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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES Transportation Advisory Board 2021-05-19 Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado, May 19, 2021 Minutes of a Regular meeting of the Transportation Advisory Board of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held virtually on the 19th day of May 2021. Committee: Belle Morris, Tom Street, Ann Finley, Larry Gamble, Linda Hanick, Scott Moulton, Gordon Slack Attending: Belle Morris, Tom Street, Ann Finley, Larry Gamble, Linda Hanick, Scott Moulton, Gordon Slack, Public Works Director Greg Muhonen, Engineering Mgr. David Hook, The Car Park General Manager Matt Eisenberg, Pavement Mgr. Ryan Barr, Rocky Mountain National Park John Hannon, Community Development Director Randy Hunt Absent: Mgr. Vanessa Solesbee, Trustee Carlie Bangs Chair Morris called the meeting to order at 12:05 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENT No electronic submissions of public comment were received prior to the deadline and no public was in attendance. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made and seconded (Slack/Finley) to approve the April meeting minutes with edits and all were in favor. FOOD TRUCK POLICY DISCUSSION (David Hook, Randy Hunt) Manager Hook introduced the topic of the potential need for a Town policy for food trucks, specifically addressing the use and parking space. The topic has come up in the past couple years, especially with the pandemic. The Barrel has requested parking space to have a food truck on Moraine Ave. in front of the business. Moraine Ave. is U.S. Highway 36, managed by CDOT. CDOT, working with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), made allowance for this request for a period of time. Although approved at the time, the Barrel needs to readdress the prior approval and request extension, or a new permit. Recently, Elkins Distillery made the request, and was approved, for a food truck to be used as a fundraiser. The Town received community feedback, primarily from restaurant establishments, taking exception to food trucks operating in that manner. Other issues that have come up include sites distance issues, public parking space occupation, and the potential for customer lines creating pedestrian congestion and inhibiting passage, unless on private property. There are very specific requirements for traffic control being provided to protect food trucks and customers from passing vehicular traffic. Locally, these requests are being processed through the Embrace the Views program. Added allowances through this program are permitting public sidewalks, parking lots, and roads for this type of activity. CDOT was looking at providing customer seating in parking stalls. Embrace the Views is still in place locally and CDOT’s program is midway through an extension. There is potential for another extension being granted. The extensions are provided in three-month increments. Manager Solesbee reached out to the Chamber of Commerce to seek dialogue in potential participation interest. The Chamber stated they would like to stay in the loop, but would not be taking any type of lead role in this initiative. Solesbee feels i t may be appropriate to form a task force to develop food truck policy in public areas on a broader approach than public parking spaces. Hook is not aware of any food trucks occupying public spaces on an ongoing basis at this time. Transportation Advisory Board – May 19, 2021 – Page 2 Director Muhonen stated that requests have spawned from the pandemic accommodations. Public Works desires active engagement, first from the TAB, then through community feedback. Community Development Director Randy Hunt stated that food trucks are required to be on private property, with the regulations being introduced a few years ago, originating from microbreweries. The Town Board Adopted these measures through Planning Commission recommendations. Hunt checked to see how many standard Town business licenses have been issued. Outside the Embrace the Views program, there were over a dozen licenses issued. A number of businesses keep them on private property which has worked well and no complaints have been received in Community Development (“CD”). There exists no cap on how many licenses can be issued. Hunt stated that ability to manage the licenses is a key element. One rule from CD is that the private property must be zoned commercial, industrial, or accommodation . A majority of land in town is zoned either residential or low-density. If there is public sector component, there are examples of those requirements in other communities. Hunt stated that CD will help when proceeding with the policy creation for food truck. Primary points are to follow municipal codes and protect the land and environment. He stated the memo contained in the TAB packet is summarized well. Other element of management would be a public process to gauge the thoughts of the community. Chair Morris shared that she helps organize running events, and has considered having food trucks at those events, but was curious about the process. Hunt stated that for a one-time event scenario, it is best to follow the existing special event permit application process, in lieu of following more stringent, longer-term food truck policy regulations. Member Hanick asked Hunt if CD spoke to mountain communities when determining general rules. Hunt affirmed, stating he had spoken to Aspen, Breckenridge, Black Hawk/Central City, and Durango. Hanick recommended finding a specified area in town for food trucks. Hunt stated that Fort Collins uses this model and he will discuss with them. He knows that Fort Collins found traffic control easier to manage and there were reduced concerns from restaurants when using this model. Chicago has very large food truck area that has worked out well for them. Chair Morris asked how the TAB can be instrumental in assisting with this policy creation. Hook stated this will be a Public Works policy regarding public space s. He asked if there was TAB interest in developing a task force or simply continuing the conversation in the standing meetings. He invited any thoughts and comments and stated it will be an ongoing discussion. Muhonen shared that his expectation is that Manager Solesbee will have an exploratory conversation with the Chamber. Once that has occurred, and based on input from all, including community input, she will perform added research with peer communities, draft a policy, and come back to the TAB and community to attempt arrival at final content. At that time a Town Board Study Session would be prudent. PARKING UPDATES (The Car Park Mgr. Matt Eisenberg) The Car Park Manager, Matt Eisenberg provided the TAB with an update on w here the Parking & Transit Division stands for the rollout of paid parking: • Technology: all 10 pay stations have been installed throughout downtown. They are powered on and have been configured. Testing continues and the credit card processors have yet to arrive. • Mobile app has been up for some time now. At this time, the integration with the License Plate Recognition (LPR) software is pending. • Estes Parking app: Updates have been rolled out and updates will be released to the public next Tuesday via press release. • Staffing: The Car Park is close to fully staffed for 2021 parking enforcement. One enforcement officer is scheduled to help with testing starting on Monday. • Signage is going up in downtown now. Destination signage will be installed soon. Transportation Advisory Board – May 19, 2021 – Page 3 • Paid parking questions: Community engagement has been really good. Eisenberg stated there are still some community members stating they didn’t know paid parking was coming to Estes Park. • Permit Registrations: The Local 30-min. free permit has been very popular. From February through mid-April, there were 480 permits registered. Since mid-April, the permits have jumped to 1,300 and The Car Park is inundated with requests. • Everyone that needs permit will get one. The first thousand have been delivered. Chair Morris asked RMNP’s John Hannon if there were any updates regarding shuttles. Hannon didn’t have any specific updates but is aware that Bustang will be running this summer. There will be a special bus from RMNP to meet Bustang but regular hiker shuttle service will not be coming to town. He stated that with the reservation system being new, the new low-capacity requirement for RMNP, and the expense of running the shuttle, this decision was made by the National Park Service. ENGINEERING UPDATES (Engineering Mgr. David Hook) Manager Hook provided project updates since the last meeting. Parking Wayfinding: The Phase 1 installation began today which impacts Performance Park Lot, Tregent Lot, and the Spruce Lot. Weather permitting, the contractor will be working every day to install as many signs as possible. Hook shared that there is an anonymous letter being circulated in the community via email voicing concerns about signage in general, with specifics about the parking wayfinding project. Public Works has provided a response to the letter to the Town Board and the responses will be posted to the project website. Graves: Project design is ongoing and a virtual open house is anticipated to begin soon, running for two weeks providing for community input. Additional outreach materials will also be posted to the project website. Town Development Reviews: Alarado Traffic Signal: The installed signal has been on flash since Thursday. This coming Thursday, the signal will go into full operation. Pavement markings are scheduled to be installed tomorrow as part of the critical infrastructure. Hook stated the developers continue to chip away at the list of little things. Member Slack asked if the signal will be on a fixed cycle or if it will be traffic-activated. Hook stated the signal will be interconnected with downtown lights. Right now, they’re working on syncing. Muhonen shared that CDOT is in charge of all signals with the Town previously being responsible for their programming. CDOT has since replaced all controllers and have reassumed programming and hardware. The Town has requested CDOT maintain seasonal programming which was paid for by the Town. The last he heard, CDOT was still using a fixed cycle (116 seconds) to sync with Alarado. Also to be included is traffic detection for redistribution of unused cycle time. Muhonen is counting on CDOT to ensure this happens. PROJECT / ADMINISTRATION UPDATES (Public Works Director Greg Muhonen) Muhonen reported that on May 11 he provided the Town Board with a report regarding a US 34 Corridor Plan. Trustee Liaison Bangs requested the Town Board have this conversation. Muhonen put together a summary with potential solutions for this Study. CDOT Region 4 offered $50 - $75K to participate in cost-share for a corridor study. The Town Board has not made decision due to the many demands on limited Town funds. Complete Streets Policy: For all street projects, the 30% Design Drawings and 90% Design Drawings are provided to the public. Difficulties of implementing Complete Streets on all road projects lies in the content. The policy is good in driving multimodal needs. In general, the Town’s street network has very few bike/ped facilities, and not all streets in town should have bike lanes, etc. Public Works needs to build upon the approved policy to identify where options are needed and where they’re not wanted. There are no definition of these types of streets which is based on traffic volume. Transportation Advisory Board – May 19, 2021 – Page 4 Muhonen stated there are four classifications and no definitions. He believes there should be a definition of the functional hierarchy for streets, and the associated expectations. It would be wrong to say every single street is subject to same standards and he doesn’t believe it should be left undefined. It is not feasible to perform the Complete Streets requirements on every single street in Estes Park. Slack stated that the existing municipal code prohibits the use of bikes on sidewalks in a corridor which is primarily the bulk of the Riverwalk and downtown sidewalks. Slack’s concern is if there are adult cyclists on sidewalks used by small children, there may not be enough width for safety. TAB Bylaws: Muhonen reported that the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) confirmed the Town Clerk’s Office and Legal Department will bring the bylaw templates to Town leadership for final approval at the June 2 ELT meeting. Muhonen feels proud that the content was added to all the Town’s advisory board bylaws and commended the TAB members as change agents. A few more items needed to be determined and added. With time requirements, the TAB can discuss this topic at the June meeting, with time to review, and vote on the new template in July. Finley stated her desire to see the updated document in June to provide time to hash things out prior to a vote. Downtown Estes Loop: Revised LOMR has been submitted to FEMA. Update meeting was held on ROWs and easements, with continued discussions on no-rise requirements. OTHER BUSINESS (Chair, Belle Morris) Chair Morris and Vice Chair Street shared their concern about the Graves Avenue Design outreach process. They understood there would be a live, collaborative discussion held in a public manner, further stating that when dialogue occurs, it provides for added learning from our peers and results in better outcomes. Morris also expressed concern that the Complete Streets guidelines were not followed by Public Works and hopes this can be part of the discussion. Project Manager Ryan Barr shared his appreciation for the comments and stated that the TAB meetings is where the live dialogue was to occur. There were pandemic restrictions at the start of the project and he believed a 2-week feedback opportunity would bring more input that a one-day event that many may not be able to attend. Barr also felt it would give more time to weigh options. Director Muhonen affirmed that the Public Works Department absolutely followed the Complete Streets guidelines and checklist. It is a simple fact that projects cannot always accommodate all the different transportation modes. The Complete Streets Policy is not a mandate to require this everywhere in Estes Park. Muhonen reiterated that Manager Barr absolutely fulfilled the policy. The heart of issue is the Statement of Work (SOW). The pandemic rules and allowances are now different than when the design consultant entered into a contract with the Town. There is a way to have a live meeting at some point and Public Works will consider this while keeping the two-week comment period and potentially adding a live conversation option. Morris stated there should be a bolder design to accommodate bicycles on Graves Avenue and wants the public to engage with Option 4 – Other. Vice Chair Street shared that he and Morris came away from the May TAB meeting confused on the options as presented. They just wanted to communicate that Graves Avenue is very important to them as part of the first implementation of a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) design and wanted to consider an option that is above and beyond what you would see on other streets. Morris stated that doing this provides an opportunity to do something dramatic and is what Complete Streets is supposed to address. He added that when he goes by the school, he sees many vehicles lined up in street with their motors running. The Town has to make it inviting so that it changes the paradigm of how people operate and he stressed the importance of having public dialogue. Transportation Advisory Board – May 19, 2021 – Page 5 Slack stated he went through the minutes before this meeting that address the budget limitations. He stated this may be the rationale for not allowing everything everyone wants and shared that the main thing is to get something done now. Hook concurred with everything Manager Barr and Director Muhonen shared from the Public Works standpoint. Public Works is also limited by the scope of the design consultant contract. Hook is open to a change of direction, but that could take time. He likes the ideas that have come in and have discussed potential traffic calming measures. The Town and consultant are hoping the outreach process will bring more ideas. The original concepts, as designed, were based upon input received from the TAB, and the project team felt all were in good shape in doing the best with what is available. For some of the changes being discussed, a phased approach may be needed. Member Gamble stated that based on the suggestion to add an 8’ path along the entire south side at the May TAB meeting was a good idea. He asked if this idea could be vetted with ideas from Chair Morris and Vice Chair Street, then come up with cost analysis as recommended by Member Finley. Public Works is now aware of this idea but it would need fleshed out by Public Works prior to implementation. Member Moulton feels that this idea should be treated as an Option 4 item like the other public comments, stating that it’s not feasible to offer all options every time in perpetuity. Street, in a counter argument reminded the TAB that the outreach on the 3rd street traffic calming scenario was very lengthy, with many iterations and a large number of alternatives before landing on the final result. Morris feels the options provided were austere. Manager Barr feels that the idea would be good for a potential future SRTS application but that it would definitely break the budget to do what is being requested. There being no further business, Chair Morris adjourned the meeting at 2:13 p.m. Megan Van Hoozer, Recording Secretary