Traffic and Transportation Committee

TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION November 26, 2018 A meeting of the Committee on Traffic and Transportation was held this date beginning at 4:00 p.m., at City Hall, 80 Broad Street, First Floor Conference Room. Notice of this meeting was sent to all local news media. PRESENT Councilmember Seekings, Chair; Councilmember Wagner, Councilmember Moody, and Councilwoman Jackson Staff: Keith Benjamin, Robert Somerville, Rick Jerue, Tracy McKee and Wanda Stepp, Council Secretary Also Present: Katie Zimmerman, Aaron Holly, Troy Miller, Trey Linton, Savannah Brennan, and Ian Mills The meeting was opened with a moment of silence provided by Chairman Seekings. APPROVAL OF MINUTES On the motion of Councilmember Moody, seconded by Councilwoman Jackson, the Committee voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the October 22, 2018 meeting. Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee Presentation Chairman Seekings stated that he was the Co-chair of the Committee and this had been a Committee that was fairly active. There was a request to give a presentation. Matt Moldenhauer stated that there was a memo circulated recently and this presentation was in light of that memo. The Committee was established in 2006 and after a brief hiatus had come back. Their membership was very diverse and included real estate developers, bike/ped advocates, people from the academic arena, planners, etc. They had a lot of roles and responsibilities, but today was really about emphasizing the need for funding and policy/planning. Everyone knew they had a lot of plans, but what was missing was a lot of action in terms of getting facilities on the ground. They knew there was a demonstrated need. A lot of recent reports had suggested that South Carolina was not doing very well in the bike and pedestrian front. Charleston County had more bicycle fatalities and severe injuries than any other County in the State from 2011 to 2015. The City had the highest percentage of pedestrian fatalities in the State. Councilmember Moody asked what the 4.6 % was and it was stated that it meant that almost 5% of the fatalities in the State were in Charleston. Mr. Moldenhauer referred to a slide and said that it was saying that, based on the demand for bike and pedestrian multi-modal infrastructure, the money from the State wasn’t proportional to the demand. They often heard the argument that if a pedestrian or a motorcyclist died that it was their fault. However, it some cases, they, as a community and as transportation officials, had to own up to the fact that facilities aren’t always adequate to meet the demand. So, unless they admitted that the problem existed, they wouldn’t ever be able to solve it. They existed, as a Committee, to advocate for safe mobility in Charleston. Essentially, they were trying to identify shortcomings in multi-modal transportation infrastructure, so that they could minimize preventable injury and death. In doing that, they had identified some strategic themes that had helped to guide them. The first they called Safety First Design which meant that when a transportation facility was designed, it was designed for the user. Secondly, that the City developed the ability to immediately respond to injury or death by addressing the design flaw that may have contributed to that. An example was the corner of Parsonage and Ashley River Road. A boy was on his way to school and had gotten hit by a car. How could they expect people to follow rules when there were no facilities provided? Mr. Moldenhauer continued and said another important factor was Context for Mobility. This related to making sure that when a bike/ped or bus facility was designed, it was in an area that was context sensitive, meaning that if there was a population nearby that was dependent on that facility, there was a way for them to get to that facility. They knew from CARTA what some of the highest demand bus stops were. Along with that was emphasizing vehicular access scenarios where they knew there was a lot of pedestrian traffic. That didn’t mean they would get rid of vehicles, but they would re-establish the hierarchy. An example was the bus stop near Citadel Mall which was very actively used. There was no sidewalk or bike lane to get there. But, they knew that there were neighborhoods nearby that would probably like if there were. Connected Infrastructure referred to regional and local networks for facilities and establishing a hierarchy of facilities and feeder routes, so that they could create safe routes between major destinations. They needed to study bridges so that they knew what could be retrofitted and what couldn’t. They wanted to make sure that State and local projects were conforming to whatever the City’s expectations were for bike/ped and all other transportation design. To be opportunistic about facility development, they asked if they could leverage development agreements and City Codes and Ordinances so that developers would potentially be including those facilities as part of their projects. It was a multi-pronged approach to identify the greatest priority, which was safety, the context of which they designed within, and making sure that the community was connected. Lastly, an important factor was Access to Diverse Funding Sources. An example was to hire a grant writer, exploring public-private partnerships, and making sure that they were trying to have funding at the City level so that they weren’t necessarily dependent on grants all of the time. As a Committee, they were still relatively new and didn’t have a lot of guidance. That was why they had developed their mission statement and the strategies. They were there to say that they were present and wanted to weigh in and thought that was important. They would like to review priority lists that the City was submitting for projects and grants and any budgeting that may come through for bike/ped related issues. In an effort to start being opportunistic about projects, they would like to possibly venture into reviewing zoning and planning ordinances to look at project opportunities. Chairman Seekings said that the Committee was very diverse and it was a good resource for the City. Councilmember Moody said that he had seen the word ‘funding’ and asked if there had been any conversation in how they might fund some of these things. It would go a long way if the bike community could help them figure out a way to assess some sort of tax to fund some of these projects. Chairman Seekings said that one of the very active members of the Committee was Stephen Zoukis who was a prominent developer. What he would say was that developers were looking for partnerships. They needed to think outside of the box and he thought engaging with the development community was one place that the Committee could have a large effect on. Mr. Benjamin said that he was grateful for the Committee because having people who were dedicated and wanted to dig into the issues from different perspectives was important. He thought there was a difference between some of the major infrastructure things and some of the basics such as marking. His office could do some of things. There were things that could be expanding. If they looked at the Long Range Transportation Plan, as well as the US17 Corridor Study, the number one issue was that people wanted to have walkable communities. He didn’t think it was excusable for the City to be top of the State for death and injuries in bike/ped. Mr. Moldenhauer said that there were two categories. The first was what they needed to meet the bare minimum need. In Charleston, they had so many natural and cultural assets and they weren’t capitalizing on that. Councilmember Waring stated that there were areas where they had 8-10 feet Right-of-Ways that was not being used. In Ashley Crossing, there was an 8-10 foot easement, 4-4.5 foot sidewalk, a 4 foot grassy median, and then curb/gutter. Some of this could be done with Planners. There were miles of right-of-ways that could be improved and developed for bike/ped lanes. Mr. Benjamin said that they would be doing a session in January on Complete Streets and how they could do that. Councilwoman Jackson stated that it would be good for them to listen to Mr. Benjamin’s case on why they would appreciate having a mobility director. Mr. Benjamin stated that they wanted to move forward with implementation, even on the basics like resurfacing. To have someone on a regular basis that was finding those opportunities would be something that was important, even just based on the safety aspect. Councilmember Moody said that the whole process of how they got sidewalks in the City, applying with the County, they needed to be much more focused on that. They sent multiple requests in the last year, but didn’t have any money to go with it or specific reasons why. That could get them up farther in the chance to get funded rather than just throwing multiple projects at them. Chairman Seekings said that at the Bike/Ped Committee they had a public comment period, and people were interested in what was going on with all of this. He thought that the Committee would stay cohesive and engaged and thanked them for their service. Just Ride Better Bike Share Partnership Grant Program Mr. Benjamin stated that they, as a City, joined Gotcha Group in an application to the Better Bike Share Partnership, which was a National Organization that was focused on working on equity issues as it ascribed to bike mobility. They were awarded the grant and so they were working hard to push issues that affected the East side and the Peninsula. Katie Zimmerman stated that they were close to 50 members and it was essentially a membership program for people who identified as low-moderate income. This was an opportunity for people to pay in cash for $5 for the whole year and have a bike share membership. It was going really well so far, and they were hoping it would be a good pilot that Gotcha could continue to give more people access to bike share regardless of their income. Mr. Benjamin said that one of the parts of the grant was hiring people from the communities it was serving to be engaged in education and engagement about bike mobility. The expectation was to hit 175 members by April of 2019. Approval: Rafers Alley to One-Way Mr. Benjamin stated that they had two areas coming for roadway changes. The first was Rafers Alley off the Market. There would be some street scaping and the developer had agreed to upgrade the alleyway to make it a one-way. They were putting in a sidewalk and upgrading the street. Councilwoman Jackson asked if there was any storm water upgrades. Trey Benton, Forsberg Engineering, stated that there were existing inlets already in Rafers Alley that they intended to use. There was no additional because it was already paved. They intended to use the existing inlets and grade as it was intended previously. Chairman Seekings asked if they had talked to Ansonborough and Mr. Benjamin said that he had called Councilmember White and he didn’t have any issues. On the motion of Councilmember Moody, seconded by Councilwoman Jackson, the Committee voted unanimously to approve Rafers Alley to One-Way. Approval: Hutson Street to Partial One-Way Mr. Benjamin stated that this was one that they may have seen before but it had to come to the Committee. There were major upgrades they wanted to do and see the road used in a new way. There was the garage access there. It wouldn’t go the entire length of the street. Chairman Seekings said that this was turning Hutson Street partially one-way from King Street towards Meeting Street until they got to the underground parking access. Chairman Seekings asked why this was just coming up now when the hotel had been in the design process for so long. Mr. Benjamin said that he had been notified that they had to move forward in getting this together, so they hadn’t done any upgrades yet. Chairman Seekings asked if they would repave it and Troy Miller stated they would. This was a partial plan that was eventually meant to be the full length. The conversation had been going on for many years about doing this and it hadn’t come to fruition to bringing it to Council until 6 months ago. On the motion of Councilmember Moody, seconded by Councilwoman Jackson, the Committee voted unanimously to approve Hutson Street to a partial one-way. Director’s Update Mr. Benjamin stated that they should all be receiving invitations to the final portion of the public engagement for the Parking Study. The Consultants had brought in City leaders to be in Charleston on December 10th and 11th to see the City and talk about the best practices around parking and mobility. On the 11th, they were going to have a breakfast for the Councilmembers to have more intimate conversations with those leaders. There would be an evening public meeting on that same day that would be open to the community. They had been coordinating very closely with County staff on the Glenn McConnell widening project, specifically the multi-use pathway and accommodating for transit in the future. It was pivotal that they were cosigning those discussions to make sure that the public was on board. The public meeting for the 7 and 161 project was on December 5th. The project for Stinson Drive improvements were almost complete. The Sidewalk Project for Sycamore to Magnolia was going to have a coordination meeting soon to finish that up. The Sidewalk Project for Carriage Lane had come up and they were working with the County to move that forward. They were expecting to get the notification from County any day to start preparing their applications for a January submission for TST. So, if they had projects they wanted to make sure were getting reviewed, they should let him know. It was important to emphasize that last year; they had little to no projects listed for resurfacing or drainage. They wanted to make sure they were as strategic as possible to leverage the monies. Discussion Councilmember Waring said that the previous year he had heard about church people who were getting tickets and they still had the same problem. He had asked for an amendment to the ordinance that on church-owned property, that the parishioners would be able to park on the property. That had not gotten anywhere close to coming to Council. The ordinance needed to be changed to allow parking being an allowed use. Chairman Seekings said he remembered that conversation and he was happy to entertain it in their Committee, but he thought they needed to talk to Mr. Lindsey and his staff to make sure they identified the correct ordinances. They needed to make sure it went through the Planning staff. He believed that their Committee’s jurisdiction extended to the streets of the City and didn’t go to the private properties, which was why they needed to go to zoning. Councilmember Moody asked if they could recommend it go to Zoning/Planning. Councilmember Waring said that he appreciated the Councilmember cards, but that wasn’t as effective as having a placard to put on their dashboard. He had been told that if they put their ID badges there, they wouldn’t get a ticket, but he had gotten a ticket. Chairman Seekings said that they needed to come up with a policy. The card was helpful, but the meetings were lasting longer. Mr. Benjamin said that they would be able to help. Chairman Seekings asked if there was anything back on the grant application for the bridge and Mr. Benjamin said they had been told they would be notified between Thanksgiving and December 18th. Chairman Seekings said that they had flooding over the weekend everywhere. It was a Saturday of a Holiday weekend and there wasn’t a lot of staff. It was not predicted and they had an issue with streets that should have been closed that weren’t. They needed to coordinate and have a plan that could be instituted in a hurry to shut down streets. Mr. Benjamin said that they followed the lead of the Police Department when it came to street closures, and it would be helpful to have someone in the management center so they could see what was happening on the street. Their coordination was a matter of the capacity to be able to add. Having no further business, the Committee adjourned at 4:55 p.m. Bethany Whitaker Council Secretary