Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Meeting

1 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) 2 Meeting Minutes 3 Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2021 4 Time: 7:00 p.m. 5 Place: City Council Chambers, 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, IL 61801 held virtually via Zoom 6 Members Present: Bill Brown* (Chair), Annie Adams, Shannon Beranek, Kara Dudek, Cynthia 7 Hoyle, Audrey Ishii, Susan Jones, Jeff Marino, Sarthak Prasad, Nancy Westcott 8 9 Late Arrival: None 10 11 Staff Present: Lily Wilcock 12 13 Others Present: Member of the Public and additional audience member 14 15 Members Absent: None 16 17 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM 18 Bill Brown called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. Roll call was taken. A quorum was present. 19 *Chair Bill Brown was physically present at the meeting location, 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801. 20 21 22 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 23 Cynthia requested to add in a presentation covering the Snow Angels program to the agenda. 24 Audrey Ishii moved to approve the agenda as amended. 25 Annie Adams seconded the motion. 26 Roll was taken on the motion to approve the agenda with the omission the annual report draft segment. The 27 motion was approved. 28 29 Brown-Aye Adams-Aye Beranek-Aye Dudek-Aye Hoyle-Aye 30 Jones-Aye Marino-Aye Ishii-Aye Westcott-Aye Prasad- Aye 31 32 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING 33 Susan Jones moved to approve the minutes. 34 Nancy Westscott seconded the motion. 35 Roll was taken on the motion to approve the minutes from the January 28, 2021 meeting. The motion was 36 approved. 37 38 Brown-Aye Adams-Aye Beranek-Aye Dudek-Aye Hoyle-Aye 39 Jones-Aye Marino-Aye Ishii-Aye Westcott-Aye Prasad- Aye 40 41 4. PUBLIC INPUT 42 Deborah Liu shared her frustration with the current snow removal ordinance in that it currently only applies to 43 certain districts rather that city-wide. Liu stated, “When snow removal is not mandatory and sidewalks are 44 covered in snow and ice, it makes large amounts of our infrastructure impassable for individuals who are 45 elderly or otherwise mobility impaired.” Liu referenced an article from StreetsBlogUSA that discussed options 46 for municipalities to clear sidewalks and provided examples of what other cities in the country are currently 47 doing for sidewalk clearance. 48 Brief discussion followed. 49 50 51 Page 1  1 5. NEW BUSINESS 2 a. Private Use of Public Space 3 Shannon Beranek shared a visual with the commission showing Main Street in Downtown Urbana. The visual showed 4 the current plan for utilizing segments of right-of-way for designated outdoor seating. Beranek also shared the current 5 options for vehicular parking as well as available lots for additional seating and outdoor dining space. Discussion 6 followed. 7 Hoyle offered suggestions on different options for proper accessibility and recommended taking a look at what other 8 cities are doing in similar situations. Beranek voiced that the biggest constraint that the city is currently facing is limited 9 budget. Discussion followed. 10 Annie Adams shared, “The Downtown area just looks vacant” and provided the suggestion of utilizing concrete planter 11 boxes in lieu of jersey barrios to allow for a more aesthetically pleasing safety solution. Discussion followed. 12 Jeff Marino motioned to direct city staff members to move forward and finalize outdoor dining options, keeping the 13 bike lane if possible, reducing speed, and to report back to BPAC for final suggestions. Susan Jones seconded the 14 motion. 15 Roll was taken on the motion and the motion was approved. 16 Brown-Aye Adams-Aye Beranek-Aye Dudek-Aye Hoyle-Aye 17 Jones-Aye Marino-Aye Ishii-Aye Westcott-Aye Prasad- Aye 18 19 b. 2020 Annual Report Draft 20 Bill Brown shared a visual of the 2020 Annual Report Draft for City Council and requested recommendation on fine- 21 tuning the report. The draft provided a brief background of the primary purpose for BPAC, the main infrastructure 22 improvements that were completed during 2020, and the Vision Zero Urbana strategy. Information on the Pedestrian 23 Masterplan was also provided. Brown asked for feedback from the commission on the Pedestrian Masterplan and if 24 anyone had any favored parts of that they would like shared with council. Brown requested that either Audrey Ishii or 25 Cynthia Hoyle provide the Vision Zero timeline to add for council. Discussion followed. 26 Annie Adams posed the question of how the commission could properly advocate for and share with City Council the 27 moral outrage expressed by pedestrians of the public to BPAC. Jeff Marino offered the suggestion of sharing the 28 number of public participants during the public input segment of the 2020 BPAC meetings in the annual report. 29 Discussion followed. 30 c. Bike Month/ Bike to School Day 31 Cynthia Hoyle shared that, although things will still look differently this year, “Bike to School Day” will still take place 32 on May 5th. Hoyle’s presentation covered the benefits of this event to individuals and the community, how to register, 33 and available T-Shirts for the event. Parents can register their children at www.cubikemonth.weebly.com/register 34 On May 8th there will be a Beginning Bicycling for Adults course offered through the League of American Bicyclists. 35 Class size will be limited to enable for adequate social distancing measures. 36 On May 9th there will be a combination Mother’s Day/ Green Loop ride in Urbana from 2:30-4:3pm. 37 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 38 a. “Snow Angels” Program- Cynthia Hoyle 39 Cynthia Hoyle shared a presentation on the Urbana “Snow Angels” regarding snow removal being an issue of social equity 40 and public safety. Currently, the Urbana Snow Removal Ordinance covers three areas: University District, Downtown 41 District, and Philo Road District. Sidewalks within these three districts are to follow city guidelines on clearing privately Page 2  1 owned sidewalks within a specified timeframe of a major snow event. Hoyle shared photos taken earlier in the day of 2 instances where pedestrians were resorting to walking in the street due to lack of clearance on sidewalks throughout the 3 city. 4 Hoyle’s presentation further explained that the “Snow Angel” Program is a group of volunteers who clear snow from 5 sidewalks, driveway entrances, and from paths to the service recipient’s front door. This program is to assist those who are 6 physically unable to clear these parts of their properties on their own. Hoyle also shared how other cities in other areas are 7 implementing this same program. Discussion followed. 8 7. ANNOUNCEMENTS 9 a. Susan Jones announced that the Prairie Cycle club is considering doing rides this year 10 11 8. FUTURE TOPICS 12 a. Speed limit studies/changes 13 b. BPAC advising on CIP expenditure 14 c. Vision Zero task force update 15 d. Slow street update 16 17 18 9. ADJOURNMENT 19 The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. 20 ***Respectfully submitted, 21 Shelby Mammano, Recording Secretary Page 3