CITY OF PENSACOLA BICYCLE FRIENDLY COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA

Transcription

1 CITY OF PENSACOLA BICYCLE FRIENDLY COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA City Hall Vince Whibbs Conference Room 222 West Main Street, 1 st Floor Pensacola, FL August 11, :30 a.m. 1. Call to order 2. Approval of Minutes of July 14, 2017 meeting 3. Update on a. Complete Streets policy b. NACTO c. Bicycle master plan 4. Review of Scenic Heights Neighborhood Safety Proposal 5. Hayne Street curb cuts along the multi-use path at Hollice T. Williams Park 6. Ciclovia update 7. Open forum 8. Adjournment

2 MINUTES CITY OF PENSACOLA BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (BAC) MEETING 222 West Main Street (City Hall), First Floor Vince Whibbs Conference Room Pensacola, FL July 14, :30 am PRESENT: Rand Hicks (Acting Chairperson), John Ellis, Tim Fox, Marie Mott CITY STAFF: Heidi Thorsen (Director s Assistant) CITIZENS: Brittany Ellers, John Fitzgerald, Sam Mathews, Jack Stevenson, and Christian Wagley 1. Called to Order The meeting was called to order by acting chairperson Rand Hicks. David Mayo is the chairperson, but is out due to medical reasons. Hopefully he will be back in time for the next meeting. All of the committee members and staff gave a brief introduction of themselves. 2. Approval of Minutes from June 2, 2017 meeting. Committee person Mott made a motion to approve the minutes of the June 2 meeting, committee person Ellis seconded the motion. The motion was approved. 3. Updates a. Complete Streets Policy West Florida Regional Planning Council is creating a Complete Streets initiative on all Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) streets. Chairperson Hicks mentioned that he is in contact with Adam Cayton who is willing to contribute to writing the legislation. The committee would like to see more City Council involvement in this committee, especially in regards to discussing the Complete Streets initiative. Discussion followed. The main issue against getting them involved is realizing that their time is valuable, and having them sit through another meeting is not a wise use of their time. It was mentioned that Council voted on something pertaining to the Complete Streets initiative on July 13, but no one present was sure of the details. Research after this BAC meeting revealed that the Council approved creating a Complete Streets committee. The Council will each elect one member to serve on the committee. They will probably be given 6 months after their first meeting to make their presentation to Council. After a short discussion, the Council unanimously passed creating the committee.

3 b. NACTO Committee member Ellis has reviewed NACTO (National Association of City Traffic Officials), but is not ready to make a presentation on it. Basically, it creates a safer community for cyclists and brings awareness that roads are designed also for non-motorized traffic. Is there any person on City staff who knows NACTO Standards? Do we need to train a City staff member on the standards? It needs to be someone in authority, the standards are engineering based. The comment was made that dozens of other communities are using them, it is written by engineers, and it s proven to work. There are other standards out there. Sam Matthews of the Scenic Heights Neighborhood Association mentioned that they met with several City departments (Public Works, Police, and the Mayor s office) and have developed a 10-year plan which includes creating a plan for safely moving adults and children in the area, especially around Scenic Heights Elementary and on Langley Ave. Committee member Mott asked where we could find proof that the NACTO standards work. It is in the pdf that was sent to the committee members. c. Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator Brittany Ellers of the West Florida Regional Planning Council mentioned that they had a Bike/Ped coordinator, but she had to move. They hope to have this position filled in the next month. d. Bicycle master plan The Bicycle Master Plan that the Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) is creating will encompass all areas included in the TPO Escambia, Santa Rosa, and parts of Baldwin Counties. The ultimate goal is connectivity of the bicycle/pedestrian areas. The plan is expected to be completed in the spring of FDOT is completing their Complete Streets initiative. 4. Bike Share Programs Christian Wagley mentioned that about a month ago the DIB hosted a Bike Share meeting led by Lindsey West of Bantam Strategy Group. She s trying to get bike sharing in Pensacola. She proposed bringing 150 bicycles to Pensacola and 50 to Pensacola Beach. She s hoping to get the funding from mainly private sources, but some would be needed from local governments. His criticisms of the project were shouldn t there be a feasibility study done prior to spending the money. Also, since public funding will be used, shouldn t there be an RFP (Request for Proposal) to be sure we are getting the best for the money. He thought the sales pitch was pushy. Committee members agree we need a bike share program, but believe it needs to be researched. A couple ideas concerning improving infrastructure (more places to lock up bikes, better signage, etc.) will help when we get a Bike Share program. 5. Ciclovia Update The Ciclovia team is being assembled. The MOT will be the same as last time, covering the same locations. The next Ciclovia will be March 24, There was a nice YouTube video made from the

4 perspective of businesses, encouraging them to get involved. Hopefully another video will be produced targeting the citizens, focusing on the health aspect, social contact, and community building of Ciclovia. This year they will have a mobile app giving the location of participating vendors. Ciclovia will also be promoted to pedestrians. 6. Pensacola Biking Summit The purpose of the summit would be to unify bicyclists. Discussion followed. How to get the message of the BAC out to the public without violating sunshine law? BAC meetings can happen anywhere as long as they are noticed 10 days out. Individual Committee members can discuss bicycle items as long as other committee members are not present. The members can encourage the general public to come to the BAC meetings and we can discuss different aspects of cycling as a unified group. 7. Open Forum Mr. Matthews mentioned in order to get the general public involved in bicycling, consider going to the Neighborhood Associations. There are a mass of individuals who ride for exercise and enjoyment, not necessarily only bike club members. These individuals can influence their City Council members. The next meeting of CNAPP (Council of Neighborhood Association Presidents of Pensacola) will be September 5. According to Sam Matthews all Neighborhood Associations are willing to promote safer streets for pedestrians and bicyclists. Mr. Wagley is thankful for two new bike racks at City Hall, both are protected from rain and sun. He also mentioned that within Hollice T. Williams Park there is a multi-use path, the problem is there are no curb cuts. There were no curb cuts deliberately so that bicyclists would not run out into the street. He would like to see curb cuts. The cost is $800 per curb cut, and he d like to put in 11. He would like to get a grant from the Connecting Nature and Commerce to do the cuts. The trail is actually on the East side of I-110 from Maxwell to south of the Police station. This will be put on next month s agenda. The next BAC meeting will be on Friday, August 11 at 8:30 am. 8. Adjournment

5 Thank you for coming to this meeting today. We in Scenic Heights have a vision for our community that, we believe, is in sync with what the City of Pensacola is already envisioning for the future. Our major goal today is setting a meeting with decision makers who will be able to take actionable steps in creating a Master Plan for our neighborhood and seeing those plans into fruition.

6 As the north-easterm gateway into Pensacola, Scenic Heights is uniquely positioned to set the tone for folks entering the city from the Uptown region of Pensacola. Langley is a major collector, syphoning not only the residents of the neighborhood, but also folks traveling through to the airport and surrounding areas. As Mayor Hayward and Chief Lyter have expressed, speeding is no longer going to be tolerated as the norm in Pensacola, and we want to send a message that we re community focused and care about our residents. As you know, this meeting was called to address the traffic issues that have cropped up, specifically speeding along this corridor. However, this interest in Langley s safety issues brings the entire neighborhood s safety into question. Scenic Heights is a neighborhood growing in popularity, with property values on the rise. We attract young families with all our parks and elementary school all within walking distance, but traveling between the these destinations can be downright death defying.

7 As our city grows, residents are looking for places to live, and we want them to choose to live within our city. Acting on the proposed vision creates and builds on these opportunities which can and do attract people to Uptown Pensacola. We want to agree on an Action Plan to achieve sidewalks throughout our neighborhood, traffic mitigation and pedestrian safety on Langley, and to have it completed over the next 10 years.

8 As residents, our primary concern is the safety of our neighbors & children. There are a lot of people who walk, cycle, and otherwise commute through our area every day. We want to encourage economic growth through increased walkability, and to create a safe environment that will take us into the future as a progressive and visionary city.

9 Being progressive and visionary, we must prepare for these challenges and more. Scenic Hwy was washed away only a couple years ago, and we want to be sure that we cover all our bases going forward. We want to be hurricane ready, but also prepared for increased traffic, droughts, and of course think of future generations all along the way.

10 Scenic Heights Neighborhood, and especially Langley Ave as it splits our neighborhood in half, have suffered a great deal of accidents over the past 3 years. While the exact number of incidents required to bring about intervention hasn t been reached, the problem is not going to improve through only the presence of police along the roads. They simply cannot be there all the time, nor do we expect them to be.

11 Of course, we have to have money to make this happen, and we re interested in doing some leg work to make this happen. We ve been brainstorming lots of sources for funding to accomplish these goals

12 These are some of the ideas we d like to incorporate into the creation of our Master Plan. How can we access city funds that are to be spent on neighborhood improvements & traffic safety?

13 We propose our Master Plan being implemented over the course of the coming years. Some of the homes in Scenic Heights were built in the 50 s, yet very few roads north of Langley have any sidewalks to allow residents to access our beautiful parks. That s 70 years that residents walking with toddlers & strollers have been forced to share roads with cars, and the traffic has only become more of a hazard as time s passed. Adding sidewalks will allow residents to get out of their homes & into the community.

14 All in all, we aren t asking for unreasonable changes and hope to have the proposed updates installed & their effectiveness to be assessed within 10 years.

15 Scenic Heights is the first thing that people see as they get off the interstate on the way to the airport. Uptown Pensacola, from the newly updated O'Reilly s Irish Pub to Shampoochies & The Butcher Shoppe, plus the growth planned by the Airport at 12th Ave, the Uptown region is poised to help Pensacola evolve, grow, and thrive. So, considering the traffic issues that brought us here and the concerns we hear from our 1200 followers on facebook, we ask: What is the next step in moving forward?