Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Meeting

APPROVED May 20, 2017 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) Meeting Minutes Date: Tuesday, April 18, 2017 Time: 7:00 p.m. Place: Council Chambers, City of Urbana, 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, IL Members Present: Annie Adams, Kara Dudek, Cynthia Hoyle, Jeff Marino, Susan Jones, Craig Shonkwiler and Lily Wilcock Staff Present: Kevin Garcia Members Absent: Audrey Ishii Others Present: Dennis Roberts, Michael Brunk 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM Cynthia Hoyle called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. Roll call was taken. It was noted that a quorum of members was present. 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Cynthia Hoyle asked to add a brief discussion of the Urbana Pedestrian Master Plan to Unfinished Business. Annie Adams moved to approve the meeting agenda as amended. Jeff Marino seconded the motion. The motion was approved. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING Lily Wilcock moved to approve the meeting minutes. Annie Adams seconded the motion. The motion was approved. 4. PUBLIC INPUT There was no public input. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a) Boneyard Creek Path – Dennis Roberts Dennis Roberts provided an update on the establishment of partnerships to support the extension of the Boneyard Creek Beautification Plan westward to connect the multi-use Page | 1  APPROVED May 20, 2017 pathway to the University of Illinois Campus from downtown Urbana. The partnerships will advocate for and assist in planning, design, and securing potential funding sources. He indicated that the City Council had passed Resolution of Support No. 2017-03-017R for the project on March 20. Mr. Roberts also mentioned work being done on reestablishment of the Boneyard Creek Commission. A proposal encouraging this idea was created by Roberts and Boneyard Creek Commissioner Clark Ballard and will be presented at the next City Council Committee of the Whole meeting on April 24. Commission members voiced their support and offered Mr. Roberts various suggestions and recommendations to help aid in the process. b) BPAC Survey – Cynthia Hoyle Lily Wilcock made the motion to request that the Mayor support and direct staff to distribute the BPAC Survey “Do you? bike walk Urbana” that measures community satisfaction with biking and walking in our area and accessibility to BPAC. The request is for distribution through Survey Monkey during Bike Month (May). Susan Jones seconded the motion. The motion was approved. c) BPAC Annual Report to Mayor and City Council Cynthia Hoyle and Annie Adams presented the draft BPAC Annual Report to the Mayor and City Council. Discussion ensued. Feedback was received from Commission members with direction to email Annie Adams with further comments. Craig Shonkwiler suggested that the presentation of the Report be made to the City Council at the Committee of the Whole meeting on May 22. d) Urbana Pedestrian Master Plan Cynthia Hoyle requested that Assistant City Engineer Brad Bennett be invited to attend an upcoming meeting and provide an update on the Urbana Pedestrian Master Plan. Hoyle expressed her desire for BPAC to receive specifics about where the Commission can be actively involved and give input with/on the Plan. Craig Shonkwiler indicated that BPAC was the de facto steering committee and that he would arrange with Bennett to present on the upcoming public meeting being held in neighborhoods around the city. Ms. Hoyle encouraged the public to visit the CUUATS website and provide feedback on the Plan, or to attend one of the upcoming Urbana Pedestrian Plan Spring 2017 Neighborhood Meetings listed as follows: • April 20 at Crystal Lake Park Lake House • April 25 at Pizza M in the back room Page | 2  APPROVED May 20, 2017 • April 27 at Krannert Center Uncorked event • May 2 at Yankee Ridge School Gym • May 4 at Urbana City Building Council Chambers • May 6 at Market at the Square 6. NEW BUSINESS a) Downtown Bicycle Parking – Annie Adams Cynthia Hoyle introduced the topic of concern about availability of downtown bicycle parking and the number of racks available for use. Ms. Hoyle suggested that the Commission coordinate a usage count and the possibility of converting parking spaces to a bicycle corral. Ms. Hoyle also asked what the process would be to move forward with these suggestions. Annie Adams voiced her concern for the amount of use in the current location of the on- street bicycle parking and gave suggestions on possible other needed spots. Ms. Adams stated that she had spoken with business owners in the downtown area about their needs. In response to the questions posed by the Commission about parking studies, Craig Shonkwiler stated that the City has done parked car counts and selects times of the day such as mid-morning, mid-afternoon and mid-evening to determine the usage of parking stalls. The count was tallied on a spreadsheet and done from a Sunday to Sunday to include both weekend and weekday usage. Craig Shonkwiler pointed out that City staff looked for slightly different information for their count which he identified as the amount of use by residents or commuters (i.e. students who park and walk to their destination). Once the count had been completed, Staff would go to City Council to ask for removal of parking, if necessary. Lily Wilcock added that in addition to the bicycle count in racks to view other areas where bicycles are parked in non-racked locations in order to get a better picture of location use. Michael Brunk, City Arborist discussed his involvement in the installation of bike racks in the downtown area for the past ten years. He stated that they had placed bicycle parking not where it was needed, but where it was requested. Michael Brunk stated that the City was well stocked with bicycle racks, but at the time the City does not have the enough Staff to do the installation. As part of the presentation, Michael Brunk referenced a 2015 presentation he gave along with Kevin Garcia, Urbana Community Development, on the process and placement of the current bike corral a.k.a cycle stall. He gave information regarding how they found the space, business owner preferences and spots required by law. Ultimately, a spot was determined and a bike corral was installed in a one year “experimental” spot. Currently, Michael Brunk stated that business owners were happy with the current location of the bicycle corral and did not move it for this year due to other traffic concerns during construction. He offered advice on the upcoming year about moving the location of the corral and possibly adding additional locations. The next step would be for Staff to decide whether to include this in the budget request. In addition, Michael Brunk stated that the process of installation would be examined on an individual basis. He also posed the question to the Commission on their preference. Page | 3  APPROVED May 20, 2017 The Commission asked for suggestions on how to proceed and Kevin Garcia volunteered to coordinate the process and Cynthia Hoyle would assist in providing volunteers for the count process. Further, Michael Brunk stated that there still have to do installation of bicycle racks on the Westside and Northside of Lincoln Square. b) Pedestrian Timing at Downtown Urbana Signals (Race Street & Main Street and Broadway Avenue & Main Street) – Craig Shonkwiler Craig Shonkwiler discussed the pedestrian timing at Race Street & Main Street and Broadway Avenue and Main Street. He stated that prior to the road diet the City received an Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (ITEP) grant to install bicycle lanes in the downtown area and in the process they had to remove a traffic lane after an analysis was done by an engineering consultant. The consultant looked at how the removal of lanes would impact traffic stacking, how to clear that traffic and how to create safety for the pedestrians. As a result, Craig Shonkwiler stated that the removal of the lanes had an impact on the operation of the traffic signal system and the type of system used and increased the time needed for traffic to be cleared. Therefore, Craig Shonkwiler stated the timing system are now on an actuated and coordinated system to have east-west traffic move through the rush hour periods. He also stated that both he and the signal technician checked the system prior to this commission meeting and everything was performing fine. Further, Craig Shonkwiler explained that when the pedestrian button has been pushed there would be a 30 sec to a 1.5 minute delay depending on where the system was in the cycle. He explained that the actual traffic signal cycle was at 80-95 seconds and that delay would be added to the cycle when a pedestrian call was made from a side street aproach. He also stated in response to a non-peak and peak timing issue that the system had already been set with different timing programs to accommodate for the different traffic issues. Commission members feel that the current signal timing results in many pedestrians either not crossing the street to access businesses on both sides or pedestrians ignoring the pedestrian signal and crossing during the green phase for vehicles. Pedestrians are often confused by the need to push an activation button when many signals in the community have set pedestrian phases that are automatic. 7. ANNOUNCEMENTS Cynthia Hoyle was appointed Chair of the Commission until the end of June. Leonardo Kovis was appointed to a term through 2019. The following events were noted: • April 19 – Chancellor Bike Ride at 9 a.m. • May 2 – Bike to Work Day • May 6, 13, 20 and 27 – Bike to Market Days • May 10 – K-12 Bike to School Day Page | 4  APPROVED May 20, 2017 • May 14 – Women’s Ride (Mother’s Day) • May 17 – Ride in Silence from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. @ I Hotel and Conference Center • May 20 – Playing It Safe at the Leonhard Center • May 20 – Life is a Cycle Ride lead by Community Development • May 20 –TCC Ride C-U Food Cruise • May 27 – TS 101 Bicycle Safety Class from 12 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. @ CUMTD 8. FUTURE TOPICS The following topics were suggested for future Agenda items: • Update on Urbana Pedestrian Master Plan • Complaints about cars in bike lanes • Language used when describing persons engaging in various forms of transportation 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:54 p.m. *** Respectfully submitted, Kathryn Levy for Leslie Cross Recording Secretary Page | 5