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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 11/15/2006MEETING MINUTES of the TRANSPORTATION BOARD November 15, 2006 5:45 p.m. City of Fort Collins Municipal Building 215 N. Mason Street — Community Room FOR REFERENCE: CHAIR: Brent Thordarson 679-2165 VICE CHAIR: Gary Thomas 482-7125 STAFF LIAISON: Mark Jackson 416-2029 ADMIN SUPPORT: Cynthia Langren 224-6058 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Don Edmondson Sara Frazier Neil Grigg Jeannette Hallock-Solomon Tim Johnson Rick Price Gary Thomas Brent Thordarson (via conference call for action items) CITY STAFF: Don Bachman Eric Bracke Mark Jackson Cynthia Langren Kurt Ravenschlag ABSENT: James Clausen Ed Robert Kevin Westhuis OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: Bill Jenkins Garry Steen 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Vice Chair Thomas at 5:58 p.m. 2. AGENDA REVIEW 3. PUBLIC COMMENT None. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (October 2006) There was a motion and a second to approve the October 2006 Transportation Board meeting minutes as presented. The motion carried by a unanimous vote, 7 — 0. S. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT None. APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Page 2 Transportation Board November 15, 2006 (Chair Thordarson joined the meeting via long distance conference call at this point.) 6. ACTION ITEMS a. HORSETOOTH/ZIEGLER ROUNDABOUT — E. Bracke Eric Bracke explained that it has been determined that the Front Range Village Development project located at the northwest corner of Ziegler and Harmony will have a transportation impact at the intersection of Ziegler and Horsetooth. He reminded the Board that back in 2001, City Council approved a resolution saying that any time improvements are made to an arterial intersection, that there should be a comparison between a traditional signalized intersection and the placement of a modern roundabout. An analysis of this was conducted by Stantec Consulting, Inc. and their report has been reviewed, accepted and approved by City Traffic Operations staff. Their report recommends that a modern roundabout be built at this intersection instead of a traditional one. Bracke explained what criteria were looked at and why they came to the conclusion they did. It should be noted that the cost for the roundabout is probably going to be more than if a signalized intersection were built, mainly because of an issue that still hasn't been resolved yet; utility relocations. There was a motion by Grigg that the board endorses the report that recommends the roundabout There was a second by.lohnson. Discussion: Price said that he would like to punctuate the recommendation to Council by saying that the Board expresses strong support for this as proposed because of increased Level of Service, lower average time delays and vast improvement in air quality emissions. The hiendlyamendment to add "strong support" to the motion was accepted by Grigg and Johnson. Jackson read the email submitted by Ed Robert: the proposed roundabout may be in the out years at Horsetooth and Ziegler looks interesting and challenging, however I prefer that over a traffic signal intersection if engineering can make it cost effective. Johnson stated that he would like to have it noted that as staff looks at this further, that they consider that they might have to expand this, just make sure there's sufficient right-of-way now just in case. The motion. the board strongly endorses fhe report that recommends a roundabout at Horsetooth and Ziegler with an addendum note that the Board recommends the City acquire as much right-of-way as possible for future expansion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote, 7 — 0. b. APPROVAL OF 2007 WORK PLAN Via email, Robert submitted some proposed amendments to the draft Work Plan which were read to the board. After a brief discussion, the board accepted the changes, which were basically adding a couple of projects to the list of planning activities and construction projects that could receive board consideration. The board opted to not include the suggestion to add: "a new transportation corridor to bypass downtown traffic" at this time. There was a motion and a second to approve the 2007 Transportation Board Work Plan as modified. The motion carried by a unanimous vote, 7 — 0. A copy of the revised and approved 2007 Transportation Work Plan is attached for reference. APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board November 15, 2006 7. DISCUSSION ITEMS Page 3 a. NORTH COLLEGE SUB -AREA PLAN — Waido & Mapes Waido stated that citizens in the corridor started this planning conversation nearly 20 years ago because there was concern about the area lagging behind the rest of the city in terms of its physical and economic conditions. In response, the original North College Corridor Plan was adopted in 1994 after a full public process. Since then, things have changed, projects have been completed and new questions and issues have come up over the years. This current update is now needed to: Incorporate changes, explore questions and issues, restate the vision and start new conversations on the next generation of projects. Waido gave a PowerPoint presentation that included the following highlights: • Facets of the Vision: The Highway itself — North College Avenue/SH14/US 287. - Natural focus: North College Avenue as the backbone. - Clear image, vary in different sections depending on abutting places, side streets and access fitted to facilitate development/redevelopment, find ways to use native stone, etc • Facets of the Vision: Connections to Downtown Across the Poudre River Corridor - So near yet so far: Edge at the Poudre River Corridor; different patterns of community development. Vision: eliminate divide between Old Town and North College which has prevented a free flow of retail and other commerce across the bridge - The river corridor links and binds North College with Downtown/rest of the community. - Pedestrian bridges at Lake Canal: a highly visible addition to image and identity. Visual benefits: streetscape structures - Parking lot island: river corridor character - Rebranding of private development demonstrates image and identity highlighting the river • Facets of the Vision: More Complete Street Network - Redevelopment and retrofitted public infrastructure projects add a more complete network of streets, drives, and alleyways. - The linear strip of North College is punctuated by new street corners, with side streets leading to a diverse series of interesting places off of the main frontage. • Facets of the Vision: Community Appearance & Design - the corridor evolves in such a way that it stays unique and interesting, avoiding tendencies for homogenization in new development • Facets of the Vision: Uses and Activities - Eclectic mix of uses evolves stronger underpinnings of higher activity uses that create synergy - Various studios, craftsman, workshop, food and other modest light industrial uses with pedestrian -friendly fronts mix with compatible urban dwellings. APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board November 15. 2006 Page 4 Facets of the Vision: Public Support for Change - Broad public support and active civic participation stimulate urban evolution toward the vision and goals. - City standards are widely viewed as part of a positive investment climate in which appropriate efforts can proceed, investors can count on a level of quality and improvement, and inappropriate changes or uses don't undermine the vision and goals. - Many people, not just City staff, can explain development requirements including reasons why Change of Use id defined as development. - Owners, tenants, investors and developers understand issues of expediency versus higher long-term value of new street frontage and urban services. - Likewise, City staff and citizens understand private sector needs to carry property through current market realities, sometimes with incremental steps. - There is a broad public understanding that the City and URA have a commitment and collaborative approach to unique urban solutions. Facets of the Vision: Financing and Administration - The City's investment in the Dry Creek floodway and North College improvements leads to public/private collaboration on further financing and administration. Waido stated that staff would like to get a recommendation from the board in the near future as it is scheduled to go to City Council soon. Board Discussion: The RR has come up as an issue. It serves Holnam and a construction supply facility. Mapes has attempted to communicate with RR officials to find out more information about the RR and the existing spurs, but the issue is still up in the air at this point. Johnson. On the north side of Hickory, there is a long section of RR track — there's an opportunity here in this corridor for RR opportunities/options that should be pursued. It seems it could be a connector to downtown. Mapes The idea has come up as to whether there is benefit to make a street connection from Hickory to Willox. This has come up recently. Price: I would encourage you to pursue that diagonal road along the RR corridor and be thinking about how you're going to move those on foot and on bicycle north and south from that area into Old Town and from there on out into the countryside. I encourage you to keep your eyes open for access to through - areas. Grigg. Seems there should be a connection in the planning between the River District Project and this project. Waido: This plan will definitely try to reduce that gap between the two areas of the Downtown and College. Jackson: Kathleen Bracke is working hard to ensure that there are connections as she works on the Downtown River District Plan in relation to North College. APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board November 15, 2006 Page 5 Johnson: The other option you have with regard to that RR corridor is to look for other kinds of uses such as running events, bicycling events and you could start them at places such as Lee Martinez or the Aztlan Center. Robert added his comments of support for the project via an email that Jackson read to the boar b. BUDGET UPDATE — Bachman With regard to Dial -A -Ride, the Board recommended approval of adding fixed routes to the current system and to scale back to the ADA minimum. Council directed staff to 1) look into our resources for one-time funds that can be greed up to budget some service for those outside ADA and 2) To convene a series of meetings among Larimer County, user groups and non -profits to look at alternative ways of providing transportation for those people who are potentially stranded. That meeting has been set for December 7. C. DECEMBER MEETING The board opted to cancel their regular meeting on December 20 and will meet socially instead. Langren will do a poll to see what dates work best for the majority and will check with StoneHouse Grille about reservations once a date has been decided on. (Chair Thordarson ended the conference call at this point.) 8. REPORTS a. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Johnson: Prospect Road. I think we have some more positive things to add to that letter to the editor and Kevin's comments from last time. I think that some of the things that happened on Prospect Road, we have a flood element that was built in and that should be made known to folks and secondly, when we talk about the bike lanes and the trail, we took two sidewalks away from the edge of the road and combined them with that trail because we thought that it would save some money and serve the function for people using that area for the most part. I think that should be pointed out to folks. And also that the road that is ready to go to four lanes in the future when the money is available. Someone should write a letter to the editor to bring that out to folks. MPO RTA. There's a principles group that's meeting and what they've done is chosen 12 people from Larimer and Weld county and they're supposed to be representing the business and environmental community and that's where I've been chosen. This group is trying to come together on what the issues of need are and see if we can come together on a couple of other things that will be more difficult. One is governance, how to govern something that has multiple cities and two counties. The other one is the source of monies and the equities that come with the sources. (Johnson agreed to come back in January to give an update on this topic to the board.) Price: In my capacity as President of the Board of Bike Fort Collins. Org, I've been meeting quite a bit with DK talking about the Bike Coordinator's position and so on and we sponsored a lunch gathering today of anybody interested in better bicycling in Fort Collins and there were 28 people that showed up. We APPROVED Regular Meeting Minutes Transportation Board November 15, 2006 Page 6 brainstormed about what's going on in the bike community and we learned a lot. DK and Bike Fort Collins will be sponsoring this on a monthly basis in the basement of Home State Bank. I will send notices out on that. A lot of energy there still. Share the Road License Plates. Bicycle Colorado sent out a call for a petition for share the road license plates. They have authorization from the motor vehicle people to do this. It will cost you $50 for the plate and then $25 for bicycle education in the state. They needed 3,000 signatures for them to get this on their agenda for consideration, and they have over 10,000. They're aiming to get 20,000 — 25,000. UniverCi . I was surprised and impressed with the UniverCity Connections. Org initiative last week. I was invited as part of the Mayors leadership forum last January and it was a lot of hot air and nothing happened. This group is more aggressive and there's a little money behind it. They're meeting again tomorrow night and then almost every two weeks for the next six months. I see a lot of opportunity for the University and downtown connectivity. Thomas noted that one Board member should be selected as the liaison to report back from these UniverCity meetings. Edmondson: I recently had some occasion to have some professional interaction with some of the Traffic Control people and I was really impressed with how fast they move and how decisive they were. It was fun to watch them work they were so good. Frazier: UniverCi . I, too, went to the connection and was very impressed and delighted that this is something that I have been waiting for for years. I've been in Fort Collins for 40 years and this is what I volunteered for the Transportation Board when it was first started. My interest was in this corridor and what they're doing now and the reason why asked to come back again. I would love to be the designate to report information back to the board. The board agreed. b. STAFF REPORTS Jackson: Council is beginning interviews for new folks to the Transportation board. Two of the folks who applied are here tonight. 9. OTHER BUSINESS None. 10. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Oe 6v Cynthia L. Langren Executive Administrative Assistant