Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Meeting

Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) Approved June 21, 2106 Meeting Minutes Date: Tuesday, April 19, 2016 Time: 7:00 p.m. Place: City Council Chambers, City of Urbana, 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, IL Members Present: Brandon Bowersox-Johnson, Annie Adams, Cynthia Hoyle, Audrey Ishii, Susan Jones, Jeff Marino, Craig Shonkwiler, and Lily Wilcock Staff Present: None Members Absent: Elsie Hedgspeth, Michele Guerra Others Present: Charlie Smyth 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM Brandon Bowersox-Johnson called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Mr. Bowersox introduced two new commissioners, Annie Adams and Lily Wilcock. Roll call was taken and it was noted that a quorum of members was present. 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Audrey Ishii moved to approve the agenda for the April 19th meeting. Cynthia Hoyle seconded the motion. The motion was approved. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING Jeff Marino moved to approve the meeting minutes from the March 15th meeting. Lily Wilcock seconded the motion. The motion was approved. 4. PUBLIC INPUT There was no public input at this time. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a) 2016 Bicycle Master Plan Update Craig Shonkwiler reported on the status of the 2016 Urbana Bicycle Master Plan. He said that City staff was working on incorporating Mr. Charlie Smyth’s comments into the plan and that staff was still waiting for comments from Mr. Jeff Yockey before resubmitting the revised plan. Mr. Shonkwiler stated that the deadline for submittal of the comments would Page | 1 be Friday, April 15, 2016. He outlined the process for the plan after the comments were incorporated saying that the revisions would go to the Bicycle Steering Plan and then come back to the Commission for approval. He mentioned that the Regional Planning Commission (RPC) was not involved in adding the comments, but that RPC would be asked to join the discussion when the plan came back to Council for approval. He expressed his desire that the plan be completed by the May or June meeting and that enough time would be allowed for the Commission to review the revisions. He asked that the link to the current draft of the bicycle plan be sent to the new commissioners. 6. NEW BUSINESS a) Urbana Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Bylaws Craig Shonkwiler reviewed some of the sections of the newly drafted bylaws. Audrey Ishii said that she remembered that the Chair was appointed by the Mayor and was concerned that the Chair for the Commission would have to be a member of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission. She felt that the Chair should be appointed by the Mayor but open to anyone interested in that position, not just those on the Commission. Lily Wilcock felt that the Chair could be open to suggestion from the Commission. Craig Shonkwiler stated that the Mayor may want to make the appointment based upon the Mayor’s preference. He suggested removing “from the members of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission” from the first sentence under Article III, Section II, Chair. A. Cynthia Hoyle asked if the Mayor appointed chairs for other commissions. The Recording Secretary stated that the Mayor did choose the Chair for other commissions. Craig Shonkwiler said that the Vice Chair would be selected by the members of the Commission. Cynthia Hoyle asked about a question of a majority vote for placing items on the agenda. The Recording Secretary asked for clarification about placing items on the agenda. Lily Wilcock suggested that adding items to the agenda be as simple as possible. Brandon Bowersox-Johnson said that it was usually very easy to add items to the agenda. The Recording Secretary asked if the addition of an item was questioned, would it require a majority of the members to approve adding it or a majority of those present at a meeting. The Commissioners agreed that a majority of those present could determine whether or not an item be added to the agenda. Page | 2 Craig Shonkwiler said that the ordinance outlining the duties of the Commission stated that the Commission would report to the City Council. He asked what the report should include. He added that an annual report was mentioned as part of the Bicycle Master Plan. Brandon Bowersox-Johnson said that he did not believe that the Commission had reported to the City Council since perhaps the first year after the Commission was formed. He recommended that specific time of year be defined for preparing the report and providing an update to the Commission’s activity. The Commissioners agreed that February of each year would be a good time to report to Council. Cynthia Hoyle suggested that the report include a bulleted summary of actions accomplished and input on the budget. Annie Adams thought it should include future goals and define what the Commission wanted to accomplish. Jeff Marino noted that the bylaws indicate that a member from the Public Works Department will serve as voting member of the Commission. He questioned why and mentioned that Kevin Garcia, who was a Planning Division staff member, was not a voting member. He thought it was awkward to have someone make a presentation to the Commission and then vote on recommendations from that presentation. Brandon Bowersox-Johnson mentioned that the inclusion of a Public Works staff member as a voting member was part of the ordinance. He continued by saying that the Commission was officially staffed by the Public Works Department. He said that Kevin Garcia served as a liaison from the Planning Division and had made presentations to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission, but that he was not a voting member. Jeff Marino asked if any other commissions had staff members as voting members. Craig Shonkwiler said that he served on the Urbana Traffic Commission, along with the Police Chief. He added that there were other commissions that had staff members as voting members. Cynthia Hoyle said it would be less awkward if staff members did not vote. She added that the Traffic Commission was not a public body. Audrey Ishii said that it would avoid any strange situation. She asked who would draft the report. Craig Shonkwiler said that the Chair would draft the report with the help of staff and then review the report with the Commission. Brandon Bowersox-Johnson said that the report would be reviewed by BPAC and then would go the City Council. Page | 3 Lily Wilcock asked if her position on the Commission would be awkward since she represented the University of Illinois and might have to vote on items that would impact the University. Brandon Bowersox-Johnson said that would not be awkward. He mentioned that there were representatives on the Commission from the Urbana Park District and the Urbana School District. Audrey Ishii thought it would be easier if a staff member would not vote. Annie Adams asked Mr. Shonkwiler how he felt about serving as a member and presenting a report from the City. Craig Shonkwiler said that he had never asked the Commission to vote one way or the other on an issue. He added that he had brought items before the Commission asking for their direction. He also mentioned that BPAC was an advisory commission and that it did not bring ordinances or budget items to the Council. Jeff Marino said that he was worried that a staff member might try to bully the other Commissioners into voting a certain way or that there might be a personality conflict. Mr. Shonkwiler said that if that were the case, the Commissioners could express their concerns to the Mayor since the staff member’s appointment was at the Mayor’s discretion. Continuing with the review of the bylaws, Mr. Shonkwiler asked if the Commission would like to set a time for the meeting to end. Cynthia Hoyle recommended 10:00 p.m. Susan Jones said that the meetings almost always ended at 9:00 p.m. She suggested 9:00 p.m. as an end time. She added that the bylaws allowed the meeting to be extended past that time if it was necessary to extend the meeting. Cynthia Hoyle moved to have the meetings end at 9:00 p.m. Susan Jones seconded the motion. The Commission approved the end time for meeting by unanimous vote. Mr. Shonkwiler reviewed Section IX. E. pointing out that those members who represented an agency could select a proxy to replace them at a meeting, but that the other members would not be able to appoint a proxy. He pointed out that Section III. Vice Chair was added as the result of an action approved by BPAC at an earlier meeting. He said that the section on public input was also language approved at an earlier meeting. Mr. Bowersox-Johnson mentioned that those who could appoint a proxy were representing an agency, not serving as an individual. Page | 4 Audrey Ishii asked about the difference between Section IV. C. and IV.E. Brandon Bowersox-Johnson said that when someone was asked by the Commission to speak, give a presentation or answer a question, that person would be allowed more time to speak. Mr. Marino added that someone who was providing input might be asked to speak longer if the Commission would like more detail. Cynthia Hoyle moved to have staff incorporate the changes suggested at the meeting, send the bylaws to the Legal Division for review and then bring back to BPAC for final approval. Susan Jones seconded the motion. The motion was approved by unanimous vote. b) Parking Restrictions in Bicycle Lanes Craig Shonkwiler explained that the parking in bicycle lanes had been mentioned in a past BPAC meeting. He stated that parking in bicycle lanes was not restricted in Illinois. He said that staff had discussed the feasibility of enforcing the parking restrictions with the Police Department and Parking Enforcement Division staff. He said that Police staff thought it would be difficult to enforce for delivery vehicles since they would only be occupying the area for a very short time. He said that Parking Enforcement would give a verbal warning and if the driver did not move, they would be ticketed. He said that if there was an area where the problem was on-going, the item could go to the Urbana Traffic Commission and City Council and parking could be restricted in a specific area on a case by case basis. Lily Wilcock said that parking in bicycle lanes was problematic on campus. She felt that since it was a high pedestrian area, parking should be restricted. Ms. Wilcock said that the campus received complaints about vehicles from other schools parking in bicycle lanes. She said that restrictions would prevent accidents. Cynthia Hoyle said that she saw vehicles parking in bicycle lanes often on Illinois Street. She felt that the drivers should be forced to pay meters and park on Gregory Street. Brandon Bowersox-Johnson said that parking restrictions in bicycle lanes might require an ordinance change. He asked if University Police could enforce the restrictions on City streets. Cynthia Hoyle suggested that Ms. Wilcock explore educational efforts that might discourage parking in bicycle lanes. She recommended forming a group to look at different ways to spread the word about parking in bicycle lanes. Lily Wilcock said that an ordinance would not be intended as a way to ticket motorists, but more as a way to encourage safer behavior. Craig Shonkwiler suggested including the Police Department and Parking Enforcement Division if there were plans to draft a recommendation regarding parking in bicycle lanes that would go to Traffic Commission. Page | 5 Annie Adams said that education was a big issue. She said that cyclists need to know who to contact and that providing an action plan for bicyclists who encounter obstacles so they know what to do would be helpful. Brandon Bowersox-Johnson suggested that this item be discussed at next month’s meeting. c) Future Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Goals Brandon Bowersox-Johnson asked the Commissioners to brainstorm about three specific points. Topics for Upcoming Meetings Structure and Process for Meetings Focus of Each Member’s Energy to Make BPAC Awesome 7. ANNOUNCEMENTS • April 20 – Biennial Bicycle Census • April 30 – Traffic Skills 101 on-bicycle class (3.5 – 4 hour class) • May is Bike Month. This year’s theme is celebrating youth. • Pop-up events during the month of May • May 1 - Pumping bike tires at Urbana’s parks • May 3 – Bike to Work Day • May 4 – Bike to School Day • May 22 – Kickapoo Rail to Trail Celebration • May 31 – Bike to a Movie Day at the Art Theater in Champaign (Bikes versus Cars) • June 4 – Bike Rodeo (Champaign County Fairgrounds) • June 10 through June 12, 2016 –League Cycling Seminar • Saturdays in May will be Bike to Market at the Square Day • Some events will be scheduled in Urbana’s parks • Historic Preservation bicycle tour beginning at Market at the Square is in the planning stage • Two Traffic Skills 101 classes have already been held 8. FUTURE TOPICS a) Urbana Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Bylaws b) Urbana Bicycle Master Plan c) Bicycle Registration - University of Illinois Program d) Area Bicycle Map Revisions 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:58 p.m. *** Respectfully submitted, Barbara Stiehl Recording Secretary Page | 6