Complete Streets Advisory Board

SARATOGA SPRINGS COMPLETE STREETS ADVISORY BOARD MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 5:00 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL ATTENDEES: STEVE GODLEWSKI, COLIN KLEPETAR, DOUGLAS HALLER, MAUREEN ROBERTS, TED OROSZ, AND ROB WRIGHT. STAFF: 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 5:05 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENT-15 MINUTES None APPROVAL OF MINUTES-09/3/2017 Ted Orosz brought to the committee’s attention the misspelling of his name in the meeting minutes. Tina Carton stated that she would correct the spelling. The committee voted to approve the meeting minutes with the corrections. Maureen Roberts moved and Ken Grey seconded to approve the minutes. Ayes - All UPDATE ON COMPLETE STREETS WORKSHOP Tina Carton gave an update on the status of the complete streets workshop. Kate Maynard has been working with CDTC and Ithaca to present information to City Council on current funding opportunities as well as processes that other municipalities finance and plan complete streets improvements. Originally planned as a stand-alone workshop, the workshop will be a City Council presentation at the 9/19 City Council meeting. The City has been struggling with scheduling Ithaca’s participation and they now will be participating via Skype. Ithaca will be presenting on their sidewalk program. This program moves away from burdening individual property owners with the entire cost of sidewalk installation and maintenance for sidewalks adjoining their property and instead Ithaca created 5 Sidewalk Improvement 1 Districts (SID) funded by an annual sidewalk assessment fee. When Tina Carton finds out more information, she will update the board. UPDATE ON COMPLETE STREETS POLICY Tina Carton again updated the committee that the plan is currently on hold pending DPS, DPW, and Finance departments understanding of the cost implications. Kate Maynard is hopeful that the Complete Streets presentation at City Council will help to resolve some of the one going questions about funding Complete Streets and the approving the policy. UPDATE ON DOWNTOWN CONNECTOR PROJECT Tina Carton updated the board that eight (8) RFP responses had been received. The City then created an internal ranking committee with membership from DPW, DPS, and the Mayor’s office. The selection committee did make the final determination of the consultant for the preliminary and final engineering and will share the information after the DEC contract has been approved by City Council. The DEC contract is expected to be on the next city council meeting for a vote to approve the contract. The Chamber of Commerce is holding an event on September 14th from 5:30 pm until 7:00 pm to introduce businesses along the corridor to the project. Kathleen Fyfe worked with Alta Planning and compiled a list of over 200 businesses. Committee members are encouraged to come to the event and help celebrate. UPDATE ON GEYSER ROAD TRAIL Tina Carton updated the board on the eminent domain proceedings and latest status of the Geyser Road project. UPDATE ON USE OF MAYOR’S COMPLETE STREETS FUNDING: DOWNTOWN EXTENDER Tina Carton finalized the RFP for final engineering for the Downtown Extender (Lake Avenue to Congress Park and Congress Park to Railroad Run Complete Street improvements). The Downtown Extender engineering drawings were requested to assist City departments implement “shovel ready” improvements in this corridor. Funding for the engineering of this corridor would be paid through the Mayor’s 2017 Complete Streets Capital budget line. Tina Carton will be working with the planning office to pull surveys as backup to the RFP as well as add the Lake Avenue traffic improvement study as backup with the goal of lowering the overall price prior to release of this RFP. OTHER BUSINESS DPS Public Forum: Commissioner Chris Mathiesen announced the Public Safety Department will host a Public Safety Forum at 7 p.m. on Sept. 13 in the City Council Room at City Hall. The focus of the forum is “zombie properties”. Members of the community can interact with police, fire, and code enforcement personnel. This may also be an opportunity to voice Complete Street concerns. Safe Routes to School: Tina Carton updated the committee on the progress of the Geyser Road Safe Routes to School project. The new sidewalk on the south side of Geyser Road is scheduled to be poured in the next few weeks. The concrete sidewalk will then connect to a crosswalk with a traffic signal that will lead to the front door of the school. After the last remaining sidewalk section is poured, the traffic 2 signal will go live and Geyser Elementary School will officially change their policy and let children safely walk to school. Saratoga Library: Tina Carton updated the committee that Doug Haller representing Bikeatoga was able to secure a number of volunteers to help clean up Railroad Run trail. The volunteers will be on Railroad Run September 15th and assist with removing limbs and brush which is starting to grow into the trail and impact bicyclist and walkers. Tina Carton worked with the Accounts Department, DPW, and the City Attorney to create volunteer forms so this type of trail clean-up projects is memorialized and can also happen in the future. ADJOURN The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 p.m. NEXT MEETING: SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 5TH AT 5 PM IN CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS. 3