HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-11-12 Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee Minutes I Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee
2 Minutes of the April 11, 2012 Meeting
3 Upstairs Conference Room Alfred Stiff Office Building.
4
5 Those Present:
6
7 Voting Committee Members:
8 Ralph Zimmer (Gallatin County)
9 Gary Vodehnal (City of Bozeman)
10 Danielle Scharf(City of Bozeman)
11 Frank Manseau (Gallatin County)
12 Sue Brown(Member At-Large)
13 Sam Miller (Member At-Large)
14
15 Non-Voting Committee Members:
16 John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman— Street Superintendent)
17
18 Liaison Officers:
19 Brandon Kelly (Gallatin County Sheriff's Office)
20 Rick Musson(City of Bozeman Police Department)
21
22 Guests:
23 Chris Mehl (City Commission)
24 Taylor Lonsdale (MT Safe Routes to School Coordinator)
25 Bob Lashaway (MSU AVP University Services)
26 Brian Krueger (City Planner)
27 Daniel Peterson(Citizen)
28
29 Quorum: present
30
31 NEW BUSINESS:
32
33 Ralph called the meeting to order at 12:05 PM.
34
35 1. Announcements. Brandon has replaced Jim Anderson as the Sheriff's representative and
36 Rick may or may not have officially replaced Tommie as the Police Department's
37 representative. Ralph asked to Rick to provide him with a formal notice about this
38 replacement.
39
40 2. Public Comment. Daniel Peterson commented on the lack of sidewalks on Church Street.
41 No other public comment.
42
43 3. Consideration of Meeting Agenda. Ralph offered the opportunity to provide input on the
44 agenda and noted that he will take some liberties as we have many items to discuss. No
45 additional comments were made.
46
47 4. Minutes. The minutes of the March 14, 2012 meeting were approved with minor edits made
48 by Ralph Zimmer prior to distribution.
49
50
51 5. Liaison Officer Reports. Brandon Kelly was in attendance today representing the Sheriff's
52 Office, as well as Rick Musson representing the Police Department. Neither had anything
53 specific to report on items not on the agenda.
54
55 6. Street Department Report. John reported that the South 8th project bids came in
56 considerably lower than what was estimated. The Commission will vote to award the project
57 on Monday night and construction will start as soon as May 7th. The first phase will run from
58 Harrison to Koch and the second phase will run from Koch to Main. Irrigation and
59 landscaping of the center median will likely be finished next spring. The project includes
60 bulb outs at Irving School and Cooper Park, on-street parking, bike lanes and a narrower
61 median. They have also narrowed the roadway itself by 1 foot on each side to protect the
62 roots of the large boulevard trees.
63
64 The City is also currently working on street sweeping, starting in the neighborhoods first then
65 onto City streets. Compost pick up should start in May. Frank asked about the reflectivity of
66 reflector posts and John said they do their best to keep them clean. The ones on S 19th Ave
67 meet current MDT standards.
68
69 7. CTEP Report. Danielle noted that the County was reportedly able to come up with some
70 additional funding for the Oak Street Trail project through the fairgrounds board. Some minor
71 design modifications will be made in order to proceed with the project under the current
72 available budget. (editorial note: it was subsequently reported on April 25 that the project
73 was "moving ahead" but additional funds need to be committed.)
74
75 8. Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Report. Taylor Lonsdale, MT SRTS Coordinator reported
76 that May is Bike Month and the week of May 14th is Bike Week. He is working with several
77 schools to plan Bike to School day events and many other events planned this spring.
78
79 9. Distracted Driving Education. Sam feels that the board established for this has been
80 dissolved. He has not heard anything more about it lately. Chris will ask the City Manager
81 tomorrow and report back to the committee via email or at our next meeting.
82
83 10. South University District. We discussed a preliminary submittal for this project at our
84 January meeting and Brian Krueger (City Planner) is in attendance today to provide an update.
85 They now have a formal application and the project is on the Commission agenda for
86 preliminary approval April 16th. The project consists of 127 acres master planned southeast of
87 Kagy and S 19th, including an extension of South 11th. The first phase is 10 acres near Bobcat
88 Stadium consisting of a student housing development (7 buildings and 498 dwelling units).
89 Some of the innovative design aspects of the first phase include 6-foot wide boulevard
90 sidewalks for the entire project and 10-foot wide shared-use pathways on primary routes.
91 Their planned "local plus" street standard also includes bike lanes in addition to wider
92 boulevard sidewalks, primarily located along the proposed parks. Staff is recommending
93 approval with only minor conditions. The staff report has been completed, but we could still
94 provide comments to the Commission prior to the meeting on Monday. The link to the staff
95 report and other application materials were distributed via email.
96
97 Ralph asked if there would be combined trails/sidewalks on the same roadway. Brian
98 explained that for the most part they are either/or, but it would be possible to construct
99 sidewalk on one side and trail on the other, depending on how the properties build out. Ralph
100 asked how the sidewalks and trails will be maintained — are they covered by City standards?
101 Brian explained that the adjacent property owner will maintain the sidewalk on their frontage
102 based on City ordinance and the homeowners association will maintain the parks and trails.
103 Ralph asked if the developer was asking for any deviations from standards related to
104 transportation facilities. Brian said no, in fact they are providing better than minimum
105 standards in almost all cases. Brian also explained that this property provides good
106 connectivity with shorter block lengths and public infrastructure.
107
108 Taylor asked for clarification on which streets are being proposed as "local plus." Brian
109 explained that 17th and 14th would be the first two. The travel lane width will be 10 feet.
110 Taylor asked what improvements will be required on 11th. They will build to full collector
111 street standard to where Stucky Road would intersect (almost to University Way), including
112 extension of the bike lanes. Taylor then asked if the missing piece of sidewalk near the
113 intersection of Kagy and 1 lth would be constructed. Brian said no, they will not be required to
114 construct that piece of sidewalk. That will be required by the adjacent property owner when
115 that property develops. Brian suggested we ask the Commission to consider requiring it.
116 Otherwise, the City would likely install a temporary asphalt sidewalk. With the huge number
117 of pedestrians that will be walking from this area toward campus, it is very important that this
118 sidewalk be constructed now. Off-site improvements are often required other than just
119 frontage improvements, so Brian will check to see if this sidewalk can be constructed as well.
120
121 Gary agreed that the sidewalk connection at Kagy and 11th is an important point and thinks we
122 should forward a recommendation on to the Commission. Ralph asked Taylor to send him an
123 email summarizing those comments. Chris indicated he would carry that concern to the April
124 16 Commission meeting and hence it would not be necessary for Taylor to write a letter or for
125 the committee to communicate its concern to the Commission. Brian will pass the word along
126 to Dustin Johnson in the City Engineer's office.
127
128 11. College Street Accessible Crossings. Our committee has previously discussed our desire to
129 install pedestrian crossing on College between 8th and l lth. Bob Lashaway from MSU is in
130 attendance today to discuss this topic. Gary explained his observations of students crossing
131 the street in many random locations and his concerns about the lack of accessibility ramps at
132 9th and 10th. Gary and John also met on-site to observe the area and agreed it would require
133 input from MSU. Bob agrees with the recommendation and thought the University would be
134 willing to help pay for the improvements, but he is concerned that students still won't cross
135 where the crosswalks are striped. Bob would also be willing to consider curb bulb-outs for
136 mid-block crossing locations.
137
138 Taylor noted that the accessibility improvements are a critical piece. He agrees that students
139 may continue to take the shortest path, but with striped crosswalks they may begin to change
140 behaviors and we should continue to encourage that. John noted that it may be difficult
141 because one of the intersections lines up with a driveway on the north side and may require a
142 loss in some parking. Coordination with MSU must take place because it's City right-of-way,
143 but MSU manages the on-street parking. Bob is more concerned about accommodating the
144 pedestrian crossings than about losing parking spaces. They are focusing on providing
145 additional internal parking, including a potential parking garage. Taylor suggested going with
146 MSU's new standard brick crossing pattern. Rick agreed that we should make the necessary
147 accessibility improvements, but he does not think we will be able to change crossing
148 behaviors and he's concerned about the false sense of security that many pedestrians have in a
149 marked crosswalk. We should also weigh how much it will be used with how much it will
150 cost—he's not sure that the more expensive brick pattern will result in increased use.
151
152 The project would have to be installed under the CIP process. Sam thought that just
153 eliminating some of the parking in itself would be helpful to limit the number of pedestrians
154 that walk between parked cars. John will ask Andy Kerr to take a look at the area, come up
155 with a plan and get it in the budget. It would be nice to use CTEP funding, but that process is
156 still currently on hold with several other priority projects. Bob agreed that eliminating a few
157 of the parking spaces as a low cost interim improvement would be a good idea. Once Andy
158 and John come up with a concept they will coordinate with Bob to notify the University
159 Planning Board.
160
161 Bob explained that the new College of Business building will potentially be located across
162 from Hapner Hall on 8th between Harrison and Cleveland, where the existing parking lot is
163 located. They are reconsidering a parking garage in that general area to improve safety for
164 female students and reduce impacts to the northeast neighborhood. (editorial note:
165 Subsequent to the committee meeting, the ASMSU Student Senate objected to locating a
166 parking garage in that part of campus and hence that possibility has been dropped from
167 current consideration.)
168
169 12. Library Transportation Improvements. There is an event this Saturday at the library
170 regarding proposals for transportation and pedestrian improvements on the library property.
171 MSU architecture students have reviewed the site and have developed ideas for site
172 improvements for pedestrian safety in the parking lot. Gary said he was invited to another
173 meeting on this topic on Monday, April 16th, but he will not be able to attend.
174
175 13. 6th Street north of Cleveland. Ralph asked again if anything will happen with the barriers at
176 this intersection. They may be removed temporarily for the 8th Street construction detour or
177 they may be removed permanently. The City Manager is currently working on this, but a
178 decision hasn't been made yet.
179
180 14. Impact of Increased Coal Train Traffic. Information will be provided at the City
181 Commission meeting this Monday and a meeting with much more detail on April 26th at the
182 library. Coal production will continue to increase and current projections are showing the
183 potential for a significant increase in the number of trains through Bozeman and other
184 Montana cities. The City of Bozeman will not receive any funding for crossing
185 improvements, overpasses, etc.
186
187 15. South 19th Avenue Turn Lanes. Frank bought up the issue we've discussed many times
188 about the need for turns lanes on S 19th Ave at Goldenstein and Patterson. He still thinks this
189 is something we should press MDT about and would like to see it on next month's agenda.
190
191 16. North Willson Pedestrian Crossings. Frank also expressed concern about pedestrian
192 crossings in front of the Medical Arts building on North Willson. John explained that it is not
193 a good location for a midblock crossing because of the location of the driveways. Ralph
194 asked the other members to take a look at that area and we'll discuss it again at a future
195 meeting.
196
197 17. Next Meeting. Our next regular meeting time will be May 9, 2012 at noon. Sam will not be
198 able to attend, but it should work for everyone else.
199
200 The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 PM.
201
202 Next Meeting: May 9, 2012 as noted above.
203
204
205 Minutes by Danielle Scharf
206 Minor edits by Ralph Zimmer