Transportation Commission

Transportation Commission Minutes City of Bellingham, Washington Tuesday 6:00 PM Pacific Street Operations Center (entrance off Carolina Street) June 11, 2024 and ZOOM Video Recorded https://meetings.cob.org - Call To Order The Transportation Commission meeting was called to order by the Chair at 6:00 PM. Roll Call Present: Caroline Dietzgen (Commissioner), Addie Candib (Commission Member), Cindy Dennis (Commission Member), Keith Moore (Commission Member), Jacki Quinn (Commission Member), Betty Sanchez (Commission Member), Tim Wilder (Commission Member) Absent: Katy Scherrer (Commission Member) Staff Present: Dylan Casper; Michelle Cristelli; Rush Duncan; Natalie Monro; Joel Pfundt; Mike Wilson Approval of Minutes Minutes approved – 7-0 with 1 absence. Agenda Items . Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program (NTSP) p. 2 Joel presented –the Overview and Goal that the Commission endorsed last year. The program is intended to stay focused on community, equity and addressing neighborhood traffic issues. The Draft TIP that was presented to Council includes annual funding for the NTSP. Joel presented an approach for the Project Initiation phase. Each year a group of neighborhoods would be selected and through a process identify which projects are needed. The next the identified projects would go to Engineering to work on design and construction. Last year we got good feedback from the Commission on support and staff resources and the overall complexity of the proposed process flow chart for the NTSP, the process has been simplified since then. City staff is proposing that the Data Collection and Analysis phase continue to use information consistent with what was done previously to identify recommended safety projects: traffic volume, crash history, vehicle speed, cut through traffic volume, and inventory of schools and other pedestrian generators. Also, looking at how the availability of walking and biking facilities might play a role in determining the level of priority for a project. Discussion was had between staff and the Transportation Commission members.  . Western Washington University (WWU) Student Presentation Debrief p. 4 At the invitation of City staff, Betty and Keith attended the project presentations by the WWU annual planning practicum course on behalf of the Transportation Commission. They both shared a few details of what they gathered from the presentations. Chair Report A new commission member recommendation is going to council June 17th. Katy Sherrer will be taking a couple months of leave. We can look to having a full Commission going into the late fall and winter. Announcements Pedestrian and Bike Master Plans went to council after our last meeting, on May 20. Council adopted the plans with a resolution to direct staff to immediately move forward with implementation and to add the development of smart plans and targets to the 2025 Transportations Commission Work Plan. Creating the project pages outside of the Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) garnered community questions and conversations. Next Monday the council will take action on adoption of the TIP. The City Council had a discussion on parking reform and eliminating parking requirements from development. City staff are continuing to work on the Holly Street Bike Lane Pilot. There are over 900 survey respondents and well over 1000 comments from the community. The City has made several adjustments throughout the pilot. TC Question: “Smart Goals”- what do they include and what are the methods? Is it just new wording for something we already have? Joel reassured Commissioners that “smart goals” will be defined in greater detail when the conversation is brought back to the Commission. They are meant to be specific, measurable, realistic, and time-based goals. The Planning Department reached out regarding their Planning Commission meeting with WTA to talk about transit in relation to the comprehensive plan. Planning has proposed that it be a joint meeting with the Transportation Commission. Some members expressed concern about the originally proposed July 18, 2024, meeting date. There will be no regular Transportation Commission meeting in August. Adjournment Meeting adjourned @ 7:11p