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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-MATC-2019-10-28 MOBILITY, ACCESSIBILITY AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION MINUTES PRESENT: Chair Lerner Commissioners (5) Chang, Brouwer, Lyczko, Barden, Parkes OTHERS PRESENT: Common Council Liaisons – McGonigal and Nguyen Information Management Specialist – Myers Lime Bike Representative – Goodmark EXCUSED: Commissioners Roberts and Powers Approval of the September 23, 2019 Mobility, Accessibility, and Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes- Resolution By Commissioner Chang: Seconded by Commissioner Lyzcko RESOLVED, That the minutes of the September 23, 2019 Mobility, Accessibility, and Transportation Commission meeting be approved as published. Carried Unanimously Statements From the Public: No one from the public appeared to address the Commission. Commissioner’s Comments: Commissioner Chang reported that a new speed bump had been installed by Washington Park which will help vehicles slow down in a busy neighborhood. CC Liaison Report: CC Liaison Nguyen reported that Council has been meeting regularly to discuss and review the Mayor’s proposed 2020 budget. One of the most relevant issues to this commission has been the discussion on raising the sidewalk improvement assessments to cover the increased costs for sidewalk work. With the current assessment rate and the increased costs to do the work it has been resulting in less sidewalk work being done. A final decision has not been made yet on that. CC Liaison McGonigal explained that the City is getting close t o its tax cap so increasing the assessment for the sidewalk districts is a challenging decision. A factor to consider as well is that the storm water fee was just increased, so this would result in increasing two different fees for tax payers. If the sidewalk assessment rate is raised, it will be the first increase in five years. Chair’s Report:  Matcom still has a vacancy; he and the other chairs at the last meeting with Chief of Staff Cogan determined that each chair should review and interview possible applicants for either their commission or another in an effort to fill vacancies. He was given four applications to review; one applicant lives outside the city but the vacancy is for a city resident. He has interviewed two applicants and is still waiting to hear from the third. More information will be coming in the future as chairs select and recommend applicants to the Mayor for appointment.  Vice Chair for the month of November – Commissioner Barden Date: October 28, 2019 Time: 6:00 PM Location: Common Council Chambers, 3rd Floor, City Hall Mobility, Accessibility and Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes October 28, 2019 2  City transportation plan coordination – a meeting was held attended by himself, commissioner Lyczko, Transportation Engineer Hathaway and Director of Engineering Logue to discuss the plan and how Matcom can be involved in a meaningful and productive way. Chair Lerner and the Vice Chair meet once a month, so it was proposed and accepted that Transportation Engineer Hathaway and any Matcom member available plan to all meet together once a month. He would like one or both of the council liaisons to attend and feels this may be just the opportunity that Matcom has been wanting to interact with staff and determine topics for Matcom to focus on. The meetings should help, over the long term, to determine focus areas for Matcom and learn what is being included in the transportation plan. The hope is that final transportation plan will have relevant information/input from Matcom on pertinent topics. Commissioner Brouwer shared that he is very much in favor of this approach and looks forward to participating in the meetings. Chair Lerner talked briefly about this plan at the last commission chair’s meeting and Chief of Staff Cogan seemed happy with the approach. Pedestrian Snow Removal Public Input: Commissioner Chang reported that Public Information Management Specialist Faraday put the survey on line for testing by commissioners. Please review and provide any feedback by the end of this week. They will forward changes to Ms. Faraday and touch base with staff in the Clerk’s office on the plan to launch the survey for public participation to make sure it is shared as many places as possible for increased participation. Commissioner Brouwer explained that they plan to publicize the survey as much as they can and that someone will craft an announcement that can be sent to various outlets, newspapers, schools, list serves, and radio. He also asked for help from Matcom members and common council members to reach out to their own various listserves with the survey. The survey will be available for two weeks after its launched; they then plan to publicize the results at next Matcom meeting. Commissioner Barden suggested that the initial survey results will provide some baseline information; however, she would encourage the survey to be sent out again after we’ve gotten some snow and people have encountered sidewalks to se e what the feedback is and compare it to the results from the initial survey. A brief discussion followed on the timeline for this project and providing a recommendation back to the City Administration Committee. Chair Lerner stated that if the recommendation includes a policy change proposal the goal should be to finalize and present the recommendation by late winter or early spring so that there is ample time to have it be part of the budget process for next year. ADA Issues – ADA Coordinator Proposal: In Commissioner Roberts’ absence, Chair Lerner reported that the last he heard was that Commissioner Roberts was trying to set up a meeting of the ad hoc committee , but it has been a slow moving process. It would be helpful for him to have a partner to assist in some of the work and coordination so as he begins to interview applicants, he is being very specific about partnering with Mobility, Accessibility and Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes October 28, 2019 3 Commissioner Roberts to assist with the topic. He confirmed that Sarah Brylinsky is still Matcom’s appointed advisor to the ad hoc committee. E-Scooters Follow -Up: Commissioner Barden reported that the latest development has been that the group of interested parties (Mayor Myrick, Chief of Staff Cogan, Jeff Goodmark, City Attorney Lavine, an IPD Officer, Alderperson Murtagh and herself) met. The purpose of the meeting was to go over a number of concerns compiled by Alderperson Murtagh and Chief of Staff Cogan either from staff or council members about how any e-scooter program would be implemented. Mr. Goodmark provided a sample memorandum of understanding (MOU). One big concern raised was how to educate the public on how to ride the e-scooters since most accidents occur with first ride. Lime Bikes created a “first ride academy” to run a weekend before launching the scooters. It would involve a 20 minute lesson, practice course, and practice braking. Participants would get a free helmet to use and a certificate. As far as making this a requirement, decisions still need to be made (since people could ride them in other cities and come here and want to do the same so they shouldn’t be required to take a course), and whether that language should be included in the MOU. E-scooters are the bulk of Lime services around the world; Ithaca is the only city with bikes. Some cities either have no scooters or a hybrid. That is something that could be requested in the MOU. It has been determined that there is no correlation between giving away free helmets and people using them, and just doing that doesn’t mean people will use them. Crashes with Lime Bikes - IPD has not had to investigate any crashes and Lime has only had 3 reported. Topics covered during the meeting: Service Zone, proposed from Ithaca Beer Company to Stewart Park and not on hills. Limit speed to 15 mph and then have slower speed (8 mph) and no ride zones (those areas could be suggested). Around downtown slower speeds and The Commons will be a no ride zone. Parking for scooters - no solid parking solution in Ithaca for where they could be put but there are areas that could be marked off to store them. No agreement was reached. Underage riders - Lime has requirement with its app to scan date of birth to take care of that issue. IPD reluctant to do anything about enforcement - but liked aspect of a picture being used to ensure compliance. Pricing now $1.00 to unlock and then .25 per minute. If bikes removed the rate would be .15 per minute. Mobility, Accessibility and Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes October 28, 2019 4 Curfew/Hours of Operation - Make sure hours are consistent so public can know and plan accordingly. Could be changed seasonally, up to the City to decide. To be viable transportation alternative should not just be used during daylight. Scooters have headlights and reflectors. Usage - most popular rides for bikes are to and from bus stops in Ithaca. Scooters constantly be ing improved to increase their life span. CC Liaison McGonigal asked if the City were to approve e -scooters, would it be illegal to ride them on the sidewalk. Commissioner Barden responded that it can be put in the MOU and that is the recommendations that she and Commissioner Powers passed on and no one disagreed. Matcom will also have an opportunity to review and provide input into any MOU that may be drafted. CC Liaisons McGonigal and Nguyen left the meeting at 7:10 p.m. DPW Parking Analysis: Commissioner Lyczko reported that what started as a parking study has now been combined into the Transportation Plan. This Fall the consultant will work with the City and the committee to collect data. There will be no public input yet. Once data has been collected electronically, it will be shared with committee members to review. The Transportation Study is supposed to end by November 2020 and public input will be obtained during 2020. She did share at the last meeting on October 7th that Matcom didn’t just want to receive information but also be able to share information with the group. She is still looking for ways to have Matcom participate in a more active way. Commissioners Lyczko and Parkes shared their concerns about exactly what their roles should be in these meetings as representatives of Matcom. The current process does not offer much information for Matcom to provide feedback on. They’re not sure what makes sense for both of them to focus on when attending the meetings; right now it seems as if they are just reporters to Matcom about what meetings are occurring and the status of the study. They both are pleased that Chair Lerner has arranged to have regular monthly meetings with Transportation Engineer Hathaway and feel those meetings might help them to identify areas or topics they should focus on . Chair Lerner offered to meet with them both to help determine specific topics. Meeting Wrap Up: The next meeting is Monday, November 25th at 6:00 p.m. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 7:36 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sarah L. Myers, Information Management Specialist