HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-10-10 Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee Minutes
Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee
Minutes of the March 10, 2010 Meeting
Room 208C Alfred Stiff Office Bldg.
Those Present:
Voting Committee Members:
Ralph Zimmer (Gallatin County)
Frank Manseau (Gallatin County)
Gary Vodehnal (City of Bozeman)
Danielle Scharf (City of Bozeman)
Non – Voting Committee Members:
John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman - Streets)
Guests –
Sean Becker (City Commission)
Sgt. Jake Wagner (Sheriff’s Office)
Tommie Franscioni (Bozeman PD)
Elizabeth Bird (Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board)
Quorum:
present
NEW BUSINESS:
Ralph called the meeting to order at 12:10 PM.
Minutes.
1.Minutes from February 10, 2010 meeting were approved with minor edits made by
Ralph Zimmer prior to distribution.
State Open Meeting Law.
2. According to City staff, this committee is subject to the State
Open Meeting Law requirements. We need to start posting a public agenda within 48 hours
prior to our committee meetings. Moving forward, Ralph will provide this agenda to both
the City and County.
Election of At-large Members.
3.We have the option of voting in zero, one or two official
-
nonvoting committee members. We’ve had a couple of people express interest, but both
have recently withdrawn their names. We should all consider whether we know anyone that
may be interested and can proceed with an election if applicable at the next committee
meeting.
Complete Streets Resolution.
4. The Complete Street Resolution was adopted at a recent City
Commission meeting. Ralph distributed the Policy Statement of the Resolution. This item
may or may not be before the Commission again. Ralph finds the policy statement confusing
and encouraged the Commission during the public comment period to direct staff to work on
the wording prior to it being adopted. One of the Commissioners agreed, but the
Commission passed the resolution by a 4-1 vote. Sean Becker indicated that he didn’t think
the Commission would be discussing it again, but it may appear on a consent agenda. Items
7 and 8 have been added to the Resolution since the commission meeting where it was
discussed. These items address maintenance, which was John’s biggest concern.
Accommodations for all users may be addressed as part of regular maintenance activities, but
it will not be a requirement. As John noted, the best time to encourage this to take place
would be during the budget process discussions on particular maintenance projects. Ralph’s
biggest concern is that it isn’t clear exactly what this document is saying. Does it say that
we’ll follow the policy, except when any of these 8 exceptions exist? If something falls
under those 8 exceptions, what’s the process for verifying the exception? Does it go before
the commission for a ruling and public comment or is the public ever even notified? Who
makes the decision? Sean Becker noted that lines 53-55 of the Policy Statement say that it
has to be confirmed and filed with the City Commission exclusive of Exceptions 7 and 8.
Sean suggested that the last paragraph be changed to clarify whether these items will be
approved by consent agenda. This committee should provide this input to Chris Saunders
and suggest that he make this change prior to it being on the consent agenda. We cannot take
any official action at this meeting since we didn’t post an agenda 48 hours prior to the
meeting, but Ralph said he would personally go to Chris with these comments/suggested
revisions.
Policy on Encroachments into Downtown Right-of-way
5.. Allyson Bristor and Brian
Heaston attended our last meeting and explained the proposed policy. We gave them a copy
of our minutes from that meeting as a summary of our comments. They presented the draft
policy to the Commission on Thursday, March 4th. It will be before the Commission for a
first reading on March 22nd. Brian asked that we send someone to that meeting to speak on
behalf of this committee. Ralph won’t be in town, but asked Gary to attend. Sean said that
they have not voted on this yet, but they have asked staff to develop some more specific
parameters on where and when the encroachments will be allowed. They would also like to
see maps with proposed layouts for specific streets and details on the fee structure. There
needs to be some sort of fee, but downtown vitality will also benefit and that needs to be
addressed. Ralph also distributed minutes from the February 17th Planning Board meeting,
which predated the Commission meeting on this policy. We are missing a document with
proposed revisions to the permit program language. Sean said they may take action at the
March 22nd Commission meeting, but may not because there a lot of other items on the
agenda for that meeting. Frank expressed his concern about the elimination of the buffer
zone between traffic and sidewalk that’s currently provided by on-street parking. Sean noted
that the City could require a physical barrier. Elizabeth mentioned that there would
hopefully be trees and other features to provide a barrier, so the walkway would not be right
at curb. This won’t be the case with the first proposal thought, because the location of the
existing gas line won’t allow for trees. John noted that none of our other standard street
sections include curb walk directly adjacent to the travel lane. For Gary’s comments at the
upcoming Commission meeting, he can refer to the minutes from our last meeting and Ralph
will forward to Gary a previous email with his personal comments. The proposed policy will
be part of the memo in the Commission meeting packet that should be available next week.
th
Roundabout at 11 and College.
6. Ralph mentioned that this was on the Commission
agenda earlier this week. We discussed this previously at our August 25, 2008 meeting.
Ralph attended the Commission meeting at that time and reported that we did not all agree,
but the majority of our committee was in favor of the roundabout. Ralph reported that again
Monday night.
7.Street Department Report.
John reported that the Street Department was working on
asphalt patching South 8th. They are currently looking at mill and overlay projects this year
where water mains were installed last year and they’ll be chip sealing some local residential
streets. John would like to see more citizens attend budget process meetings to provide input
on what’s best for the City, instead of waiting and going to the Commission. No one has
shown up to budget meetings recently. The budget includes sidewalk and accessibility ramps
on 8th and 11th between College and Babcock. They will also be working on sidewalks and
crossings along Willson. Gary asked about Church and John said MDT will do a chip seal
because it’s an urban route. John said they would like to install curb and gutter and sidewalk
along Church and they’re working on getting City staff certified by MDT so they can
complete their own plans for these projects. They’ll make the ramps near Peets Hill a
priority prior to the chip seal. It was also asked whether the recessed manhole covers along
South 19th and John noted that MDT has said they will be raised to within the City standard
of ½ inch or less. It was also noted that the reflectors installed by MDT on the center
medians are difficult to see. John said they have cleaned them in the past.
Main Street Pedestrian Signals.
Ralph sent an email to Danielle Bolan last Friday asking
for an update, but has not heard back yet. Ralph observed the operation of these signals
recently and saw that in two of the three incidents he observed the pedestrian did not push the
button. One even took the initiative to explain to Ralph that the pedestrian signals “don’t
work.” Ralph intends to share this information with Danielle.
CTEP Committee.
8. Gary received an email from Ron Dingman saying he’s going to
resurrect the CTEP Committee with a meeting on March 17th. The City allocated most of
their CTEP funds for the trail from 19th/College to Ferguson. At the upcoming meeting,
they may be providing an update on this project or discussing funding available for additional
projects. John mentioned a recent Chronicle article that said they are still working on
acquiring right-of-way for the trail along College.
Police/Sheriff Reports.
9.Ralph asked if the representatives from the Police Department or
Sheriff’s office had any items for discussion. Neither had any at this time, but will think
about it for the next meeting.
Future Agenda Items.
10. The following additional items were included on the agenda for this
meeting, but will now be postponed until a future meeting.
Pedestrian crossings of South Willson in the vicinity of Lincoln and the Galligator
Trail
Citizen proposal for installing flashers on South Willson at Dickerson – may be
eligible for Safe Routes to School funding. We briefly discussed the Rectangular
Rapid Flash Beacon system in the new MUTCD as a potential treatment, but will
discuss in greater detail at another time.
Gary is working on a trail project along Bridger Canyon Road and has submitted an
application to MDT to use their right-of-way for the trail. Gary will bring some
graphics to our next meeting to discuss the project in greater detail.
Continue discussion on Complete Streets initiative.
Continue discussion on the operation of Main Street pedestrian signals, once
additional feedback is received from MDT.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:18 PM.
Next Meeting:
April 14, 2010
Minutes by Danielle Scharf
Minor edits by Ralph Zimmer