HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Minutes October 2015Transportation Commission
October 22, 2015
Page 1 of 5
AASSHHLLAANNDD TTRRAANNSSPPOORRTTAATTIIOONN CCOOMMMMIISSSSIIOONN
MMIINNUUTTEESS
October 22, 2015
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Joseph Graf called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Civic Center Council Chambers, 1175 E. Main
Street.
Commissioners Present: David Young, Joe Graf, Danielle Amarotico, Corinne Viéville, Alan Bender, and Dominic
Barth
Commissioners Absent: None
Staff Present: Scott Fleury, and Tami De Mille-Campos
Council Liaison Absent: Michael Morris
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Graf pointed out the agenda is going to change so the North Main crosswalk item won’t be discussed tonight due to
Kim Parducci not being able to attend the meeting.
CONSENT AGENDA
Approval of Minutes: August 27, 2015
Young correct minutes as follows:
David Young met with Mike Faught to specifically discuss the draft design for the continuous bike lane for
downtown. Currently large trucks double park to load and unload, and two (2) of the businesses park their smaller
vehicles in the yellow zone to unload and have been cited. It was determined to temporarily create a loading zone in
the last space to allow loading/unloading. The final solution/decision would be based on the recommendation from
the downtown parking committee.
David and Mike met with business owners on the block (Brothers, Liquid Assets, Spice and Tea Exchange) and
presented them with a current design plan for the corridor. During that meeting, there was some dialogue regarding
parking issues and solutions. In addition, Diamond Parking’s ticketing of smaller vehicles unloading/loading in the
yellow zone was discussed and they were in agreement to reserve a space to allow unloading and loading.
Minutes approved unanimously as corrected.
Young asked why the September minutes were not on the agenda for approval. He commented that it doesn’t serve
the commission and he doesn’t know what it will take. Whether staff needs a volunteer from the commission to help
get them done but to not have them available isn’t fair to those that may rely on that historical record.
PUBLIC FORUM
Joyce Van Anne, 386 North Laurel
She said about 6 years ago the city designated Laurel as a safe route to school zone and put in sidewalks to make it
safer for kids to walk back and forth to school. At the corner of Laurel and Orange there is a 4-way stop sign and at
the corner of Laurel and Hersey (at the RR tracks) there is another 4-way stop sign. She lives in between those two
points. In her opinion traffic is going way too fast and above the posted speed limit. Her concern is that someone is
going to get hurt. She would like to suggest the transportation commission to study that area on Laurel and see if
there is some way to encourage people to slow down (stop sign at Ohio, speed reader board or calming bumps like
they have on Oak Street).
Transportation Commission
October 22, 2015
Page 2 of 5
Bender asked if the city could do anything and Fleury explained typically the first thing that would be done is a speed
and volume study to see what the 85th percentile is and then from there, staff can make further decisions based on
the data collected.
NEW BUSINESS
Climate conference transportation session
Graf attended the conference put on by SOCAN (Southern Oregon Climate Action Now) in Medford in October. He
said not surprisingly the transportation group largely focused on strategies that would get people out of cars and into
transit. The three major areas the breakout group wanted to work on were: increased funding for transit, educating
people on ways they could use other modes of transportation, and breaking down the barriers to people using
different modes of transportation. He mentioned he had a discussion with someone from RVTD after that meeting
and told them that the city wanted to study a trolley. The person asked why we were going to reinvent the wheel and
study this again. Graf said he came back and did some research and found that the Transportation System Plan
(TSP) actually has a pretty comprehensive transit plan in it. He spoke to Mike Faught yesterday and in talking with
Mike and Scott the challenge with the motion that was made at the last meeting is that it is a very general charge to
just form a committee. He said he tends to agree with the person from RVTD in why are we going to reinvent the
wheel by forming a committee. If a committee was formed the chances are the committee wouldn’t start right away, it
likely wouldn’t start until after the downtown committee finishes up. So after all of that, he has put some thought into
this so he is recommending that this be held in this commission a little longer. It could be a study session with RVTD
and Faught where the commission digs through what is in the TSP so that way they can be more specific with what
they are recommending to the Council. Otherwise this could be pushed off and momentum would be lost in the
process.
Amarotico said it sounds good but wondered what to do since the motion was already made last month. Graf said we
could do a motion saying we want to retract the previous motion but on the other hand the motion wasn’t specific.
Young said his motion wasn’t to hand anything off to Council. He thinks Graf has given this a lot of thought but he is a
little skeptical. He said it was similar to what he is recommending with keeping it with the Transportation Commission
and spearheading a diverse group of people who have the interest and expertise to provide beneficial feedback. By
mentioning council he just thought maybe the commission needed to get their blessing. Now what he is worried about
is that this is a stall tactic from the point of view of some people.
Graf actually thinks this is a better, faster way to get where they want to get. As he understood the motion, it was a
recommendation to the Mayor to constitute a committee. Young thanked Graf for that and said he is convinced.
Corinne remembers the TSP and what is being proposed as being a little different from each other. She said
everyone needs to be brought up to speed on the TSP first.
Barth said he likes it but wondered if there is any risk if they find things within the TSP that they disagree with.
Graf said that is perfectly ok because things have changed since then and they may decide they want to make
different recommendations.
Young said there really isn’t anything that specific. There was identification of a new bus route and a transit hub near
the railroad tracks but the TSP itself is broadened to where they don’t have to amend it.
Bender asked in terms of the commission continuing the discussion would it continue to be on the agenda.
Transportation Commission
October 22, 2015
Page 3 of 5
Graf said it would be once we can get RVTD and Mike here for a meeting, ideally at the next meeting. Corrine
wondered if the commission could discuss this amongst themselves without RVTD and then the commission would
know what they are talking about when they meet with them. Barth thinks the same thing.
Graf said they could do that if they wanted to but the idea of having RVTD and Mike present is they have the TSP
background knowledge.
Barth said Vieville’s suggestion was maybe so that they could all be more focused.
Young said everyone should really be familiar with the TSP. What he likes about this is they are making a
commitment as a commission to now focus on transit for a period of time. He added if he understood what Graf was
saying about the conversation with Mike, to study the shuttle in isolation from the transit plan it would be a disservice
to the TSP.
Graf agreed, saying the goal isn’t necessarily to get people into a shuttle but to get people out of their car and move
people around more effectively. The answer may be a shuttle; it may not be a shuttle.
Bender RVTD is just one player in this. The University, OSF etc. should also be included. He thinks it would be ok to
meet with RVTD first if need be with the understanding that the other players would be included at some point.
Corrine would like to try to get RVTD to come but if they aren’t able to make it she would like to see the commission
be able to continue without them and then have them at the next meeting.
November and December Meeting Dates
With the November and December meetings landing on holidays the commission agreed to change the meeting
dates to the following:
November 19th and December 10th
Deer Signage
Fleury shared with the commission that the Mayor had a deer summit and there was a lot of discussion about what to
do with the deer population. The City Administrator has asked the Transportation Commission to discuss the
possibility of installing deer crossing signs within certain areas of the city. The commission had a discussion
regarding the ideal locations for the deer crossing signs.
Officer MacLennan feels anywhere on North Main (maybe between the 900 block and Maple) would be a good place
and Siskiyou Blvd around Haggen’s (Morton to Sherman area).
The commission recommended the following: Near the breadboard restaurant, for northbound traffic and near the
railroad trestle for southbound traffic.
Traffic Crash Summary
Young said it seems to be the same issue where the driver stops for a pedestrian and gets rear ended and there is
no citation issued. He asked why and what message is being sent by this? MacLennan said he agrees and isn’t sure
why citations aren’t being issued especially when they have cars being towed away and people complaining of
injuries.
Further discussion was had regarding the crash summary.
Transportation Commission
October 22, 2015
Page 4 of 5
MacLennan said the principal at Walker is requesting a crosswalk. He discussed with her the possibility of midblock
crossings but doesn’t know if they would have anyone able to man those. He wasn’t able to ask her because she was
busy but he will get with her next week to talk about that. Fleury said the only way Kim Parducci would come close to
recommending a mid block crosswalk for a school would be if it was a manned crosswalk. MacLennan agrees with
that. Fleury said with something like that you would want to do a new drop ramp and curb bump out to shorten up the
crossing. The problem with this location is it is already narrow due to the bike lane. MacLennan will follow up with the
principal and they will go from there.
He also brought up the issue with the Bridge Street parking. The business owners want to know if the upper portion
between Lee and Siskiyou can be timed. Fleury said the businesses made the request to Kevin Flynn (Code
Compliance officer) and Kevin passed that on to him but it wasn’t in time to add it to this agenda. Staff will bring
something formal back to the commission at a future meeting.
Mayor Brown Bag Meeting
Danielle said she attended half of the meeting and really enjoyed attending. Graf said the reason this is on the
agenda is because some of the commissioners said they were interested in learning about what was going on with
the other commissions throughout the city so this would be a recurring agenda item for whoever is representing the
commission at the meeting to report back. Young asked if any of the commissioners would be interested in fanning
out to the other commissions and acting as a liaison. Fleury said it will be an ongoing item in the informational items
section of the agenda. Graf pointed out the Mayor’s brown bag meeting tomorrow is cancelled.
There was a discussion regarding the liaisons and those that are currently vacant such as SOU & Ashland School
District.
OLD BUSINESS
North Main Crosswalk Analysis
Agenda item postponed.
FOLLOW UP ITEMS
Grandview Shared Road and Guardrail Status
Fleury shared some of the background on this issue. He said Mike recently met out there with David Chapman, Paul
Rostakis and the property owner and now he has been tasked with bringing an engineer on board to determine an
appropriate solution that protects the homeowner’s interest and also the shared road interest. Right now the guardrail
from edge of pavement is right around the 2 foot range. According to the street standards the shoulder width should
be around 3 ½ feet for pedestrian refuge so the task is to create a solution to that. He will be meeting with an
engineer on Monday morning to scope it and start working on the solution and then once the solution is identified
Faught will work with the property owners and propose a couple of the solutions and get consensus.
Normal Ave. Neighborhood Plan Update
He shared with the commission that Normal Avenue is going back for a continued first reading at the November 17th
meeting and then the second reading would be in December. Once all the ordinances are finalized the one ordinance
that is critical to this is the designation of the shared road within our development and design standards which then
will allow for the implementation of any shared road to occur.
N. Main Bus Stop locations
Fleury said Paige Townsend has given her maintenance guy the green light to relocate those 2 bus stops with the
semi seats about 100’ south at each location which will then allow vehicles to get around the bus.
Transportation Commission
October 22, 2015
Page 5 of 5
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
Action Summary
Traffic Crash Summary – moved up in the agenda
Oregon Impact September Newsletter
COMMISSION OPEN DISCUSSION
Barth asked which commissions would be good ones to sit it on. Graf said Planning would be a good one because a
lot of it relates to the Transportation Commission. Young said he would like to see someone from this commission
attend the Planning Commission meetings maybe on a rotational basis and report back. This way this commission
isn’t surprised by things such as the Normal Avenue neighborhood plan. Fleury pointed out the Conservation
Commission has a new subcommittee related to climate change and carbon footprint, that might be one to attend.
Barth is going to try to attend the 4th Tuesday of the month Planning Commission meetings.
Vieville asked about the lights on Walker. She said she thought he was going to put 2 more lights (4 buttons). Fleury
said he just needs to order 4 more buttons to complete that intersection. Further discussion was had between Vieville
and Fleury regarding the Audible Pedestrian Signal buttons on Walker.
Bender wanted to share with the commission that someone had tried a car share concept here a number of years
ago which was a failure but he would like the commission to continue to look at car sharing. Young pointed out that
SOU actually has two available cars through Zip Car directly across the street from 7-11. Amarotico said anyone can
use them, not just SOU students. The commission would be interested in having someone come to a meeting to talk
a little more about the program. Fleury will try to coordinate that for a future meeting.
Young said he notices in his neighborhood that homeowners are not taking responsibility for maintaining a safe
corridor for walking on the sidewalks. He said Kevin Flynn, Code Compliance officer is supposedly in charge of this
but it is on a complaint driven basis, rather than having someone going out and enforcing this. He would like to have
Kevin come to a future meeting. Fleury said his understanding is that after noticing them, if it’s not fixed then city staff
will go out. The Electric department does there routine work around the wires. We typically maintain vision clearance
around street signs but we really don’t go out and do any type of vegetation maintenance adjacent to the sidewalk
without first noticing the property owner of the nuisance ordinance. He went on to say if there is a trip hazard and an
ADA issue and we get notice of that the property owner has 30 days to fix that. If they don’t fix it within the 30 days
the city fixes it and then we lien the property until we get paid back for the work. Our Engineering department handles
these complaints. As soon as we are in receipt of the complaint, Karl Johnson sends the notice out and stays on top
of tracking those. Vegetation, trash cans, bumpers blocking the sidewalk falls more into Kevin’s area because that is
under the nuisance section of the code. The commission decided they would like to have Kevin attend a future
meeting.
FUTURE AGENDA TOPICS
Public Outreach/Education-Oregon Impact Programs
Traffic Control Resolution Update
Traffic Crash Summary PD letter
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 8:01 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Tami De Mille-Campos, Permit Technician