Municipal Infrastructure Commission

3/9/2021 - Minutes I. Call to Order Members Present: Laura Dlugolecki, Michael Myers, Timur Tsutsuk, Christopher Page, Jason Williams City Staff Present: Jon Rauscher, Ray Coffey, Gwennie Talbot Guests Present: Arica Bronz, Kate Coffey, and Jill from Manseau Street Call to Order by: Laura Dlugolecki Meeting Start Time: 6:34 PM Minutes Recorded by: Christopher Page II. Public Comment Context from Jon: l Adding sidewalk to Manseau and Maple, recommending that it be added to the Transportation Master Plan Priorities list. l Will allow City to find funding for that as part of the project. Arica Bronz: Asking for support to get a sidewalk on Manseau Street. l Will be a while out, and up against a challenge. l Asking for community members/committee to understand what is happening from a public safety perspective, importance of sidewalk as soon as possible. l Manseau Street is a through street from LaFountain to East Allen l Fast-moving traffic, go-between to East Allen l Narrow street with parking on one side (new development, used to be both sides) l No choice but to walk in the road; snow-free months can avoid this by walking on neighbors’ lawns. l Days are short in the winter; often walking in the dark, concerning safety. l City Loft apartments and Park Terrace apartments on corner of Manseau. A lot of traffic will be coming about on this street. l Current plan will be to open street back up to traffic, dangerous for pedestrian, children, pets. l Traffic burden is going up; accident waiting to happen. Request: Keep Manseau closed to through traffic until a sidewalk can be installed. l Comparable to Hood Street and Dion, which have sections w/o sidewalks, but Manseau is narrower and has consistent parking on one side, making it effectively narrower. l Reduced to one-lane traffic. Invitation to come and walk on the street to sense the narrowness for yourself. l Understanding that decision is not commission, but a request of support for the position that the street should be closed to through traffic. Laura D: could you clarify parking history?  narrowness for yourself. l Understanding that decision is not commission, but a request of support for the position that the street should be closed to through traffic. Laura D: could you clarify parking history? l Through street, parking on both sides. Was not a ton of utilization, folks parked here and there (4 or 5 cars parked on street at a time). Now there may be est. 20 cars, street is totally filled with parking on one side due to new development Nighttime parking: l where are cars coming from? (Mike M) l New construction/new buildings online. City Lofts residential parking. l In a couple of months Park Terrace (larger) will be opened, way more units and parking, so pressure on street will go up. How was it ever thought that Manseau could bear the projected traffic? Mike: So, the study that the developers did is not holding true? (.75 study) l Kate: No, it does not g. Mike: During construction, vehicles for workers? l Construction workers cannot park on street, according to signage. Kate keeps up with developer as she sees that rule broken. Kate: There seem to be about a dozen or so cars from City Lofts on the street all the time, which is outside of their existing lot and additional spaces at 20 Manseau. Park Terrace may have done a better job with on-site parking than City Lofts. Will not see a reduction in parking because of new spaces at Park Terrace. l There will also be some commercial (café), plus friends/relatives/visitors to the buildings. l Park Terrace may be 3 times the number of cars (based on size of development) without addition of commercial space, deliveries, and visitors. l Street is very narrow; line of cars on street all the time makes it even narrower. l This past summer, street was briefly reopened; parking and number of cars became very difficult, and without sidewalk (exacerbated in winter) it was difficult and unsafe. l How did we get into the current situation? l Strongly suggest we get a sidewalk ASAP to help with safety. Further, street should not be opened to traffic until the sidewalk is in place to maintain safety of Manseau Street residents and City Loft/Park Terrace tenants. l Looking for the support from the Commission on these issues. Mike Myers: I am in favor of sidewalk and keeping road closed. l Laura: Thanks for well-thought-out comments Mike: Is City Loft lot full at night? l Kate: Yes, and others. Kate: Also advocating for a signaled crossing of Main Street in the vicinity. Jon: It is in the budget that was approved; we do have funding; VTRANS is proposing to resurface E. Allen street and incorporate some safety recommendations, including moving refuge island to east side of Manseau street and making it wider. New information as of yesterday. Surprising news, outside of VTRANS typical scope. Manseau and at Dion, also  Kate: Also advocating for a signaled crossing of Main Street in the vicinity. Jon: It is in the budget that was approved; we do have funding; VTRANS is proposing to resurface E. Allen street and incorporate some safety recommendations, including moving refuge island to east side of Manseau street and making it wider. New information as of yesterday. Surprising news, outside of VTRANS typical scope. Manseau and at Dion, also looking to get troubleshooting done; two sets of RFB’s to improve crossing. No drawings yet; working with STANTEC on this, will see next drawing set and share with public. Following short- term recommendations from East Allen Scoping study (See link on City of Winooski website). Timeline? RFBs to be installed THIS SUMMER, then relocate them as part of later project (next year). Out to bid winter of next year to coordinate for final location. Confirmation that decision to open/close streets is through city manager, as per the Traffic Ordinance (available online). City Manager gets a lot of feedback from commission, etc., but ultimately, she makes the decision. Arica: If anyone is not sure, please do walk with a resident at night for feeling/experience. Jon to Arica: Request to keep street closed: could local traffic still exit on to East Allen? Potentially trying to push new developments out to East Allen; otherwise not feasible or very difficult to deal with parking. Thanks from members of public to committee: public is welcome to stick around throughout. Mike: do you have most of the support of the street? Are there folks opposed to the sidewalk going on their property? E-mail string with 45-50 folks, exactly one resident was concerned that the sidewalk would be on their side of the street; only person who provided negative feedback. l Want to make sure the “con” voices are heard too if this starts to happen. Most would probably want it, but some folks have decks that get close to the sidewalk and that might be rough for some folks. Because ROW is so narrow on Manseau, City may need to procure temporary construction easements to construct sidewalk which could be challenging, but we would need to survey to get those limits. Because utility lines on one side, sidewalk goes on other side; one concern would be re: temp easement, house on corner of LaFountain and Manseau, short driveway. Jill, owner of home in question with short driveway : I have concerns and would work with you, it is dangerous to walk, lots of young people on the street; a sidewalk would keep people safer even if it would encroach on my driveway. III. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes Decision: Approve Motion by: Jason Williams Second: Christopher Page Revision required: Jon is mis-spelled near end of minutes. Chris will make revision and re- submit minutes. IV. Department and City Updates Updates from Ray Coffey and Gwennie Talbot:  submit minutes. IV. Department and City Updates Updates from Ray Coffey and Gwennie Talbot: l Parks and Community Gardens position: projects that Gwennie is working on, focus on trees. l Gwennie: Started as a THRIVE teacher who got into department. Began position in October, lot of gearing up and education about the program this winter. Main reason to be here is to talk about overall tree plan and how to get that going, looking for some clarification of roles. l Introductions from committee members to Gwennie. Laura provides background on tree groups: l A group of folks were interested in forming a tree board years ago, but it was not clear if it would be a separate entity. l Tree Board? Tree Committee? Either way, housed under MIC, not an official commission, do their own thing but then present/report to MIC, who moves their priorities forward. T l asks: Tree inventories, tree plantings, arbor day celebration, Tree City USA designation; support from Vermont Urban and Community Forestry (DBH tapes, iPads for inventory), volunteer supported. l Because we now have Tree City USA designation, there are grants that are now available, so there is a focus to try to tap into that money for tree plantings. l There has been some interest in managing Memorial Woods/Gilbrook areas, but that has not really been developed. Five or six dedicated volunteers currently. Ray: Adopted a Parks and Open Space Plan for the City; recommendations included development of an “urban forestry plan”, with focus on development plan for Gilbrook, Casavant, Memorial Parks. l Cool to see some of the different lenses applied to that thinking around equity/social justice and other views. l As plans for urban tree moves forward, park should be in lockstep. l There has been enough tree stuff floating around that it would be a good chance to connect and discuss how to pull things together to get everyone on same plane. l How do we get it done? Grant funding to tap into. l Meeting with Tree Committee and Ray/Gwennie: Could be interesting to get together for a joint meeting to discuss tree planting? Get everyone pulling in same direction. l Opportunity to adopt larger trees from Burlington: talked about briefly with Jim, but has there been a plan discussed for those or is there any potential to adopt those trees? Community member is interested in planting a tree in Richards Park in memorial of their parents who lived nearby. l Jim supports this. l Gwennie would love to help develop urban forestry plan. Looking for ways to get plugged in. l Jason: What does it mean to adopt a Burlington tree? Do we get to keep it in Winooski? l High-value (fully grown) trees being dug up for construction/development; 70 large trees that have been offered. l DPW has offered support to go grab some trees, but one task is where do we put them all? l Priority Report needs to be finalized to make it more user-friendly for DPW. l What kind of trees? We do not know but Jim would probably know. Begin Screen Share Updates by Jon R.  l Priority Report needs to be finalized to make it more user-friendly for DPW. l What kind of trees? We do not know but Jim would probably know. Begin Screen Share Updates by Jon R. l Main Street: chugging along at 90% design, ROW-acquisitions going on right now. Next step for Commission: more Landscape Architecture feedback, landscape design elements They have also ordered some light poles for us to touch/feel/look at; will want feedback on those, coming next month. l Hickock: Winter shutdown; April/May restart; looking for some street tree locations. Also, section of Hickock without sidewalk is now being included (Pine to Elm on Hickock has no sidewalk). l Lot 7D: No updates; hard to get hotel appraisals etc. during COVID time, no traveling going on. l Transportation Impact Fee: moving forward with Council, with some potential waivers reviewed by other commissions; senior housing/schools/low-income housing be exempt from housing, for example. l Traffic Calming Policy/Manual: CCRPC reviews, cost-share grant; they recommended submitting for a Traffic Calming Manual support; check out Burlington’s new updated one from Stantec. Model something like that for Winooski; more than likely we will be approved for it, coming to the MIC in July to start working on. Policy-intensive, will require a lot of feedback from commission to keep moving along. Not related to parking study, separate. l VTRANS: Circulator concrete work; could impact some businesses, so having discussions with VTRANS to start looking at what those impacts might be to businesses; coming to Council in April or May to provide project overview after meeting with local businesses re: impacts. Do we have agenda for VTRANS? No, they just awarded contract to SD Ireland, but we have no idea of timeframe, etc. yet.; we need to be sensitive of the timing of this project because of COVID/comeback need to be mindful of our businesses. It will have an impact; most likely later nighttime work (around 9 PM, as requested by downtown folks). l E-bike: Cut-through through park is in the Parks master plan! Was prioritized, now a matter of getting the funding in place. E-bikes will be in place before cut-through is in place, but it is on the Parks work plan. Burlington Telecom: fiber up East Allen; hopefully will be done this summer in conjunction with the VTRANS project. l Spring street-sweeping; we will be asking folks to move their cars for more efficient street-sweeping. Is it possible to do a parking ban that day? Yes, plan is to split City into quadrants and close. Parking bans are often overnight; how does it work if street- sweeping is during the day? Will the city give vouchers for parking garage? Jon says yes, makes sense to subsidize. Parking Ban: during winter parking bans, was parking garage open for residents to park in? It is a charge ($5 for overnight), not subsidized by City. That is a policy that could be changed, however, parking team question for Jessie and rest of team. V. Transportation Master Plan: Sidewalk Prioritization and Additions to Plan Decision: Add Manseau and Maple to Transportation Master Plan Motion by: Christopher Page Second: Corey Mack l There is a memo that describes some changes to the transportation master plan. l To fund any sidewalk additions, they must be added to the Master Plan. Sidewalks currently listed as priorities are East spring Street, North Street, and Hood Street. Residents and other folks have identified Manseau Street and Maple Street as streets that should be added to the priority list. Maple is difficult; no sidewalk where Maple narrows to Malletts Bay Avenue; would need to conduct some surveying/scoping. l Steep grade of Maple makes it a more serious undertaking? Yes, but first step is to survey because we cannot tell how much room we must work with. Has come up a few currently listed as priorities are East spring Street, North Street, and Hood Street. Residents and other folks have identified Manseau Street and Maple Street as streets that should be added to the priority list. Maple is difficult; no sidewalk where Maple narrows to Malletts Bay Avenue; would need to conduct some surveying/scoping. l Steep grade of Maple makes it a more serious undertaking? Yes, but first step is to survey because we cannot tell how much room we must work with. Has come up a few times. l Both groups have reached out to our commission and have concerns about public safety on the streets. It seems like something that the City could provide to improve safety. l Mike: Manseau especially is a problem. Lots of pedestrian traffic. Nowhere to pull aside; basically, a one-lane road. Manseau street should take a priority, and maybe even over Hood Street. l Better understanding priorities; somewhat driven by construction schedule/paving schedule. East Spring is a high priority but should be timed with resurfacing. Manseau, on the other hand, is standalone and would not require timing. l Mike supports Manseau as top priority for safety concern. l Jason: Compelling; missing sidewalk is a big problem, and we should strive to fix that. Jason is not comfortable about making a priority recommendation, however. Generally, where sidewalks are missing, we should be providing them. Sidewalk maintenance and repair; adding more sidewalk infrastructure, do we have a systematic way of evaluating sidewalks in need of repair and what is the process for doing that in a timely fashion so that we aren’t just adding the infrastructure without a maintenance plan? l Jon: During budget cycle, more DPW resources have been committed to sidewalks replacement this year. We updated the conditions inventory and identified the northeast side of Winooski as being where the sidewalks are worst and have committed to taking care of that this year; all with internal DPW forces. Replacing virtually all Hickock Street sidewalk this year with contract work. o DPW to do replacement work; Manseau is more likely contractor work. l Corey: utility poles, trees up to curb line, narrow parking aisle, etc.; all in conflict with each other. Priority of street canopy? Do we remove trees to accomplish the sidewalk? Utility poles are expensive; not an easy ask, and probably why it has not been built yet. Traffic calming plan/opportunities; that might help as a short-term, make it really “inconvenient” to use Manseau for traffic; Mansion Street and Maple Street have also talked about this. Potentially other options. l CP: Survey first? l Yes. l Council and Manager are not needed to get survey done but would be needed for funding acquisition. l Mike: Safety First as a general approach. l Laura: We heard a compelling information, like Jason said, and it sounds very unsafe and many people on street are. However, without context from other streets, does every street that comes to us become a priority? l Give-and-take re: prioritization: need to make sure we take folks’ concerns with a grain of salt; do not break up street grid, do not throw in one-way streets unless there is a compelling case. l Jason: do we have enough information to answer the question, to add Manseau and Maple to the existing transportation master plan? l Perhaps not a vote, but a head-nod. Adding it to the transportation plan allows Jon to do a great deal of additional work towards moving forward. l UPWP: planning study; is it too late? Do they want to lose parking, etc.? l It is too late for UPWP; we applied for VTRANS planning grant, survey and outreach would get funded, but did not get that grant funding; will try that again if timing allows, but it is very tricky right now. There could be neighbors who do not like the plan, and they are not reaching out. l If fencing is in the ROW and homeowner does not have a permit, City would not be responsible for replacement; some are right at ROW line and may require temporary movement. l Park Terrace: widening sidewalk on East Allen; they are building sidewalk up Manseau  is very tricky right now. There could be neighbors who do not like the plan, and they are not reaching out. l If fencing is in the ROW and homeowner does not have a permit, City would not be responsible for replacement; some are right at ROW line and may require temporary movement. l Park Terrace: widening sidewalk on East Allen; they are building sidewalk up Manseau in front of development; park terrace is doing some work. l Jason: I love the variation in roof line in the building, much nicer than the trend in straight 90-degree blocks. Gives it much more flavor. l Do we have a list of sidewalks getting refurbished this summer? o Send along! Also send Minutes along to Mike. l Needs to be on council’s radar. VI. Adjourn Motion by: Jason Williams Second: Corey Mack Meeting End Time: 7:59 PM