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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 03/23/2006MEETING MINUTES of the TRANSPORTATION BOARD March 23, 2006 5:45 p.m. City of Fort Collins — City Hall West CIC Room 300 LaPorte Avenue FOR REFERENCE: CHAIR: Brent Thordarson 679-2165 VICE CHAIR: Gary Thomas 482-7125 STAFF LIAISON: Mark Jackson 416-2029 ADMIN SUPPORT: Cynthia Cass 224-6058 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Don Edmondson Neil Grigg Jeannette Hallock-Solomon Tim Johnson Rick Price Ed Robert Gary Thomas Brent Thordarson Lee Watkins Kevin Westhuis CITY STAFF: David Averill Matt Baker Eric Bracke Kathleen Bracke Cynthia Cass Mark Jackson DK Kemp Ron Phillips Kurt Ravenschlag Marlys Sitmer ABSENT: Sara Frazier OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 8 Transportation Board March 23, 2006 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chair Thordarson at 5.57 p.m. 2. AGENDA REVIEW Chair Thordarson stated that there is one change to the agenda: the order of items "6a" and "6c" will be reversed. Jackson introduced new Transportation Planning staff member Dave (DK) Kemp, Bicycle Coordinator. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT None. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (FEBRUARY 2006) There was a motion and a second to approve the minutes as presented. The motion carried by a unanimous vote, 10 — 0. 5. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT None. 6. DISCUSSIONANFORMATIONAL ITEMS a. TRANSFORT STRATEGIC OPERATING PLAN OVERVIEW — Kurt Ravenschlag & Kathleen Bracke Ravenschlag gave a Power Point presentation that covered the history of public transportation in Fort Collins from 1907 to the present. He explained that the purpose of the Transfort Strategic Operating Plan (TSOP) is to: • Identify transit needs, opportunities, challenges and service goals • Develop Strategic Operating Plan to support other City Plans • Prepare a service plan for the Transfort fixed route bus system There are four building blocks to future Transfort productivity that Ravenschlag went over in detail: • Phase 1 — Minimal redesign complete • Phase 2 — Mason Corridor Plus Feeder Routes • Phase 3 — Transition to Grid • Phase 4 — SOP Goal APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 8 Transportation Board March 23, 2006 Supporting Plans are the Fort Collins City Plan and the Fort Collins Transportation Master Plan 2004. Lastly, Ravenschlag discussed the benefits of transit which are: • Reduced travel time • Enhances economic opportunity • Generates impressive return on investment • Mobility for aging population • A cleaner environment • And many, many more! K. Bracke then spoke about the Mason Transportation Corridor, describing it as the spine for Fort Collins' transit grid network. She went over the MTC Master Plan Vision that includes Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). A short video clip from the BRT being used in Eugene, Oregon was shown to the board. K. Bracke also explained where the MTC stations and Park-n-Rides would be located along the corridor. In conclusion, she talked about where the MTC is today and what the future phased implementation would look like as well as funding strategies. The board thanked staff for their time and the great presentation. b. ROUNDABOUT AT KECHTER/ZIEGLER UPDATE —Matt Baker & Eric Bracke E. Bracke stated that this intersection was analyzed and that the roundabout was the selected alternative by this board and by Council. It has been designed and is basically ready for construction this spring. Bracke stated that there were a couple of design elements that the board and/or City Council had requested staff to consider, one being the building of a wall between each of the crosswalk ramps for pedestrians. Staff looked at hundreds of roundabouts across the country and could not find one that had that feature. Staff feels that it would cause sight distance and safety problems so they decided not to pursue it. There are four schools within a mile radius of the intersection. Staff found a number of roundabouts around the country that were built near schools and all were operating very well. E. Bracke distributed new brochures that explain how to use a roundabout. It was suggested that speed limit signs be placed as you approach the roundabout or within the roundabout, but Bracke explained that the configuration of the roundabout takes care that automatically. Drivers will slow to the speed of approximately 15-20 mph and that speed shouldn't be an issue whatsoever. It is uncomfortable to drive any faster. APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 23, 2006 Page 4 of 8 Baker stated that staff will be going to Council on April 4 regarding the appropriations ordinance for the roundabout. Staff will work directly with the school district in assigning a school crossing guard to the intersection. Video cameras will be placed in order to monitor the construction and operation of the roundabout. The board thanked and applauded staff for making this first major roundabout intersection become a reality in Fort Collins. c. BIKE PLAN UPDATE INTRODUCTION —David Averill Averill stated that the original Bike Plan did an excellent job of discussing the four "E's" — Engineering, Enforcement, Education and Encouragement with regard to integrating the bicycle as a viable mode of transportation. It's been a little over 10 years since the Bike Plan was completed and it's time for an update. This update will allow staff and members of the public to evaluate the results of implementing the policies, programs, and recommendations outlined in that document. Several key issues will be addressed in this effort, including: • An objective review of the successes and challenges of implementing the key recommendations of the 1995 Bike Plan. • Analysis of the development and implementation of the Fort Collins bicycle transportation network as it relates to achieving the goals and philosophy of the original Bike Plan and most recent Transportation Master Plan. • An analysis of capital, operations, maintenance and programmatic needs as well as the development of a strategy to best prioritize and leverage anticipated revenues stemming from the most recent ballot initiative, which was Building on Basics (BOB). Averill went over the Scope of Work he's working on which is: Task 1: Project Scoping and Mobilization Task 2: Data Collection and Analysis — 2nd Quarter 2006 Task 3: Public Involvement — ongoing Task 4: Review of Previous Plans, Policies and Improvements - P Quarter 2006 Task 5: Prioritization and Implementation Plan — 4t' Quarter 2006/1't Quarter 2007. Board Member Grigg commented that the Plan sounds great and asked what it might take to get a new vision, in other words, get people excited about it. Board Member Johnson stated that with regard to connectivity, infill is important. As you go around riding the town especially on the trails, you'll see in some of these infill APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 23, 2006 Page 5 of 8 places that there are "cow" paths that connect neighborhoods to streets. Johnson stated that it would be important to have an effort to map that path network. Board Member Price distributed and then explained the initial feedback that David Averill and his group collected from the "Bike Town" public meetings. It lists 18 goals that were set out in the original Plan and the group graded the plan in terms of success; in report card form. Price also added that he feels strongly about outside community outreach and input. He asked about five different boards how they gather information from the bicycle community about issues, problems, opportunities. He got answers across the board. He then came back and asked the board to create a bicycle advisory committee. Many communities have them. We need an outreach program. He stated that he'd love to see this group recommend that it be done a step at a time. Vice Chair Thomas mentioned that when it's done, he'd like to hear how the safety issues turned out and get an analysis of the network as well. 7. ACTION ITEMS a. SH-392 EOS RECOMMENDATION —Mark Jackson Jackson projected his suggested wording, based on the Board's input, on the screen for all to see. Jackson said that the Natural Resources Advisory Board did not make a recommendation at this point. They said that they prefer not to recommend an alignment at this time because they realize that the next step in this will be a NEPA study where they will fully look at all the environmental right-of-way and those sorts of things. They weren't so quick to dismiss Option E as we were, as a staff, simply because they didn't have enough information. They wanted to see more. After a brief discussion, the board agreed on the following wording which will be submitted to Council: The Transportation Board has followed the progress of the SH-392 EOS throughout the past year. Two potential future street alignments around Duck Lake should be given consideration by City Council. Alternative C, which skirts along the southern edge of the lake, is feasible and would work well from a mobility perspective but also impacts some wetlands areas. If Alternative C is chosen by CDOT, Transportation Board recommends that the old existing alignment be re -structured so that it allows for a minimal roadway footprint for local access to natural areas and businesses in the area. APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 23, 2006 Page 6 of 8 Alternative A, which stays on the existing alignment, could work if the existing curves are smoothed out for capacity and safety purposes. There would still be some impacts to the surrounding area as a result of capacity and safety improvements, but cost savings and mitigation appear to be possible along this route. There was a motion and a second to approve the wording as stated above and to put this on the Transportation Board's letterhead. The motion carried by a unanimous vote, 10 — 0. b. ELECTION OF OFFICERS —All Brent Thordarson was nominated and elected Chair by a unanimous vote, 10-0. Chair Thordarson noted that he is term limited, ending in December 2006. Gary Thomas was nominated and elected Vice -Chair by a unanimous vote, 10-0. 8. REPORTS a. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Robert: EVSAG Group. I attended the EVSAG meeting the other night and they're about where they were a few meetings ago. Now they're voting on the top three items. Johnson added that he feels there is support of transportation infrastructure. Thomas: Denver Meetings. Took two trips to Denver last week. The second one was to attend the CDOT Forum on Senate Bill 1 Funding for Transit. They're forming a task force to advise the CDOT Intermodal Committee on how to distribute the money, which is good news. The first trip to Denver impacts Fort Collins' transportation. Some House Representatives have been recognizing senior oriented businesses for awhile on the House floor and this past week, they chose SAINT to be one of them. Hallock-Solomon: Mason Corridor. Why do we have to leave the name "Mason Street"? Jackson: We don't. In fact some of the private sector parties that are talking to us right now, one of the main things they want to do is rebrand. Hallock-Solomon: That would be great! I think we need to do that. Watkins: Trail System. I just wanted to make a statement. One of the reasons I moved to Fort Collins was the bike lanes and trails. I had some family in from out of town a few weeks ago who took advantage of the trail system and they said it was amazing system and this guy runs on trails everywhere. He was very impressed, but he did have one criticism about APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 23, 2006 Page 7 of 8 it and that was that it isn't signed very well. I would just throw out there that for such a neat system, it would be nice to put in some signs that tell you what street you are at and things like that. People who are from here or use it all the time probably don't need it, but for people who are new, it would be great. Thordarson: CNG Buses. I was in the Palm Springs area last week and one thing was that pretty impressive is that they do have buses there and they all seem to be powered by CNG. There was one bus that was prominently painted; turns out it was a hydrogen fuel cell powered bus. Seems they are trying new and innovative things in that area. Jackson: Transfort is doing an experiment with two of their identical Dial -A -Ride buses. One will run on CNG alone and the other will run on a hybrid CNG/hydrogen fuel mixture. They'll do an exhaustive analysis to see what the difference is. b. STAFF REPORTS Jackson: Duck Lake. I have contact info and links that a couple board members asked for at the last meeting regarding the solar aerators. Next Agenda • The Air Quality Advisory Board would like to have a combined meeting/presentation. Natural Resources staff was commissioned to do a small study - best practices review for what the City of Fort Collins is doing in terms of mobility management or VMT reduction. They brought in Todd Litman from the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute for that evening. • The AQAB also asked if the Board would like to extend that conversation and talk about some of the issues that are key in their minds in terms of air quality that relate to transportation. Staff Responses. We try very hard when questions come up at board meetings to answer them on the spot or find out and get back to you. Board Member Robert felt he wasn't getting the responses in a timely fashion so I wanted to stress to all of you that if you feel that you're not getting an adequate response to a question you asked or if something slips by me, please call, email or contact me somehow and let me know! If there are issues, I don't want that festering out there. I'm here for you! Price: hi the minutes from the last meeting, Don Bachman said he would get back to me about trail closures with respect to work on Prospect and Timberline and I haven't heard from him yet. Jackson: So noted. I also wanted to publicly thank all the people who mobilized in a very short time. There were a lot of folks who weighed in to get this list of questions answered and presented to you all tonight. APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 23, 2006 Page 8 of 8 Chair Thordarson: I want to thank Mark and staff for taking the time to track down the answers to these questions. I know that it does take a lot of time and you all really do a great job. Thank you. Robert: Please keep in mind that these items on here are the ones that have accumulated since last year. I, too, appreciate getting the answers and the time it took. Johnson: I'd like to request that we do a presentation how transportation finances work since we have a lot of new members. Jackson: Sounds great. Will do. 9. OTHER BUSINESS None 10. ADJOURN Chair Thordarson adjourned the meeting at 8:37 p.m. Respectfully submitted, 16� Cynthia Cass, Executive Admin Assistant City of Fort Collins — Transportation Services