Burlington Walk-Bike Council

AGENDA - Burlington Walk / Bike Council April 5, 2023, Wednesday 5:30 – 7:00 pm MEETING OPTIONS: 1. In-person - DPW conference room at 645 Pine Street, Burlington 2. Virtually - using Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88225473951?pwd=YzFFQ1Q3Y3J4bzcwR2VNYWRFWnht UT09 Passcode: 091788 (See other remote access options below) AGENDA: 1. Introductions, Announcements, Updates and Public Comments (10 min) 2. Possible Updates to City Ordinances Affecting Walking and Biking (40 min) The ad hoc ordinance committee members will lead a discussion of possible changes to the City Walk/Bike ordinances as well as other city ordinances following-up on the February 1, 2023 BWBC meeting. 3. Bike Parking Ordinances and Issues (40 min) In preparation for the seasons when more people will be riding bicycles, we’ll discuss parking for bicycles: identifying ways that bike parking can be improved, understanding how bicycle parking is managed by the city and updating city ordinances to ensure adequate bike parking is provided when new development is approved. Previous Meeting – At the March 1, 2023 meeting participants had a follow-up discussion on possible revisions to city-wide ordinances, and discussed priorities for implementing the Plan BTV Walk Bike with DPW planners. Next Month: BWBC Meets Wednesday, May 3, 2023, 5:30 – 7:00 pm The BWBC is an all-volunteer advisory council to the City of Burlington. We work closely with and advise the Department of Public Works and the Department of Parks, Recreation, & Waterfront on infrastructure improvements and policy changes for walking and bicycling. The council also leads advocacy efforts and organizes events and activities that promote and celebrate walking and biking in Burlington and beyond. See www.burlingtonwalkbike.org (under construction) and BWBC Minutes and Agendas. BWBC Community Liaisons Erik Brown Brotz*, Ward 5, erik@burlingtontelecom.net, Chair Greg Hostetler, Ward 2 Faith Ingulsrud*, Ward 6 Peter Keating, Ward 6 Karen Sentoff, Ward 4 Jason Stuffle*, Ward 1 Kerry Swift, Ward 4 Allegra Williams, Ward 3 * = BWBC Coordinating Committee Remote access options for non-ZOOM participation: Phone one-tap : US: +13017158592,,88225473951#,,,,,,0#,,091788# or 13126266799,,88225473951#,,,,,,0#,,091788#. Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 929 205 6099 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 6833 Webinar ID: 882 2547 3951 Passcode: 091788. International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdoOfuotqF  Burlington Walk Bike Council (BWBC) April 5, 2023 Meeting Notes The monthly meeting took place 5:30- 7:00 pm via Zoom and at the DPW Office. In-Person Attendees: Gray Johnson, James Balady, Karen Sentoff (Ward 4), Julia Ursaki from DPW. Online Attendees: Erik Brotz - Chair (Ward 5), Dayton Crites from DPW, Jason Stuffle (Ward 1), Ali Hamedani, Jak Tiano (VPOP), Gordon Dragoon (VPOP), Serrill Flash, Scott Luria, Jonathon Weber (Local Motion) A recording of the meeting is available here. 1. Introductions, Announcements and Public Comments Erik Brotz opened the meeting. Participants made the following announcements and comments: James - would like to see more pedestrian-only streets; expand from Church St. marketplace to inclujde Bank Street, College Street, and Cherry Street. Have vendors display products. Also add Blue (waterfront/water)/Green (Green space) buses for just servicing the city parks and beaches instead of having to take multiple buses, just to take you to parks/public spaces. Gordon - to bridge gap from end of Main St. Great Streets project (at Union) up to UVM, make College Street one way between Prospect St and Church Street with a bike/ped path on the other half of the street - separated with planters - for a walk/bike connection that saves money on moving curbs, etc. Erik noted that bus routes use College Street; would have to divert one direction onto another street. Dayton - received ~$300 bill for BWBC website domain name but it has no real info that isn’t already on main website. He is inclined not to pay for it. Suggests that can do whatever we need on city site but if not on city site then BWBC needs a volunteer to run. Erik noted that the city has historically paid for the BWBC website domain name, and that it was active until a couple years ago when the outdated platform became unsustainable. Tried to rebuild the website a few times with free website platform but ran into too many problems and the project stalled. Will take this back to Coordinating committee to consider whether we want to try again with independent website (which BWBC can maintain itself) vs city website which is mediated by city staff. Jak noted that $300/year seems high, should be more like $20/year. Serill - for Julia as a point person for East Ave traffic calming: he’s excited about it - is there any way he can help? Seems like the process stretches out longer than would like. Also, sharrows don’t last long - is there a way to install long lasting sharrows - or repaint twice a year to encourage year round biking. Julia - Apr. 19th at 6:30pm at PWC meeting they’ll be discussing East Ave traffic calming, including parking removal. Attend meeting if want to support the project. Installing more permanent pavement markings when repaving – but too expensive to do city wide. Jason - note that there is no schedule or inventory of crosswalk markings, some doesn’t get done until the end of the summer. Without a schedule doesn’t know whether to report something as not done. Julia – crews schedules change every day so hard to predict – can talk to public info officer about whether can provide more info. Jason - also sidewalk plowing lags behinds roads, often “lack of funding or staff”, how do we chip away at that issue? 2. Possible Updates to City Ordinances Affecting Walking and Biking Erik presented on proposed changes to city ordinances on Pedestrians ( BWBC Pedestrian Ordinance Update - summary ) and Bicycles ( BWBC Bike Ordinance Updates - Summary ). Most of the local ordinances duplicate or are very similar to state laws so are unnecessary and make changes more difficult. The definitions section needs to be updated to account for electric bikes and other devices. The local law prohibits cyclists riding abreast of each other while state law allows two abreast, so that is a priority to change. The section on enforcement allows impoundment of bicycles after a second offense which seems too punitive. Question: should we propose all of the changes, including removal of duplicates, or focus on higher priority changes to reduce distractions for City Council Ordinance Committee, considering other potential changes also in the works (bike parking, Idaho Stop, resident-only parking, maybe others)? Jak - split up proposals, trying to prefilter is difficult, ordinance committee should be able to make decisions on certain things like state law duplications. Changes might be at an individual level. Get ahead of the trend towards different non vehicle mobility. Jonathan - would like to review with ordinance committee for initial feedback, Idaho stop and biking ordinance will take longer Dayton - categorization is helpful, duplicate removal, small tweaks that are easy sells, and longer term hard; concerned about removing duplicate items getting pushback - if any controversy then it might make small changes/tweaks harder to get passed, so suggests leaving out the duplicate removal. At Erik’s request, is looking into how many ped/bike tickets/citations there are. Gordon - split into easy wins and then things that require more work so items don’t get hung up. Removing duplicates is probably worthwhile – having them on the record makes it harder to maintain if any state changes – can only be more restrictive than state. E.g., maybe riding abreast law originally matched state law then the state changed the law and Burlington remained more restrictive? Jason - remove so don’t need to change if state law changes, simplify city ordinances to a smaller, readable 1 page sheet instead of tons of ordinances with no meaning that no one reads because it is too long and often worded poorly. If shorter and more succinct then the bike shops/rental showing ordinances might be plausible. Can then lobby to improve state law such as riding abreast for full lane (you can take up an entire lane 1, 2, 3 wide, no need for number since I can use a full lane by myself). Can we get an ordinance to fully go into other lane in order to pass a person on a bicycle? Hasn’t been much enforcement but there could be in the future. Jak - as car and bike come into conflict want to get ahead of it – may become more urgent to deal with conflict between biking and motor traffic – want to avoid being able to weaponize laws Jason – Might not be enforcement but could there be civil suits if not following law Erik - it sounds like most people support moving ahead with all the changes, but separate into different groups, and provide instructions to not let individual issues prevent other changes from going forward; if there is a concern then that issue can be split out to discuss independently. Dayton - process is TEUC -> city council -> ordinance committee -> city council. DPW generally supportive, can help coach on the process. 3. Bike Parking Ordinances and Issues: Jonathan presented slides on Burlington’s Bike Parking ordinance. Bike Parking Ordinance Presentation for BWBC 4/2023 ● affects parking for new development and major changes ● does not affect existing buildings unless there‘s a change ● Sets out requirements for number and type of bike parking ● Allows for payment in lieu of actually providing bike parking – presumably so city can provide the bike parking instead Hasn’t been updated since 2018 – time for an update ● Change applicability – apply to projects with any change in floor area? ● Transportation Demand Management (TDM) – integrate quality and quantity of bike parking with TDM requirements ● Update quantities required ● Design standards – accommodate larger like cargo bikes, add ebike charging ● Would be good to have design guide right in the ordinance so easier to find instead of in separate document Want to look at process, maybe tour some current NC to see what’s actually being installed Jason - touring current buildings is a good idea - look at what is being done for City Center at 400+ units in downtown core. More Cargo bikes is the trend - need appropriate amount of covered, cleared parking with appropriate racks. Codify so that developers have no choice, often they just do the minimum.. Jonathan - harder to make changes retroactively; lots of ongoing construction with more likely in the future so should get ahead of it Dayton - thinks it's well worth looking into, incorporate into Transportation Demand Management study, due to complete in about 18 months. Public meeting dates to come. Scott - put in plug for bicycle lockers, like at Cherry Street Garage, safe long term parking. Want bike links especially near the train station and Burlington airport -- would like safe long term bike parking there. Serrill - winter bike parking is a concern - seasonal racks on Church St. but removed in wintertime; other bike racks often don’t get shoveled out, need better encouragement/requirement to keep bike racks clear in winter. Jak - seconds need for winter bike parking. In ordinance, specify year round not seasonal, rack clearance? Demand is driven by availability Jonathan - wants to get better sense of TDM study, also wants to look at recent developments and see what exceptions were applied and why? Dayton - For existing public racks - was planning to have intern do inventory – but Parks info is actually pretty good – will share with BWBC to review for any issues and gaps. Erik closed the meeting shortly after 7:00 PM.