Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Meeting

-Meeting Minutes APPROVED Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Date: Tuesday April 17 2012 Time: 7:00 p.m. Place: City Council Chambers, City of Urbana, 400 S. Vine Street, Urbana, IL Members Present: Gary Cziko, Brandon Bowersox, Susan Jones, Bryan Lake, Nadine Schmitz Audrey Ishii, Michele Guerra, Staff Members Present: Brad Bennett Absent: Morgan Johnston (excused), Ray Spooner MINUTES I. Call to Order Brandon Bowersox called the meeting to order. II. Roll Call Roll call was taken by verbal record and there was a quorum present. III. Approval of Agenda Brandon Bowersox asked for the agenda for the April 12, 2012 meeting to be approved. Motion made by Brad Bennett to approve the agenda, seconded by Sue Jones, upon verbal voice vote the motion carried to approve the amended agenda. IV. Approval of Minutes Minutes from the February 21, 2012 meeting were discussed – changes to be made – Gary Cziko asked to the comments in his presentation to state “this included some material from the Cycling Savvy course which he is an instructor for”. The correct URL is CyclingSavvyIllinois.notlong.com With that change, Brad Bennett made a motion to approve the minutes as amended and seconded by Nadine Schmitz; upon verbal voice vote the motion carried to approve the minutes from February 21, 2012. V. Public Input Charlie Smyth, 805 S Coler, Urbana, IL. He wanted to thank the BPAC members for their involvement to this commission. Mr. Smyth reported that the City Council had adopted a goal to achieve the silver level award for Bicycle Friendly Community Program. The 2012 Downtown Plan was adopted at the Council meeting the previous evening. The 2012 Downtown Plan supports and was coordinated with the Bicycle Master Plan. Mr. Smyth will email a summary of his presentation to the commission. When the City of Urbana attained bronze level award designation, the League of Illinois Bicyclists included feedback on what was needed to achieve the next level of silver. City staff will locate this letter and follow up at a later time. The current designation of bronze is good through 2014. VI. New Business a. Bike Master Plan Update; Brad Bennett presented. A proposal from Champaign County Regional Planning Commission was received at the cost of $26,000. Brad Bennett will email the commission members the scope of work and please get back to him with feedback at the next BPAC meeting . This expense will come out of the Capital Improvement Plan for the upcoming fiscal year.  b. Discussion on use of Sharrows with Bike Routes. Brad Bennett presented. Bike lanes are proposed to be added the north and south side of Fairview Avenue from Goodwin Avenue to Lincoln Avenue on. Brandon Bowersox suggested on the adjacent streets designated for bike routes it might be advantageous to install sharrows to increase bile ridership on those routes. In the Bicycle Master Plan bike routes are designated with signage only and do not include any pavement markings. Signs are lower maintenance then pavement markings, which need to be reinstalled every one to two years. Discussion ensued. Brad Bennett said the full $199,000 from the Safe Routes to School grant would be utilized on the proposed bike facility improvements and that the additional sharrows were included in the grant budget. Brandon Bowersox added that Yankee Ridge School also had a significant portion of that area around the school designated as bike routes and maybe installing sharrows in this area would be highly suggested as well. VII. Old Business A. Campus Bike Master Plan Morgan Johnston was to present, but she is absent and this will be put on a future meeting agenda B. ADA Compliance Plan Brad Bennett presented. Input and comments from this commission was requested regarding the ADA Transition Plan. BPAC members reported that they did not have any revisions or comments regarding the ADA Transition Plan. The next step would be to put the plan on the City website for public comment. After the public comment period it would go to City Council for their review and approval VIII. Announcements A. CU Bike to Work Day Rebecca Bird presented. Get registered at www.cubiketowork.com May 1, 2012 from 7:00 am – 10:00 am. 300 people are registered so far. It is very important to get registered for this event as it shows we have support for the community for these programs when we apply for the Bicycle Friendly Community award. B. Bike Rodeo at Market on the Square September 8, 2012 is the tentative date for the next Bike Rodeo. This event is scheduled in conjunction with an invitation to Michelle Obama to attend as part of the “Let’s Move” campaign. C. SRTS and Boneyard Creek Project update Safe Routes to School Brad Bennett presented. ESCA Engineering has been selected as the engineering firm for this project. The bike lane markings will be bid out by the State of Illinois. Bike signage and parking facilities will be completed in house by Urbana Public Works staff. All the SRTS Bike Facility work will be funded by Federal grants. The SRTS bike facility work should be constructed during the Summer 2013. Boneyard Creek Project Brad Bennett presented. This project is not out for bid yet, the final design plans have been completed by Foth Engineering. Discussion ensued. Gary Cziko recommended eliminating the proposed bike lanes in favor of a three lanes lane cross section (center turn lane) with sharrows Brad Bennett responded that the Bike Master Plan shows these areas as designated for Bike Lanes. Staff would need approval from the Public Works Director to make the change. Sue Jones commented at the time of the Bike Master Plan sharrows were not on the radar. Bike facility standards have evolved and changed since the Bike Master Plan was completed. When the Bike Master Plan is being updated, the appropriateness of utilizing bike lanes where on street parking is permitted should be determined. www.champaigncountybikes.org and www.cubiking.org has a calendar of events to follow. Illinois Marathon is April 28, 2012. Bike Race is May 5 – 6, 2012. VII. Adjournment Brandon Bowersox adjourned the meeting at 8:10 p.m.