GRIFFIN-SPALDING AREA TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE AFTER AGENDA March 16, 2016 1:30 p.m. Meeting Room (#108), Spalding County Annex, 119 East Solomon Street, Griffin Members present: Brant Keller, Bonnie Pfrogner, Jack Reed, Dick Morrow, Chairman Donald Hawbaker, William P. Wilson, Jr., Vice Chairman, Doug Hollberg, Chad Jacobs, B. Frank Harris, Kenny Smith, Neil Bonds, Bruce Ballard, B.J. Martin and Kathy Gibson, Executive Secretary, was present to record the minutes. Also Present: Eric Mosley, Assistant County Manager, Steve Coté, RS&H, Lanier Boatwright, Three Rivers Regional Council, and Tim Crane, Spalding County Public Works Interim Director. I. Opening (Call to Order) led by Chairman Donald Hawbaker. II. Minutes Approval of the January 20, 2016 G-SATC Regular Meeting Minutes Approval of the February 24, 2016 G-SATC Special Called Meeting Minutes Motion/Second by Morrow/Pfrogner to approve the minutes of the January 20, 2016 Regular Meeting as presented. Motion carried unanimously by all. Motion/Second by Morrow/Keller to approve the minutes of the February 24, 2016 GSATC Special Called Meeting Minutes as presented. Motion carried unanimously by all. III. Old Business A. Griffin-Spalding Airport Status Update Dick Morrow/Robert Mohl Dick Morrow stated that the project is moving forward, the land acquisition is underway all of the title work and all of the legal paperwork for all of the parcels involved in Phase I has been completed. At this time, 24 of the property owners have met with the appraisers and meetings have been scheduled this week with the remaining property owners. The environmental work will begin once everyone has met with the appraisers as we want to contract with environmental to go out and do all of the environmental appraisals at one time. He stated that they have made a significant move toward the acquisition of the first 41 parcels.
Mr. Morrow also advised that so far they have not ran into a single homeowner who is upset or against being acquired. So far the process has been a friendly acquisition phase. The next step will be to address the towers in the area, they are awaiting a decision from the FAA on the towers and which ones will need to be moved or shortened and they hope to have that information within the next week. IV. New Business A. GDOT Project Status Report Jack Reed Jack Reed with the Georgia Department of Transportation reported: Project Count #7: McIntosh Road at Flint River on the Fayette/Spalding County Line. This bridge replacement let February 19, 2016. He advised that they are still looking at the boat ramps and access requested for this bridge and Project Count #18, there has been no determination on the requests yet. Project Count #16: This is the LCI Project North Hill Street, Solomon Street and Fifth Street in Downtown Griffin. They held the Preliminary Field Plan Review on March 3, 2016, this is planned for the end of FY17 construction. Project Count #17: SR 155 at County Road 1020/North Hill Street the signal and some intersection improvements. They are getting ready to hold the concept meeting on March 31. Project Count #21: SR 155 from SR 3 to Poplar Street, he reported at the last GSATC meeting that it was scheduled for the January letting; however, it was deleted from the January 16 letting and is tentatively scheduled for the March 18, 2016 letting. Mr. Reed inquired about Projects 237 and 238. Dr. Brant Keller, City of Griffin, advised that 238 is complete and 237 is 40% complete. The mast and arms are being delivered from the factory sometime in the middle of May and both projects should be completed by July 1. Mr. Reid then gave an update on constructions projects that are not on the list: SR 16 over SR 3 is still holding the completion date of August 31, 2016. Vice Chairman Doug Hollberg asked about lighting on SR 16 beginning at Pine Hill Road and entering the City the road is extremely dark and most of the roadways and highways coming into town are lighted. Mr. Reid advised that there were no lights in the GDOT plan for that area. Dr. Keller stated that there were lights up to the high school and he would have to check the plans to see if there are lights planned for that area.
Kenny Smith, City Manager, stated that they would look at a normal street light plan for that area. Mr. Hollberg asked if it was possible to utilize money from the West Griffin TAD to light that area. Mr. Smith advised that they would look into it. B. Member Introduced Topics Doug Hollberg advised that there is a petition on Spalding County Discussion Page regarding the railroad crossings on SR 16 being the worst crossings on the east side. Mr. Hollberg also advised that he had been told by severl citizens thatmoreland Road Elementary school has sever parking and traffic problems. They are wanting the Sheriff s department to take a more proactive stance in the area. Bruce Ballard, Griffin-Spalding County School Board, stated that they will look into the problem. He advised that the school currently has approximately 100 less students than normal and that he hasn t noted a problem, but that he will check into it. Kenny Smith added the cross over on SR 92 between O Charlies and the shopping center on the opposite side of the highway needs to be looke at. There was a bad accident several weeks ago and people are actually coming to his office wanting it fixed. He had requested accident statistics for the area from the City of Griffin Police Department, but had not received them at the time of the meeting. This is the crossover from the south side on SR 92 to the north side of SR92 between O Charlies and the entrance to the shopping center directly across the highway. He suggested a continuation of the median that would prohibit the straight across access at this location. Brent Keller still getting complaints on the concrete median at Ryan s, there were reflectors on the median, but they have gotten knocked off. Dr. Keller advised that they will be starting the first week of April on Eighth Street from South Hill Street all the way to Broadway milling and resurfacing that entire road. Jack Reed advised with HB 170 there should include up to 30% more in the LMIG for the upcoming year. He also advised that he would check on the lighting for SR 16 and see if there have been any changes since he last inquired.
Bonnie Pfrogner, Griffin-Spalding Chamber of Commerce, stated that see agrees with Mr. Hollberg, that section of SR 16 is really dark coming into the City at night. B Frank Harris wanted to give kudos to the County Manager he had received an email from Bonnie Pfrogner regarding Peach Pass Program that they are trying to promote to Henry and Clayton Counties and their wanting to present to the group. The Peach Pass is going to be active on all those new lanes being built in Henry County. B.J. Martin advised that consultant from Sycamore Consulting will be at the next GSATC meeting to discuss the Peach Pass Program. V. Public Comment None. VI. Report of Transportation Program Manager A. ARC Update Mr. Martin stated that nothing much to report at the ARC, FY2016 some of the projects are being moved out to FY2017 there will be a minor amendment for projects that are ready or may need some additional funding. Mr. Martin advised that he has spoken with the ARC about the 237 and 238 projects because there was additional costs on that budget. B. Griffin-Spalding CTP Update Mr. Martin stated that the Consultants with RS&H are here to provide an update on the CTP and to let everyone know about the final public meeting which has been scheduled for April 5th. Steve Coté with RS&H stated that he was here to speak on Bike and Pedestrian Projects. He advised they would start off with the Pedestrian Projects then move into the Bike/Greenway projects and then talk about next steps for the CTP overall program. Mr. Coté started off with the pedestrian projects which are classified as sidewalk projects. The group took into consideration existing sidewalks, previously recommended and programmed projects both county wide and city wide, they looked at crash data involving pedestrian and bike with car, school and park locations to see if there are any locations that are not currently being served. This data was combined with input from staff, elected officials and the general public. Mr. Coté stated that he had also met with the environmental council and talked with them about the trails side of the plan.
They have set up a criteria to prioritize these projects: Safety being a key factor, school connections, gaps in current sidewalk structure, major routes and concentrated land uses. Mr. Coté then referenced maps that were handed out prior to the meeting reflecting the Top Priority Sidewalk Projects and divided into Group 1 and Group 2. Currently there are approximately 65 miles of sidewalks in Spalding County and the City of Griffin the top priority would be to add an additional 13.4 miles to the existing sidewalk system. Total needs would add an additional 32.1 miles of sidewalk to the existing system. The Group 1 map reflects the 13.4 miles of additional sidewalk and the Group 2 map incorporates the 32.1 miles of additional sidewalk. Kenny Smith asked if the 13.4 miles could be broken down further to show the sidewalks in the City and the sidewalks in the County. Mr. Coté advised that they could take a look at it. Mr. Coté then addressed the Bikeway & Trails/Greenways Potential Opportunities. He stated that just like with the sidewalks they had looked in depth at past studies, previously recommended and programmed projects, school and park locations, public easements (power lines/sewer lines) and had received input from staff, the Griffin Environmental Council and public meetings. Mr. Coté stated that bikeways are constructed within the roadway right-of-way with moderate conflict points with motor vehicles. Examples of bikeways include shared lanes, buffered lanes (bike and cycle lanes) and side paths which are basically wider sidewalks to accommodate bike traffic. Mr. Coté advised that greenways are outside of the right-of-way, they are traditionally a linear park or strip of undeveloped land that can utilize existing easements, passive recreation and trails. Greenways provide environmental protection as they are an available form of non-motorized transportation, they can either be paved or unpaved and there are minimal conflict points with motor vehicles. He then advised that they wanted to see how they could expand the plan and grow it and for the most part they utilized easements so that you don t have to purchase land, you do have to get the approval of the land owner, but it doesn t cost as much as purchasing the land. Mr. Coté referred to the map that presented a set of greenway trials and
bikeways. Starting with the current LCI plan which includes 1.1 miles of bikeways and SPLOST trails planned at the Fairmont School of 1.2 miles. Pave existing trails at the Lakes at Green Valley (estimate 2.0 miles) and connect that into the downtown Griffin LCI project. The benefits of trails and greenways include health, they give people who don t have cars a viable transportation option, historic preservation, environmental conservation and economic benefits. Historically there is a high return on investment (ROI) for example the Silver Comet train has a 4-1 (ROI), the Atlanta Beltline has a 6-1 ROI and Carrollton is approximately 16 miles into building a greenway and although they haven t done an in-depth study they are seeing increased home values of 4-7% near the trail. Mr. Coté then advised the next steps for the CTP. The Final Public Meeting is scheduled for April 5 th, 2016 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in Room 108, of the Spalding County Courthouse Annex Building. After that meeting we will finalize our plan and report documents and do final presentations to the City and the County Commissions for adoption. Mr. Keller would like to see the County and City work on a joint project on Carver Road to put a sidewalk from SR 362 all the way up to the high school. VII. Report of Committee Members - None VIII. Announcements The next regular meeting will be held on May 18, 2016. IX. Adjournment Motion/Second by Keller/Morrow to adjourn the meeting at 2:26 p.m. Motion carried unanimously by all.