HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-14-13 Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee MinutesBozeman (Area) Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee
Minutes of the September 11, 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)
Vance Ruff (Bozeman School District)
Frank Manseau (Gallatin County)
Sue Brown
(Member At-Large)
Non-Voting Committee Members:
John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman Streets Department)
Dave Fowler (Gallatin County Road and Bridge Department)
Liaison Officers:
Tommie
Franscioni (Bozeman Police Department)
Rick Musson (Bozeman Police Department)
Guests:
Dustin Johnson (City of Bozeman Engineering)
Melissa Summerfield (Baxter Meadows Resident)
Marty
Livingston (Baxter Meadows Resident)
Leif Summerfield (Baxter Meadows Resident)
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. Several residents were in attendance from Baxter Meadows Subdivision with several concerns related traffic
congestion and pedestrian safety near Chief Joseph Middle school. Melissa explained that they have seen a tremendous increase in traffic in the past year. They appreciate the new 4-way
stop at Davis and Baxter, but traffic is now backing up for a half mile in this location and Baxter Meadows residents don’t have an alternate route. They are also concerned about speeds
in adjacent neighborhoods, in particular at the Crossing at Baxter Meadows on the southwest corner of Baxter and Davis. They are interested in a public awareness campaign with a message
to slow down and share the road.
They have also heard that the developer of the adjacent neighborhood was given the option to install either a 4-way stop or a traffic signal. Marty
explained that they are also concerned about the 45 mph speed limit on Baxter and the fact that people don’t stop at the crosswalks. There is also a problem with cut-through traffic
and high speeds through Baxter Meadows.
Suggested improvements include a roundabout at Baxter and Davis (part of original development plan) and extension of Ferguson.
Gary asked if they see traffic back up at the existing
roundabout. They said yes, but it is smoother than the 4-way stop. All acknowledged that it is due in large part to Bozeman’s growing pains, but they are also concerned about rumors
that the developer associated with the school project skipped town without making the required roadway improvements. Dustin and John explained that the improvements were part of a future
phase and they will happen eventually. Dustin offered to speak with them again outside of this meeting to further address their concerns.
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. Ralph brought up a recent development
proposal near Costco (Catron Crossing Subdivision) that is on the DRC agenda for next week. It will be added to a future agenda item.
Minutes. Gary made a motion to approve the minutes
of the August 14, 2013 meeting, second by Frank. The minutes were approved.
Update on Previous Actions. Ralph provided an update on our action related to Spring Creek Village Subdivision,
Lot 4. Ralph wrote a letter on behalf of our committee (distributed copies today) and attended the Design Review Committee meeting. The staff recommendation for Commission approval
includes a requirement that the Huffine Trail will have to be constructed on both Lots 4 and 5 making a continuous trail from Ferguson Ave to Cottonwood Road. In addition, the trail
crossings will be located immediately adjacent to the Huffine intersections, not 200 feet north of Huffine as previously proposed.
Liaison Officer Reports. Rick and Tommie were both
in attendance today. Tommie stepped out of the room prior to this agenda item and Rick did not have anything specific to report.
City Street Department Report. John reported that
construction doesn’t appear to winding down yet and tourist traffic is still up, in addition to school traffic being back. Rick reported that they have also seen a recent spike in crashes,
but not ped/bike crashes. Could partially be due to interruptions in regular routes caused by construction.
Gary asked if a roundabout was planned at Baxter and Davis and John said
yes, but a roundabout would be really expensive in this location due to the cost of right-of-way.
County Road Department Report. Dave reported that the County’s milling and chip seal
projects have all been mostly completed with just some minor finish work left. Now they are trying to get caught up on gravel maintenance projects.
Dave also reported that MDT is
going to install a 4-way stop at the intersection of Cottonwood Road and Stucky Road. They have also discussed alternative improvements, but the 4-way stop is the preferred alternative
and will be installed in the near future.
Community Transportation Enhancement Program (CTEP) Status. Dustin agreed to join us today to discuss the status of recent and upcoming CTEP funding allocations. The City approved
an allocation in 2010 that included the Oak Street trail, various accessible curb ramps and crosswalks (10-20 locations), and several missing sidewalk segments totally approximately
$300,000. The City intends to design these projects in house this winter and bid the projects in the spring. They have until the end of the State’s fiscal year next year before they
would be at risk of losing this funding. Ralph asked for a complete list of all the 2010 projects and Dustin said he would email it to him.
The City Commission would now like to see
a full list of ranked projects for the new funding allocation. The list so far includes missing sidewalk on College between Black and Tracy, sidewalk on the east side of Highland Boulevard
from Kagy to just north of Holly, and the missing gaps along the North 19th Avenue shared-use path. The City currently has $300,000 to $400,000 remaining in the fund. Dustin said he
would be happy to take other project suggestions at any time. They can be sent to him via email at djohnson@bozeman.net. He would like to continue to collect these project ideas through
the fall and winter and will know their final CTEP balance when the current projects go to bid this spring.
Ralph noted the change in leadership of the CTEP program from Ron Dingman
to Dustin. Ron had previously used a task force to select these projects. Dustin stated that they decided to do away with the task force format because of the duplication between this
board and BABAB, and because this is the last year of CTEP funding. Ralph just asked him to be sure to keep us in the loop on the process so we don’t miss any deadlines. Dustin said
he definitely wants to have our buy-in and support for the list before it goes to the Commission.
Transportation Alternatives (TA) Program. Ralph summarized the recent combination
of CTEP, Safe Routes to School and the Recreational Trails Program into a single program called Transportation Alternatives. The process for allocating that funding has also changed
significantly. It is no longer allocated to individual cities and counties by population as CTEP was previously. The TA program is now awarded competitively on a project by project
basis statewide. Proposals for the new process were due on Sept 6th. MDT has also elected to fund 2 years’ worth of projects based on one set of applications.
Three proposals were
submitted for the City of Bozeman, but we have not heard of any submitted for the County. We likely will not hear back for at least a couple of months. Rebecca Gleason of WTI prepared
the application. Dustin said they did a great job and he supports all three projects, which included a shared use path on the south side of Huffine from Cottonwood to Fowler, sidewalk
along Durston from Laurel Glen Subdivision to Meadowlark Elementary School, and planning funds for a multi-modal coordinator position. The other difference in the process now is that
the selected projects will be administered by MDT instead of by the City.
At our last meeting, this committee voted to grant its three officers the decision making authority to choose
to support or not support any or all of the proposals. We unanimously decided to support all three so Ralph wrote three letters of support, copies of which were distributed today.
Ralph asked Dustin if the preparation of the application was all done on volunteer time. Dustin said that WTI will likely receive some form of compensation, but he does not know the
details. They will likely look to partner with WTI for these types of services again in the future.
South Willson Crossing at Galligator Trail. There are two or three discussion points
related to this agenda item. One is related to Gary’s desire for a new crosswalk at Tracy, the second is concern about the visibility of the crosswalk at Lincoln, and Ralph has also
noted the missing sidewalk segments along Lincoln to the west of Willson. The City could order the property owner to install the sidewalk on the side yard (north side of Lincoln) along
the adjacent apartment building. John noted that the city is still considering their options for hiring an independent contractor to complete the sidewalk assessments. They will likely
still hire that company (Precision Concrete out of Utah) to do some of the work, but may do some in house as well. We will discuss this item further again next month.
Catron Crossing
Development Proposal. The pre-application for this development is on the agenda for the Design Review Committee next week. The project includes an existing hotel and the other four
lots will likely be commercial as well. There is an existing multi-use path that has already been constructed along the Valley Center frontage. The developer has requested a variance
related to set back from the stream along the frontage, but Dustin does not expect there to be any major issues that we would need to take action on. We do not need to take any action
today prior to the Design Review Committee meeting and we will have the opportunity to discuss this project again in the future.
New Planning Director. Wendy Thomas was recently appointed
as the new Planning Director overseeing both the Building Department and Planning Department. Ralph asked if we would like to invite her to a future meeting. Dustin said she has made
it a priority to reach out to advisory boards and other groups, so he thought she would be happy to join us. All agreed we should invite her to a future meeting.
Next Meeting. Our
next meeting will be scheduled for October 9th at 12:00 pm. No conflicts for those in attendance.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:40 PM.
Next Meeting: October 9, 2013 at noon as
noted above.
Minutes by Danielle Scharf
Edits by Ralph Zimmer