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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - Citizens Bicycle Advisory Committee - Meeting Date: 12/5/2005 CITY OF GLENDALE CITIZEN BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (CBAC) Monday, December 5, 2005 MUNICIPAL COMPLEX 5850 West Glendale Avenue 6:30 PM,Room B-3 MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER Michael Wood called the meeting to order at 6:37 p.m. Also in attendance: Bill Wilkinson,Ed Cure, Morris Russell, Mariano Vargas, Brian Kanitsch, Jeff Reid and City staff— Steve Hancock Members absent: Keith Cyrnek, Charles Grosscup Guests: None II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the November 7, 2005 meeting were approved. III. CALL TO THE PUBLIC No guests addressed the Committee. IV. INTRODUCTIONS Members 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 said he would defer to Bill Lazenby for a report on the Coalition of Arizona Bicyclists. VII. COALITION OF ARIZONA BICYCLISTS Bill Lazenby introduced himself as a Co-President of the Coalition of Arizona Bicyclists (CAB), naming Richard Rummer as the other Co-President. Bill said that the CAB is a statewide advocacy group for bicycling and is registered as a 501 C3 non-profit corporation. Bill stated that he has Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee Minutes December 5,2005 —Page 2- been a CAB member for 15 years and that all members perform their duties as volunteers-there are no paid positions. Bill noted that on a national level the CAB deals with the League of American Bicyclists (LAB)at the annual National Bicycle Summit. He said that CAB members meet with Arizona Congressmen and Senators to promote federal legislation benefiting bicyclists, specifically mention the recent federal highway bill, SAFETEA-LU. Bill said one aspect of SAFETEA-LU was the Safe Routes to School(SR2S) legislation that appropriates $2,000,000 a year for SR2S efforts in Arizona. Bill explained that the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) would have to establish a SR2S Coordinator position to oversee statewide efforts. He said he hoped the position would be housed in the ADOT Planning Division where the State Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator, Mike Sanders, worked. Bill said that on the local side he was a member of the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) Bicycle Task Force, the Maricopa County Bicycle Plan update committee, and the committee overseeing the development of the State Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan. He also noted that CAB members served on the committee developing the light-rail system in the Valley and played a roll in ensuring bicyclists would be able to transport their bike on the light-rail trains. He said each car in a three-car train could accommodate four bikes. Bill also mentioned that the CAB has trained many bicyclists in the LAB Road I course as well as being instrumental in training League Certified Instructors (LCI) to do more courses in Arizona. Bill that Ed Cure is a LCI and would be working with the City of Scottsdale to train new police academy graduates in Arizona bicycle law. Morris Russell asked Bill about all the acronyms he had been using. Bill apologized for not being more enlightening and explained what the various acronyms stood for. Bill said that the CAB was currently working with some Arizona State legislators to amend selected portions of Title 28 Transportation laws pertaining to bicycling. He said that they have been successful in the last four years with the proposed bill not making it out of the Transportation Committee. Mariano Vargas asked about the $2,000,000 appropriated for SR2S, wondering how to seek the funding for Glendale projects. Bill said he hoped ADOT would soon hire a SR2S Coordinator so the funding issues could be clarified. Jeff Reid asked for more information on SR2S. Bill said that SR2S originated in Marin County, California and was an effort to increase walking and biking to school, in part to decrease the number of cars trips to take kids to school and also to address the growing childhood obesity problem by having kids get exercise on their trips to and from school. He said that we should improve the walking and biking environment in cities like Glendale so kids and their parents will be more willing to leave their car home and burn some calories getting to school. Bill then said that the CAB would like Glendale to put more bike lanes on the City's major, arterial streets. Bill cited Union Hills Rd. as an example of not being able to ride a bike from Phoenix into Glendale because of the loss of a bike lane east of 51S`Ave. Bill wondered why Phoenix could have bike lanes on Union Hills but Glendale could not. Ed Cure said that Glendale's policy of not allowing bike lanes on arterial streets meant freeways like Loop 101 and places like New River caused bicyclists to cross these barriers on narrow, dangerous, arterial traffic lanes because most collector streets did have crossings. Bill also pointed to the planned Northern Parkway as another example of Glendale's failure to accommodate bicyclists or pedestrians on its roadway system. Ed Cure noted that stretches of the planned parkway would have wide shoulders adequate for safe, comfortable bicycling but that many of the underpasses would not have the shoulders and the curb lane would be too narrow for a bike and an automobile to share the lane. Bill Wilkinson said that the parkway had been designed as an expressway, solely with the movement of automobiles as its prime consideration. Ed Cure said that the committee should invite the new Transportation Department Director to a meeting to discuss the bike lanes on arterials issue. Brian Kanitsch c:\documents and settings\blimbach\desktop\minutes\2005\1205m.doc 04/29/11 Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee Minutes December 5,2005 —Page 3- asked if Highway 51, a freeway in Phoenix, had not started off as a parkway concept. Bill Lazenby said that there are bikeways parallel to and over and under Highway 51 in Phoenix that offer cyclists many alternate routes both north-south and east-west. Morris Russell said he thought the Committee should have the City's grant writer come to a meeting to talk about possible ways to get money for bike projects. Ed Cure said that most of the project funding came from federal highway money. Steve Hancock asked Bill Lazenby how someone could join the CAB. Bill said they could contact him at 602-493-9222 and he would send them an application. VIII. GLENDALE FAMILY BIKE RIDE Steve Hancock asked Jeff Reid to tell the Committee about Valley Metro's plans for Valley Bike week in 2006, noting that the Valley metro ride to the Diamondback's ball park would impact selection of a date for the Glendale Family Bike Ride (GFBR). Jeff said that Valley Metro planned to have a Valley Bike Month instead of a Valley Bike Week. The month would run from April 8th through May 7th. Because Bank One had been merged into Chase Bank the Diamondbacks ride would no longer be called Bike-to-BOB. It will be called the Great Bike Chase and would occur on Sunday May 7th. Jeff said that the ride to the Diamondback's game has grown over the years and attracts over 1000 participants. Steve Hancock handed out a calendar showing the dates of Valley Bike Month and asked the committee what date they would like to stage the Glendale Family Bike Ride given the May 7th date for the Great Bike Chase. Steve pointed out that April 16th was Easter Sunday and, if the GBAC wanted to keep the ride on a Sunday, the available dates were April 9th, 23rd and 30th. Many Committee members said they would like to keep the ride on a Sunday because of lower traffic volumes compared to a Saturday. The consensus of the Committee was to have the ride on April 9th because of the likelihood of cooler weather. Steve said he would check with the City's Special Events and Parks and Recreation people to ensure that date was available for reservation and that no other competing events would be occurring. Morris Russell asked if CBAC members were expected to do the ride. He was told that all members would be too busy registering riders, selling t-shirts, and doing other support jobs to have time for participating in the ride. Bill Lazenby said that one year when he volunteered to help he was able to do the ride after they had closed the table for bike helmet sales. Bill Wilkinson also said he was able to do the ride soon after the registration table closed. IX. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Ed Cure suggested that the consultants from URS Corp. present information on Northern Parkway at the January meeting. He also suggested that Jamsheed Mehta, the new Transportation Department Director for the City of Glendale, address the committee on his thoughts about bicycling in Glendale. X. OTHER BUSINESS None c:\documents and settings\blimbach\desktop\minutes\2005\1205m.doc 04/29/11 Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee Minutes December 5,2005 —Page 4— XI. NEXT MEETING Michael Wood said the next regular meeting of the Glendale Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee would be held on Monday, January 2, 2006, 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. Michael Wood adjourned the meeting at 7:55 p.m. • c:\documents and settings\blimbach\desktop\minutes\2005\1205m.doc 04/29/11