Citizens Advisory Committee on Transportation

Citizens Advisory Committee on Transportation April 13, 2016- 7:00 pm-10:30 PM Meeting Minutes Attendance CACT Members Member Present City Staff Paul Baldino (Chair) Yes 1. Stephanie Rogers 2. Paul Stoddard Hal Morgan (Vice-Chair) No 3. Jeff Sikes Bill Ackerman Yes Andrea Caumont Yes Doug Devereaux No Addison Heard No Steve Knight Yes Liaisons Liaison Present Karen Oliver Yes (City Council) Russ Wodiska No (Planning Commission) No (Youth Representative) Agenda 1. Public Comment 2. Minutes Approval- Action to approve minutes of the March 2016 CACT meeting 3. Committee Members Reports 4. Staff Reports 5. Action Item: Election of CACT Officers for 2016 6. Discussion Item: CACT 2016 Priorities-tracking sheet 7. Information and review: Spring 2016 Bike route and Wayfinding 8. Action Item: N Maple Ave. Traffic Calming- Approval of heavy solutions 9. Discussion Item: Street and Sidewalk Survey 10. Correspondence a. Comments on the TPB on I-66 Multimodal Funds b. City of Falls Church Application for Multimodal Funds  c. Council Resolution for I-66 Multimodal Funds d. NVTC I-66 Inside the Beltway Application e. Play Streets program by DPW f. West Falls Church Transportation Study Application g. West Falls Church Transportation Study h. Chairman’s April 4th letter to Council on NTC funding i. Play streets Article 1. Public Comment: There was no public comment. 2. Minutes Approval for the March 2016 Meeting: The minutes for the March 2016 CACT were approved with no changes by a vote of (4-0). 3. Committee Members Reports • Chairman Baldino reported that he and some other CACT members attended the City Council Work Session on April 4th to address the issue of NTC funding. He presented a letter requesting a sustainable funding source for the program based upon the number of requests. Council would like to see more use of light solutions and is interested in the results in terms of effectiveness. The Maple Ave. project will be painted this spring and is an example of the use of light solutions before the use of heavy solutions. Staff will also produce an “After Action” report on the Parker- Kent project later this spring. • Chairman Baldino indicated that the Youth Representative Program was being reactivated and that the Council would appoint new representatives on May 9th. He also mentioned that NVTC would be holding a series of public meetings on the Route 7 Transit alternatives project in June, with a Falls Church meeting on June 9t at MEHMS. • Andrea Caumont reported on the Play Streets program and possibility of a pilot project on Virginia Ave. in early June. • Bill Ackerman commented about the proposed lack of new funding for the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program. 4. Staff Report • Pennsylvania Ave NTC- Jeff reported that he had met with residents on site to share the final plans prior to construction and will work with a resident on landscaping of the curb extension. Staff is in the process of soliciting bids from on-call contractors and will report on this progress next month. • Jeff also reported that the planning for Bike To Work Day was coming together for this annual event on Friday, May 20th. Volunteers from the CACT are welcome to participate. • Jeff reported that the Winter Hill residential Permit Parking was moving forward for a likely June implementation. • Jeff also indicated that construction is underway on four bus shelters, while work continues on the acquisition of easements for several more. • Stephanie reported that DPW was developing a parking and sign implementation plan for the Winter Hill Permit Parking pilot. • Stephanie also announced a public meeting on April 27th on the intersection improvements planned for Cherry Street and E. Broad Street. The project will replace the existing traffic signals and add mast arms, improve pedestrian access ramps and improve the existing bus stops. The meeting will take place in the Dogwood Room at 7 pm. • Paul Stoddard reported that the W&OD Master Plan and the W. Broad Street Small Area Plan were approved by Council on April 11th. He also indicated that the street furniture to be installed on Broad Street will likely be delayed until late summer or fall. • Paul Stoddard brought up the topic of having CACT members designated as staff liaisons to City groups like the City Council and the Planning Commission. He discussed their role and how much of a time commitment is involved. Bill Ackerman volunteered to be the CACT representative to the City Council, but the Planning Commission representative will be named later. 5. Action Item: Election of CACT Officers for 2016: By acclamation, Paul Baldino was selected by the CACT members present to continue as Chairman for 2016. The election of the Vice-chairman was delayed until the May 2016 meeting. 6. Discussion Item: CACT 2016 Priorities: Staff had updated the list of 2016 CACT Priorities. Some information was added at the meeting in the Status column of the W&OD Trail projects related what the Council wanted the Welcome to Falls Church signs to say. For the Walkability Survey, Steve volunteered to convert the final survey and results to an automated form. 7. Information and Review: Spring 2016 Bike Routes and Wayfinding: Paul Stoddard made a presentation on the proposed bike routes and pavement markings to be implemented this spring. With a $25,000 budget staff expects to complete 3 segments of the network. Staff identified the following routes to refresh the sharrows or to install new ones:  Park Ave-refresh sharrows; Little Falls and Maple-shift route to align with Master Bicycle Plan; and Cherry Street-coordinate with Fairfax and Arlington on access to EFC Metro. In addition, options for pavement markings on several street segments were also presented and the CACT was asked to comment. Finally, staff expects to use some of the $25,000 budget to install wayfinding signs on two bike routes in the City. The CACT discussed the new wayfinding signs proposed for Little Falls Street and the N. Cherry, E. Columbia and Van Buren Street routes. The CACT also discussed the removal of certain existing wayfinding signs. 8. Action Item: N Maple Street Traffic Calming-Approval of Heavy Solutions: Jeff Sikes reported that there had been a public information meeting in late March on the N. Maple Ave. NTC plan, and the next step in the process is to survey the study area to determine if there is support to implement the heavy solution elements of the plan, namely, the speed table and curb extensions on Maple Ave. at W. Columbia Street. The NTC process requires 67 percent approval from the study area. The CACT voted (4-0) to approve the use of heavy solutions and move forward with the survey of the study area to determine support for these measures. The CACT also requested that the detail of a speed table be included in the notice sent to residents, so as to distinguish this measure from a speed bump or hump. The survey will be sent to residents in late May or early June. 9. Discussion Item: Street and Sidewalk Survey: Paul Baldino led the discussion on the Walkability Survey. He had prepared a set of directions that identified the areas of the City to be surveyed and a survey instrument on what to observe as part of the survey. Included was a Walkability checklist prepared by the UNC Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center. Based upon comments from staff and other CACT members, he will rewrite the survey to accommodate their recommendations, including the desire to crowdsource survey participants. During the discussion, Steve Knight volunteered to automate the survey process and results. The revisions will be discussed at the May meeting.