Complete Streets Advisory Board

SARATOGA SPRINGS COMPLETE STREETS ADVISORY BOARD MEETING MINUTES DECEMBER 8, 2022 5:00 P.M. CITY HALL AND ZOOM ATTENDEES: CHAIR KEN GREY, VICE CHAIR, TED OROSZ , SUZANNE JAGODA, MIKE KING, JEN NATYZAK, STAFF: JEN DUNN, MICHAEL DUTRE ABSENT: JAMES KELLEY , ERIN MACIEL MEETING MINUTES ARE NOT A WORD-FOR-WORD TRANSCRIPT. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. APPROVAL OF DECEMBER MINUTES: The December minutes were approved. Job Announcement for Tina Carton’s Vacant Position: Chair Grey requested the attendees to send the posting to anyone qualified for the position. Ideally someone with open spaces, complete streets and an urban planning background. Distribute Projects and Activities List for Consideration: Chair Grey asked if anyone from the board had opinions on the project list he distributed via email that outlined past projects and ideas for the next 3-5 years. Mike King said the board should be proud that they have done a lot and their future goals look great. Chair Grey mentioned a recent Times Union Editorial that discussed how American streets have changed since WWII to serve the automobile rather than pedestrians and cyclists. The article explains that it was a mistake to only cater to cars but a fixable mistake as many communities are finding solutions. The piece closes with a caution to avoid just painting bike lane stripes as it simply isn’t enough. Mike King cited a recent Bloomberg News article about how The City of Jersey City has gone a full year without a single traffic fatality because they take CS seriously. Jen Natyzak agreed that the key to multimodal success is investing in CS infrastructure as a community. Chair Grey asked that Michael Dutre to confirm that the agendas and minutes for CS are uploaded to the city website. 1 Union Avenue Discussion and Public Comment: Ted Orosz reminded everyone to keep their comments under 2 minutes and to minimize back and forth in the interest of time. Subsequent, the CSAB agreed to keep the meeting open for public comment and CSAB responses to Mike King’s presentation in lieu of agenda plans to discussion Union Ave just amongst CS members to allow for an open exchange of opinions and suggestions. Heidi West stated that Union Ave neighbors are curious what the plan and process is. Chair Grey responded that CS is an advisory board with no authority and the City is the decision maker. JMT was hired by the city as a consultant to conduct traffic research. Mike King is helping CS present to City Council on the team’s recommendations with input from the public. Suzanne Jagoda had concerns that the Union Ave residents aren’t being heard in time for Mike King’s presentation to the CC. Jen Dunn clarified that there is no vote on the CC agenda and it’s only going to be a 10-minute presentation. She explained that CS as a plan was adopted in 2016 then reapproved in 2020. So it’s a part of local government responsibility to realize these goals. Chair Grey agreed that nothing is being decided on at this time and the point of today’s meeting is to let the residents see what CS is working on prior to the CC Meeting. A resident recalled that October 12th was the initial announcement of the Union Ave changes and there wasn’t enough information then. He feels that CS is an admirable group but they are moving too fast and without enough input from the neighbors. Mike King introduced himself to attendees that weren’t at the last Union Ave meeting with the Mayor on December 5. He is a trained architect and has been in the CS space for 30 years. He highlighted his plan’s is to enhance safety, beauty, equity and civic elegance. He believed it best to simply show the presentation and have public comment afterwards. Chair Grey and the rest of the board agreed. Mike King stated he is newer to the area but his observations of Union Ave are that it has nice sidewalks but really wide. It is 70ft wide and streets like that are tough to cross. He noted that you only need 10ft travel lanes so with 4 lanes the city has 30ft to “play” with. After further discussion, 11ft lanes would be required. Trees can be planted for further beautification and better health with wider green space, along with storm water upgrades. He also touched on a Saratoga Visitor Guide from 1900 found by Ed Lindner of Bikeatoga that mentions a cycle path along Union Ave. Mike King’s presentation focused on the following: Safety; Beauty (tied to Union Avenue’s historical significance), Equity and Civic responsibility. The concept of reducing lanes from 4 to 3 he believes will best accomplish this goal and be consistent with the mayor’s initiative of doing our part to minimize climate change. The proposed concept will significantly increase green space and significantly reduce pavement. The increased green space offers the opportunity for a more magnificent and sustainable entrance into the city with trees that will not outgrow their living space. Chair Grey mentioned that CS has been pushing for a city-wide reduction in speed from 30 to 25mph for years to promote safety. The Governor’s recent legislation has eliminated the hurdles for local city 2 government to accomplish this to protect pedestrians and bicyclists. Union Ave may be a chance to get these policies enacted but the community needs to come together and encourage city hall to do so. Mike King brought his own speed gun and sound recorder to Union Ave and found that drivers were going well over the current speed limit and street noise was louder than expected at 80 decibels. The state traffic database revealed that Union Ave has 3.5x the state average for crashes on road of this type so it is a good candidate for traffic calming. He cautioned that if the community doesn’t come together with ideas for enhancements then the city could do the cheap option of just painting the bike lanes and otherwise making no improvements to the road. Several members of the public wondered if traffic data takes into account the track season. Mike King reported that the traffic information is based on 24 hour-averages for comparable streets from State DOT database. The traffic counts for Union Avenue were conducted this summer by the City Consultant JMT. There are both track open and track closed counts. Suzanne Jagoda put forth that reducing the number of travel lanes from 4 to 3 lanes won’t help Union Ave and the traffic will just spill onto the side streets. Bottlenecked cars during track season will lead to frustrated and less safe visitors. A resident asked if the city will monitor the impact on side streets and alleys. Ted Orosz replied that is an excellent point. It would likely fall under the Department of Public Safety but CS will encourage them to look into it. Mike King pointed out that Suzanne Jagoda is right. If Union Ave updates come to pass then some overflow is possible. The city would need to track and document that. South Broadway is an example of a 2 lane street with a turning lane that currently handles a higher traffic volume than Union Avenue. Heidi West described how traffic gets backed up to exit 14 and beyond during track season and South Broadway isn’t a great comparison to Union Ave. Kerry Mayo had to leave the meeting early but observed that no matter what CS does there will be heavy traffic during track season. Suzanne Jagoda spotlighted the importance of the track as the number one financial engine for Saratoga. It generates more business than all of the other venues of the city put together. We need both horse trailers and 18 wheelers to be able to get to the track. An 11ft lane width is the minimum required for them. They can barely get onto Nelson. Mike King determined 11ft lanes would work with his plan since because of the amount of space available on Union Ave. Tim Holmes thanked the CS board for their mission and work in Saratoga. He implored CS to look at traffic behavior on West Avenue and Church Street. On West Avenue the center lane becomes a high speed lane and we need to learn from that when it comes to Union Ave. Chair Grey thanked Mr. Holmes for the feedback, especially in light of the recent (December 2022) cyclist death on West Ave. 3 Heidi West said a lot of people feel connected to Union Ave. The reason the street is so wide is that it was designed as a promenade for horses and an entrance to the city. We want assurances that any changes respect the history and beauty of the street. Chair Grey let everyone know he appreciates their thoughts and opinions. But he questioned if the large amount of asphalt on Union Ave is historical or beautiful? A resident asked how many plans has the board looked at and if there are traffic studies that the public can see. The traffic data can be disingenuous if track season’s activity isn’t taken into account rather than taking an average of the whole day or the whole year. Mike King replied that traffic counts were taken this summer when the track was open. Suzanne Jagoda supported that concern as she has a proposal that is similar to Mike King’s in some ways and different than others. Because of meeting length, we may not have time to get to her presentation. Ed Lindner offered his perspective that these bike lanes aren’t for advanced riders like him and other members of Bikeatoga who will ride anywhere. They are for children, inexperienced riders and others who don’t feel safe on streets like Union Ave. There needs to be a functional network of bike paths. They can’t lead to nowhere. If we as a community go piece by piece, eventually we will have the CS vision realized. Ed Lindner admitted he wasn’t thrilled with going from 4 to 3 lanes at first either. He referenced a recent Washington Post article about a CS project in Alexandria, Virginia that was unpopular with the residents, businesses and local media. The policy narrowly passed but once complete was extremely popular. Crashes were down, travel times improved at peak hours and it became a more livable city. Don McCormick said it’s important to residents that Union Ave remain beautiful. When you look at the Bolster collection you can see how great Saratoga was. I am happy to hear that Ed Lindner doesn’t need bike paths. Anecdotally, I don’t see people using them. Not even around Skidmore with their trails. Jen Natyzak works at Skidmore and personally sees cyclists all the time. Chair Grey illustrated that when paths don’t lead anywhere and there is little infrastructure the cyclists stay away. When you build out a safe network, they will come. Tim Holmes reiterated that JMT and Mike King should look at peak season hours during track to better formulate their proposal. The track is Saratoga’s ‘golden goose’ so any changes must be considered carefully. It may be beneficial to talk to NYRA. Traffic calming is important, but the street is unique because of its event-focused nature. We want visitors to enjoy their event then be able to head downtown to shop rather than becoming frustrated and leaving the city. Chair Grey thanked attendees for their comments and said we have some work to do as a board. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 7:00pm NEXT MEETING: 5:00 P.M. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH 4