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Home My WebLink AboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 07/15/2014 - SECOND READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 091, 2014, APPROPRAgenda Item 1 Item # 1 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY July 15, 2014 City Council STAFF Nancy Nichols, Safe Routes to School Coordinator SUBJECT Second Reading of Ordinance No. 091, 2014, Appropriating Unanticipated Grant Revenue into the Transportation Services Fund for the Safe Routes to School Program. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This Ordinance, unanimously adopted on First Reading on July 1, 2014, appropriates unbudgeted funds received through a grant for the Safe Routes to School Program. The City of Fort Collins FC Moves Department has received a $25,822 federal grant through the Colorado Department of Transportation for the 2014-15 Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program. This funding will allow the City’s Safe Routes to School Program (administered and staffed by FC Moves) to enhance its pedestrian and bicycle safety education programs. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on Second Reading. ATTACHMENTS 1. First Reading Agenda Item Summary (w/o attachments) (PDF) 2. Ordinance No. 091, 2014 (PDF) Agenda Item 9 Item # 9 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY July 1, 2014 City Council STAFF Nancy Nichols, Safe Routes to School Coordinator SUBJECT First Reading of Ordinance No. 091, 2014, Appropriating Unanticipated Grant Revenue into the Transportation Services Fund for the Safe Routes to School Program. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this item is to appropriate unbudgeted funds received through a grant for the Safe Routes to School Program. The City of Fort Collins FC Moves Department has received a $25,822 federal grant through the Colorado Department of Transportation for the 2014-15 Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program. This funding will allow the City’s Safe Routes to School Program (administered and staffed by FC Moves) to enhance its pedestrian and bicycle safety education programs. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION This is the latest of several CDOT grants received by the City’s Safe Routes to School program since 2007, totaling $415,822. The City of Fort Collins FC Moves staff develops and administers the local SRTS program. The success of the program is based on collaborations with local partners including Poudre School District (PSD), Thompson School District, Bicycle and Pedestrian Education Coalition, Healthier Communities Coalition, Safe Kids Larimer County, Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County, Bike Fort Collins, various City departments (Traffic Operations, Police, Engineering, Streets), individual schools and parents. Both the 2008 Bicycle Plan and the 2011 Bicycle Safety Education Plan (BSEP) call for the City and community partners to provide bicycle education for children. BSEP specifically recommends that at least 11,000 K-12 students are engaged in safety education annually and that each school has at least one trained bicycle-safety educator. A major goal of the overall SRTS program is to double the number of children who safely bike and walk to school - from an estimated of 20% to 25% of local schoolchildren currently to 50% in 2015 and beyond. Per the grant scope of work, the Fort Collins SRTS program will work with local K-8 schools during the 2014- 15 school year. Specific objectives of the grant include: • Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Education for K-5 Students - The SRTS program will deliver its comprehensive safety education program to physical education classes at the following PSD schools during the 2014-15 school year: Irish Elementary, Laurel Elementary, Linton Elementary, and Putnam Elementary. ATTACHMENT 1 Agenda Item 9 Item # 9 Page 2 • Safe Routes to School Bike Fleet for Middle-School Students - Expand the existing SRTS bike fleet by purchase of 20 additional bikes to be housed as a satellite SRTS fleet at Lincoln Middle School. After this acquisition, the SRTS fleet will total 73 bikes. This project directly supports City Plan and the City’s Transportation Master Plan: City Plan: Policy SW 2.3 - Support Active Transportation Support means of physically active transportation (e.g., bicycling, walking, wheelchairs, etc.) by continuing bike and pedestrian safety education and encouragement programs, providing law enforcement, and maintaining bike lanes, sidewalks, trails, lighting, and facilities for easy and safe use, as outlined in the Pedestrian Plan and Bicycle Plan. Transportation Master Plan: Policy T 8.1 - Support Active Transportation Support physically active transportation (e.g., bicycling, walking, wheelchairs, etc.) by continuing bike and pedestrian safety education and encouragement programs, providing law enforcement, and maintaining bike lanes, sidewalks, trails, lighting, and facilities for easy and safe use. FINANCIAL / ECONOMIC IMPACTS The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is providing the full $25,822, with no matching funds required. The funds will be allocated as outlined in the CDOT-approved scope of work (see Attachment 1: 2014-15 SRTS Non-infrastructure Grant Application). The City can begin utilizing the funds immediately upon City Council’s approval of this appropriation. Many governmental and nonprofit research organizations are beginning to quantify the economic benefits of active transportation. Economic savings are a clear result when people shift away from motor vehicle use, particularly for short trips, and opt instead to walk or bike. These savings are realized by both individual families as well as the larger community. Choosing to walk or bike translates to personal savings for families through fewer car trips and reduced costs for vehicle maintenance and fuel. For the larger community, reduced automobile emissions combined with a more physically active populace translates to lower health-care costs by reducing the incidence of disease associated with physical inactivity and air pollution. Shifts to active transportation modes also impact the community’s economy through less wear and tear on roadways (reducing road maintenance expenditures) and higher home values in areas with less traffic congestion and less air pollution. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Public-health and environmental agencies are recognizing the connection between active transportation choices and improved health of both people and the environment. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Although motor vehicle emissions have decreased significantly over the past three decades, air pollution from motor vehicles continues to contribute to the degradation of our environment and adverse respiratory and cardiovascular health effects.” The CDC specifically mentions Safe Routes to School as a means of ameliorating the negative impacts of motor vehicle emissions and chronic diseases stemming from physical inactivity among children. BOARD / COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION The Transportation Board and its Bicycle Advisory Committee receive periodic updates from the SRTS program. Both groups have shown strong support for the program’s goals as well as for grant funding to Agenda Item 9 Item # 9 Page 3 support the program. The program is also guided by a PSD Safe Routes to School Steering Committee, which meets three times annually. PUBLIC OUTREACH The 2014-15 SRTS grant application was developed by the City’s FC Moves staff after consultation with key partners, including PSD teachers and staff, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Education Coalition, the Healthier Communities Coalition, and Poudre School District. Public outreach is ongoing throughout the school year. Student, teacher, principal, PTA/PTO, and parent feedback is used to refine programs to be responsive to community needs. ATTACHMENTS 1. 2014-15 SRTS Non-infrastructure Grant Application (PDF) - 1 - ORDINANCE NO. 091, 2014 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS APPROPRIATING UNANTICIPATED GRANT REVENUE INTO THE TRANSPORTATION SERVICES FUND FOR THE SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL PROGRAM WHEREAS, the Safe Routes to School Program established by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is designed to promote the safety of students traveling to and from school and to encourage more students to choose walking or bicycling to and from school; and WHEREAS, the City’s FC Moves Division has received a Safe Routes to School Program grant in the amount of $25,822 from CDOT for State fiscal year 2014 – 2015 (the “Grant”); and WHEREAS, the Grant will be used for bicycle and pedestrian safety education for K-5 students and to expand the Safe Routes to School Bike Fleet for middle-school students; and WHEREAS, the Grant does not require the City to provide local matching funds; and WHEREAS, Article V, Section 9, of the City Charter permits the City Council to make supplemental appropriations by ordinance at any time during the fiscal year, provided that the total amount of such supplemental appropriations, in combination with all previous appropriations for that fiscal year, does not exceed the current estimate of actual and anticipated revenues to be received during the fiscal year; and WHEREAS, City staff has determined that the appropriation of the Grant funds will not cause the total amount appropriated in the Transportation Services Fund - FY 2014-2015 Safe Routes to School program to exceed the current estimate of actual and anticipated revenues to be received during the fiscal year. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS that there is hereby appropriated for expenditure from unanticipated grant revenue in the Transportation Services Fund the sum of TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED TWENTY-TWO DOLLARS ($25,822) for the Safe Routes to School Program. Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 1st day of July, A.D. 2014, and to be presented for final passage on the 15th day of July, A.D. 2014. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk - 2 - Passed and adopted on final reading on the 15th day of July, A.D. 2014. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk