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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - Citizens Bicycle Advisory Committee - Meeting Date: 6/7/2004 CITY OF GLENDALE CITIZEN BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (CBAC) Monday, June 7, 2004 MUNICIPAL COMPLEX 5850 West Glendale Avenue 6:30 PM, Room B-3 MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER Jim Hunton called the meeting to order at 6:34 p.m. Also in attendance: Ed Cure, Shirley Gray, Brian E. Kanitsch, Omar Khiel, David Parks, Joe Terranova, Betsy Turner, Bill Wilkinson, Michael Wood, and staff—Steve Hancock Members absent: Charles Grosscup Guests: Judy Chepeus,Bill Lazenby, Dick Lorance, Renee Micek, and Rich Rummer. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the May 3, 2004 meeting were approved with one amendment. III. CALL TO THE PUBLIC No guests addressed the Committee. IV. INTRODUCTIONS Members and guests introduced themselves. V. CONTINUANCE OR WITHDRAWAL OF AGENDA ITEMS No agenda items required continuance or withdrawal VI. REPORTS FROM OTHER COMMITTEES AND ORGANIZATIONS • Ed Cure suggested that guest Rich Rummer - President of the Coalition for Arizona Bicyclists (CAB) -report on CAB activities. Rich said that he and Bill Lazenby were attending tonight's meeting to gain a better understanding of Glendale's plans for a bicycle system. • Bill Wilkinson said that he had nothing to report on CTOC activities. • Jim Hunton circulated information on the Mountain Bike Association of Arizona(MBAA)that included upcoming events and trail maintenance projects. Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee Minutes June 7,2004 —Page 2— • Steve Hancock told the Committee that Charles Grosscup,the newest CBAC member, had suffered a heart attack a week ago but was recovering well and hoped to be able to attend the July meeting. VII. OPEN SPACES AND TRAILS MASTER PLAN • Steve Hancock introduced Shirley Medler, Deputy Director of the Parks and Recreation Department. Shirley said that the Parks Department was aware that other cities had done Open Space and Trail Plans and wanted to ensure that Glendale had opportunities to ensure connectivity to neighboring trail systems. Shirley pointed out that the Parks Master Plan for the City called for at least one park per square mile and the Open Space and Trails plan would further that goal. Shirley introduced Jim Coffman of Coffman Studio who is consulting for Todd and Associates on the Master Plan. Jim told the Committee that the scope of the plan addressed open space, trails, paths and pedestrian focus areas. He said that the plan-identified projects, established general costs and project prioritization, developed a GIS database (City integrated), developed trail and path guidelines, stated implementation strategies & funding, and conceptualized signage design. Jim went on to discuss the regional context of the plan, trail and path elements, and the pedestrian elements of the plan. Jim also discussed the character elements of the plan including scenic corridors, signature streets, landmarks and agricultural preservation. Finally, Jim told members about the open space elements of the plan touching on conservation issues, reclaimed mining sites, potential linear parks, and concepts for new parks and park improvements. Joe Terranova said that the Master Plan seems to have taken greater"ownership" of pedestrian elements and less of an emphasis on bike facilities, especially bike lanes on signature streets like 59th Ave. and Glendale Ave. Jim responded that street based bike facilities like bike lanes were not part of the scope for the Open Space and Trails Plan; his focus was on off-street trails, paths and, in some cases, sidewalks. Jim Hunton said that even wider arterial streets would be good if they allowed for a wide curb lane that could accommodate a car and bike side-by-side. He said that an advantage of this configuration was the sweeping effect passing cars and trucks, clearing the bicycling area of debris. Dick Lorance said that experienced cyclists are staying away from multi-use paths because of all the conflicts with slower moving pedestrians. VIII. BICYCLING IN GLENDALE • Steve Hancock introduced Jim Book, Director of the Transportation Department, to the Committee. Jim said he was urged to speak to the CBAC by two members of the CBAC and welcomed the opportunity to do so. He said that he had discussions with the two members regarding bicycling on arterial streets and that they had different views on placing bike lanes on these major streets. Jim stressed to the Committee that he is the Director of the Transportation Department but he is also the City Traffic Engineer and therefore responsible for how streets are designed for all roadway users. He first thing noted was that he had bicycled as a child until he was old enough to be licensed to drive at age sixteen. It wasn't until he went to work for the City of Glendale that he again took up cycling as a way to "walk c:\documents and settings\blimbach\desktop\minutes\2004\0604m.doc 04/29/11 Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee Minutes June 7,2004 —Page 3— the talk" of the City's Trip Reduction Program. He now tries to cycle to work from his home in Phoenix at least once a week. Jim showed a number of slides of children bicycling to Glendale elementary schools stressing that these schools were located on half-mile collector streets where most of the City's bike routes and shared biking and parking lanes are located. Jim said the collector streets had less traffic and lower traffic speeds, conditions best suited to most cyclists, especially children. Jim mentioned that school drop-off zones generated lots of traffic and were a recurring problem for the City's traffic engineers. He said a parent dropping off a child generated two trips—one in the morning to take the child to school and one in the afternoon to pick them up. Often the home of child and parent was within easy biking distance but the traffic chaos at drop-off time was deemed too dangerous to allow the child to bike to school. Jim showed a slide of a bike detector buried in the pavement in a bike lane. Jim said the City had many of these devices installed at signalized intersections so a bike would not go undetected and would eventually get a green light. Jim then showed a slide of 67th Ave. where there was a wide curb lane with a"berm line" stripped near the edge of the pavement. He noted that this was too narrow to qualify as a bike lane. Jim said cyclists often used the area inside the berm line but that other people are starting to use the City's streets. He said that with rising gas prices he was seeing more go-peds and electric scooters on the roads; he noted these small vehicles could be purchased for only $200 or $300. Jim then showed a slide of a "BIKE ROUTE" sign explaining why these routes are not designated as bike lanes. He said that the lanes on most half-mile collectors are for bicycling and parking and a formal bike lane designation would exclude cars from parking in the lanes. Jim then showed a slide of the bridge spanning the Arizona Canal near Marshall Ranch Elementary School. He said that this bridge was funded by Federal Highway money that required many time consuming steps to get to the construction phase. Jim referred to AC/DC pathway underpass at 43rd and Peoria—a project built by the City of Phoenix but actually conceived by the City of Glendale and co- funded with Phoenix for matching funds. Jim mentioned another AC/DC underpass project that will be built at 51St and Cactus, also funded by Federal money. Jim also noted that there was another Federally funded project to widen the Glendale Ave. bridge at New River for bicyclists and pedestrians. Jim showed a slide of an arterial street in Phoenix where a bike lane came to an end before an intersecting arterial street with direction for cyclists to use the sidewalk. Jim then turned to maps of Glendale bikeways, noting the bike lanes on segments of Glendale Ave. He stressed that the portion of Glendale Ave. in downtown was too narrow for any kind of bike safe bike facility. He said there is a recurring request from Downtown merchants to prohibit bike travel on Glendale Ave. sidewalks but he consistently declines to do so because the street is not a safe alternative. Jim pointed out that bicycling on sidewalks has fewer conflicts with pedestrians because there are so few people walking in the Phoenix area. Turning again to the map, Jim pointed out that Maryland Ave., in the area of the Coyote's Arena and Cardinal's Stadium, would have bikeways that could be converted to motorized traffic lanes only during major games or events. Jim said that Maryland would have an overpass at the Loop 101 but that through access to the planned New River Trail would be a problem due to the location of a small cemetery in the desired alignment. Rich Rummer asked Jim about more bicycle safety education for Glendale school children, referring to the Safe Routes to School programs in other communities. Jim said he was familiar with the "Walking School Bus" concept and that it had some drawbacks. He said in Glendale K-1 and K-2 students could not bike to school because of District rules and that meant parents with K-I or K-2 children still had to drive their kids to school, even if older siblings could bike to school. c:\documents and settings\blimbach\desktop\minutes\2004\0604m.doc 04/29/11 Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee Minutes June 7,2004 Page 4— Rich asked about situations where neighboring cities had bike lanes on an arterial street but Glendale did not have bike lanes on the same street. Jim asked for an example. Members suggested Union Hills Rd. Jim said there was some potential for bike lanes on Union Hills Rd. but the Arrowhead master plan would have to be amended—Jim thought that was unlikely. Jim Hunton said that it seems some streets had extra-wide medians that could be narrowed so bike lanes could be added. Jim Hunton then said that there needed to be continuous bike lanes on Glendale Ave. so there would be an east/west bikeway spanning the City. Jim Book responded that the bike lanes on Glendale near the arena were eliminated when the Ellman Company stipulated additional traffic lanes to handle arena and stadium traffic during major events. Joe Terranova said that there was an article in Time magazine recently that says the "built environment," especially the transportation system, has had a negative impact on public health. He said the article stated that the lack of safe facilities for bikes and pedestrians is part of the cause of the current obesity epidemic. Joe further said that 75% of all daily auto trips are one mile or less. He urged Jim Book to use his clout to change things. Jim Hunton requested members to limit themselves to questions only. Omar Khiel said that Jim Book could help get people out of their cars by making a better biking and walking system. He said that doesn't approve of bike lanes on arterial streets because cyclists are safer traveling in the traffic lanes like cars. Omar said the City has made bad situations by installing speed humps that block the bikeways on collector streets. Brian Kanitsch said he has no problem with speed humps when riding his bike. Omar said that the traffic circles on 55th Ave. near Acoma were dangerous for cyclists because they forced bikes and cars to merge into one narrow lane at the circles. He said that police enforcement of speeds on 55th would be better. Omar said the City needs a new vision for bicycles in Glendale. Jim Hunton asked that members limit their comments. Omar said that it seemed to him that bike connections were a low priority with the City. Jim Book said that might be the case due to high costs involved in making connections. Jim then described the planned underpass at Union Hills for the Skunk Creek pathway. Renee Micek said that she was "all of the people" Jim Book had shown in his slides; riding on streets, sidewalks and pathways. She said riding on a bike was an intimidating experience but it would not be as intimidating if there were bike lanes on the arterial streets. She said she couldn't get to the places she wanted to bike to because they were on arterials not collector streets. Judy Chepeus said she would like to ride on 59th Ave. north of Union Hills but cannot do so safely because of lack of bike lanes. She also said that there were many pedestrians on sidewalks along 67th Ave., 75th Ave. and the Skunk Creek pathway. Jim Book said that many CBAC members might not share his vision for Glendale's bicycle system but that most people in Glendale would prefer to ride on collector streets and pathways—not busy arterial streets. Joe Terranova said that casual cyclists would also benefit from arterial bike lanes. Jim Hunton asked Jim Book what it would take to get bike lanes on arterial streets. Jim asked, "Where are the Cyclists"? He said the City doesn't have a"build it and they will come"policy regarding bikeways. Brian Kanitsch asked Jim Book what the future holds as gas prices rise; will other modes flourish? Jim said that during the gas crisis of the 70's vehicle miles actually went up. Betsy Turner said that it would be different now because there is a better public transit system in place now. Brian said that the bus doesn't work for him. Omar Khiel said that a future agenda item might be a discussion about a new bike plan and asked who would do such a plan. Jim Book said that Steve Hancock would be responsible for a new bike plan. Joe Terranova said that if a consultant did the plan they needed to be independent and not subject to City staff bias regarding bike lanes. c:\documents and settings\blimbach\desktop\minutes\2004\0604m.doc 04/29/11 Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee Minutes June 7,2004 —Page 5— IX. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS • No agenda items were proposed. X. OTHER BUSINESS • • Joe Terranova said that he had contacted the supervisor of the City's Street Maintenance Department to ask how often streets with bike lanes were swept. He was told that in 1995 the City had six street sweepers and streets were swept every week. They now have fewer sweepers and streets get swept every two to three weeks. XI. NEXT MEETING • Jim Hunton stated that the next regular meeting of the Glendale Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee would be held on Monday, July 12, 2004, 6:30 p.m., Room B-3, at the Municipal Complex, 5850 West Glendale Avenue. XII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the Committee, a motion to adjourn was made, seconded and unanimously approved. Jim Hunton adjourned the meeting at 8:56 p.m. c:\documents and settings\blimbach\desktop\minutes\2004\0604m.doc 04/29/11