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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 09/15/1993Draft Minutes to be approved by the Board at the October 20, 1993 meeting. TRANSPORTATION BOARD MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 15, 1993 5:35 - 7:00 P.M. BOARD LIAISONS: Council Liaison -- Gina Janett Staff Liaison -- Rick Ensdorff BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Mark Egeland, Sara Frazier, Elizabeth Hudetz, Dave Lemesany, Jim Reidhead, and Paul Valentine. BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Colin Gerety, Sharone Mekelburg, and Michael Poppenwimer. STAFF PRESENT: Rick Ensdorff and Cindy Scott GUESTS PRESENT: Ron Baker - Facilities Manager, Colorado State University Don Hopkins - Police Chief, Colorado State University AGENDA: Call To Order 1) Approval of Minutes 2) C.S.U. Traffic Plan 3) Transportation Plan Update 4) Other Business Vice Chair Lemesany called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. DISCUSSION TOPICS: 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES It was moved, seconded, and unanimously approved that the minutes from the August 18, 1993 Transportation Board meeting be accepted as presented. 2. C.S.U. TRAFFIC PLAN Ensdorff introduced Ron Baker and Don Hopkins from C.S.U. who were invited to give the Board a brief overview of what C.S.U. has been considering as well as what has been done so far in transportation/traffic planning. Mr. Baker began his presentation by giving a brief history of what has happened in the last few years at C.S.U. He stated that they attempt to look at all modes of transportation and referred to the Master Plan that .deals with all modes of transportation. The following are the highlights of his presentation: The Master Plan is a 10 year plan that is made up of many components. The Plan's goals call for improved access and circulation, separation of the bicyclists, pedestrians, and vehicles as much as possible, improved air quality, increased use of mass transit, and the examination of parking needs and issues. Center of campus: The center of the campus is to become a "pedestrians only core". An early phase of the Plan will be the realignment of Plum and North Drive. In general, the Plan calls for a "ring road" - a circle inside the campus boundary and all parking would be accessed off the ring. Another major component of the Plan is to move on -street parking, with North Drive being the priority. Bike paths: One of the Plan's goals is to improve the bike paths from their current state of "going nowhere" to connections internal to the university. Eventually a north/south bike route throughout the campus will be created and the east/west routes will be clearly marked and meet all the standards. The City and CSU are working on a bike path that will connect Centre Avenue and the Spring Creek bike trail. Parking Info/update: C.S.U.'s goal in this area is to provide adequate parking so that employees and students are not unnecessarily inconvenienced and to avoid negatively impacting the surrounding neighborhoods. When parking is moved off of the streets, each space will be replaced elsewhere one for one. Lighting improvements are currently being made in several lots. Bus System: Mass transit is/will be highly encouraged on campus. A possibility is to look into running an internal bus shuttle after the "ring road" is developed. Transfort now runs until 11:00 P.M. for students taking night classes. When asked to summarize the philosophy of the plan, Mr. Baker stated that from his perspective, C.S.U. is trying to take care of the transportation needs of the people that visit the campus. They are trying to encourage the use of mass transportation and thus far have attempted to use positive methods of encouragement rather than negative ones such as restructuring the.parking permit fees to make them financially difficult to purchase. - 2 - • Mr. Baker invited the board members to attend C.S.U.'s transportation meetings held on the last Wednesday of each month, 8:00 a.m., at the C.S.U. Police Department. Mr. Hopkins stated that he wants the board to know that C.S.U. is trying to collaborate and be cooperative, not create negative impacts and where they can, make improvements. They want to work together with the City on these issues, brushing away the old attitude of "we/they" between the City and C.S.U. 3. TRANSPORTATION PLAN UPDATE Ensdorff stated that there has been a significant problem in getting the model calibrated which has caused a delay in the whole process for all the focus groups except the Bikeway and Aviation groups. There have been issues with the socio-economic data (projections of employment numbers per traffic zone) and getting all the communities to agree to the data and the parameters used. Board Member Egeland reported that members of the Bikeway group are moving ahead. They went out and rode the regional roads and Betty Drake is in the process of gathering all the input from that. From there she will come up with primary alternatives between the cities including the smaller communities such as Timnath and Berthoud. He stated that they are working well on analyzing the regional routes, but by the end of the month, they are supposed to submit a prioritized list of projects that they would like to have qualify for the $380,000 Enhancement funds that will be available for FY 1994 projects. His concern is that the group hasn't discussed intra-city issues as all the cities have their own plans and it is not right for the group to tell the individual cities what to do. Therefore, for example, a nice route will be planned between Fort Collins and Loveland, but the question will be - how do you get to the route once you reach Loveland? Ensdorff stated that this issue is a concern of the Technical Advisory Committee JAC) and staff people from the different cities. Why should all the money go into a regional system when there are some potentially major gaps in the existing city systems? The MPO Council is also aware of this issue (each city needing to work on their own internal routes before a regional plan would be completely functional). Board Member Egeland said that perhaps the key in proceeding from here is to go ahead and get the regional plan started because it must be in place to qualify for the funds. He also stated that he has a concern about the amount of pressure placed upon the submittal of the prioritized project list. He feels that there is a lot of regional data, but very little intra-city data. Ensdorff stated that the MPO Council has been putting pressure on HNTB, therefore HNTB is putting pressure on the group. He also said that he thought it would be legitimate to ask the different cities to come in and talk about their bike systems and what they see as city bike project priorities. - 3 - Ensdorff said that in the 1994 budget process there is a potential that there will be a need for matching funds and that Council has been told about this. Projects for the $380,000 need to be identified this fall. He suggested that as the group is working on the "Vision" pull out some things that make sense, will fit this vision and we can go ahead and start on them, spending the $380,000. IV. OTHER BUSINESS Board Member Valentine asked about the status of the Mountain and Remington bike projects. Ensdorff stated that delays are due to dealing with the federal/state bureaucracy and that a notice to proceed should be received by the end of this month. Ensdorff stated that at the City Council budget meeting on September 14, the City Manager proposed approximatley an $180,000 addition to the transportation budget for 1994. Part of that is for a new Transportation Planner on staff and another part is funds to hire a consultant to get a local bikeway plan done in 1994 and an update to the Master Street Plan. The City Manager has agreed that the Transportation Department currently does not have enough time to do these things in-house, so he is supportive of assistance to get them done. Another element that may affect the Transportation Department in the future is the desire by a couple Council Members to look very seriously at re -organizing Transportation to pull Transfort, etc. into one department. This also will impact the Transportation Board. At the next meeting, he will give the Board more details. Board Member Valentine stated that at the next meeting the Board should discuss the Board's Work Plan. Vice Chair Lemesany will host a public meeting for the Congestion Management group. He will keep the Board updated on this. Ensdorff stated that the Growth Management seminar that the City is hosting in October would be a good one to go to. Info was included in the packets. There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Cindy L. Scott Boar Secretary - 4 -