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Home My WebLink AboutGRAAC - 2014-06-26Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee Date: June 26th, 2014 Location: Conestoga Room, City Hall, Kitchener Present: Greg Moore (Co- Chair), Anthony Cashin, Sharon Giles, Carrie Speers, Dawn Clelland, Laura Master, Paula Saunders, Dorothy Staal, Mike Shipley, David Kuhn, Councillor Berry Vrbanovic (City of Kitchener), Councillor Jean Haalboom (Region of Waterloo), Karen Panchaud (ASL Interpreter), Lesley Roach (ASL Interpreter), Vanessa Lopak (Region of Waterloo), Pam Albrecht (City of Kitchener, City of Waterloo),Julia Sippel (Township of Wellesley), Kaitlyn Draker (North Dumfries), Johanna Ellis (Recorder) Regrets: Keri Cameron, Christine Taylor, Andrew Tutty, Amanda Moorhead, Councillor Jeff Henry, Val Hummel (Township of Woolwich) Guests: Delton Zehr (Region of Waterloo), Jennifer Bertelsen (Region of Waterloo), Mike Jones (Region of Waterloo) 1.0 Welcome and Introductions • Greg Moore called the meeting to order. • Greg Moore welcomed all members; round table introductions. 2.0 Approval of May Minutes and June Agenda • Motion by Dawn Clelland, seconded by Sharon Giles to accept the June Agenda; all in favour. • Motion by Carrie Speers, seconded by Paula Saunders to accept the May minutes; all in favour 3.0 Declarations of Pecuniary Interest • There were no pecuniary interests to declare. 4.0 Northumberland - Stanley -Swan Streets Improvements, Ayr — Delton Zehr (ROW) • Looking at not tearing down Heritage buildings. • Review Northumberland Street and Stanley Street and Swan Street plan views. • Reconstruct Stanley to allow trucks to make safe right hand turn (clear cenotaph). • Parking space numbers should remain the same. • Sidewalks were deemed more important than bike trails at this time (budget dollars). • Swan Street — sidewalks on the west side only. • There is an area on the east side of the street where the houses /buildings are significantly lower than the road — insufficient space to add sidewalks. • Cycling lanes to begin at Mitchell St. • Any questions /comments can be sent to Vanessa who will forward them on to Delton. • Truncated domes will be installed on sidewalks. • No signalized intersections in Ayr, no need for Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS) • Concerns raised about providing safe crossings on Swan Street. It was noted that traffic volume is quite low here, speed limit is 50km /hour. Break 5.0 Accessible Pedestrian Signal Feedback — Jennifer Bertelsen (Region of Waterloo) • New pedestrian crossing button meeting AODA Standard. Volume comes right from the button itself. • A new pedestrian button was passed around for the committee to see /handle it. • New crossing buttons are currently used in Cambridge and Waterloo. Kitchener uses the old sound /style buttons at pedestrian crossings. • A challenge at some intersections to decide which direction to use North /South tone and East/West tone. Ordinal directions do not always align with Civic addresses. COMMENTS: • There are arrows that are great for those who have limited /no sight which assist for what direction you are going in. • Would like braille on the new buttons. • Overall preference expressed for new crossing buttons. 6.0 Accessible On- Street Parking — Mike Jones (Region of Waterloo) • Past practice for Region to address accessible on street parking when requested. • Council resolution from January 2014 that the Region designate up to 2% of existing on street parking as accessible in core areas of the cities and townships. • Beginning with the City of Waterloo. Will be looking at Cambridge and Kitchener soon. • Proposing 1 accessible space in Uptown Waterloo, Northeast corner of King St and Princess St. • Additional accessible parking space on West side of street will be discussed when streetscape improvement is underway. • Committee members endorsed this location. • Snow removal response for accessible parking requires further discussion. Break 7.0 GRAAC Sidewalk Position Paper — Greg Moore • Motion to officially accept the position paper. This was in the package sent to members and copies were available at the meeting. June 26th, 2014 — GRAAC Minutes Page 2 • Once approved by GRAAC, this paper could be provided to Councils and staff to clarify GRAAC's position on the need for sidewalks. MOTION: Paula Saunders put a motion forward to "Accept the position paper" seconded by David Kuhn. Discussion • Concern raised that the position paper should include additional recommendations regarding width, materials, cross slope, use of tactile warning surfaces at intersections. • Staff noted that many of these elements are addressed in the Design of Public Spaces Standard (DOPS) under the AODA, municipalities are working to build them into their design requirements. • It was noted this paper developed to address the many circumstances where inclusion of sidewalks is up for debate, deemed important to focus on that particular issue. • GRAAC may wish to write additional position papers to address other issues, including intersections, roundabouts, pedestrian crossings. Motion was carried, 7 in favour and 2 against 8.0 Built Environment Update — Paula Saunders • The City is looking into replacing the worn play structures at Victoria Park. • Looking at accessible playground equipment that is easily accessible. • Working group including staff and community members considering options and making decisions regarding new equipment. • Accessibility perspective represented by Paula, staff member from KidsAbility and Pam. • If you have any concerns /ideas, let Pam and Paula know. These will go back to staff team. Follow up • GRAAC members expressed an interest in learning what has been done with the advice they provided on facilities and buildings. • Options for follow up opportunities will be investigated. 9.0 Councillor Reports Councillor Berry Vrbanovic (City of Kitchener) Your Say ... Your Kitchener ongoing until June 30th, 2014. Finishing the official plan. Going to council on June 30th for final ratification. Once ratified at City council it will then go to Region for approval. Many events and festivals this summer including, July 1St celebrations downtown, Music Fest at McLennan Park, Cruising on King St, Blues fest, Rib fest and many more. June 26th, 2014 — GRAAC Minutes Page 3 Councillor Jean Haalboom (Region of Waterloo) • 2014 National Urban Design award to the Region for Central Transit Corridor. Community Building Strategy, Royal Architecture Institute of Canada, Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and Canadian Institute of Planners. • Adapted bus rapid transit, Cambridge. Council adopted Bus Rapid Transit construction contract to Steed and Evans. Start mid -July and completed by December. • Elmsdale Drive, Brownfield site, tax increment grant for residential apartments. Mixed use of commercial and office space. • Supportive housing — Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative. • Affordable housing tools — consider density housing around ION Station areas and transit corridors. • Approved 6 accessible mini buses at a total cost of $603,110.74. To replace 2008 buses. • Implement an electronic transit fare collection service. Use of a smart card for transit fare. Testing of smart card to commence in early 2015. To be used for payment on GRT buses, mobility buses, Kiwanis transit, ION LRT, BRT Service. 10.0 Co -Chair and Staff Reports • Pam reported that the City of Waterloo's RIM Park signage program is on hold, due to corporate rebranding. 11.0 New Business • Dorothy brought forward that there are individuals going door to door saying they are from the CNIB and are asking for money. Dorothy will follow up with CNIB. • Concern was brought to GRAAC that adults or /and older children /teens cannot be changed because there are no large change tables in many city areas. • This will be investigated further. Greg will take this issue to the Co- Chairs meeting. ACTION: Dawn to send Greg the information. • Block line and Homer Watson roundabout, there are issues with the sidewalks because they are too narrow. • Getting a lot of black asphalt in place of sidewalk. ACTION: Vanessa will follow up with Anthony. 12.0 Adjournment • Motion to adjourn at 4:OOpm by David Kuhn and seconded by Sharon Giles. *Next meeting is Thursday August 28th, 2014 in the Conestoga Room, Kitchener City Hall June 26th, 2014 — GRAAC Minutes Page 4