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2 - Minutes, 8/30/04 CITY OF BOULDER, COLORADO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS MEETING SUMMARY FORM NAME OF BOARD/COMMISSION: Transportation Advisory Board DATE OF MEETING: Aug. 30, 2004 NAME/TELEPHONE OF PERSON PREPARING SUMMARY: Robin Madel, 303-441-4073 NAMES OF MEMBERS, COUNCIL, STAFF AND INVITED GUESTS PRESENT: BOARD MEMBERS –TAB: Jim Rettew, Krista Nordback, Bill Roettker, Lynn Guissinger, Brant Liebmann STAFF – Tracy Winfree, Mike Sweeney, Bill Cowern, Teresa Spears, Bill Fox (consultant), Steve Stolz, Marni Ratzel, Robin Madel, secretary WHAT TYPE OF MEETING [REGULAR] Agenda Item 1 – Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 6:02 p.m. Agenda Item 2 – Meeting Minutes from July 12, 2004. Krista Nordback motioned to approve the minutes as written. Bill Roetkker seconded the motion. The vote was 4-0 in favor of the motion. Brant Liebmann abstained because he did not attend that meeting. Agenda Item 3 – General Public Participation. Premena, P.O. Box 1038, Boulder, 80306 , discussed an article about bikers getting “doored” in on-street bike lanes. Also discussed creating more pedestrian friendly signals during off-peak hours. Said he is disappointed with the lack of standards for bike signs on paths and streets and there is no protocol for him to check against. Alan Streater, 2830 Dover Dr., Boulder , said that the current policy for encroachment on sidewalks of “rat on your neighbor” doesn’t work. Asked the TAB to seek alternative solutions. th George Karakehian, 1237 Pearl St. , commented on what a great job the citizen groups did regarding the 28 St. reconstruction but feels the product has been distressing and that traffic during the non-rush hours is worse than it was before. He said the citizen groups proposed changes that couldn’t be implemented because of TMP mandates regarding no long-term growth in traffic. General Public Participation was closed. TAB Discussion TAB discussion covered the city’s policy on bike and pedestrian signage, what could be done to improve sidewalks and the fact that current resources don’t allow the staff to be proactive but rather reactive. Staff will provide an updated informational memo about the status of the bicycle signage program. th Agenda Item 4 - Public hearing and TAB recommendation on the 17 Street (University to Pine) Project. Lynn Guissinger and Krista Nordback recused themselves from the issue, due to potential conflict of interest, and left the meeting for the duration of the discussion about this topic. Lynn Guissinger and her husband own a building in the zone of influence of the project and Krista Nordback works for the Student Transportation Coordinator for the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD). Bill Cowern gave a brief introduction to the project and summarized the background and public comment associated with the project. He reviewed the major issues and alternatives that were evaluated and discussed the pros and cons of each alternative. Then he discussed the staff recommendation and why the staff chose that recommendation. Cowern reviewed the various elements and costs of the project and discussed how the project relates to the Transportation Master Plan (TMP). TAB Questions TAB questions covered the number of Neighborhood Permit Parking (NPP) spaces in the project area, commuter permits, the bike stress analysis that was performed for the project, the requirements of the TMP in the project, public right-of-way and landscaping impacted by the project design, and the effectiveness of medians in speed reduction. Cowern said that the justification for the project is not necessarily a safety issue but rather an opportunity to provide adequate transportation for all three travel modes in the corridor as mandated by the TMP. A significant result of the project is a loss of parking which raises quality of life and economic issues. The staff evaluated ways to mitigate the parking losses while minimizing environmental impacts. Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes Aug. 30, 2004 1 Page Public Participation Chuck Gray, 670 Logan Mill Rd., Boulder, 80302 , supported adding bike lanes to all streets where feasible. Supported staff proposal. Stephen Tebo, 2158 Tamarack Ave., Boulder , doesn’t support bike lanes because of the cost of the loss of spaces. Ron Cabrera, 1604 Arapahoe Ave., boulder, 80302 , is the principal of Boulder High School (BHS) and said he supports the bike lanes and the safety measures for speed mitigation but the loss of parking spaces has a big impact to the school. th Rob Smoke, 2445 19 St. Apt. B, Boulder , supports bike lanes and says the city needs to focus on getting more people out of their cars. Jodie Hayes, 3775 Lakebriar Dr., Boulder , is a parent of a student at BHS and is against the bike lanes because of the loss of parking. George Karakehian said that the Downtown Business Inc. voted unanimously against the bike lanes and the city is trying to fix something that isn’t broken. He said the only group in favor of bike lanes is Boulder Bike Commuters (BBC). Richard Polk, 1724 Norwood Ave., Boulder , spoke on behalf of the Downtown Management Commission (DMC) and said their recommendation is to do all of the safety measures but not remove any parking spaces except three pick-up/drop-off spaces by Boulder High School and only if the BVSD agrees. Polk said there is concern in the DMC about whether transportation is using their dollars effectively and said that the DMC is very transit oriented. Landon Hilliard, P.O. Box 9011, Boulder, 80301 , represented BVSD and said he encourages the use of alternative modes and strongly supports the project because it will increase the safety for all walkers and bikers and it increases the likelihood of students walking and biking to school. Dave Allured, 4231 Eaton Ct., Boulder, 80303 , spoke on behalf of BBC and said the BBC supports the proposal and they are opposed to replacing on-street parking. Speaking personally he said he supports the staff proposal and would rather see the project proceed with replacement of on-street parking rather than not proceed at all. Marty Crigler, 2137 Grove St., Boulder , said she supports resurfacing and re-striping, installing pedestrian crossings and medians. Michelle Bishop, 1705 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder , said she supports keeping the current curb cuts and detached sidewalks, and she supports repaving, striping and bumping out the median. Cheryl Orr, 4965 Country Club Way, Boulder , asked the board to support the BHS community. She said she doesn’t support the bike lanes and a major parent issue is loss of a drop off area. Michael Graham, 9136 Libby Hall, Boulder, 80310 , is a CU student and fully supports the staff proposal. Premena, P.O. Box 1038, Boulder, 80306 , said he supports the staff proposal and that the people who bike a lot in Boulder primarily shop in Boulder. He asked the businesses to support those bikers. Alan Streater, 2830 Dover Dr., Boulder , said he supports the plan in whole and said that the value of the land used not as parking spaces is even higher than if it were. th th Roger Easton, 1579 48 St., Boulder, 80303 , said he owns property at 1700 17 St. and parking there is difficult already. He said he will not be able to rent his apartments if the staff recommendation goes through. th Tom Finneran, 1700 17 St., Apt. B3, Boulder, 80302 , said he thinks the staff needs to think out of the box and he does not support the staff proposal. th th Imogene Easton, 1579 48 St., Boulder , said she owns the property at 1700 17 St. and it is her retirement so it is important to keep tenants happy. She doesn’t support the staff proposal and loss of parking. Tim Thomas, 2300 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder , said he doesn’t support the staff recommendation and said that we already have the Broadway Bike Path as an alternative. th Scott Allen, 875 14 St., Boulder, 80302 , said he is a CU student and relies on his bike 100% of the time. He supports the staff recommendation and said that north-south biking corridors are not plentiful. Inger Gallo, 1140-B Milo Cir., Lafayette , has a son that goes to BHS and said that taking parking away from BHS is unfair. Peter Roper, 2301 Pearl St., Boulder , said he is a student at CU and supports the staff recommendation. Douglas Ertz, 5300 Holmes Pl., Boulder , said he is against the staff recommendation because BHS will lose their drop off and he has two kids at BHS. Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes Aug. 30, 2004 2 Page TAB Discussion The discussion covered building up the bike network, the importance of being responsive by mitigating parking loss with replacement parking, supporting the TMP, funding sources of additional parking spaces and creating a balanced approach while being multi-modal. Brant Liebmann said that he feels it is important to build up the bike network because it is a big enhancement to the city. Liebmann also felt strongly that the staff should mitigate the parking issues as best as possible. Bill Roettker said he supports the staff recommendation and that the TMP role is a critical factor in his decision because it is a blueprint to balance transportation issues in the city. Roettker and Jim Rettew asked how the replacement parking would be funded. Cowern said the staff had not worked out all of the funding details yet. Roettker said that he was less supportive of adding back in parking unless the funding for it could come from varied sources instead of solely from the bike and pedestrian funds. Jim Rettew said that this is a tough issue and th he sympathizes with the 17 Street residents. He supported taking a balanced approach to fostering a multi-modal attitude and at the same time addressing downtown issues. Rettew felt strongly that the staff suggestion is a win- win solution as long as the replacement parking was included. Rettew also recommended to Boulder High School th to look at the greater issue of parking problems beyond the loss of parking spaces on 17 Street. Jim Rettew motioned to accept the staff recommendation with the addition of 21 replacement parking spaces. Bill Roettker seconded the motion. The vote was 3-0 in favor of the motion. Additional discussion covered financing of the replacement parking spaces. Brant Liebmann raised the issue of losing Neighborhood Parking Permit (NPP) or metered spaces through making replacement parking spaces unrestricted. Liebmann also requested a discussion of how to use the replacement parking to generate some revenue. The topic will be discussed at a future meeting. Agenda Item 5 - Public hearing and TAB recommendation on the University Heights Neighborhood Permit Parking (NPP) Program. There was no presentation for this item. The item will be presented for a public hearing at the October 2004 TAB meeting. TAB Questions Questions covered the timing of the project and status of the NPP program, the reason for completing this project, comparable neighborhoods, availability of commuter permits, hours and days of enforcement and availability of enforcement officers, revenue estimates, concern about the public involvement process in this neighborhood, and concern for students impacted by the project. Agenda Item 6 Matters from Staff Tracy Winfree provided an update on the regional studies including the US 36 Environmental Impact Study and the Diagonal Rail Feasibility Study. Tracy Winfree announced that there would be another round of budget cuts coming up. Tracy Winfree said that she would get the retreat summary from the facilitator, Molly Tayer, and distribute it in the October packets. Matters from the Board Bill Roettker asked when the staff wanted TAB comments on the Neighborhood Traffic Mitigation Program. Winfree replied that she would send a due date to the board with the survey attached. Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes Aug. 30, 2004 3 Page Agenda Item 7 – Discussion of future agenda and schedule. Upcoming items include the Arapahoe Transportation Network Plan and bike lanes on Arapahoe Avenue and the impending discussion on the NTMP. Agenda Item 8 – Adjournment. Krista Nordback motioned to adjourn. Bill Roettker 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: The next regular meeting will take place on Monday, Oct. 11, 2004 at 6 p.m. at the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building. DRAFT: MINUTES NOT YET APPROVED BY TAB Minutes approved on ______________ By _________________ Transportation Advisory Board Summary Minutes Aug. 30, 2004 4 Page