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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-03-12 CYCLING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 12, 2013 CITY OF KITCHENER The Cycling Advisory Committee met on this date commencing at 4:03 p.m. Present: Councillor Y. Fernandes, Ms. M. Generoux, Ms. M. Sehl (Chair), Ms. T. Niesen and Messrs. M. Arges, M. Boos, T. Boutilier, P. Dedes, S. Gibson, L. Oakey, T. Reiser and P. Walberg (Vice-Chair). Staff: Messrs. J. Joseph, W. Sleeth, M. Parris, and Ms. K. Reinert (Minutes) Regrets: None. Mr. P. Walberg commenced the meeting by welcoming the two new committee members, Mr. L. Oakey and Mr. T. Reiser, and asked them to introduce themselves. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 12, 2013 MEETING 1. That the minutes of the February 12, 2013 meeting be approved with the amendment to the approval of the January 8, 2013 minutes to indicate that the approval was “Motioned by: Mr. T. Boutilier”. Motioned by: Mr. P. Walberg Seconded by: Mr. M. Boos UPDATE ON CYCLING PRIORITIES, PROJECTS AND BUDGET 2. Mr. J. Joseph indicated that an update on cycling priorities, projects and budgets will be a standing item on the agenda and that he will provide a PowerPoint presentation at every meeting. Past and current cycling priorities have been identified and of particular note were the following items;  New signage from the Iron Horse Trail to Fairview Park show street and bike signs only, no directional signs. J. Joseph noted that all directional signage will be installed at a later date.  Margaret Avenue bike lanes are complete but will require repainting this summer and it was suggested to remove the old bike lines prior to repainting.  Attention should be given to Guelph and Blucher Streets and Mr. M. Boos will follow-up with an email to J. Joseph.  Nyberg Street Contra-flow Bike Lane – J. Joseph is still in conversation with parties and, therefore, too early to have any concrete information but Toronto has received information from the MTO which would be beneficial to Kitchener and help other municipalities.  Landscape portion of Iron Horse Trail is good to go for 2013. CYCLING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 12, 2013 - - CITY OF KITCHENER 2 KCAC SUB-COMMITTEE UPDATES 3. Mr. M. Arges raised concern regarding concentrating and implementing projects in the downtown which is not good for the remainder of the wards. Ms. M. Sehl noted that sub- committees were charged with tasks to review, discuss and then bring back their recommendations to this committee for approval. Councillor Fernandes suggested that strategies in the downtown may work elsewhere as well and could be transferable and become a larger marketing strategy. Promotions – M. Arges This sub-committee has had two meetings and discussions were around a safety item and the Cycling Survey. The group passed and is proposing a safety item by-law amendment pertaining to e-scooters on trails and the Cycling Survey will be addressed in Item 7 on the agenda. Technical Infrastructure – P. Dedes This sub-committee meets the third Wednesday following the KCAC meeting. The Mayor and Councillor’s Bike Ride route has been finalized and is doable in one and one/half hours. Along with the Mayor and Councillors it was decided that invitations should be limited to five to ten additional attendees. Also discussed at the sub-committee meeting was the installation of super-sharrows on King Street and the need for pre and post data collection volunteers. Further information will be addressed in item 4 on the agenda. Planning, Evaluation, and Governance – P. Walberg This sub-committee has not formalized a chairperson and Mr. Walberg was speaking on behalf of the group. This group focussed on the evaluation tool and where to go with it. Also, they are coordinating a strategy which is a “work in progress”. The general consensus of the sub-committee was to utilize the report card but noted that perhaps the outputs are disproportionate or too subjective. The report card should look at the impact on the community by getting more people cycling and safety. They agreed to look back at the CMP, policies, status and cycling network to evaluate and also look at potential partners. J. Joseph commented that the sub-committees are working really well and it was suggested by Mr. T. Boutilier to integrate the new members into these sub-committees. BICYCLE FRIENDLY DOWNTOWN PRIORITIES 4. th The report will be going to Council on April 8 containing information on the BikeKitchener cycling engagement strategy, sharrows, artistic bike racks, bicycle map, cyclist survey, and BikeFest. A super sharrows handout was distributed by J. Joseph for review. Approximately 44 thermoplastic super-sharrows will be installed between Francis and Madison streets at approximately 75 meters. Approximately eighteen signs describing the sharrow program will also be installed. The common approach is to install side-by-side but general consensus was CYCLING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 12, 2013 - - CITY OF KITCHENER 3 to stagger for better visibility. This is a leadership opportunity as well since this type of sharrow will be the first of its kind in Ontario. J. Joseph will be meeting with the BIA on March 19, 2013 to bring forward information on the sharrows and artistic bike racks, and he is hoping to get endorsement from the Netherland consultant’s prior to presenting report to Council. Discussion took place on turn lanes and where to have the bike lane, bike boxes and sharrows. Councillor Y. Fernandes suggested using the same colour of paint to do the arrow and J. Joseph will follow-up with the company to find out if this is feasible. It was noted that generally, cyclists do not know where to go in turning lanes and Mr. P. Dedes offered to produce a short video on how to ride. J. Joseph is working with Communications on educating cyclists on the use of sharrows and plans to have the promotional information go out at the same time as the sharrow installations. Any additional feedback should be emailed to J. Joseph. Mr. M. Boos shared information from the Tri-City Transport Accent Group (TRIAC) on an infrastructure bike study which had been done in Guelph that noted a dramatic decrease in riding on sidewalks when sharrows were utilized. Two key questions to be addressed are 1) will sharrows attract more cyclists to King Street, and, 2) how will sharrows affect cycling behaviour? The plan is to do a study before and after the new infrastructure has been installed to evaluate. The study will entail taking a count of the number of cyclists travelling in each direction and their travel pattern. The best time to do the study is during rush hour around 7 to 8 a.m. and the locations should be far enough apart to control the screenline. It would be best to do the count three times, 1) early in May before the sharrows are installed, 2) mid-December, and 3) repeat the same day and week a year later in May. Three suggested study locations would be King Street at City Hall, uptown King Street and the Iron Horse Trail. The study parameters to include resources and volunteers and members were asked if they could volunteer in May prior to the long weekend. T. Boutilier suggested using the intersection counters from Transportation Services to assist in the count. J. Joseph distributed copies of the downtown artistic bike racks for the group to share and will follow-up with an email attachment to everyone. Potential locations for the artistic bike racks include King and Francis Streets, City Hall, K-W Symphony office, Speaker’s Corners and the Kitchener Market. The cost will be $450 per rack and each rack will fit two bikes. T. Resier commented that he has seen this particular bike rack in B.C. and because it was painted two different colours on the front and back, each rack was able to hold four bikes. Each location will house two or three bike racks perpendicular or diagonally placed and Mr. W. Sleeth will contact Planning to inquire about the logistics of this in front of City Hall. T. Boutilier indicated that the corner of King and Queen Streets would be an ideal location as there is a high level traffic and considerable dead space available. Any additional suggestions should be forwarded to J. Joseph. Bike Fest Any thoughts or additional ideas should be forwarded to J. Joseph. The events already suggested are listed below; CYCLING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 12, 2013 - - CITY OF KITCHENER 4  Bike Fundraiser  Skills Training – CanBike  Bicycle Tune-up and Repair  Bike Polo  Scavenger Hunt /Group Cycle Rides  Food and live music The event will take place on May 26, 2013. KITCHENER BIKE MAP 5. Two maps were distributed for review and comment, and J. Joseph will email the maps to committee for feedback. One comment submitted at the meeting was to link the Trans Canada Trail. When the bike map is ready for print, approx. 2500 laminated copies will be made available and will be free of charge at this time. MAYOR AND COUNCILOR’S BICYCLE RIDE 6. Mr. P. Dedes showed the recommended route on the projector screen, starting at City Hall, travelling past the library on Queen St., to Margaret Avenue and Guelph Street and then travelling off-road on the spur line to Moore Street to note some issues there, travel Glasgow Street through Belmont neighbourhood to Westmount Road and continuing on Glasgow to Fischer Hallman where the trail system will be used to return to King St. to show off the sharrows. This route would be a total of 15 kms. and highlight the Iron Horse Trail and will also acknowledge that there are no connection points to get across Glasgow Road. P. Dedes pointed out that this route was chosen to show off the highlights, connectivity issues and loss of trail due to curb cuts and input from the group suggested that consideration should be taken in shortening the route. Also suggested, was to plan for two dates in case of inclement weather and to take a break half-way through to network and show what the future rail spur is intended to look like and possibly provide refreshments and food. Discussion took place and M. Arges indicated that he thought everyone would have input on where the ride will take place and questioned why there is no choice. He indicated that the original intent was to cover the entire city and so far, the rides have concentrated on the downtown core. M. Sehl noted that this task was assigned to the sub-committee for their recommendation and to bring back a proposal for KCAC to discuss and accept. She went on to say that this will apply to any item assigned to the various sub-committees. Councillor Fernandes noted that since Wards 9 and 10 have been covered off, it is important to consider another ward for next year. ACTION: Motion on Mayor and Councillor’s Bicycle Ride to be made at April meeting . CYCLING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 12, 2013 - - CITY OF KITCHENER 5 CYCLIST SURVEY 7. Comments on the survey to be sent to J. Joseph. J. Joseph commented that the Region of Waterloo has shown a key interest in the survey and went on to say that the survey will be finalized and available for BikeFest and, after discussion among members, the survey will continue to be available for up to two months for distribution at other major events. The survey will be available both on-line and in paper copy form and will be used as a perception and attitude tool for ridership. It will have approximately ten very well thought out, balanced questions and plans are to provide the same survey a year later for comparison. ACTION: J. Joseph will send committee members a draft copy of the survey questions. OTHER BUSINESS 8. Mr. P. Dedes mentioned that he maintains the Kitchener Cycles facebook page which normally gets 35 to 130 hits per day but this past weekend it received 20,000 hits due to the greater LA image of a bus with the caption of “every lane is a bike lane” and he suggested it would be a great idea to tie it in with the sharrows promotion and may be something KCAC should endorse. ACTION: P. Dedes to send the image to J. Joseph to forward to Communications. Both M. Sehl and J. Joseph asked that committee members invite as many cyclists as possible to attend the April 8, 2013 Council meeting. ADJOURNMENT 9. On motion, the meeting adjourned at 6:08 p.m.