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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-07-15 PTS minutes Bozeman (Area) Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee 1 Minutes of the July 8, 2015 Meeting 2 Upstairs Conference Room Alfred Stiff Office Building 3 4 Those Present: 5 6 Voting Committee Members: 7 Ralph Zimmer (Gallatin County) 8 Danielle Scharf (City of Bozeman) 9 Tony Becken-Gaddo (At-large Member) 10 Marilee Brown (At-large Member) 11 Vance Ruff (Bozeman School District) 12 Bud Jarvis (Bozeman School District) 13 Tom Foster (Gallatin County) 14 15 Official Non-Voting Committee Members: 16 John Van Delinder (City of Bozeman Streets Department) 17 Todd Swinehart (Bozeman School District) 18 19 City Commissioners, County Commissioners, and School Board Members (Non-Voting on PTS): 20 (none in attendance) 21 22 Liaison Law Enforcement Officers (Non-Voting on PTS): 23 (none in attendance) 24 25 Guests: 26 Rob Bukvich (Montana Department of Transportation) 27 Taylor Lonsdale (Western Transportation Institute) 28 Larry Watson (Gallatin County) 29 30 Quorum: Present. 31 32 NEW BUSINESS: 33 34 Ralph Zimmer, PTS Committee Chair called the meeting to order at 12:00 PM. 35 36 1. Agenda. Ralph offered the opportunity to provide input on the agenda. No comments at this 37 time. Ralph noted an error in the date on the approval of minutes from our last meeting, 38 which should have been May 13 instead of April 8. 39 40 2. Public Comment. Ralph offered the opportunity to provide comments on items not on the 41 agenda. No comments at this time. 42 43 3. Minutes. Draft minutes of the May 13, 2015 meeting had been distributed electronically and 44 hard copies were distributed at the meeting. A motion to approve the May meeting minutes 45 was made by Vance, second by Marilee. Minutes were approved. 46 47 4. Election of 2015 Officers. Ralph recently received notice from Gary Vodehnal that he will 48 be stepping down from his position on the committee and will no longer be serving as Vice 49 Chair. Ralph therefore asked for nominations for Vice Chair and Marilee nominated Danielle 50 Scharf and no other nominations were made. Ralph asked for a vote to elect Danielle Scharf 51 as Vice Chair and the vote was unanimous. Danielle’s election as Vice Chair created a 52 vacancy in the office of Secretary. Ralph then asked for nominations for Secretary and Vance 53 nominated Marilee Brown and the vote was unanimous. 54 55 5. Report on Previous Actions. The County Commission recently adopted a new speed 56 ordinance on Monforton School Road of 20 mph that will be in effect at all times and the 57 signs should go up by July 23rd. 58 59 Ralph asked John for confirmation that there would still be just one crosswalk across Church 60 at the Story Street intersection installed with the Story reconstruction project. John said yes, it 61 will be on the north side only. John also said he has not heard anything more about a potential 62 trail connection on the east side. 63 64 6. County Commission Report. Not in attendance today. 65 66 7. City Commission Report. Cyndy Andrus was unable to attend the meeting today. 67 68 8. School Board Report. Not in attendance today. 69 70 9. Liaison Officer Reports. Not in attendance today. 71 72 10. City Street Department Report. John said the City’s CTEP project for the North 19th Trail 73 and various ramp improvements will go out for bid this weekend. Story, College, etc. are all 74 still underway. The next street reconstruction project will be on Wallace funded by an SIA. 75 Ralph noted that the mid-block crossing on Willson in front of the Medical Arts building will 76 be put out to bid as part of a larger City project. 77 78 11. County Road Department Report. Bill Brownell was not in attendance today, but Larry 79 Watson gave a report on behalf of the County. He mentioned that they have four Community 80 Transportation Enhancement Program projects that are just wrapping up. Two of those 81 projects are currently out to bid (one is a trail projects in Manhattan and the other is a trail 82 project in Three Forks) and two others will go out to bid as soon as they receive final approval 83 from the Montana Department of Transportation (Anderson School Trail and the Three Forks 84 Museum). Larry also reported on several projects that had previously been considered for 85 CTEP funding and may be considered for possible Transportation Alternatives (TA) funding 86 in the future, including a trail project in West Yellowstone, a trail project in Big Sky, 87 enhancements to the existing trail/underpass in Gallatin Gateway, another section of trail in 88 Gallatin Gateway from the gas station to Cottonwood Road along the highway, and Three 89 Forks/Manhattan/Belgrade are all still contemplating funding for an additional section of trail 90 that would connect those communities. The other one he’s expecting would be the County’s 91 portion of the trail to the M and he has also heard that Anderson School will be pursuing a 92 new speed ordinance similar to Monforton School. 93 94 12. School District Facilities Report. Todd plans to discuss their potential TA projects, but will 95 wait until that agenda item. 96 97 13. Bozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board (BABAB) Report. John noted that they are 98 looking for volunteers to help with the bicycle counts coming up later this summer. 99 100 14. Citizens for Safer Bozeman. Marilee said she has continued to pursue the installation of a 101 wider shoulder along Baxter. She has also continued to pursue the County gas tax and learned 102 that there is no way to get it on the ballot prior to 2016. She also expressed appreciation to 103 MDT for their work on the signal timing progression along North 19th Ave. 104 105 15. Transportation Coordinating Committee (TCC). TCC’s next meeting will be on July 106 22nd. Ralph and Danielle will both be attending the Institute of Transportation Engineers 107 meeting in Las Vegas on that date, so Ralph asked Marilee to attend and represent PTS. She 108 said she will be there and Tony said he plans to attend as well. 109 110 16. Transportation Alternatives (TA) Program Applications. The TA program is a federally 111 funded program administered by MDT and is the replacement for the old CTEP program. 112 Under the CTEP program, each local jurisdiction received an automatic allocation, but that is 113 no longer the case with TA. Local jurisdictions are now required to submit applications to 114 MDT and compete with other projects statewide. Rob noted that proposals are being accepted 115 until the end of July. This is the second round of applications and they have a total of $2.8 116 million to allocate statewide. Rob also noted that there is no match requirement for projects 117 constructed within the right-of-way on MDT system routes. Non-profits are not eligible to 118 submit applications themselves, but they can partner with cities, counties or school districts. 119 120 Ralph reported that the City of Bozeman is planning to submit just one application, the West 121 Side Trail Roadway Crossing Safety Improvement Project. The decision on which project to 122 submit was made by City staff in consultation with representatives from the Western 123 Transportation Institute and the Gallatin Valley Land Trust. The City Commission will be 124 informed, but will not be part of the decision making process. 125 126 The one project will include at least two mid-block crossings for the existing trail. Ralph 127 commented that the City has not been in favor of mid-block crossings in the past so prior to 128 the meeting he had quizzed City Engineer Rick Hixson about this. Rick explained that in the 129 past other mid-block crossings that were proposed to which they objected were in close 130 proximity to signalized intersections. The crossings in this proposal are not close to 131 signalized intersections and thus the City is not opposed to these particular crossings. 132 133 Ralph said the City, WTI and GVLT have been working together to prepare the application. 134 Taylor said Rebecca Gleason (WTI) and Kelly Pohl (GVLT) had asked the City if an 135 application would be prepared. The City did not have the capacity to do it themselves, so the 136 City contracted with WTI to prepare the application. The City, GVLT and WTI discussed 137 several potential projects and selected this one because they thought it would have the best 138 chance of getting approved by the selection committee. Taylor summarized the long history 139 of planning and public input that went into the West Side Trail. 140 141 Taylor noted that the crossing location identified on Oak would actually be moved to the 142 Hunters Way intersection (instead of mid-block) by rerouting the trail on the south side. The 143 mid-block crossing to Hyalite Elementary would be associated with the Bozeman Pond Park 144 expansion project. He would also like to continue discussions with the City about the best 145 location for the crossing to Rose Park. Some of these specifics are still being finalized. 146 147 Marilee asked if this trail continues north all the way to Baxter and if there were any chance of 148 Baxter crossing improvements being included in this application. Taylor said not at this time 149 because the trail doesn’t continue north of Baxter and the north side is still outside of City 150 limits. 151 152 Ralph also mentioned that Kelly Pohl from GVLT had contacted him to request a letter of 153 support for the application. She was unable to attend our meeting today, but asked Taylor to 154 present the project. Ralph would like to discuss whether or not we want to support this 155 project, but would like to hear what the proposals will be from the County and School District 156 first. 157 158 Todd stated that the School District had been awarded a $260,000 allocation of Transportation 159 Alternatives funding during the previous funding cycle. They are working on an application 160 this year for a combination of projects that will likely include the following: 161  Updates to the 2008 School Improvement Plans 162  Additional sidewalk infill west of Chief Joseph Middle School 163  Ruth Thibeault Drive improvements into Bozeman High School – bike access 164  Emily Dickinson – speed warning signs along 25th - Oak Street and 25th or 27th 165  Longfellow Sidewalk Improvements – heaving sections in front of school 166  Curb extension at Tracy and Dickerson 167  Morning Star – future development needs as Arnold is developed 168  Meadowlark – crossing along Durston 169  Sidewalk along Flanders Mill & Cottonwood 170 171 The total application will likely be $200,000 - $300,000. Todd noted they did not requested a 172 letter of support from the committee for their previous proposal, but would be happy to have 173 one this year for their application. 174 175 Ralph asked Larry which if any of the projects he mentioned previously would be submitted 176 by the County for this round of TA funding. Larry said they are not currently planning to 177 submit an application this month. 178 179 Rob noted that Belgrade is planning to submit an application for sidewalk connections on 180 Main Street east to the new interchange along Frontage Road. 181 182 Rob said there is not a specific requirement for letters of support in the TA criteria, but it does 183 specifically ask for a description of the public involvement process. 184 185 Kelly Pohl has requested a letter of support from this committee for the City’s application and 186 Todd has also stated that a letter of support would be welcome. Ralph asked what we would 187 like to do. 188 189 Tony said he is in support of the School District’s proposal for multiple school connection 190 improvements. Marilee asked when the public involvement would need to be completed. 191 Taylor noted that these crossing locations have been identified in other previous plans that 192 have included a public involvement process. Rob agreed and just reiterated that’s what needs 193 to be documented in the application. 194 195 Rob suggested that the County consider a trail along South 19th Ave particularly because it’s 196 an MDT route so the County would not be required to provide the match. 197 198 Danielle said she would be in favor of providing a letter of support for both the City 199 application and the School District application, and made a motion to that affect. Ralph noted 200 that he would need some additional information from those groups in order to write those 201 letters. With that caveat, Vance seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. 202 203 17. Community Transportation Safety Plan (CTSP). The City Commission adopted the plan 204 on May 18th. Danielle had previously volunteered to lead the effort and provided an 205 overview of what’s been done to date. She has held several meetings with the emphasis area 206 leaders to work on a summary of implementation progress to date. It was asked if these 207 meetings are closed meetings. They are not closed, but the group just decided to keep the 208 group fairly small for the initial development of the draft summary. The group will then 209 distribute the draft for review to a much larger group and invite all who are interested to 210 participate in implementation. 211 212 18. Consider advocating for changes to 15 mph speed limit. Ralph suggested that we table this 213 agenda item for a future meeting. 214 215 19. Additional Items. Ralph asked Taylor and Danielle what the status is of our intent to apply 216 for the Walk Friendly Community designation. The response was it has fallen off the radar, 217 but they will look at it again and see when then next application cycle ends. 218 219 Ralph reported that local State Senator Scott Sales has repeatedly voted against legislation that 220 this committee has chosen to support. He is a member of the Senate Highways & 221 Transportation committee through which many of these bills had to pass, so his opposition is 222 significant. Ralph recently wrote him a personal letter stating that he would be interested in 223 learning more about his reasoning for his opposition, but did not hear back. Ralph asked if we 224 would like to invite Scott to one of our meetings in hopes of understanding his reasoning and 225 perhaps convince him to be more supportive of safety legislation. Many thought we should 226 just let it be. Marilee suggested we wait a year and approach him as we get closer to the next 227 legislative session in two years. Tom agreed that it is important to establish a dialogue with 228 him and Rob suggested we try to do it during an election cycle. All agreed that we should try 229 to do that for all representatives during the next election. 230 231 Marilee suggested that we consider opportunities for more direct communication with the 232 public and a process for soliciting input from citizens. We should work to find a way to be 233 more interactive with the public. The Monforton speed zone is a good example of the help 234 that we can provide to them once they know we exist. 235 236 20. Next Meeting. Our next meeting will be scheduled for August 12th at 12:00 pm. 237 That date should work for all members in attendance. 238 239 A motion was made by Vance to adjourn, second by Tom. The meeting was adjourned at 1:40 240 PM. 241 242 Next Meeting: August 12, 2015 at noon as noted above. 243 244 245 Minutes by Danielle Scharf 246 Edits by Ralph Zimmer 247