Pedestrian Safety Board

Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board Meeting Minutes Public Safety Building – Training Room 1 4:30 – 5:30 PM November 13, 2017 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 (Quorum Present): Matt Cross, George Lilley, Stan Cohen, Jen MacDonald, Penny Kostka, Jessica Bladow, Jimmie Simmons, Bill Reger-Nash, and Dan Shook Ex-Officio: Captain McCabe, Bill Austin, Bill Kawecki, Ella Belling, Jenny Selin, Kim Hartsell, and Maria Smith Guest: William Blosser and Janet Fraser Absent: Christiaan Abildso, Gypsie Denzine, Jan Derry, Dwight Harshbarger, Damien Davis, Amy Boggs, and Drew Gatlin II. Approval of October 9, 2017 Minutes. Motion by Jimmie Simmons second by Penny Kostka Passed by (unanimous voice vote). III. Officer’s Reports · Matt Cross: § Matt brought up the recent pedestrian-vehicle collision on Patteson about which Captain McCabe discussed the following details: the vehicle turning left had a green while the walking signal was on, it was dark outside, the pedestrian was wearing dark clothes, and the overhead street lights weren’t working at the time of the accident (~6:30AM). Captain McCabe mentioned that the DOH is in charge of these street lights (on Patteson Street). He further mentioned that this is a potential issue with concurrent signals when the vehicle turning left also has a green. § Jen MacDonald to help coordinate pedestrian activity promotion with Matt for WVU student orientation § Matt applied for a microgrant for a solar powered pedestrian sign to go on Spruce near the Safety Building. Penny mentioned that this would be a good case for an intern to study the before and after pedestrian-vehicle behavior at this crosswalk. § New trail in Krepps park § Matt asked Bill Kawecki about the newly adopted ordinance for charging a fee for littering which is intended to be implemented on regular litterers. § Matt thanked Pam Kasey for continuing to advocate for pedestrian issues in her recent article in the Morgantown Magazine Page 1 of 7  § Matt mentioned that Drew Gatlin, from the bike board, put together a steering committee for TAP (Transporation Alternatives Program) grants – which includes Vaike Haas, Ella Belling (MRTC), Rick Landeberger (Green Team), Alex Stockdale (City Engineering Representative), Traci Knabenshue (WVU) and Frank Gmeindl (Bike Board). There are 9 projects that have been formulated for this effort: 1. Timberline Suncrest Rail Connects 2. Eastern Ave 3. Van Voorhis Trail 4. Upper Arboretum 5. Campus Connector from Grant Ave to Evansdale Campus o Bill Austin has yet to hear about progress on the ROW acquisition for this project which is the hinge for getting this project rolling. o Stan said he would ask his contact about the status of the ROW acquisition. 6. Underground Tunnel 7. White Park Trail Connector 8. South Middle School/Mountainview connector 9. East Oak Grove Cemetery o Ella said that only 3-4 projects will be submitted for this year’s TAP. She also mentioned that the MRTC is applying for lighting in the Warf District and that she is getting pressured into performing maintenance on the trails in the arboretum area. IV. Action Item Follow-up · Matt: o City website: Andrew Stacy is the new information director. Matt has coordinated with him to update our website page. § PSA video linked to website – done § Update website with meeting minutes & membership information – done o Sidewalk Improvement Incentive: § Matt talked with Damien about enforcing sidewalk code. Matt mentioned that Damien is planning on giving sidewalk owners 1 year of notice to repair their sidewalks and indicated that these repairs will follow the 10 year paving plan so that the sidewalks get fixed before the streets get paved. § Jessica followed up stating that this is a good plan and asked if we knew if there would be any funding for these sidewalk repairs. Jenny stated that for the past several years there has been a fund for subsidizing City sidewalk repairs and said that to her dismay, this money gets left on the table every year. Matt responded stating that it is the responsibility of the property owners to repair their own sidewalks. He further reminded everyone that the Page 2 of 7 Pedestrian Safety Board identified important corridors for complete streets to promote Connecting Networks of Sidewalks (CNS) in the Pedestrian Safety Plan. The following discussion ensued on the topic: 1. Jenny suggested that the Pedestrian Safety Board could ask the City to have a sidewalk condition program, just like the roadway condition assessment was performed for the 10 year paving plan, to see what sidewalks we have and what condition they’re in, since sidewalk repairs will be worked into the paving program. 2. If we have a plan for creating connected networks of sidewalks, then we might need to go above and beyond maintenance to create sidewalks to form corridors and connectors. i. Bill Kawecki asked where the major routes are that we need to connect pedestrians around town. Jenny said that this type of study should be performed by professionals (just like the paving plan). She further specified that the plan needs to be usable – we need to make the existing data actionable so that we can see where we are and what we need. Bill Austin clarified that what Jenny is suggesting is an engineering study. Bill Kawecki said that a budgetary analysis would need to be presented to city council prior to such a study taking place. ii. Penny then asked about financing and quality: is it fair to only require the folks that live on these connected networks to pay for the sidewalks? It was then mentioned that by coordinating payment plans and sidewalk repairs/installation you can achieve economies of scale to achieve cost savings. It was further mentioned that in order to accomplish this, the high volume corridors will need to be identified. iii. Bill Austin said that the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) will be using interns to perform a condition assessment of the sidewalk assets we currently have in the City. He also mentioned that the MPO will be working on updating the Pedestrian Safety Plan this coming January/February. This work will help identify the key problem areas so that we can better prioritize the sidewalk work. iv. Jenny then mentioned that one thing that was very helpful with the road program was bringing in engineer to go through and collect data that they Page 3 of 7  could analyze in a short period of time. Bill Austin said that this type of engineering study is beyond the capabilities of the MPO. However, he did mention that the intern will be capable of adequately documenting the existing sidewalks. 3. Stan redirected the conversation to Jessica’s question about funding for maintenance projects; he asked about whether we could have a 10 year funding program, just like the City is formulating a 10 year paving plan. i. Bill Austin said that he has seen it done where the funding subsidy is tied to the owner’s Property Taxes; however, he further mentioned that this is not always desirable since you can’t sell your property immediately if you accept this type of funding support. ii. Jenny said that she has been insistent on prioritizing sidewalk repairs with Paul Brake and then stated that he has not been able to do so which is likely because he doesn’t know what this would entail financially. iii. Bill Austin said that the work from the MPO interns will have measurements for length and width which can be used to come up with a cost estimate for the sidewalk repair work. iv. Bill Kawecki said that we need to have information from the MPO prior to asking the City for incentives to improve sidewalks. v. William then asked about who is responsible for regular maintenance (both repairs and shoveling) and the board responded saying that the responsibility lies with the property owner and if they are not physically able to perform the basic maintenance, then they just need to call the City and ask for assistance. vi. Jenny suggested focusing on providing a repayment plan that could pay for block at a time. She then suggested taking Bill Austin’s idea for putting a lean on the property for the repayment plan, despite the downside that you wouldn’t be able to sell the property until the lean gets paid off. vii. Matt then asked about the feasibility of replacing one sidewalk slab at a time. viii. Penny then asked about whether we need to create a subcommittee for prioritizing networks. Bill Austin responded saying that he will have the MPO interns redo the sidewalk inventory and will look at Page 4 of 7  corridors/connected networks that were previously identified and then update what has been accomplished from the Pedestrian Safety Plan and make special notes on what still needs to be accomplished. ix. Jenny followed up stating that once we get this sidewalk inventory update from the MPO in the Spring, we can then have a cost estimate to bring to the City Manager, Paul Brake. x. Jimmie summarized the conversation as follows: 1. We have monetary incentives (~$100,000) for sidewalk repairs. 2. We’re waiting for update on the condition of the sidewalk from the MPO, which we should expect in the Spring. 3. There have been two key sidewalk categories we’ve discussed: a. Repair/maintenance b. Procurement for network building (installation of additional sidewalks to increase the capacity of pedestrians) xi. Bill Austin stated that the MPO will develop and update the comprehensive pedestrian plan. 1. Jimmie requested that the MPO consider bus stop to bus stop alternatives as a part of the network (since every transit user is a pedestrian first). 2. Jenny asked about safe routes to school and layering this into the MPO plan too and Matt mentioned that there aren’t actually many schools in the limits of Morgantown. Stan agreed stating that many schools got moved away from their neighborhoods. Jenny noted that she recently asked again about the timeline for annexing Suncrest Elementary School. 3. Bill Austin mentioned that there were issues using the road condition data for sidewalk conditions because of various lighting conditions and cars parking on the sidewalks. 4. Matt said that he would forward items of potential updates about the city code (from Don Spencer) to Bill Kawecki and Jenny Selin. Page 5 of 7  o Membership voting protocol (Ex-Officio voting status) – discussion with Ryan Simonton: Matt met with Ryan to go over the procedural guidelines for our board, specifically Article II (membership), which currently states that “Representatives of the Transit Authority, the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners and other city departments or commissions may be invited to serve as ex-officio voting members”. Matt mentioned, however, that he has always considered them to be non-voting members. § Matt received approval from all of the ex-officio members to make their positions non-voting. § Matt further mentioned that members of this board are required to attend no less than 4 meetings per year. § Matt therefore proposed making the following amendment to this article: “Due to the lack of reaching quorums (50% of membership) for formal votes, all ex-officio representatives will be considered non-voting members.” 1. Bill moves that this amendment gets adopted; Penny seconds this motion 2. Passes unanimously (voice vote) o North Street sidewalk status: looks like it will happen next year – Matt to attend Wiles Hills Association meeting later this month V. New Business · Janet Fraser as a possible voting member: o Matt mentioned her involvement with engineering & thanked Janet for the paper she sent Matt from the State College area o Matt further reminded the Board of her great input at the meeting with Fred Shoukry about lead pedestrian intervals. § Matt then asked Bill Austin if we could promote this idea to the WV DOH and Bill said that it is being considered now in a test area. Bill then mentioned that the next public meeting will be in early December for the Beechurst study from 8th down to the waterfront. o Jimmie Simmons made a motion to add Janet Fraser as a member to the Board, George Lilley seconded the motion and the vote passed unanimously (voice vote). Janet Fraser is now a voting member of the Board. o 2009 was the Year of Active Transport and was the last year we had a t- shirt for the Board members to promote “walk more safely” · Center for Service Learning (CSL) – Matt said that he is planning on signing the contract with them tomorrow. o Jenny asked if the interns would work in pairs. o Matt stated his concern that in supervising a bunch of WVU students and mentioned that the Board’s involvement in CSL will be implemented next spring. o Jessica stated that the most realistic idea for the CSL intern would be to have them map out which sidewalk signals are working or not and then Page 6 of 7  have the students reach out to city/DOH to get the broken ones fixed. Jenny then suggested doing a similar project with street lights (working/not) and get them fixed as well. · Subcommittee Progress – BRIEFLY DISCUSSED o Intern: o Safe Routes to School: Tom/Sarah Bias have moved out of Morgantown. Christiaan or Vaike Haas might be able/interested in chairing this committee. o Crosswalks: o Lighting: o Traffic Calming: VI. Old Business – NOT DISCUSSED · Create SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time bound) goals for our Board o Lighting o Walking Signals · Comprehensive planning with the Bike Board/Mainstreet Morgantown/ Green Team VII. Upcoming Events – NOT DISCUSSED · Vote in December on officer positions? VIII. Reports · Mountain Line Maria Smith: no time for report · WVU Kim Hartsell: no time for report · Rail Trail Ella Belling: Ella mentioned that this past year, the MRTC was awarded an asphalt repair kit. She further explained that they are looking at applying this equipment around their trails and that this is from a grant they just received which was submitted under BOPARC (unless they hand it over to public works). · MPO Bill Austin: no time for report · City Engineer Damien Davis: absent · City Council Jenny Selin: no time for report · Police Captain McCabe: no time for report · Traffic Commission Matt Cross: no time for report IX. Action Items · Matt to forward list of city code improvement requests (from Don Spencer) to Jenny Selin and Bill Kawecki to review Next meeting: December 11, 2017, Training Room 1, Public Safety Building, 4:30 – 5:30 pm. Page 7 of 7