Streets & Roads Commission

STREETS AND ROADS COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021 7:00 PM VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE THIS MEETING WILL BE BROADCAST LIVE AT https://www.facebook.com/TownofMountAiry/ I. CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE 3/2/2021 Meeting called to order at 7:22pm. In attendance: Chairwoman Lynne Galletti, Mary Hushour, Mary Beth Obremski, Jonathan Samayoa, Luci Riegel, and Councilwoman Patty Washabaugh. II. APPROVAL OF PRIOR COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES – Meeting Minutes- No changes to the minutes- Motion to approve made by Lynne Galletti and 2nd by Mary Hushour. Minutes approved unanimously. III. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT – Town Election will be held on May 3rd. There will be two nomination meetings. Monday, March 8th at 7pm and Monday, March 15th at 7:00pm. They will be at the Mt. Airy Fireman Reception Hall at the carnival grounds. There will be socially distance and can also watch on Facebook Live. Any town resident can be nominated by someone by providing a letter for them. Three seats that are up for election. The Mayor and two Town Council seats. They are the seats of Patty Washabaugh and Larry Hushour. The town is doing paper ballots, and this will allow anyone who is registered to vote to vote by absentee ballot. You must request one. They are available April 12 th. You can mail in your ballot or drop it off in the Town Hall drop box. Ballots must be received by May 3rd at 5:00pm. At the Town Council meeting last night, we passed the Developer Rights and Responsibilities Ordinance. This is for larger developments coming to town. This document will show all the rights and responsibilities for the developer. This is a road map of what the development will look like. If any new APFO guidelines are adopted, they will not apply to someone who has already completed the document. This is fair for the developer. Also gives the town a guideline to make sure the developer is following the plan. The council passed the budget amendment for the Hometown Heroes Banner Program. Previously they had phase one for 60 banners. The new plan is for 30 banners. They did have money left from last year’s budget and they wanted to make sure the funds were used. Some of the funds were donated by the American Legion and the VFW. $5,250.00 will go to the EDC budget and it will be used. The families are paying for the majority of the banners and in the end the town will be expending $800.00 for the 30 banners. The program is open now and the website will have the information and the application. The program is open until March 26th or March 31st if more time is needed. They want the banners back the 2nd week of May so they will be up my Memorial Day. For the next two years all the banners will be up. If the committee wants to do it again 2023 the banners will be taken down and given to the families. We may do something different like first responders or something like that. Contact Town Hall or the town website for all the information. There will be a Ava’s Relay May 15th and 16th. Octoberfest is slated for September 25th. This is subject to change. There is a new inclusive park at Watkins Park where the old skate park was located. This is specifically for disabled children and adults that couldn’t use the current play equipment at the park. The park needs to be named. If you have any creative ideas, please reach out to Councilwoman Pamela Reed with your name. IV. Staff Updates-Barney Quinn is doing a kickoff meeting for initial design of the roundabout in town. They are looking at the June meeting to have the drawing done. Town Engineer Barney Quinn wanted to know if we wanted look at drawings before they are presented to the Council. Barney said we could aim for the May 4th meeting to have some drawings. Chairwoman Galletti asked to go ahead send us what they had for our May meeting and if after the meeting there are substantial changes, you can email them to us to discuss. Councilwoman Washabaugh asked Engineer Barney Quinn for clarification of the road improvements of Ridgeside Drive and South Main Street to see if he is 100% comfortable with the outcome of that plan. He asked if she is talking about forcing people to make that right turn. Her issue is the more about what is happening with the island that is placed there. Is it going to be high enough and to make sure no one runs over it? Barney is confident that the island will be clearly marked to avoid issued during bad weather and be wide enough for snowplows to plow the area. V. COMMUNITY CONCERNS/CITIZENS COMMENTS TO NON-AGENDA ITEMS- Question from Alice Raskin about having us look at the Lisbon roundabout. Chairwoman Galletti also noted that the we could look at the Manchester Roundabout. VI. OLD BUSINESS a) Speed and Traffic Studies: None to report today due to inclement weather. The studies that are still out are: • Summer Sweet and Bridlewreath • Rising Ridge @ Leafy Hollow • Riding Ridge @ Village Gate • Rising Ridge at Deer Hollow • Beck Dr. (Now and in the summer) b) Route 27 Corridor Study- SHA-Chairwoman Galletti emailed Chief Reitz and waiting to hear back about the study. Action Item: Chairwomen Galletti will follow up with Chief Reitz. c) Buffalo Road Speeding. -Chairwoman Galletti contacted town staff and Barney Quinn added the Chief Reitz will see if he can forward to the proper authority. Action Item: Remove from agenda. d) E. Ridgeville Blvd. No Parking Recommendation. -No update from town staff because of the weather. Town is handling this from here. Action Item: Remove from agenda. e) Crosswalk across Prospect at Rising Ridge-Chairwoman Galletti asked Barney Quinn for input. The traffic that approaches the intersection is coming down hill and doesn’t have a lot of  visibility. May need to make it an all-way stop to make it safe for any crosswalk. This is initial thinking and waiting for consultant on that. Action Item-Remove from Agenda. f) Rising Ridge Road Speeding – No traffic Studies. Wait for the May meetings. Action Item- Waiting for Traffic Studies. VII. NEW BUSINESS a) Master Plan-Councilwoman Washabaugh said that every 10 years the town reviews the Master Plan. They usually look at it about the time it is supposed to updated which is 2023. This pro- active group would like to start the discussions now so that something can be approved. The planning commission is beginning to have workshops now to discuss the masterplan. They would like the Chairperson and the backup Chairperson attend these workshops so that all the commissions are aware of how the town may change some of the zoning and they can bring issues to the table to discuss changes. Chairwoman Galletti said that this also gives the public ample time to learn how the Master Plan is developed. Councilwoman shared the timeline from the Planning Commission that shows the areas that our commission will take part in. Chairwoman asked Barney Quinn if the adopted initiatives are old ideas or new ideas? Barney Quinn said that all the information is from the 2013 Masterplan. It is now here for us to look at either changing or updating these goals. They want our commission’s input about Speed Camera deployment at school zones and traffic rotaries to help with uninterrupted traffic flow and various other items. This is listed on the Comprehensive Masterplan Matrix. Councilwoman Washabaugh mentioned if anyone owns a piece of property and you are hoping to rezone your property, this is your time to come to the town and petition for the change before they finalize of the Masterplan in 2023. We will look through the documents and then give our feedback to the Planning Commission. *** Jean Vaccarino asked if this Masterplan was available to the public? It is. The 2013 plan is available to the public. The Plan is on the town website. *** Online submittal form-Citizen Input from website- Washabaugh mentioned that on 12/6/18 Alan Ferrero traffic light at Ridgeville that there needs to be a left turn. She would like to keep this on file. Also the Route 27 speed limit is being reviewed and we are waiting to hear from the chief about this. We are also waiting for traffic studies that are mentioned in the old business to update other items. • One question came in about the traffic light at Gillis Falls Rd and this is out of town limits. We will notify the resident that this is not in our jurisdiction. • The crosswalk at Mt. Airy Middle School is still being discussed. There has been a lot of talk about this crosswalk. The crosswalk was moved up the new entrance to the school. The old crosswalk was still there and wasn’t a working crosswalk. Councilwoman Washabaugh asked about keeping the crosswalk at the bottom. Town Engineer Barney Quinn stated that the old crosswalk was eliminated and was painted blank, but the paint wore off and it isn’t ADA  complaint. The best idea for a second one would be to place one at the intersection at the entrance to Parr’s Ridge. Barney Quinn said they can remove the yellow lines by having someone blast the yellow lines off. The new one at the intersection would be an ADA complaint crosswalk. Town Engineer Quinn will get back to us by the next meeting. • September 29th Rachal Rinehart sent in an online submittal and asked to speak to someone about the speeding on her street in Twin Ridge and on January 21st another form came in to commend Lynne for reaching out to her and listening to her concerns and telling her that a speed study had been ordered. Great job Chairwoman Galletti. VIII. ADJOURNMENT Member Mary Hushour motioned to adjourn the meeting and Chairwoman Lynne Galletti seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 8:21pm. The next meeting date is May 4th, 2021 at 7:00pm.