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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES Transportation Advisory Board 2020-02-19 Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado, February 19, 2020 Minutes of a regular meeting of the Transportation Advisory Board of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held in the Room 202 of Town Hall on the 19th day of February, 2020. Present: Belle Morris Gordon Slack Stan Black Tom Street Ron Wilcocks Janice Crow Linda Hanick Ann Finley Scott Moulton Also Present: Trustee Carlie Bangs, Town Board Liaison David Hook, Engineering Manager Greg Muhonen, Public Work Director Megan Van Hoozer, Public Works Administrative Assistant Absent: Stan Black Chair Morris called the meeting to order at 12:03 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENT: No public in attendance. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A motion was made and seconded (Slack/Hanick) to approve the January meeting minutes with minor edits and all were in favor. TAB PRIORITY MATRIX The TAB discussed the re-ranking of items listed on the TAB Priority Matrix. Morris thanked group for their efforts. Co-Chair Street asked if this document would help with decisions made by Public Works or if it is too complicated to be useful at this point. Director Muhonen stated Public Works would take action based on the total ranking. Member Wilcocks likes the document but doesn’t feel that a consistent format is being used to rank the items, creating false rankings. Wilcocks offered to help refine the document. He recommended each member vote their top five priorities. Muhonen suggested that items listed, that are currently in the process of implementation, be removed from the list. Public Works will bring the item back to TAB when appropriate for weigh-in. Status categories were recommended be used on the document– Conceptual Planning, Funded, Construction. As each item moves through those categories, the party responsible for the item will change. Member Moulton stated the next step is to identify which items are in which category. PROJECT UPDATES (Public Works Director Greg Muhonen) Fall River Trail: Director Muhonen will be attending a presentation to the Executive Committee of the Upper Front Range Regional Planning Commission related to the Multi-Model Options Fund (MMOF). The Town’s Grant Specialist Christy Crosser will be presenting. The MMOF grant, if awarded, would supplement the TAP grant. Should the Town be awarded both grants, both may be used for the other as matching funds. The grant funding would be for the Fall River Trail, however the sum of the two will not be sufficient for completion of the trail. Transportation Advisory Board – February 19, 2020 – Page 2 Downtown Estes Loop: Muhonen provided an update to the recent developments regarding gap funding for the continuation of the Loop project. CDOT has now committed to providing dollars regardless of whether or not the Town provides the requested funds. CDOT will continue with the right of way acquisition work. Phase II of the acquisition process involve several slivers of easements and rights of ways. Central Federal Lands (CFL) stated there are some funding remnants that they will try to reallocate and use to apply to this phase, which is only an idea at this point. This would allow the project to stay in motion. The agreement with CFL is currently being updated to capture changes in anticipated funding needs and the overall project timeline. West Elkhorn may be off the table unless Town provides needed dollars. Parking & Transit Update: Muhonen provided updates related to the Parking & Transit Division. He explained that the move of the RMNP Hiker Shuttle and Town Shuttles to the Events Center will not occur until 2021. Until that time the transit hub will remain at the Visitor Center / Parking Structure. Member Slack asked Muhonen if the new electric trolley would have enough battery to continue service through 11:00 pm as is planned. It is clear there will be a time each day the shuttle will need recharged. The Town Board is supportive of the proposal to make the parking structure the transportation hub. The parking management firm, The Car Park, requested Town support of establishing a separate storefront to manage all the parking business. Member Wilcocks asked for the end date of the construction for the US 34 & MacGregor roundabout which is anticipated in early June, weather permitting. CDOT’s project manager confirmed his willingness to work weekends in order to hit the earliest completion date possible. Chair Morris asked Muhonen when Larimer County may be constructing the remainder of the MacGregor Ave. trail that extends north of US 34 to the town limits, extending it to Lumpy Ridge. The Estes Valley Recreation and Parks District has established a trail committee and hired a consultant to champion this effort. The Town is not pursuing support of that as the Town’s priority at this point is to have the trail gaps around the school completed with 1A tax dollars. Todd Plummer of Cycling Coalition has been advocating for completion of this trail. PROJECT UPDATES (Engineering Manager David Hook) Downtown Wayfinding: Manager Hook has been working rapidly on several fronts. There is a Consultant under contract to address the wayfinding necessary to assist with the implementation of paid parking. It is important to shift to the paid parking aspect due to its 2020 implementation. Hook is gathering designs and plans to go out to bid by the end of February. The intention is to get the program under construction and complete by March 21. The original plan for downtown wayfinding will take place after this implementation. Muhonen expressed his excitement to make Town signage consistent. He explained that every lot would have its own named sign referencing an animal name for each lot. Member Hanick stated that, related to the sign fonts, it is easier for people to read fonts like Times New Roman or something with a seraph, than using straight black letters. She stated those fonts allow a quicker read. Muhonen stated that this will be discussed with CDOT as most of the signs will be located in their right of way and the Town may not be able to stray from CDOT font standards. Fall River Trail Extension: Bids were received and opened last week, targeting two sections of the trail that have existing grant funding allocated. Only one bid was submitted that was under the Engineer’s Estimate. Contract work is now occurring and is anticipated to go on the March 10, 2020 Town Board agenda. Project completion is anticipated by autumn of 2020; however, this timeline is dependent on the contractor’s schedule related to work occurring at Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). CDOT Project – US 34 & MacGregor Ave. Roundabout: A public meeting will take place, led by CDOT, tomorrow night in the Town Board Room from 5 – 7 PM. Transportation Advisory Board – February 19, 2020 – Page 3 Development Review Elkhorn Lodge Project: At last night’s Planning Commission meeting, the Elkhorn Lodge development was continued to a special meeting to occur next week. Although still in preliminary design, the plan represents proposal of offsite sidewalk and curb & gutter, which will connect with the existing sidewalk at Mrs. Walsh’s Garden. The driveway entrance will be reconfigured to align with Filby Ct. In exchange, the owners were not required to make adjacent improvements along their side of Elkhorn Avenue. Chair Morris asked if there is a plan to install a sidewalk on the north side of street, extending from Filby Ct. eastward. Hook stated the option was evaluated and there are many complications to implementing the work on that side of the road. Morris reminded Hook that there is pedestrian demand on the north side. OTHER BUSINESS Member Hanick spoke to the Cheley Camp about their interest in shuttle routes near their property, potentially a Fish Creek route. Jeff Cheley is interested and very open to additional discussions. A proposal of the cost, the established route, and frequency would be questions asked moving forward. He would like to be contacted, stating there are about 200 staff members, most without cars, this route would benefit. Chair Morris shared with the TAB that Member Stan Black will not be renewing his appointment. Black’s current term ends March 31, 2020 and resigned his position on February 13, 2020. With no other business to discuss, Chair Morri s adjourned the meeting at 1:35 p.m. Recording Secretary Megan Van Hoozer, Public Works Department