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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 06/16/2004REGULAR MEETING MINUTES of the TRANSPORTATION BOARD June 16, 2004 5:45 p.m. City of Fort Collins -Municipal Building Community Room 215 N. Mason Street FOR REFERENCE: CHAIR: Bruce Henderson 898-4625 VICE CHAIR: Heather Trantham 206-4255 STAFF LIAISON: Don Bachman 224-6049 ADMIN SUPPORT: Cynthia Cass 224-6058 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Joe Dumais (late) Dan Gould Neil Grigg Tim Johnson Christophe Ricord Gary Thomas CITY STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: Don Bachman Cynthia Cass Mark Jackson Cam McNair Ron Phillips Thomas Reiff Rick Richter Lucinda Smith Brian Woodruff ABSENT: Claudia Eberspacher Bruce Henderson Ray Moe Brent Thordarson Heather Trantham GUESTS IN ATTENDANCE: Nancy York 1. CALL TO ORDER I The meeting could not be called to order until a quorum of the board was present. This did not occur until 6:05 p.m. when Board Member Dumais arrived. An agenda item was already in progress at that time, so the official call to order did not occur until a break in the presentation at 6:43 p.m. APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board June 16,2004 Page 2 of 7 12. SELECTION OF CHAIR --1 Bachman explained that according to Robert's Rules of Order, in the absence of both the Chair and the Vice Chair, the board members present may select a Chair for the meeting among themselves. Ricord was nominated and then voted in to serve as Chair for this meeting. 13. AGENDA REVIEW No changes were made to the agenda as presented. 4. PUBLIC COMMENT None. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (MAY 2004) There was a motion and a second to approve the minutes of May 19, 2004 as presented. Discussion: None. The question was called and the motion carried by a unanimous vote, 6-0. 6. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT Not present. 7. DISCUSSION ITEMS a. PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT PROGRAM ANNUAL UPDATE —R. Richter Richter gave a presentation that included the following highlights: • Computerized Pavement Management Program — Street Selection Process • Publishing PMS Information • Good Roads Cost Less to Maintain • Treatment Costs per Square Yard • Annual Growth in Pavement Management Needs • Growth in Street Miles • Benefits We're Seeing from the Changes We've Made • Average Pavement Condition Over Time • Funding Need for 2004-2011 = $7.5 M PEDESTRIAN ACCESS PROGRAM • Pedestrian Access Ramps • New Infill Sidewalks • Rehabilitation of Existing Sidewalks APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 7 Transportation Board June 16,2004 Board Comments/Ouestions: Grigg asked if there is a figure for the replacement of all the streets in Fort Collins. Richter said he doesn't know it off the top of his head, but will find the answer and will email it to everyone on the Board. Discussion highlights included recycled materials which are used for asphalt, concrete versus asphalt, and ADA requirements for the new ramps downtown. (The meeting was called to order at this point — 6:43 p.m.) b. E. PROSPECT NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN — T. Reiff Reiff stated that during the Transportation Master Plan process, the Board was interested in the particular study area — Prospect between Lemay and Lesher Jr. High — which is where a small neighborhood plan is being looked at. He explained that there's a new development there called the Pinnacle Town Homes. That development spurred some of the adjacent property owners to think about redevelopment. Reiff said that since the City doesn't have a sub -area plan for this section of Prospect and some of the parcels are narrow, long lots, staff is trying to address some of the issues that may arise as the parcel begins to redevelop. Staff wants to make sure they won't develop as an isolated element, but rather ensure that it's cohesive with all the other properties as they redevelop. There will be some Public Open Houses/Workshops coming up. One is next Monday, 6:30 — 8:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church on Prospect. A wrap-up meeting will then be held on Wednesday, June 23 at the same time and place. Reiff distributed a memo with this information. He added that Anne Aspen, in Planning, is the lead on this project. c. TRANSPORTATION -RELATED AIR QUALITY STRATEGIES —L. Smith Smith introduced Brian Woodruff, who founded the Air Quality Program in the City. She said that he would be the one working on some of the strategies she will be talking about, especially the price mechanism strategy and the peer cities evaluation of Transportation Demand Management Programs. Mr. Woodruff is also the Air Quality representative on the City's LUTRAQ (Land Use, Transportation and Air Quality) team. Smith presented the strategies via Power Point. Highlights of that presentation were: • Strategies — Background - Broad, Five-year strategies - Address Air Pollution SOURCES - Intended for implementation by Natural Resources Department and do NOT comprehensively cover actions by other departments • Motor Vehicle and Non -Road Strategies • Motor Vehicle Strategies — Conduct Public Education • Motor Vehicle Strategies — Incentives/Price Mechanisms APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 7 Transportation Board June 16,2004 • Motor Vehicle Strategies — Regulation • Motor Vehicle Strategies — Planning • Highway Vehicle Strategies — Planning • Diesel Emissions/Rulings • Local Diesel Emissions • Highway and Non -Road Strategies Board Comments/Ouestions: Johnson asked for more information on the source of ammonia mentioned in the presentation. If Smith finds out what it is, she will share it with the Board. Johnson commented that on the third one down where it says, "Promote the use of alternative fuels," you might want to add the words: "and technologies" because for instance, there are hybrid vehicles that are on the road and many more are coming out in the next few years. That also ties in with idling because they automatically have that auto -stop mechanism. Johnson said that with regard to "Conduct Public Education" (third one from the bottom), we've had ZILCH, that is Zero Interest Loan programs for removing dirty wood stoves and we might look at extending that so you might have a program where you might put out say $4,000-5,000 blocks to people who purchase commercial vehicles. Like if they went from a diesel to a hybrid vehicle. Grigg stated that there needs to be a way to clearly communicate what the issue is, what the goals are and how we know we're making progress with these programs. Smith said that in the past, staff has intermittently put together a report to City Council. She said that it might be a good idea to standardize that, provide it more regularly, perhaps annually and do more about quantifying the benefit. The other thing is, we sent it to Council, but didn't let the public know very well about it. That's something else we should do. Gould said that related to that, on the slide on episodic control programs, the ultimate feedback mechanism for public consciousness is visibility. But the terminology is a little confusing. Does that mean that the air is visible or that you can see through the air? Smith agreed that it probably is an inappropriate use of the word. Gould commented that people seem to be way too casual about idling. Smith stated that she just learned that the City of Greeley is considering an idling ordinance. Fort Collins looked at that about six years ago and had an intern gather data on delivery vehicle idling practices and felt at the time that it wasn't the right time for an ordinance. She said that most of the major companies had practices in place, but staff is certainly going to find out why Greeley is looking at it and that Fort Collins could revisit that as well, potentially. Dumais suggested putting a note in the City Utility Bill about idling to help educate people. Thomas thanked Smith for refining this down to the Transportation issues. APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board June 16,2004 Page 5 of 7 d. COMMUNITY CAPITAL PROGRAM —D. Bachman Bachman showed the Board the Building on Basics (BOB) video and then the same Power Point presentation that the Capital Team has been showing to service organizations in the community. 8. ACTION ITEMS 9. REPORTS a. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Grigg: Orlando Toll Roads. I was in Orlando and while driving around I noticed how much they are using toll roads down there. It made me think about how that could be used more to alleviate congestion and manage things. I was impressed by them. Johnson: Roundabouts in Kansas. Gary handed me this thing about roundabouts in Kansas and I'd like to have staff copy it for the board and include it in next month's packets and also send it to Council. It's a good commentary on how effective they can be in reducing accidents. N. College. It looks really good. It really improved it. McNair: The only thing left is the railroad crossing. It has to be completely redone. There is a celebration planned for August 13 at 10 a.m. Thomas: Dial -A -Ride Advisory Committee. The DAR Committee has voted to change its name and modify its mission and I'd like to share that with you. They voted to change their name from the DAR Advisory Committee to the Dial -A - Ride and Transit Accessibility Committee (DARTAC). The mission has been changed to read as follows: "It is the mission of the DARTAC to advocate for consumer safety, service and satisfaction, advise City staff and educate the general public on issues pertinent to accessibility of public transit." Loveland Transportation Board Report. One of the big issues down there is the redesign of their transit system. They had one fixed ride that was just totally failing. In the course of discussions, Fort Collins was asked if they would be willing to entertain discussion to take over bus service. Tom Frazier and his team met with their counterparts in Loveland, threw some members together and at a City Council Study Session, their council authorized their bus people to proceed with negotiations with Fort Collins. The number that Tom came up with made it appear that FC could do it for about $200,000 less per year net cost to Loveland than it's costing Loveland today. It's not a done deal yet, but at least City Council and staff are interesting in pursuing it. APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board June 16,2004 Page 6 of 7 Gould: Letter. I just wanted to thank Ron for passing on the letter from the person who was interviewed by Matt Benson. Was that submitted as a Soapbox or something? Phillips: It was submitted, but we haven't seen it printed yet. It's one of those things they might not print. Johnson: Maybe we should send it around to all our email networks. Or we might think about sending it to one of the weeklies like Fort Collins Forum or the Bullhorn because apparently there is a real tug-of-war going on right now. Dumais: Moving. I will know for sure next week, but I may be moving to Lincoln, Nebraska. I'll be taking a second visit out this weekend and I'll know for sure. I will let Cynthia know by late next week about resigning. It's been great being on the Board and I really enjoyed working with all of you. b. STAFF REPORTS Jackson: North I-25 Environmental Impact Stud v is moving along. A lot of folks went to the first round of Open Houses held at the Lincoln Center. They've progressed with a purpose and need element of the whole NEPA analysis and are now ready for the second round of outreach. The second round will start next week — Open Houses in Evans, Loveland, Thornton and Fort Collins. The one in Fort Collins will be at the Lincoln Center on July 1, from 4-7 p.m. I spoke with the EIS team this morning and the format will be a little different this time. It will start out as a drop in format and then at 5 or 5:30 there will be a brief presentation explaining the process and then go back to an open house format. If you would like up-to-date information, you can also visit the CDOT website. Phase II of the Non -Route Based Strategies for the N. Colorado Truck Route. Next month I'll be ready to talk about our progress and what our recommendations are as far as the pilot programs for Phase IL We'll be going to Council in late July so we wanted to come to you first and get your input. Bachman: Timberline Road Funding Sources. This graphic was shown to you last month when we were talking about Timberline Road between Prospect and Drake. Just to refresh your memory, the top graphic is what we're calling the interim improvement, the one that is affordable with the $2.3M voluntary contribution by the developers, plus Street Oversizing and the local street portion. The bottom is the ultimate project and the green indicates what additional City capital portion would be required in order to do the ultimate improvements to four -lanes and do it right. On both, the yellow is the Street Oversizing portion, the blue is the developers $2.3M and the red is the local street portion. The original graphic really brought out how much of what those developers are paying for — all of this blue would be green. APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board June 16,2004 Page 7 of 7 There are two other graphics here and I will need Cam's help. The reason I bring this up is to show in this area, between the four -lane ultimate, where the green doesn't exist, what we would be building under the two alternatives - A "doing it right" option and using a "what we do have" option. McNair gave a description of the of the additional graphics. Bachman said that the reason we're pointing this out is to show what we're NOT getting by not investing the $3M we're proposing under this list of capital projects. The board discussed various funding issues and agreed it might be a good idea that if there is any additional funding, to invest in some design effort and some estimating and go to something in between the two options. Dumais said that as a taxpayer he hates seeing things ripped up even 6 years later. It is a waste. He said he applauds any effort to get it done right the first time. Johnson pointed out that a bike bridge is much cheaper to do and would help lower the cost. Bachman: Next Agenda: • N. Colorado Truck Route - Non -route based strategies with Mark Jackson ■ Mason Corridor Update with Kathleen Reavis 10. OTHER BUSINESS None. 11. ADJOURN Interim Chair Ricord adjourned the meeting at approximately 9 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Cass Executive Administrative Assistant City of Fort Collins — Transportation Services