Burlington Walk-Bike Council

AGENDA - Burlington Walk / Bike Council July 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. Discuss How we can Speed Progress on Walk/Bike Improvements (60 min) While recognizing the significant projects currently underway in Burlington, there is so much more that could be done to implement small-to-medium sized infrastructure projects or to maintain existing ones. During this discussion with DPW staff, we’ll seek to understand the barriers within and outside of DPW, and brainstorm opportunities to help expand walking and biking improvements throughout the city. Additionally we’ll explore the following related topics: ● Quick build - timelines and applications ● Tactical Urbanism and Demonstration Projects guidelines - which don't seem to have gotten much use so far ● Other kinds of pilots (like for the proposed signal conversion at Willard/College) ● Opportunities for community volunteers to help with any projects (like painting crosswalks) ● Responsiveness to SeeClickFix 3. Follow-up on Prioritization Process for Sidewalk Replacement (15 min) At the BWBC meeting in August last year, DPW presented information about prioritization of sidewalk replacements, but we continue to see well-used sidewalks in very poor condition on major streets are passed over, while sidewalks on nearby side streets serving far fewer people are replaced. We’ll revisit how the sidewalk replacement decisions are made and determine if changes should be recommended. 4. Next Steps (5 min) Previous Meeting – At the June 7, 2023 meeting participants heard updates on DPW priorities for the coming year and finalized the proposal for changes to the pedestrian and bicycle ordinances that will be presented to the Transportation, Utilities and Energy Committee (TUEC) of the City Council as a next step Next Month: BWBC Meets Wednesday, August 2, 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 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  Burlington Walk Bike Council (BWBC) July 5, 2023 Meeting Notes The monthly meeting took place 5:30- 7:00 pm via Zoom and at the DPW Office. In-Person Attendees: Erik Brotz - Chair (Ward 5), Faith Ingulsrud (Ward 6), Jason Stuffle (Ward 1), Jak Tiano and Gordon Dragoon (VPOP), Bob Leidy, Ravi Venkataraman from DPW. Online Attendees: Jonathon Weber (Local Motion), Grey Johnson, Dayton Crites from DPW. The link to a recording of the meeting is available here. 1. Introductions, Announcements, Updates and Public Comments ● Jason announced that on Sunday July 9, you can ride your bike to the Lake Monsters Ball Game and get a free ticket to attend plus other prizes. ● The Old East End Neighborhood Coalition won a very competitive AARP Community Challenge Grant to improve walking, biking and rolling in the neighborhood. ● Discussed the new dockless rental bike share program since bikes have been left in locations where they block sidewalks. Dayton said that CATMA holds the contract with Bird for the program so the City has little control over it, but he suggested we all pitch in to move bikes that are left in inappropriate locations. There is a second bike share program that is run by VT Segue that is designed specifically for longer rides on the Greenway (the Bird bikes can’t cross the bridge into Colchester). Jason reported that it has enough power to provide sufficient assistance going up the hills but he noted that the high cost of using the bikes may limit its use. Dayton said that there will be some kind of equity pricing for those who can’t afford the cost. 2. Discuss How we Can Speed Progress on Walk/Bike Improvements Erik introduced the question of what can be done to make faster progress on Walk Bike improvements in Burlington, especially for the many small and medium projects that are envisioned throughout the city. Dayton prepared a short presentation (available here) to explain some of the barriers to working quickly, the tradeoffs involved, and some ideas of ways BWBC and citizens can help move things forward. He outline the following categories of why things move slowly: ● Process - he showed a diagram of how typical projects go through iterative cycles of internal and external review, planning, design, permitting, funding and contracting. He noted that projects involving more construction such as moving curbs, usually require federal and/or state funding/permitting and will take at least 3 years from design to construction, usually more. Even projects involving just painting can require the city to hire contractors and that can involve significant time. ● Resources (butter) spread too thin - there’s so much to do and the city lacks the funds and staff time to do it all so determining where to focus the resources we have is key.  It’s easy to get caught up in addressing immediate demands and lose focus on the long term projects that can give a greater sense of progress. ● Politics and Priorities - can support or interfere with getting walk-bike projects accomplished. He suggested we could help by: ● Focussing our efforts on work that volunteer/citizens can help accomplish ● Foster relationships with decision-makers and collaborate with businesses, organizations and individuals that need to get on-board with changes. ● Show up at public meetings for projects and organize support for walk-bike improvements to counter the nay-sayers. Participants discussed the following ideas: ● Consider obtaining approvals for a whole network of improvements instead of proceeding project-by-project. ○ Could work but one controversial project in the network could derail any number of non-controversial projects so there’s a risk. ● How do we prevent last minute derailing of projects that have had a long public review process? ○ It seems like people don’t tune in until the last minute. For example, very few of South End City Market employees know what is happening with the Champlain Parkway right next to where they work. ○ Can we do a better job of informing people - at least providing explanatory signs in prominent locations so people can understand what they are seeing? ● Consider building a database of advocates who can be deployed to speak up and engage the community in situations where political will is needed to accomplish changes. ● Given the urgency of climate change and that big projects with Federal or State involvement are going to get bogged down in process, how can we do more neighborhood-scale projects with local funding - including crowd funding - and engage people power: ○ Burlington’s Neighborhood Planning Assemblies (NPA) could be engaged for this purpose - at a minimum to have the NPA’s help determine neighborhood priorities. ● Data collection of walking and biking is generally needed and specifically required as a prerequisite for quick-build and other such temporary or other inexpensive improvements. This is one area where volunteer involvement could help move things forward. ● Volunteers could do crosswalk painting as a community building exercise that has multiple co-benefits. DPW could invest in helping to organize more of this type of community labor. Next Steps  ● Dayton will research and report back in 2-3 months on how citizens can help collect multimodal data to track progress and identify priorities. ● Bob proposed we coordinate with South Burlington on their walk-bike improvements ● Everyone agreed that we should all attend an NPA meeting and reach out to the organizers of our NPAs to determine how they can be engaged and to help identify priorities. ● Consider organizing a crosswalk-painting event that maybe can then be replicated in other neighborhoods. 3. Follow-up on Prioritization Process for Sidewalk Replacement - All agreed that we table this item. Erik closed the meeting a little after 7 PM. Why Do PROTECTED BIKE LANES POP UP PROJECTS CROSSWALK INSTALLATION SIDEWALK REPAIR ORDINANCE CHANGES BIKE RACKS Take So Long!? Perception Reality PROCESS BUTTER IS SPREAD THIN POLITICS & PRIORITIES PROCESS Fast Slow  Secure Not shown: Funding - Permitting - Procurement TEUC - Legal DPW CITY DPW COM COUNCIL IMPLEMENTATION BOF BBA NPA Staff Review BWBC ETC IDEA Staff BUILT! Time APPROVED! Leadership PUBLIC Review MEETINGS INTER- DEPARTMENTAL BID REVIEW PROCESS CONTRACTOR IMPLEMENTATION BID PROCESS CONSULTANT DESIGNS BUTTER IS SPREAD THIN  Public BUTTER IS SPREAD THIN Staff Time External Needs Internal Needs Change Parking! Build a plan Remove Traffic! Track financials Slow Traffic! Manage projects Improve Intersection! Procure racks/bollards/etc New Bike Lane! Build internal consensus Better Bike Lane! Collect Data Explain yourself! Interpret & Report Data Pave the street! Move ideas to approval and Fix the Sidewalk! construction POLITICS & PRIORITIES POLITICS & PRIORITIES Data Driven Priorities or Top Down Decision Making Equitable Investments vs Responsiveness to Engaged Citizens Rapid Deployment vs Stakeholder Engagement Grant Funding vs Bonding How Can Advocates Help? FOCUS COLLABORATE INFLUENCE UNITY PATIENCE