MINUTES March 17, 2015 Meeting

Transcription

1 MINUTES March 17, 2015 Meeting A. Call to Order Erik Landfried called the meeting to order at 7:04 pm. Members present: Randy Best, Kendra Bridges, Gene Carleton, Cliff Conklin, DeAnna Hall, Erik Landfried, Jennifer McDuffie, Ivona Piper, Damon Thomas, Excused absences: Jeff Bakalchuck, Elise Bielen, Emily Egge, Andrew Jacobson, Dwayne Taylor, Absent: Cynthia Fisher-Richardson, Malcolm White Staff present: Dale McKeel City Council Liaison present: Don Moffitt County Commission Liaison present: Ellen Reckhow Presenters: Jessica Brock, Neill Sherron Community members: Mike Fink, Dick Hails, Christin Lampkowsk, John Kent, B. Approval of Minutes from January meeting (February meeting cancelled due to weather) Randy moved, Cliff 2nded to approve the minutes. The motion passed unanimously. C. Adjustments to the agenda - none D. Announcements Erik announced that Mayor Bell has accepted the Mayors Challenge for Safer People, Safer Streets put forth by US DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx. Erik also announced that there is a public meeting on March 18 to discuss the proposed neckdowns on Duke and Gregson streets. Dale McKeel announced there is also a public meeting on March 18 to discuss a proposed sidewalk on S. Alston Avenue between Campus Hills Park and Riddle Road. E. Public Comment None F. Presentations 1) Durham Innovation District Jessica Brock, Neill Sherron Jessica Brock and Neill Sherron of Longfellow Real Estate Partners provided an overview of the Durham Innovation District (DID). The DID was described as a partnership between Duke University, Longfellow Partners, and Measurement Inc. The DOD is anticipated to include 1 million square feet of development, including residential and retail space.. One objective of the project is to remake Morris Street into a major street with enhanced bicycle and pedestrian access. In response to questions from BPAC members, Ms. Brock stated that they are very interested in the helping to move forward the development of the Duke Beltline and are willing to provide professional and financial assistance. Ms. Brock also stated that she did not know why a sidewalk was not provided along Duke Street in front of 1

2 the Carmichael Building that was redeveloped by Longfellow. There was also discussion of making Morris Street two way between the Loop and Five Points, and about how much parking would be provided with the Innovation District. 2) Sidewalks in the County Dale McKeel BPAC reviewed a presentation entitled Sidewalks in the County, and discussed the issue of who maintains sidewalks that are not within the City of Durham. After much discussion, on a motion by Kendra Bridges and a second by Jennifer McDuffie, the Commission voted unanimously to make the following recommendation: The Durham BPAC is concerned with providing safe pedestrian access to schools, other public buildings, and public transit routes. Therefore, BPAC recommends that Durham County accept maintenance responsibility for the proposed sidewalk connection between Randolph Road and Forest View Elementary School. BPAC further recommends that Durham County establish criteria for evaluating similar projects that may arise in the future. G. Committee Reports 1) Development Review Committee Report Jeff Bakalchuck Regular meetings are held at 6:30 pm on the 1st Thursday of the month at Alivia s Bistro. No report. The March meeting was cancelled due to weather. 2) Bike and Pedestrian Plan Implementation and Evaluation Committee Report Randall Best Regular meetings are 2 nd Thursday, 6:30 pm, at Nanataco / Q-Shack. BPAC Bike and Pedestrian Plan Implementation and Evaluation Committee minutes, 3/12/2015, 6:30 pm, Q-Shack/Nana Taco Attendance: Randy Best, Carole Stern, Greg Garneau We discussed the problems that recently came up in the County Commissioners' Meeting concerning sidewalk construction and/or maintenance in areas under County jurisdiction (as opposed to within the City of Durham). The County Commissioners' discussion of this issue can be heard here: BACKGROUND One of the locations that brought up the issue of Durham County maintenance of sidewalks was a proposed short section of sidewalk and street crossing across from Forest View Elementary School on Erwin Road in Durham County. This project would greatly improve safe pedestrian access to Forest View School. NC DOT proposed building this pedestrian connection if the County would agree to maintain it. 2

3 The County Commissioners were unable to commit to this project at this time. Traditionally, the County does not construct or maintain sidewalks. Sidewalks within the City of Durham are maintained by the City. The City also funds sidewalk construction and maintenance through bond referendums and annual budget appropriations. At this time, Durham County does not regularly appropriate funds for sidewalk construction and maintenance. However, following planning guidelines, construction projects in Durham County (outside of the Durham City limits) are required to construct sidewalks. When these projects are Schools, Libraries, or other public buildings, Durham County ends up being responsible for sidewalk maintenance. At the present time Durham County lacks a sidewalk or pedestrian development plan and has no established criteria for evaluating and ranking sidewalk projects such as the proposed connection at Forest View School. SEGMENTATION PROBLEM There is also a scale/segmentation problem when sidewalk projects are considered. This holds for City sidewalk projects and road amenities as well. New sidewalk construction decisions are based on rankings assigned to large, mostly contiguous segments based on established criteria. This technical process works, by and large, but it fails to consider the possible benefits of constructing smaller sections of sidewalk segments that may provide badly needed safe pedestrian access to schools, public buildings, public transit, or neighborhoods. In many cases it may make sense to construct a portion of a sidewalk segment to enhance safe pedestrian access to a particular destination while deferring construction of the remainder of the segment. Right now,there is not systematic way of identifying and moving forward with these high benefit, smaller scale projects. RECOMMENDATIONS Durham County: Continued development in Durham County (outside of the boundaries of the City of Durham) has produced disconnected sidewalk segments without a plan for developing and improving this sidewalk network. Durham County should recognize that it is, at least to a limited extent, "in the sidewalk business". Durham County should develop a funding mechanism for improving its sidewalk network and developing a Pedestrian Amenities Improvement Plan. Durham County should develop an "in lieu of" policy for sidewalk construction to allow for locating sidewalk construction where it will have the most positive impact. Durham County should establish criteria for prioritizing sidewalk projects focusing on pedestrian amenities associated with schools, other public buildings, or public transit routes. This process should allow for consideration of smaller scale high benefit projects. Establishing project evaluation criteria and a Pedestrian Amenities Plan will be greatly beneficial as sitespecific plans for light rail stops or other transit improvements move forward in the near future. 3

4 City of Durham: The City of Durham should develop a mechanism to consider smaller scale high benefit projects in its sidewalk prioritization process. It may make sense to dedicate a portion of the annual allocation for sidewalk improvements to these smaller scale projects. Mechanisms to consider the potential benefits of smaller sections of road or bike lane projects are also needed. The points brought up in these minutes should be discussed by BPAC and recommendations sent to County and City. 3) Community Engagement Committee Regular meetings are held at 6:30 pm on the 2 nd Tuesday of the month at Bull City Burger and Brewery. Notes from meeting on March 10, Attendance: Kendra Bridges, Chair; Cliff Conklin; Gene Carlton Meeting Notes 1. Coffee with Council. No Coffees with Council have been attended by BPAC members since the February meeting of this committee. The next meeting will be Thursday, March 12 in PAC 5, which should have high attendance due to outreach to bike/ped listserve. 2. Bike Month Tabling Opportunities. Gene Carlton described the event Performance Bike/Durham parks and Rec is planning for Saturday, May 2 from 9AM to noon at Solite Park. Performance Bike is rehabbing and reopening the Pump Track (mountain bicycling practice track) at Solite Park, and will have demos of the track as well as rides with Duke (and possibly UNC) cycling team, Trail Watch to ATT Bridge and Ballpark, and potentially food trucks on site. BPAC will add this event to the list of tabling opportunities to be distributed and volunteers solicited at 3/17 BPAC meeting. 3. Mayors Challenge for Safer People, Safer Streets. At the event featuring DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx, Mayor Bell announced that he has accepted the Mayors Challenge for Safer People, Safer Streets. This provides an opportunity to promote the BPAC goal of Complete Streets for Durham, as that is a major focus of the Challenge. More information on the Challenge may be found here: BPAC should send a letter to Mayor Bell thanking him for accepting the challenge and offering to work with him on this. Kendra will talk to Dale and Erik about this. 4. DPD Engagement Re: Enforcement. Kendra has done some research on metrics used by other cities and hasn t come up with good information yet. She will continue until close to the April meeting to be requested with DPD. Cliff said he is interested in meeting with DPD to learn more about their approach, process, and goals with enforcement. This could be a meeting, but would also be useful as a ride-along or other observation/discussion. This should be discussed at the April meeting to be requested/scheduled with DPD. 5. Bike Share. No update; waiting for budget process to move along. Kendra will connect with Jen McDuffie about matching funds discussion from last month. 6. Other Ideas/Opportunities. Google Calendar for BPAC to post community events. Promoting the mile logging system that has been used in the past Cliff will look for information. 4

5 4) Education and Encouragement committee meeting Regular meetings will be held at 6:30 pm on the 1 st Tuesday of the month, at Geer Street Garden. No meeting in March. Jen McDuffie provided the following updates on committee activities. 1. Questions have been completed and provided to driving schools. 2. The committee requests $950 from BPAC s funds to purchase lights and reflective tape for distribution to cyclists that are riding at night and not visible. After discussion, the request was reduced to $500 and approved unanimously. H. Updates from Liaisons 1) DOST - Jeff Bakalchuck No report 2) NCCU Damon Thomas No report. 3) Duke University - Randy Best Randy reported on three activities: a) Unpark Yourself Challenge -- If you want to tell the committee about the Unpark Yourself Challenge campaign, we have 1,400 registered participants as of this 9AM. There s a nice Duke Today story at b) Bike Month -- Duke is currently planning a Pit Stop for Bike to Work Week on the morning of May 15 at the Bryan Center. This event will be similar to our prior year bicyclist appreciation breakfasts and will be coordinated with all the other local/regional pit stops that others hold across Durham and the Triangle. We will also hold a Basic Bike Commuter Course on Sat, May 16. c) Duke Employee Commuter Survey currently open to all Duke University & Health System employees. Will wrap up on March 20 and provide 2015 mode share data within the next few months. In 2014, 5% of Duke employees reporting biking to work. 4) Planning Commission Elise Bielin No report 5) Recreation Advisory Commission Gene Carleton 5

6 Gene reported that the City has approved leasing a building at Duke Park to the Durham Bike Co-op. Gene also provided details on the event being planned by Durham Parks and Recreation and Performance Bicycle at Solite Park on May 2. I. Old Business 1) Club Boulevard Neckdown Project Erik reported that a meeting will be held in early March with city staff and representatives from BPAC, Bike Durham, and the Watts Hospital-Hillandale Neighborhood Association. 2) Compete Streets Erik will schedule a presentation at next month s BPAC meeting from the Coalition for Complete Streets. He is hopeful that BPAC will sign a support letter. The County Board of Health has signed on. J. New Business 1) 2014 Annual Report Erik reported that the report will be approved at the April BPAC meeting and presentations will be scheduled to present the report to the City Council and Board of County Commissioners. 2) 2015 Bike Month The list of events is being developed. Kendra will contact the City about sweeping bike lanes in advance of bike month. K. Staff Reports / Questions / Announcements NA L. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:12 PM. Respectfully submitted, Dale McKeel 6