Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 07/19/2000Draft minutes to be approved by the Transportation Board at their August 16, 2000 meeting. REGULAR MEETING MINUTES of the TRANSPORTATION BOARD July 19, 2000 5:45 p.m. City of Fort Collins — City Hall West 300 LaPorte Avenue FOR REFERENCE: Chair: Tim Johnson................416-0821 Vice Chair: Chris Ricord.................472-8769 Staff Liaison: Randy Hensley.............416-2058 Admin Support: Cynthia Scott ...............224-6058 BOARD MEMBERS PRESE d Dan Gould Bruce Henderson Tim Johnson Tom Kramer Chris Ricord Brent Thordarson Heather Trantham Mary Warring Steve Yeldell CITY STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: Gary Diede Susanne Durkin Randy Hensley Dean Klingner John Lang Cam McNair Keith Meyer Ron Mills Ron Phillips Cynthia Scott ABSENT: Brad Miller (excused) Ray Moe GUESTS IN ATTENDANCE: Ruby Dodd — 3223 S. Taft Hill Mr. & Mrs. Hinrichs — 3223 S. Taft Hill Rob Hume - consultant Pat O'Donnell — 2604 S. Taft Hill Mary White — 3113 S. Taft Hill Chair Johnson called the meeting to order at 5:55 p.m. 1. PUBLIC COMMENT Public comments were heard during the S. Taft Hill Widening Project agenda item, later in the meeting. Transportation Board DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes July 19, 2000 Page 2 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES There was a motion and a second to approve the June 21, 2000 Transportation Board meeting minutes as presented. The minutes were unanimously approved as presented. 3, COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT Not present. 4. DISCUSSION ITEM a) MASON ST. TRANSPORTATION CORRIDOR (MSTC) — Susanne Durkin Durkin provided an update on the MSTC. The Downtown Circulation Analysis Summary offers the following two options which were discussed briefly: #1 One Way Couplet #2 Conversion of Mason/Howes couplet to two-way, no left turns on Mason. Sam Otero talked about the Drake undercrossing suggestion that was brought up by Dan Gould previously. He estimated that it would cost roughly $10-25M to do the undercrossing and said that there are other concerns in addition to the cost. There will be an update next month at which time the board will need to discuss plan prioritization. By the end of August, the Board will have the draft Master Plan. At the September board meeting, members will need to make a recommendation to City Council as it goes before them on October 3 for approval. 5. ACTION ITEM a) S. TAFT HILL ROAD WIDENING PROJECT — John Lang/Dean Klingner John Lang, S. Taft Hill Project Manager, explained that this item is going before City Council during a Study Session on July 25 and it would be helpful to have a recommendation from the Transportation Board on a preferred design. This item will then be presented at a regular meeting of the Council on August 15. Lang explained that there is controversy about how wide the street should be. Originally, 115' was approved in the Building Community Choices package. This width was first presented to the residents in the area and was immediately rejected. Engineering staff then developed a 108' option, which was also rejected by the residents for various reasons. Staff redesigned it and presented a 100' option. The residents developed an 86' wide roadway proposal that does away with the landscape median and narrows the left -turn lanes, but Engineering has several safety concerns with that design. Dean Klingner spoke about the access issues with each of the various options. There was a discussion about the width of the travel lanes: 11' versus 12' in terms of safety. The traffic engineer feels that 11' is perfectly safe, as a matter of fact, 11' is used widely throughout Fort Collins. Transportation Board • • DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes July 19, 2000 Page 3 Klingner explained that the 12' travel lane became the new standard as of the creation of City Plan. In an area with new development, where there isn't any property impacts, staff would consider the 12' standard ideal. On an infill project such as this, 11' is perfectly acceptable. PUBLIC COMMENT: Pat O'Donnell (lives at comer of Taft/Drake) I am heavily impacted. I don't see the need for having double left-tum lanes. I started with 6.5 acres and will be down to 3.x acres between the improvements that were done a few years ago and the current proposed improvements. I'd like the City to take another look and realize that I am a citizen and the City just can't run right over people and their property. If the road is raised up, a slope easement is created. When that happens, it will come right into my house. Everything, all the trees would have to be tom down. I think there's a way to do the widening without the right -turn lane and be safe. Build a retaining wall. I think any other way would be insensitive to my needs. I appreciate that they have listened to us. The City should buy the whole piece of property and then they can do what they want with it. However, when there is a slope easement you only get 25% of what it is actually worth. That's just not fair. Mani Whitg - 3113 S. Taft Hill Road I'm concerned about access to and from the three businesses and one residence located there. As the street is proposed, we would be limited to right -turn only to get out. We are also very concerned about emergency access. The fire station is near, but in order to get a fire truck into our driveway, they would have to go to some point north in order to turn around. Since a medical practice is located there, and my husband is a chiropractor, emergency access is a concern to us. It will also be difficult to give directions to patients to get to our business. We feel that the width concern is secondary to access concerns. We would like to have the ability to turn left out of our driveway. Board Member Henderson mentioned that at the walk-through on Saturday, he and Mrs. White discussed an alternative, which would be for the City to work out a deeded joint access with the Becvars to Moffat. This alternative would be acceptable to the Whites, but she isn't sure how the neighbors would feel about it. Larry Hinrichs _ 3223 S. Taft Hill Road Asked the City to lohe ornamental fence cation.aid he hascontinue their an additionalacc ssrconcem,lbutng tacknowedged the City's efforts in that regard. End Public Comment Following public comment, a thorough dialogue lasted for approximately an hour and a half. McNair addressed Mr. O'Donnell's issue by stating that the City is considering Purchasing his entire property so the City can do what needs to be done there including the proper turn lanes, the access control, the pedestrian/bike trail, the natural wildlife corridor, etc. Transportation Board DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes July 19, 2000 Page 4 It was noted that the Poudre Fire Authority was contacted with regard to the emergency vehicle access concerns. he median. at PFA said the trucks could make the tums and that in general, they support There was consensus that that the bike lanes should be constructed with full concrete aprons. Most of the dialogue centered around whether the travel lanes should be narrowed from 12 feet to 11 feet, with three Board members feeling that 12 feet should be maintained at the expense of the medians and parkways. There was a motion and a second to recommend the 100' ROW typical section as proposed by staff with the understanding that ha negotiatis will e motion carried by ue with h regard to specific access/issues with property vote 6-3. A second motion was made to encourage staff to consider the possibility of additional, flexible alternatives within the 100width of ROW, while maintaining 12' lanes at the expense of medians and parkways. The motion failed 3-6. , 4. ACT�TEM b) PARKING RATIOS TASK FORCE — Phillips been formed to tackle the issue of new office Phillips explained that a Task Force has development and parking ratios. The group would like one Transportation Board member to complete the committee membership. After discussing August calendars and vacations, it was agreed that Warring will attend the first meeting on July 31 and she, Bruce or Steve will attend the remaining three meetings — e depending he City testhat Manager'soffice. rehosen. Scott will forward the nam 5 n�er� iccl(�N ITEM b) CMAQ UPDATE — Hensley Hensley said that the issue was taken to the North Front Range ovedransportation &Air Quality PlanningCouncil on Jul 6 and the process was app The issue was raised about public participation, so staff added two more opportunities for input and it was agreed that the NFRT & AQPC meeting, in which the projects themselves are approved for submittal for CMAQ funds, would be held in Fort Collins. Hensley stated the Board members could suggest projects to their representative on the NFRT & AQPC — Mike Byrne. Transportation Board • DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes July 19, 2000 Page 5 5. DISCUSSM ITEM C) TRANSPORTATION FUNDING ISSUES UPDATE — Hensley Hensley reported that staff did not get a clear-cut direction from City Council on this issue. City Manager John Fischbach took the issue to the Executive Lead Team for action. That group developed recommendations that were submitted to City Council. More information will be shared, as it becomes available. 5. DISCUSSIQN ITEM d) TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT/SAFETY CAMPAIGN — Sub -committee Warring stated that she and Chair Johnson met with Chief Harrison and discussed the draft statement with him. Highlights of the discussion were: 1. Perhaps Federal grant program funds could be used instead of the City's General Fund. 2. There is a truck route ordinance in Arizona that worked to keep trucks off city streets. Warring will get a copy of that. 3. Part of the problem is there is a need to synchronize State Highways with local streets — need a ROW law through the State. 4. The current signal system is cause of a lot of accidents. 6. REPORTS a) Board Member Report Thordarson: Light Rail. Light rail is opening in Denver. The best part is reading that the developer was excited about the pedestrian opportunities it presented. Johnson: Thanks. Thanks to the members who were able to participate in the walk-through on Saturday for the S. Taft Hill Road project. It was beneficial. b) Staff Reports Hensley: CDOT Open Hous . Public review of CDOT's 20-year plan will be on July 25 at the Larimer County Courthouse, 200 Oak Street, from 5 - 8 p.m. Next Aaenda. - Roundabout/Public Outreach & Education Process — Reavis - Review & Discussion of City's Legislative Agenda - Phillips - Mason Street Transportation Corridor Update - Durkin - Traffic Enforcement/Safety Update 7. OTHER BUSINESS There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. Cynthia L. Scott Executive Administrative Assistant