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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-DAC-2013-11-06DISABILITY ADVISORY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK Regular Meeting 12:15 p.m. November 6, 2013 PRESENT: DAC Chair — Roberts DAC Members: David McElrath (left at 12:16 p.m.) Erin Sember -Chase Amy Scott Information Management Specialist — Myers Civil Engineer —Yost EXCUSED: DAC Vice Chair: Gizewski DAC Members: Jason Anderson Andrew Rappaport Jocelyn Scriber Alderperson Smith APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Approval of September 4, 2013 Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes - Resolution Approval of the September minutes will be deferred to the December 4, 2013 meeting due to lack of quorum at today's meeting. Discussion: New Sidewalk Proposal: Chair Roberts explained the City's new sidewalk law, and discussed how assessments would be done in each of the five sidewalk benefit districts. He stated that the Board of Public Works will establish a list of sidewalks to be repaired /constructed each year based upon input from various stakeholders such as the DAC, neighborhood residents, and staff to name a few. Civil Engineer Yost explained that she was asked by Acting Supt Benjamin to start developing a plan for each of the 5 sidewalk benefit districts. She stated that it would be useful for her to have a discussion with DAC members to obtain their input for recommendations for work to be included in each years work plan — especially as the Board of Public Works makes their recommendations to Common Council for the sidewalk work to be completed in the coming year for each districts. She stated that it is important for DAC members to: #1 - understand where it would be most effective for them to provide input and when; and #2 - say something about what they feel should be priorities overall. She provided the following overview of the program: SIDEWALK PROGRAM OVERVIEW Lynne Yost, PE, in consultation with Ray Benjamin, will develop preliminary work plans for each Sidewalk Improvement District. Those preliminary district plans will be used to facilitate stakeholder input to the City of Ithaca 2014 Sidewalk Work Plan. City staff, Common Council members, Board of Public Works, Disability Advisory Council, 1 thaca Landmarks Preservation Commission, Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Council and the public will be asked for input. Board of Public Works will review and approve the final work plan. Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes November 6, 2013 The 2014 program will include work by one City crew and possible additional contracted repair work. Contracted work may be concrete cutting (removal of tripping hazards) and /or mud jacking (method of lifting low slabs). Work segments will be full city blocks - corner to comer on one side of a street - with possible minor exceptions for injury locations. The City crew has a 2014 production target of 10full city blocks per year ( -2 per district), totaling roughly a mile. Each of the preliminary district work plans will include -15 city blocks and the final master plan will be -75 city blocks. Lower priority blocks will be included in the plan for possible contract repair work or long range planning of future replacement work. New work plans will be developed every year. SIDEWALK WORK PLAN PRIMARY GOALS Minimize injuries by improving safety Improve accessibility for all pedestrians Manage liability and risk SIDEWALK WORK PLAN SECONDARY GOALS Increase walking for quality of life, health, environmental benefits, community - building, and crime reduction Reduce difficulty of snow removal Improve neighborhood appearance, historic preservation and encourage additional investment POSSIBLE PRIORITY CONSIDERATIONS for 2014 WORK PLANS (using readily available or easily obtained data) to be ranked by each district as High, Medium, Low or Disregard: 1. Prior Reported Injury 2. Prior Complaint 3. Prior Sidewalk Notice of Defect 4. Sidewalk Database Defective Location 5. Emergency Snow Removal Route 6. Historic District/ Stone Sidewalk 7. Proximity to School 8. Convenience of Alternate Routes 9. Pedestrian and Vehicular Volume (High Volume = High Priority) 10. Desired New Sidewalk Segments List - by committee in 2009 11. Corner Curb Ramp Configuration & Condition 12. Neighborhood Support for Work Location By: L.Yost November 6, 2013 Civil Engineer Yost stated that this process will be subject to revisions as staff work to develop the program. She also noted that the sidewalk districts are different from ward boundaries. Chair Roberts questioned whether residents could provide input for other districts than their own? Civil Engineer Yost responded that she would be happy to take complaints and concerns from anyone. She further stated that what has been laid out as her assignment for the process is to go through each district and create a preliminary work plan that would serve as a basis for the review process. She did survey Common Council members, and the original committee that developed the program to get feedback as well. DAC Member Sember -Chase noted that she has a home in the City, but no sidewalk. She questioned who would be responsible for the repair /maintenance of any sidewalk that might be constructed there. Civil Engineer Yost responded that the City would have that responsibility. She further noted that one condition of the proposed sidewalk 2 Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes November 6, 2013 program is that each neighborhood must approve the proposed work plan. She stated that every property in the City will get a sidewalk assessment, and the City may install sidewalks where there are none, so even though there are no sidewalks currently property owners will still get an assessment that they need to pay. Chair Roberts noted that West Hill needs sidewalks and most residents would like sidewalks. So for that area the decision will need to be made about where to put sidewalks. Civil Engineer Yost noted that the input process is not well defined yet. The City's target is to have final plan for work by February or early March (an approved plan) each year. Input will be sought from staff, Common Council, the Disability Advisory Council, the Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Commission, the Bicycle Pedestrian and Advisory Council, the Board of Public Works, and residents; however, she is not sure how that will be done. There may be public meetings in each district and ongoing e- mail /telephone conversations with people to obtain input. DAC Member Sember -Chase noted that she takes the bus more, so she is curious what TCAT's input would be into the program. Currently, she stands in the road waiting for the bus since there is no sidewalk. She feels that representatives, especially the bus drivers, might have interesting perspectives to consider as well. Chair Roberts stated that he has good connections at TCAT, and will bring this to their attention. He will stress the need for them to provide input as to where they feel sidewalks are needed. Civil Engineer Yost stated that this program is a work in progress that is subject to change and be re- worked to address problems encountered as the program is implemented. Chair Roberts asked whether there are concerns about whether each district will raise enough money for the work that needs to be done since the past program has always been that the City did what it could with the money it had. He noted that part of what has made the process so difficult, from his opinion, is the negotiation between individual property owners and the City and whether their sidewalk needs to be repaired at all. Civil Engineer Yost stated that she has spent a lot of time back and forth with property owners about what the nature of the repair is in the past, which will not be needed with the new program. Chair Roberts noted that since sidewalks are public, it will make the whole repair process so much easier because there won't have to be conversations about the need for the property owner to make the repairs or not. He further noted that he didn't see tree damaged sidewalk on the list. Civil Engineer responded that tree damaged sidewalk is no longer a separate category. Chair Roberts feels it is an important consideration as it has been the reason for some major sidewalk obstacles throughout the City. He thinks that those areas really need repair sooner - because in some areas the sidewalks have a 2 -3" difference which is very dangerous. He would request that when priorities are being developed that tree damaged sidewalks be one of the first to consider. Trees cause really bad damage and cause the most disruption to the sidewalk system where people have to cross the street to use the sidewalk on the other side. He is interested in getting deeply into neighborhoods as well, where sidewalks may be needed. In the past the focus has been where there is density in population rather than lesser used sidewalks that may have greater damage; curb cuts need to be addressed as well. Chair Roberts asked whether input about where concerns or the need for repair of certain sidewalks throughout the City for the new sidewalk program could be sent electronically. He further noted, that like a lot of cities, Ithaca decided long ago that if one could access the sidewalk on one side of the street with a curb cut it would be okay — which would be better than no sidewalk on that street. Fortunately, that view has changed in that people want to be able to go where they want to go. Now, people don't really think "some" audible cross walks better than none, they feel that all crosswalks should have audible cross walks as well as sidewalks on both sides of the street. Things are changing for the better. 3 Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes November 6, 2013 DAC Member Scott stated that the cross walk at Meadow and Cascadilla, the audio is delayed, so when you're waiting you'll hear "finish crossing" and not the "start crossing" Civil Engineer Yost stated that she would let the traffic engineer know about problem with the audible cross, noted above. She further noted that different districts are handling priorities differently. There is a list of desired sidewalk segments in the City, categorized by location and cost. The consideration of potential benefit versus cost can be shown on the spreadsheet the sidewalk committee created - which is being used as a reference point. Some districts are not interested in new sidewalks, and some like West Hill residents are very interested in new sidewalks in their neighborhoods. DAC Member Sember -Chase suggested that one priority might be areas where there are apartment complexes or housing developments being constructed, i.e. where there is more density of the population. Civil Engineer Yost responded that another consideration is pedestrian volume. Chair Roberts stated that he is very interested in having DAC Member Rappaport's input on this conversation. There will be competing priorities so the DAC needs to make sure that curb ramps are getting constructed, in addition to tree damaged or joint out of level sidewalks. He wants to make sure people are aware that while it's true there is a general statement about disability, that one way to increase accessibility is if you repair sidewalks for people with disabilities, which means that you've automatically fixed it for everyone else. Chair Roberts stated the other thing for the DAC to keep track of is that this is the first round of doing sidewalks this way. He can see a place where the DAC says more sidewalks need to be repaired and we need to know if it can be done with the existing crew or if additional staff are needed, and then advocate to Common Council for that additional staffing, when needed. Civil Engineer Yost stated that she would come back with preliminary plans for DAC review, as soon as they're available. Chair Roberts stated that he wants DAC members to know that part of why he hasn't pushed them to list places that need to be repaired is because the City already has a lot of that information. What he would like DAC members to provide is to explain the kinds of damage to the sidewalks currently that need to be repaired for people with disabilities, so they should be shown as higher priority areas for work. Goals and Objectives Review: Chair Roberts stated that he would provide the update on the DAC's goals and objectives at the December meeting. Updates: Update on DAC online survey: Chair Roberts reported that the press release about the online survey will be sent out today; the deadline to participate in it is November 30. He noted that they've already had 42 responses. So, in terms of reaching out to the public, that seems to be a goal that was accomplished. Update on Commons Project: Chair Roberts reported that the planning department asked the design consultants to identify the stores on the Commons that weren't accessible to people with disabilities, and to propose designs to make them accessible. That has been done, and City Planner Kusznir is gathering that information, and he will ask her to come to a future DAC meeting to make that presentation. The DAC is going to figure out a way to make that happen, although part of the Commons is public space and part is private. It will take all sorts of negotiations to see those accommodations made, but at least the City has the information, and can review the possible solutions for stores and what business owners would need in order to implement the proposed designs to make their business accessible to everyone. DAC Member Scott noted that a lot of the stores are not accessible once you're inside, so thought should be put towards solutions for those situations as well. 4 Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes November 6, 2013 Update on Government Administration Committee (GPA) and advisory -groups Chair Roberts reported that the GPA Committee is reviewing the way in which City boards /committees function. They have a meeting on Wednesday, November 20, 2013 at 6 pm, here in Common Council Chambers. He asked if either DAC Member Sember- Chase or Scott would be willing to attend the meeting with him, he will also ask other DAC members to see if they would be interested in attending the meeting with him. DAC Members Sember -Chase and Scott both indicated that they would be willing to attend the meeting with Chair Roberts. Next Meeting: Chair Roberts announced that staff from the Youth Bureau have been invited to attend the DAC's January meeting. He stated that the January DAC meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 at 12:15 p.m. in Common Council Chambers since the first Wednesday is New Years' Day. Adjournment: On a motion the meeting adjourned at 1:25 p.m. Sarah L. Myers Larry Roberts Information Management Specialist Chair, DAC