Complete Streets Advisory Board

SARATOGA SPRINGS COMPLETE STREETS ADVISORY BOARD MEETING MINUTES MAY 4, 2017 5:00 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL ATTENDEES: STEVE GODLEWSKI, KEN GREY, DOUGLAS HALLER, LOU SCHNEIDER, COLIN KLEPETAR, MAUREEN ROBERTS, AND TINA CARTON. ABSENT: ROB WRIGHT PUBLIC: NONE MEETING MINUTES ARE NOT A WORD-FOR-WORD TRANSCRIPT. CALL TO ORDER: Steve Godlewski called the meeting to order at 5:02 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENT-15 MINUTES None APPROVAL OF MINUTES-03/16/2017 No discussion, Lou Schneider moved and Ken Grey seconded to approve the minutes. Ayes - All UPDATE ON COMPLETE STREETS POLICY Steve Godlewski provided an update on the status of the Complete Streets Policy. He stated that Kate Maynard is working internally to have the policy reviewed by other departments. UPDATE ON PAVING SCHEDULE The committee discussed the paving memo received on April 4th and the need to prioritize Complete Streets work into the paving schedule. Steve and Tina Carton meet earlier in the week to discuss the paving schedule and review the Complete Streets Plan for opportunities to implement sidewalk and bike path improvements. Steve then shared with the committee the opportunities street by street. The committee then discussed creating a memo for Department of Public Safety and Public Works to communicate these opportunities and highlight the committee’s priorities. Steve volunteered to draft the memo and will share it with the committee in the coming weeks. UPDATE ON CDTA BIKESHARE AND TROLLEY 1 CDTA requested information on the location of bike racks in the City. Tina Carton sent an email to DPW asking if they had mapped locations of City owned bike racks and to ask if all of them had been installed for 2017. As of the May meeting, DPW had not responded to the email. In addition, Tina Carton followed up with the Chamber of Commerce to see if they knew of any businesses downtown interested in installing racks that currently do not have them. Todd Shimkus stated that he will work on trying to get this information. ALETTA STREET CONNECTOR The City and Empire State College are in the process of finalizing an easement to the City to construct the trail. The property transfer may take a year to complete. Sadie Ross from Empire State College presented to the City a legal mechanism, a revocable permit, which would allow the City to move forward with work on the Aletta Street Connector to Railroad Run prior to finalization of the easement. Tina Carton brought this idea to the committee. The committee agreed that it was doubtful that the City would be comfortable with this approach until it had full ownership of the property. DISCUSSION ON 2017 CFA FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES Tina Carton provided an update on the Downtown Connector as well as 2017 CFA opportunities. The Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation (OPRHP) – Recreational Trails Program (RTP) provides funds to states to develop and maintain recreational trails for both motorized and non-motorized recreational trail use. Funding is available for the maintenance and restoration of existing recreational trails, development and rehabilitation of trailside and trailhead facilities and trail linkages for recreational trails, purchase and lease of recreational trail construction and maintenance equipment, construction of new recreational trails, acquisition of easements and fee simple title to property for recreational trails or recreational trail corridors, and assessment of trail conditions for accessibility and maintenance. Grants can fund up to 80% of the total project cost, or, up to 95% if the applicant is a federal agency. The minimum grant award for restoration, development and property acquisition projects is $25,000. The minimum equipment purchase award is $5,000. All grant awards are capped at $200,000. Should project costs increase post award, the grant award will not be adjusted upward. In addition, the Climate Smart Communities Program released the same grant that the City was awarded in 2017. This grant focuses on the need for the reduction of Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT). It would allow the City to implement projects or programs that reduce VMT such as the: Construction of on-road or off-road facilities for non-motorized forms of transportation that connect municipal activity and population centers for the purpose of facilitating access to daily needs (i.e., non-recreational uses), the implementation of transit improvements that have the potential to substantially increase ridership, and implementation of projects or programs to reduce distances commuted in individual gas-powered vehicles, such as densification or smart growth strategies that specifically target VMT. ADJOURN AT 6 P.M. The meeting was adjourned at 6 p.m.  NEXT MEETING: SCHEDULED FOR JULY 6TH AT 5 PM IN CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS. 2