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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 04/17/2019TRANSPORTATION BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR April 17, 2019, 6:00 p.m. Conference Room A, 281 North College Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 4/17/2019 – MINUTES Page 1 FOR REFERENCE: Chair: Indy Hart Vice Chair: Council Liaison: Nathalie Rachline Ross Cunniff Staff Liaison: Paul Sizemore 970.224.6140 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Hart called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM. 2. ROLL CALL BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Indy Hart, Chair Nathalie Rachline, Vice Chair York Cari Brown Jerry Gavaldon Ellen Boeke Eric Shenk Karl Ayers Valerie Arnold BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: CITY STAFF PRESENT: Eileen Dornfest Rob Mosbey Nancy Nichols Kenyon Neal Lauren Nagle PUBLIC PRESENT: TRANSPORTATION BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 4/17/2019 – MINUTES Page 2 Hart discussed a possible upcoming Boards and Commissions change which places strict limits on when a member can abstain from a vote. Sizemore read a memo from City Attorney staff stating the provision would not prohibit an abstention but would count an abstention as a 'yes' vote unless the failure to vote was by a member with a declared conflict of interest. 3. AGENDA REVIEW Sizemore stated there were no changes to the published agenda. 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION None. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – MARCH 2019 Gavaldon made a motion, seconded by Rachline, to approve the March 2019 minutes as written. The motion was adopted unanimously. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Halligan Water Supply Project – Eileen Dornfest Eileen Dornfest, Utilities Project Manager, showed a video about the Halligan project which advertises it as a project that will balance water supply needs and environmental enhancements and one that will provide great benefit to the community. Dornfest stated the Halligan Reservoir enlargement is relatively small and will ensure fewer impacts on the river as water levels fluctuate. She discussed the possible alterative projects that were required to be investigated stating they have considerable pipeline infrastructure that is needed to connect to the water treatment facility. Dornfest discussed the impacts of expanding the reservoir including wetland inundation, temporary construction impacts, and river impacts to flows. The Halligan project would slightly decrease flows during runoff but would increase flows on the North Fork most other months. Arnold asked how much money has been spent thus far on the 13 years of permitting. Dornfest replied costs to this point have been about $18 million. Arnold asked if there is harm to the slight flow decrease. Dornfest replied she TRANSPORTATION BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 4/17/2019 – MINUTES Page 3 anticipates the environmental impact statement to references the flow reductions as having a negligible effect. York asked who currently owns the water flow. Dornfest replied it is owned by North Poudre Irrigation Company, which will retain their 6,400 acre-foot ownership and the City will own the additional 8,100 acre-feet. Gavaldon asked about the City of Greeley's water rights ownership. Dornfest replied Greeley owns Milton-Seaman Reservoir and they have been evaluating possibly enlarging that reservoir. York noted the video does not address impacts of enlarging Halligan in conjunction with the other projects proposed for the Poudre and the North Fork. Dornfest replied chapter 5 of the environmental impact statement will address cumulative impacts. b. Pedestrian Program Update – Rob Mosbey Mosbey stated a new section on the Pedestrian Moves web page joins to the FC Maps page to provide sidewalk conditions and priority information. Brown asked how often maps are being updated. Mosbey replied that will likely be in the eight to ten-year timeframe. Arnold asked about contractor sidewalk installation. Mosbey replied each sidewalk is stamped with the contractor name and date and there is a two-year warranty for those. Mosbey detailed additional features of the web site, including access to information about planned improvement projects. Gavaldon suggested staff consider separating the Lemay realignment project from the sidewalk construction on North 9th Street, stating that should be a higher priority. York asked if this tool includes bicycle and pedestrian paths. Mosbey replied in the negative. c. Safe Routes to School Program Update – Nancy Nichols and Kenyon Neal Nichols stated about 24,000 K-12th grade students are served through program on a prescribed schedule. The current estimate is that 23% of local students are biking or walking to school regularly, with up to 40% at some schools. The program has an overall long-term goal of 50% of students biking or walking to school. Nichols overviewed the national focus areas of the program: education, encouragement, engineering, enforcement, evaluation and equity. She discussed grant funding of projects, including the multi-use path at Tavelli Elementary. Nichols discussed after-school bike clubs, summer bike camps, learner rides, the Bicycle-friendly driver program, and additional by-request programming. She also TRANSPORTATION BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 4/17/2019 – MINUTES Page 4 discussed the fleet of equipment available for children to borrow. Rachline asked what types of evaluation measures are used to determine the program's success. Nichols replied additional data and more scientific measurements could be used; however, she noted the city has a lower than expected bicycle and pedestrian crash rate among this target population. She also stated pre and post-testing occurred at one middle school which showed a statistically valid increase in knowledge. She stated more effort could be put into that type of data with additional resources. Rachline asked if a student survey is conducted after the programs. Nichols replied the program receives feedback from teachers, but not students. She stated data is also received from parents. Arnold asked if the Safe Routes program ever teams up with the City's Climate Action staff regarding education around driving children to school. Nichols replied the two teams do work together; however, there is no specific education for parents in that regard at this time. Board members discussed the impact of charter schools and school of choice on vehicular traffic. Nichols showed a video about the Safe Routes program and discussed the engineering aspects of the program, which includes various construction projects aimed at improving safety and encouraging ridership. She also discussed various groups, such as police, who assist with aspects of the program. d. 2018 Bicycle and Pedestrian Counts – Lauren Nagle Nagle stated these counts occur to better understand traveler behavior and changes over time. Additionally, it helps to justify investments in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and helps to prioritize projects for the future. Nagle stated the counts include the type of travel, number of travelers, direction of travel, turning movements, helmet use, gender, and E-bikes. She reviewed the highest two-hour counts by mode and results of other data points. Nagle reviewed Safe Routes to School tallies stating they have been collected since 2007. She noted the numbers have steadily increased. Brown suggested including Base Camp versus non-Base Camp children in the counts as Base Camp users cannot check themselves in or out of the program potentially making walking or biking to school impossible. Nagle discussed the new GIS-based system that utilizes the count data. York asked about using Bluetooth data to collect some of the data. Nagle replied that is a possibility; however, some of the other statistics such as helmet use cannot TRANSPORTATION BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 4/17/2019 – MINUTES Page 5 be tracked in that manner. Brown asked about a bus stop layer. Nagle replied any item with an attached City map can be included. York asked about data comparison over the years. Nagle replied she can easily provide that data; however, she questioned its usability given much of the data appears flat over time. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Boeke reported on the Transit 101 training and noted Denver schools are contracting with RTD to provide bus service for high school students. York announced Bike to Work Day on June 26th and Open Streets on June 16th. He reported on the recent Planning and Zoning Board work session and transportation-related issues the Board discussed regarding Bucking Horse and Northfield. Ayers reported on seeing his first electric scooter. Shenk reported on using the Enlighten and FC Parking apps. Gavaldon reported on using the Enlighten app and on the CSU Hughes neighborhood meeting. 9. OTHER BUSINESS a. Bicycle Advisory Committee Report Ayers reported on the last BAC meeting during which the Committee heard presentations on Safe Routes to School, 2019 Bike Projects and the E-bike pilot project. b. City Council 6-Month Calendar Review Sizemore stated there are few transportation-related items on the calendar, but noted the Council will be holding its first work session on the Climate Action Plan update in June and will be considering the Montava development beginning in August. c. Staff Liaison Report Sizemore reported on progress with the E-scooter program and E-bike pilot project. He stated City Plan and the Transit Master Plan were adopted by Council last night. 10. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:37 p.m. by unanimous consent.