on piloting new process for community engagement. Public Comments on Agenda Item E: Ralph: No mention yet of trails plan that county is developing in Triangle Area. Taylor: GVLT and Gallatin County have kicked off county-wide planning effort. The Triangle Plan is something that has been worked on for area between Belgrade, 4 Corners, and Bozeman. The general Triangle Plan has been approved and now they’re undertaking a specific trails planning effort for county- wide trails. That fits within umbrella of Triangle Plan Jason Karp: Run by GVLT and County Planning Board. Have been doing some rides around from west of Bozeman and Belgrade; wanting to put another ride for 4 corners area. Sanderson Stewart is consultant working on that plan. 3 mile gap currently along Huffine. Commissioner Cunningham: previous PTSC public comments relating to how difficult it is to navigate from west Bozeman, along Huffine, to 4 Corners. Something along Huffine would likely be a significant portion of that plan. Scott Lease: Interested in being a part of that effort. Jason Karp: Will follow-up on future planning efforts. Candace: Will send out recent email with new information to board, too. F. Election of Officers (Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary) Candace: Questions about process or election in general? Chrissy: Time commitment on hours per month? Candace: 8-10 hrs per month for chair, plan is to split duties between chair and vice chair. Look to staff liaisons for more guidance. Taylor: Staff liaison needs to be more involved with agenda development. Budget for this FY includes a transportation demand management position. Currently working on position description. That role will bring more bandwidth to this and likely to take over as liaison for BABAB and PTSC but not 100% sure yet. Once that person is on board there could be an opportunity for that discussion. Candace: Could record virtual meetings moving forward as an asset to help with taking minutes. Chair Nominations Andrew nominated Danae but she declined the nomination at this time. Vice Chair Nominations No nominations at this time. Secretary Nominations Taylor: With respect to taking minutes, about recording topics that were discussed and context of conversations. Not a transcript of the meeting. Summary of content that was discussed. Recording votes, actions that the board takes. Chrissy: Nominated Kristin; all in favor. Danae: question regarding term of position since we are electing officers in fall rather than beginning of year. Taylor: Bylaws read that election is held first meeting of the calendar year. Commissioner Cunningham: Suggestion - if anyone is considering chair or vice chair please email Taylor or Commissioner Cunningham to further discuss. Taylor: Need to get to a place where to elect chair and vice chair. Will facilitate getting next meeting setup. John: According to bylaws, if no chair or vice chair then board selects active chair and vice chair (round robin style) until someone accepts the position. Could go alphabetically. Discussion on handling vacant chair, vice chair positions Candace: Nominate self as vice chair as a way to transfer knowledge to new chair (which will be filled round-robin until permanently filled); seconded by Jason Karp. Jason Delmue will chair the October meeting. For November and forward, contact Taylor to coordinate on filling positions for each meeting. G. Identification of priorities for FY21 bicycle & pedestrian funding (Taylor Lonsdale) Taylor: In the past has entirely been street maintenance funds ($50k last year, $25k year prior). This year, Commission added $50k of general fund money. This year, have $100k to spend specifically on bike/ped infrastructure. In previous years, have allocated funds and spent through street maintenance projects. This didn’t get added in street maintenance track this year. Intent is to work with BABAB and PTSC to develop priority list of projects for available funding. Will need to do it quickly. Intent to put project together, advertised, and put together for spring. This money needs to be spent by the end of June 2021. Intent is to go through previous prioritization that was done and what was brought up that is new; bring forward a proposal for $100k worth of work. Then, have discussion. This isn’t prepared yet but still have time to accomplish. Taylor: Regarding the criteria used for prioritization: There are long lists of projects in city that we all want to see happen and need to begin to understand how to prioritize and be opportunistic. In the past, a criteria matrix (which will be sent out after meeting to board members) was used. Board member homework: Taylor will distribute priority list and list of proposed infill pieces for BABAB consideration. Does the matrix make sense or need revisions? Consider any possible ways to modify it. Would like to vote in October. Will need to be thoughtful about pavement markings because it can be hard to get them down by end of June; will be considered when looking at projects. This is a limitation of it this year. Commissioner Cunningham: Talking about separate buckets of funding. Request to describe types of funding for new members. Taylor: Street maintenance funding for bike/ped improvements has increased; based on state statute funding use is limited within right-of-way and between curbs. This year, an additional $50k added from general fund which does not have the same restrictions as the street maintenance fund. Capital improvement/CIP - funding from various sources, larger projects, such as street reconstruction or new infrastructure. There has been a request to have a set-aside bicycle/ped capital improvement projects. Plan is to move toward having capital money for standalone projects. Danae: Are there any shovel ready projects? Taylor: Good question. Not talking about projects that require design to any extent. Talking about projects that can be installed with field engineers such as pedestrian ramps. Another is installation of RRFBs and other crossing improvements. Clear from people that advocated for money that it could be spent outside of roadway. There are projects in the $50k ball park. Public comments Marilee: Need to get TMP projects in to CIP FY22-26 and hope that BABAB gets on this between now and October. Looking for shovel ready projects holds back. Question for Taylor and John: seems like some of the money allocated needs to go toward design or how to get it done the following year? Frustrated that our money, every year, goes to ramps and signage because we aren’t prepared/don’t get anything done. BABAB and PTSC need to work together. Need to change how system works for public works projects. Happy to hear that City is working to set aside CIP money for bike and pedestrian. Ralph: Question for Taylor: All of $100k FY21 would go towards construction activities, is that a restriction on the money? Is it a restriction on any of it? Not related - would like to address joint PTSC and BABAB meeting to discuss Griffin Drive. Taylor: Re: Griffin Drive - Taylor working with Sanderson Stewart on design; some conceptual designs are now in place. There are some challenges; such as NW Energy transmission line on south side of Griffin (right where a separated path would go). Intent is to have a joint meeting specific for Griffin Drive for PTSC and BABAB. That is forthcoming. Re: FY21 money and if it has to go to construction activities - $50k in street maintenance fund needs to go to street maintenance activities (design and planning out for that). General fund money has broader application. Taylor: Re: Front Street connector - Parks still planning to move to construction next summer. There have been ongoing discussions about development in the area but at this point, intent is to move forward with construction. Previously PTSC and BABAB had talked about committing $10k to that project. Will add to list for Frontage Road Path, East-West Connector projects which are from TOPS bond. H. Prioritization of projects for upcoming Capital Improvement Plan (criteria to be used and review of potential projects) (Taylor Lonsdale) Taylor: It is the time of year where staff is putting together CIP for FY22-26. These are the projects where design and planning are part of the project. For large projects, there’s money in early years for design and then move on in future years for construction. As we look at identifying and programming in CIP, will start at year 5: FY26. Transportation Master Plan (TMP) have a number of larger projects, like grade-separated crossings. Staff will be looking towards the board for help and prioritization. Thinking about criteria and how to decide on which projects (of many out there) to put money towards. Re: coordination with public works projects: When developing capital project that includes water, sewer, roads - staff are looking for opportunities to piggy back. The reality is the improvements for water, sewer, stormwater don’t always align with prioritizes for bike/ped projects. As looking forward for set aside bike/ped projects, could look at capital program for other projects and put transportation CIP money into that project. For example, a sewer line going in near ideal location for shared use path. Taylor: interested to hear from board members on big projects that are out there; would like to come forward with a short list as opposed to the huge TMP list. Examples - Durston $896k had bike/ped improvements; Cottonwood $400k; About $1.7mil in bike/ped improvements as part of major road projects this past year. Kristin: What should scale of suggested projects be? Taylor: Grade separated crossing as example; multi-year. Upwards of $250k. Danae: Is October too late for conversation for CIP? Taylor: No, it is workable. Danae: How to balance using an agreed-upon criteria versus naming projects in our own backyards? Taylor: If there is something missing in how projects are being prioritized, that needs to come forward when Taylor sends out existing criteria matrix. However, want to give opportunity for weighing-in. Important that we maintain a comprehensive list. Will send criteria this evening. Public Comment Marilee: Would like to remind Taylor of 19th where Alexa was killed. Ralph: One issue that needs to be considered in BABAB and PTSC is money talked about earlier for current FY ($100k); original objective was to have $50k added; so $100k in FY21, $150k in FY22, $200k in FY23, etc. - our two groups need to come together on what to request and what portion should be asked from general fund to have more freedom on how funding get used. One suggestion - encourage Commission to stick with precedence that was set in FY21 with half from street maintenance and half from general funds. I. Old Business Jason Delmue: Went by UPS location at 19th, curious if Staff or Commission knows more information about path gap? Taylor: It is city zoning. There was a discussion about UPS having plans in for changes and path was a part of reconstruction. Adding piece of path would reconstruct to Rawhide. Sent message to planner to find out about status. Need easement regardless of development. J. New Business Jason Karp: County Commissioners agreed to not abandon Bremer Creek Road. K. Motion to adjourn at 8:04pm by Jason Delmue, seconded by Danae, all in favor. For more information, please contact John Vandelinder, Street Superintendent. This board generally meets the first Wednesday of the month from 6pm to 8pm. BABAB meetings are open to all members of the public. If you have a disability that requires assistance, please contact our ADA Coordinator, Mike Gray, at 582-3232 (TDD 582-2301).