Pedestrian Safety Board

October Meeting Minutes Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board Public Safety Building – Training Room 1 Monday, October 5, 4:30 – 5:36 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: Chair Matt Cross, Bill Reger-Nash, Stan Cohen, Jimmie Simmons, Lt McCabe, Jing Zhang, Maria Smith, b. Guests: William Blosser, Jessica Bladow, Ryan Simonton, II. Approval of September 14, 2015 Minutes. Motion by Stan Cohen, second by Lt McCabe. Motion passed by unanimous voice vote. III. Chair comments:  Matt Cross reported that he spoke to city council about using part (20%) of new user fee for pedestrian improvements. Pls voice your support to city council for the fee and including pedestrian improvements.  Oct 7 is Greenbag road improvements. Please attend and make statements in support of pedestrians and bicyclists.  Oct 7 is Natl walk to School day. Pls support. Encourage parents and young people to participate.  Super Devono to be present on Nov 2 meeting. Among other issues, he will address walkability and the new Suncrest School.  Huff street – new traffic pattern results in vehicles now being nearer to pedestrians. Intersection is seemingly more hazardous.  Damien Davis is working to establish signage for peds and bikes. IV. Reports  Mountain Line Maria Smith Blue Line time changes went into effect on Monday September 21, 2015, no complaints have been received, this will be a permanent change. Bike Rodeo is scheduled for this month, details to come. Vehicle maintenance and route efficiency study ongoing as funding is limited for new vehicles, an update on the project will be presented at the MLTA Board Meeting on Wednesday October 14th at 6pm. MPO is conducting a Westover/Granville Pedestrian study, Maria Smith on behalf of Mountain Line is serving on this committee, please pass on any suggestions for these areas to Maria Smith to be conveyed at the meetings. Maria will join Mountain Line FB page with the Pedestrian Board FB page to join/share information. Due to the new construction, Campus PM, DT PM Mall and Gold Line are now traveling Oakland Avenue to Elmer Prince Dr to Ruby, this change is a safer route, more efficient and serves a larger population.  WVU Kim Hartsell. Unable to attend.  Rail Trail Ella Belling. Not in attendance.  Greenspace Rick Landenberger. Not in attendance.  City Council Jay Redmond from 6th Ward. Apologized for inability to attend. 1  MPO Bill Austin represented by Jing Zhang. American Community survey for Westover/Granville analysis for 2009-13 on economic, transportation pattern, household, population trends. Hired student intern to evaluate Granville / Westover sidewalks using the methodology developed by Damien Davis. The report will be update info using churches and postal surveys. Zing encouraged all to attend the Oct 7 Open House.  City Engineering Damien Davis. Not in attendance.  Police Officer Lt. McCabe. Homecoming parade this Friday. School board arranged to dismiss school two hours early. New bar (Ikon) at 228 Walnut (old Speedys). Some Board members cautioned that this may mean there will be more rowdy behavior in this section of the downtown. Sidewalk signs and bar traffic are required to keep a five foot sidewalk corridor open for pedestrians.  Traffic Commission Matt Cross Three speed humps for Suncrest neighborhood are approve d. Univ Ave roadway to be open by end of Oct but project will not be finished. V. Old Business: o Reminder to report: o Sidewalks in need of repair: Go to http://com3.govtsystems.com/MorgantownWV/Request/. These issues are addressed and the person expressing their concern receives a response. o Sidewalk obstructions, such as vehicles illegally parked on the sidewalk. Call Police Chief Ed Preston’s office at (304)284-7496. VI. New Business:-  Review of scoring methodology. Bill Reger-Nash. Determine critical sections of Morgantown sidewalks to be targeted for initial improvements with any funding that may come available. Refer to our Pedestrian Safety plan at http://www.morgantownwv.gov/government/advisory-boards/pedestrian- safety-board/ pages 36 through 59.  Division of Highways scheduled a Wednesday October 7th, 4-7 pm, public meeting to present alternatives for the reconstruction of the Greenbag Road/WV 7 Intersection at Marilla Park Recreation Center. Pls attend and advocate on behalf of pedestrian and bicyclist safety.  Saba Ashfaq invites pedestrian advocates and board members to attend the Heads-Up West Virginia community meeting on Thursday between 11 am and 12 noon in HSC Conference Room 3155. This project is advocacy for pedestrian safety on campus for 18- to 30-year-olds. The project has 600 completed surveys already. The intervention phase of the initiative will work thru social media. Information is also available on their Facebook page Heads Up West Virginia.  Guest Jessica Bladow expressed concerned about lack of sidewalks in the Falling Run corridor.  Stan Cohen met with the WVU Student Government Association. There is a concerted effort at WVU to do community service. Sept 28 was neighborhood cleanup day. Would be nice to link them to Ped Safety Board issues. This group could be linked to sidewalk and stair snow removal for elderly and disabled Morgantown residents  Service Fee for transportation should include pedestrian infrastructure: o Problem areas have prioritized safe routes to schools. Jimmie Simmons suggested that there is a need to now focus on sidewalks to bus stops. o Wyllie Street per Lt McCabe is a high volume walkway and should be a priority. However, this walkway is littered with utility poles, but these issues must be addressed. 2  o There is a meeting on Wed, 10-07-15 with City Manager Jeff Mikorski, Damien Davis, Margaret Stout, Matt Cross, and Bill Reger-Nash regarding pedestrian project priorities. Davis and Mikorski want the projects rescored using only objective criteria. Bill Reger-Nash commented that the existing scoring largely used objective criteria. . o We must consider existing vs new sidewalks. o Probably not cost-effective for the city of Morgantown to do a small section of a sidewalk because of the opportunity costs of bringing in equipment. Action Items:  All are encouraged to inform city council members to support transportation service fee to include sidewalks.  Matt to examine Westover code about sidewalk requirement.  Oct 7meeting re Greenbag Road. Pls state support for ped issues.  All to attend Thurs meeting 11-12 noon in HSC Conference Room 3155 to help Public Health researchers with Heads-up West Virginia pedestrian safety campaign.  Maria Smith to contact Barbara Watkins in MainStreet Morgantown about including bus stops on their pedestrian maps. .  Matt Cross to contact Randy ___ (last name needed) about SGA efforts to support Ped Safety issues, such as SWAT team for snow removal and cleaning.  Snow Removal. Damien Davis and Chelsei Baker should do press release about property owner’s obligations for snow removal. Next meeting: November 2, 2015, Training Room 1, Public Safety Building, 4:30 – 5:30 pm Minutes submitted by Bill Reger-Nash 3