Pedestrian Safety Board

Approved Meeting Minutes Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board Public Safety Building – Training Room 1 Monday, August 3, 4:30 – 5:46 PM The Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board’s mission is to promote a walkable environment throughout the City by developing safe, attractive, and accessible walkways that connect neighborhoods and destinations. 4:30 pm Call meeting to order I. Introductions: a. Members: George Lilley, Chair Matt Cross, Kim Hartsell, Lt McCabe, Stan Cohen, Bill Reger-Nash, Margaret Stout, b. Guests: Bill Austin, Damien Davis, Bill Kawecki, Arianna Hall-Reinhard, II. Approval of July 6, 2015- Minutes Motion by Stan Cohen, 2nd Geo Lilley, passed by unanimous voice vote III. Reports  -Mountain Line Maria Smith not present – Chair Matt Cross reported that the ped safety pamphlets will be placed on Mountain Line buses  -WVU Kim Hartsell – Evansdate update. o Parking lots will not be completed by beginning of fall semester. o All sidewalks to be finished. o Temp pedestrian cross lights to be in by fall semester. o Motorized traffic lights will not be finished. o There will be only one crosswalk (on the west side) at the intersection from the CAC toward the church.  Mr Austin reported that the state DOH recommended that the crosswalk be placed on the east side, but WVU decided that it should be on the west side of the intersection. Randy Hudak, Associate Vice President, is ultimately responsible for this decision. o Contractors have been directed to push back construction fences which have migrated into the Morgantown city streets. o Lights around campus are more pedestrian friendly as they are lower and brighter than formerly. o The area of Huff and Beechurst needs a pedestrian light.  -Rail Trail Ella Belling Absent  -Greenspace Rick Landenberger – Absent  -City Council Bill Kawecki o Deckers Creek bridge is still being considered by the WV DOH. o New road back of airport, business park dev, was dedicated and is open but without sidewalks. The rationale is that this road leads to an industrial area. However, industrial workers need to be able to walk to work if they cannot afford a car. o The consulting firm Stantec Design is paying attention to pedestrian accommodations; 1  o Public input may be made until October. Go to http://plantogether.org/Public%20Notices/PublicReview.html. o Wharf to Brockway are including design standards accommodating of peds. o Stan Cohen noted that we all need be vigilant of ongoing development! For example, the Public Opinion survey has already accessed input by telephone and the next phase will be more general public input. There was no effort made by the City to obtain input from the Pedestrian Safety Board. We have been in existence since 2007 and we have an established Pedestrian Safety Plan. Nobody in the City gave thought to determine if we had issues, such as support for funding of the Pedestrian Safety Plan, that might be surveyed. o Bill Reger-Nash suggested that we have a steady stream of Pedestrian advocates attend City Council meetings to advocate for sidewalks. This might be a one minute statement to Council. o Margaret Stout encourages us to leverage the $100,000 that has been set aside for this fiscal year for sidewalks. Margaret is willing to facilitate the work session of this, which will be scheduled for September 14, at 5:45 pm. City Manager Jeff Mikorski will be invited to attend by Damien Davis. Need to have a program in place to guide our efforts. o Arianna Hall-Reinhard expressed concern about how to communicate ped issues to the City. Damien Davis suggested going to http://com3.govtsystems.com/MorgantownWV/Request/. These issues are addressed and the person expressing their concern receives a response.  -MPO Bill Austin - Concurrent vs all stop intersection crossing. o The MPO and the City are working to establish criteria for how to implement the type of cross lights. o Margaret Stout recommended two-second-delay-start for traffic. There was general support for this suggestion. o The Pedestrian Safety Board is encouraged to work with Kasey Russell Connecting Communities WV to achieve funding for Complete Streets. http://www.asimplesix.com/2012/11/10/west-virginia-connecting-communities/  Possibly invite a representative to attend a future meeting. o It should be note that jaywalking at CAC has almost disappeared given the improved intersection design and convenience.  -City Engineering Damien Davis Left for another meeting at 5:30 pm, but he was quite helpful throughout the meeting today.  -Police Officer Lt. McCabe o Repaving Beechurst starting tonight. o Redoing and crosswalks at Beechhurst and 4th St.  -Traffic Commission Matt Cross There is currently no chair for Traffic Commission Special word of appreciation for Lt. McCabe, Councilperson Bill Kawecki, Public Works Director/City Engineer Damien Davis, and MPO director Bill Austin for their extraordinary efforts on behalf of pedestrian safety. New Business:  Identify priority sidewalks for repair with sidewalk fund See Action Item 3 below.  SGA incoming frosh downtown cleanup Aug 14, 9 am start, volunteers needed 2 Old Business:  Ped Board Flyer Matt Cross is working with Sarah Bias, who has contributed extensively to this effort  Multi-Media Pedestrian Safety education campaign – No report  Margaret Stout crosswalk design – Impt to review delayed-start crossing.  Walk to School Day 2015 is scheduled for October 7. Action Items: 1. All: Safe Routes to Schools- Intersections: Where Transportation and Health Meet, Columbus, Ohio — April 5-7, 2016 2. All: Attend City Council meeting in order to advocate for sidewalk and pedestrian safety issues. 3. Margaret Stout to facilitate Sub-committee to develop programmatic approach to leverage and or match available $100,000. Work session with Jeff Mikorski. Sept 15, 5:45 – 7:15 pm. 4. All: Communicate pedestrian problems to City of Morgantown engineering (http://com3.govtsystems.com/MorgantownWV/Request/) 5. SGA incoming frosh downtown cleanup Aug 14, 9 am start, volunteers needed 6. Matt Cross or Bill Reger-Nash: Invite Kasey Russell Connecting Communities WV to attend a future meeting to discuss issues related to funding of the Complete Streets Initiative. Next meeting: September 14, 2015 (Sept 7 is Labor Day), Training Room 1, Public Safety Building, 4:30 – 5:30 pm Minutes submitted by Bill Reger-Nash on August 3, 2015 3