Pedestrian Safety Board

Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board Meeting Minutes Public Safety Building – Training Room 1 4:30 – 5:30 PM November 7, 2016 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 Members: Matt Cross, Jan Derry, George Lilley, Jay Redmond, Maria Smith, Jessica Bladow, Stanley Cohen, Bill Austin, and Lt. Matt McCabe Guest: Dr. Frank Devono Absent: Amy Boggs, Jenn McDonald, Bill Reger-Nash, Ella Belling, Kim Hartsell, and Damien Davis II. Approval of October 3, 2016 Minutes. Motion by Stanley Cohen second by George Lilley, Passed by (unanimous voice vote). II. New Business • Guest speaker Dr. Frank Devono is Superintendent of Monongalia County Schools. He updated us on the opening of the new Suncrest Elementary School on Collins Ferry Road and addressed questions of walking to school, the walking school bus programs, and the Rail Trail connector. o Correction from October 3rd Meeting Minutes: Dr. Devono is worried about the safety of children when walking to school (not opposed to them walking to/from school though). o Classes at the new school will begin on January 3rd. o If the city of Morgantown annexes the Suncrest Elementary School, then the school will be open to the grant to build sidewalks on the West side of Collins Ferry Road (Chris Fletcher, the Morgantown City Planner, had asked). The school is not adverse to this annexation. o Dr. Devono welcomes our Pedestrian Safety Board to hold a meeting at the school to visit it. o NETL might open their annex road to allow public access to the trail for users in this area.  o Pedophilia is a fear that parents have about their children walking to school (especially after the recent YouTube video filmed from a pedophile’s perspective in downtown Mogantown). ▪ Stan suggested that the walking school bus idea might alleviate this issue (where a parent is responsible for collecting children along the way and leading them to and from school/home). o Dr. Devono invited Matt to come to his office to see which streets the school families live on for Matt to better understand what routes will be best for the school children. ▪ Bill Austin volunteered Jing to help Matt create a professional version of his flyer and map options for the new Suncrest Elementary School families. o The school is required to provide transportation for families that live farther than 2 miles away (there are currently two buses lined up for this). • Matt Cross and Jenn McDonald attended the Safe Communities event for Mountaineer Week at the Mountain Lair and helped spread the word of pedestrian safety (thanks to the invitation from Dan Shook) • Jenn McDonald suggested to Matt that we should map the current malfunctions in Morgantown’s traffic signaling systems • Bill Austin clarified that Complete Streets is policy, not a mandate • Jan Derry as Chair of the Human Rights Commission is soliciting nominations for two awards: (1) for an individual who resides in the city and who actively advocates for human rights, and (2) for an organization that promotes the human rights of individuals • Jan Derry also wanted to promote the WV Fair Housing and Accessibility Training Seminar for residential structures on Nov. 16th. Kirk Paisely will be presenting on code compliance from ANSI to Fair Housing. Contact the West Virginia Fair Housing Action Network at 304-296-6091 or http://www.wvfairhousing.org/ for more information and instructions on how to register. IV. Old Business -WVU outreach – Kim Hartsell will start regularly attending our meetings again soon -Morgantown sidewalk code – Councilman Redmond stated that it is unclear whether or not sidewalk funding is included with the new service fee for revenues. Revisions and enforcement of the city sidewalk code are pending the hiring of the new City Manager. V. Reports -Mountain Line Maria Smith – Tomorrow (Nov. 8th) the Mountain Line will provide free rides for Election Day. Public hearings will be held tomorrow (Nov. 8th) at 1:30pm & Wednesday (Nov. 9th) at 6pm because WVU asked them to stop traveling on Evansdale; so, they’re in the process of changing their routes. WVU wants to close the Evansdale campus to vehicular traffic. Bill Austin mentioned a potential concern with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) & Maria verified that she has received complaints about similar issues already. The new route will still be servicing Towers, but is missing a lot in between. -WVU Kim Hartsell - absent  -Rail Trail Ella Belling - absent -MPO Bill Austin – anticipate another I-79 access study meeting in January. Received over 700 responses to their survey about street concerns for locals (pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular). -City Engineer Damien Davis - absent -City Council Jay Redmond – had 30 candidates apply for the City Manager position; the candidates will be vetted and a smaller handful will receive interviews. -Police Lt. McCabe – nothing new to report -Traffic Commission Matt Cross – voted to install a crosswalk on Forest Avenue at the church for the safety of the day care children, parents, and staff. Next meeting: December 5, 2016, Training Room 1, Public Safety Building, 4:30 – 5:30 pm.