HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-10-12 Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee minutesBozeman (area) Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee
Minutes of the October 10, 2012 Meeting
Upstairs Conference Room Alfred Stiff Office Building.
Those Present:
Voting Committee
Members:
Ralph Zimmer (Gallatin County)
Gary Vodehnal (City of Bozeman)
Danielle Scharf (City of Bozeman)
Frank Manseau (Gallatin County)
Sue Brown (Member At-Large)
Sam Miller (Member
At-Large)
Non-Voting Committee Members:
John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman Streets Department)
Liaison Officers:
Tommie Franscioni (Bozeman Police Department Liaison Officer)
Rick
Musson (City of Bozeman Police Department Liaison Officer)
Brandon Kelly (Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office Liaison Officer)
Guests:
Earl Mathers (Gallatin County)
Chris Mehl (City
of Bozeman Commission)
Quorum: present
NEW BUSINESS:
Ralph called the meeting to order at 12:05 PM.
Public Comment. Ralph offered the opportunity for public comment on items
not on the agenda. No public comment.
Consideration of Meeting Agenda. Ralph offered the opportunity to provide input on the agenda and noted that he will take some liberties as
we have many items to discuss. No additional comments were made.
Minutes. Frank made a motion to approve the minutes of the September 12, 2012 meeting, second from Sam. Rick Musson
noted that he could be moved from guest to liaison officer and the minutes were amended accordingly. The minutes were unanimously approved as amended.
Liaison Officer Reports. Sheriff’s
Office Liaison Officer, Brandon Kelly and Bozeman Police Department liaison officers, Tommie Franscioni and Rick Musson were all in attendance today, but did not have anything specific
to report.
Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board (BABAB) Report. John reported that BABAB recently completed their city-wide bicycle counts and are now trying to determine how best to use the data.
Community Transportation Enhancement Program (CTEP) Report. Danielle reported that Gallatin County has received concurrence from MDT CTEP in Helena to proceed with consultant selection
for the Oak Street trail project. This is a joint project with the City of Bozeman and the City will not be required to submit a separate application. The project will also include
the Anderson School trail and the Monforton School trail.
Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT) Report. Gary reported that GVLT recently completed a new section of trail behind the mall
to connect to the existing trail around Bozeman Pond. They obtained an easement from the mall to construct the 6-foot wide asphalt trail. Gary also said he noticed that a new paved
trail was installed near Rosauer’s that connects to the College Street trail. There’s a short section that hasn’t been completed yet, but John indicated that they may have left the
gap on purpose for construction traffic. He thinks it will be completed soon.
Distracted Driving Education Task Force. Sam indicated that he didn’t think this group was still intact.
Middle Creek Parklands Sidewalk Variance. During our August meeting, we discussed the variance request submitted by the developer of the Middle Creek Parklands Subdivision. We
unanimously decided to recommend to the Commission that they deny the variance request and require that the developer maintain the minimum five-foot sidewalk width. Ralph conveyed those
comments to the Commission and they discussed it at their meeting yesterday. He found out at the meeting that the Planning Board had voted 4-1 in favor of the variance. Several people
spoke at the Commission meeting, some in favor and some opposed, and the County Commission ultimately voted 3-0 to approve it.
County Support of Streamline and Other Transportation
Activities. On our behalf, Frank Manseau had invited a County Commissioner to attend our meeting today. None was not available so Earl Mathers, County Administrator, is here on their
behalf.
Streamline recently requested some additional funding from the County for a new bus and other activities. The funding request was denied. Earl was in favor of supporting
Streamline, but the Commissioners have been reluctant. The required local funding match is on the order of 20%. It’s possible that one of the Commissioners could be swayed, but Earl
feels they need to hear from Mayors of the smaller communities that are served by Streamline, such as Manhattan in particular. They are presently hearing from constituents that are
weighing in against Streamline. Perhaps they may also be willing to consider support if they would consider implementing options for making it a pay system rather than free. The request
to the County was $30,000. Frank thought he had heard that we may be in danger of losing the federal funds if a pay system were implemented. Earl thought it would be worthwhile for
our committee to send a letter to the Commission.
Ralph asked what kind of timeframe would be involved for comment on Streamline funding requess. Earl said that next spring would be
a good time to provide input for next year. The decision should be made in June. He didn’t think it would be bad to express our concern
about this year now and then again encourage them to consider it in the spring. Ralph thought we may want to wait awhile before sending a letter to the Commission regarding Streamline,
since our last two recommendations didn’t go our way.
Ralph also explained to Earl that our Committee was created partially by official action of the County Commission (also City and
School District). Ralph has concerns about the lack of communication back from County. They do not ask us for input on issues they are facing and we often do not find out about these
issues until after a decision has been made. We as a committee would like to be more involved in the decision process and provide input on the issues.
The two issues we’ve been directly
involved in lately are the County allocation of CTEP funds and the Middle Creek Parklands sidewalk variance. Ralph provided a letter and spoke at the meeting on both issues, but on
both occasions the Commissioners voted 3-0 against our recommendations. Ralph asked Earl what we can do to be more effective in our recommendations to them. Earl said that 2 of the
3 Commissioners are fairly conservative and would need to have significant reason to deny a variance request like this one. He feels that it is a long shot to suggest that they would
require sidewalks in just this small portion of the subdivision when most of the rest of the subdivision does not have sidewalks.
Ralph asked if we should attempt to have a joint
meeting between this committee and the Commission. Earl thought it would be worthwhile and suggested that we contact the Commission office to get something scheduled. Gary thinks we
should have a few particular issues in mind that we need to discuss with them to make the most of everyone’s time. Some examples are sidewalks in rural subdivisions, Streamline, distracted
driving, and widening shoulders on rural county roads that are heavily used by bicyclists and pedestrians.
Ralph asked Gary to develop a list of topics that we would be interested
in discussing with the Commission for review at our next meeting. Gary agreed and requested that other members of our committee send him ideas. Earl offered to help us set up this
meeting. He said they would likely hold a special meeting for this rather than try to incorporate into their regularly-scheduled public meeting. Frank suggested that we ask them to
meet during our regular meeting time. Ralph said we could ask for that, but should also have other times available.
Ralph also explained to Earl his concerns about County representation
on this committee. The City, County and School District each appoint three members of this committee. One is a non-voting member (supposedly an employee) and two are voting members
(supposedly non-employees). The County has consistently appointed its three people; the two citizen appointees are currently Frank and Ralph and the non-voting staff member is Lee Provance,
County Road and Bridge Superintendent. Lee is not able to attend our meeting on a regular basis, but has always told us to let him know when we really need him and he’ll be here.
Ralph
thought it might be worthwhile for the County to consider appointing another staff member to this committee. Is there anything we can do to influence that? Earl is concerned that other
potential appointees also have a lot on their plate, but he is willing to talk to Lee. Gary suggested someone from the Planning Department and Danielle suggested that maybe George Durkin
could attend on Lee’s behalf when he’s not available. Frank asked if Earl would be willing and he explained that he would be interested in attending occasionally, but is not able to
commit to attending on a regular basis.
Street Department Report. John Van Delinder reported that South 8th is now open. Sam wanted John to ask the Police Department about additional enforcement. Tommie reported that they
have increased enforcement on 8th, in fact he wrote two tickets this morning. The City is also considering reconstruction of Grand Avenue due to the buried railroad tracks. They are
also working on water main replacement on Peach just east of Rouse.
Frank asked John about the need for a signal at Kagy and S 7th Avenue. John explained that the City has wanted
developers to install a signal there in the past, but MDT has denied it because it’s technically a T-intersection. The south leg is not a city street, it’s a driveway. Frank also asked
if detector loops pick up bicyclists and John said that video detection does, but loops do not. Sue asked John about signal timing at Main/19th and Babcock. John briefly explained
how the signal timing works and why the main issue is the close proximity of the intersections, there’s just no easy way to time it.
Community Transportation Safety Plan. Ralph received
an invitation from Rick Hixson to attend the advisory committee kick-off meeting on October 16 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. Ralph asked him if our other officers or other committees members
could also attend and he said yes to both.
Next Meeting. Our next regular meeting time would be November 14th at noon. There were not any concerns related to this meeting time.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 PM.
Next Meeting: November 14, 2012 at noon as noted above.
Minutes by Danielle Scharf
Edits by Ralph Zimmer