Bicyclist and Pedestrian Commission

Wheaton Bicyclist and Pedestrian Commission January 15, 2025 7pm Gammon Room, Wheaton City Hall, Wheaton, IL In person and Virtual meeting I. Call to Order 7:00 pm Members present: Michelle, Lou, Bob, Bill, Rita, George, Connor, Mike, Laurel Members absent: Cate Public Present: Ms. Traci Pallucci Mike Dzugan, City Manager II. Agenda Item Approval of November Minutes Motioned: Bill Seconded: Bob Unanimously approved via voice vote. III. Public Comment Traci Pallucci - Traci is the mother of Paige Donahue, the pedestrian that was struck and killed on Roosevelt Road. She wants to have an event at Rathje Park to honor her daughter in late June or July 19 with a commemorative bench. As part of her legacy, she wants to promote pedestrian safety/awareness for drivers specifically and calls it the“Paige Donahue for Safety”. She plans to hand out reflectors for clothing, bikes, flashlights, etc. She has media (TV stations) on board for the event and would like to have someone from WBPC to speak at her daughter’s event. Mike Dzugan- Mike explained that the annual reports were implemented to make sure commission’s action items were in line with the city council and that he follows the city council directions. He recommended we start planning/researching action items for 2026. Mike recommended that ideas/proposals need to be vetted by him and Engineering before presenting them to the City Council. There was a discussion about pedestrian/bicycle parity with cars and Mike responded that these changes are incremental, based on feasibility and available resources (budget). He did highlight that the City did put sidewalks in on Roosevelt Road which has greatly improved pedestrian access. Regarding the clear sidewalks/bus stops proposal, Mike said this was looked at in 2022 for commercial properties to clear their sidewalks, but this was not implemented. Mike said he believes the City Council would be more interested in clearing snow from school crossings rather than from bus stops. He said they are interviewing for a new City manager and they hope to have this person in place by April. Mike will stay on until August and he hopes they will by then, have hired a new assistant city manager. MIke made us aware of a pedestrian safety issue the City is working on at Harrison and Washington. He also said they have hired a new traffic control employee in Engineering and suggested that we invite her to one of our meetings. He recommended we have someone from Engineering come to our meetings every 2 months to update on what they are working on (traffic calming efforts). Mike said he’ll be glad to come back to one of our meetings before he leaves later this year.. WHEATON BICYCLIST & PEDESTRIAN COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES January 15, 2025 Mike also informed us that there is a Special Event permit that would need to be completed for the commemorative event that Traci Pallucci is planning. This permit is available online and Michelle will email Traci the link. IV. Agenda Item Chair Report- A. December and January City Council Meetings Mike emailed us his notes from the December meeting last month. Here are the notes from the January meeting: Majority of meeting dealt with a disagreement between the Islamic Center at SW Corner of President and Geneva and the Pinegrove Homeowners Association: ● Islamic Center wants to add additional parking spaces, driveway and entrance/exit ramps to their current parking lot ● Homeowners concerned that plan would remove roughly 36 arbor vitae that are a privacy screen and potentially lead to water being diverted onto their properties in the event of heavy rain ● Islamic says existing detention pond was not built as it was originally planned/permitted in 1993 so new construction would be up to previous plan/what is required by city code ● City noted that the Pinegrove residents are incorrect in their understanding of the water flow and that recent water main breaks since 2019 have resulted in flooding in area that did not flood their property/did not lead to resident complaints ● Islamic Center plans to add new plants/evergreens in area that will be improved privacy than current arbor vitae City also approved a new liquor license for a Thortons at the SE corner of Geneva and Gary opening January 17th while denying a liquor license for a business at the NW corner of Main and Wesley (associated with 93 Octane Brewery in St. Charles). It turns out that you cannot sell alcohol 100 ft from a church if the sale of alcohol is the principal business (this business is 84 ft away). B. DuPage County Safety Action Plan Virtual Open House 12/5/24 Bill and Rita attended this Open House - here are their notes: Vision: “Safe Travel for All” Project Website: engage.cmap.illinois.gov/dupage Method: “data driven actions to improve road safety; focus on vulnerable individuals; non-motorized, seniors, youth, disabled Process: Understand (Q4 2024) —> Prioritize (Q1 2025) —> Revise (Q2 2025) They did extensive analysis of crash data to get traffic trends, such as: – 400 accidents/yr in DuPage – from 2008 to 2022 fatalities increased, especially for Blacks, and Hispanic (per capita basis) – most fatalities involved (A) speeding (B) intersections [C} older drivers (D) bikes/pedestrians – speeding related to 44% of vehicle fatalities; 38% of pedestrian fatalities – intersections related to 27% of fatalities and 50% of serious injuries – most accidents were on the largest (arterial) roads; 58% of the fatalities, although these roads make up 13% of street miles – (surprise!) aggressive driving (ignore signs/signals & speeding) was often responsible Q &A Info – trail crossings of roads will be getting focus – (I questioned them about facilitating communication/cooperation among municipalities+counties+IDOT): working on this but budget, lack of resources/people, and timelines all “slow things down here” 2 WHEATON BICYCLIST & PEDESTRIAN COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES January 15, 2025 D. Grant Writing/Bike Plan Consultant - Re-submit SS4A grant Per Kyle Moss, we are waiting for DOT to release an official notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) which should happen before the end of March. E. Wheaton Park District to be a Working Bikes Drop site F. Clear sidewalks/bus stops Proposal V. Ongoing Business A. 2025 Elections Rita made a motion that Michelle and Lou be elected as co-chairs for 2025. Bob seconded. Unanimously approved via voice vote. B. Slow roll ride with WPD 2025 - Michelle postponed this to the February meeting. C. Brainstorming Biking Needs for Seniors -Michelle postponed this to the February meeting. VI. New Business A. Paige Donahue event - We discussed that we want to support this event, but not sponsor it. We will establish limits with Paige’s mother on what we can and cannot do for this event. Next Meeting: February 19, 2025 X. Adjournment - 8:23 pm Approved 3