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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPACKET Transportation Advisory Board 2021-9-15 Transportation Advisory Board Agenda Current Members: Belle Morris (03/31/23) September 15, 2021 Lawrence Gamble (03/31/23) Gordon Slack (03/31/24) 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM Vacant (03/31/24) Tom Street (03/31/22) Room 202 Ann Finley (03/31/23) Linda Hanick (03/31/22) Estes Park Town Hall Scott Moulton (03/31/22) Vacant (03/31/24) 170 MacGregor Ave. 12:00 – 12:05 Public Comment Chair Belle Morris 12:05 – 12:10 Approval of August Minutes Chair Belle Morris 12:15 – 12:35 Go EV City Campaign Matt Frommer Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) 12:35 – 1:05 Parking & Transit Updates Parking & Transit Mgr. Vanessa Solesbee The Car Park GM, Matt Eisenberg 1:05 – 1:25 Engineering Updates Engineering Mgr. David Hook 1:25 – 1:45 Project /Administration Updates Public Works Director Greg Muhonen 1:45 – 1:50 TAB Member/Task Force Recruitment Chair Belle Morris 1:50 – 2:00 Other Business Adjourn Carlie Bangs, Town Board Trustee Liaison Greg Muhonen, Estes Park Public Works Staff Liaison Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado, August 18, 2021 Minutes of a Regular meeting of the Transportation Advisory Board of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held in Room 202 of Town Hall on the 18th day of August 2021. Committee: Belle Morris, Tom Street, Ann Finley, Larry Gamble, Linda Hanick, Scott Moulton, Gordon Slack Attending: Belle Morris, Tom Street, Larry Gamble, Linda Hanick (virtual), Scott Moulton, Gordon Slack, Public Works Director Greg Muhonen, Engineering Mgr. David Hook, The Car Park Matt Eisenberg, Town Board Trustee Carlie Bangs, Community Development Director Jessica Garner Absent: Ann Finley Chair Morris called the meeting to order at 12:04 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENT No electronic submissions of public comment were received prior to the deadline and no public was in attendance. The TAB welcomed the new Community Development Director Jessica Garner. Director Garner has a 20-year passion for transportation planning in conjunction with land use planning. She desires heavy involvement with the TAB due to connections with land use planning. The two are arms on the same body. Garner looks forward to collaboration and invited members’ comments and questions if ever needed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made and seconded (Gamble, Moulton) to approve the June and July meeting minutes with minor edits and all were in favor. Members Hanick and Slack abstain from the vote on the July minutes due to their absence from the July meeting. BYLAW TEMPLATE & POLICY 102 DISCUSSION (Chair Belle Morris) Based on discussions from the July meeting, and the review period provided prior to the August meeting, Member Gamble made the suggestion to remove superfluous language from the ‘Quorum’ section of the bylaws and adjustments were made by Town Attorney Kramer. It was suggested that the bylaws use the TAB abbreviation throughout the document once identified at the beginning. It was also recommended that the adoption date be reflected as XX-2021 until adopted. Muhonen expressed his appreciation to the group for the thoughtful feedback. After additional discussion about the board’s definition of ‘present’ for voting meeting members, it was determined that ‘present’ can be virtual or in-person. A motion was made and seconded (Gamble/Street) to approve TAB Bylaws and all were in favor. PARKING & TRANSIT UPDATES (The Car Park Mgr. Matt Eisenberg, Public Works Director Greg Muhonen) Parking: Manager Eisenberg shared an update regarding the tracked Key Performance Indicators for July. Peak occupancy, comparing 2021 to 2019, reflects the free lots received consistently more use overall. Dramatic increases were shown in average occupancy for free lots in 2021 over 2019. The paid parking program appears to be doing what was intended. Even with an Transportation Advisory Board – August 18, 2021 – Page 2 increase in visitation, individuals are not afraid to pay to park. Moving forward, Eisenberg will include the utilization of the temporary gravel lots as well. Eisenberg went on to summarize revenue statistics and registration information. He reminded the group that all data is provided on the website at www.estes.org/paidparking. He also shared that based on feedback related to the free 30-min. residential permits, a majority of comments stated that 30 minutes is not long enough so they don’t use the permits at all. A majority of the responses requested it be changed to 60 minutes. Town Board Meeting Presentation: Eisenberg shared that there was a Town Board update presentation on August 10, providing the Key Performance Indicator data. Once the season is finalized and additional presentation will be made to the Town Board. A preliminary draft will be provided to TAB at the September meeting. The presentation will lead into 2022 recommendations. Although nothing firm has been decided the team has the overall sense that after 3+ years of intense change, COVID-19, and feedback received, no major changes should be recommended for 2022. Muhonen agreed and said that it would be good to take 2022 as another year to evaluate, allow us to respond to the downtown business feedback. 2022 can be a trust- building year rather than additional program expansion. Implementation of this program is not a race, but a journey with the community. Eisenberg stated that the paid parking revenue is in line with earlier projections, and may be a bit higher when violation revenues are factored into the equation. Chair Morris suggested that with any overage on revenue, tangible items be purchased/installed to help beautify the town and create more support of the program. Eisenberg stated that Manager Solesbee does have some things in mind and can bring TAB up to speed on her thoughts at the next meeting. Transit: Director Muhonen provided the Estes Transit update in Manager Solesbee’s absence. Through the end of July, there were nearly 30,000 transit riders which is 79% over 2020 and 25% lower than 2019. In a recent call hosted by CDOT, they stated that most Colorado transit agencies are running around 50% of their 2019 ridership numbers. Bustang to Estes carried 455 passengers during its first month of weekend-only service. Ridership was lower than expected but CDOT indicated they are still optimistic about the program. New this year is inclusion in the Ride Northern Colorado (RideNoCo) initiatives, which brings together human service agencies, transit agencies, community members, and staff from the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization and Larimer County to ensure residents of the region have mobility and access. A formal announcement is coming soon. Town staff were approached by an organization called SWEEP (Southwest Energy Efficiency Project) to see about the Town’s interest in pursuing a “GoEV Resolution”. The resolution is a pledge to develop an EV Action Plan with the goals and implementation strategies required to transition the local transportation sector to zero- emissions vehicles. Pursuing a GoEV Resolution for the Town of Este Park was one of the action items in the recent EV Plan. Solesbee plans to discuss at the September meeting. Solesbee sends her thanks to Chair Morris and Vice Chair Street for attending a short- notice listening session with Congressman Neguse. A joint meeting will be held in the coming months, with the TAB and the Shuttle Committee to discuss 2022 transit program. Transportation Advisory Board – August 18, 2021 – Page 3 ENGINEERING UPDATES (Engineering Mgr. David Hook) Manager Hook provided project updates since the last meeting. Capital Project(s): Parking Wayfinding: Member Slack asked Manager Hood if he’d received any feedback on the wayfinding signage. Hook stated that, during installation, he received some negative feedback but that there hasn’t been much since the installation. Direcotr Muhonen shared that he’s received positive comments. This project was originally intended to be completed in 2020. In 2021 the project went over budget. The Town now has the funding and discussions are being held. Graves Ave. Improvements: The public comment period for this project has closed. The consultant is consolidating the feedback received. Additionally, a utility coordination meeting and field inspection review meeting have occurred with feedback received. Muhonen informed the TAB that the requested traffic calming via travel lane reduction received feedback from the Estes Valley Fire Protection District requesting the Town not reduce the lane widths. They shared that their apparatus would be larger than the narrowed lanes. In order to achieve the wider lanes, the distance will be taken from the trail width (8.5-ft rather than 10-ft). PROJECT / ADMINISTRATION UPDATES (Public Works Director Greg Muhonen) Action is now being taken regarding on-street parking. The Police Department is now informing folks that they are no longer able to park on the narrower roads per the Town’s Municipal Code. There are several challenges to allowing vehicles to park on narrower roads (emergency, snow plowing, sweeping, etc.). The Public Works Department will do what they can to accommodate on-street parking where appropriate and will start by installing striping along Virginia in the wide portion of the road, in line with the requirements reflected in the code. The Town is doing the same on Cleave Street. At this point, the most difficult area is Crabapple Lane. It is simply too narrow to allow on-street parking which became more evident during the fires in the last year. Work continues to find a viable solution for t hose in that development. Member Moulton clarified that Vista Ridge, which has the same road width issue, was a housing authority development that met the parking code at that time. He went on to state that most garage spaces in that area are being used for storage. The issue is how parking spaces are being utilized in the area. There was an agreement made between the Town and the Vista Ridge HOA allowing parking. OTHER BUSINESS (Chair, Belle Morris) Chair Morris asked the members if they’d prefer to continue the in-person meetings with a mask requirement or if the members would prefer to have virtual meetings again. Those individuals that had a preference stated theirs for the in-person meetings with masking. There being no further business, Chair Morris adjourned the meeting at 2:03 p.m. Megan Van Hoozer, Recording Secretary