Athens in Motion Commission

Athens in Motion Commission Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2020 – 4:00-6:00 pm Leisure Services Conference Room 315 Pound St, Athens, GA PRESENT: Jake Maas Carol Myers Aaron Redman Mark Ebell Lauren Blais Teresa Friedlander Craig Topple ABSENT: Roswell Lawrence James Barlament TPW Hillary Essig Stephen Bailey GUESTS: Scott Long (Bike Athens) Jake Drukman (Red & Black) Todd Miller (Park Planning) Allen Jones (Timothy Forward) Rebecca McCarthy (Flagpole) 1. Call to Order: 4:05pm 2. AIM Bike & Sidewalk Project Prioritization Review Process Carol introduced a draft flowchart illustrating a potential project prioritization review process and the group discussed (see Attachment A). Mark suggested additional triggers, including road nature change and specific funding opportunities of which AiMC can take advantage. Carol noted that citizen input is not a trigger currently. We want to have citizen input, but the intake and consideration process for such input needs to be fair and equitable. Citizens should be able to bring issues to us; among other things, this will help build support for our work. But before or after we receive such input, it should be vetted by mayor and commission. Teresa suggested that we are in a good position to help facilitate link-ups between citizens and M&C. Lauren noted that we can’t have every complaint related to streets coming through us. Lauren raised the question of how often we are going to go through the project prioritization process. Once a year? How many projects per year? Carol opined that there shouldn’t be that many projects. We can exclude those that clearly do not fit our criteria. Mark asked whether we could develop a process that people have to go through in order to focus potential citizen input. Jake suggested that this might lead to false hopes, and also equity concerns. Craig pointed out that there is an existing process for groups to submit requests: 50% of people, then a study, then a detailed process that involves measuring speeds of cars, etc. Carol will send the draft process out for comments from the whole group. Carol will take feedback and make an executive decision about moving it forward. Lauren will co-chair next few meetings due to Carol’s other engagement. Lauren asked: do we feel good about the triggers? The consensus was yes, though people want to take time to look at the policy outside of the meeting. Allen Jones (guest) suggested that there could be other triggers that could come up that we haven’t thought of yet. He questioned whether triggers are exclusive, and whether “other significant triggers” should be added to the workflow. Carol pointed out that the AiM plan is already partly based on citizen input, but the group agreed that citizen input still needs to be important after the AiM plan has been developed. Stephen suggested that the purpose here was to put a process in place that would enable the AiMC to be proactive. There is still a way to capture other triggers through requests. Carol and Aaron agreed. 3. Policy Committee update (Lauren) Lauren introduced the AiMC Work Plan, which is to be submitted to the M&C. Some notable points: • Updated complete streets policy will be part of workplan • Dockless devices are part of workplan • Pedestrian signals downtown recommendations • Speed management (Corridor Committee) • Traffic calming (Legislative Review Committee) Hillary noted that posting reduced speeds does not change behavior. Aaron asked about police enforcement of crosswalks. Hillary will bring a representative from the Police Department to a future AiMC meeting to educate us on what they already do and what the ordinances allow them to do. We will go from there on working with the PD. Ultimately, we will need to vote on the work plan. Scott reported that the UGA E-bike bikeshare is live now (as of this week). Mark suggested adding bullet points, since there are only 3 items. Carol disagreed, and recommended just sending it to the M&C for feedback. Lauren will PDF the work plan, send to group, then send to M&C for input. Hillary reiterated that Krystle Cobran (ACC Inclusion Officer) will come to next policy committee meeting to talk about equity. 4. Shareable Dockless Device Statement Jake asked: do we want to bring E-scooters here or not? Aaron offered that the policy committee had discussed this at length. E-scooters do provide some advantages, but mainly the companies are interested in selling user data, not actually enabling alternative transportation. So limiting their ability to data-mine would likely dissuade them from coming, regardless. The AiMC spend a few minutes working collaboratively on the dockless mobility device recommendation document. Carol made a motion to approve the resultant document (see Attachment B) pending statistics and circulation of the final copy. Aaron seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. 5. Communications Committee Report Hillary had a poster made for tabling (at the Athens Greenlife Expo on 2/29), and helped Teresa develop an FAQ as a handout, along with a small printout of the Vision Zero chart. Teresa is going to create a doll panorama to represent accident victims. She is also doing something with her sewing machine. Teresa will set up Friday afternoon and will be there the whole day Saturday. Teresa will take pictures of the table. Allen Jones is getting an award: citizen of the year from KACCB! Scott will give Teresa some pocket guides to bike safety. We discussed a Tabling and Speaking Schedule. We only have one table. Hillary is moderating at the NEGA Planning Association. Carol will be representing AiM there. Carol on Communication: Carol has been knocking on doors as commission candidate, and in the process has gotten lots of positive responses about sidewalks and bike lanes. 6. Grants/Data Committee Report Hillary, James, and Mark met to look at data on accidents. Mark is working with David Lee from the UGA Office of Research on a proposal to look at ped/bike/e- scooter injuries with de-identified data from the hospitals. What happened from an epidemiological point of view? With the help of a grad student, Mark is attempting to initiate this research program so that we can do this every year The Grants/Data Committee identified some potential uses for smaller grants ($10-15k): • Wayfinding signage to get to a multiuse path. • Interpretive signage around historically important corridors. • Supporting Safe Routes to School – developing enduring materials that can be used by schools to educate kids about bike safety • Bike racks Lauren has made a folder for this committee on G Drive. 7. HILLARY’s REPORT  • Firefly Winterville is under construction. • Firefly Phase 2 is going out for bid. • Firefly Phase 3 will start survey work soon. • Todd informed the group that there will be a public meeting April 16th for the Greenway section that will go under the Oak/Oconee St. Bridge. • There is a final design ready to go for wayfinding for Firefly and Greenway. • Atlanta Highway and Lexington Rd usergroups are currently picking projects to analyze for costs • Prince avenue is waiting on managers. • Corridor Policy Committee – Traffic Engineering is developing speed management program for arterials and collectors. • Vision Zero – data scrub is 50% complete. • Community Grant Program with Tony Eubanks – summer cycle. • Pavement list: Preventative Maintenance – just patching, not restriping, so it does not have an impact on AiMC objectives. Pavement Maintenance, on the other hand, is an opportunity to restripe roadways. • S Lumpkin – bike lane to remain, and there will be bike lane/intersection improvements and additions between Baxter and Broad. • AiM “Shared Facilities” = Bike Boulevards/Quiet Streets • Vine, Ruth, Waddell improvements • “Bike may use full lane”, and Sharrows – Bike Boulevards are one place where they are useful • The traffic engineers are looking at reducing speeds from 30 to 25 where applicable. • S Jackson from Broad to Baldwin – not in AiM plan, but this section of street will get bike lane symbols at repavement, “bike may use full lane” signs, and sharrows near intersections. Mark asked: is E Campus Rd on AiM? The bike lane disappears. Per Stephen, part of it is UGA. It might be possible to implement “bike may use full lane” signs and sharrows. 8. GROUP ACTIVITY Hillary led a group activity: for each Commissioner to write down definitions of equity for Krystle. She is coming to both the policy committee meeting and full meeting. We all wrote down definitions of equity, and Hillary read them out anonymously (though some people claimed their own to clarify, etc.). There was no time for committee work. Jake made an announcement about the upcoming Ticket to Ride event. 9. Adjournment at 5:55 pm.