Pedestrian & Bicycle Path Advisory Committee

Pedestrian and Bicycle Path Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes March 2, 2020 Committee Members Present: John Phelps, Mike Fitzgerald, Hunter Homes, Frank Sweeney. City Staff Present: Carla Belski, Karin Hilding, Craig Workman. Also present: Bruce Boody, Greg Gunderson, Margosia Jadkowski. A. The meeting was called to order 8:45 AM. B. The Agenda for the meeting was approved as presented. C. Mike moved and Hunter seconded to approve the January 6, 2020 meeting notes. The minutes were passed unanimously. D. Public Comment: None. E. New Business: a. High School Representative: The group discussed whether there was enough interest from the High School for a representative, especially due to the timing of the meeting. Greg mentioned that Eric Sawtelle thought that he may have some interested students. Carla will reach out and see if there is any interest and will report back at the next meeting. b. Baker Avenue Underpass: Craig gave a summary of the planning completed so far on the underpass including 20’ width, concrete structure, and big block wing walls. Craig looked into using funding from the City’s MDT Urban Fund to potentially do improvements to the viaduct at the same time as the underpass to reduce mobilization costs. The timeline for working with MDT will not fit in with the timeline for the underpass so the viaduct work will be completed later. F. Old Business a. Riverbend Condo Easement: The hillside with the switchback alternative on south side of condos near the stairs has been surveyed and trail has been mapped. The grade is 6% and there will need to be two switchbacks to get to the parking lot versus the last drawing which had three. The committee discussed what needs to happen to make a decision and move forward. Public Works will get more information together including engineering, cost estimate, connection to Malmquist property etc. for the May meeting. They will also ask MDT if they might consider a pedestrian activated signal at Miles for the crossing. Once a decision is made to move forward, the next step will be to present this information to the homeowners association attorney.  b. Malmquist Easement: The sewer easement has been updated but we still need Exhibit A, which shows the location of the trail. The exact location will be dependent upon where the trail goes through the River Bend Condo property. There is a 20-foot easement along the northern boundary of River Bend between the two properties the City owns which may be utilized to make the trail connection between the two properties. Karin will work with Bruce to get final exhibit drafted for the easement. c. Les Schwab Easement: There is no update as we have not been able to get in touch with the real estate contact, quite likely due to the pending sale of the company. We did submit a formal easement request and met with a local manager. It was suggested that maybe we ask for a lease and build and less formal, urban trail. Craig will reach out again. d. Duck Inn: We are close to finalizing this easement after making a few changes in alignment that the owners suggested. e. Trail View Subdivision: The connection along Voerman is being designed on the north side of the road with a mid-block crossing and pedestrian activated signals. Plan is to build this path and the connection on Shady River Lane this spring. Prior to construction, Public Works will provide the plans to the Creekwood Homeowners Association. f. Safe Routes to Schools: i Public Works is still working with the traffic consultant regarding a review of uncontrolled intersections in the neighborhoods west of the high school. ii Karin will also be presenting at the Bike Walk Summit and make the case for the state to fund a Safe Routes to Schools program again. iii Connect Whitefish is going to try and coordinate a walking school bus program once a week with three neighborhoods in April. There will be a need for volunteers. G. Parks and Recreation Comments: No Comment. H. Public Works Comments: There will be an Open House for the Downtown Whitefish Highway Study on March 5th. Members of this committee are encouraged to attend and submit comments. I. Committee Comments: Frank suggested that we include an update on the Birch Point connection to the agenda again. J. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 6, 2020. K. The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 a.m. Action Items: 1. Carla will reach out to Eric Sawtelle and see if there is anyone interested to be a high school representative on the Bike Ped Committee. 2. Public Works will get more information together for Riverbend Path including engineering, cost estimate, connection to Malmquist property etc. for the May meeting. They will also ask MDT if they might consider a pedestrian activated signal at Miles for the crossing. 3. Karin will work with Bruce to get final exhibit drafted for the Malmquist easement once the connection from Riverbend is determined. 4. Craig will reach out to Les Schwab. 5. Public Works will provide the bike path plans along Voerman to the Creekwood Homeowners Association.