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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-MATC-2018-09-24 MOBILITY, ACCESSIBILITY AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION MINUTES Present Chair Lerner Commissioners (7) Barden, Lyczko, Roberts, Chang, Parkes, Powers, Brylinsky Others Present: Common Council Liaisons: McGonigal, Nguyen Information Management Specialist - Myers Asst. Supt. S & F – Benjamin Director of Parking - Messmer Agenda Review: No Changes Approval of Minutes: By Commissioner Roberts: Seconded by Commission Chang RESOLVED, That the minutes of the August 24, 2018 Mobility, Accessibility, and Transportation Commission meeting be approved as published with noted corrections. Carried Unanimously Statements from the Public: Dave Nutter, City of Ithaca, addressed the Commission regarding the recent repainting of bike lanes around the City with high quality paint. Greg Perrault, City of Ithaca, addressed the Commission to express his interest in applying for the vacancy the commission, and shared his interests and reasons for considering it. Commission Response: Chair Lerner explained that the commission is looking to fill the vacancy and to watch for further announcements. Common Council Liaison Report: CC Liaison McGonigal reported on the ongoing work on West State/Martin Luther King, Jr. Street/Route 79 West project and its negative impact on a particular business, the structural status of the city’s parking garages, the non-working parking machines in the Dryden Road parking garage, and that there was an inspection of the Brindley Street bridge recently; it was found to be deficient and must be repaired within 60 days. Recruitment for Commission Vacancy: Chair Lerner asked Vice Chair Brylinsky and Commissioner Chang to investigate how the public can be made aware of the vacancy on MATC, and the process that needs to be followed to fill the vacancy. Vice Chair Brylinsky reported that City Clerk Holcomb responded to her e-mail about what the process is to fill the vacancy. The vacancy does not have to be announced publicly with a call for candidates. The plan from the start for the new commissions was to keep applications on file for one year. The Mayor has the authority to make appointments to the Commission with Common Council approval. He will need to be consulted as to how he would like to proceed in filling the vacancy. More information will be coming in the future. Department of Public Works Parking Analysis: Director of Parking Messmer provided a flow chart for reference during his presentation on the parking study to be conducted by the City of Ithaca. He has met with Commissioners Lyczko, Parkes, and Chair Lerner to discuss the topic and creation of the Stakeholder Group. He explained the current parking system consists of parking garages, on street parking, and parking in flat lots. The parking garages downtown are in their latter stages of life, with the Green Street garage slated to be replaced. That has prompted the City to discuss the issue of overall costs versus potential revenues from parking. There is a lot of new development occurring Date: September 24, 2018 Time: 6:00 PM Location: Common Council Chambers, 3rd Floor, City Hall Mobility, Accessibility & Transportation Commission September 24, 2018 2 downtown that includes housing units. In addition, businesses are making decisions as to whether to locate to downtown related to parking availability, and parking for the many downtown employees is putting an increased demand on parking. The parking study will determine how the capacity for parking could be increased. Are additional parking garages needed or should other options such as park and ride be considered? It should also be noted that there is a big gap between the cost to provide parking and in the revenue produced for the City. Included in the costs are the Community Service Officers who provide enforcement of parking rules and regulations. He is working with the City’s GIS staff to develop an inventory that shows parking revenue from different areas of parking. The financial analysis will be part of the report provided to Common Council for its assessment and determination of the fiscal sustainability of the garages. The City will also hire a consultant to analyze the data. The stakeholder and affinity group membership will be made up of a diverse representation of the various areas of the city and as many different backgrounds and needs as possible in order to consider all users of parking in a fair, objective and open minded manner. That way a comprehensive recommendation regarding parking needs and options in the City of Ithaca can be provided to Common Council. As far as the involvement of the MATC, he and Chair Lerner talked about the need for members of MATC and members of the Planning Department to meet in order to develop the process for receiving input from the public. He estimates that this will be an 18 month to 2 year long process to complete. The parking division of the Department of Public Works will work to implement the plan. Commissioner Lyczko encouraged everyone to remember that this is a comprehensive plan and includes parking in the entire city even though the discussion has focused on the garages and downtown parking. Parking downtown affects all city residents and stakeholders; along with those bordering downtown and the Commons, their input on parking downtown should be included also. Commissioner Parkes requested that MATC be involved with the coordination and selection of the affinity group members and the development of the purpose and guidelines of the study. Commissioner Roberts stated that MATC should also review parking goals in the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Director of Parking Messmer responded that MATC will host the meetings and have a say in how they are set up. He encouraged MATC to provide a liaison to the Planning Department. Chair Lerner cautioned that when identifying what affinity groups will become part of the stakeholder group that it will be a challenge because of the risk of over representing the business community and under representing city residents, including those with disabilities, special needs and seniors. He is working to set up a meeting with JoAnn Cornish the Director of the Planning and Development Department; so watch for future announcements. Future Topics: October 22nd – The “Big Picture” transportation options in the City of Ithaca with Fernando de Aragon November 26th – Rochester’s Sidewalk Snow Plan December 11th – A Conversation with the Mayor, related to his perception of mobility, accessibility and transportation January 28th – 2019 Work Plan February 25th- Lime Bikes Presentation Mobility, Accessibility & Transportation Commission September 24, 2018 3 Bicycles- Pedestrians: Commissioner Powers reported that they need to focus on the priorities and determine how to obtain input and information from the public. They plan to meet with Public Information Specialist, Melody Faraday to develop a plan. Commissioner Roberts encouraged them to meet regularly with Sidewalk Program Manager Licitra and Transportation Engineer Hathaway as well. Commissioner Barden reported on a meeting she attended recently to discuss lime scooters. Chair Lerner stated that he would like to discuss the topic further because he has reservations and questions. Snow Removal: Chair Lerner provided an overview of the current city of Ithaca snow removal policy. He shared the idea of a program for sidewalk snow removal similar to the current Sidewalk Improvement District plan, more information will be coming on this topic in the future. CC Liaison McGonigal left the meeting at 7:35 p.m. The question to be answered - is there a way to create a program similar to the ones in Rochester/Syracuse for sidewalk snow removal work in Ithaca. The next step will be to gather public input as to what others think the problems and solutions might be, and the logistics and costs. This topic will be discussed more in depth at the November MATC meeting. ADA Training: Commissioner Brylinsky reported that it looks like the ADA training will be held on November 15th. The training will be in Common Council Chambers from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. She is also inviting members of the 3 other commissions, the City Clerk and others to attend. She asked MATC members to think about questions related to areas being discussed currently and e-mail them to her so the trainer has them ahead of time. There will be regional and national experts here to guide the training so it should be a very useful training opportunity. Commissioner Roberts reported on the City’s ADA self -assessment; it doesn't provide relevant current information as to where the city is now, but will be a good platform from which to start because it contains information on all city buildings and parks. The MATC might want to ask the Northeast ADA Center if they have a model that the City of Ithaca could use as an assessment tool. He further stated that a meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, October 4th from 2 pm to 3 p.m. in Common Council Chambers with Chief of Staff Cogan, himself, Chair Lerner and Commission Brylinsky to discuss the position of an ADA Coordinator. He will also be inviting former DAC members and he encouraged MATC members to attend as well. Meeting Wrap-Up: The next meeting of the MATC is Monday, October 22, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. and Fernando de Aragon from Ithaca-Tompkins Transportation Council will attend, for the second half of the meeting, regarding transportation in the City of Ithaca. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted by, Sarah Myers, Information Management Specialist Public Input Report (Planning) Host Stakeholder Meetings Disseminate & Collect Info (MATCOM & Planning) Affinity Group 1 Input Affinity Group 2 Input Affinity Group 3 Input ….Affinity Group N Input Data Analysis (Planning) Strategic Analysis (Parking Consultant) City Wide Comprehensive Parking Plan On Street, Flat Lots & Garages Financial Analysis (Parking) Summarize Data Perceptions, Concerns, Priorities (Planning) Parking Garage Lifecycle Cost Data (Engineering) Inventory & Revenue Tool (GIS & Parking) Review & Feedback (Parking, Planning, MATCOM) Fiscal Sustainability Goals (Common Council) Stakeholder Input GIS Reports & Data GIS Reports & Data Stakeholder Purpose & Guidelines (Parking & Planning) Functional Goals (Parking) Fiscal Sustainability Report (Parking) Situation & Vision (Parking)