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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BPAC-2006-11-09*DRAFT* Minutes Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Council (BPAC) Meeting November 9 2006, Thursday, 7pm, 2nd Conference Room, City Hall Present: Kent Johnson (Chair), Nicole Tedesco, Dave McElrath, Jennifer Dotson, David Kay, Jan Zeserson Absent: Dave Nutter, Ken Mudge, Michelle Berry, Carla Shafer, Dwight Mengel, Ron Chapman, Tim Logue • Review Minutes: Minutes are routinely posted on Cityoflthaca.org/BPAC web site as DRAFT Minutes until they are formally approved at a subsequent meeting. • UPDATES: • Black Diamond Trail: On October 14, Saturday morning for 3 hours, 27 hardy volunteers worked with two Parks employees to clear the trail from Willow Creek Road almost to Agard Rd. Gene Endres publicized the event on his radio show, Hobo's Lullaby, the following Tuesday. Another Parks - supervised Work Day is planned for March 2007, the same month the BDTrail Master Plan is scheduled to be completed and approved. • The City has been awarded $581,000 in federal funding for sidewalks and other pedestrian enhancements around the intersections of Rte 13 & Dey St. and also Rte 13 & Third St. ($145,000 in City funding will be added to the above amount for a total of about $726,000 for pedestrian facility improvements) • The Mayor's Sidewalk Project, a line item in her proposed 2007 budget, passed Common Council, and effectively allocates more operational budget for personnel, materials, and snow clearing. BPAC sent the following resolution to the Mayor and Common Council supporting this initiative. Dear Mayor Peterson: At our October 12 BPAC meeting, our members agreed to support wholeheartedly the sidewalk program you have included in the proposed 2007 budget. With this budget item, you have taken an important step towards creating a more walkable community in all seasons, and you have shown your commitment to implementing the spirit of the Pedestrian Awareness Committee (PAC) report. Thank you for taking the plunge. Sincerely, Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Council October 16, 2006 • Kent has designated sites on City property in need of bike racks and asked for more suggestions. Kent has $5,000 to spend before this fiscal year ends; he's been working with Finger Lakes Fabricating to come up with a feasible design for the preferred style, inverted U racks. Possible sites include GIAC, the plaza at the Linn Street bridge, the Southside Community Center, the City's Water & Sewer building, Cass & Stewart Parks, and to- be- determined locations in Collegetown. David Kay said that youth bikers need a rack at Elm & Floral as well, preferably on the side of IMHS. David K. also suggested bike racks that attach to car parking meters, which a few North American cities have used successfully. This will be considered at a later date, after the current round of racks are installed. • Hilton Sidewalk: City Attorney is eager to implement the bump -out renovation proposed by Tim Logue's office. NYSDOT agrees. It was decided this week that the City will propose to Ciminelli that the City do the construction and that Ciminelli pick up the tab. We do not know exactly when this proposal will be made. • NEW BUSINESS • Bicyclists on sidewalks are a problem. Dave McElrath raised this as a serious safety issue. Chief Signer has told DAC that youth riders are indeed getting warned but that warnings are not solving the problem. Dave McElrath suggested education programs for teens and public service announcements on the radio. Kent will follow up with Chief Signer. David Kay suggested that Kent refer to the PAC Report Recommendations in this regard, and also refer to last year's class project of Michelle Berry's class, which featured educational initiatives like public service announcements, etc. We agreed that kids are generally oblivious to the dangers and that education, not fines, will be most useful in addressing the problem. • Town of Ithaca Transportation Plan Nicole walked us through sections of the Plan which particularly affect bicycling and walking. Points made during discussion: Big - picture, land use considerations are not reflected in the text of the Plan or in the maps. Lack of reference to rezoning for conservation and cluster development was seen as a deficit since planning for denser development is a major piece of long -range planning for a bike- and pedestrian- friendly environment. Nicole is looking for feedback, either by email or formal letter. She urged BPAC members to take some more time to review the contents and report back to her. BPAC will also prepare a letter to the Town of Ithaca in response to this Plan. • City Trails Master Plan Jan is the BPAC liaison to the City Trails Master Plan Committee, headed by Lisa Nicholas. She reported that the Committee has been inactive since its first meeting last March 2. She will contact Lisa for an update. 2 • Bike Check List The City Planning Board has asked BPAC to help create a Biking Check List to be used for site plan review. We brainstormed, using the Town's Transportation Plan as a starting point. We see this as a concrete, important contribution BPAC can make to the City's planning. Meeting adjourned at 9:15 Minutes respectfully submitted by Jan