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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 02/19/1997v • Draft Minutes to be approved by the Transportation Board at the March 19, 1997 Meeting TRANSPORTATION BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES FEBRUARY 19,1997 FOR REFERENCE: Chair Paul Valentine 493-0100 Vice Chair Paul Perlmutter 229-2549 Council Liaison Will Smith 223-0425 Staff Liaison Tom Frazier 224-6893 Secretary Micki White 224-6173 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Alan Beatty, Mark Egeland, Sara Frazier, Stephen Hanna, Tim Johnson, Kathleen Kilkelly, Paul Perlmutter, and Paul Valentine BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Donn Hopkins, and Ray Moe STAFF/COUNCIL/GUESTS PRESENT: Transportation Planning: Ron Phillips, Tom Frazier, Susanne Edminster, Kathleen Reavis, Kelley Roberts and Micki White • Street Oversizing: Matt Baker, Marybeth Snyder, Ward Stanford Streets/Traffic: Gary Diede, Eric Bracke and Dan Holland Fort Collins Police Services: Sgt Pete Gazlay and Officer Don Whitson City Council Liaison: Will Smith AGENDA: A. CALL TO ORDER APPROVAL OF MINUTES B. INTRODUCTIONS C. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORTS D. PUBLIC COMMENT E. ACTION ITEM F. DISCUSSION ITEMS 1. Dismount Zone - Eric Bracke, Kathleen Reavis, Kelley Roberts, Dan Holland 2. Street Oversizing - Gary Diede, Matt Baker 3. Overland Trail - Kathleen Kilkelly 4. Board Member Reports 5. Staff Reports • 6. Summary/Next Agenda 7. Other Business Transportation Board Meeting Minutes February 19, 1997 Page 2 Paul Valentine called the Transportation Board Meeting to order at approximately 5:55 p.m. It was moved and seconded to approve the minutes of the last meeting. C. Council Liaison Reports Mr. Valentine then offered the floor to Will Smith, City Council Liaison, for his report. Will reported to the Board members that on the previous evening, City Council had adopted the City Plan. He noted that there are three components of City Plan; the Goals and Visions, Policies and Principles, and the Structure Plan. Those will be guiding documents which will attempt to correlate what we think our city should look like and how we should try and move forward for the next 20 years. D. The public comment was made that the staff present outnumbered the board. E. There were no actions items to discuss. F. DISCUSSION ITEMS Tom Frazier informed the Board that the Street Oversizing portion of the meeting would be going to Council March 11 and he asked the members to pass their comments and general thoughts along to Council at that time. Dismount Zone - Eric Bracke, Kathleen Reavis Eric Bracke, Traffic Engineer, began the discussion by informing the Board that the Dismount Zone was created about 15 months ago. Costs would be about $21,000. Mr. Bracke stated that the signing would be placed at common entry points; Mountain Avenue @ Mason, LaPorte @ College, and Olive @ College. Plans are in place for a marketing campaign. They are also working with the Parks and Recreation Departments and the Fort Collins Police Services is committed to enforcing the zone. Mr. Bracke then demonstrated two of the new signs and there was a lively discussion regarding the appearance of the signs. Alan Beatty asked what the separation was between the bollards. Mr. Bracke told him the separation was 4 % feet. Tim Johnson didn't feel the smaller sign was consistent with the larger sign and Mr. Bracke agreed. Kathleen Kilkelly felt the sign with the red slash was more noticeable. Steve Hanna and Ron Phillips like the international red slash, meaning "No", as in no bicycling. Mark Egeland did not care for the red slash. He said it had a negative feel. Mr. Bracke then introduced Kathleen Reavis from Transportation Planning. Ms. Reavis will be doing the marketing part of the program. Her plan is to work with regular visitors to the downtown area, junior high age young people, downtown merchants and DBA and would like the marketing V • • Transportation Board Meeting Minutes February 19, 1997 Page 3 to project the idea that everyone's business is wanted but it is necessary to show courtesy and make the downtown area a safe and pleasant area to walk and shop. Sara Frazier asked if there was a way to include the word "courtesy" on the signs. Paul Valentine liked the idea of making it a positive, rather than a negative, behavior by dismounting in that area. Sgt. Pete Gazlay from the Fort Collins Police Services said they will be handing out maps and pamphlets, indicating the areas to dismount and that discretion will be used in ticketing people. Police officers will be enforcing randomly throughout the summer. Sgt. Gazlay also indicated to the Board members that there will be a core of volunteers selected to distribute surveys and information. Alan Beatty noted that the ratio of skateboarders to bicycles is about 1:50. Sgt. Gazlay commented that bicycles in the downtown area were a safety issue while skateboarders were a damage issue. Tim Johnson asked about the penalty for failure to obey the signs. Sgt. Gazlay said it would be a $25 fine for the first offense and it would double each time afterwards. • Ron Phillips commented that he was skeptical about emphasizing courtesy when safety is the issue. Sgt. Gazlay replied that a safe bicycle corridor is needed because in the downtown area, presently, it is the sidewalk or the streets, which can be dangerous for both experienced and inexperienced riders. 2. Street Oversizing - Gary Diede, Matt Baker Paul Valentine then turned the floor over to Matt Baker for the Street Oversizing part of the discussion items. Matt gave a slide presentation showing the need for the Street Oversizing Fees. Some of the reasons addressed were: Fees need to increase to cover new costs Program needs to include all modes of transportation Trip generation is a more equitable method of calculating new development methods. Mr. Baker also used a pie chart to show the current cost distribution which is: Street Oversizing Fee 31% City General Fund Contribution 29% Developers Local Access Responsibility 40% • Mr. Baker commented that there has been a modal shift which is addressed not by building more lanes but by trying to get people out of their vehicles and on foot, bicycles, and transit. He said the Transportation Board Meeting Minutes February 19, 1997 Page 4 City Plan addresses this modal shift. Steve Hanna commented that he didn't understand why a fee assessed on his home would discourage his driving. He felt a fee on vehicles could better address the problem.. Mr. Hanna also asked if it were really fair to lay these higher fees on the next wave of people to subsidize expenses. In response, Mr. Baker informed the group and Mr. Hanna that the City would still have to pay a portion of the costs to fix things that are broken now and to pay for a portion of the costs because there is a base that the City should pay for. Mr. Baker said they were not asking the fee payers to pay all the costs for the new development and alternative modes, just their portion of what is attributed to trip generation. Will Smith commented that most of the growth is occurring at the fringes so the people in the past, who have already paid for their streets, are now suffering because of people who are tending to travel in to town. This is the kind of comment the Council has been hearing. Mr. Smith said that, in the past, a huge number of subsidies were given to the street system. He said that now the Council is trying to make sure that the same street system is fully and equitably funded. A lot of attention was given to the part of the fee which addresses the size of the building, business, etc. and the amount of traffic that particular business will generate. If it is a large building, the fee will be higher and if this business generates a lot of trips, the fee assessed will reflect this. Ron Phillips noted that this was very similar methodology to what Susanne Edminster and her team used in developing the Transportation Maintenance Fee proposal. Matt Baker went on to say there were three types of costs being considered; costs to correct existing deficiencies (new development just cannot be charged for this), costs of transportation projects needed to serve the new area, and a small portion of the costs of Level of Service increase (which benefits existing and future residents). To the extent that new residents will benefit, a small portion can be recaptured from development for those costs. Paul Perlmutter asked if you increased the capacity of an intersection, could this be charged as an impact fee. He felt this would be a deficiency in the current system. Mr. Baker said this was true. Mr. Perlmutter then asked if this would include maintenance costs and Mr. Baker said no, he was talking strictly capital costs. Mr. Baker said these were one time fees, charging developments for their contribution of trips to the road. Mr. Perlmutter said he understood this, but development has certain additional requirements, such as an additional snow plow. Mr. Baker said this would be a capital cost. Mr. Baker said this formula could be extended to the Transit system where buses are needed to extend routes into the new growth area. A certain amount of capital costs ( buying additional buses) . Transportation Board Meeting Minutes February 19, 1997 Page 5 • can be charged. Mr. Baker said this was an impact of new growth and new growth should pay for that impact. Kathleen Kilkelly asked if this included the operation of the bus and Mr.Baker said no, the cost of the bus driver, etc., could not be charged for. Paul Perlmutter commented that the fee should include maintenance and Mr. Diede told him that the consultants had told them, do not include any maintenance or your fee is subject to challenges. Mr. Diede said he understood Mr. Perlmutter's concerns, such as if more plows and sweepers must be purchased, can we be covered in capital costs of purchasing. Mr. Diede said he would check into that. Some graphs were then presented and Paul Valentine felt they could be clearer in their presentation. Tim Johnson felt that if this fee isn't implemented, then the Board needs to revisit the Master Street Plan. Kathleen Kilkelly felt that the more you can tie this to the City Plan, the better it is. Gary Diede commented that this was a very complex and technical issue. He also informed Ms. Kilkelly that this Board is the firsi group that has had this information presented to. In conclusion, both Matt Baker and Gary Diede wanted to know what the Board's feelings were towards the program. Their concern was if the Board felt they were moving in the right direction and should they go ahead with the program. The general consensus of the Board was that yes, they were moving in the right direction and to go ahead. Paul Valentine then handed out an informational sheet on Helping Build Community Choices. Steve Hanna asked who the members of Citizens Building Community Choices were. Mr. Valentine told him they were made of various Boards, etc. 3. Overland Trail - Kathleen Kilkelly for Tom Frazier Tom Frazier, Board liaison, had another commitment and had to leave before this particular presentation was made so he asked Ms. Kilkelly if she would fill in for him. Kathleen began by saying they were not finished with the Overland Trail Focus Group at this time. She said they were supposed to meet February 18 and do a recommendation to Council but the fact • that the agenda has been moved to March 18`h for Council and the fact that this has been a very emotional issue meant that no one wrote any recommendations, neither majority or minority, but Transportation Board Meeting Minutes February 19, 1997 Page 6 there will probably be a majority and minority recommendation because there is a great deal of dissension in the group. Ms. Kilkelly told the Board that the majority of the people who have attended the Focus Group are not in favor of the Overland Trail Extension being continued as a part of the Master Street Plan. They would like to see it completely taken off the Master Street Plan and when and if the Southwest Community Park is built, perhaps a two lane road to the west would be built on the west side, that would connect only down to Horsetooth for access to the park. Ms. Kilkelly told the Board that there are members of the Focus Group that are very committed to the concept of open space and they feel an arterial cutting through a natural area and community park is something that is inappropriate and would diminish the quality of both. They think that it is worth preserving that continuity at the cost of traffic and congestion elsewhere. Ms. Kilkelly said the group had talked at great length the night before about the scheduled improvements that are already scheduled for those nearby intersections and whether or not that would handle the increase in traffic. Ms. Kilkelly said the group had representatives of various organizations come and talk about wildlife and the impact on that wildlife. She said several people asked air quality issues questions that weren't really resolved and also noise was a question people voiced concern about. The group didn't feel they had enough information about noise impact. Some people felt that near the foothills, there was a possibility that noise would be magnified. Others felt there would be an air quality issue next to the foothills. She said some also felt that of Level of Service at intersections in that area went to a level F, which would also increase air pollution. Ms. Kilkelly felt that at the meeting held February 18, it was battle of values and it became very emotional. The group has been given a lot of facts in last six weeks but it still comes down to what people value. She felt it would be a tough recommendation. She also felt that the Focus Group would recommend that the Overland Trail Extension be taken off the Master Street Plan with conditions that when and if the park develops, some road perhaps access the park. Then there will probably be a minority opinion, also, that it should go as shown currently on the Master Street Plan. There was some further discussion from members and Ms. Kilkelly as to the location of the road, the type of road, was it an open area, pollution factors, etc. 4. Board Member Reports Ms. Kilkelly commented that she had planned to bring a neighborhood traffic study, West Troutman, that the neighbors had done themselves. She said it was a really interesting study. She felt the group had done a really good job. This neighborhood group is having an open house February 25 to present the results of their survey. Ms. Kilkelly informed the Board that there had been a lot of • Transportation Board Meeting Minutes February 19, 1997 Page 7 controversy in this neighborhood about extending Troutman across the railroad tracks and whether it could be vehicles or only pedestrians. Many people in that neighborhood feel cut off and isolated from all the shopping which is just right across the railroad tracks but it is an obstacle course to reach those shopping areas. Paul Perlmutter said they had talked about an underpass. Paul Valentine remarked that they had talked about putting in a bicycle trail across there as a first step, but he wasn't sure what stage of negotiations this step is in. Ms. Kilkelly said she thought the railroad had some rights about additional crossings. Sara Frazier commented on the Colorado Passenger Rail Study and said it was interesting and good. Several Board members agreed. Alan Beatty informed the Board that flyers had been circulated in reference to a Planning and Zoning meeting to oppose a development going in behind Albertson's, at Riverside and Lemay. He was asking the Board if they had more information pertaining to this. The majority of the Board was unable to shed much light on his question. • Paul Valentine brought up the matter of Andrew Trenka's recent letter of resignation and commented that it would create quite a void on the Natural Resources Committee that is studying tail pipe emissions, among other things. He stated that this committee would like to have someone else from the Transportation Board sit on this committee and he asked if anyone would be interested. Tim Johnson said he might be able to do it after June. Tim Johnson shared an article with the Board from the Denver Post. He told the Board that the Senate Transportation Committee voted by 6-1 on the transfer sales and use tax on automobiles to be used solely for highways. He said it was $143 million now and if legislature passes it, it moves to $179 million. The bad news, he reported, was all the extra money goes to the State. An original plan was to give 40% to local governments but that was cut out. He asked Ron Phillips if he had any updates on this and Ron Phillips said, yes, he did. 5. Staff Reports Ron Phillips then passed out some handouts concerning two bills with position and background information on each bill. a. House Bill 1273 dealing with rural transportation authority. b. House Bill 1, which is the one Tim Johnson was making reference to. Would allocate revenues attributable to sales and use tax and vehicles and related accessories to the HUT fund. 0 Ron asked the Board members to call Peggy Reeves and encourage her to work to have the bill Transportation Board Meeting Minutes February 19, 1997 Page 8 amended on the Senate floor to reinstate the local share -back formula. Mr. Phillips said this would amount to a significant amount of money for the City of Fort Collins. He gave the Board members her phone number and asked them to leave a message with either her or her voice mail. He encouraged them to call her and tell her we are very much in support of this reinstatement. Mr. Phillips asked Board members to call other representatives that they might be acquainted with. He did feel this would be a difficult job to accomplish, but to please try. Ron then explained that House Bill 1273 would enable any two cities and/or counties or both to contract together to form rural transportation authority, which would have the capability of going to a vote to levy various taxes and/or fees to pay for transportation improvements or systems. Mr. Phillips said if this passes in its present form or similar form, it could be a possibility for us to use in the future for a regional transit system. Mr. Phillips then concluded by telling the members that the information was in the handouts and he encouraged them to make some phone calls. The Board thanked Mr. Phillips for the summary and information. Ron Phillips then asked to touch on Ms. Frazier's issue. He said they were close to reaching a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) that is going to be approved by the Upper Front Range Transportation Planning Commission, the Denver Regional Council of Governments, and the North Front Range Transportation Air Quality Planning Council and the Transportation Commission. He said these were the four signatories to the proposed MOU on doing the Transportation Alternative Feasibility Analysis for the corridor from Fort Collins to Denver. Mr. Phillips said it was his understanding that this week, CDOT would sign a contract to do the first phase of this work, which is a $300,000 scoping phase of the study, which is anticipated to take 9-12 months. When that is completed, phase 2 and phase 3 will be entered, which will be another estimated $1.8 million to do the major feasibility work. Mr. Phillips said staff has a scope of services that is finalized after three months of intensive work. 6. Next Agenda Paul Valentine commented that he had a letter from City Manager John Fischbach requesting a budget assembly by March 21, 1997. Susanne Edminster said Mr. Fischbach is looking for the type of recommendations in terms of what the Board feels are priorities in Transportation. Ms. Edminster said it could be in general terms. Ms. Edminster then asked for a recommendation regarding frequency of meetings. A motion was made and carried to meet in one per month beginning March 19. 11 • • • 0 Transportation Board Meeting Minutes February 19, 1997 Page 9 Other agenda items could include: 7. Other Business Parking Plan RTP update Transportation Transfer Center Funding Options MPO Information Revisit TMF Ron Phillips informed the Board that a party, celebrating the adoption of the City Plan, is being planned and will held the evening of March 25 and he issued an invitation to the Board members to attend. Paul Valentine brought up the fact that with possible new members of the Transportation Board coming on board a retreat might be in order in May or June. A motion was then made and carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Micki White, Transportation Board Secretary