City of Urbana Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Commission met Nov. 16.
Here are the minutes provided by the commission:
Members Present: Bill Brown (Chair), Annie Adams, Shannon Beranek, Kara Dudek, Cynthia Hoyle, Audrey Ishii, Susan Jones, Jeff Marino, Sarthak Prasad, Nancy Westcott
Late Arrival: None
Staff Present: Bridget Broihahn, Katherine ‘Kat’ Trotter, John Zeman
Others Present: David Huber, Rev. Dr. Evelyn Underwood, Thomas Valencia
Members Absent: None
1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM Bill Brown called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Roll call was taken. A quorum was present.
2. ADDITIONS TO AGENDA
There was one addition to the agenda: Description of the Unpaid Intern Position to Review and Assess the 2016 Urbana Bicycle Master Plan. Cynthia wanted to discuss it before sending it over to the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois. Susan Jones moved to approve the agenda as amended. Annie Adams seconded the motion.
Brown -- Aye; Adams -- Aye; Beranek -- Aye; Dudek – Aye; Hoyle -- Aye; Ishii – Aye; Jones – Aye; Marino – Aye; Prasad -- Aye; Westcott -- Aye.
The motion was approved.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING (OCTOBER)
Cynthia Hoyle recommended a change to page 2, line 23 from “Regional Planning Commission” to “University of Illinois Regional and Urban Planning Program” to reflect the program for recruiting an intern to review and assess the 2016 Urbana Bicycle Master Plan. Susan Jones moved to approve the October meeting minutes as
35 amended. Annie Adams seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken.
Brown -- Aye; Adams -- Aye; Beranek -- Aye; Dudek – Aye; Hoyle -- Aye; Ishii – Aye; Jones – Aye; Marino –Aye; Prasad -- Aye; Westcott -- Aye.
The motion carried.
4. PUBLIC INPUT
Rev. Dr. Underwood said that she was interested in the Equity and Quality of Life program and what the process would be for deciding which projects would be chosen.
David Huber expressed concern about traffic on Washington Street between Vine Street and Philo Road, but in particular, about the striping of bicycle lanes and the lack of north/south accessible ramps on the south side of Washington Street between Vine Street and Philo Road. Bill Brown said that it would be placed on a future agenda: Traffic Calming on Washington Street between Vine Street and Philo Road.
Thomas Valencia wanted to commend the City of Urbana on its bicycle infrastructure. He mentioned several locations where he felt improvements could be made.
5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. Equity and Quality of Life Project – Bridget Broihahn
Bridget Broihahn, Communications Specialist for the City of Urbana, discussed the communications plan for promoting the Equity and Quality of Life Project (EQL) by funding projects that improve the health and safety in underserved neighborhoods with small infrastructure projects. She provided BPAC with examples of projects that could be presented for consideration under the project. She indicated that there would be $2 million set aside for the entire project with a maximum allotment of $250,000 for each proposal.
Bill Brown explained that the City Administrator had tasked BPAC with prioritizing applications submitted for this program.
6. REPORTS OF CITY OFFICIALS AND STAFF AND REPORTS OF COMMITTEES
Sarthak Prasad said that bicycle registration information was available at bike.illinois.edu. He said that registration was open to anyone from Champaign and Urbana who paid a $10 fee, but he said that the cities of Urbana and Champaign did not contribute toward the program.
Cynthia Hoyle said that it should be put on the agenda for next month.
Bill Brown stated that he had sent e-mails to City staff asking questions about bicycle registration and abandoned bicycles with no response provided from staff.
7. NEW BUSINESS
a. Description of the Unpaid Intern Position to Review and Assess the 2016 Urbana Bicycle Master Plan – Cynthia Hoyle
Cynthia Hoyle suggested that an unpaid intern be selected to review the 2016 Urbana Bicycle Master Plan to determine what progress had been made and where there were still areas for improvement. She said that she would supervise the person reviewing the City’s plan and staff would assist the intern when needed.
b. Installation of Bike Racks – Annie Adams
Annie Adams said that she had heard that there were 25 bike racks that the City had in storage that were unused.
Jeff Marino asked if there were zoning requirements to install bicycle racks.
Kat Trotter said there were requirements and discussed the instances where bike racks were required.
Kara Dudek said that the City (Shannon Beranek) reached out to the Park District to ask if they would like the bike racks and the Park District said they had already purchased some.
Shannon Beranek said the Urbana School District was interested in all but five of the bicycle racks.
Cynthia Hoyle mentioned that the installation of bicycle racks might be part of the EQL program.
38 Bill Brown suggested waiting until the EQL program was in effect to determine where the racks could be installed.
Cynthia Hoyle recommended the abandoned bicycle rules on the website be updated.
Bill Brown asked that the update be included in the website updates.
c. 2021 Annual Report – Bill Brown
Bill Brown reported that he wanted to include all BPAC 2021 recommendations in the annual report. He presented those recommendations that had already been approved, as well as those that had been discussed but with no action taken. He proposed that if BPAC wanted to include them in the annual report they could vote on them next month. He asked BPAC commissioners to send ideas about additional recommendations
1 and justifications. The annual report would contain additional information as usual, be approved by BPAC, and be presented to the City Council in early 2022. Jeff Marino thought that bike plan mentioned bike parking. He asked if zoning requirements could provide stronger language to encourage better bike parking and include redevelopments. Kara Dudek suggested prioritizing recommendations since those recommendations listed first would likely be considered before those listed last.
Bill Brown said that the report should be voted on at December meeting. He asked for Commissioners to provide feedback by December 1, 2021.
8. ANNOUNCEMENTS
a. November 21—World Remembrance Day
b. November 25—Turkey Trot, Urbana Park District
c. November 28—Post Turkey Roll
d. Monthly Bicycle Ride—Arboretum to Caffé Paradiso (posted on Facebook)
e. Walkability Audit Data Collection—under way
f. Woonerf—upcoming street treatment
9. FUTURE TOPICS
a. Traffic Calming on Washington Street between Vine Street and Philo Road
b. Bike Registration
c. Abandoned Bicycle Policy
d. Walkability Audit
10. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.