Athens in Motion Commission

Athens in Motion Commission Meeting Minutes for August 21, 2019 APPROVED 9/24/19 PRESENT: Mark Ebell 4-year term Jake Maas (Secretary) 5-year term Lauren Blais (Vice-Chair) 4-year term Teresa Friedlander 3-year term James Barlament 5-year term Craig Topple 5-year term Aaron Redman 3-year term Carol Myers (Chair) 3-year term ABSENT: UGA Appointee 4-year term Also Present: Stephen Bailey – Transportation and Public Works Hillary Essig – Transportation and Public Works Kelly Girtz -- Mayor Mayor Girtz gave a welcome and introduction. ACC has gathered data on how close every member of the public is to park spaces and open spaces. Only a quarter of the population of ACC is close (within ½ mile?). What can we do holistically for cyclists and pedestrian infrastructure? The Athens in Motion Commission has access to funds, and there will be tax allocations for Chase, Barber, Newton roads. Public Comment: You can meet the nicest people riding your bike, including the Mayor. The work we are doing is very much appreciated. The efforts we are expending are appreciated. The new bike lanes are really nice. Term Lengths Hillary conducted a lottery for term length; results are included in the roll call above. Officer Elections Hillary read the roles and responsibilities of each Officer position from the by-laws. Lauren nominated Carol to be chaired. Mark seconded. Carol was voted to be Chair. Lauren self-nominated to be Vice Chair. Aaron seconded. Carol nominated Jake to be Secretary. Craig seconded. Election results: CHAIR: Carol Myers VICE CHAIR: Lauren Blais SECRETARY: Jake Maas Time and location of meeting was discussed. 4 Tuesday is 1 option. 4 Wednesday is 2 option. 4 Thursday is 3 option. Location will be the Planning th st th nd th rd Auditorium. Hillary will confirm availability of those times. [Update: the meeting will be held on the 4th Tuesday of each month in the Planning Auditorium at 120 W Dougherty.] The group discussed which other ACC Departments should be invited to the next meeting. Transportation and Public Works (obvi) Planning – they do Connect Athens Sustainability Leisure Services Transit Housing and Community Development We discussed the mission of the Commission. We are tasked with supporting the Athens in Motion Plan as well as the advancement of a safe and connected network of bike and pedestrian facilities throughout the community. Hillary is the liaison – she will reach out to SPLOST/TSPLOST/Leisure Services. We are advisory in nature and responsible for making recommendations to the mayor and commission. At the next session, in order to get a better sense of the trajectory we are on, Carol will give a presentation on the Athens in Motion development. Jake mentioned that he has a lot of material on the Greenway and will share with the group when a file sharing site is determined. Will projects be presented to us in the planning stages? Stephen: yes, planning/TPW will show us concepts. Mayor: the AiM Commission will be a filter body for specific projects that are coming forward. “Oh, well, as long as you are doing X, you could also include Y.” We will also be looking at the plan itself to identify as-yet unidentified elements. Are we also a body that would advise about policies such as Complete Streets? Would that be initiated through us? We can suggest items for the M&C agenda – what the outcomes and outputs of the policy are and any revisions and enhancements; and we make a formal recommendations. Will we have a formal tie to the Planning Commission? Not formally, but we should keep each other apprised of what is happening. This could be facilitated by having a representative from Planning at AiMC monthly meetings. We don’t currently have an ordinance that provides a legal backing to force private developers to include sidewalks, etc. However, as an example of what we could do, per Mayor Girtz, we could advocate for an ordinance to create an “impact” fee, which requires developers to consider impacts beyond the borders of their property. Carol observed that the extant ACC corridor studies mention bike lanes and sidewalks, but do not talk about how they will be implemented. We need to make this group more diverse – we can start by including ACC departments that serve underserved populations in Athens. To further clarify the scope of the AiMC, Hillary read what we are authorized to do from the bylaws.  We can send out our own memos, or joint memos with ACC staff.  Hillary: we are allowed to disagree with staff. Design is iterative. There will be times when our recommendations will not prevail or will be modified by the M&C.  Chair is responsible for media communications.  Do not deliberate about commission work and matters via personal modes of communication. We must keep things professional as everything is subject to Open Records. Don’t make decisions online.  Per Major Girtz, the ‘bright line’ is coming to a decision point. Airing questions is OK, but the public must have opportunity to provide input prior to any decision point. Carol got a copy of the AiM Plan as an Xmas gift. Can we make copies for anyone on the Commission who wants one? At least, we want a blown-up color map of pages 60-61 of the Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan. This will need to be two maps: one needs to be a bike map and one needs to be a ped map. Teresa pointed out that we have to move people from all points in the county, so we need a whole map. Carol assigned homework: read through the AiM plan and provide questions about the plan or its development, priorities, etc. Lauren asked about Education and Outreach? What resources do we have for media? We have access to ACC resources but need to coordinate with ACC PR. Jake noted that there are connections we can create with CCSD, and invited everyone to the Green School Kick-off at the Botanical Gardens from 4-6 on Thursday, August 29 . th Carol commented on the public anger at bike lanes on Barnett Shoals. Teresa agreed that we work to get out in front of this kind of response by spreading goodwill beforehand. What particular issues do we want to address through out outreach and advocacy efforts? Jake mentioned the need to create a shared folder (Google Drive, or Dropbox?). Stephen mentioned that public comment for Loop 10/Lexington Road will be possible online from 8/26 – 9/9. at MACORTS.ORG. Next meeting is TBD; Hillary will email the next date. [Update: next meeting will be September 24 from th 4-6 in the Planning Auditorium.] Public Comments: Elliott Caldwell, Georgia Bikes: This is the first standing bike/ped committee in the state. Cities have done convenings and ad hoc committees but no permanent committees. Mark Murphy: Those of us who pedal are excited about the future.