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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES Safe Routes to School Task Force 2021-01-11Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado, January 11, 2021 Minutes of a scheduled meeting of the Sidewalk & Trail Needs Task Force of the Trans- portation Advisory Board of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held virtually on the 11th day of January, 2021 Task Force: Belle Morris, Ann Finley, Larry Gamble, Linda Hanick, Scott Moulton Attending: Belle Morris, Larry Gamble, Scott Moulton, and Greg Muhonen (Public Works Director) Absent: Ann Finley, Linda Hanick, Chair Morris called the meeting to order at 12:01 p.m. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT The Task Force Meeting was advertised and a link to the virtual meeting was provided. No members of the public participated in the meeting. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made and seconded (Morris/Moulton) to approve the January 4 meeting minutes and all were in favor. NEW BUSINESS Director Muhonen asked if the Task Force would be reviewing a draft survey at the meeting. Chair Morris responded that at the meeting held on January 4, Task Force members were asked to submit questions to be included in a survey. No one re- sponded. However, Gamble and Morris did put together some survey questions. Since David Hook attended the last meeting, Chair Morris provided Director Muhonen with an update on the status of the Task Force. At the last meeting the Task Force had identified two tasks to accomplish: 1) to develop a survey to capture student behavior and identify obstacles to walking or biking to school, and 2) to conduct an “engineering” audit within a 1-mile radius of the school campus. Chair Morris went on to say that the survey would help to answer questions about ob- stacles students face. Is bad weather a hindrance? Is it the integrity of the route to/from school? At the last meeting there was also a discussion on how to distribute the survey. As envisioned, it would go to all student’s families throughout the Estes Valley, but there would be a question in the survey about how far they live from the school campus. At the last meeting the Task Force also discussed distributing the survey via Survey- Monkey®. However, a print version would also be needed that the schools would likely distribute. At the last meeting the Estes Park Learning Place and Estes Valley Invest- ment in Childhood Success (EVICS) were identified as potential partners. The draft survey was shared with those in attendance and the following potential changes were noted: Question 1 is to determine the student’s grade in school. Is that question needed? Yes, as it will provide some important information on demographics. Question 6 related to wearing protective gear while riding a bike or using a skateboard. This question should be rewritten to ask if a lack of protective gear is an obstacle to rid- ing a bike or skateboarding to school? If the answer is “Yes,” then what protective gear is needed? Chair Morris pointed out that the survey can help to identify other needed components of the Safe Routes to School program that are currently lacking, such as Education, En- couragement, Engagement, Equity, and Evaluation. While the Task Force is currently focused on Engineering, additional information on other SRTS program components would be helpful. Moulton agreed that the survey has the potential to create a good knowledge base for the future. Question 7 asked students and their parents/caregivers to draw their route to school on a map. The Task Force members agreed that a verbal description of the route to/from school was sufficient and would simplify the survey and tabulation. Chair Morris suggested that there should be a question about how often students walk, bike, or skateboard to/from school. All agreed that would be helpful, but a caveat is needed regarding COVID-19. We are looking for information that reflects a “normal” school year, not a school year with a pandemic. Chair Morris asked if there should be a question about whether an overpass or under- pass would be preferred for crossing busy streets. Director Muhonen was concerned that this question may raise false expectations. He suggested, and the Task Force agreed, to wait for the survey results to see if grade separations are warranted. The Task Force agreed to add “Traffic Volume” as one of the obstacles to walking or biking to/from school. All agreed that the survey should be easy to tabulate, and the survey instrument should provide automatic tabulation and report generation. Director Muhonen suggested keeping Question 4, which is to identify obstacles to walk- ing or biking, but add a followup question to rank the top three or four obstacles. Chair Morris is familiar with the Constant Contact® survey instruments, and she will see if it can be used for the online survey. She will also determine if it has to be emailed to potential respondents, or if a web link can be provided to potential respondents. Director Muhonen mentioned that LaserFiche® also has a survey module. Moulton shared that the Housing Authority has a subscription to SurveyMonkey®. Morris agreed to generate a survey using ConstantContact® (which she does not have a subscription for) and then she will see if it can be transferred to SurveyMonkey®. She will also find out if SurveyMonkey® can be administered by providing prospective respondents with a web link. At the next meeting the Task Force will try to identify the best platform for ad- ministering the survey. Chair Morris also indicated that the survey should provide an option to add comments. It was agreed that at the end of the survey there would be the option to add written com- ments. Gamble reminded the group that communication with the school district is key. Christy Delorme was not in attendance, so contact with the school district may or may not have occurred during the past week. Chair Morris agreed to reach out to the principals of each school to see if they would be willing to identify a liaison from each school to work with the TAB or the Task Force. She also mentioned that younger students take a “Friday Folder” home to their par- ents/caregivers. She didn’t know if that was still happening during COVID-19, but that that would be a good way to communicate with the parents of younger students. Direc- tor Muhonen was averse to the idea of requesting parent/caregiver emails from the school district. Since the schools are almost certainly using electronic communication during the pandemic, one possibility would be to include a link to the survey in school communications. He also suggested that there should be a “champion” identified from each school, since communication should be tailored to each age group. At the last meeting, David Hook agreed to work with Public Works to identify specific en- gineering assessment questions. Gamble agreed to follow up with Hook to identify the assessment questions. Director Muhonen stated that the Trails Master Plan has identified infrastructure priori- ties. In 2021 Public Works will be focusing on Graves Avenue and the Fall River Trail. After that, Public Works will want to know what to focus on next. Given the focus for this year, there is not a great sense of urgency to complete the survey or the on-the-ground audit. However, a prioritized list of maintenance and infrastructure needs would be of great help to Public Works. He also mentioned that the Estes Valley Recreation and Park District (EVRPD) is also looking at expanding the trail system. EVRPD is not fo- cused on maintenance as much. Chair Morris wondered if the engineering audit would assist with identifying Graves Ave- nue needs. Director Muhonen’s response was that the consultant will be surveying Graves Avenue, and the TAB would have input during the review of design concepts. He believes there will be lots of “boots on the ground” on Graves Avenue during the re- view phase. Chair Morris also questioned how the survey and audit would align with completion of workforce housing on the west side of Highway 7. Director Muhonen noted that some sort of connection or crosswalk will be needed so residents can reach the multi-use path on the east side of Highway 7. There is no sidewalk on the west side of the highway. Chair Morris also wanted to know the timeline of the Comprehensive Plan and the Trails Master Plan. Director Muhonen indicated that the Comprehensive Plan will be started in 2021, but it will not address maintenance. It is likely that the Trails Master Plan will be updated in-house rather than hiring a consultant. Chair Morris suggested that the Com- prehensive Plan could address safety deficiencies at driveway intersections with streets. For example, when properties develop or redevelop, landowners could be required to install signage and perhaps other safety measures at driveway intersections with streets. Chair Morris mentioned that the engineering audit is the first step and will provide good information to Public Works. However, the SRTS program includes other techniques for encouraging students to walk, bike, or skateboard to/from school. The Task Force agreed to meet virtually at noon on January 25 February 1. Action Items 1. Director Muhonen will ask Megan Van Hoozer to set up Task Force virtual meetings on January 25 and February 1, send out a meeting link to the TAB, and notify the pubic of the meetings 2. Chair Morris will contact the school principals and will share the results of her con- tacts at the next meeting 3. Chair Morris will assemble a draft questionnaire and will transfer it to Moulton 4. Moulton will put together a draft survey using SurveyMonkey® and will share it at the next meeting 5. The Task Force will provide an update to the TAB at the January 20 meeting 6. Gamble will work with David Hook to develop engineering audit questions that will be most useful to Public Works. This information will be shared at the next Task Force meeting. 7. Gamble will research existing SRTS audits around the country to see if the audit questions can be applied to Estes Park. This information will be shared at the next Task Force meeting. 8. The Task Force will review and update the audit spreadsheet at the next meeting and will determine if photo and GPS links can be included