Citizens Advisory Committee on Transportation

Citizens Advisory Committee on Transportation Wednesday, May 13, 2015, 7:00 pm to 10:24 pm Meeting Minutes Attendance CACT Members City Staff Member Present 1. Heather Scharfetter Paul Baldino (Chair) Yes 2. Paul Stoddard Hal Morgan (Vice-Chair) Yes 3. Michael Collins Bill Ackerman (8:00 pm) Yes 4. Jeff Sikes Andrea Caumont Yes Doug Devereux YES Addison Heard Yes Steve Knight No Liaisons Liaison Present Karen Oliver Yes (City Council) Russ Wodiska No (Planning Commission) Ian Reusch Yes (Youth Representative) Agenda 1. Resident Petitions 2. CACT 2015 Priorities a. Bicycle Master Plan 3. Mason Row Proposal 4. West Broad street Small Area Plan 5. Meeting Minutes approval for May meeting 6. CATC 2015 Priorities a. Walk Friendly Communities 7. Correspondence 1. Resident Petitions Residents reserved their petitions until their items of interest were discussed. 2. Bicycle Master Plan Paul Stoddard made a presentation on the Bicycle Master Plan. Major changes to the plan include updates to the future routes, identifying Bike-Share corridors and a discussion of bicycle parking. The CACT requested the following changes to the plan: 1. Advocate for bicycle infrastructure with the I-66 projects 2. Shift bicycle route from Oak Street to Spring Street to make use of the traffic signal to cross west Broad Street. The CACT approved the following motion (5-0): WHEREAS: The City’s Mobility for all Modes Plan, the Transportation chapter of the City’s Comprehensive Plan, establishes a vision to, “Provide for the safe movement of people and goods within and through the City via a transportation network, offers choices in travel modes, supports economic activity, is sensitive to the environment, and provides equitable access for all residents, workers, and visitors”, and WHEREAS: The City’s Mobility for all Modes Plan explicitly calls for the “Development of a City-wide bicycle facilities plan to connect the City’s commercial areas and neighborhoods, transit facilities, schools, regional bicycle facilities, and designated bicycle routes in neighboring jurisdictions”; and WHEREAS: The draft Bicycle Master Plan: Connecting Communities achieves the stated goals of the Comprehensive Plan and notes numerous benefits of enabling bicycling as a safe and accessible form of transportation; and WHEREAS: The draft Bicycle Master Plan: Connecting Communities specifies an implementation process that preserves accessibility for all street users and defines opportunities for public input; and WHEREAS: the draft Bicycle Master Plan: Connecting Communities was developed with numerous publicized opportunities for input and the plan incorporates that input. THEREFORE, I MOVE that the Citizens Advisory Committee on Transportation (CACT) of the City of Falls Church, Virginia recommends City Council adopt the Bicycle Master Plan: Connecting Communities. 3. Mason Row Proposal Paul Stoddard indicated there was no new information to share with the CACT on the Mason Row proposal. The developer has not provided information previously requested, including a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) or a Parking Management plan. Three residents offered comments on the Mason Row proposal :   Concerns were expressed about traffic conditions and auto congestion  The comment was made that Broad Street is ‘broken” as it is and queues already back up  The concern was expressed that traffic signals would not be synchronized  There would be more cut-through traffic on Grove Avenue The CACT decided to recommend the project not move forward until the requested information is provided. The CACT approved the following motion by a vote of (6-0): “The CACT recommends that the proposed Mason Row project not move forward. The CACT has requested on multiple occasions that a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) and a Parking Management Plan be included in the proposal for review during the Special Exception process. This information is vital to the CACT’s review and analysis of development proposals because it demonstrates how proposed projects will realize and advance the intent of adopted City policies such as the Mobility for all Modes chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. These items were formally requested by the CACT on September 22, 2014 and April 8, 2015. To date, these items have not been included in the development proposal. Therefore, the CACT recommends that the project not move forward until these items are provided and found to be adequate after review by City staff and Boards and Commissions.” 4. West Broad Small Area Plan Paul Stoddard made a presentation on the West Broad Street Small Area Plan focusing on Chapter 5 (Mobility) and Chapter 6 (Character and Design). The CACT commended the following preliminary comments;  That alley access for pedestrians should be explored as part of the development process for properties where alleys are present.  Shared parking should also be pursued.  Cell phone repeaters should be installed to eliminate dead spots in cell phone service.  Mike Collins of DPW does not support bricks in crosswalks because of maintenance issues, but does support other forms of decorative pavements.  The CATC also commented that community goals need to be defined to streamline development approvals. Andrea Caumont and Bill Ackerman volunteered to review Chapters 5 and 6 of the plan and provide draft comments for the CACT to discuss and consider at the June CACT meeting. 5. Meeting Notes Approval The Meeting Minutes for the April CACT meeting were approved. (4-0-2, with Devereux, Heard and Morgan abstaining) 6. CACT 2015 Priorities a. Walk Friendly Communities- Addison Heard had prepared a spreadsheet of the tasks and an estimate of the amount of time it might take to complete the application for the Walk Friendly Communities Program. Staff was asked to contact Arlington County staff to get an estimate of the amount of staff time it took the County to complete the application, and to contact the Walk Friendly Community Program at UNC-CH to determine if smaller communities had fewer requirements for Walk Friendly designation than larger communities. 7. Correspondence Staff provided the following correspondence items to CACT members: 1. Letter to the CACT from Joseph Singleton urging the City Council to deny the Mason Row project 2. Memo from Aline Orfali opposing the Mason Row project 3. Memo from Lisa Varouxis expressing concerns about the Mason Row project and generally opposing it 4. Traffic Calming Request Form for Grove Avenue from Lisa Varouxis. Citizen A