WORTHINGTON BIKE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY BOARD Minutes of the Monday, January 22, 2018 Planning Meeting Members Present: The members present were Mike Bates, Lawrence Creed, Ann Horton, Jeannie Martin and Gary Schmidt. City Support Staff Darren Hurley (Parks & Recreation Director), Lee Brown (Planning & Building Director) and Celia Thornton were also present along with Council Member Rachael Dorothy. Michael Reese (Director of Public Advocacy & Business Development with IceMiller) and Maggie Gendron (Strategic Development) with LimeBike also attended as presenters. Ms. Gendron participated via teleconference. Minutes from the November 27, 2017 meeting were approved. LimeBike Presentation (Michael Reese & Maggie Gendron): Mr. Reese introduced himself and shared some of his background. He worked for Mayor Coleman and the City of Columbus for 19 years and certainly understands municipal concerns regarding bike share programs. He is currently helping LimeBike to connect with other central Ohio cities. Thus far they ve had meetings with Westerville, Grandview, Whitehall and Dublin and have a verbal agreement with Columbus for a trial (are currently working to select an appropriate location). Mr. Reese and Ms. Gendron (by phone) then gave a presentation highlighting the advantages of their particular bike share program (presentation slides are included in this packet). At the conclusion of the presentation Ms. Dorothy asked Ms. Gendron to speak to the data collected and what can be shared with participating cities. Ms. Gendron said that data is collected in aggregate form and LimeBike shares collected data in a dash board format with cities. Information includes beginning, middle and end ride points, maintenance, customer feedback, etc. and this data can help cities make infrastructure decisions. The board then had some discussion around visual clutter and parking concerns, what would be included in the legal contract, and bike racks. Eventually they asked city staff to compile a list of all questions already asked (with answers) and stated that they wanted to add to that list of questions and have us formally present them to LimeBike to answer. The board would then put it on the agenda to look at those answers and discuss this topic and make a recommendation at the February meeting. Proprietor s Road Bike & Pedestrian Accommodations (Lee Brown): Mr. Brown gave an overview of the renovations being made at the old Worthington Food site at the corner of East Granville Road Park and Proprietors Road. He doesn t have a specific set of recommendations for this corridor but knows it is an area of interest for bike and pedestrian improvements so wanted to bring this project to the board and get 1
their vision or input on what type of accommodations they might recommend or envision for the road s future. A Memory Care Alzheimer building with three pods and 54 units is in the planning process. The City is asking for at least a five foot sidewalk. The unique issue with this site is an oak tree that is over 200 years old, also known as the Bicentennial Oak. In the opinion of the City Arborist, the dripline of the tree goes into the roadway, so the root system, and therefore the health of the tree, will be affected by any construction around it. The building site shouldn t affect the tree, but putting in a sidewalk or shared use path would. Ms. Dorothy and Ms. Martin wanted to know why sidewalks hadn t already been installed in this area when office complexes were added in the past. Mr. Brown was not able to answer this question as those projects occurred before he was hired. Ms. Martin then asked if anything was being done to the sidewalk along S.R. 161. Mr. Brown said it wasn t being addressed at this time, the slope is problematic, and he s not sure this redevelopment is the right venue for fixing that sidewalk, but he can ask. There was then some discussion about how to bypass the tree or safely build some sort of path around it and regarding conflicts with trying to route travelers on sidewalks close to the entrance of the facility. The discussion then turned to how much frontage should be requested for sidewalks or trails. The board moved to request that the S.R. 161 frontage sidewalk be improved to five feet, the Proprietors Road right of way (ROW) be sufficient for an eight foot path and that the property owner construct an eight foot multiuse trail north from S.R. 161 to as far as possible to the tree, and after the tree, with alternative options being given for the area surrounding the tree. The board is also requesting staff to explore a speed reduction throughout the Proprietors Road corridor due to the changing character of usage along the corridor. Selection of Chairs: Since four board members were missing the selection of chairs was tabled until the February meeting. 2018 Prioritization Review and Finalization: This discussion was also tabled until the February meeting. Updates: 1. Ms. Thornton shared that she, Mrs. Horton, and Mrs. Lindholm were meeting with Kate Moening, Field Services Manager for Safe Routes to School, on Thursday, January 24, 2018 at 12:30pm to discuss strategies for meeting with Worthington School PTA s and communicating SRTS information. Unfortunately Ms. Moening s position has been eliminated and she has taken another job in Cleveland, so this will be her last week as a contact for Safe Routes to School. All other updates were tabled until the next meeting. Being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. 2