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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - BPC - 02-27-2007, Bicyde and Pedestrian Plan Citizens' Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes February 27,2007 The Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan meeting commenced Tuesday, February 27,2007 at 7:00 p.m. Presenter: Meeting LeaderlCity Staff: Other City Staff- Committee Members Citizens Advisory Board: Also present: Not present: Dr. Bill Drummond Georgia Tech Mike Tuller, City of Milton Assistant Manager Planning & Zoning Abbie Jones, PE, City Engineer Bill Schellhorn,Travis Allen, Brian Maloney Suzanne Cassada, Craig Warner, David Deutsch Councilwoman Tina D'Aversa-WiIliams Representative Jan Jones Mike Moss David Chatham Representative Jan Jones asked if everyhng is on the table and is there a plan. Dr. Bill Drummond brought her up to present on matters discussed at last meeting. Gave an Overview of the Bicycle and Pedestrian planning process. Committee Member David Deutsch asked about Committee roles...rubber stamp or real citizen involvement. Concerned about liability for trail locations. (Detailed discussion about liability issues). Meeting opened with introduction of Committee Members, City staff, and Georgia Tech staff. Committee Member David Deutsch indicated he had concerns about scheduled day and the long time it takes to build trails. Representative Jan Jones spoke to the group and explained in detail how project got started. h In October 4 had first idea ...Bill introduced in 2005. > It was coordinated with Representative Mark B wkhalter. k Said it was a "bottoms-up" approach with community involvement.. ......not political influence as part of the process. Stated that she didn't feel it was necessarily the Committee's job to come up with the funding. , Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan Citizens' Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes February 27,2007 B Stated there are funds that she could work on with Congressman for state highways. Told attendees she knows that Highway 9 will be widened. B Told Committee that if the Parkway Plan could be developed to help transform that area (trees, etc.), when Highway 9 is widened, her job would be easier when working with GDOT to make certain it becomes part of the Plan. P When there is paving involved, codd work with GDOT to make part of the plan and it could be pieced together. 9 Stated objective of Committee was to dream up a plan with the help of GA Tech. staff P She told the Committee that coming up with a plan and having ordinances in place would help. Indicated that the city could then help prioritize, and she could do what she can to help with funding. m Councilwoman Tina D'Aversa Williams > Williams stated that is why you see so many developed pieces of property with no homes going UP. Councilwoman Tina D'Aversa Williams k Williams asked that in regard to ordinances for developers, wourd it be possible to put something together -like right now they just have to put sidewalks in along their property. Asked if it would be possible to go beyond that and if they could do more than that. There was a discussion about this issue. Representative Jan Jones P Stated that if it is not on their property, we can't tell them to go elsewhere because they don't own it, and because it is not part of their project. This would be something for City Council to negotiate with them. Committee Member Bill Schellhorn B Talked about Comp Plan for Milton when community worked to develop 2025 Plan. P Not wanting to trade-off higher density for trails or open space. Representative Jan Jones h Stated that developer would have to donate to green space. Indicated that developers expect to put in sidewalks, so maybe for many areas in Milton, instead of putting in sidewalks, they put in paths that run along the road. 9 Main concern and thought was where it can go in the right-of-way of the City. P Stated using existing gravel roads to extended areas at no additional cost. Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan Citizens'Advisov Committee Meeting Minutes February 27,2007 Councilwoman Tina D9AversaWilliams > Her main concern was a pIace that is safe to run. > Several members of group indicated this was also a concern. Georgia Tech Presenter, Dr. Bill Drummond > Addressed some of the emails after meeting previous week. P Said some of the Committee Members that that had complaints were not at meeting. P Believed that sitting around the table was more effective. B Agreed that Tuesday evening at 7:00-8:30 was good for dl. Asked committee members for additional comments/input. Committee Member David Deutsch: P Believed that Dr. Drummond thinks in terms of a certain process; a certain organization that the entire plan needs to follow and then create a blueprint that can be used for various funding, applications, etc. He stated that he felt there were many steps that need to lead up to that. Georgia Tech Presenter, Dr. Bill Drummond P Stated that the community feels these paths need to be off the main roads. > Proposed to Committee that they codd create something new and go in different directions, have a starting point, and just see how the pieces would fit together. He presented a quick overview so Committee could see how he envisioned the pieces fitting together and Committee would then have a starting point. Committee asked when they needed to let Dr. Dnunmond have their input. Dr. Drummond stated that he felt the Committee could not sit down at Georgia Tech and accomplish anything, because he believed that if Committee sat around the table without City staff and Georgia Tech staff, they would probably make mistakes by not having the data in front of them, so their time is valuable. Therefore, wanted to make sure everyone was prepared to make sufficient use of Committee's time. Origddestination map given to attendees of meeting (see attached) showing area and possibilities. Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan Citizens' Advisory Committee MeeGng Minutes February 27,2007 Georgia Tech Presenter, Dr. Bill Drummond P Requested that the Committee Members to start thinking about destinations. Handouts (attached) were disttibuted to all attendees of the meeting, which showed how planners and transportation people think about the problem. He felt this was a useful way to get organized, but indicated it was not the "be all and end all." Explained how you can track trips by origin, destination and route. Told Committee that bicycle and pedestrian routes are no different. Told Committee if they thought about potential places bike routes could be placed, not even thinking about feasibility, then map the origins and destinations. The main question for these origins would be how many people living in these areas and how many destinations are in a reasonable distance to these segments. Also, to determine what areas would be used the most by what is in those areas. This would help determine where trails would be utilized the most. Objective is to build paths that people will use and not paths to nowhere. (Lengthy discussion with attendees and Dr. Drummond). Georgia Tech Presenter, Dr. BilI Drummond P Talked about the maps he had that showed short-term population projections, current population and five year projections of future populations. He asked the Committee to take the packet home and they would discuss at next meeting. Told Committee that the maps show schools, parks, green space and all other possible destinations that people suggested last week, including grocery stores, all the churches that he could find. Indicated that the area photo he presented was from 2005, but working on a new one. Georgia Tech Presenter, Dr. Bill Drummond > Dr.Dr=ondinformed the Committee he wanted them to think not only about destinations, but how important the destinations are. He said that low traffic destinations may have 5 or fewer trips a day. Not going to be a lot of people coming to those minor destinations. Medium tr&c may have 5 to 25 trips a day (pedestrians, cyclists, etc.), and then high may be over 25 trips per day. He wants them to include all the potential destinations, but some will be more important than others. He requested that they determine whether minor, medium or major destination. (Discussion about some of the major development areas). Dr. Drummond gave an example and stated that all the schools would be listed in high category. Staff talked about using Dr. Drummond's map as the core to start to work from to develop the plan. @iscussion about roads on map). Georgia Tech Presenter, Dr. Bill Drummond P Requested that Committee Members start marking potential places on their maps. > Suggested that Committee Members start with destinations and start thinking about origins and putting marks on the map as bicycle, safety and comfort areas. I , hcyelr and Pedestrian Plan Citizers' Advismy Committee M&og Rlimuh Ftb-ry 27,2007 P Talked about ways to calculate something called "bicycle level of service" which means how comfortable you feel based on speed limit, traffic volumes, truck traffic, etc. Might be able to shortcut this process. Told Committee Members that he would bring in paper maps instead of glossy so that group can mark and determination classifications and how they are defined. P Discussion on Historic Dimict map. k Dr. Drummond said Committee assignment for next meeting (March 13,2007)was to look at map and familid themselves with areas. After no further business, the meeting adjomed at 8:30 p.m.