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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 09/15/1999Draft minutes to be approved by the Transportation Board at their October 20, 1999 meeting. REGULAR MEETING MINUTES of the TRANSPORTATION BOARD City of Fort Collins — City Hall 300 LaPorte Avenue September 15, 1999 5:30 p.m. FOR REFERENCE: Chair: Tim Johnson ........ 416-0821 Staff Liaison: Randy Hensley ..... 416-2058 Administrative Support: Cynthia Scoff ........ 224-6058 Bruce Henderson Tim Johnson Chris Ricord Brent Thordarson Heather Trantham Mary Warring Steve Yeldell CITY STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: Eric Bracke Susanne Durkin Randy Hensley Mike Herzig Mark Jackson Clark Mapes Ron Phillips Kathleen Reavis Rick Richter Cynthia Scott Timothy Wilder Peter Wray ABSENT: Mark Egeland Brad Miller Ray Moe li Helen Aragon Tom Bates Joe Dumais Margaret Guzman Kurt Kastein (Council Liaison) Yvonne Ruth Longoire Dolores Williams Nancy York Chair Johnson called the meeting to order at 5:50 p.m. Transportation Board DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes September 15, 1999 Page 2 PUBLIC COMMENT Yvonne Ruth Longoire: • North College Avenue bicycling is dangerous. It's too narrow. • Traffic lights on N. College aren't long enough. • Curb cuts on west side of Stuart/College as it relates to unsafe bike riding conditions. • Bus needs to run longer hours. Nancy York: Topic was Bike/Ped safety issues. Highlights as follows: • Critical Mass is a group advocating safety/access in the community. • The Transportation Board should take a good look at a comprehensive plan that melds bike, ped, and wheelchair safety into one. • Distributed article from Nation's Cities Weekly • Displayed map of danger spots in the community • Displayed map of preferred routes • Suggested survey to find out why people do/don't bike or walk • Laws need to be reviewed to see if they are practical or need updating • City should provide a telephone number for people to call in to report if they have been hit or experienced aggression at a particular place while biking or walking. I should work both ways so that drivers can call in as well. • There should be a moratorium on widening streets until a comprehensive study is undertaken. • Reach out to other communities like LaPorte. Tom Bates: • Expressed support for what Transportation Board is doing in regard to promoting and implementing alternate modes of transportation in the community. There are safety issues and he implored the Board to move forward aggressively and quickly. APPROVAL OF MINUTES There was a motion and a second to approve the July 21, 1999 meeting minutes as presented. The motion carried unanimously. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT — Kastein Kastein spoke of the recent Study Session held at Pingree Park. Said that the topic of input from Boards (their role) is to be discussed at an upcoming Council retreat. Board Member Ricord asked Kastein to relay the importance of alternative modes safety to the Council. Transportation Board • • DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes September 15, 1999 Page 3 DISCUSSION ITEMS: I. EXISTING TRUCKS ON VINE DRIVE — E. Bracke Bracke, City Traffic Engineer, reported that the results of a recent study show that one- third of the vehicles that currently use Vine Drive are local business related. After a lengthy discussion, it was agreed that the next time this item comes before the Board, it will be listed as an Action item because the Board needs to make a recommendation to the City Council. In the meantime, Traffic Operations staff will research the traffic accidents along SH 14 and along Vine Drive involving trucks. This information will be provided to the Board next month. CAMPUS WEST SUB -AREA PLAN BRIEFING — C. Mapes Clark Mapes invited the all board members to a special workshop regarding the Campus West Sub -Area Plan, which is a part of City Plan. The event will be on Thursday, September 30, 1999 from 6:45-9:30 p.m. in the Canyon West Room at the Lincoln Center. The plan is to assess the feasibility of the vision for Campus West to evolve into a better pedestrian environment. The focus of the workshop on the 30°i is to look at various plan concepts and try to narrow them down to three basic alternatives to explore further. A second and third workshop are tentatively scheduled for November 18 ad February 4. III. NEW STREET STANDARDS — M. Herzig Mike Herzig, Special Projects Engineer, stated that the City of Fort Collins is working with the City of Loveland and Larimer County to develop urban street standards for the cities and the Growth Management areas of the County. The product will be a single document for the three entities with standards as uniform as possible. The project is proceeding as scheduled and the consultant plans to deliver the final materials on January 21, 2000. The original completion date was supposed to be September 1999, however, the 18 member Public Advisory Committee informed staff/consultant that the schedule was too aggressive to keep up with, so the schedule was revised to include 12 meetings instead of 4 in the original schedule. Board Member Heather Trantham is a member of the Public Advisory Committee. Herzig said that some issues have risen during the process. The City will have to decide whether to change current standards to go along with the majority. As an example, the majority of staff recommends that sidewalks should be no less than 5' wide. The City currently allows 4.5' in residential areas. IV. MASON STREET CORRIDOR PROJECT UPDATE — S. Durkin Durkin showed a 30 second video regarding the upcoming survey operation in hopes of educating the community about what's going on. Motorists will be stopped at certain locations and handed a postcard sized survey to complete and mail back in. She also distributed the second Mason Street newsletter. Transportation Board DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes September 15, 1999 Page 4 ACTION ITEMS: V. DOWNTOWN RIVER CORRIDOR — T. Wilder Timothy Wilder, City Planner, gave a PowerPoint presentation on the Downtown River Corridor Implementation Program. He stated that for the last year and a half, staff has been working on a program to implement the City Plan vision for the Downtown River Corridor. The vision describes a balance between natural, floodplain, recreational, cultural, and development values for the corridor. Two objectives for the program were developed: 1) coordinate existing and planned projects; and 2) identify and prioritize new projects to achieve the vision. He further stated that four of the five top projects deal with transportation issues. They ranked high because of the importance of connecting Old Town with the river corridor and because infrastructure is in poor condition. In addition, public comments have been overwhelmingly in favor of addressing corridor streetscapes. In regard to next steps, staff has begun an extensive public outreach process to gather feedback on recommended priorities. Meetings are scheduled with various boards and commissions such as this one. There will be a public meeting on October 6. A draft report will be prepared and presented to the City Council at their November 23 Study Session. The Council will then review the report in December or January. Wilder said that he needs comments from this board before the end of October in order to include them in the November 23 materials for Council. The Board agreed that they would make a recommendation to Council at their next meeting. VI. MASTER STREET PLAN REVISION (VINE DRIVE) — J. Daggett/M. Jackson Mark Jackson, Transportation Planner, went over the most recent actions regarding Vine Drive. August 3 City Council did not approve the Modified Vine option at their meeting. Staff asked for 30-60 days to go to the Transportation and Planning & Zoning Boards to get their input. September 13 There was a public meeting at Streets, which was well attended. October 19 Staff goes back to City Council with a recommended alignment. Jackson explained that staff needs the Board's recommendation on two items tonight. The first is a Master Street Plan (MSP) amendment — proposed realignment of the East Vine Drive arterial. This amendment to the MSP proposes changes in the current alignment of East Vine Drive. This revision has been prepared in response to Council direction to present an amendment to the MSP for the East Vine Drive arterial by early October. Four potential western alignments and three potential eastern alignments were presented for the Board's consideration. The second item relates to amending the City's Structure Plan and Mountain Vista Sub - Area Plan that result from the proposed changes to the Master Street Plan. Transportation Board • DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes September 15, 1999 Page 5 Jackson described each option using display boards with maps to help visualize the proposed alignments. Upon conclusion of the pro's/con's presentation by Jackson, Chair Johnson asked for discussion on the options for the "west" portion of Vine Drive. After a brief discussion, there was a motion by Thordarson to recommend Option C as an amendment to the Master Street Plan, which was seconded by Henderson. Discussion: Ricord reiterated that this is not a truck route and enforcement issues need to be discussed. Chair Johnson called the vote and the motion carried unanimously. The Board then considered the options for the "east" side of Vine Drive. Chair Johnson again asked for comments. Henderson made a motion to recommend Option 3 and it was seconded by Thordarson. Discussion: Warring stated that approval should be contingent on completing the east side of the interstate. Ricord said that he would prefer #2, until it was explained that the one property owner affected by the difference in #2 & #3 would actually be better off with #3. The motion carried unanimously. Peter Wray said that he needs Board approval of amending the Structure Plan and the Mountain Vista SubArea Plan that result from the changes to the Master Street Plan. The board informally agreed. VII. ELECTION OF OFFICERS There was a motion to elect Tim Johnson as Chair of the Board for another term. There was a second and the motion carried by a unanimous vote. There was a motion to elect Chris Ricord as Vice Chair. There was a second and the motion carried by a majority vote. REPORTS: VIII. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Johnson: • Distributed a proposed recommendation to the City Council to take a formal stand in opposition to the ordinance, which approves the relocation of SH 14 to outside the current Fort Collins urban growth area. After a brief discussion, it was agreed that Chair Johnson and Hensley will work on the recommendation further, e-mail it to all Board members for review, get a consensus. and will then forward it on to City Council on behalf of the Transportation Board. Thordarson: • In conjunction with the issue gLbiWpedestrian safety, said that he recently saw a bike rider riding without hands and talking on a cell phone and a pedestrian walking on the white line at night with dark clothes on. • Likes the green and yellow LED lights on Drake. Warring: Asked Phillips for a recap of the recent meeting with Governor Owens. Transportation Board DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes September 15, 1999 Trantham: • None Page 6 Gould: • Asked that the Board/staff reinforce the initiative that Ricord began on the issue of safety. Auto traffic is frenetic and the environment is hostile. Parents are less likely to allow children to walk or ride bikes. • Mason Street Transportation Corridor — reported that the meetings are going amazingly well from a design standpoint. Henderson: • None Yeldell: • Agreed that - aafeW is a major transportation issue, citing a recent potentially fatal accident of a child on Shields Street. Ricord: • Thanked the Board for their support of the safety issue. Stated that the issue could be rejuvenated by an update/discussion on education. • In regard to the Poudre River Flood Plain task force, staff has done a commendable job especially in putting safety first. IX. STAFF REPORTS Hensley: • NEXT AGENDA: 1. Update on Safety Education 2. Citywide Perspective on Truck Traffic in Town 3. Timothy Wilder — Downtown River Corridor Plan 4. Budget Issues Update 5. Transportation Alternatives Feasibility Study (TAFS) Briefing (Funding impact, process, changes, how it might affect the Mason St. Corridor.) • BOARD RETREAT It was agreed that the Board would continue to have their annual retreat, this time on Saturday, November 6. Details will be worked out. Hensley and/or Scott will check the calendars of the absent board members to make sure the 6'" works for all. OTHER BUSINESS There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m. Cynthia L. Scott Executive Administrative Assistant