Pedestrian & Bicycle Path Advisory Committee

Pedestrian and Bicycle Path Advisory Committee November 6, 2023 Agenda Items A. Meeting Called to Order at 8:32 a.m. B. Approval of Monday, November 6, 2023, Agenda Jim moved, Giuseppe second C. Approval of Monday, October 2, 2023, Minutes Doug approved, Giuseppe second D. New Business a. Recommendation to add Design and Maintenance Guidelines for Shared Use Paths in Riparian Areas to the Engineering Standards: Craig is looking to finalize these comments and add them as an amendment. Looking for a recommendation from the Ped/Bike Committee to present to the City Council. The main recommendation had to do with the width of the path. John asked to see a copy of the guidelines again. Craig said he would send them to the committee again and get them posted on the website. Mary asked that the committee review and give their final recommendations at the next meeting. E. Old Business a. Riverbend Condo Updates: The City has been working with TD&H on surveying and proceeding with preliminary engineering design on the conceptual layout completed by Bruce Boody. Attempts were made to meet with FWP but they are considering the entire stretch of trail from HWY 93 to the BNSF Loop Path as one project and have required all the parties involved in this stretch of trail to be present at the meeting. Staff has successfully scheduled a meeting on November 14 at 10:00 a.m. at City Hall. involving City staff, FWP, Riverbend HOA, Inspiration Drive (Malmquist), and the Flathead Conservation District. b. Malmquist Easement: Casey Malmquist to send a report he received from FWP to the City. c. Viaduct Improvements: The City is still working on the project with MDT and looking to get improvements done by next year. Explore has funds for this in FY24. The plan is to move the jersey barriers to create a 10-foot path. Lighting improvements. d. Safe Routes to School/SS4A Action Plan: The City put out an RFP and they’ve received one proposal from RPA. This will go to the City Council at their next meeting. City Council approved the proposal to make 6th Street a one-way from Park to Pine starting November 20. There was an alert on the City’s website but the City will provide communication to the schools to send letters to families. Doug volunteered to help with traffic. Karin also mentioned there’s been a lot of interest around the country for Safe Routes to School especially at the federal level. e. Ongoing Project List: Karin will add the list to the back of the agenda. Mary suggested we identify more projects so that we keep working on projects. f. Whitefish Yards (95 Karrow): Still working on the bridge project. DNRC needs to provide a permit for the airspace and BNSF needs to provide a permanent easement or a deed for the land to the City. There’s also the connecting trail aspect which is put on hold until the bridge part is approved. The path could be licensed instead of an easement. F. Parks and Recreation Comments: a. Maria has been communicating with Julie Mullins at Explore Whitefish about a communication plan and invited her to today’s meeting about managing e-bikes and rules. Julie said Explore Whitefish added an e- bike page to their website. She asked the committee to provide guidelines or rules and they would help go to their members and work with e-bike outfitters to create a map and share the guidelines/rules with those members. Giuseppe mentioned that these are not just guidelines, they are laws. Suggested we do not have to decide on guidelines so much as we need a refresh on the laws. Maria mentioned we know what the laws are, but they are limited, and we could also provide guidelines, or etiquette for e-bikes. Jim said that we need to continue an educational effort for e-bike users because they tend to be less experienced. It was suggested we look at some of the current laws for motorized vehicles on paths and sidewalks. G. Public Works Comments  a. Karin met with Mary to look at Bike/Ped city-paid positions around the state. They looked for cities that have such positions and the job descriptions. They will reach out to the cities to find out more about the positions, what department(s) they are attached to, salaries, etc. Karin invited Rachel from WLP to the meeting as she is wondering if there are other nonprofits that might be interested in being a part of designating a position or being involved in projects. Karin pointed out that in other cities there are often other voices, parent groups for example, that have a voice. Rachel said that she could do more research she could do and the City could do and suggested we look out of state. b. Jim asked for an update on the Karrow project. Craig said the project proposes a shared use path on the east side of the road from 2nd to 7th street. This is on the November 6 City Council agenda. The project is planned to start in May 2024. Nia brought up that the intersection is busy there. H. Public Comment a. Rachel Schmidt reported that the pedestrian crossing at Wisconsin and Woodside was dangerous and now a tree was trimmed/removed and helped to make the crossing more visible. I. Committee Comments: Non J. Next Regular Meeting – Monday, December 4, 2023 K. Adjourned 9.39 a.m. Committee Members City Staff Antonia Malchik present Dana Smith – City Manager absent Mary Behrendt – Chair present Maria Butts - Parks and Recreation Director present John Repke – Vice Chair present Carla Belski – Community Services Coordinator absent Doug Reed - Resort Tax Committee present Karin Hilding - Public Works Engineer present Jim DeHerrera - Park Board present Craig Workman – Public Works Director present Bailey Kallal – High School Representative absent Giuseppe Caltabiano – City Council Representative present Riley Polumbus – Secretary present Public present: Mike Fitzgerald, Casey Malmquist, Bruce Boody, Rachel Schmidt, Julie Mullins, Patty Zanto