Transportation Advisory Board

400 S. Eagle Street City of Naperville Naperville, IL 60540 Meeting Minutes Transportation Advisory Board Thursday, January 7, 2021 7:00 PM Held on Zoom due to COVID-19 CITY OF NAPERVILLE PUBLIC MEETINGS UPDATE: On Friday, June 12, 2020, an amendment to the Open Meetings Act was signed into law. This new law replaces the gubernatorial executive order concerning the Open Meetings Act and allows public bodies to temporarily conduct meetings remotely during a state of emergency, subject to certain requirements, including a determination by the head of the public body that an in-person meeting is not practical or prudent. On Tuesday, June 16, 2020, Mayor Chirico issued an executive order determining that in-person meetings of the City Council and the City’s boards and commissions are not currently practical or prudent due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Accordingly, the Transportation Advisory Board meeting scheduled for January 7, 2021 will be conducted remotely. The means by which the public may watch, listen, and/or participate in the meeting are described below. TO JOIN A MEETING: The meeting will be conducted using the Zoom Video Conferencing. You do not need to download any software or create an account to participate. To login on your computer or iPad: Click the link to join the webinar, the password is provided on this agenda. Once connected, if you choose to speak, click the “Raise Hand” button at the bottom of Zoom screen and wait for the Chairman to recognize you. When it is your turn to speak, you will be unmuted. There will be a few second delay after you are unmuted until your mic will be live. Please identify yourself for the public record and speak clearly. To login on your phone: For iPhones, use the iPhone one-tap number provided on this agenda. For telephones, dial one of the numbers provided and join the meeting by using meeting ID and password provided on this agenda. Once connected to the meeting, press *9 to “raise your hand” and wait for the Chairman to recognize you. When it is your turn to speak, you will be unmuted. There will be a few second delay after you are unmuted until your mic will be live. Please identify yourself for the public record and speak clearly. City of Naperville Page 1 Printed on 2/5/2021 Transportation Advisory Board Meeting Minutes January 7, 2021 PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES: All viewpoints are welcome. Positive comments and constructive criticism are encouraged. Speakers must refrain from harassing or directing threats or personal attacks at Board members, staff, other speakers or members of the public. Comments made to intentionally disrupt the meeting may be managed as necessary to maintain appropriate decorum and allow for city business to be accomplished. ZOOM MEETING LOG IN: When: Jan 7, 2021 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada) Topic: Transportation Advisory Board Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83246610210?pwd=bGltVlhWcDZKNzFTTW9ZUHcxUkhPdz09 Passcode: 332973 Or iPhone one-tap : US: +13126266799,,83246610210#,,,,,,0#,,332973# or +13017158592,,83246610210#,,,,,,0#,,332973# Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 312 626 6799 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 646 558 8656 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 9128 Webinar ID: 832 4661 0210 Passcode: 332973 International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbWO4JNaU A. CALL TO ORDER: B. ROLL CALL: Present 7- Gregory Gustin, Mary Howenstine, Michael Melaniphy, Matthew Seeberg, Scott Hurley, Roger Nondorf, and James Webb Absent 2- Michael Brown, and Janet Blubaugh C. PUBLIC FORUM: There were no speakers for Public Forum. This was closed. D. REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Approve the minutes of the December 3, 2020 Transportation Advisory Board meeting. A motion was made by Webb, seconded by Gustin, approved. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7- Gustin, Howenstine, Melaniphy, Seeberg, Hurley, Nondorf, and Webb City of Naperville Page 2 Printed on 2/5/2021 Transportation Advisory Board Meeting Minutes January 7, 2021 Absent: 2- Brown, and Blubaugh 2. Recommend approval of the Westside Neighborhood Traffic Study recommendations Melaniphy speaks to the additional information that has been provided by City staff Melaniphy explains that the floor will be open to TAB members for high level comments, then the floor will be open for public comment. Then the board will run through the recommendation matrix and go through items that need to be talked about more. Nondorf thanks City staff for the additional information that was provided. Gustin asks about signage upgrades at the one way southbound Eagle Street. TED Project Manager Michael Prousa states that signage will be used at first and if more money becomes available, City staff will look at other options other than signage at the intersection. Gustin asks if we can make a comment or something on the record that will state that an upgrade could happen and should be on the City Council’s radar in the future. Prousa states that they can do that. Councilman Paul Hinterlong asks about parking on both sides of Eagle Street between Jefferson Avenue and Benton Avenue. He also asks about the section of Benton Avenue between Eagle Street and Mill Street and how vehicles parked on the south side of Benton Avenue make it difficult for the funeral home turning right onto Benton Avenue from Mill Street. Prousa states that that parking will be allowed on both sides of the street on Eagle if the recommendation is approved. The parking will have school hour related restrictions. Prousa states that the parking concern on Benton Avenue was not looked at as part of the report but the Transportation Team can look into the concern separate from the report. P. Hinterlong does not think that allowing parking on both sides of the street would be a wise idea. Prousa clarifies that currently the street is wide enough for three car widths, and that the car widths will be the same on the new recommendations. P. Hinterlong states that it is an accident waiting to happen. Jennifer Taylor thanks everyone involved in the traffic study and overall she agrees with the recommendations that are in the report. She believes that taking out the crosswalks would be a poor decision because of the need for it for the residents that live on the north side of Spring Avenue. Taking the crosswalk out would make the intersection less safe for pedestrians in the area. Kathy Benson wants West Street and Jefferson Avenue intersection to be looked at for a sight distance issue. She also believes that the in-pavement pedestrian signs are confusing in the neighborhood and that traffic and pedestrians do not know what to do with them. Wants more solutions for the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and West City of Naperville Page 3 Printed on 2/5/2021 Transportation Advisory Board Meeting Minutes January 7, 2021 Street. She also wants the crosswalks that are being removed should be left in. She wants the sidewalk error to be updated in the report. She also has questions on the new sidewalk program and how the sidewalks in the neighborhood need to be done correctly. Prousa states how the City evaluates stops signs in the City two different ways. The residential stop sign analysis is for neighborhood streets. The intersections of Mill Street and Douglas Avenue and Jefferson Avenue and West Street use the MUTCD criteria for stop control because Jefferson Avenue and Mill Street are not neighborhood streets. Both of those intersections did not meet the criteria for the MUTCD stop control. Prousa states that the report will be updated before it goes to City Council with the changes. TED Deputy Director Jennifer Louden states that the goal is to have 3 feet of separation between the sidewalk and the curb. This is not always the case as trees and grading may impact that number. K. Benson asks that the recommendations includes putting the sidewalk as far back as possible. She asks that for the intersections that did not receive stop control because they use the MUTCD stop control criteria, that they should be looked at via the residential stop sign analysis. Gustin asks if all tests were examined on the potential stop signs near the school areas. Prousa states that the City uses the MUTCD criteria for streets that are not neighborhood streets because Jefferson and Mill are collector streets with more volume than a typical neighborhood street. Putting an unwarranted stop sign at these locations would cause other problems throughout the neighborhood, including cut through traffic. Gustin asks for clarification. Prousa states that the intersections are not within proximity to the school. Melaniphy thanks the public who gave their public comment on the agenda item. Melaniphy states that they will now read through the line items. Hurley asks for clarification regarding the ease of implementation column. Prousa states that low means that the effort is low and high means the effort is high. Gustin asks about school bus traffic and truck traffic on Spring Avenue. Prousa states that they are currently working through a traffic concern concerning truck traffic on Spring Avenue. Prousa reads through the line items and they are all approved besides the removal of crosswalks at Jackson Avenue and Ewing Street and Eagle Street and Spring Avenue. These locations are taken out of the recommendations and will be discussed in more detail with TAB. Webb disagrees with taking out the crosswalk at Jackson and Ewing because we would lose connectivity with the river walk that the crosswalk takes pedestrians to. City of Naperville Page 4 Printed on 2/5/2021 Transportation Advisory Board Meeting Minutes January 7, 2021 Gustin agrees with Webb on not wanting to remove the crosswalks at this location. Gustin asks why don’t we continue maintaining the crosswalks as he does not see the downside in it. Prousa states that the report wants to promote crossing at crosswalks that are stop controlled because of the proximity to stop controlled locations near this location. Gustin states that he believes that pedestrians will cross at the path where it seems fit for them and why not keep them. Hurley asks if TAB has the discretion on where to place or remove crosswalks. Louden states that when we are removing crosswalks we are actually consolidating the crosswalks because we have locations that are close that are stop controlled and easier for pedestrians to cross. It is within TAB’s purview to recommend taking crosswalks out. Louden states that the school walk route will still be updated. Nondorf appreciates that staff has policies and procedures in place that have measure to the decisions that are made. He also thinks that human behavior does not always follow measures. He thinks that removing the crosswalks will not change the behavior of pedestrians that use the crosswalk daily. It would be safer to leave the crosswalk. He is in favor of education through the schools where desired crossing are but can’t support removing the crosswalks. Seeberg states that because of the proximity to schools and pedestrian facilities the crosswalks should remain. In favor of all items in the recommendations along with keeping the two crosswalks. Hurley states that unless there is an increase in safety concerns because of an uncontrolled crosswalk he sees no reason in taking the crosswalks out. Melaniphy states that the city actually has three different types of pavement markings for crosswalks throughout the city. He also states that you can have a crosswalk without pavement markings. TED Deputy City Engineer Andy Hynes agrees with what Melaniphy has stated. He also states that we use crosswalk markings to designate a preferred route for pedestrians. Marked crosswalks are more visible for drivers but the flip side of that is that pedestrians in a crosswalk marking have a false sense of security. Gustin asks if the current municipal code defines if there is a difference in fines for a pedestrian that is hit in a crosswalk that is marked or unmarked. Hynes states that there is not a distinction in the municipal code for fines for hitting a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Gustin states that we should retain the crosswalks in the two locations. Louden states that it is important that when we take it to city council that this was a topic of deep discussion and the reasons why it was. States that it should be a separate vote to show the level of support for both items. Melaniphy entertains a motion to retain the crosswalks at Ewing Street and Jackson Avenue from Webb and seconded by Gustin. The vote carries 5 - 1. City of Naperville Page 5 Printed on 2/5/2021 Transportation Advisory Board Meeting Minutes January 7, 2021 Aye: Gustin, Melaniphy, Seeberg, Hurley, Nondorf Nay: Howenstine Melaniphy states that next are the pedestrian facilities at Spring Avenue and Wester Street. Gustin states that this was a mistake and withdraws his concern for this item. Melaniphy entertains a motion to approve as submitted. It is moved by Gustin and seconded by Howenstine. The motion carries by unanimous vote. Melaniphy states that next is the crosswalk removal at Eagle Street and Spring Avenue. Hurley states the argument is the same as Ewing Street and Jackson Avenue. Gustin agrees with Hurley. Webb adds that down the road the crosswalk can be removed, but not at this time. Prousa states that the City will still revise the school walk route to not cross Spring Avenue at Eagle Street. Melaniphy entertains a motion to retain the crosswalk at Spring Avenue and Eagle Street from Hurley and seconded by Nondorf. The vote carries by unanimous vote. Melaniphy thanks everyone involved in the study for getting it this far. A motion was made by Nondorf, seconded by Howenstine, to recommend approval of the Westside Neighborhood Traffic Study except for the removal of crosswalks at Spring Avenue and Eagle Street and Jackson Avenue and Ewing Street. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7- Gustin, Howenstine, Melaniphy, Seeberg, Hurley, Nondorf, and Webb Absent: 2- Brown, and Blubaugh E. OLD BUSINESS: There was no old business discussed F. NEW BUSINESS: Seeberg wants to thank Mr. Melaniphy for getting us through the process on this report. Gustin thanks everyone involved in the study. Gustin wants to draw attention to the truck parking issues throughout the City. Asks if staff can give an update on whether the Mayor reinstated the overnight parking restrictions. Louden states that the Mayor did reinstate the overnight parking restrictions and that it will go into effect on January 11th. Gustin states that Fairway Drive continues to have semi-truck parking on street. Asks if there is an opportunity to address truck parking more formally. City of Naperville Page 6 Printed on 2/5/2021 Transportation Advisory Board Meeting Minutes January 7, 2021 Hurley asks if there is an opportunity to have the City participate in a comprehensive truck parking study throughout the City. Louden states that a comprehensive truck parking study of that nature is not something the City has undertaken before. Staff would need to look into it more in scope. Hurley states that the state of Michigan has done something similar and that we should entertain this type of study. Gustin asks if the parking that is currently empty at the Metra station can be used for the semi-trucks. Melaniphy asks what it would take to get a scope of this potential project. Louden states that we would start at the staff level with what the scope could be and whether or not its something that could be handled internally or externally. Louden states that we would need to find out what the goals of the project would be. Melaniphy asks what a reasonable timeframe would be to bring this back to TAB. Louden states that we are anticipating that the February TAB meeting will be for the traffic calming toolkit. She states that it would be a few meetings before we could bring it and that 90 days is a reasonable number. Melaniphy asks residents to be aware of the snow plows that are clearing streets. G. ADJOURNMENT: A motion was made by Seeberg, seconded by Gustin, to adjourn the meeting at 8:33 p.m. The motion carried by unanimous vote. Aye: 7- Gustin, Howenstine, Melaniphy, Seeberg, Hurley, Nondorf, and Webb Absent: 2- Brown, and Blubaugh City of Naperville Page 7 Printed on 2/5/2021