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2 - Transportation - Draft Minutes - 5/13/2002 TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD FINAL MINUTES MAY 13, 2002 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT John Tayer, Brant Liebmann, Jerry Wyss, Jim Rettew and Krista Holland STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT Tracy Winfree, Marni Ratzel, Noreen Walsh, Rod Rindal, Kate Patterson, Molly Winter, Bill Cowern, Mike Gardner-Sweeney and Robin Madel, secretary PRE-MEETING DINNER WITH REGIONAL PARTNER Larry Matel from the Boulder County Transportation Division attended the dinner. AGENDA ITEM 1 Call to Order Jim Rettew, vice-chair, called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m. AGENDA ITEM 2 Approval of Minutes Minutes from the March 11, 2002 meeting were approved with changes made per the last meeting. Minutes from the April 8, 2002 meeting were approved as written. Jerry Wyss motioned to approve the March 11, 2002 minutes as amended. Brant Liebmann seconded. The vote was 3-0, in favor of the motion. Krista Holland abstained because she was not present at that meeting. John Tayer was absent from the meeting. Jerry Wyss motioned to approve the April 8, 2002 minutes as written. Brant Liebmann seconded. The vote was 4-0, in favor of the motion. John Tayer was absent from the meeting. Transportation Advisory Board Final Minutes May 13, 2002 Page I AGENDA ITEM 3 General Citizen Participation Premena, P.O. Box 1038, Boulder 80306, spoke about bike signage. He said he noticed that some new signs were installed facing the traffic and not oncoming bikers and asked to have them positioned correctly. He also discussed the "Courtesy is Contagious" memo that Marni Ratzel authored. He said the memo references a courtesy campaign in Chicago that was geared toward cyclists and he feels this is too exclusive. The courtesy campaign should be geared toward all modes of transportation. Gail Georgeson, 5101 Ellsworth Pl., Boulder 80303, opposed the city's plan to put a bike path in because she said that the Parent-Teacher Organization and the Boulder Valley School District are not interested in it. She said it doesn't solve the need for an cast-west connection, it is costly and it puts children at risk. Cherie McCandless, 5011 Ellsworth Pl., Boulder 80303, said this is her P time attending a meeting about this bike path in 11 years. She is against the path because she said it doesn't solve the problem and it doesn't address the entire picture. McCandless asked the TAB to decide what would make sense. John Stavely, 5000 Ellsworth PI., Boulder 80303, said he opposes a bike path on the east side of the elementary school because of safety, need and cost. He said it would be unsafe to funnel more bikes into where children walk especially given the number of close calls on the Boulder Creek Path and the Centennial Creek Path. He said there are no bike path outlets to Rock Park and wasn't clear why the city wanted to direct increased bike traffic to this area. He also asked for a detailed cost estimate for all of the options. Steve Barta, 5001 Ellsworth Pl., Boulder 80303, said that he purchased a home on a cul-de-sac to avoid the type of action the staff is attempting. He said that a significant number of neighbors oppose the bike path on the grounds that it doesn't make sense. He said there was misinformation between the city and the school district about who approached whom with the proposal. Carol Bart a, 5001 Ellsworth Pl., Boulder 80303, said she has lived for 25 years with the school in her back yard. She said the morning commute on a north-south bike path wouldn't be a problem because kids aren't playing there then. But the afternoon is a problem because the whole neighborhood is kid- and community-oriented. The street already has a lot of traffic. There are 40 cars, 17 driveways and at least 20 kids in the area. Jennifer Rushka, 5041 Ellsworth P1., Boulder 80303, had her daughter, Ella, who will be a first grader next year with her. She said there is too much traffic and too much Transportation Advisory Board Final Minutes May 13, 2002 Page 2 exposure at the back of the school. She said that the real issue is that the east-west path will be extended and she thinks the staff is using the north-south path to get that started. Ed Zolnick, 5076 Forsythe Pl. Boulder 80303, has lived in his neighborhood for 25 years and is opposed to the bike path because he said the neighborhood hasn't needed it for 25 years and they just want the area to be left alone. He said the details show that the path will be wide enough to drive a car on. He recommended pushing the bike path to the south side of Wellman Canal. Scott Licht, 5106 Forsythe Pl. Boulder 80303, opposes the path behind the school because he said there is too much traffic behind the school and the playground and he thinks it is a bad idea in general. TAB Comments The TAB stated that it would pursue a meeting with the school district to confirm its change in interest for pursuing improved school connections at Eisenhower. If the school does not want to proceed at this time, the north-south connections issue will be included in the larger east-west connections public process. Jerry Wyss and Krista Holland said that they would go to the school to talk with the administrators about the issue if necessary. Staff added that the neighborhood would be informed of the public process when it occurs. Tracy Winfree said that the staff would be pursuing improved signage. She said the staff would visit the areas mentioned and evaluate possible changes. General Citizen Participation was closed. THANKS TO TAB Nataly Handlos thanked the TAB for all of their support for the new DASH/STAMPEDE bus service and gave them all sweatshirts with the DASH or STAMPEDE logos on them. AGENDA ITEM 4 Public hearing and consideration of a recommendation to City Council on the Yarmouth Avenue (Broadway to U.S. 36) Community Environmental Assessment Process (CEAP). Walsh discussed the staff recommended improvements to bring Yarmouth Avenue to city standards. She discussed comments received from the Design Review Committee and the speeding problem that makes the area eligible to join the Neighborhood Traffic Mitigation Program. Walsh said that medians could address some of the issues. She said Transportation Advisory Board Final Minutes May 13, 2002 Page 3 that if medians were installed to address pedestrian crossing issues, there would not be landscaped strips along the side of the road. TAB Questions Brant Liebmann asked what the timeframe is for development along Broadway and Yarmouth. Walsh said the development is anticipated in the next six to nine months and the developers would pay for some of the improvement costs. Krista Holland thanked Walsh for the thorough job she did in her presentation. Jerry Wyss agreed that the staff has done a great job with this project. He asked if the ditch on the north side of Yarmouth would be replaced. Walsh said that it would be covered. Citizen Participation Gary Lynn, 1707 Yarmouth, Boulder, said he is concerned about the speed on Yarmouth because it seems as though there are no restrictions. He mentioned that RTD would be returning service with the 204 route to Yarmouth and he thanked the staff for making that happen. The TAB also received a letter of support for the project from Micki Kaplan who is a resident of the area. Citizen Participation was closed. TAB Comments Jim Rettew said that although he recognizes that the CEAP is not a final design document, he feels that the tentative location for a mid-block crossing is not logical. He felt it would be more logical to locate it closer to 14th St. or 15th St. Walsh said that there were concerns about locating it at 14th St. because it is an offset street. She said that medians are character builders for neighborhoods because they signal a transition zone. Brant Liebmann recommended the Yarmouth Avenue CEAP for approval as written. Jerry Wyss seconded. The vote was 4-0 in favor of the motion. John Tayer was absent from the meeting. Transportation Advisory Board Final Minutes May 13, 2002 Page 4 AGENDA ITEM 5 Public hearing and consideration of a recommendation to City Council on the Longwood Neighborhood Permit Parking (NPP) District. Patterson reviewed the background of the NPP program, reviewed the Longwood neighborhood proposal and reviewed the public process that has been conducted regarding the proposal. The program was citizen-initiated. Citizens complained of a lack of parking for residents on school days as well as a lack of safety and increased trash and noise. Patterson reviewed the impact of the staff proposal on students and discussed the enforcement program. The staff recommendation is to implement a NPP zone in the Fairview neighborhood that would be in effect Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., during school days of the regular school season only. There would be a two-hour, one- time-only-per-day, color-coded parking restriction. The boundaries of the zone would include the 3600 through 3900 block of Longwood Avenue on the north and south sides. The west side of the 3900 block of Greenbriar Boulevard would be included in the zone but there would be no change to the current parking restrictions. The changes would be implemented prior to the start of the school year in September 2002. The staff proposal does not address trash, noise or student behavior. A revised proposal was sent to residents and representatives from the Boulder Valley School District and two public meetings were held. The school district took a neutral position on the staff proposal. Residents of Longwood Ave. and Greenbriar Blvd. support the proposal. Residents of Gillaspie Dr. do not support the staff proposal because they want Gillaspie Dr. included in the NPP zone. Fairview High School students support the proposal for Longwood Ave. but do not support inclusion of Gillaspie Dr. in the zone. The parking services staff determined that there would be 32 displaced vehicles with the staff proposal. Enforcement will be performed an average of two days per week. TAB Questions The TAB and staff discussed specifics of the permitting program. Specifically they discussed how many commuter permits would be available and how those would be distributed. Boulder High School has a permitting program with a transportation coordinator that distributes the permits. Fairview High School would probably follow a similar program. They also discussed availability of resident permits Krista Holland asked about other enforcement options that were evaluated. Patterson said that the other enforcement options available do not apply in this situation and that enforcement would be performed by Parking Services rather than by the Boulder Police Department. Transportation Advisory Board Final Minutes May 13, 2002 Page 5 Jerry Wyss asked about the safety analysis that was performed by the transportation staff (Bill Cowers was there to discuss the analysis) for inclusion of the north and south sides of Gillaspie in the NPP zone. In the safety analysis, Gillaspie Dr. was compared to 9a` St. and Baseline Rd. for parking and accident statistics. The study evaluated the width of the street and the amount of room for parking on both sides of the street. No hazards were found in having cars parked on both sides of the street. The study also evaluated whether or not there was a speeding problem. The 85th percentile speed was approximately five- mph over the speed limit, which would not qualify the neighborhood for inclusion in the Neighborhood Traffic Mitigation Program. Jim Rettew asked why the north side of Gillaspie was not included in the zone. Patterson said it was because there are no houses on the north side and the policy does not include removing parking from an area where there is no demonstrated need for that action. Citizen Participation The following residents spoke in favor of including Gillaspie Dr. in the NPP zone. They unanimously preferred to include the north side of Gillaspie in the NPP zone and leave the current parking restrictions along the south side of Gillaspie unchanged. Dan Nowell, 1190 Hartford Dr., Boulder 80305, is a letter carrier in the area being considered for the NPP and said he is opposed to the plan unless it is made more restrictive because having cars parked along Gillaspie creates a hazard for him in his job and put his life in peril. Also, he said there are typically students walking down the street on Gillaspie and Kittrell. Susie Mottashed, 1725 Gillaspie Dr., Boulder 80305, said that because there is currently no parking during the day on the north side of Gillaspie and typically the north side is full of cars from students, there is no place for contractors or visitors to park their cars. She said the neighborhood is inundated with too many cars and there is more than adequate designated parking on Greenbriar Rd. and Chambers Rd. Joe Mottashed, 1725 Gillaspie Dr., Boulder 80305, said that he is in favor of including the north side of Gillaspie in the NPP. He said that the 2 options presented by staff, either no NPP or inclusion of the south side of Gillaspie in the NPP, would jeopardize safety. Allowing parking on both sides would impair vision. He said that Gillaspie differs from 9a' St. and Baseline Rd. because of the high school and number of students. Linda Nea, 1715 Gillaspie, Boulder 80305, lives at the top of a steep driveway that has 3 houses. She said it is difficult to see with cars parked on both sides of Gillaspie Dr. and deliveries will be even more difficult, especially in the winter. She advocated having no parking on the south side of Gillaspie and adding the north side of Gillaspie in the NPP zone. Transportation Advisory Board Final Minutes May 13, 2002 Page 6 John Marshall, 1707 Gillaspie Dr., Boulder 80305, said that congestion and safety are the 2 biggest issues. He said he thinks the safety study was flawed because there is nothing similar in Boulder to compare it to. He said that when cars travel in opposite directions travelling up or down the hill they swing out into the middle of the street. He asked that the parking be pushed to Greenbriar Blvd. and not to Gillaspie Dr.. James Bush, 1785 Gillaspie Dr., Boulder 80305, lives across from the west entrance to the student parking lot. He advocated leaving the current parking restrictions in place for the south side of Gillaspie and said he would like to see the north side of Crillaspie Dr. included in the NPP zone. Bush stressed the safety issue on the south side of Gillaspie Dr. Louise Silverr,1795 Gillaspie Dr., Boulder 80305, lives at the corner of Greenbriar Blvd. and Gillaspie Dr. and said she is interested in getting into the NPP program because of the lack of parking. She said she thought that a lack of parking was a necessary evil. She is homebound on medical leave and found that her home care professionals were missing their appointments with her because they could find nowhere to park. She said that if Longwood Ave. is added into the program and Gillaspie Dr. is not, it would make the problem worse. Also, because there is no sidewalk on the north side of Gillaspie the students walk down the middle of the road to get to the school building. Terry Snyder, 1705 Gillaspie Dr., Boulder 80305, said he is representing himself and David Miller as well. He lives at the top of the steep driveway on Gillaspie Dr. and said that when service people drive down the driveway it is difficult with parking on the south side of Gillaspie Dr. He said he is not sure that designated "No Parking" spaces would be honored. He is afraid of the repercussions of having a car towed. He said Gillaspie Dr. is not like 9`s St. or Baseline. Susan Knight, 1735 Gillaspie Dr., Boulder 80305, iterated the concerns for inclusion of Longwood Ave. and Gillaspie Dr. into the NPP. She said that the city should leave the "No Parking" restrictions on the south side of Gillaspie Dr. She said it is dangerous for kids opening their car doors when parked on the north side of Gillaspie Dr. and the lack of a sidewalk is also a risk. Rafael Castill o, 1735 Gillaspie Dr., Boulder 80305, said he agrees with what the neighbors have said and commended the Fairview students that did resident studies. He reminded the students of the open spaces on Greenbriar Blvd. Steve La Tarrette, 3950 Greenbriar Blvd., Boulder 80305, spoke in favor of excluding Greenbriar Dr. from the NPP zone. He said that 6 out of 9 residents on the east side of Greenbriar and the only resident on the west side of Greenbriar are opposed to inclusion in the NPP zone. Transportation Advisory Board Final Minutes May 13, 2002 Page 7 The following residents live near the proposed NPP zone. Karla Bielansky 4310 Ludlow St., Boulder 80305, said she is concerned that the NPP proposal will displace cars into her neighborhood which is already congested. She said some of the neighbors would like to be included in the NPP process. David Shomoer, 3170 Kittrell, Boulder, 80305, is on the outside edge of the proposed NPP zone and said he can see problems coming to his street. He said Kittrell is a steep and hazardous street and asked the TAB to consider adding Kittrell into the NPP (Kate Patterson said that the street currently does not meet the qualifications for inclusion in the NPP). The following residents are students at FHS or are employees of the school district. Brittany Smith, 4565 Darley Ave., Boulder 80305, is a sophomore at Fairview High School and said the NPP will impact her as a student. She is a senator for the student council and has met with the city and attended the public forums. She said the student body doesn't support including Gillaspie Dr. in the NPP but that the students want to work with the neighbors and are supportive of the program. Trent Smith, 3920 Caddo Pkwy., Boulder, is a student at Fairview High School and surveyed the residents of Knox Ave., Ludlow Ave. and Greenbriar Blvd. about the parking situation. He said he supports the NPP zone for Longwood Ave. but not for Gillaspie Dr. because it will displace cars to Knox Ave. and Ludlow Ave. Scott Ladner, 5436 Illini Way, Boulder, is a student at Fairview High School and is a driver. Ladner says that he doesn't think that there is enough parking at FHS to accommodate all of the drivers and feels he could do more to support and encourage bus ridership. He said he opposes inclusion of Gillaspie Dr. in the NPP zone because it will force drivers to park on streets that are closer to the school than Greenbriar is. He said that he would probably buy a commuter pass to park in the NPP zone. Jim Rettew asked what the student government is doing to encourage bus ridership and carpooling. Ladner mentioned the $9 bus pass made available to the students. The administration is just starting to evaluate promoting carpooling. Landon Hilyard, student transportation coordinator for the Boulder Valley School District, said that the students at Fairview represent a microcosm of the Boulder population and the issues of parking and modes of transportation are bigger than the Fairview High School population. He said that the school is evaluating carpooling programs and offers low cost bus passes for local service only. He mentioned that the students have been willing and positive to work with the neighbors and asked the neighbors to be more tolerant of the students. He said that 13% of students take the bus to school whereas 6% of the adult population in Boulder takes the bus to work. Citizen Participation was closed. Transportation Advisory Board Final Minutes May 13, 2002 Page 8 TAB Comments Brant Liebmann asked about ways to reconcile resident perceptions of safety versus city staff evaluations of safety. Bill Cowern said that the safety conclusions are the opinions of the staff based on engineering evaluations. They discussed the reasons behind installation of the parking restriction signs on the south side of Gillaspie Dr. in 1982. There is no documentation available to support installation of the signs. All TAB members were in favor of the staff proposal but there was debate about whether or not to include Gillaspie dr. in the zone. The main issue to be resolved was whether including the north side of Gillaspie Dr. was a safety issue or a convenience issue (for both students and residents). Inclusion of the north side of Gillaspie Dr. would be against the city's policies. There was considerable debate about the issue. There was also discussion about inclusion of other streets in the zone. Patterson made it clear that if other neighborhoods want to become a NPP zone, they would have to complete the petition process. The next step for the Longwood NPP zone is for the staff to present the recommendation to the City Council as a call up item. The council has the ability to approve the recommendation or hold a public hearing. After the discussion, the board came to the following motion. Jim Rettew motioned to recommend to the city manager the staff recommendation for the Fairview NPP zone, including the timing and implementation date, inclusion of Longwood Avenue and exclusion of Greenbriar Blvd. The NPP zone includes adding the north side of Gillaspie Dr. and keeping the status quo for parking restrictions on the south side of Gillaspie Dr. Brant Liebman seconded. Brant Liebman said he supported the motion but apologized to the students for the inconvenience the decision will cause them. The vote was 4-0 in favor of the motion. John Tayer was absent from the meeting. AGENDA ITEM 6 Matters From Staff: Bob Whitson spoke about the Boulder Valley Regional Transportation Center Network Plan. Whitson said it is the recommendation of the Planning Department and City Attorney's Office staff to carry the plan forward for adoption by the Boulder Transportation Advisory Board Final Minutes May 13, 2002 Page 9 Urban Renewal Authority and the City Council. The map for the plan is completed but in draft form and the policy statement is being written. The plan presents options for possible transportation connections in and around Crossroads Mall as future development occurs. The plan is similar to the 28`" St. North Transportation Network Plan. The plan was completed in coordination with the University of Colorado with regards to the East Campus area. Whitson said that this is a long-range plan and is not set in stone but is available as a guideline for future development activity. Whitson also said that the plan in no way circumvents the CEAP process. Jim Rettew motioned to suspend the rules and continue the meeting beyond 10:00 P.M. Brant Liebmann seconded the motion. The vote was 3-0 in favor of the motion. Jerry Wyss was out of the room during the vote. John Tayer was absent from the meeting. ■ Tracy Winfree pointed out the memo from Mami Ratzel regarding the "Courtesy is Contagious" campaign. No presentation was made. • Tracy Winfree asked the TAB to discuss the Bear Canyon Creek Flood Levee Community Environmental Assessment Process and provide comments to the new GAC representative, Krista Holland. The TAB briefly discussed the impact of paving along all streams in the city but had no direct comments on the CEAP. • Tracy Winfree asked the TAB to discuss the Greenways Capital Improvement Program budget and project descriptions and provide comments to Krista Holland. Jim Rettew requested that the transportation staff review the Greenways budget with the same set of priorities as the rest of the transportation budget. They discussed how the projects are funded and how the money from the transportation department is leveraged against money from the utilities department and the lottery fund. • Mike Sweeney discussed the Transportation Capital Improvement Program budget in light of the budget cuts. Tracy Winfree discussed the budget shortfall over the next seven years and provided the staff's approach to balancing the budget. The focus will be on maintaining the integrity of the Transportation Prioritization while reducing enhancements to create a sustainable budget. There will be reductions across all modes and all programs including chip and seal, overlay and other ongoing programs. Winfree said that a significant amount of recent budget shortfalls is due to the national, state and regional recession. Matters From the Board: Jerry Wyss mentioned the City Council/Planning Board study session about the Jobs- to-Population project on May 14. Brant Liebmann asked Tracy Winfree about his requested discussion about RTD. Winfree said that Micki Kaplan is working on the item and would call Liebmann to discuss it. Krista Holland asked if the re-paving project at the airport would include striping for bike lanes. Winfree said she would check into that. Transportation Advisory Board Final Minutes May 13, 2002 Page 10 • Jerry Wyss mentioned a bus stop at Lehigh and Darley where the adjacent property owner had created a right-of-way violation with their landscaping. Winfree said that she would speak to the right-of-way manager about the issue. Jim Rettew asked about the off-street bike trail along 63`a St. that Larry Matel discussed during dinner. Rettew wanted to know if the TAB could provide any help to the project. Winfree said she would have a planning staff member brief the TAB on the issue. Krista Holland asked what the policy is on right-of-way management during construction. Winfree said that she would ask Michael Penny who manages the program to brief the TAB on the policy. AGENDA ITEM 7 Discussion of Future Meeting Agenda The next meeting agenda was not discussed. AGENDA ITEM 8 Adjournment Brant Liebmann motioned to adjourn the meeting. Jerry Wyss seconded. The vote was 3-0 in favor of the motion. Jerry Wyss was out of the room during the vote. The meeting was adjourned at 10:44 p.m. Next Meeting June 3, 2002, 6 p.m., Transportation Advisory Board Retreat, at the Cork Restaurant. June 10, 2002, 6:00 p.m., Transportation Advisory Board regular meeting, at the City Council Chambers. Minutes approved on By Transportation Advisory Board Final Minutes May 13, 2002 Page 11