HomeMy WebLinkAboutBicycle Advisory Committee - Minutes - 12/14/2009 1
MEETING MINUTES of the
BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
December 14, 2009
6:00p.m.
Community Room
215 N. Mason
Fort Collins, CO 80521
FOR REFERENCE:
Chair: Dan Gould 970-482-1074
Vice Chair: Chris Gaughan 970-223-1146
Staff Liaison: Kathleen Bracke
Staff Support: Dave “DK” Kemp 970-416-2411
BOARD/CITY ORGANIZATION MEMBERS PRESENT
Fort Collins Bicycle Co-Op: Doug Cutter
Air Quality Board: Greg McMaster
Parks and Recreation Board: Ann Hunt
Transportation Board: Bill Jenkins
Lands Conservation and Stewardship Board: Chris Gaughan
UniverCity Connections: Rick Reider
Economic Advisory Commission: Rick Price
Poudre School District: John Holcombe
Colorado State University: David Hansen
Natural Resources Advisory Board: Clint Skutchan
AT LARGE MEMBERS PRESENT
Dan Gould
Cathy Mathis
Kim Sharpe
ABSENT
Bike Fort Collins: Jeff Morrell
Downtown Development Authority: Kathy Cardona
Senior Advisory Board: Vacant
OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE
Marcus Bodig & Tim Varrone – City of Fort Collins Geographic Information Services
Matt Wempe – City of Fort Collins Transportation Planning
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1. CALL TO ORDER - Chair Gould called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
2. AGENDA REVIEW
Agenda was approved as presented.
3. PUBLIC COMMENT – None
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
November 9, 2009 minutes were approved as presented
5. ACTION ITEMS
a) Rick Price moved to “expend part of the BOB funds annually for the next four years by
installing 50 share the road signs in the community with advice from the BAC on where to
place those signs.” John Holcomb seconded the motion. After brief discussion the motion
failed. Holcomb and Price voted in favor; everyone else opposed the motion. K. Bracke
suggested that City Traffic Engineer, Joe Olsen be invited in to explain the pros and cons of
placing more share the road signs. The group agreed to invite Joe in next meeting.
6. DISCUSSION/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
a) Management Information Services, Web-based multi-modal route finder & level of
service
Marc Bodig & Tim Varrone of the City’s Geographic Information Services presented preliminary
results of a project to provide an online route finder for bicyclists, pedestrians, and combinations
of these two with the transit system. The system, though similar to Google, is built on the City’s
Geographic Information System with real time (daily updates).
Bodig and Varrone presented an early prototype as a “proof of concept.” The premise is that the
City needs a better multi-modal route system that includes bus route schedules, estimates of time
and distance for travel by bike and by foot. The goal is to include level of service and possibly,
even take into account different speeds of cyclists and abilities and experience levels.
As with Google maps, the user would type in origin and destination addresses and the system
would recommend a pedestrian, bicycle, or bus route.
It is hoped that a preliminary version of this will be online early in 2010.
DK asked what kind of support they needed from the community to complete this project.
Marcus responded that it was a good question: what they really needed is to identify the “private
connections” to bike trails. Since the City doesn’t maintain those connectors they don’t track
them or even know their locations.
b) Safe Routes to School Grant Update: Kim Sharpe announced that the Bicycle Education
Coalition (BEC) has adopted a new name: Bicycle and Pedestrian Education Coalition (BPEC) to
better reflect the focus on the Safe Routes to School funding. She further explained the
collaborative grant writing process that involved Matt Wempe from the City, the Healthier
Communities Coalition, the Bike Co-op, Safe Kids Larimer County, and CSU’s Colorado Injury
Control Research Center . The request is for $88,250. The funds will be used for bicycle and
pedestrian education classes offered by the Bike Co-op and Bicycle Colorado, Safe Kids Snap
and Strap program and the Larimer County Child Advocacy Center (they work on abuse and
safety issues with children in K – 3rd grade). The grant also includes a “train the trainer” program
to train 50 trainers in the schools as a part of the PE curriculum.
The schools involved in this program are:
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Elementary schools: Bauder, Harris, Irish, Johnson, Kruse, Lab School, Linton, Moore, O’Dea,
Olander, Putnam, Riffenburgh, Shepardson, Traut, and Zach.
Middle schools: Blevins, Boltz, Kinard, Lincoln, Preston, and Webber.
(Schools that participated in previous Safe Routes to School Programs are not included in this
grant proposal.)
Gould asked what the connection is with the Poudre Schools – “how many people were
involved.” Sharpe responded: Transportation was included, telling us how many people
currently walk or bike, the Wellness Coordinator, Chris Evans, a very active PE teacher. We had
letters of support from all of them. Matt Wempe added that the Superintendents have signed off
on this. Our main contact was Pete Hall in facilities. Nicole Turner-Ravana, the wellness
coordinator was also involved.
c) Bike Winter Fort Collins Campaign update
Dave Kemp briefed us on the 3rd year of Bike Winter Fort Collins.
Friday, Dec. 4th “we gave out several hundred pairs of lights” to people who did not have them.
Winter bike to work will be at 7 a.m. Dec. 4th with ten breakfast stations.
d) 2010 Bike Map discussion/ideas
Dave Kemp explained that the bike map will be reprinted next spring. Of 75,000 copies printed
in 2007 about 7,000-8,000 remain.
I could use your thoughts on the bike map. Either, tell me now or send me your thoughts. Ideas
shared or suggestions for the map:
- Include public showers (Gaughan)
- Working with GIS the improvements will be automatically included; (Kemp)
- Include connectors that are NOT tracked by the City (Kemp: examples include Stuart and Edora
Park to Power line trail; Fossil Cr. through the neighborhoods to Keenland; Wakonda Drive, etc.;
how to incorporate these on the map?)
- Gould asks do you need GIS coordinates for these connectors (Kemp: any way you’d like)
- Kemp: What should the map look like? Esthetics, colors, readability, etc.?
- Hansen: Green routes get lost with green parks;
- Gaughan: how did you decide which natural areas to include? Kemp: we put all we could with
the space available;
- Gould: Can we put level of service on some of these routes? This group could help identify
functionality of routes with lots of detail.
- Kemp: We need the collective interest.
- Price: If Safe Routes to School is funded could we incorporate safe routes to school at a more
detailed level using this same process of collaborative data collection?
- Kemp: How does that relate to this map?
- Price: It’s an extension of the process of preparing this map.
- Gould: For this spring let’s incorporate any improvements we can; a longer term goal would be
to offer more detailed level of service.
- Bracke: We’ll be looking at level of service with the Master Transportation Plan.
- Kemp: City Plan and the Transportation Master Plan will offer opportunities
- Reider: Highlight the Mason Corridor (for buses, bike trail, walking); Alleyways downtown –
get those connectors onto the map;
- Cutter: Aren’t some of the alleys closed to cycling? Kemp: just one;
- Bracke: DDA has a plan to fix up alleys;
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- Gaughan: What about some of the future trails? Will they be updated?
- Kemp: Yes, but we won’t put years for future trail projections as it depends so much on
funding;
- Skutchan: add air stations? An icon to show BMX, skate parks, etc. as recreational
destinations?
- Kemp: What about bike parking?
- Skutchan: What about suggested day tour rides?
- Kemp: Five great rides?
- Reider: Link to MayMyRide? Or other web sites?
- Kemp: On the back of the map: Does the Horsetooth Reservoir, Horsetooth Mountain Park
make sense here?
- Gaughan: Show more trails.
- Cutter: Show at least key trails: Valley to Nomad connector.
- Orientation of the map on the back is confusing.
- Skutchan: Lory State now has a bike park (for the bike “rec” icon).
Kemp: Regarding UniverCity Connections
Our last task force meeting suggested color-coded routes between CSU, Old Town and the River.
Would that be a good use for the Old Town/CSU inset; for walking and biking routes through
town?
- Gould: I don’t get the color coded routes.
- Kemp: Explains the green route from CSU to the River.
- Gould: As opposed to getting to the Rio and then to the River?
- Kemp: Let me explore this concept a bit. There are a couple of direct routes you could
take to Old Town or to the River and back.
- Gould: I don’t see the importance of that. Wayfinding, yes.
- Price: Some longer distance routes are taking on their own identity: West Side Bikeway,
Poudre Trail, Spring Creek Trail, etc. This is a wayfinding issue more than a map issue.
- Gould: I like giving specific routes an identity.
- Reider: Wayfinding is painting the street.
- Others: I thought it was about signs.
- Kemp: West Side Route – these would be bikeways, right? North, south; east, west.
- Price: Yes – we already talk about the Poudre Trail, the Power Line Trail, etc. without
talking about Prospect, College, etc. and motorist conventions.
- Kemp: Calling out the bike routes.
- Price: How can we build on the concepts that are already being used?
- Cutter: West side and south side trail – which is fractured.
- Gaughan: I call it Overland Trail. Why not just keep that?
- Kemp: Identify, then, specific routes whether bike paths or bikeways?
- Price: That involves signs and wayfinding as well.
- Hansen or Holcomb? The typeface on the map for specific routes or trails needs to be
more prominent.
- Kemp: I’ll digest this.
- Reider: The back needs a legend. What about a trail for off-road trails?
- Kemp: Such a map exists (a city/county production).
- Sharpe: Include level of difficulty.
- Kemp: Level of service.
- Gaughan: I agree with Kim as some of these trails are tough, for kids or families, for
example. What about a MTBike trail.
- Kemp: Advanced vs. beginner. Old Town inset: do we need this? Or should we produce
a second map of old town – like a “z fold map.”
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- Reider: A better map is the size of a business card. Squeeze it and it becomes a box with
a magnifying glass.
- Gould: That specialized district map would go well with a “five good rides” map.
- Kemp: On two sides of a map: downtown and five good rides.
- McMaster: Are we talking 2 maps?
- Kemp: No, actually, three.
- McMaster: Valuable yes, but now we have several different maps. . .
- Kemp: Last question (PLEASE email me about this): Is the educational material on the
back of the map useful? Should we keep these examples? Is this information valuable in
this form? Or would you like to see it presented differently?
- Reider: How ‘bout your photo campaign?
- Skutchan: I use the map for map information. Images might be better than this material.
- Cutter: 90% of the readers won’t look at it. If 10% understand it the point it is worth it.
- McMaster: This really isn’t helping me. Use that space for rides or routes.
- Price: I think it is wasted. People are picking the map up to use as a map. What do you
all use the least on this map?
- McMaster: The lower left corner.
- Cutter: The downtown inset.
- Reider: What’s the demographic for this map?
- Kemp: Children to seniors. Everybody uses this. It’s one of the best maps of the City.
What about bike shop locations and phone numbers?
- Skutchan: Do they pay for a listing here?
- Kemp: No.
- Skutchan: I think they should be paying for this.
- Price: The minute you begin charging and leaving some of the shops off the map you’ve
degraded the quality of the map for the public as we try to brand ourselves as a bicycle
community.
- Sharpe: Update the Safe Routes to School logo.
- Gould: Will we revisit this?
- Kemp: Yes, in February with updates and maybe a prototype. Or at the very least a
prototype in March with plans to print then.
To BAC members: Please send DK any “connectors” or “shortcuts” that might be added to the
bike map that currently aren’t shown.
e) 2010 Work Plan Implementation
Chair Gould presented the Work Plan (attached) and asked the group to consider the following:
I suggest we think about how to activate the work plan. Let’s figure out a way to track our work
plan related activities and promote and facilitate that work so that in the end we can use that in
our annual report in executing our work plan. It is important that we avoid “institutional short-
term memory impairment.”
I suggest that individual BAC members serve as “sponsors” or “facilitators” of some particular
aspects of the work plan. That person would be responsible for tracking and facilitating
consideration of different parts of the work plan.
The work plan fits perfectly into what we’ve been discussing this evening.
Skutchan: How do we process this? Does this come back to you? How do you decide on agenda
items?
Gould: Everything need not come back as full agenda items (though there may be times when that
happens).
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Skutchan: I don’t understand the idea fully.
Gould: Someone would pick an element that they have an interest in and track it. They would
make it their specialty and track the issue with the City and the bike world. They would report on
this in meetings as necessary, or bring it as an agenda item when appropriate.
Let me finish describing the concept and then we can discuss it.
Our first element is bicycle safety. We have people engaged in Safe Routes to School. That’s an
element that is moving along.
We identified law enforcement. We need someone to think creatively about law enforcement.
Sharpe: We have Susan Vance involved on the BPEC and Scott Anthony from CSU as well.
Gould: To me another big aspect is signage: Share the Road. That should be a separate element
in our discussion. What signs? How many signs?
Bicycle level of service: it is in a primordial state. We should be following that by having
someone pick this up for purposes of the City Plan and Transportation Plan update.
The second element: Bicycle Encouragement (the bike library, FCBikes, etc. are already doing a
lot on this; signage fits here too).
Bicycle related economic development and affordability: For me wayfinding is an important part
of this. Visitors who come and want to know good routes, Earn-a-Bike activities of the Bike Co-
op, Velodrome planning, race hosting and facilitating. These are all elements that somebody
from the committee might take responsibility for tracking.
Bike facilities: that has to do with interim solutions; identifying solutions.
Bicycle performance: I’m not so sure about this. We had talked about the City’s performance
matrix.
To summarize: we need to figure out a way to remember what we’re supposed to be doing by
assigning responsibility to individuals. I don’t want to decide anything tonight but to just throw
out the idea.
Sharpe: So you are asking us to create sub-groups?
Gould: Correct. It could be one person or several.
Cutter: It’s the only practical way to do this.
Gaughan: The downfall of having one person thinking about an element is that we might be
surprised – as we were tonight with the share the road sign.
Gould: But one person thinking about this might have a “more holistic” view and could work
with traffic operations, etc. to bring a more comprehensive viewpoint.
Price: There is one element that is timely. Feb. 9 Council will have a work session on
“transportation safety.” This came out of the Sept. 1 Council meeting with questions about the
Safe Routes to School program. I think this is important since bike safety and education is a part
of this meeting. I think we should take something to them to express how important we feel this
is. Even the Economic Advisory Commission has identified bicycle safety education as critical to
economic development in the City. I would like to ask what we can or should do to pass our
concerns on for Council’s consideration at this work session.
Gould: Bill (Jenkins) does the transportation board have anything they are recommending for
this? (Negative response).
Bracke: This topic initially began with bicycle safety but it has expanded to safety for all modes.
For example, Joe Olsen’s study of bicycle crash data has been expanded to pedestrian crashes. So
we are looking at all modes. Certainly if there are new ideas you’d like to see taken forward we
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can do that. We’re trying to review all safety concerns for all modes. If you all have ideas you’d
like to see taken forward we could talk about this in January.
Jenkins: The T-board will have only one shot at this in January.
Price: The Feb. meeting is a work session only. So we don’t need final recommendations, we just
need to raise the issues.
Gould: We need to put this on the January agenda, in that case.
Price: I’d like to suggest that we consider the place of “education” in the bike plan and consider
amending that plan. We did not consider bicycle education adequately by defining it and
specifying what that is. We need a community bike safety education plan (though we’ve make
some good steps with the Safe Routes to School proposal).
Gould: The bicycle safety element in our work plan has to do with education.
Price: So I suggest we put this on the agenda for January with a goal to making a suggestion to
Council for their work session.
Jenkins: What happens in a work session?
Gould: It’s an initial discussion by Council of issues that may come up.
Jenkins: So it’s not a policy making session.
Gould: No.
Price: It’s a fact finding opportunity for Council to learn mostly from staff. There’s no public
input. Our opportunity for input is before the meeting.
Bracke: It is like a discussion session with Council. It’s not a formal action item . . .
Jenkins: If we come up with something we have to have staff present it for us?
Skutchan: If we make a recommendation as a board it goes into the packet to Council.
Bracke: The packets include minutes and recommendations from T-Board and BAC including a
summary of items recommended. Council has an understanding of the opinions of boards and
commissions.
McMaster: It can be used to ask staff for more information and to see how an issue is going. A
major change that the Air Quality Board has requested is a portion of their packet should be
dedicated to recommendations from Boards and Commissions so Council doesn’t overlook that.
Kemp: Perhaps instead of trying to change the Bike Plan as it is and have it readopted couldn’t a
strategic safety plan be an element within the work plan?
Gould: It could be. But we are free to draft language that we’d like to convey to Council.
Price: I recall a conversation about the Bike Plan that indicated it is a dynamic document. One of
the reasons for creating this group was to be able to add to it, change it as necessary and to build
on it. Maybe we don’t have to change it but we can recommend changes to policy, whether tied to
the work plan or whatever.
Bracke: In 2010 you’ll have an opportunity to contribute to the Transportation Master Plan.
There is a full section in the Bike Plan there as well.
Skutchan: I’d like to see a staff report come with this, not just a general conversation.
Gould: You mean in the context of this work session?
Skutchan: I need to know what is currently being done with encouragement and education with a
staff report.
Price: I volunteer to head the bike safety education group to bring a report to the BAC and to
make recommendations (anyone else who wants is welcome to join, BPEC, the new LCIs in the
community). DK and I have different views of the educational component of the current plan.
He could give the BAC the staff view and the sub-committee could present a different
perspective, launching your idea.
Gould: I’d like to keep those separate temporarily and consider a more general implementation
of the work plan. For a January agenda item, I think of this as separate. I’d like to discuss this
work plan idea in January as a separate item. We need to begin wrapping up.
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7) Staff reports or comments?
Bracke: Transportation Planning and FCBikes has moved to 281 North College (just east of the
train depot) upstairs next to Advanced Planning and Neighborhood Services. We are located
closer to the other City departments that we work with there. It makes it easier for one-stop
shopping.
The Transportation Master Plan update is beginning. I’d like to come and present that process in
January or February – whatever works with your schedule. In late February we’ll have a
community forum with a futurist looking at the 10, 20, 50 year horizon.
McMaster: How did the committee get put together for the Master Transportation Plan. Do you
have one? It seems that there is less and less citizen input, including with City Plan.
Bracke: Both City Plan and the Transportation Master Plan will not have committees. They will
be done together and will have more citizen outreach. There will be many community events, all
the boards and commissions will be involved. There will be focus groups. There will not be the
traditional steering committee. All the Boards and Commissions will fulfill that role.
McMaster: One concern from AQAB is that these public forums involving posting comments on
post-it notes doesn’t allow the discussion or in depth thought that we should bring to the table.
This is both my personal view and that of the AQAB.
Bracke: This will have as much or more direct involvement from all the Boards and
Commissions. We’ll be going out to all these groups. The project team will go to all the boards
and have in depth conversations. We are trying to involve more people rather than just a separate
steering committee. But we can look at a variety of different ways if it is not working.
McMaster: The consulting firm has already been identified, correct (affirmative.) Take City Plan
as an example: it was put together by a diverse group of citizen stake holders. There was a lot of
knowledge that came together there. The revision was more driven by the consulting firm and
less by the citizens group. So the citizens were one step removed. Once you have a consultant
driving the plan you have a direction determined that looses the citizen input. I think this new
format is even further in removing the citizens” input.
Bracke: The consultant for the project is in an “assist” role for City staff. They are not driving
the process. Clarion Associates, involved with the original City Plan, is the consultant.
Originally this was considered an update but it is an entire new look, a transformational time. It
will be a substantial effort. We want to make sure that the process is driven by the community.
I’ll find out more about the details.
McMaster: It might work just fine.
ADJOURN
Meeting adjourned at 8:05 pm
Respectfully submitted,
____________________________
Dan Gould
Bicycle Advisory Committee Chair