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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-14-13 Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee MinutesBozeman (Area) Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee Minutes of the August 14, 2013 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) Non-Voting Committee Members: John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman Streets Department) Dave Fowler (Gallatin County Road and Bridge Department) Liaison Officers: (none) Guests: Craig Woolard (City of Bozeman Public Works Director) Dustin Johnson (City of Bozeman Engineering) Rebecca Gleason (Western Transportation Institute/Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board) Doug Riley (City of Bozeman Planning Department) Quorum: present NEW BUSINESS: Ralph called the meeting to order at 12:10 PM. New Non-Voting Member. Ralph announced that Gallatin County recently appointed Dave Fowler of the County Road and Bridge Department as our new non-voting committee member representing the County and we welcome him to his first meeting today. Public Comment. Ralph offered the opportunity for public comment on items not on the agenda. No public comment. Rebecca is here primarily for the Transportation Alternatives discussion, so she will wait to make her comments until we get to that agenda item. 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 comments were made. Minutes. Danielle made a motion to approve the minutes of the July 10, 2013 meeting, second by Gary. The minutes were approved. Update on Previous Actions. As noted previously, Dave Fowler has been appointed as the non-voting member representing the County. Earl Mathers has also stated that he will try to attend on occasion as well. Ralph also has an update on Spring Creek Village Subdivison, but will wait until later in the agenda. Liaison Officer Reports. None of our liaison officers were able to attend today. Street Department Report. John reported that Rouse will be closed next week for the water main replacement project with a detour at Lamme. The new bike lanes on S 23rd Ave are completed. MDT is working on a chip seal project around the East Bozeman interchange area. Gary noted that the City also recently installed pedestrian signage at the crossing on Kagy connecting to the Painted Hills trail. Craig added that the City has been working on a new campaign and website (BozemanStreetReport.com) to keep updated road reports for all City, County and MDT projects. It has interactive maps and is continuously updated. He also reported that the Public Works Department is starting to get more aggressive about installing missing links of sidewalk and completing condition assessments of all existing sidewalks. He will be moving forward with enforcing the ordinance that states that it is the property owner’s responsibility for repair. If residents have complaints about sidewalk conditions, they should call either John or Craig. Evaluation of missing links will mostly consist of newer subdivisions and older parts of town will be evaluated through the sidewalk conditions assessments. Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board (BABAB). Rebecca Gleason (Chair) was in attendance today and she reported that their primary discussion topic at their last meeting was the upcoming deadline for the Transportation Alternative program applications on September 6th, which we will also be discussing today. Spring Creek Village Subdivision, Lot 4. We discussed this project last month with the Delaney’s and Jami Morris. Subsequent to our last meeting, Ralph sent an email to Jami raising some concerns about the subdivision and asked them to attend again this month. He did not hear back. He then sent a follow up email directly to Mike Delaney with his questions and encouraging them to attend our next meeting and did not hear back on that email either. One of the primary questions raised by Ralph in those emails was related to the statement that the decision to install crossings 200 feet north of Huffine was based on a recommendation by their traffic engineering consultant, which they said had also been discussed with MDT and that MDT was in concurrence with the recommendation. Ralph was unable to get a copy of the report, but did receive a copy from Doug Riley. Ralph did not find a reference in the traffic report to a 200-foot crosswalk deviation. Doug then reported that Mr. Delaney clarified later that it was a verbal discussion. At the last Development Review Committee meeting, they agreed with our committee’s concerns about the crossing locations and the Delaney’s have since submitted a revised plan with crossings directly adjacent to the Huffine intersections. They will still provide the mid-block crossing locations for internal circulation, but the trail will not be detoured as previously proposed. Ralph clarified that we had expressed those concerns, but had not yet taken any formal action or made any sort of a formal recommendation. Ralph asked if they will be required to install the trail along the Huffine frontage and Dustin said yes, it will be included in the City’s conditions for approval. Gary also expressed concern about north-south pedestrian and bicycle access through the subdivision and Doug explained that they have identified a public access easement with sidewalk that will be constructed through the subdivision and connecting to Fallon. Ralph asked for a motion to recommend to the City that the Huffine shared use path along Spring Creek Village Subdivision, Lot 4 be included as a condition of approval. Rebecca expressed her concerns about leaving the gap to the east and thought we should consider including the installation of the trail along the frontage of both lots, since Delaney owns both. Dustin said the City can at least approach him with the idea. Gary made a motion that we recommend to the City that they require the developer to install the Huffine shared-use path along the frontage of both lots (the current proposal and the vacant lot to the east) to complete the missing link between Ferguson and Cottonwood. Motion passed unanimously. Rebecca pointed out that for a transportation corridor the trail should ideally be straight instead of meandering. Doug stated that the entry corridor plan for Huffine Lane calls for a meandering trail and that is what was constructed on either side. Gary said he isn’t too concerned about the meandering because commuter cyclists will likely use the road if they don’t like it and he also thinks the meandering is subtle enough that he isn’t too concerned about it. All agreed that subtle meandering is ok. Ralph reiterated that the issue of the detoured crossings appears to have been resolved. Dustin explained that the City considers that the issue is dead because they have submitted a new proposal without those deviations. They will not make any conditions related to issues no longer shown on the current plan. We all agreed that the issue had been resolved to our satisfaction with no further recommendations. Transportation Alternatives Funding Proposals. Rebecca has had an active role in acquiring input for a potential Transportation Alternatives application, which are due on September 6th. Ralph has also sent email inquiries to the City (Craig Woolard) and County (Earl Mathers). The responses he’s received have indicated that neither the City nor the County are able invest staff time of their own to write proposals. They would probably support proposals written by others, but they would not be able to invest their own staff time. Dustin and Dave confirmed that is correct. Ralph expressed some disappointment that we didn’t learn this sooner. The City met with WTI last Friday to discuss proposals and Rebecca stated that WTI is willing to submit the proposals on behalf of the City with project ideas from PTS and BABAB. Originally they were thinking that smaller projects may be better because there will only be $3 million per year for the entire state. However, Dustin’s discussion with Rob Bukvich (MDT) indicated that, because MDT will be administering the individual projects, they will prefer to award larger projects, rather than a whole bunch of smaller projects across the entire state. Rebecca suggested next steps are for our two committees to review the current transportation plan and recently completed community transportation safety plan and come up with a list of several priority projects that have already been documented and have been through a public process. Ralph received an email from Taylor Lonsdale last week stating that he would like to be a part of our discussion, but would be unable to attend today. Even though we haven’t received a list of suggested projects from him, Rebecca said he did attend the last BABAB meeting and has been actively involved. Gary explained the priorities for GVLT. Several projects are underway, including the trail to the M/Drinking Horse Mountain and the Oak Street Trail. MDT is planning a 5-foot wide sidewalk along Rouse and GVLT had previously recommended a separated pathway instead. Perhaps a trail could be proposed along Rouse in place of the 5-foot sidewalk from Oak to the location where the future M/Drinking Horse trail would begin. The trail could also include a path or sidewalk connection into the East Gallatin Recreation area. John explained a potential hurdle with the NorthWestern Energy facility adjacent to the right-of-way and that an additional 5 feet of right-of-way in this location would be difficult to get. Rebecca said they have also heard several requests for filling in missing sidewalk links along Baxter to connect to Chief Joseph Middle School and bike lanes along Baxter. There is a development proposal in the works that would build the north side of Baxter from Davis to Buckrake. Dustin stated that the City is still sitting on approximately $500,000 of CTEP money. Some of that has been allocated to the missing sidewalk and ramp projects, but $200,000 to $300,000 has yet to be allocated. BABAB is submitting a letter to request that some of that funding be used to install the missing trail links along 19th from Bozeman Ford to Baxter. Rebecca stated that BABAB has also been discussing some recommendations to look at bicycle detection or striping improvements approaching main intersections. Gary also noted the lack of sidewalks on Haggerty and the end of East Main, and Danielle suggested that we consider revisiting the CTEP priorities from the last application process. She gave Rebecca a copy of the CTEP priority project map and our list of recommended additions/priorities. Rebecca intends to schedule a meeting in the near future, probably Monday or Tuesday next week and will invite this committee to attend. Ralph suggested that Rebecca invite our three officers to attend (Ralph, Gary and Danielle). We definitely think one or more proposals should be submitted and we would definitely like to be involved. Ralph also encouraged Rebecca to invite a representative from the County. Dave suggested inviting Mike Harris or Larry Watson. PTS is not scheduled to meet again until after the September 6th deadline. Ralph asked if this group would support our officers in making a recommendation to that group on behalf of this committee and delegate the officers the necessary decision making authority. There was consensus that the committee authorizes its officers to speak on our behalf. Position on Granting Variances for Transportation Improvements. There was a recent development proposal at 102 North Broadway near East Main and Broadway that will likely be granted a variance on the requirement to install improvements at the intersection. This is being considered because the developer of the Town Pump at the corner will be installing a new traffic signal in this location. Ralph’s concern about the allowed variance is related to what happens if the Town Pump project falls through. Dustin explained that the development proposal includes a new Rookry office for the architecture firm currently located across the street. The variance included a requirement that they sign a waiver of right to protest an SID that would install the signal if the Town Pump project fell through. Otherwise, if their variance is not granted they will revert back to the requirements of the UDC. Because it’s such a small office building and a small traffic generator, staff does not think it’s fair to require them to pay for the entire project. If the Town Pump project falls through, the City will fund the signal themselves and/or form an SID for the cost of improvement. Gary asked if they will be required to install sidewalks along their frontage or crosswalks at Mendenhall. Dustin said it did include sidewalks and thought maybe a crosswalk, but didn’t review the site plan himself so he couldn’t say for sure without looking back at the plan. Town Pump is currently working on some flood plain work with FEMA and associated issues, so they are likely a year away from completion, but they are committed to the project. Ralph asked for a motion to recommend approval of the variance, denial of the variance, or we can stay silent on the issue. We agreed that it is not necessary to submit a formal recommendation to the City regarding this issue. Ralph asked for input in general about granting variances for transportation improvements. Dustin explained that the City in the past has reimbursed the developer 100% of the cost of design and construction of the improvements, but they will likely be moving toward a 60%/40% split between the City and developer. They are currently evaluating these related policies. Dustin said they will be looking for feedback from our committee as the policy is revised. Ralph stated that we do have an interest in how this happens and we appreciate the time being put into these issues by the City on a policy basis and project basis. Bozeman Community Transportation Safety Plan. John distributed copies of the final document. As promised at our last meeting, Danielle sent an email to Rick Hixson to ask when the CTSP will be on the Commission agenda for approval and when the implementation process will begin. She has not yet heard back. South Willson Crossing at Galligator Trail. We will delay this discussion until our next meeting. Ralph stated that when he stopped to look at this crossing location he noted that there were missing sidewalks along Lincoln (south side and gap on north side). Ralph asked if these missing segments were in any recent or current proposals for replacing missing links and the answer was no. Next Meeting. Our next meeting will be scheduled for September 11th. No conflicts for those in attendance. The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 PM. Next Meeting: September 11, 2013 at noon as noted above. Minutes by Danielle Scharf Edits by Ralph Zimmer