Charlottesville Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee Virtual Meeting June 3, 2021 Meeting Participants Carl Schwarz Kyle Rodland Peter Krebs Peggy Plews-Ogan Frank Deviney Amanda Poncy Brennen Duncan Action Items: City/Members to research slow speed zones Peter K. will send Peggy contact info for Move2Health All BPAC - Continue to solicit responses for the Mobility Needs Assessment - Peter will ask Chris Henry to hang flyer at Dairy Central for grand opening - Carl will check with the person who owns The Farmhouse to connect with 10th and Page neighbors - Kyle to work with City Schools on approval of a backpack flyer and promoting the survey via social media - Amanda to coordinate with Communications about banner on the city website and Facebook. - A link for the Mobility Needs Survey can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/M2HE-survey - A printable flyer can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EtcgyjVFN4UimLLJkkVpTE4hHFSX4BJn/view?usp=sha ring Meeting Agenda Reduced Speed Zones Meeting participants were able to discuss the new legislation (effective July 1) that allows lower speed limits in commercial and residential areas without a speed study. Brennen Duncan, City Traffic Engineer, suggested that there are some locations in the city where lower speed limits could be implemented, but he is not in favor of implementation citywide. A few potential locations include: University Avenue on the Corner, where there is significant amount of pedestrian activity, and Market Street (with some physical changes). The group discussed different criteria/approaches that should be considered for more strategic implementation. Some criteria include: - Functional classification - Low Stress Bicycle/Pedestrian Networks (work with Jessica Hersch-Ballering at TJPDC) - Crash Data - Locations with no sidewalks - Neighborhoods/Streets with narrow travel lanes No decisions were made, but all present agreed that there is a need to establish criteria for 15 mph candidate streets and/or a master/strategic plan for these locations. There was also a suggestion to research other cities that have implemented “Slow Speed” Zones to see if there are lessons learned. Streets that Work/Crosswalk Markings Carl expressed concern about the implementation of the Streets that Work (STW) Guidelines. He reminded the group that the goal of the STW committee was to provide flexibility for addressing design issues on the City’s narrow streets. His concern is that STW has made it more difficult to implement the design features that are desired. Brennen offered to speak with Carl about his concerns. STW also suggests that crosswalks would be marked in a high visibility, continental pattern. Public Works has concerns about the ability to maintain that standard in the long term given the reduction to paving budgets. The state will be looking at best practices for crosswalk markings in the coming months as a result of legislation passed in the General Assembly this year. In the meantime, PW will continue to replace high visibility markings where they currently exist. New markings and replacement markings on low volume roads will be installed with parallel markings. Brennen and Amanda provided feedback that high visibility markings should be used on collector and arterial roads and within school zones as the defacto standard. The City is mapping school zones and crosswalk markings to better understand the budgetary impacts to this policy direction. Carl commented that this seemed like a common sense approach. Mobility Needs Assessment Peter Krebs provided some background on the origin of the Mobility Needs Assessment. He explained the Childhood Obesity Task Force evolved into the Move2Health Coalition, which is comprised of a number of local partners, including the Piedmont Environmental Council, the City of Charlottesville, Martha Jefferson Sentara and UVA Hospital, among others. PEC is organizing backbone of the Piedmont Mobility Alliance, which has a lot of overlap with Move2Health. Piedmont Mobility Alliance and Move2Health are teaming up to conduct a survey to understand how people get around town and what barriers they face. It is intended to be neighborhood focused. The survey was launched last week and BPAC members been asked to share via email, social media and post flyers. Members suggested a number of additional outreach opportunities: - Monticello Dairy/Dairy Central week long grand opening celebration - Paid advertisements - Neighborhood Initiated Comprehensive Plan outreach - Quarterly Meeting of the Neighborhood Leaders - Backpack flyers - City Schools Robo-Call - Banner on city website and social media outreach - Dominoes Pizza free advertising - Tabling at 4th of July Fireworks at McIntire and Fridays after 5. A link for the Mobility Needs Survey can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/M2HE-survey A printable flyer can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EtcgyjVFN4UimLLJkkVpTE4hHFSX4BJn/view?usp=sharing Other Discussion - Is there an interest is hosting a Bike Ride or Walk around Town as a BPAC meeting? If so, consider a Walk or Bike Ride in a non-traditional place like Tonsler Rec Center. - PEC will host a Bike Cville Ride in July – Heat Themed Ride - Community Bikes has moved to a new location on Preston Avenue. They have an interest in hosting meetings/groups. Perhaps we could have a meeting or two at Community Bikes when in-person meetings resume? - Belmont Bridge Funding Update - Staff expressed support for approving additional funding from the state. It is very important that Council approve/accept the funding as the bridge is rapidly deteriorating. - Three Notched Trail Planning Updates – there was no response from the Board of Supervisors about the petition that was sent. The work group is discussing next steps which will likely include an email to those who signed the petition. Future Agenda Topics Vision Zero Count update – TJPDC + City automatic count updates Streets that Work -Carl (tentative) Chat 17:14:18 From Amanda Poncy : https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=3eca6c9adb6649c988d98734f85baddb 17:14:39 From Peter Krebs to Amanda Poncy(Direct Message) : There's a 3-Notched Trail meeting tonight. That's where folks like Frank are. 17:18:27 From Peggy Plews-Ogan : Would pedestrian-involved accident data help to decide where it would be beneficial? 17:25:49 From Peggy Plews-Ogan : Is there some other city that has done this well?