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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-01-15 Minutes1 MINUTES OF CITY OF EDINA, MINNESOTA TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION COUNCIL CHAMBERS JANUARY 15, 2015 6:00 P.M. ROLL CALL Answering roll call were members Bass, Boettge, Iyer, Janovy, LaForce, Nelson, Rummel, Spanhake and Whited. ABSENT Campbell, Olson APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA Motion was made by chair Bass and seconded by member LaForce to table Item VI. D. Edina Challenge: Transportation Subcommittee for a future meeting and approve the amended meeting agenda. All voted aye. Motion carried. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES REGULAR MEETING OF December 18, 2014 Motion was made by member Nelson and seconded by member Spanhake to approve the amended minutes of December 18, 2014. All voted aye. Motion carried. COMMUNITY COMMENT - None. REPORTS/RECOMMENDATIONS Vision Zero Presentation by Jay Walljasper Mr. Walljasper, writer and consultant, presented Vision Zero which is a concept focused on making streets safer to reduce pedestrian fatalities. He said annually, more than 4,500 pedestrians are killed in the US. He said Sweden and the Netherlands serve as good examples of reducing pedestrian fatalities – the Economist Magazine reported that Sweden reduced fatalities by 75% vs. 20% in the US. He said cities in the US like New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Oregon are following their examples and are implementing Vision Zero. Examples of Vision Zero implementation include elementary school street curriculum to teach students about driving, walking, and biking safely; fixing dangerous intersections; enforcing traffic laws, narrowing streets and widening sidewalks, etc. Mr. Walljasper said the emphasis is safety over speed in road design and simply reducing the speed limit is not enough. Discussion Member Iyer asked if there were cities similar to Edina that are implementing Vision Zero and if he could recommend a couple things that could be done. Mr. Walljasper said all the cities in Sweden have and he recommended road diet, reducing road width, reducing length of crosswalk, making them more visible, and adding median island as some things that could be done. Member Boettge asked what could be done to change attitudes, beside enforcement. Mr. Walljasper said instead of advocating for engineering changes, make other changes such as planting trees, public art – adding interesting things to look at. Member Janovy asked what do you do when you’re proposing improvements but there haven’t been any pedestrian fatalities. Mr. Walljasper said they should not wait for a fatality to make improvements. He said if there are few pedestrians it’s probably because the area is unsafe so he would try to measure near-misses and also survey people to see if they would walk more if they felt safe. He said 65% of people said they would bike if they felt safe and this probably is the same for pedestrians. Chair Bass thanked Mr. Walljasper for his presentation. 2014 Bicycle & Pedestrian Count Results 2 Mr. Joe Totten, traffic safety coordinator, presented the 2014 Bicycle & Pedestrian Count Results. Mr. Totten explained that bicycle and pedestrian counts are done for transportation planning purposes, health reasons, and the ability to evaluate improvements. He said video counting allows staff to capture long times over multiple days unlike volunteer counters. Counts include bikes, pedestrians, assisted pedestrians (i.e. wheelchair, stroller, skate board, etc.) in 15 minute intervals and are typically taken near major pedestrian generator or where useful. Future counts are generally done at the same locations for year to year comparison and new ones are added as needed. Member LaForce asked how the number of users translates into making policies and Mr. Totten said it is a matter of someone choosing to drive to the park which creates wear and tear on the road vs. walking. Planner Nolan added that the data will show trends overtime and this can be used to make improvement decisions. Member LaForce asked if weather is taken into account and Mr. Totten said rain days and other inclement weather days are eliminated. Member Janovy asked when the City began using video counts and Mr. Totten said in 2014. Planner Nolan said the volunteer counters were through Transit for Livable Communities. He said the City purchased two video counting cameras and borrowed a third one from City of Richfield. Member Nelson said it would be good to have data from different locations and planner Nolan said the locations counted were chosen because they had three years of previous data and they included a couple new locations because of future planned improvements, i.e., Nine Mile Creek Trail and the Southwest LRT. Mr. Totten added that some of the locations are also required by MNDOT. Planner Nolan said they can add new locations but they are limited by the number of cameras and staff resources. Member Iyer asked if staff is considering any of the new equipment that was talked about in the video that was shown. Mr. Totten said the new equipment is ideal for trails like the future Nine Mile Creek Trail. Planner Nolan said Hennepin County is considering installing a permanent counter in the bike lane on Vernon Avenue (bikers outside of the lane would not be counted). Member Iyer asked if any changes have been made based on the data. Mr. Totten said yes but they may not have been ideal, i.e. bike lanes on Interlachen Blvd. Chair Bass said counting between 4-6 p.m., especially at the middle and high schools, may not capture school traffic and suggested counting between 2-4 p.m. Member LaForce asked if they’ve counted in Bredesen Park, Promenade, etc. and planner Nolan said they’ve talked about it but haven’t yet. Roadway Reconstruction Survey Content and Methodology Members LaForce and Iyer created the following five data collection points: 1. The ongoing collection/analysis of data related to global needs within the city. It’s how we determine what we think residents want. For example, how do they feel about sidewalks, bike lanes, center turn lanes, speed limits? 2. Data collected prior to a specific project to inform the design process. What do residents who are most affected by the proposed project want to see? 3. Data collected during the design and implementation for the purpose of making necessary adjustments. How is the project working? What are the troubles that need to be addressed? 4. Data collected immediately following a project to determine how well the project was implemented. How well did contractors and city staff do their jobs? 5. Data collected at various points in the future to measure the impact a project had on stated goals. To what degree did this project accomplish what it was supposed to have accomplished? Discussion ensued which included the following feedback: • Revising the questionnaire before the next round of projects is critical; certain expectations are set up and not met; be purposeful; have reason for the data; allow for more informed discussions instead of information getting out 3 pieces at a time, i.e., road width, right-of-way, etc.; this allows for a better feasibility report; Council does not see final design; are residents getting what they want? • Agreed with providing data beforehand but data is only one element; decisions aren’t made based on surveys alone; make clear what all the pieces are that drive decision-making, e.g. policies, cost constraints, standards, etc. • Provide specification on streets, sidewalks, Municipal State Aid, etc.; this information is universal across the city – make it accessible. • Providing lots of information is good but could it lead to information overload? Create a business process flow chart that explains why they do surveys and post on website; still do not understand the City’s business process decision- making. • #1 is outside of the ETC’s scope. • Is there a way to use the post project survey to inform the future? • Low participation rate; how do you focus in on data? • What can they do to get better participation? • Order of priority would be for the City to do #2, #4 and #5; #3 should probably not be included because it could be costly. • #1 seems to be broad and more for citywide; #5 is specific to neighborhood projects. • Current survey assumes one per household. • What is the next step? Timeline for getting out questionnaire for 2016 projects is probably May. • Consensus to focus on #2; members LaForce, Iyer and Janovy volunteered to meet with staff for further discussion. Traffic Safety Committee Report of January 7, 2015 A.1 In the recommendation, change ‘resolution’ to ‘petition.’ A.4. “Blocked by disabled vehicle” means broken down vehicles. Is this an enforcement issue since vehicles are to park a certain distance from intersection? What is the policy for posting handicap zone? There isn’t a written policy; it is handled on a case-by-case basis in one of two ways – handicap parking only or no parking/loading zone. B.1. Will the traffic light at Cahill be retimed? Yes, staff is coordinating with City of Bloomington for an extra 16 seconds and will observe result. B.2. Change ‘land’ to ‘lane.’ C.1. With someone directing traffic the gap study is affected; uncomfortable area to cross so looking at it in a traditional way may not help with analysis; hope there will be an opportunity to look at traffic if school referendum passes so should they wait until then? Staff discussed waiting and acknowledged that the flashing beacon will not work with a crossing guard; school buses and other traffic frequently exit out the marked inbound only entrance. C.2. Agree that the current crosswalk does not meet City policy. D. At what point does the City decide to contact Hennepin County about retiming of traffic signal lights? Usually on a case- by-case basis. Motion was made by member Janovy and seconded by member Spanhake to forward the edited Jan. 7, 2015, report to the City Council. All voted aye. Motion carried. Updates Student Members – None. Bike Edina Working Group Member Janovy said they discussed their focus for 2015 and three main areas of interest are bike parking; evaluation of existing on-road facilities, and increasing their presence at community events. Living Streets Working Group Planner Nolan said two public meetings are planned to share the draft Living Streets Plan with residents and gather feedback. Scheduled meetings are Wed., Feb. 4, 7 p.m. at Public Works and Park Maintenance Facility, 7450 Metro Blvd; and 4 Sat., Feb. 7, 10 a.m. at the Senior Center, 5280 Grandview Sq. Presenters at the meetings will be working group members and Living Streets Champions. Feedback from the meetings will be shared with the ETC at the next regular scheduled meeting. Walk Edina Working Group Member Boettge said at their first meeting they talked about experiences and concerns and plan to talk about expectations at the next meeting. She recommended two new members. Motion was made by member Boettge and seconded by member Iyer to approve members Coby LaVenture and Andrea Bender to the Walk Edina Working Group. All voted aye. Motion carried. Communications Committee Member LaForce asked about the multi-modal education plan and planner Nolan said it did not make the January agenda because of the limited preparation time due to the holidays and number of items on the agenda. He said it will be on the February agenda. CORRESPONDENCE AND PETITIONS Planner Nolan distributed a newspaper article from Mayor Hovland titled “Varied Routes to Safer Streets.” CHAIR AND COMMISSION MEMBER COMMENTS Member Whited said thank you and goodbye as she ended her term with this meeting. The commission thanked her for her service. Member Iyer asked if there were data on damages to roads by large trucks versus cars and if all streets are constructed to the same specification. Planner Nolan said he was not aware of any data but this does not mean it does not exist. Regarding street construction specification, he said pavement depths are different based on street classification. Chair Bass noted that the article, Varied Routes to Safer Streets, from Mayor Hovland speaks directly to the Vision Zero presentation. Member Nelson said he is still concerned with the newly installed crosswalks on France Avenue that drivers still do not know where to stop and suggested public education. Planner Nolan said staff is still talking with Hennepin County about this and the ETC can include this in their campaign next month. Member Nelson said further that since the lanes have been realigned, drivers are following the expansion joints when they cannot see the lane markers and they do not always match up. Member LaForce said the Byerly’s retaining wall at the corner of France Avenue and Hazelton Road forces drivers to pull into the crosswalk to see around it. He asked about the advisory communication that the ETC sent to Council last month and planner Nolan said staff is putting together a cost estimate for Council in February. Member Boettge said she liked what Mr. Walljasper said, “safer streets are a gift to Edina!” Member Janovy asked if the final report for the experimental bike lanes was submitted and planner Nolan said he received it late last week. She said a couple months ago an advisory was given to Council on bike parking but it was never discussed. She asked if there was a process to get advisories on Council’s agenda for discussion. Planner Nolan said the current process is to put advisories under correspondences on the agenda but he will check to see if it could be handled differently. Member Janovy said she would like to see a clearer process because there are times when advisories are recommending a specific action, i.e. the bike parking advisory was for code modification. Member Iyer suggested that Council spend a few minutes on commissions’ advisories. Student member Rummel said she enjoyed Mr. Walljasper’s presentation. She said safer streets promote walking and relaxed mode of transportation which gets more people out and create a sense of community. 5 STAFF COMMENTS A grant application was submitted for the Cornelia Drive Sidewalk along with a resolution of support from Council and a letter of support from the school district. A response is expected by March. Staff plans to begin the design process in March. On Feb. 3, staff will submit a report to Council to modify the bicycle lane ordinance and add Olinger Blvd as a designated bike lane. City Council will hold a work session with the ETC and Bike Edina on Jun. 16, 5 p.m. Each group will be allotted one hour each. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned. Chair Bass called the meeting back to order because a resident wanted to address the ETC. Related to the Traffic Safety Report above, item A.1., Ms. Lesa Brostuen, 5517 Malibu Drive, requested a recommendation from the ETC to City Council to assign new street names and signs for the cul-de-sacs off of Malibu Drive. She said staff is recommending that Council approve a sign showing house numbers but she said it takes the mind longer to process house numbers than street name. Also, she said the topography is such that drivers cannot tell that it is a cul-de-sac and they drive in expecting the road to go thru. She said the area has three streets that intersect, and they are all named Malibu Drive. Ms. Brostuen was advised to attend the Council meeting when the Traffic Safety Report is on the agenda and address the Council directly. Meeting adjourned. ATTENDANCE TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ATTENDANCE J F M A M J J A S O N D SM SM WS # of Mtgs Attendance % Meetings/Work Sessions 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 12 NAME TERM (Enter Date) (Enter Date) (Enter Date) Bass, Katherine 2/1/2017 1 1 33% Boettge, Emily 2/1/2017 1 1 33% Iyer, Surya 3/1/2018 1 1 33% LaForce, Tom 3/1/2018 1 1 33% Janovy, Jennifer 2/1/2017 1 1 33% Nelson, Paul 2/1/2016 1 1 33% Olson, Larry 2/1/2016 0 0% Whited, Courtney 2/1/2015 1 1 33% Spanhake, Dawn 2/1/2016 1 1 33% Rummel, Anna 9/1/2015 1 1 33% Campbell, Jack 9/1/2015 0 0%