Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Meeting

-Meeting Minutes APPROVED Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Date: Tuesday September 18, 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-Johnson, Susan Jones, Bryan Lake, Nadine Schmitz Audrey Ishii, Morgan Johnston Staff Members Present: Brad Bennett Absent: Michele Guerra 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM Brandon Bowersox-Johnson called the meeting to order and roll called was taken by a verbal record and there was a quorum present. 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Brandon Bowersox-Johnson asked for the agenda for the September 18, 2012 meeting to be approved. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING Brandon Bowersox-Johnson asked for the minutes from the June 19, 2012 meeting to be approved. Morgan Johnston moved to change the wording on paragraph 5 – change “hiring to considering”. After change was made, upon voice vote, first by Brad Bennett and seconded by Sue Jones the minutes were approved with the change. 4. PUBLIC INPUT Carol McKusick, 1907 N Cunningham. Spoke to the commission concerning the need for more trees to be planted along Broadway Avenue, she had notified the Urbana Park District of this request and Rebecca Bird will notify the City Arborist. 5. OLD BUSINESS a) Boneyard Creek Improvements Project Update – Brad Bennett O’Neal Brothers was the low bidder at 10.3 million, the budget was 7.5 million. At this time they are looking at cost reductions with the contractor and design team. There has been 2.5 million in possible budget items. The revised project was presented to Council last night and they agreed to present a conditional notice of award to proceed with the project. Target start date beginning of October and finishing June 2014. Brad Bennett reported that there are no major changes to bike lanes or multi-use paths. b) SRTS Bike Facilities Project Update – Brad Bennett The State of Illinois approved an intersection design study at Florida Avenue and Philo Road. ESCA Consulting has been hired for this study. Brad also reported we are still waiting for approval from the State of Illinois to install bike lanes and bike routes in the Urbana School district areas. Traffic commission did approve the removal of parking along Fairview Avenue for bike lane installation. Florida Avenue from Race Street to Kinch Street and Kinch Street from Florida Avenue to Washington Street removal of parking will be going to traffic commission in October 9, 2012 at 7:00pm. Discussion ensued.  c) Pedestrian Master Plan Grant Application Update – Brad Bennett The State of Illinois did not award any grant funds for our Pedestrian Master Plan Application. We plan on reapplying the next funding cycle. We can also look into adding this into the budget in the future. d) Bike Parking Facilities – Brad Bennett “Park a Bike” racks were installed on Goodwin Avenue near the coffee shop and also at the Illini Union. This is a testing program to see how residents like this type of bike rack. This is not an approved bike rack from the Master Plan but the Zoning Commission can approve these. Please provide feedback to Rebecca Bird or Morgan Johnston. A new bike rack was also installed on Race Street north of Main Street per a request from a tenant in downtown Urbana. Rebecca Bird reported that covered bike parking shelters cost about $10,000 (not including installation). The one that she found would not provide enough shelter from the rain. Discussion ensued. Brandon Bowersox-Johnson inquired if we could approach Schnucks in Urbana to see if there is a cost share program available for them to install new bike racks at the store and perhaps the City could pay 50% and the store could pay 50%, if there are funds available for that type of project. This suggestion is based upon several complaints to the city regarding the bike racks installed at Schnucks. e) Problematic Traffic Intersection Detection Locations – Brad Bennett Push buttons were installed on Illinois Street and Lincoln Avenue intersection. This button is accessible to bicyclists. Westbound traffic push button will be getting installed in the near future. f) Light the Night Event Report – Rebecca Bird 800 bike light sets were installed on September 13, 2012. The Bike Project helped with the installation and coordination of the volunteers. This event is a good time to get important information out to bicyclists. g) Bike Rodeo Event Report – Rebecca Bird September 8, 2012 at the Farmer’s Market was a Bike Rodeo. October 6, 2012 Obstacle Mobstacle at Centennial Park. Volunteers are needed for this event, please contact Rebecca Bird. 6. NEW BUSINESS a) Campus Bike Master Plan Report – Morgan Johnston Campus Bike Master Plan is being developed. This plan is directed to a multi-modal transportation study and proposed bicycle facilities. The next steps are – the documents need to be completed by January 15, 2013, LinC class to develop recommended chapter and table, draft documents for campus approval and share with CATS bike plan subcommittee for review. This plan is separate from the University District Bike Plan. Morgan and Amelia Neptune reviewed the map and discussion ensued. b) Resignation – Ray Spooner Brandon Bowersox-Johnson announced the resignation of Ray Spooner. Any resident is welcomed to apply for his position and can contact any BPAC member or the Mayor’s office. 7. ANNOUNCEMENTS Walk n Roll to school day is October 3, 2012 and volunteers are needed, contact Rebecca Bird. Traffic Skills 101 was conducted September 15, 2012 and part two will take place in October. Rebecca Bird and Sue Jones are both taking this class to become League Certified Instructor. Their certification is important as it should help with our application to become Silver level for Bicycle Friendly Community. 8. FUTURE TOPICS The next meeting will be October 16, 2012 and we will cancel the November 20, 2012 meeting due to the holiday. 9. ADJOURNMENT Brandon Bowersox-Johnson adjourned the meeting at 8:25