Athens in Motion Commission

Athens in Motion Commission Policy and Projects Committee Minutes Thursday, August 18; 4-5:30pm Location: WebEx Agenda Present Randy Halstead - chair of Policy and Projects Committee Teresa Friedlander Scott Long Daniel Sizemore Lauren Blais - takes minutes Welcome - 10 minutes Call to order Review Agenda Approved minutes - Teresa 1st, Randy 2nd, unanimous Assign minute taker - Lauren Funding Bucket Priorities- 45 minutes Develop priorities for buckets of funding to address widespread issues. For example; - Bike lane gaps - Sidewalk gaps - ADA accessibility - Bike parking inventory - Other ideas Review existing projects for potential additional funding needs - Randy ● Randy shares spreadsheet of aggregated information on all projects ● Discussion about getting some of this AiM-related project info on the ACCGov website ○ The information is out there, throughout ACCGov ● Lauren will get with Daniel about getting some version of this spreadsheet online  ● Teresa asks about getting more updates on projects, where she can send people; Lauren agrees: commissioners, etc ● Lauren suggests linking to existing pages that will have construction info ● Randy comes back to our question from full meeting, do we want to allocate portion of $8 million TSPLOST 2023to help complete projects that are almost there? ● Daniel notes that we could have SPLOST office talk to us and have sub projects for TSPLOST 2018 Projects 11/12 which we would be the user group for. ● Lauren asks if we need to look at the 2018 and 2023 buckets as one big ongoing bike/ped bucket. Projects could be started with 2018, and completed with 2018/2023. ● Daniel says that he would view the 2023 funds as an extension of 2018 Bike/Ped buckets. “What can we do now on the ground this year?” ● Lauren and Randy concerned about starting too many projects and ending up with designs and no construction. ● Daniel notes there’s a lot going on every day within Transportation and Public Works. If we hold the money until a project is complete, we won’t be spending money for five years. ● Daniel suggests SPLOST talk to us and be a user group of TSPLOST 2018 projects 11/12 ● Randy wants to know what money we actually have available ● Daniel notes Oglethorpe/Hawthorne project will reduce current gap in bike lanes but need a separate project to fully fill in gap ● Randy would like to have SPLOST office come by, and Teresa agrees ● Best strategy going forward, Lauren wonders? ● Teresa mentions concern about perception of public, Lauren agrees ● Daniel thinks it would be a good use of funds to explore sub projects as a system of project ● Lauren notes the time– 5:10– and other items on the agenda ● Randy asks Daniel if there are any updates to Bike Ordinances; there being none, decides to postpone Crosswalk Policy Review for next meeting to go a little further/deeper with this agenda item. ● Daniel shows table with speed limits and appropriate infrastructure given conditions ● Lauren weighing having smaller projects instead of bigger projects, concerned that smaller projects that may not be noticed or seen as effective - past perception of some commissioners that multiuse paths are the only safe infrastructure. Eager to implement and see results of Prince Avenue Pilot Project which is paint and zecla zippers and provides separated spaces without the expensive widening of the roadway ● Randy says let’s bring in SPLOST office ● Randy tasks committee with chew on whether we want to have money go to smaller projects or big projects ● Scott notes that we should build out/finish the network first before anything else. So, sidewalk gaps, bike lane gaps, should be bigger priority over big capital projects Bike Racks  ● Daniel received recommendations from BikeAthens after a development failed to install bike rack ● Meeting with Planning about getting better bike parking around town ● If enforced, says Scott ● Daniel notes that the developer installed the bike rack for inspection, removed during landscaping and never reinstalled. ● How to convince developers to keep bike racks there ○ If we have a map with bike racks featured, less likely to remove racks Wrapping up ● Lauren should ask SPLOST office to attend next meeting full Commission meeting? September ● NExt meeting - Daniel has sessions, Stephen in public engagement ○ Daniel can start meeting for us ● Bump crosswalk policy discussion to front of agenda for next time Other business/Next meeting date ● September 15th next meeting ● Adjourn 5:41pm