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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-21-22 Public Comment - Z. Osman - Fowler Comment for Transportation advisory board and commissionersFrom:Zehra Osman To:Agenda Subject:Re: Fowler Comment- for transportation advisory board and commissioners Date:Tuesday, June 21, 2022 9:25:52 PM Attachments:Fowler Avenue Commission & Board comments.pdf CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Apologies for omitting my comments pdf on the last emails. I do (finally) have them attached here. See email below for details. On Tuesday, June 21, 2022, Zehra Osman <zosman534@gmail.com> wrote: Bozeman city commissioners and transportation advisory board members: Here are my comments for the Fowler avenue Connection project, just in time for you to incorporate them into your decision making process at the June 22, 2022 meeting and at future commission meetings. The previous email seemed to omit the comments pdf. Sincerely, Zehra Osman Bozeman, 59718 Zosman534@gmail.com Honorable Transportation Advisory Board Members and City Commissioners, In the spirit of accommodating a version of Fowler Avenue extension that does not obliterate what few features and values we have on this side of town, I hereby submit these comments to you. I am not directly impacted by the project, only indirectly. I am a citizen concerned for the well being of our community and environment. Community Engagement We were hopeful when City Manager Jeff Mihelich stated, “We are true in our hope that people will get engaged in the process, go on the field trips with us, provide meaningful input and help shape that corridor as it continues to move forward.” Unfortunately, the consultant did not allow the community’s meaningful input to have any effect on shaping the proposed corridor. The forums and channels set up for public participation limited our input to merely answering the consultant’s specific questions/surveys. We attended meetings, field trips, and open houses. Please see the wonderfully written community comments posted on Engage Bozeman. They were ignored. In fact, they were not even recorded in any meaningful way to be made public. Rather our multiple comments from a 2 hours meeting were synthesized into one paragraph summary. In other words, through every phase, after every effort to “get engaged in the process,” the design continues to look the exactly same- uninfluenced by our input. Meeting minutes do not even reflect our individual comments - it’s as if we never even attended. Heartfelt Comments on Saving the Trail, Creek, and Trees Though we had hoped that all or part of this corridor could remain a trail like the east side’s Gallagator Trail, we lowered our expectations. We compromised and focused our comments on (a) narrowing the width of the proposed Fowler Avenue and (b) to try to save existing vegetation and the creek. But before we leave this concept, please take the time to read all the wonderful heartfelt comments posted on Engage Bozeman’s “Stories” tab. Please get a feel for what we are losing and how much we are compromising. Figure 1: 2017 Transportation Plan Just a Simple 2-Lane Road: No Turning Lane and No Median Since this extension is going through existing neighborhoods, we recommend the city follow the templates used on other city roads. The city has done this for other areas that are shown in green on the master plan (Figure 1), such as on Willson, East Babcock, and College. Durston narrows down to accommodate a narrower width through existing neighborhoods when it turns into W. Peach Street (Figure 2). A turning lane and median were not forced on W. Peach St (Figure 2). Compare Figure 2 with Figure 3: more pavement takes longer for a pedestrian to cross. Walkable Communities expert Dan Burden visited Bozeman and stated that Durston was way too wide, its individual lanes were way too wide, and the excessively wide middle turning lane was exactly what we should avoid. He said these additional widths encourage speeding and discourage walking. This creates an inhospitable pedestrian environment. Adjacent residences have put up a gauntlet of fences. Compare this with another road shown as green on Bozeman’s transportation plan. On Willson, residents do not put up a gauntlet of barrier fences. Additionally, the proposed medians are unusable open space and have no ecosystem value. We recommend you leave out the median, leave out the turning lane, and keep our existing trees and creek on either side. Figure 2: West Peach Street - same corridor as Durston, though narrow Figure 3: Durston - same corridor as W. Peach Street, though too wide Let the Road, Trees, Creek, and Trail Coexist The existing few areas of trees and creek bring many important values that the west side lacks, such as shade, flora, fauna, and the sights and sounds of a creek. The plan calls this creek a “ditch.” To our residents, birds, and raptors, this is much more than a “ditch.” For those of us who walk south to the grocery store, this little bit of shade and park at the Bozeman Ponds going north-south between Babcock and Oak is all we have. We recommend these trees and the open creek are preserved while keeping Fowler Avenue a narrower width of no more than 2 lanes. Additionally, the proposed median will not have any kind of vegetation on it that has any ecosystem value. Instead, eliminate the median, thereby narrowing the road width, and keep the existing trees, trail, and creek. The creek should not go into a pipe. It should remain an above ground creek that feeds the existing ecosystem. Safety Issues for Children at Hyalite School and W. Babcock Fields On the left side of Figure 4, you can see the edge of the W. Babcock Fields. Children play softball here. Children often dart out into the street. This is also the eastern edge of the school zone for Hyalite Elementary School. Kids walk to this area from all over this district - across Fowler. Compare Figure 4 with Figure 5. As proposed, Figure 5 shows what is currently proposed for near the Hyalite School. We recommend that this proposed wider road is not safe for grade- school children to cross. Even a three lane width would essentially create a dangerous barrier for these kids. The school speed zone is within 150 feet of this proposed multi-lane intersection! Children walking west from east of Fowler will be required to cross a very busy and complicated proposed road and intersection. The city should not have built Hyalite Figure 4: Fowler Ave just south of Babcock. W. Babcock Fields are to the left. Bozeman Ponds with existing trees and creek are to the right. Elementary School where they did if they intended to build-out Fowler in this way. Medians just add to the width of road that children have to cross. We do not want to risk having children be stuck on a median while traffic zips by in both directions on either side of them. Keep Fowler narrow and keep it simple enough for kids to navigate. Recent Development Decisions Similarly, the city should not have built the brand new residences on Fowler just south of Durston so that the proposed future Fowler Avenue would be on top of their doorstep. There is only about 85-feet from the front of these new residences on the right (east) to the back of the older residences to the west. There is not sufficient room to build Fowler to be more than a simple 2-lane road. Do Not Force Commuters onto Cascade Street Figure 1 shows how close Durston is to Babcock. There are only 3 streets between Durston and Babcock. The planners are proposing to have Cascade Street be a formal connector to Fowler Avenue. Rush-hour commuters who do not want to drive the Hyalite school zone will be tempted to speed through Cascade instead. Cascade Street is a simple neighborhood street and cannot take this kind of speeding traffic. The reason the planners are proposing this is because of the median they want to have on Fowler Ave. For all the reasons we’ve stated above, the median is creating more problems than it’s solving. By holding on to the idea of a median, you are forcing yourself into an overly complicated solution that affects too many streets. We recommend you just omit the median on Fowler and do not make Cascade a formal connector. Uncontrolled Intersections Finally, uncontrolled four way intersections are unsafe. Especially once Fowler Avenue goes in, we will have many accidents. Please change all the connecting streets to have controlled Figure 5: Davis Lane model is way too wide to go through existing neighborhoods. intersections with stop signs and/or yield signs. Don’t let these existing neighborhoods to either side of Fowler become a raceway for those who avoid the speed zone at Hyalite School on Babcock. Straw Man Alternative When we all look at the five-lane option with a median, it seems so over the top, we can’t help but wonder if it is placed in the range of alternatives as a way to make the three-lane w/median alternative look better. The three lane alternative with a median is also not recommended. As stated throughout this letter, a simple two-lane alternative is more than enough and already represents a huge compromise to those of us who are heartbroken over the loss of any hope of having our own Gallagator Trail on the west side. As you can see, our above requests are not unreasonable. We want another opportunity to be heard. We would also ask that you submit responses to these above comments as part of the continued dialogue. Please do not ignore the community’s comments. Sincerely, Zehra Osman and family Figure 6: Proposed Fowler Plan choices. None of these are acceptable.