Athens in Motion Commission

Athens in Motion Commission Tuesday, May 25, 2021 – 4:00-6:00 pm Online via ACC WebEx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j63TlYhhAVg PRESENT Aaron Redman Mark Ebell Teresa Friedlander Lauren Blais Ruby Topple Randy Halstead Jake Maas Daniel Sizemore (Bike/Ped Coordinator) Rani Katreeb (TPW) Stephen Bailey (TPW) Todd Miller (LS) ABSENT Roswell Lawrence James Barlament 1. Call to Order a. Meeting called to order at 4:02 pm 2. Agenda Additions and Approval a. Agenda approved (Mark moved; Teresa seconded). 3. New Commissioner Randy Halstead welcomed! (02:00) 4. Public Comment a. No public comments. 5. Approval of Minutes a. Jake suggested that Susie Haggard come by to give an update on the Greenway Network Plan update. b. Mark moved, Teresa seconded. Minutes approved. 6. Hawthorne Avenue (14:40) a. Rani presented (car-centric) plans for the Hawthorne/Oglethorpe intersection.  i. Several commissioners noted what a significant impediment this intersection is for bicyclists trying to get to the YMCA, Bishop Park, Prince St., etc., especially for kids and less confident cyclists. 7. Barber Street (29:45) a. Daniel shared results from public comment. i. 111 responses. ii. A good portion said they would be more likely to bike, walk, and use transit when the proposed improvements were implemented. iii. Respondents are generally more concerned with building out sections 3 and 4 than sections 1 and 2. iv. Randy asked how much input was received from people who work at the businesses in sections 1 and 2. Daniel: it’s hard to tell, since we ask for home addresses. Stephen: in the future we could provide flyers to businesses to post in common areas. Daniel did do some of this. b. At the agenda-setting meeting, the M&C seemed interested in a M-U path. Lauren suggested that we need to do more educating about why we would want a two-way bike facility instead (pedestrian safety and topography, among other reasons). An MU path would also be more expensive (exceeding available funds) and require political will (e.g., to deal with rights-of-way and remove on-street parking). Stephen: we worked with Tootle to send a memo to the M&C; it didn’t seem like they had all had a chance to absorb it yet. We will continue to work to get the message across. c. M&C will vote on Barber St. on Tuesday, June 1, so we have a week to reach out to them and offer to answer questions. 8. Park Planning Updates (Todd) (53:45) a. Firefly Phase II: concrete is almost all installed from Hancock to Eastlawn Memorial Cemetery. Bridge is set. b. Trestle and Greenway Cemetery Trail – working to secure materials. 9. Complete Streets Policy Update (57:00) a. We used more firm language because the last policy scored poorly because it had no teeth. b. Discussion of particular phrases ensued. c. The Commission determined that Complete Streets policy applies to all streets, regardless of whether they are tiered in the AiM Plan, as the Plan considered all streets when tiering projects. 10. Prince Avenue Recommended Projects (1:09:30) a. Mark presented survey data for Prince Ave. Respondents prioritized safety. b. Lauren: does the Prince Ave. group want a letter? We will wait for this to be presented to M&C, but we do want to indicate our support. We will keep it on the agenda. 11. TSPLOST MOVED UP (1:18:15) a. Submissions now tentatively due on August 1st; referendum moved from Nov 2022 to MAY 2022. b. Anyone interested in serving on TSPLOST should contact their Commissioner. They feed you. But sometimes there are no cupcakes. c. Do we have ideas for projects? Daniel suggested a bucket of accessibility dollars that we could use to cover smaller projects. 12. General Updates (Daniel) (1:27:00) a. Daniel is meeting with Jared from Toole to go over all of their scoring metrics. b. Work continues on RAISE grant  c. A detailed bike rack/corral discussion occurred. Daniel and Stephen are going to talk about best designs with Bike Athens and Georgia Bikes. 13. Atlanta Highway User group (Teresa) (1:44:30) a. There is an issue with GDOT at Atl. Highway/Timothy/Mitchell Bridge intersection and this part is on hold. b. There is a lot of support for the “Ped Loop.” c. Doing internal ranking survey. 14. Lexington Highway User group (Stephen) (1:49:00) a. Also doing similar internal ranking survey. 15. Grants & Data Committee (Mark) a. Grant for RRFB is mostly written; due next week. 16. Communication & Education Committee (Teresa) a. New data for Open Streets: October 10th. All hands on deck! Teresa is working with LS. 17. TSPLOST Update (Aaron/Lauren) a. There may be an RRFB at Barrow/Barber. b. Trail Creek trestle will be replaced soon. Full year + construction for new bridge, per Todd. 18. Greenway Commission (Jake) a. Carr Creek Greenway spur is in planning stages; will provide additional connectivity to Barnett Shoals 19. East Athens Local Action Committee for Firefly Trail a. Lauren has joined this. b. Will provide a letter of support for RRFB grant. 20. Next meeting is 6/22. a. Jake suggested a quarterly in-person meeting with other meetings being virtual. b. Lauren will be out of town for June meeting; we will check back in on meeting location in July. 21. Meeting adjourned at 6:06 pm.