Pedestrian Safety Board

Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board Meeting Minutes Public Safety Building – Training Room 1 4:30 – 5:30 PM December 11, 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: 7 members is 50% of our 14 total members): Matt Cross, Stan Cohen, Bill Reger-Nash, Jimmie Simmons, Penny Kotska, Jessica Bladow, and Jen MacDonald Ex-officio: Captain McCabe, Alex Stockdale, Bill Austin, and Jenny Selin Guest: William Blosser Absent: Christiaan Abildso, Gypsie Denzine, Jan Derry, Dwight Harshbarger, George Lilley, Janet Fraser, Daniel Shook, Maria Smith, Kim Hartsell, Ella Belling, Amy Boggs, and Drew Gatlin II. Bill Austin requested an adjustment to the November meeting minutes to clarify that the MPO is responsible for updating the Pedestrian Safety Plan. Jessica will make this adjustment to the minutes. Approval of November 13, 2017 Minutes with adjustment. Motion by Jimmie Simmons second by Penny Kostka (unanimous voice vote). III. Officer’s Reports · Matt 1. Walk to School update – Vaike Haas is a great resource · Could present safety bullets (walk facing traffic, wear bright colors in dark, etc.) · Matt proposed possibility of promoting Walking Club at schools · Penny said we could give students a questionnaire and Jenny said we could ask them what would help their walk · Jimmie asked if we could put something in the long range plan to observe changes of walking routes o Plan to support a walking club when we have enough students o Matt/Jenny said we could ask students what their walking route is · Matt asked Captain McCabe what the limits of school zones are and Captain McCabe said it depends on a lot of factors, like school size and surrounding conditions; so, there is no set radius. Page 1 of 4  · Alex asked if we had a Ped. Board budget line item – and it was clarified that the Ped. Board only has a sidewalk fund · Alex said that bike shares are composed of a bike and pedestrian shared lane and get striped as a multi-use path (the sharrows are 6” white thermoplastic markings) and will not take away parking in these areas · Bill RN made a motion: “The Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board supports the establishment and marking of walking/biking routes throughout the Suncrest area in conjunction with the City of Morgantown and the Bike Board.” second by Stan Cohen unanimous voice vote o Alex just needs us to say where we want to put the walking routes – could have ~700LF of ped. route o Captain McCabe suggested that he meet with Alex, Jenny, and Matt sometime in the next 2 weeks to review the plan (for the TAP grant) and drive the streets that could be impacted by the plan · Jenny said we should look at the Pedestrian Safety Plan à may need/want sidewalk on Krepps street · Captain McCabe suggested to Jenny to propose to council to close Krepps Rd for 30-45 minutes in the morning for school drop offs – there needs to be a crosswalk at Krepps for the students · Bill RN prposed a motion: “the Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board recommends morning closing of the section of Krepps Street adjacent to the Suncrest Middle School with the installation of crosswalks” Matt seconds this motion; unanimous voice vote 2. Matt mentioned that WVU DOH light got fixed on University Ave where the student got hit just before our November meeting · Jessica 1. Christiaan’s feedback via email: · Some South Park residents received letters from the City to improve their sidewalks. He noted that there was no mention of cost sharing or coordination assistance from the City in the letter. Alex responded saying that she mailed these letters out to the residents on Park & Grant Streets. o Jessica asked: What about the money that Jenny mentioned at the last meeting? Can we access the fund for subsidizing City sidewalk repairs? o Jenny said we need to make a sidewalk program to access this money, which would need to be passed through council and we would need to know the condition of the sidewalks for a cost sharing program – Jenny and Alex to get together to tackle this and try to get the City Manager on board with a program to use these funds o Alex noted that the plan is for the City to start taking care of sidewalks in 10 years. So, Alex wants to propose that in Page 2 of 4  the meantime (between now and ~2028), residents can apply to redo their sidewalks and get some limited funding from the City if their applications get approved. Alex suggested having a city labor core (so that sidewalks would only cost $1200 for 11 SY) which is much more reasonable than $10,000 which is what it would cost a contractor § Jenny mentioned that when we used City labor before it was not efficient or good quality – we would need to do better at hand selecting the crew to make the city labor program work well § Alex said this past summer Thrasher Engineering were contracted to do the inspection work and noted that the City pays $2k for each ADA ramp. · Christiaan also mentioned that Damien has a sidewalk rating that is a few years old o It was noted that the sidewalk assessment is from 2015. · Christiaan further wanted to remind everyone that the $1/LF sidewalk fee did not get passed; so, now we must advocate for sidewalks using the $3/week user fee o Jenny said that roads are a priority for the user fee fund, although technically the fee is written to be for improvements within the right of way; so, it legally could be used for sidewalks, but there’s not enough money in the fund to be used for this now. o Alex said that she received a TAP grant for the sidewalk on Dorsey, but won’t have access to the funds until later. · Alex explained the sidewalk letter process: o First, the letters are prompted by a complaint that is brought to the City about the sidewalks. o Next, the initial letter (which takes at least one week to prepare) is sent out to the property owners. o Finally, 6 months after the initial letter, the City sends a reminder letter. o Alex noted that after this second letter, it becomes hard to enforce the sidewalk repairs. Luckily, most owners end up fixing their sidewalks because they don’t want to deal with the City and have a lean posted against their property. 2. Dan Shook’s update · Blue Zones is looking to partner with Morgantown; he has meetings to discuss specifics this week and will keep us posted on how the meetings go. IV. Action Item Follow-up – NOT DISCUSSED · Matt: o City code & funding mechanisms Page 3 of 4  o Snow Removal Assistance Program à Neighborhood Coordinating Council (NCC) V. New Business – NOT DISCUSSED · Gather observations for sidewalks that need repair. Bring recommendations for an initial list that specifies portions of sidewalks and their exact location(s). · New logo/phrase ideas for the Ped. Board? o Walk more safely · Subcommittee Progress: o Intern: o Safe Routes to School: o Crosswalks: o Lighting: o Traffic Calming: · Develop a list of projects for CSL (Center for Service Learning) assistance 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 · Sidewalk Improvement Incentives: wait for MPO report before further discussion VII. Upcoming Events · Vote in December on officer positions? – send nominations to Matt; we will vote in January VIII. Reports · Mountain Line Maria Smith: absent · WVU Kim Hartsell: absent · Rail Trail Ella Belling: absent · MPO Bill Austin: no time to report · City Engineer Damien Davis: Alex · City Council Jenny Selin: no time to report · Police Captain McCabe: nothing to report · Traffic Commission Matt Cross: no time to report IX. Action Items · Matt to work with Andrew Stacey to create logo for Dan Shook · Jenny and Alex to work together to create sidewalk program to access sidewalk repair subsidy fund Next meeting: January 8, 2018, Training Room 1, Public Safety Building, 4:30 – 5:30 pm. Page 4 of 4