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Home My WebLink About2020-09-24 GRAAC GRAND RIVER ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY GRAACCOMMITTEE Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee Date: Thursday, September 24, 2020 Location: Zoom Meeting Present: Donna Hartzler, Janis McKenzie (City of Kitchener), Dawn Clelland (Co-Chair), Carrie Speers, Councillor Sandra Hanmer (City of Waterloo), Heather Clark-Harris, Tracey Murray (Township of Wilmot), Rob Bender, Tamara Bell, Jeff Smith (Township of Woolwich), Trevor Tamlin, Andrena Lockley-Brown, , Ashley Sage (Township of North Dumfries), Amy Harron (Township of Wellesley), LoriAnn Palubeski, (City of Kitchener/City of Waterloo), Brenda Robinson (Co-Chair), Councillor Debbie Chapman (City of Kitchener), Greg Moore, Paula Saunders Regrets: Berny Wesselink, Jolene MacDonald, Sanjay Govindaraj (Region of Waterloo), Mamie Sealey-Baker, Lolita Paroski (City of Kitchener/City of Waterloo), Councillor Sue Foxton (Region of Waterloo), Welcome and Introductions Brenda called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. Round table introductions 2.0 Approval of February minutes and September agenda Carrie motioned to accept February minutes; Dawn seconded Donna motioned to accept September agenda; Rob seconded 3.0 Declarations of Pecuniary Interests None 4.0 Municipal Trail Through Former Waterloo Inn Hotel —John Griffin New trail from Weber street to King street. Working though the Design process, easements etc. The trail will be a hard asphalt surface. Grading will be accessible to people who use wheelchairs or who have visual disabilities. There will be seating opportunities along the path with space to accommodate people who use wheelchairs. Page 1 of 5 Project timeline: 1. Finalize design work this year 2. Construction phased over two years —2021 to 2022 Feedback from the committee: • Incorporate tactile guard strips on each adjacent sidewalk/trail to inform users of the change in direction, of the new trail; o In that case these would be applied to the existing King St. multi-use pathway; and o The new trail or new sidewalk along Weber St; 0 17" in advance of the trail; • Trail width: 3.5 meters (approximately 11'); • Winter maintenance: The plan is to ensure the pathway is winter maintained; • There was some discussion around gathering points, and concern around separation being a 3.5m wide trail due to COVID-19; • Trail Seating; o There will be several opportunities for seating locations along the pathway; o And each of those locations will have 5' diameter turning radii for a wheelchair; o Recommendation to incorporate tactile markings at the edge of pavement. If not possible, ensure the edge of pathway is clearly defined; • Flush curbs will help with this. The plan to try and light the trail; o A concern was raised regarding low light levels; • Fencing; • Some fencing will be incorporated to separate the Waterloo Inn lands and the pathway; ■ However, there will be some openings in the fence to allow pedestrians and cyclists to penetrate the site. If any committee members have any questions or concerns, please contact John. Staff will return to the committee and show how GRAAC's comments have been into the design work. 5.0 Built Environment Sub Committee Update - Paula Saunders Recap from the June 25, 2020 informal GRAAC meeting a) City of Waterloo Button Factory elevator installation - Koohyar Samiee, City of Waterloo Senior Project Manager presented - Elevator access from outdoor in the evening. Tenant rent 2nd floor to 3rd party in evening. - Elevator will give access to ground and 2nd floor during the day. - No parking on site at all. Parking available for anyone across the street or in the parkade beside the button factory. - Suggested signage so people know to go to the back to access the elevator. - Suggested to chain the ramp to show that no access in the evening. Page 2 of 5 - Suggested to have guide strips to lead to the elevator. This will help everyone and persons with visual disabilities b) City of Waterloo Transportation Master Plan - Chris Hodgson, City of Waterloo and consultants presented - Looking to prioritize user experience - Looking to expand wayfinding, updating signage - Operations and maintenance —2 key areas 1.) speed limits on city streets - Council looking at reducing speed limits 2.) winter maintenance —to establish a priority network - GRAAC comments, what is staff doing for pedestrians who cannot see, what are staff doing when staff need to shut down sidewalks, how do staff notify people that that anything is coming up on the sidewalk? Ping Street does not do that. Response — Master Plan is at a Master Plan level and these items would be at action item level. c) Love my Hood project at Our Lady of Grace school - Laura McBride, City of Kitchener and Principal of Our Lady of Grace presented - Naturalized play area decided on after community consultation - Funding is coming from community fundraisers and Love my Hood grant - Will be reusing physical play components - GRAAC suggested for future add ins to playground that could benefit children with developmental disabilities could include windchimes, creative play elements, tire that can spin or a trampoline. Response —the principal will take these comments to share with parent council and he also added that the school has an indoor trampoline for sensory. d) Waterloo park guide strips to washroom building - Dawn Clelland provided an update that she has been working with Trevor, City of Waterloo staff regarding the placement of the guide strips and was excited to report that they are going in soon. Other City of Waterloo Neighbourhood Matching Grant— Gaga pit at a neighbourhood park - Accessible trail to get to pit, a door to open the pit with flush entrance, compact surface Break 6.0 New City of Kitchener Website - Helena Foulds, Linnea Scian Wx2020 Project update 1. Website Engagement and Testing Page 3 of 5 o The most popular webpages fall into a few main categories: parking, swimming, community centres and jobs o The current menu structure is confusing o Smaller devices, including older mobile phones and computers are more common website searching? o Residents struggle to find information on the website, turning to Google to find i. information instead of navigating the menu structure 2. New Site Map o Task and service-based o Aligns corporate focus on customer service o Brings high-traffic topics at least one click closer to the homepage o Plain language categories with descriptions will help people understand what they can expect in each category 3. Next Steps o User testing continues o Beta launch coming later this year Committee Discussion and Feedback: o Font size increase symbol should be on the home page as well o Staff advised that compliance WCAG. 2.0 AA standards as required by January 1, 2021 o Will sidewalk closures as well as road closures be listed on the website? Road closures yes, sidewalk closures exploring for the future o Include a widget for Accessibility Issues 7.0 Pedestrian Push button Sign Consultation —Jennifer Goetz The Region uses 2 different Pedestrian signs on pedestrian pushbuttons. o The White Cane Sign is used on pushbuttons that only provide an Audible Tone o The information sign is used on pushbuttons that you must push the button for the Walk to be displayed Proposed Accessible Pedestrian Signal: o It has been identified to the Region that the existing White Cane Sign is confusing to pedestrians. o The proposed sign is used in other municipalities in Ontario (Hamilton). o Clearly identifies that the pushbutton is for Audible signal only. Questions/Comments o English as a Second Language may be an issue o Combine the old with the new sign Page 4 of 5 o Audible may not be the best choice—To hear a sound press button 8.0 Councillor Reports Councillor Debbie Chapman (City of Kitchener) o Council approved an expanded Assisted Snow Removal Program regarding Winter Sidewalk Maintenance o Follow this link to a portable accessible washroom that might be able to be used at festivals and events as one measure to assist people to fully engage in the great events that are happening in this Region. o October is recognized as Dwarfism Awareness and Acceptance Month in cities, provinces, and countries across the world. Councillor will follow up with the request that was received. 9.0 GRAAC Rep's on Committees Updates Region of Waterloo Active Transportation Advisory Committee, Dawn Clelland o Continuing via Zoom o Multi Use Trails — looking for feedback and input from this committee that Dawn could take then take back to that committee. Will invite staff to a future GRAAC meeting 10.0 Co-chair/Staff Reports LoriAnn Palubeski (City of Kitchener) o Committee recruitment is live on the website o RFP is being prepared to complete an accessibility audits of Waterloo Facilities o Phase 2 of the Accessibility Audit in Kitchener is currently on pause o Staff and Cochairs to discuss extending terms for committee members another year due to COVI D-19 Meeting adjourned. Next meeting will be on Thursday October 22, 2020— 1:30 p.m. start City of Kitchener, 200 King St West, Zoom Meeting Please send regrets to: Janis McKenzie at janis.mckenziep_kitchener.ca 519-741-2200 Ext. 7225 Page 5 of 5