City Council Community Planning and Transportation Committee Meeting

CITY COUNCIL COMMUNITY PLANNING AND TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE MINUTES May 23, 2019 The City Council Community Planning and Transportation Committee of the City of Norman, Cleveland County, State of Oklahoma, met at 4:07 p.m. in the Conference Room on the 23rd day of May, 2019, and notice and agenda of the meeting were posted in the Municipal Building at 201 West Gray and the Norman Public Library at 225 North Webster 48 hours prior to the beginning of the meeting. PRESENT: Councilmembers Bierman, Scott, and Chairman Hickman ABSENT: Councilmembers Clark, Holman, and Wilson OTHERS PRESENT: Mayor Lynne Miller Mr. James Briggs, Park Planner Ms. Carrie Evenson, Stormwater Program Manager Mr. Kris Glenn, Director of Cleveland Area Rapid Transit (CART) Mr. Terry Floyd, Development Coordinator Ms. Jane Hudson, Interim Director of Planning and Community Development Ms. Sara Kaplan, Retail Coordinator Mr. Angelo Lombardo, Transportation Traffic Engineer Ms. Beth Muckala, Assistant City Attorney Mr. Shawn O’Leary, Director of Public Works Ms. Mary Rupp, Interim City Manager Ms. Regina Oliphant, Administrative Technician IV Item 1, being: CLEVELAND AREA RAPID TRANSIT (CART) RIDERSHIP REPORT INCLUDING SAFERIDE AND EXTENDED SERVICE FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL 2019. Mr. Kris Glenn, Director, Cleveland Area Rapid Transit (CART), highlighted CART Ridership Reports for April 2019, and said fiscal year-to-date ridership (July to April) had a decrease of 10.4% over the same period last year. In April, CART transported 110,547 passengers that included 624 riders who traveled with bicycles and 297 riders who traveled with wheelchairs. CARTaccess transported 2,909 riders in April, a decrease of 0.3% over the same month last year with an average daily ridership of 132 riders. Year-to-date primary zone ridership increased by 1.2% while secondary zone ridership decreased by 7.2%. Mr. Glenn highlighted March activities and said CART Staff continued to finalize its annual National Transit Database (NTD) report as required by the Federal Transit Agency (FTA). Staff is also preparing the Recipient Information Request (RIR) for its FTA Triennial Review. He said FTA will visit the site on July 10th and 11th. Community Planning and Transportation Committee Minutes May 23, 2019 Page 2 Item 1, continued: Chairman Hickman asked for an update on the bus system transition efforts and Mr. O’Leary said Staff is working hard to prepare a report for Council to be presented next Tuesday. He said CART has been very transparent about their operation, but there is not much to share at this time except that the Governor has granted the City of Norman as the recipient for the federal funding, which was the biggest hurdle and should take place July 1st. He said FTA has to give their approval and once that is achieved the City can move forward with a contract with the University of Oklahoma (OU) for the use of their CART facilities and with Embark to operate the bus system. Chairman Hickman asked if a delay is expected in service and Mr. O’Leary said the basic premise has been there will be no break in service during the transition. He said OU has stated they do not want to serve City bus routes beginning August 1st so it is the City’s goal to have everything completed prior to August 1st. Items submitted for the record 1. Cleveland Area Rapid Transit Monthly Report for April, 2019 ***** Item 2, being: ANNUAL UPDATE FROM THE BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE. Mr. Hal Cantwell, Chair of the Bicycle Advisory Committee, summarized definitions for bicycle transportation facilities as follows:  Bicycle Route – a street signed for bicycle use by sharing the roadway with motor vehicle traffic  Bicycle Lane – a portion of a roadway which has been designated by striping, signing, and pavement markings for the preferential or exclusive use of bicyclists  Bicycle Path or Shared Use Path – a bikeway physically separated from motorized vehicular traffic by an open space or barrier and either within the highway right-of-way or within an independent right-of-way. Shared use paths may also be used by pedestrians, skaters, wheelchair users, joggers, and other non-motorized users. Mr. Cantwell said most of the routes in Norman are “share-road” routes, which are broken down into either advanced or basic routes. Advanced routes are on streets with high volumes of auto traffic and are used by experienced riders who are comfortable in most any traffic condition. Basic routes are on streets with low to moderate traffic and lower speeds and are used for more casual or younger riders who are less confident in traffic without special provisions for bicycles. Mr. Angelo Lombardo, Transportation Traffic Engineer, said the Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) has a component that addresses the Bicycle Transportation Network in the City. He said the CTP is what the Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) uses to plan priorities and make recommendations to Council. Community Planning and Transportation Committee Minutes May 23, 2019 Page 3 Item 2, continued: Mr. Lombardo highlighted completed bicycle infrastructure projects that include new roadways and bicycle lanes on Lindsey Street between 24th Avenue S.W. and Pickard Avenue and 12th Avenue S.E. between Oak Tree Avenue and Cedar Lane Road; a new multimodal path on State Highway 9 between 24th Avenue S.E. and 36th Avenue S.E.; road diets on Rock Creek Road between 48th Avenue N.W. and Bishops Drive and Main Street between 48th Avenue West and Cherry Creek Road; and bike lane colorization on Brooks Street between Jenkins Avenue and Classen Boulevard and McGee Drive between State Highway 9 and Cherry Stone Drive. Upcoming projects include new roadways with bicycle lanes on 24th Avenue East between Lindsey Street and Robinson Street and 36th Avenue N.W. between Tecumseh Road and Indian Hills Road. New multi-modal paths on State Highway 9 between 36th Avenue S.E. and 48th Avenue S.E.; on 24th Avenue N.W. and 36th Avenue N.W. between Robinson Street and Tecumseh Road; on Constitution Street between Jenkins Avenue and Classen Boulevard; and Flood Avenue between Robinson Street and Tecumseh Road. Mr. Lombardo said 2019 Transportation Bond Projects that include bicycle infrastructure consists of 48th Avenue N.W. between Robinson Street and Tecumseh Road – two miles of bike lanes; Indian Hills Road between 48th Avenue N.W. and I-35 – one mile of bike lanes; Tecumseh Road between 12th Avenue N.E. and 24th Avenue N.E. - one mile of bike lanes; 24th Avenue N.E between Rock Creek Road and Tecumseh Road – one mile of bike lanes; Rock Creek Road between Queenston Road and 24th Avenue N.E. – one-half mile of bike lanes; Lindsey Street between Pickard Avenue and Jenkins Avenue – three-quarter miles of bike lanes; Cedar Lane Road between one-half mile east of 24th Avenue S.E. and 36th Avenue S.E. – one-half mile of bike lanes; 36th Avenue S.E. between Cedar Lane Road and State Highway 9 East – one mile of bike lanes; and Jenkins Avenue between Timberdell Road and Lindsey Street – one-half mile of multi-modal paths. Mr. Lombardo said the State Highway 9 multi-modal path will be 10 feet wide and run 15 miles along the north side of Highway 9 to connect urban Norman with Lake Thunderbird State Park. The Legacy Trail multi-modal path will be 10 feet wide and 20 miles long to connect Downtown Norman to OU Campus and Downtown Norman with the northwest part of the City that will include University North Park (UNP) and Ruby Grant Park. There is also a future plan to connect Legacy Trail with the State Highway 9 multi-modal path. Mr. James Briggs, Park Planner, said last year Staff updated the Committee on the Bike Skills Course to be located in parkland at 24th Avenue S.E. and Lindsey Street. He said the design and construction was approved by the Parks Board using Room Tax Funds. He said Progressive Bike Ramps (PBR) was hired for the design, construction, and installation of equipment. Two public meetings were held for public input with a presentation of the design to the Parks Board in October 2018. He said completion of “Creekside Bike Park” is anticipated in July with a grand opening to follow. He said Creekside Bike Park really takes advantage of the park’s terrain and will include a bike playground (low impact features for beginners) and graduates to the jump line, drop zone, technical skills area, and several bank and roll areas. The Bike Park will offer a variety of features for multiple skill levels for bicycles, skateboards, and even wheelchairs. Community Planning and Transportation Committee Minutes May 23, 2019 Page 4 Item 2, continued: Mayor Miller asked if these types of parks have a problem with drawing so many people that they have long wait times to try the different courses and Mr. Briggs said it is similar to the Skate Park or Disc Golf where people pretty much self-regulate the use. He said this is a smaller in-town version of Thunderbird Trails at Lake Thunderbird and if people want to practice their skills all day they will probably go to Thunderbird Trails. Councilmember Bierman said the neighborhoods near the Bike Park are very excited to have this in their area. Mr. Briggs said Norman is a Bicycle Friendly Community and that determination is made by The League of American Bicyclists and is a badge of honor. The League’s Bicycle Friendly American (BFA) program provides a roadmap, hands-on assistance, and recognition of states, communities, universities, and businesses. The BFA program is a tool for states, communities, businesses, and universities to make bicycling a real transportation and recreation option for all people. The bicycle friendly levels are Diamond, Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Mr. Briggs said Norman submitted its first application in 2008 and was encouraged to make further improvements before any designation could be made. The second application was submitted in 2009 and Norman received an Honorable Mention Status. The League of American Bicyclists indicated the two most important items Norman needed to work on were 1) Adopt a Complete Streets Policy and 2) expand Safe Routes to School Programming and create a plan to implement more in-school bike education. They also suggested increasing the number of arterial streets with bike lanes, increasing cycling opportunities and training adults via League Certified Instructors, collecting more bike crash and usage data and further integrating cycling in new construction and planning. The third application was submitted in 2011 and Norman received Bronze Level Status (effective for five years) and feedback indicated the need to continue to increase on-street bicycle facilities, increase targeted enforcement from law enforcement, adopt a Complete Street Policy, consider a bike share program or bike fleet and have provisions for ongoing training for Staff. The fourth application was submitted in 2016, and the result was Bronze Level Status (effective four years) and feedback compared Norman’s status in 10 key areas compared to the average “Silver Level” community. The largest gaps in comparison were seen in categories of percentages of transportation budget spent on bicycling, arterial streets with bike lanes, and enforcement. The BAC is using the 2016 feedback to guide goals and objectives. Norman has a four year Bronze Level Status designation that expires in 2021; however, the League will accept a re-application at any time during that period and will review Norman’s status if the BAC feels the benchmarks are being met to attain a higher level of designation. Mayor Miller asked how many other cities have 190 square miles like Norman because that makes it difficult for Norman to meet criteria for Silver Level Status. Mr. Lombardo said feedback from the first application indicated the need for bike lanes so in 2009, the City introduced bike lanes on collector streets and the City continues to add bike lanes on every major roadway project. He said most of the communities that have Silver Level Status have a Staff person dedicated to promoting and managing bicycle related functions of the bicycle transportation system. Community Planning and Transportation Committee Minutes May 23, 2019 Page 5 Item 2, continued: Mr. Cantwell said the BAC will continue to expand activities over the next couple of years that include Bike to Work Day; Bike to School Day; Bike Rodeos for Children; Open Streets collaboration (information booths, education activities, and bike rides); Earth Day participation; advocated for approval of 2019 Transportation Bond issue; public meeting participation during development of the Bike Skills Course; advocating to add bicycle lanes in road diet project; League Certified Instructor status for BAC members; assisting with “City Ride” during Norman Conquest; and representation of BAC and Association of Central Oklahoma Government (ACOG) for a Pedestrian Advisory Committee. Mr. Cantwell said Norman Conquest is one of the premier ride events in the entire nation and Oklahoma is recognized for that. Mr. Lombardo said 600 people participated in the last City Ride Norman Conquest event. Mr. Cantwell said during 2019 and 2020, the BAC will focus on promoting the Bike Skills Park; collaborating with Norman Police Department on new Adult Bicyclist Safety Training Program; participating in public meetings and provide input into the design of the 2019 Transportation Bond Projects; and begin preparation of the next Bicycle Friendly Community application for Silver Level Status. Councilmember Bierman said there has been a lot of community concern regarding a bicyclist’s death at 72nd Avenue and Post Oak Road as well as the large support for bicycling on rural roads. She said drivers need to be more aware of bicycles because the rural roads are hilly and the speed limit is high so education of driver’s needs more attention. Councilmember Bierman said she receives complaints from bicyclists regarding the green paint on bike lanes because debris sticks to the rough textured paint and bicyclists have experienced flat tires. She just wanted Staff to be aware of this problem and Mr. Lombardo said the bike lanes need the texture for friction otherwise the bike lanes would be very slick, especially when wet. He said roadways drain to the gutter and debris or dirt along with the water gets pushed to the bike lane area and it has been a bit of growing pains for Staff to figure out how to property clean the bike lanes. The manufacturer said street sweepers should not be used because the rotating broom damages the bike lane material. He said Staff is aware of the problem and trying to find ways to address it. Councilmember Bierman said concrete barriers are becoming a popular trend in delineating between the roadway and bike lane. She said these barriers can address distracted drivers more than anything else because when a vehicle hits a concrete barrier it will have totally different result than just drifting onto the bike lane. Mr. Briggs said Diamond, Gold, and Platinum Level Status cities have these barriers, but they are expensive and specialized equipment is needed to clean the bike lanes. Councilmember Bierman said a constituent is concerned about the speed limit on 24th Avenue N.E. that is 40 or 45 miles per hour from Lindsey Street to Highway 9 and 40 miles per hour from Lindsey Street to Robinson Street then 35 miles per hour approaching Hall Park where it becomes four lanes. He wanted to know what the speed limit will be once 24th Avenue N.E. is widened and hoped it would be 35 miles per hour. Mr. Lombardo said the speed limit on 24th Avenue N.E. is standard for arterial roads and believes it would be hard to get people to drive 35 miles per hour on a four lane road with high volumes of traffic, but would love to continue this conversation outside of this meeting. Community Planning and Transportation Committee Minutes May 23, 2019 Page 6 Item 2, continued: Items submitted for the record 1. PowerPoint entitled, “Bicycle Advisory Committee Annual Update,” Community Planning and Transportation Committee dated May 23, 2019 ***** Item 3, being: DISCUSSION REGARDING PARKING REQUIREMENTS. Mr. Terry Floyd, Development Coordinator, said Staff has found that parking requirements and low impact development (LID) are interrelated so Ms. Carrie Evenson, Stormwater Program Manager, will talk about that tonight. Ms. Evenson said when Staff was looking at current parking requirements they realized landscaping and Low Impact Development (LID) requirements go hand in hand. She said parking requirements could impact landscaping, which in turn could potentially impact LID and green infrastructure. She said taking a holistic look at the City’s ordinances and requirements and finding those barriers to green infrastructure may give Staff an idea of what variances or modifications to parking requirements or landscaping requirements could be offered as an incentive for green infrastructure. She said Dr. Jason Vogel, Director of the Oklahoma Water Survey and Associate Professor with the School of Civil Engineering and Environment Sciences at the University of Oklahoma (OU), is the local expert on green infrastructure and is working with the City of Tulsa to develop low impact design and green infrastructure design standards for a future incentive program. She talked to Dr. Vogel about ways to build the design manual to offer incentives through variances, parking, and landscaping instead of monetary incentives. She said Staff does not have the time or resources to holistically review the ordinances and requirements so Staff is hoping Council will allow Dr. Vogel to help with this process. Mr. Floyd said this process will require a robust scope of work and Staff would like to develop that scope of work for a Request for Quotation (RFQ) and bring that back to the Committee. Would the Committee like to review the RFQ ahead of it going out or should Staff bring in a contract for the work? Chairman Hickman asked if this scope of work would include reviewing engineering ordinances and Ms. Evenson said yes, it fits the holistic idea to look at engineering design criteria. Chairman Hickman said the City’s engineering design criteria needs to be updated and doing that could make engineering design criteria more challenging to builders and developers, but if they could get relief by doing LID projects it would seem it would all work together. He said a holistic approach makes sense, but the City needs to understand that if engineering design criteria is more restrictive there may be pushback from the business community. Ms. Evenson said stakeholder meetings could be included in the scope of work for feedback and educating the community on potential changes could begin. Chairman Hickman said possible incentives could be added to the public discussions for additional feedback. Mayor Miller said during the Center City Form Based Code (CCFBC) Administrative Delay meetings she heard builders and developers say that if they cannot do something then they want alternatives to do it another way. She can only see good things in involving them in discussions because many of them are willing to try different ways of doing things, but they want guidelines and alternatives. Community Planning and Transportation Committee Minutes May 23, 2019 Page 7 Item 3, continued: Chairman Hickman does see how this all ties to parking requirements because parking lots deal with a lot of impervious surface, but he is not sure what other ordinances may come into play and how to define that scope. He said being as holistic as possible is the best approach so he would caution Staff to err on the side of being more inclusive than less inclusive in what the City wants on the table for consideration. Ms. Evenson said bringing in an expert like Mr. Vogel would help because he may think of things that Staff may not catch. Mr. Floyd said another benefit of the review will be working out ways of maintaining LID projects once the builder/developer has moved on. Ms. Evenson said Mr. Vogel is working with Tulsa to develop an operation and maintenance manual, i.e., if you put in this rain garden according to our standards then here is what you need to be do to maintain it. Chairman Hickman asked members if they wanted the scope of work to come back to the Committee or if the scope of work could be emailed to Council for feedback. Councilmember Bierman said an email is fine with her because she does not want this process to be delayed for another month and Councilmembers concurred. Chairman Hickman felt this process should be open to the public so citizens can see the City is genuinely working on a holistic approach to update its Codes and being low impact development friendly. They will also understand this program is voluntary, not mandatory and it will soon become the norm. Chairman Hickman said he still wants the Committee to have a conversation about on-street parking permits. Items submitted for the record 1. Memorandum dated May 17, 2019, from Jane Hudson, Interim Planning and Community Development Director, Carrie Evenson, Stormwater Program Manager, Terry Floyd, Development Coordinator, to Mayor and City Council ***** Item 4, being: MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS. None. ***** The meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.