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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-DAC-2016-12-07Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2016 Present: Chair Roberts DAC Members: Lisa Monroe Andrew Rappaport David McElrath CC Lia ison Brock Others Pre sent: lnformation Management Specialist - Myers Director of Parking - NagY Tra nsportation Engineer - Hathaway Excused: Vice Chair Scriber DAC Members: Anderson, Sember-Chase Aoproval of Minutes: Aooroval of the October 5 , 2015 Disabilitv Advisorv Council Meeting Minutes - Resolution By DAC Member McElrath: Seconded by DAC Monroe RESOLVED, That the minutes of the October 5, 2016 Disability Advisory Council meeting be approved as published. Ayes (3) Roberts, Monroe, McElrath Nays (0) Abstentions (1) Ra ppa port Carried DAC Member Rappaport explained that it's been proposed to update federal regulations concerning the number of on-street accessible parking spaces; however, those proposals have not been approved yet. So, in the meantime, the current standards are being followed regarding the number of accessible on-street parking regular spaces. He has raised a concern to the City regarding the lack of accessible on-street parking spaces in an effort to see whether the Disability Advisory Council could encourage and explain the real need for them to staff in the hope that additional spaces could be created. He knows that Transportation Engineer Hathaway has been working with and is familiar with ADA standards so he wanted to begin a conversation with him about what could be done. Transportation Engineer Hathaway confirmed that the proposed public right-of-way accessible guidelines are not legally enforceable yet; he noted that the new guidelines apply more for buildings than anything else. He agrees that the City's focus should be the on right-of-way and accessibility of individuals be it from the sidewalks or on-street parking. Towards that goal, he started by conducting an inventory of all sidewalks and their conditions around the City of Ithaca. Approximately one-fifth of the sidewalks have been reconstructed by now and the methodology has been established so it should be easy for that work to continue forward. He stated that when the City is asked to install curb ramps on sidewalks that it makes sure to move Discussion ltems: conversation with Transportation EnFineer Hathawav and Director of Parkins Nagv on increasing on-street accessible parkina: Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2016 He stated that according to current regulations 1 out of every 25 spaces should be marked "reserved". The criteria for designation of those spaces is that they should be on the flat part of the street and at the end of the block close to curb ramp; every 20 feet should be assumed to be a parking space. He noted that for a typical block in the City of lthaca (in some areas of the City those blocks can be very long) if you measure following the rule that for every 20 feet there should a parking space, then you should have 1 accessible space for every 25 spaces. ln a typical scenario that would be one accessible parking space on every other block in the City of It h aca. According to the mapping done by the City's GIS Department specifically for where all the accessible parking spaces are (they've done the Downtown and Collegetown areas only so far, which makes sense because they are most dense) out of 1,440 parking spaces downtown, 26 are accessible spaces. Between Collegetown and Downtown the City should have 72 accessible spaces, but there are 30 (4 accessible spaces in Collegetown and 26 accessible spaces Downtown). Currently, the City is installing accessible on-street parking spaces where people request them. Chair Roberts asked whether the mapping was done in just the commercial districts or does it also include neighborhoods. Transportation Engineer Hathaway responded that the mapping included both Downtown and Collegetown; most of the accessible spaces are near the homes where people have specifically requested them. DAC Member Rappaport voiced his surprise at that because the handful of accessible spaces he can think of, are all by religious organizations and/or doctor offices, plus the one by Gimme Coffee on North Cayuga street. DAC Member Rappaport responded that this data is a good thing from the accessibility side and a clear indicator that this program should be started, somehow, by the City. Director of Parking Nagy stated that, as far as parking revenue is concerned, he is not worried about any impacts from increasing the number of accessible on-street parking spaces as far as enforcement issues. The people using those spaces will pay to park just like everyone else. He agrees with Transportation Engineer Hathaway that the challenge is the S115 per sign cost; which will come out of his parking budget. The City's Sign Shop is already being pushed to its limits making signs for the new pay stations around the City, and then to request additional signs for the on-street spaces to the workload would mean that it will take a long time for everything to be done. those requests to the top of work list. He noted that the City received a request to make improvements in the curb ramps near Fall Creek School from Farm Street to Cascadilla Street; that work will be done as a priority project next year. He spoke with the staff of the City's Sign Department (if the City were to try to determine what kind of cost is involved) and discovered that the cost of one new sign to mark an accessible on- street parking space is 511s/sign. For Downtown and Collegetown, it would cost about S10,000 to meet the standards, and that is 1 % of the Sign Shop's annual budget. He stated that if the City were to undertake this project that it would need to be done methodically and through some other way than using the Sign Shop's ann ual budget. Again, that is the cost for only Collegetown and Downtown areas, and that's the reality of what staff are up against with trying to accomplish this project, the City just doesn't have the financial means at its disposal to use for this project at this time. 2 Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2016 DAC Member Rappaport wondered whether it would make sense to do this project in phases. For example, start in the high density areas then move on to commercial, residential, low density etc. areas and go from there. Director of Parking Nagy explained that he is getting ready to convene the next Parking sub- committee to meet in order to determine locations for new pay stations, so that would be a good time to decide on the location of some of the accessible on-street parking spaces. Transportation Engineer Hathaway noted that staff will need to be sure to keep careful track of the occupancy on street as the City wants it to be at maintained at least at 85%; currently it's about 65% occupancy. That information will be captured once the City's GIS program for the license plate readers is completed, and then staff will be able to conduct the on-street inventory by license plate. Transportation Engineer Hathaway asked whether the DAC is in favor of the new accessible on- street parking spaces being installed typically at the end of the block. DAC Rappaport noted that the only exception would be Gimme Coffee on North Cayuga Street, it's at the end ofthe block; however, if you drive all around that block that is the only commercial business there. lt would be appropriate to place spaces near those businesses in instances like that. Most people with mobility issues are frequently using the non-accessible spaces if the accessible spaces aren't available. Chair Roberts asked if enforcement will be an issue as the number of on-street accessible parking spaces are created. Director of Parking Nagy responded that currently the Community Service Officers are writing tickets allthe time for people who are in accessible spaces without a permit. He will get those statistics for the DAC; he noted that more exact numbers and accurate information can be obtained once the GIS program completed. When he does occupancy in garages, he doesn't count accessible spaces in his numbers. ln the garages an accessible space can be found at one per 25 spaces, as you go higher that number decreases. Transportation Engineer Hathaway stated that as staff work towards the creation of additional on-street accessible parking spaces, an important concern or something to think about is where the priority locations for those spaces should be. As the new rules are implemented over time, if the citycan do this through a well thought out process it should. He would encourage the DAC to let Director of Parking Nagy know if they want accessible spaces in a particular area because he is really responsive to responding to those requests. Director of Parking Nagy reported that the Parking sub-committee will probably start meeting in January to discuss the placement of all the new pay stations - which will be ordered in January; he will let DAC Member Rappaport know when those meetings are scheduled. Updates: Chair Roberts reported that he had no update on increasing the DAC's presence on the City,s website as he was unable to meet with City Clerk Holcomb prior to this meeting. 3 Chair Roberts asked DAC Member Rappaport if he would be interested in becoming the DAC's point person on this topic with staff; DAC Member Rappaport responded that he would. Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2016 DAC Member Rappaport stated that he felt the DAC had made it clear to staff that whatever recommendation or opinion offered by staff of the Racker Center on the Commons Playground should be followed. They are the best people for the City to consult with on this project, and he hopes that city staff will do that. Charr Roberts reported that he sent an e-mail to Chief of Staff, Dan Cogan, yesterday asking if he had an update on the City's ADA self-assessment; he has not heard back Mr. Cogan. Hopefully, there will be an update for the January meeting. CC Liaison Brock wondered whether since there is an expectation of snow fall soon and it is the beginning of the snow season whether there was renewed interest by the DAC in putting together an "adopt a curb cut" message for the public. This could be done through online information or the radio to encourage people/neigh borhoods to choose a curb cut that they would keep clear of snow and ice for the community. Maybe a pre-recorded message that could be put on different public venues. She wou ld ask whether this is something that needs official approval from the City, but she is interested in pursuing this approach to an annual problem. She would like to volunteer to assist in putting together information for a spokesman from the DAC to talk about this idea with the media. She noted that there was a similar campaign that has been successful in our community to "adopt a fire hydrant" where people/neigh borhoods adopt a hydrant in their neighborhood to keep snow removed from around it. Director of Parking Nagy reported that the sale of the new scratch-off cards for parking is going really well, particularly the fifteen minute and thirty minute ones selling the most. DAC Member Monroe asked if the City had received any public feedback about Wegmans not selling them, do they not want to sell them because it's too complicated. Director of Parking Nagy responded that he is continuing to work with Wegmans to sell them; Tops, P & C, and Greenstar grocery stores are doing the best at selling the tickets. The positive result of the implementation of this new program has been that his phone has stopped ringing with complaints. lf people are happy with them and want to use them, he is happy to continue the program. His biggest challenge lately has been dealing with the shortage of parking spaces in Green Street Parking garage due to the new hotel and the holiday shoppers'spaces that have been created temporarily. The new hotel will have 90 short term spaces available for 24/7 use for their overnight guests. There are a total of 381 spaces in the garage minus the 90 for the hotel equals 282, and there are 322 monthly parkers who have permits. He is working to move those parkers to the Cayuga Street Parking garage. DAC Member Monroe, who works for Tompkins County Office for the Aging, reported that Ithaca's age friendly in lthaca action plan has been put into the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) for approval; as of yet they have not heard back from them as to whether it's been accepted. However, the Office for the Aging is going ahead as if they have; she circulated a copy at the DAC meeting for review. She noted that it can also be found on the Tompkins 4 He further reported that he has not heard back from Jennifer Kusznir about the Commons Playground. He does know that Vice Chair Scriber connected with some of the therapists at the Racker Center to ask for feedback on the preferred activity panels, but he has no new information to report at this time. He will touch base with Ms. Kusznir to see if staff need additional input from the DAC on this project, and try to arrange for her to attend the January DAC meeting if that is needed. Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2016 County Office for the Aging website. She will also e-mail the link to staff to forward on to DAC members for their review and information. Chair Roberts stated that it might be useful to have DAC Member Monroe take this group through the review of the plan, and then maybe the DAC could adopt a couple of the recommendations or put them on some sort of work plan. A presentation at the January meeting would be a good idea. Chair Roberts reported briefly on the recent "Housing Summit" presentation which he, CC Liaison Brock, and Lisa Holmes, from Tompkins County Office for the Aging attended. He thought that the speaker that the county brought in was good. lt really emphasized the need for the City of lthaca to consider more universal design and retrofitting of current housing in the City for use by the aging baby boomers. Elderhood is a whole other development stage of life, and it was interesting to think about, as adults we're getting older, not necessarily becoming more disabled, but older in general and there are a lot ofthings that dovetail nicely with the work that the DAC is doing as a whole around housing. CC Liaison Brock noted that there is a need to educate property owners about tax relief funds from New York State if changes are made their home or a tenant's home to make it universally accessible. The trend had been to build large homes; but now smaller homes are being built or if a large home is built it is done with the idea of bringing aging family members into it to age at home. She has seen families moving out of smaller homes into larger homes so their parents can live with them. This is a growang trend and as a community there is a desire to extend or change how we live our lives and rather than institutionalize family members keep them at home if possible. Chair Roberts stated that the baby boomers have been a civil rights generation who feel a sense of entitlement and that all their problems should be able to be solved. All that type of thinking is driving these new trends about not wanting to be institutionalized when they become seniors. The other thing is that people are living longer due to advances in medical treatment. That is true for people with disabilities as well who have been functioning fine but as they age that is changing and accommodations for accessibility need to be changed or updated to meet their needs. There is also a huge shortage of people to take care of people in their homes as well. Adiournment: On a motion the meeting adjourned at 1:18 P.M. Sarah L. Myers, lnformation Management Specialist Larry Roberts, Chair 5