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2 - Minutes, 1/12/04 CITY OF BOULDER, COLORADO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS MEETING SUMMARY FORM NAME OF BOARD/COMMISSION: Transportation Advisory Board DATE OF MEETING: Jan. 12, 2004 NAME/TELEPHONE OF PERSON PREPARING SUMMARY: Robin Madel, 303-441-4073 NAMES OF MEMBERS, COUNCIL, STAFF AND INVITED GUESTS PRESENT: BOARD MEMBERS –TAB: John Tayer, Jim Rettew, Brant Liebmann, Krista Holland, Bill Roettker STAFF – Tracy Winfree, Mike Sweeney, Randall Rutsch, Bill Cowern, Teresa Spears, Joe Paulson, Bill Fox, Steve Stolz, Fred Gerhardt and Robin Madel, secretary WHAT TYPE OF MEETING [REGULAR] Agenda Item 1 – Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. Agenda Item 2 – Meeting Minutes from Nov. 10, 2003. Krista Holland motioned to approve the minutes as written. Jim Rettew seconded the motion. The vote was 5-0 in favor of the motion. Agenda Item 3 – General Citizen Participation th Rob Smoke, 2445 19 St., Boulder , spoke about the lack of RTD service between Boulder and Denver on Saturdays and Sundays. Smoke provided specifics of some express routes. He asked the TAB to get in touch with RTD and ask them to raise the level of service and to promote that service. Mary Louis Chavers, P.O. Box 4342, Boulder CO 80306 , spoke about passenger safety issues. Chavers is a monthly Ecopass holder. She said that several drivers have said that it would be helpful to have a left turn arrow th at 14 & Canyon at the Transit Center. Chavers said that it would help with passenger and community safety. Also, the SKIP bus drivers get a 10 minute dinner break and a 10-20 minute break in north Boulder. Their contract specifies a 30 minute break per seven to eight hour shift. Many of the drivers are stressed out and Chavers feels that changes could be helpful. TAB Comments Bill Roettker encouraged people to contact RTD on their own but said that he will talk directly to RTD board th members. Roetkker asked what standards are used for the turn signal at 14& Walnut. Joe Paulson said that the city has criteria and guidelines and said that he will look at how bus schedules are impacted by the light timing. Tracy Winfree said that she would raise the issue at the quarterly RTD – city of Boulder staff to staff meeting and she will report back to the TAB. General Citizen Participation was closed. Agenda Item 4 – Staff distribution of the adopted 2003 TMP. Randall Rutsch distributed the TMP to the TAB. The TAB and staff read a resolution expressing gratitude for Rutsch’s work on the TMP update. Agenda Item 5 – Public hearing and TAB consideration of a recommendation on the South Broadway Safety Project. Bill Cowern reviewed the contents included in the packet of material and the background of the project. Cowern said that the city applied for and received a $300K grant from the Federal Hazard Elimination Program. The staff assembled a team to evaluate safety improvements to the intersections of Broadway and Grinnell and Broadway and Darley. Cowern summarized the alternatives evaluated by the staff and presented the staff recommendation. Cowern discussed the options that were evaluated and detailed why the staff chose the option they did. The staff recommendation is to install a median on Broadway at Darley, a traffic signal on Broadway at Grinnell and a speed display sign on Broadway. TAB Questions TAB questions covered the impacts of the staff recommendations in terms of number of cars, traffic mitigation, timing of lights on Broadway, demographics of accidents, alternate configurations that the staff evaluated, the budget associated with the project, traffic diversion to Greenbriar and planned pedestrian improvements. Public Participation Marilyn Decalo, 4465 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , said she has seen a lot of changes in Boulder and is concerned about the impacts to the community. She received a mailing about the issue in August and then didn’t receive anything after that. She said that the city should remind people about the meetings and because they didn’t a Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes Nov. 10, 2003 1 Page petition was created. Decalo said she wants to preserve the small town feeling that Boulder has had and is opposed to a signal. She wants a more integrated solution. The study is much larger than Broadway and Grinnell. The neighborhood needs to be identified. Decalo urged the TAB to send the matter back to the staff for future consideration. She added that students park where they shouldn’t. Deane Johnson, 1210 Toedtli, Boulder , said she is opposed to a traffic light and has never had a problem getting onto Broadway. She asked about accidents where the lights currently are and said she doubts there will be any fewer accidents with a light at the intersection. Johnson asked for anything else but a light and said that it will draw traffic. She said also that the bus stop at that intersection is very busy. Ann Marie Ladd, 4475 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , said that a signal is a far-reaching alteration. It will increase the volume and safety concerns and the neighborhood will become quite unpleasant. Ladd asked if the staff could go back to the process and improve the existing signalized intersections. She gave specific options and said that the impact to Grinnell needs to be given more consideration. A light at Darley would be safer for bikers and pedestrians. It is a dilemma to divert traffic to one or other streets because most accidents on Grinnell involve drivers from outside of the neighborhood. She supports medians. Linda Feather, 4435 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , said she is concerned about the proposed recommendations and would like the staff to go back to the drawing board. She said she is opposed to a light because it will make Grinnell a parking lot. She suggested using a camera on Broadway and flashing lights as well as other mitigation devices. Mike Darrah, 4440 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , said he would like this issue to go back to the staff. He doesn’t favor either option. The two main reasons for accidents in the area are speeding on Broadway and students in the area. Changing student behavior will take working with the schools by limiting parking and reducing volume. Also, staggered light timing on Broadway has not been explored well. James E. Mabry, 4430 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , said he is opposed to the light because Grinnell is a parking lot on bad days already. He recommended designating some drop off points for students and trying to eliminate students and parents driving to school. He said that smooth driving on Broadway is not more important than the community. Judy Robinson, 4497 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , said she objects to the staff recommendation and the process used to create it. She said that at the meetings the staff pushed their recommendations. The community wanted a fair resolution but the staff ignored this. Both a light and a median are not fair. Without the grant money other possibilities would have been explored. It doesn’t make sense to make Grinnell a major street. More traffic will decrease the property value of her home. She would like to see this go back to the staff because there is more to be said and done. She asked the TAB not to make a decision yet. David Robinson, 4497 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , said that the public meeting was kept a secret. The $300K is like a bone to the staff and they can’t wait to get their hands on it. He asked if any studies with the Boulder Police Department have been done or if any research has been done. There has been degradation of the neighborhood and the staff is jumping into the project because of the free money. He asked the TAB to not make a decision yet. Lynne Sperry, 4260 Grinnell, Boulder , asked the TAB and staff to reconsider their proposal. Intersections are dangerous and most of the accidents are because people are impatient. She said there must be some other way to keep the streets open and she doesn’t want one street to suffer for another. Lee Hartman, 4325 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , said he is new to Boulder. Twice a day the traffic is bad because of parents and teens. A stoplight is unfair because then the other streets have to take the burden. A stoplight is the wrong way to do it. He thanked the TAB for their time. He said he would rather give up the right to turn left than have a stoplight. Alex Medler, 1070 Edinboro, Boulder , is concerned that traffic west of Gillaspie will turn onto Edinboro, Yale and Table Mesa which would be faster than going to Grinnell if a light were installed. He suggested getting more information about Edinboro and Yale and using money left over from the grant to do some mitigation in those areas. Of all the neighbors on the block only one knew about the project. Their area is not in the area of consideration. He urged the TAB to not make a decision yet. Bob Rea, 4220 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , lives in the first home at Grinnell and Gillaspie and said that this is not a new problem. He said the problems started 30 years ago when Foothills Parkway dead ended into Table Mesa instead of continuing on to Highway 93 south of Boulder. At that time traffic on south Broadway doubled. Now there are more kids driving than ever before. The parking lot is completely overflowed and the city and school should continue looking at the project. The bike path dead ends at Grinnell and is an issue that needs to be addressed. The problem that the city and state created 30 years ago with Foothills needs to be addressed. Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes Nov. 10, 2003 2 Page John Boylan, 4445 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , said that communication about the meetings was minimal and he wants a fair opinion. He said the city needs to conduct a poll rather than hold a meeting. The vehicle counts are from several years ago. There are solutions that could come from within the neighborhood that wouldn’t cost as much. Darley is more conducive to a light than Grinnell. The best idea is photo radar and a light at Darley. He said that the traffic counts would be a wash. He asked the TAB to reconsider and better publish meeting announcements. Public Participation was closed. TAB Discussion TAB discussion covered traffic stacking on Grinnell, level of service analyses, accident statistics for Grinnell and Broadway, school district involvement in the process, school parking lot regulation, creating alternatives to student driving, the schedule for use of the grant money, a neighborhood parking permit program for Ludlow Ave., timing of the lights and speeds on Broadway, the priorities for the corridor for the state and the city, the plans for dealing with speeding on Grinnell, the possibility of using the NTMP program to mitigate speeding, the impacts from a traffic light on Darley, restricting left turns from Broadway onto Grinnell and Darley, the details of photo enforcement on Broadway, the public process that was followed and the complaints of the public speakers, the need to address the problem of speeding, the lack of a neighborhood feeling on south Broadway and the costs to do additional mailings. The TAB asked the staff to review several items: left turn lanes with photo enforcement and restricted hours; the effect of speed and its mitigation on Broadway, a staggered light cycle on Broadway and an alternative drop off location for students. No motions were made about the issue. Agenda Item 6 – Matters From Staff: th Tracy Winfree discussed the 17 St. Bikelane Project. Winfree said that the staff is still working with the city manager to get additional information because the city manager wants to bring it forward in a way that is clear. The item may still be presented to the TAB for a public hearing at the February meeting. Tracy Winfree discussed the TMP Workplan and distributed a color version. Winfree reviewed the status and the award process from DRCOG. th Bill Cowern discussed accident statistics from 9 St. Cowern said that accident rates in all cases except for one didn’t increase and in some locations rates were lower during Broadway construction. The one th location where rates increased was 9&University. Tracy Winfree discussed the US 36 Environmental Impact Statement. The open period for the scoping phase ended on December 5, 2003. A range of ideas came from the scoping period but CDOT is still accepting input from the public. All suggestions will be considered and then the options will be narrowed for analysis. The process should take about a year and will be done in 2004. There will be public meetings to discuss the topic on Feb. 24, 25 and 26. An early issue in the EIS is determining the area to be studied and whether or not to include the Diagonal in the study area. One suggestion has been to do a separate feasibility study along the Diagonal to Gunbarrel, which is within the FasTracks area. The EIS will examine “end of the line” issues for Boulder. The mayor’s coalition is planning a trip to Washington, D.C. to promote the US 36 MIS. The Human Relations Commission for the city of Boulder asked the city manager to make some adjustments to how the city does their public process for services for non-English speaking residents. The staff is looking at how they can better serve all members of the public. Matters From the Board: Krista Holland made a presentation on behalf of the TAB to the staff to thank the transportation staff for all of their hard work. Brant Liebmann said that the Environmental Advisory Board wants to make a presentation to the TAB about reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Brant Liebmann mentioned the article about Ecopasses in the newspaper. Tracy Winfree discussed details of the article that had to do with no longer issuing Ecopasses for people working outside of the General Improvement District. Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes Nov. 10, 2003 3 Page Agenda Item 7 – Discussion of Future Agenda and Schedule The next regular meeting will be on Feb. 9, 2004. Agenda Item 8 – Adjournment Jim Rettew motioned to adjourn the meeting. Krista Holland seconded the motion. The vote was 5-0 in favor of the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m. Date, Time, and Location of Next Meeting: Feb. 9, 2004, 6:00 p.m. Transportation Advisory Board regular meeting, Municipal Building Council Chambers. Minutes approved on ______________ By __________________ Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes Nov. 10, 2003 4 Page