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3 - Minutes, 3/8/04 CITY OF BOULDER, COLORADO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS MEETING SUMMARY FORM NAME OF BOARD/COMMISSION: Transportation Advisory Board DATE OF MEETING: Mar. 8, 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, Bill Cowern, Teresa Spears, Joe Paulson, Bill Fox (Consultant), Steve Stolz, Commander Greg Testa, Sgt. Fred Gerhardt and Robin Madel, secretary WHAT TYPE OF MEETING [REGULAR] Agenda Item 1 – Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:03 p.m. Agenda Item 2 – Meeting Minutes from Jan. 12, 2003. Jim Rettew motioned to accept the minutes as written. Krista Holland seconded the motion. The vote was 5-0 in favor of the motion. Agenda Item 3 – General Public Participation Robert Sharp, 5995 Marshall Dr., Marshall , said he thinks it is important to say that it is a slippery slope for how much a board or the council represents the community and how much they take a father knows best role. He urged the board to try their best to reflect what the majority wants. With the Arapahoe TNP he asked the board to look at historical Boulder and to preserve the rural landscape of historic corridors. Historic Boulder has been identifying historic corridors and Arapahoe Rd. is one of them. He asked the TAB to consider that in deciding what to do. The following people spoke about the Missing Sidewalks Issue: Isadore Million, 704 Brooklawn, Boulder , said that when they bought their house it was in the county and they voted against having sidewalks. He questioned the scoring that was given to his street on several issues. He discussed how Brooklawn would score on the priorities list. He said there is zero reason to put a sidewalk on his street and most people who live there don’t need it. Charles Clark, 3518 Kirkwood PL., Boulder , said there is only one block of Kalmia that doesn’t have a sidewalk and there is no way to walk in the street easily. He discussed why a sidewalk is needed there so badly and said his wife will not walk west on Kalmia because it is so hazardous. Also, it doesn’t make sense to put a sidewalk on both sides of the road. Fred Luiszer, 2510 Taft Dr. #210, Boulder , said that they need to have the sidewalk finished in front of their condo and discussed why. He said he is willing to take pictures or video or whatever it takes to get one built there. General Public Participation was closed. Agenda Item 4 – Public hearing and TAB consideration of a recommendation on the South Broadway Safety Project. Bill Cowern presented the project to the TAB. He emphasized that this is a safety project and the number one priority in the TMP is to make the network safer. Cowern reviewed accident statistics at Broadway and Grinnell, reviewed the budget available for the project, the sources of funding and the schedule attached to the funding. The federal grant money has to be spent by 2005 at the latest. Cowern reviewed the public process since the previous TAB meeting. Cowern presented the TAB with three options (including the staff recommendation) that are considered acceptable to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). Cowern said that all the recommendations have pros and cons. The current staff recommendation is to install medians on Broadway at Darley and Grinnell, monitor the traffic impacts of these improvements in the surrounding neighborhood by conducting an “after” study 6 to 12 months after the completion of the improvements. Staff would forward the results of this study along with any additional staff recommendations for mitigation to TAB for consideration. TAB Questions TAB Questions included changing the light timing at Greenbriar, the impacts on Gillaspie, the influence on side street of diversions in traffic flow patterns, level of service on Broadway and what the alternatives would do to that and the nature of the accidents on Broadway at the intersections of Darley and Grinnell. Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes March 8, 2004 1 Page Public Comment Marilyn Decalo, 4465 Grinnell, Boulder , supported the staff recommendation but said it will create issues for the rest of the neighborhood and hoped that the neighborhood could come together to work on those issues. Martin Newmark, 3250 Darley, Boulder , said he is against a signal on Darley because it would increase traffic by 66% and speeding is already such a big problem. Jim Gary, 1074 Albion, Boulder , said he does not support the staff recommendation but instead supports a signal at Darley. David Robinson, 4497 Grinnell Ave, Boulder , says he can live with a median on Darley and is opposed to a signal on Grinnell. Judy Robinson, 4479 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , said she supports medians but favors the signal at Darley and recommended taking any money left over and using it to fix the bike path that ends at Grinnell. Don Boyle, 1012 Albion, Boulder , said he favors a signal at Darley and getting rid of the signal at Hanover. Brad Segal, 4315 Grinnell, Boulder , said he supports the staff recommendation and said that the problem stems from too much school-related traffic due to Boulder’s open school enrollment policy. Ann Marie Ladd, 4475 Grinnell, Boulder , said she supports the staff recommendation and says that Darley is better situated for a signal if need be. Holly Tulin, 1035 Toedtli Dr., Boulder , said he doesn’t support the staff recommendation and instead supports a signal at both intersections. Judy Bruch, 4415 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , suggested that the city should do something about parking on the north side of Fairview and recommended not allowing a left turn on Grinnell during school hours. Long term she is interested in a mega-light at Broadway and Greenbriar and said she does not support a light at Grinnell. Erris McCullough, Boulder , said that there should be a four-way stop at Toedtli and Darley and said that the intersection of Hanover and Toedtli is a dangerous intersection. She doesn’t support the median recommendation. Sunchana Pucic, 4270 Grinnell, Boulder , asked the TAB to postpone making a decision and require the staff to get a mediator to resolve issues for the whole neighborhood. She asked for incremental improvements and said that only one option won’t make the problems go away. Jim Luallen, 1265 Gillaspie Dr., Boulder , said that the concerns of the neighborhood outweigh the mobility concerns of CDOT and said that the median option will have the worst possible outcome. Sandy Scull, 3755 Darley Ave., Boulder , said that there are visibility problems with right turns on Broadway and said she favors a signal at Darley and possibly closing off Toedtli at Darley. Lynn Sperry, 4260 Grinnell, Boulder, said that she doesn’t support medians and feels that Darley is better suited for a signal than Grinnell. Alice Hayne, 3905 Darley Ave., Boulder , favors a signal at Darley and Grinnell and said she doesn’t favor medians because they will push traffic to already congested intersections. Lieschen Hartman, 4325 Grinnell, Boulder , said that people living in the neighborhood are more important than traffic on Broadway and safety should be the number one priority. Keith Hanson, 3930 Darley Ave., Boulder , said that the staff recommendation is a great idea and otherwise a signal at both Darley and Grinnell is fair. Ken Beitel, 4410 Ludlow, Boulder , said that traffic on Ludlow will increase with medians and recommended installing a semi-diverter on Ludlow if a median is installed on Grinnell. Andrew Mirrington, 4480 Grinnell, Boulder , says he supports the staff recommendation and thinks a signal at Grinnell is a bad idea. Linda Feather, 4435 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , said she supports the staff recommendation and thinks a signal at Grinnell would terrorize the street. Jeep Campbell, 4395 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , supports a signal at Darley because it will distribute traffic fairly and asked the staff to look into installing an acceleration lane on Broadway and eliminating right turns out of Knox Ct. Ann Endicott, 3710 Darley, Boulder , asked about the turning situation from Broadway onto Darley with medians installed. Randy Wiegand, 3650 Darley Ave., Boulder , said that the current study is flawed and said that the current traffic laws need to be enforced. If the police were there the revenue would be significant. Medians would be very inconvenient. Eric Vogelsberg, 1345A Bear Mountain Dr., Boulder , does not support medians because it will cause traffic on Toedtli to increase and cross a heavily used bike path. Said he supports a signal at Darley and Grinnell even though CDOT doesn’t or else he supports the original staff proposal of a signal at Grinnell. Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes March 8, 2004 2 Page Alex Medler, 1070 Edinboro Dr., Boulder , said that with medians traffic will be diverted to other neighborhoods and the accidents will be vehicle to toddler and the neighborhood mitigation program won’t work because there is no funding. Gena Simpson-Li, 4090 Darley, Boulder , asked how the no left turns will impact the fire department and said that other mitigation measures need to be taken. If the medians are installed there will be nowhere for the residents in that area to go. Glen Murray, 4365 Grinnell Ave., Boulder , said he is in favor of a signal at Darley but not at Grinnell and would like to see changes at the school addressed. Robert Sharp, 5995 Marshall Dr., Boulder , said that the staff needs to get the facts straight, address everyone’s questions and summarize everyone’s suggestions. He said the overall reasoning was faulty and the staff made no effort to look at whether acceleration lanes would work. Also there are no signs to help people make turns at the intersection. TAB Questions TAB questions covered construction of a road from the school to Greenbriar, impacts of traffic mitigation, the use of federal dollars for mitigation efforts, speed enforcement along Broadway, experience with moving traffic signals once they are installed, the accident history on the bike path, installation of a four way stop at Darley and Toedtli and installation of a signal at both intersections. TAB Discussion The TAB members acknowledged their support for the staff proposal with certain conditions for staff evaluation attached. Signals at both intersections are not an option because CDOT would not approve it. Installation of medians at both locations would provide a solution immediately and would be easier to modify at a later date if that option were chosen in the future. John Tayer moved that the TAB approve the staff recommendation with the following additional elements for staff evaluation: Constructing a diversion on Ludlow Limiting parking on Knox Ct. Constructing a road from Southern Hills to Greenbriar Analyzing pedestrian crossing opportunities on Broadway Improving bike path crossing on Toedtli Performing an NTMP-like analysis for traffic mitigation Making improvements to the intersection of Hanover and Toedtli Lengthening the traffic signal cycle at Greenbriar Evaluating traffic mitigation in front of New Vista High School Limiting right turn lanes from Broadway onto Darley And other miscellaneous elements that citizens forward to staff. Bill Roettker seconded the motion. The vote was 4-1 in favor of the motion. Krista Holland voted against the motion. Agenda Item 5 – Public hearing and TAB consideration of a recommendation on the Arapahoe Avenue Transportation Network Plan. This item was tabled until the April 2004 meeting. Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes March 8, 2004 3 Page Agenda Item 6 – Staff briefing and TAB input on the sidewalk missing links prioritization methodology. Noreen Walsh presented the topic and discussed the weighting scheme created to prioritize the list of missing sidewalks. The program pays for construction of the sidewalks. The current budget is $75K which is split between pedestrian crossings and sidewalk links. TAB Questions TAB questions covered an explanation of the legend and how projects got on the list to begin with. Jim Rettew motioned to suspend the rules and allow the meeting to go past 10 p.m. Krista Holland seconded the motion. The vote was 5-0 in favor of the motion. Public Participation Bill Trojanovich, 3501 Kirkwood Pl., Boulder , said that a sidewalk is not needed on both sides of his street. The neighbors want the rural look that they’ve had for 37 years. Michael Winseck, 2260 Linden Ave., Boulder , said that he doesn’t want sidewalks in his neighborhood on stth Linden between 21 St and 26 St. He said it is not needed and he wants to try to preserve his nice neighborhood. th Elizabeth Black, 4340 N. 13 St., Boulder , said she doesn’t want sidewalks in her neighborhood and walking in the middle of the street is okay. She recommended focusing improvements on neighborhoods that are more grateful. Nancy Allen 3508 Kirkwood Pl., Boulder , said she supports a sidewalk on one side of Kalmia because it is a busy area and the sidewalk is needed. Alison Richards, 470 University Ave., Boulder , said that the methodology looks good but she is confused about when projects have a CEAP or not and how the final decision is made about projects. Walsh described the process where CEAP’s are required. Howard Krasnoff, 1990 Kalmia, Boulder , questioned whether one sidewalk would be enough along Kalmia and said he is concerned that trees would be removed and erosion would occur from removing a berm to construct a sidewalk. He also doesn’t want to have to shovel snow. Marilyn Bright, 2050 Kalmia, Boulder , said that she would like to not have sidewalks on her street. Elizabeth Coker, 2215 Linden Ave., Boulder , asked the staff to look at the population density of the neighborhoods and spend money on something that will benefit more people. TAB Discussion The discussion covered how the projects would be decided if there is support from only one resident, ranking of the utility of the project compared to vehicular traffic, on-street parking and safety as ranking factors and how partial public support will be handled. Bill Roettker recommended including a description of the process so the public will understand that decisions aren‘t final. Agenda Item 7 – Matters From Staff: Tracy Winfree announced a letter of award given to the TMP web-based project. Tracy Winfree announced a public hearing for the US 36 EIS. The process is continuing to narrow down options. Winfree said that the coalition is keeping an eye on Colorado Tolling Enterprise to see what their recommendations are and how that will impact the MIS. There are potential conflicts between CDOT and RTD that the staff is also keeping an eye on. There are no dates set for future public hearings. Tracy Winfree gave an update on the city council retreat. The TAB received a lot of kudos for their work on the TMP. The council directed the city manager to assemble a task force to help decide how to implement the Community Action Plan. Winfree discussed the status of the Northwest Corridor EIS. Winfree said there is a lot of disagreement about what to do. reminded Bill Roettker about attending the new board member orientation. Robin Madel Matters From the Board: th Jim Rettew asked when the 17 St. Bikelane Project would be presented to the TAB again. Winfree said that the public hearing hasn’t been set yet. Jim Rettew said that he would like the TAB to start reviewing airport issues. Winfree said that the airport is a business and activity center and not a transportation center and it is not currently within the TAB’s charter. The airport has its own master plan and the vast majority of comments have to do with noise and operations. Krista Holland asked if people check their city emails. Robin Madel said that she would send out a request about emails. Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes March 8, 2004 4 Page Agenda Item 8 – Discussion of Future Agenda and Schedule The next regular meeting will be on April 12, 2004. Agenda Item 9 – Adjournment John Tayer made a motion to adjourn. Jim Rettew seconded the motion. The vote was 5-0 in favor of the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 11:10 p.m. Date, Time, and Location of Next Meeting: April 12, 2004, 6:00 p.m. Transportation Advisory Board regular meeting, Municipal Building Council Chambers. NOT YET APPROVED BY TAB Minutes approved on ______________ By _________________ Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes March 8, 2004 5 Page