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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 03/21/2007MEETING MINUTES of the TRANSPORTATION BOARD March 21, 2007 5:45 p.m. City of Fort Collins Municipal Building 215 N. Mason Street — Community Room CHAIR: VICE CHAIR: STAFF LIAISON: ADMIN SUPPORT: BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Don Edmondson Sara Frazier Neil Grigg Jeannette Hallock-Solomon Bill Jenkins Rick Price Ed Robert Garry Steen CITY STAFF: David Averill Kathleen Bracke Mike Herzig Mark Jackson Cynthia Langren Marlys Sittner FOR REFERENCE: Gary Thomas Jeannette Hallock-Solomon Mark Jackson Cynthia Langren 482-7125 416-1239 416-2029 224-6058 ABSENT: James Clausen Gary Thomas Kevin Westhuis OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: Kurt Kastein 1. MASON CORRIDOR VIDEO Jackson stated that the video simulation for the Mason project has been completed thanks to Sittner, Ravenschlag and other staff. It gives people a lot better idea of what the corridor can look like. Jackson then presented the 5-minute video. Feedback on the video: DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 21. 2007 Page 2 Kastein The video is great. I was a little surprised by the statement at the end that said the Feds and the State will pay for it. Jackson We were too. Bracket It doesn't come across the way it should. It was the choice of words for the narrator. It just didn't come out right. We'll get that changed. RoberC This is an excellent promo, but you need to include at the end, perhaps a second version right behind it covering information such as what the City is now looking at for financing -- a version "La." if you will. Bracket We've been working with City cable staff who will help us with an overall video that encompasses this video as one chapter and then another chapter similar to what you're talking about. Vice Chair Hallock-Solomon Will this be available on the web site? Bracket Yes, there will be a link on the Mason web page as well as a link that includes the presentation we did at the Senior Center as part of the Environmental Series. That one includes the PowerPoint as well. Vice Chair Hallock-Solomon When watching the video I noticed they would get the lights turned for the MAX and then they said, "Quickly". Do you know about how long that time for a car waiting will be? Bracket Most of our crossings will be linked into the east/west signals already so as a driver, you won't notice any big difference. Vice Chair Hallock-Solomon Well, I like that explanation better than the one that's on the video. Something that lets people know the lights will be synced pretty much how they are right now. Price: Kathleen, I know that there will be a lot more conversations about this, but while I'm here, I rode that BRT in Eugene. There's not enough space on there for bikes so you need to be sure to ask for the bike hanging option. Jenkins.' I went to the presentation last week and I thought it was really well done. There were a lot of people there to answer my questions. The only thing I was trying to figure out in my head was that we have the Mason corridor and then we have this North College Development Program going on and it seems like maybe there might be an opportunity to hook up the corridor across the river somehow. Now it seems like there's really no way for bikes or pedestrians to cross. Bracket Actually, we've heard a lot of interest from people on extending not just the bike and pedestrian facilities up through North College, but also the transit connections. DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Page 3 Transportation Board March 21, 2007 2. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Vice Chair Hallock-Solomon at 6:13 p.m. 3. AGENDA REVIEW Due to a Bike open house at the Senior Center at 7 p.m., some staff members need to present earlier so they can get to that on time. Therefore, item 7 c BIKE PLAN & PROGRAM UPDATE will be moved to the top, then item 7a CONE ZONE REPORT and then item 7b TRANSFORT/DAR UPDATE. Item 7d TRAFFIC WEB PAGE DEMO will be taken off the agenda and put on the April agenda instead due to technical difficulties with the page at this time. 4. PUBLIC COMMENT Vice Chair Hallock-Solomon read the following email to the board from Dale Adamy — included in its entirety here >>> "Dale Adamy" <daleplosphotmail.com> 3/20/2007 11:25 PM >>> Mark, I will be unable to attend the March 21 Transportation Board meeting. Would you be so kind as to include this email as my contribution of a public comment? Having received the agenda for the March 212007 meeting, it appears that Ms. Sittner will offer a Transfort and Dial -A -Ride update. In a prior discussion with Ms. Sittner, I asked her if ever there might be an opportunity to inject a smaller, more efficient, and less polluting (possibly CNG) bus into a route during low ridership time slots. Ms. Sittner did not show favor for the concept, but I am convinced, by witnessing more near empty buses than full, that a compromise might be considered, and that members of the Transportation Board might generate some discussion with Ms. Sittner that could offer improvements to the efficiency of the Transfort system. I am reminded of the mission statement for the Transportation Board that includes a goal for "Efficient and Effective movement of people throughout the community". Thank you for assisting me with this opportunity for public comment. Dale Adamy Member, Air Quality Advisory Board 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (February 2007) Grigg moved to approve the February 2007 Transportation Board meeting minutes as presented. There was a second by Robert. The motion carried bya unanimous vote, 8— 0. DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Page 4 Transportation Board March 21, 2007 6. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT Kastein: I came tonight because I ran into Gary Thomas about a month ago and he asked me to come since he knew he couldn't be here. He thought the board would want to hear an update on RTA activity. In addition, Gary sent that email which was very information and well done. The MPO has gotten to the point where we handed off the RTA effort in a sense, actually the MPO staff is still involved with consultants trying to guide this steering committee to a decision point and they're really a resource for the steering committee. At this point, I consider it up to the citizens to do what they will with the RTA. In 10-11 weeks, this committee is supposed to finish their work and their work is having a template for an IGA that could go before the City Councils, Boards, and County Commissioners describing the terms of the RTA, what the projects would be and so forth. They have a lot of work to do to get through all of the governance issues involved, not to mention the fact that they need to get a list of projects together that would be supported and have to talk about things like impact fees on a regional level and they have to try to understand the balance between transit, traditional roads, possibility of right-of-way for light rail, or light rail all the way, etc. There are approximately 35 members of the public involved in this effort with good representation from Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, Windsor, Berthoud, and Johnstown. The effort is huge. Since I've been on the MPO, four years ago, the first meeting I was involved in hiring the Executive Director and his main charter was getting an RTA going. We've tried and failed as an MPO to make it work for lots of different reasons, but the track that we're on now I think is the right one. It follows the model in Colorado Springs, albeit that was a city that had to slug through all these issues. The model is to get the support from the community to do something that they feel is appropriate in terms of solving our regional transportation issues. I honestly think it's going to be a very difficult effort to make work considering the disparate interests in the region. I think it makes a lot of sense to bring it to a head and put a date out there to have a proposal in place and put it on the wall and see what kind of darts people throw at it. The bottom line is that the problem is real, the money for regional solutions has dried up in northern Colorado and we have to have a way to make transportation improvements. The opportunities are there from a state level to step up and put a solution in place either through the legislature or through some other route like Bob Briggs' front line commuter rail, but we also need to come up with an idea that we think could float because we can't count on those other efforts and 10 years down the line things will be drastically different. Jackson: Staff is working on a white paper with the MPO staff and the steering committee and will put specific issues and concerns in there as well. This will be shared with the board. DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 21, 2007 Page 5 Kastein: In parting, I'd like to mention that the Transportation Board has a big say in this 35-member group. I think the fact that Gary Thomas is there and is the Chair of this group holds a lot of sway. You can have an impact with what you talk about here with Gary. I encourage you all to plug into this. The Board thanked Kastein for being their Council Liaison. Jackson added his thanks from a staff standpoint as well. 7. DISCUSSIONANFORMATIONAL ITEMS a. BIKE PLAN & PROGRAM UPDATE — D. Averill "Building on the success of the past" Dave Averill, Transportation Planner, gave a PowerPoint presentation that included the following highlights: The Bicycle Plan & Program of 1995 had four elements: ik Engineering 4 Education 4. Encouragement 4 Enforcement • Evaluation included an Internal review within the City and an External review that included Bike Town meetings with local advocacy organizations and the general public Engineering Evaluation 4 Adopted new standards in Larimer County Urban Area Street Standards (LCUASS) 46 Adopted new standards in the Land Use Code to better facilitate bicycle usage 46 Created internal guidelines and policies for better maintenance of bike lanes and trails i. Completed most of the high priority projects that were identified Education Evaluation 4 Bicycle Rodeos and Safety Fairs 4 League of American Bicyclists (LAB) Certified Cycling Instructor Program 4 Helmet campaigns for children • Encouragement Evaluation 4 Bike to Work Week (the City has been doing this since the 80's) 46 Employer Outreach — Commuter Coach 4 Incentive programs — Drive Less Challenge 4 Community Bicycle Fair DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 21, 2007 Page 6 Enforcement Evaluation 4 Remedial Bicycle Traffic School — CSU .4 Coordination with Education efforts +4 Information dissemination — The Colorado Bicycle Manual • Recommendations -6 Clarify internal policies regarding maintenance, construction zone detours, etc 4 Continue to develop and enhance standards 4 Reinforce internal and external education about the engineering goals of the plan 4 Focus efforts on the new "Hot List" of high priority projects to eliminate gaps and enhance safety of some corridors 4 Develop a holistic approach to Education, Encouragement, and Enforcement efforts that capitalize on the strong history of bicycling and bicycling culture in Fort Collins 4 Reinstate the Bicycle Coordinator position to full-time status The End Product 4 Review of the evaluation process and findings 4 Articulate the Vision, Policies, and Objectives 4 Provide a recommended network 4 Discuss the status of End of Trip facilities in our community 4 Discuss more thoroughly the role that Bicycles combined with Transit can play in our community 4 Provide recommended actions to successfully achieve our Education, Enforcement, and Encouragement objectives CommenteQQuestions: Grigg. It seems to me that along the lines of the 5th bullet with the role that bicycles could play in the community that it would be really good if we could articulate the extent to which being a bicycle friendly community helps us with our economic development. If we have an image all across the country as being a bicycle friendly community, that's going to attract a lot of people here. I would really like to see that highlighted in the Plan if you can do it. My second point is that I've been a little bit worried that somehow we wouldn't sustain our infrastructure for bicycles and you mentioned a lot of it in your update such as places to park and things like that, but it's also really important that. we keep our momentum up, the trails in good shape and just the whole infrastructure so I was wondering if you couldn't put some indicators in here about what it's really going to take, some way that we could track our progress on hard items. Not soft items like education. Hard items like how many miles of trails, what the conditions of the trails are and things like that. DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 21. 2007 Page 7 Averill The problem is that we didn't do that before so we can try to start doing that and I've been exploring how we can do that. If we lock ourselves in to that it will mean a lot of work. I think that's good, but we also want to make it realistic. I think it's possible. Robert- With regard to your outreach program to the citizens for safety, I'd like to encourage you to have an outreach program and call it "Biking 101." To be off a bike for 20 years and suddenly get thrown back into the environment is a little bit scary. Cars are bigger and they're moving faster and some of us are slower. It would be a comforting thing for people to be able to go somewhere that will tell you the basic rules of safety and operation and so on. Price I had occasion yesterday afternoon to spend two hours at the corner of Drake and College. I had the privilege of educating a few bicyclists about the Mason Trail which they seemed to know nothing about. How is it possible to ride a bicycle in this community and live in this community and not know the Mason trail was there?! Proof in the pudding that we need better or more outreach and I don't know how to find these people, but maybe standing on the street corner at Drake and College might work. Bike Fort Collins did a forum last week; a candidates forum. There were eight Council candidates there and I think we came away feeling really good that whoever gets elected to Council is going to be very supportive of the Bike Program. Wade Troxell says we should go for the platinum. The mayor lectured us on 4% of people getting to work and school by bicycles and so on and one of the questions that the moderator posed was: Does getting the gold or silver medal of the LAB or being named in Money magazine translate into any economic value? And there was general consensus all around, that yes, it does. As a community we can do certain things, but we still need a Bicycle Coordinator. I talked to Matt Fries and he agreed with me as well as Ben Manvel and David Roy that we need to take the Bike Plan to the next level. This is not just a revision of the old plan. The bike community needs representation to Council and we need a bicycle and pedestrian board or commission or something like that. I have a request of the board: I think it's time to ask Council to raise the Bicycle Program to the next level so I'm asking the Board to ask staff to explore two options for creation of a bicycle and/or bicycle and pedestrian commission or advisory committee and for them to report back at our April meeting as follows: That a Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board, with all the rights and responsibilities thereof, be created and that the collaborative advisory committee be comprised of representatives of members of each of the following boards and commissions: Parks and Rec, Land Conservation Stewardship Board, Natural Resources Board, Air Quality, DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 21. 2007 Page 8 Transportation, Senior Advisory, Youth Advisory and Economic Advisory Commission. The request is that this group formally ask staff to begin exploring the possibility of recommending to Council a permanent Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board be created as a part of this Bike Plan update because we're way past just planning for engineering and transportation needs. We're into an arena where we should be doing outreach for education, youth activities, senior and this would force the hand of Parks and Rec and Natural Resources to be talking more with the transportation people because we don't see enough of that. All I'm asking is that we ask staff to think about this and report back to us next time on how that commission or board ought to be configured. Discussion: Frazier' Would this new group be responsible to the Transportation Board or would they be entirely separate? Price: They would be entirely separate. My first proposal is a separate commission or board. Second one would make it subsidiary to something and this is what I don't know. Marlys might have some ideas because she has a Dial -A -Ride committee, but the problem is a subcommittee needs to also involve seven other boards and commissions and I don't know how you'd do that. This board, if created needs to have access to Council and the only way to do that through a standing board I believe. Grigg'- I think Price has his finger on an important thing, but I feel like I couldn't vote in favor of something like that without more studying. Price: I'm asking for staff to study this. Edmondson: I wonder if the things you're asking are in the purview of this board and as much as I like to see cycling issues brought up in advance, I don't think it's helpful to set up a proliferation of committees with overlapping mandates. I think it's an idea worth exploring, but I think it needs more definition before we could put a recommendation on it. Price: All I'm asking for is for staff to explore this and give us more input a month from now. Vice Chair Hallock-Solomon: I guess I do have one question on the motion. When you say members of the Air Quality, do you mean, for example, that we would pull somebody from the Air Quality Board to be part of this new board? Price: If it's a subcommittee then yes. I don't know what the precedent is among boards and commissions and subcommittees and so on and that's why I called attention to the fact that Marlys has an advisory committee but that committee has no access to Council except by pure chance, Thomas is also on DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 21. 2007 Page 9 this board. Again, I think we're at a point where the Bicycle Program in this. community deserves more and better recognition and that's what I'd like staff to explore on how to make that happen. Jackson: I need to be really clear in terms of what it is you're expecting staff to provide because right now, we are seriously, seriously under resourced. I have no one to offer up from Transportation Planning. It would basically be me doing whatever it is so I need a really clear picture of what it is that you need in terms of research. Vice Chair Hallock-Solomon: Is there anyway to get a recommendation from the Citizen Advisory Committee that's working on the Bike Plan? Could we talk with them and see? Price: Yes, it could go to them and start with them. That's what I'll do. b. EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH CLARIFICATION Kastein: I would be remiss if I didn't say that Gary Thomas asked me to be here tonight to talk about the whole idea of the board being able to write a Soapbox article and what the role of the board is on advocacy versus advising, etc. He couldn't be here tonight, so I was to come and speak to that. When would you like me to do that? I'm sorry that I forgot about it earlier when I had the floor. Vice Chair Hallock-Solomon indicated that it would be acceptable to insert this item into the agenda at this point. Kastein: I want to be real clear that I'm not trying to censor the Board or limit the work that you do. Thomas came to me and asked if I thought it was a good idea that the Board writes a Soapbox on behalf of the Transportation Board with regard to the roundabout. It happened to be after a Council meeting and I did speak with a few other council members after I told Gary what I thought and we are pretty much united on what our answer was and that the role of the board as we see it, in terms of advocacy, is a fine role as long as it's on established council policy; decisions that have been made about a direction that we're heading. On the advising part, you can say anything you want, anytime, whether or not it's Council Policy. You can advise us to go in another direction if you desire because that's what the board is all about. On something as sensitive as the roundabout at Harmony and Shields, where our Council position at the time is basically "we don't know," we're asking the staff to go back to the public with all the data they have and ask the public what they think — that one I would hesitate on in terms of the Transportation Board writing a letter by the Chair of the Board saying that we need a roundabout at Harmony and Shields. If Thomas or any other member wanted to do that individually they certainly could. If the Board wrote a Soapbox and signed their name to it and said, "We think it's a great idea for DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Page 10 Transportation Board March 21. 2007 the City staff to bring the idea of a roundabout to the public and ask you what you think" that would be fine as well because that's something that the Council's already talked about. Again, the reason is not to stop you from giving your opinion, but not to be the voice of City Council on an issue that we haven't yet decided. I personally think a roundabout is a great idea at Harmony and Shields, but based on the data that we've gotten from our staff performance wise, cost wise, safety wise, except for ped and bike there's a question mark, it's a better answer. I'd take level of service A over C any day of my life. However, in talking with Eric Bracke, one-on-one, who is also a large roundabout advocate, he would rather fight the long good hard fight slowly integrating roundabouts in the city and get the public to buy in if they like them and do more and more of them where this may be one that breaks the bank so to speak. If it fails, people would be against them and be against them forever. Vice Chair Hallock-Solomon Another question for a Soapbox on the roundabout is can we take the information that staff has given us and put that in the Soapbox and say for example here are the positives and here are the negatives and please come tell us what you think? Kastein You have to be careful with that so that in the end the overall impression isn't "you all need a roundabout and you're silly if you don't do it" because that's not what the Council is saying at this point. It's very clear that the Council, at this point, is saying we need to bring this to the public and hear what they say. I think if the public buys it, we should build it. Steen It's clearly an educational issue to the public and somehow we need to bring that to them and get them up to a level where they clearly understand all the benefits that are out there and they obviously do not at this point. How do we get an educational effort out to them so they understand? Kastein I'll be gone in a couple of weeks so it may not matter at all, but I am not personally trying to control what you do with that. I just want to be clear that advocacy has to be on Council Policy. So if you can come up with a way to make the roundabout message something like this, "They're a good idea, that statistics nationwide are these, the council direction now is for every intersection staff is to do an evaluation, sometimes they make sense to save money and save time" — all those things are fine. The overall tone though, on a specific project like Harmony and Shields that carries a lot of emotion, you just need to be careful. Grigg Sounds pretty clear to me. I think we have a license to do some education and explore that, just don't step out there on an issue that's a hot button issue for the public if the Council hasn't spoken on it. -. 1 DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Page 11 Transportation Board March 21. 2007 Robert- Perhaps there's a way we can establish a clearing house so that if we want to go out with an educational position with information for the public to let them know the board is looking at these — if there was a clearing house for us to run it through, I'm not sure where we're talking here whether it's Mark or our council rep, then I'd feel a lot more comfortable about it. Grigg One other thing we could do, because this is a complex issue, we could develop a campaign that takes on one issue at a time such as traffic congestion and how roundabouts might fit into the overall picture. Is this the time for a roundabout? Should we start with small roundabouts and see how we like them? What about reducing congestion and air quality issues and so on. Take issues like that on one at a time and roll out a careful approach. It might be an option. Robert- But our primary role is an advisory capacity to support Council so I feel that anything we do bears some kind of clearinghouse. Price: We have in our Work Plan for the current year and for last year, an educational outreach component to educate the public. I suggest that maybe that's not a role that this group should be playing and that next time, we have a chance to at our Work Plan, we reconsider that maybe our role is just to advise Council because I'm not comfortable at all with reaching out with an educational piece that I first have to get approval from Council before I can put it out there. It just doesn't make me feel comfortable. I'm not talking about advocacy, I'm talking about innocuous educational issues that we might unanimously approve as a board but maybe that's not our role. Jackson: We've talked about doing some things online to reach out to people, interactive types of things, primers on how to use a roundabout and such, but until we get a few of them on the ground and people get more acclimated to them it's going to be tough. Every community that has them goes through this phase and we just happen to be going through a very prolonged phase of resistance. Kastein: The idea about the advocacy, education and advisory comes up all the time and every time we review board Work Plans it's an issue. I think every council person views it differently and in the past, when I've seen this board's plan, I've picked up on the education part because I'm sensitive to it. I think it is a role, but it's hard to balance. It's something you have to think through carefully because with every council person they wonder what the right balance is and you do yourselves as well. On this one, it's clear to me you have to be careful on this specific roundabout as it's very political. C. 2007 CONE ZONE REPORT — M. Herzig Herzig distributed a list and a map of the 2007 construction projects with major traffic impacts. He went over each item briefly and then noted that damage to arterial roadway pavement due to severe winter conditions is DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Page 12 Transportation Board March 21, 2007 being evaluated at this time and that additional projects may be posted. Members were encouraged to contact Herzig if there are any questions. Robert requested that staff take a look at the railroad crossings at Timberline, Summitview, and Vine as they are particularly bad. d. DIAL -A -RIDE & TRANSFORT UPDATE — M. Sittner Sittner stated that she presented last to the board in September 2006 and tonight's purpose is to provide an update to the service changes in Dial -A - Ride (DAR) and Transfort. In January 2007, staff began the process of modifying the DAR service to get it closer to what the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates require of any entity that provides a fixed route bus system. By doing so and by additional money that the council appropriated for transit, staff was able to add three fixed routes as well. Sittner described the recertification process for DAR, emphasizing that staff sent out over 2,000 applications. They were sent to anyone who had ever ridden DAR. Some had not used the system since the 1990's, but it didn't matter, they were still sent an application. Five full-time temps were hired to help make contact with people that didn't respond to the mail -out. They made phone calls and did their best to track people down who had moved and so on. Staff spent hours helping people to fill out the forms in person and on the phone. Staff is now in the process of determining if those who have applied are eligible or not. Only 3% of the applications that staff has currently reviewed have been determined to be ineligible for service. A map of the new DAR service area was distributed and explained by Sittner. Staff went back to Council recently and asked what they wanted to do with regard to the night service. Council added $45,000 to run that service through the end of the calendar year. Staff also asked for clarification on grandfathering in the 84 people who ended up outside the DAR service area. Council's intent was that if those people met the eligibility standard just like everybody else, then they would be grandfathered in and also that this was to be on an ongoing basis and not just short-term. The fixed route service map was shown to the board and the new routes were described. Sittner gave an update on the ridership of the new route, #16, but cautioned that it takes 18.24 months to really get a route up and running. In April, route #16 will be modified to include service to Fossil Ridge High School and that neighborhood area as well. There will be a modification to route #5 that will mean an increase in service: more frequent times that a bus will be available to catch. DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 21, 2007 Page 13 Discussion: Edmondson: Do you know how many more people you brought within'/ mile of the bus line by these changes? Sittner• We don't have that number and it would be great to have. Thank you! Grigg. How do we tell whether we're improving service? It would be good to see some numbers. Edmondson: Ms. Sittner is correct in saying that it takes at least two years to make a new route really effective. In my opinion it is much too early to look at any thing like that. Jenkins: On the 2,000 applications that you sent out, did it include people in the GMA? Sittner An application was sent out to everyone in our database. Jenkins: Do you have an estimate of how many people are without the service they had before? Sittner• At this time, there are 15 that we've determined to be ineligible. Jenkins: I'd heard that the application itself was very difficult to fill out. Is that true? Sittner• I don't believe it's difficult, but it is lengthy. When sending out the applications, we clearly stated that if you have a certain disability, fill out this portion. If you don't have this, skip to the next portion and so on. It seemed difficult, but really there was a lot of skipping of parts if it didn't apply to the applicant. And again, we called people and walked them through it as well as met with them in person to help them. Jenkins: That's what frustrates me because you did call people and hire full- time temps and everything, but that didn't come out. I didn't hear a word about that so it's good to know. Price: Marlys, you got a copy of Dale Adamy's email, right? Sittner Yes I did. Price.' May I ask, on his behalf, if it is true that you did not show favor for the idea of smaller buses during low ridership, less polluting, more efficient, etc? DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 21, 2007 Page 14 Sittner• Dale came out and we talked for about an hour and one of the things that Dale had indicated to me was that he had been watching the buses and he said that in his review of them, he had only seen 3-4 people on a bus at any given time. Then as a result, he thought it would be beneficial if we would purchase smaller vans because they would be less polluting and I explained to Dale about transit and relayed the Route #11 story to him. Route #11 serves Ram's Village Apartments that goes into campus. If you look at a route #11 bus going eastbound in the morning, there's standing room only. But as soon as they get to the CSU Transit Center, it empties, turns around and heads westbound. If you look at that bus you'll think we just run big, empty buses all the time, but as I just explained, that is not the case at all. I also told Dale that I ride route #1 a lot and I see people get on, get off, get on and so on because not everyone rides the bus from the south end of College clear to the north end of College, but you have to have enough seats. We are not a large enough system to have the luxury of having a peak time fleet and a non -peak time fleet. We have a variety of bus sizes. As a matter of fact, our newest vehicles are smaller ones. And our most recent purchase was a CNG bus. We're always interested in alternate fuels. It's not that I'm opposed to the smaller, low emissions type of vehicles; it's just that I have to be realistic. Edmondson: This is the most studied issue in public transit. It's been studied for years and the absolute verdict is that it doesn't pay to have two different sizes of fleets and try to interchange those buses. Price I'm not sure that Dale is taking a position. I think he's calling out to be educated and even to my wife who also questions why we don't have smaller buses I'll say that I give the sewer analogy that Mark told me one day because it helps people to understand. You have a concerned citizen. Dale is a member of the Air Quality Board with a valid question and he is not taking a position; he's calling out to be educated. And if he doesn't have the answer to that question, how many people are out there, who we need to win over and convince that transit is something they ought to be interested in and supporting? That's the point. Price: My last question. Can you describe the citizen's advisory committee that you have? Sittner Under the ADA of 1990, each entity was required to have a citizen's advisory board to help them as they developed their ADA plans and that's when this committee was formed. About a year or so ago, this committee came to the Transportation Board and asked to be sanctioned because they are not recognized as any kind of committee within the City structure. The Transportation Board said "no" at that time. That same committee is sitting there without any by-laws, no specific membership and they're trying to figure out if they fit anymore. Their most recent discussions have been that perhaps potentially they should just disband. In their words, they really feel DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 21, 2007 Page 15 they don't have any power, they don't seem to be doing anything and there is a Transportation Board. Jenkins: It was really nice to see that route that goes east on Harmony Road to Ziegler. In the old days I used to ride the bus from Loveland to work at HP and HP paid for the bus pass. It was a great, great deal. S. REPORTS a. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Price Resignation Announcement. I fear I will be forced to resign my position. Hopefully I can squeeze in one more meeting. I was appointed last night by Council to the new Economic Advisory Commission which is a brand new group that will take a year or two to get any traction. It should be very interesting. I am pleased with the challenge of being on this commission, but I will miss transportation issues because that's where my heart is. You may see me at a lot of pubic input events. I do have a concern about the voice of the bicycle community on this board, but I hope you can take it to another level. Look for me in April and then I'll be in Europe during May and June. Jenkins Board and Commission Training. Recently attended the training and I thought it was a really good class. I didn't know how to express my appreciation, but Mark if you will take that back to the folks that put that on it would be great. Between the two attorneys and all the other people it was just really helpful. Frazier• Transportation Staff. I was very proud of the Transportation department staff at the Open House at the Senior Center. It was just outstanding. The location is much better than the Lincoln Center. The lighting was much better and just felt good and positive. UniverCity. There was another transportation meeting this morning, which was also exciting. It was really hands on, three-dimensional. It was Bruce Hendee's project and they had 3-D things so we could really see what was going on and it was exciting. I've been to other UniverCity sub -groups and the transportation is by far the best. They really have their act together. Steen: Roundabout Article. Did everyone get to see this article in The Week], O The title was a little misleading, but it was an interesting article and actually comes out pro -roundabout. DRAFT Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board March 21. 2007 Page 16 b. STAFF REPORTS Jackson: FC Bikes Calendars. DK sent over these new calendars for everyone. W. Harmon Road Improvements. An Open House invitation was passed out to everyone. One -Year Anniversarv. Yesterday was Kemp's one-year anniversary with the City. He's done such a great job. I thank each and every one of you who helped make his position a reality because he's such a great addition. City Engineer Update. At the end of the this month, Gary Diede will be leaving and I've asked Rick Richter to step in as acting City Engineer until we get the new City Engineer hired and up to speed. We'll be interviewing for the position on April 9 and 10. CSU. I had a meeting with the CSU Athletic Director a couple of weeks ago. They�re interested in having the City help them with developing or coordinating or managing a CSU game day traffic plan for egress out of the stadium but also ways to facilitate movement from the I-25 corridor into Hughes stadium and back. We're going to talk about what we can and can't do. Next Agenda: • Traffic Ops Web Page • Action — US 287 EOS • Might bring SH 392 EOS • Continue the educational outreach discussion • Update on pavement management, pavement conditions, potholes, etc. in May 9. OTHER BUSINESS None. 10. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, V-4— Cyntfga L. Langren U Executive Administrative Assistant