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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-07-2020 Fairhope Pedestrian and Bicycle Committee Meeting MinutesFairhope Pedestrian and Bicycle Committee Meeting Minutes Date : October 7, 2020 In attendance : Chris Riley , Chairperson, Gary Gover, Member, Rosalie Stromme, Member, Co -Secretary, Katie Bolton , Member, and Bill Hall , Member, Co -Secretary Guests: Ms . Michelle Melton, Baldw i n County Trail Blazers Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 4 :07 PM . Review/ Approve Prior Meeting Minutes: The September 2020 meeting m i nutes were reviewed and approved by all present. Review/ Approve Mission Statement: The final vers ion of the Committee M iss ion Statement was reviewed and approved by all present. The Secretary will forward the approved version to Lisa Hanks for City Counc il Adoption . Election of a Chairperson and an Acting Chairperson or two Co-Chairpersons and Secretary for 2020-2021: Chris Riley asked Bill Hall to be the Co -Chairperson/Secretary of the Committee . Katie B. made a motion that Chris be our Co -Chairperson and that Bill be the other Co-Cha irperson and Secretary. Rosalie seconded the motion. Both i ndividuals accepted the appointments. Baldwin County Trail Blazers (BCTB) would like to work with us on getting Fairhope designated as a "Bicycle Friendly Community": Ms. Michelle Melton, BCTB Member, presented the highlights of the Bicycle Friendly Community Program to the committee . The program is sponsored by the League of Amer ica Bicyclists and provides a bicycle friendly designation to communities based on their demonstrated support of safe bicycling concepts including design of roadways to support bicycle usage , bicycle education in schools, designation of funding to support safe bicycling, and an active bicycle advisory committee . Chris asked what benefits will the city derive from the program . Ms . Melton said it will help the city obt ain grants to support bicycle safety. Chris will send the information about the program to Sherri Sullivan, the Mayor-elect. The app li cation is quite lengthy and requires information from multi ple disciplines within the city organization . The applicat ion must be submitted by February 10, 2021. The comm ittee members expressed interest in partnering with BCT B on the project . Ms . Melton will forward the applicat ion information to Bill Hall who will review it and identify what departments in the city will need to be contacted for i nformation to complete the application . This wil l be a joint project between the Baldwin County Tra i l Blazers and the Fairhope Pedestrian & Bicycle Comm ittee. Chris asked Katie to present the program to the City Council after we have rev iewed the program with Robert Brown , our City Council Liaison. Fels Ave to Pier Ave Sidewalk Expansion Project: Rosalie had forwarded a request to Richard Johnson to expand t he sidewalk on S. Mobile Street between Fels and Pier Aves . The request also r equested that the city ordinance that prohibits riding of bicycles on the sidewalk in that same area . Mr. Johnson forwarded it to the City Counci l. The City Council agreed with the Committee's recommendation to delete the sect ion of Sidewalk ordnance which prohibits bicycle operations on the sidewalk S. Mobile Street between Fels and Pier Avenues . Pedestrian & Bicycle Committee web page updates: The content of the current P&B Committee web page was reviewed and the members agreed that it needed to be updated to better define the Pedestrian and Biking Information. Bill collected recommendations for updating the page and will review the last years minutes and update the web page. He will update the page and submit it to the committee for final review and approval. City Sponsored All Committee Workshop: The committee reviewed the All Committee Workshop flyer submitted by Gary Gover. All members agreed that this would help to standardize city committee operations, ensure interdisciplinary coordination between committees and elimination of duplication of effort. The Committee will participate in the workshop . Consensus was that the best time for the workshop would be later in the afternoon or early evening as many of the committee members work. The Committee Needs Two Additional Members: The committee is actively seeking two additional members . Rosalie has reached out to Jeff Hosterman. Bill posted the information on the Eastern Shore Slow Bicyc le Society website on Face Book . That post was shared on the Eastern Shore Trail Blazers . Members are asked to reach out to possible applicants . Applications can be picked up at the City Hall front desk . Fairhope Comprehensive Plan and Committee input: There was no update of this topic. Committee feedback on "15-minute loading zones": Committee members agreed that the 15- minute loading zones were good for picking up food from the downtown restaurants. Some of the signs which designate the 15-minute loading zones have been removed which confuses the public. Since the majority of the short-term parking spaces are for restaurants, the committee would like to see these spaces to be converted to ADA/Hand icapped Parking after normal dinner hours. The committee also felt that these spaces might be reverted to normal parking after the current health crisis (pandemic) is over. Next phase of recently approved bike racks: No update on this item. Re-installation of De La Mare racks at East/West locations: No update on this item. NPS Survey update: No update on this item . Wayfinding Signage update: On hold pending discuss ion with New Mayor. "Open Forum" discussion of any topics not on the agenda: The sidewalk width was decreased by the installation of an ADA ramp in the front of building at 403 Fairhope Avenue (formerly Andre's). This narrowing of the sidewalk put it below the width required by ADA. The City Council discussed the widening of the sidewalk and the conversion of the impacted parking spaces to bicycle or golf cart parking spaces. Chris will follow-up with Robert Brown on the committee's preference to have bicycle parking installed there . The Fairhope Times published a list of paving projects for 2020/2021. Chris asked that the P&B Committee develop a means of working with the Public Works Department in the early stages of the development of paving projects. This would ensure that the pedestrian, bicycle, and ADA goals of the Committee are incorporated into these projects. The overall goal of this collaboration would be to increase pedestrian and bicyclist safety, assist with identifying ADA required modifications, and reduce the city's liability. Next Meeting: November 3, 2020 at 4pm. Meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM.