HomeMy WebLinkAboutGRAAC - 2014-11-27Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee
Date: November 27th, 2014
Location: Conestoga Room, Kitchener City Hall
Present:
Andrew Tufty (Co- Chair), Sharon Giles, Carrie Speers, Dorothy Staal, Paula Saunders, Mike
Shipley, Anthony Cashin, David Kuhn, Laura Master, Karen Panchaud (ASL Interpreter), Lesley
Roach (ASL Interpreter), Councillor Jeff Henry (City of Waterloo), Councillor Berry Vrbanovic
(City of Kitchener), Vanessa Lopak (Region of Waterloo), Lolita Paroski (City of Kitchener, City
of Waterloo), Kaitlyn Draker (Township of Wellesley), Johanna Ellis (Recorder)
Regrets:
Dawn Clelland, Amanda Moorehead, Greg Moore, Keri Cameron, Councillor Jean Haalboom,
Julia Sippel (North Dumfries)
Guests:
Dave Smith (GRT Mobility Plus), Chris Hodgson (City of Waterloo), Eric Pisani & Blair Allan
(GRT), Guests from Wilmot Township to observe meeting,
1.0 Welcome and Introductions
• Andrew welcomed everyone
• Round table introductions
2.0 Approval of October Minutes and November Agenda
• Moved by Mike Shipley, seconded by Carrie Speers to accept the October minutes.
CARRIED
• Moved by David Kuhn, seconded by Sharon Giles to accept the November agenda.
CARRIED
3.0 Declarations of Pecuniary Interests
• There were no pecuniary interests to declare.
4.0 City of Waterloo Citywide Sidewalk Prioritization Strategy — Chris Hodgson
• Part of the City of Waterloo Transportation Masterplan is to develop neighbourhoods
that are pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
• It was passed by Waterloo council in 2005 to have sidewalks on both sides of the street.
• Statistics show that there are 500 kilometers of sidewalk in the City of Waterloo with
another 170 kilometers to go.
• Prioritizing installations of new sidewalks in Waterloo will be dependent on Budget and
need.
• Phase 1 includes; locations previously approved by council; list of locations to council
for design and begin construction in 2015.
• Phase 2 includes; establish easy to use criteria; where the money is spent; seek
approval from council; apply approved criteria; develop a plan.
Setting Priorities, Next Steps:
• Distance to walk from transportation areas.
• 800 meters from LRT to schools, facilities and high employment areas. Equivalent to a
10 minute walk.
• Finalize criteria, seek approval and develop plan.
Questions /Comments:
Q. Are Regional roads Region or City responsibility?
A. Region initial costs and cities keep up with maintenance.
Q. Are new developments automatically expected to have sidewalks?
A. Yes. Intersection with traffic signals and sidewalks. The Region is working with Cities.
Q. What would you like from this committee?
A. Once criteria is finalized, Chris will return to GRAAC to seek endorsement.
5.0 Grand River Transit Accessibility Plan Status Update — Dave Smith
• GRT Accessibility Plan 2014 -2015 was emailed to the committee.
• Dave went through the plan briefly with committee.
• Highlights include changes to eligibility to utilize accessible transit. Eligibility is
contingent on person's inability to take conventional transit.
• No shows or late cancellation can be time consuming. The Region is working on how to
deal with these situations.
• Best thing to do right now is to call in with cancellations.
Questions /Comments:
Q. What about those who can use conventional transit but cannot get to where they are
going because the bus does not stop close enough to destination?
A. The unique situations for each applicant will be considered individually, and exceptions
will be made as needed.
Break
6.0 Grand River Transit (Transit Improvement Plan) — Eric Pisani, Blair Allan
• Proposed 2015 Grand River Transit Improvement Plan brochure and comment form was
handed out to the committee. Proposed changes /maps are in the brochure and are also
available on the GRT website.
• Presentation to committee is the same as given to the public at public meetings.
• Service changes are subject to Regional Budget approval, and include:
- Adding another IXpress route operating east -west through Kitchener, and changes to
related local routes.
November 27th, 2014 — GRAAC Minutes Page 2
- Changes to bus routes in the Central Transit Corridor to become more effective and
efficient when ION is running.
- ION adapted bus rapid transit on Hespeler Road in Cambridge.
• Past experience shows that service improvements lead to higher ridership.
• The next step is to revise the Plan and incorporate feedback from the public — additional
public meetings will take place in spring 2015.
Q. Will there be more customer information provided closer to the date that changes are
implemented?
A. Yes, additional information will be posted online, at bus stops, at terminals, and in
various other locations once the plan has been finalized.
Q. Sunday service is less frequent and buses are crowded, especially Route 7C to
Conestoga Mall. Will there be changes to Sunday service?
A. Yes, GRT is looking at adding more frequent Sunday service on several routes,
including Route 7C, to make service more attractive and reduce crowding.
Q. Is the plan available online?
A. Yes, the plan can be viewed at the following webpage:
htt: / /www.grt.ca /en /aboutus /2015PCC.as�
ACTION: For those who have not already done so, and have comments to provide,
please provide feedback on the comment form that was distributed or through the GRT
website.
7.0 Co -Chair Report
• Christine Taylor will be leaving the committee on maternity leave.
• Today is Dorothy's last meeting. Many thanks to Dorothy for her contributions to the
committee.
• Welcome back Lolita.
8.0 Staff Report
• January 2015 GRAAC meeting will be held on Thursday January 29th, 2015, Conestoga
Room from 1:30pm — 4pm.
9.0 Councillor(s) Report(s)
Berry Vrbanovic (City of Kitchener)
• Last meeting before assuming position of Mayor.
• Two (2) new councillors. Dave Schnider, Ward 2 and Sarah Marsh, Ward 10.
• Councillor Kelly Galloway - Sealock will be returning to GRAAC.
• Event coming up at the Tannery Event Centre. International Day of Persons with
Disabilities. December 3 d from 9am — 11:30am. Paula gave the details and there is no
charge for this event. Please RSVP to give accurate numbers. Berry is hoping to
attend.
November 27th, 2014 — GRAAC Minutes Page 3
• Berry thanked the committee for all of their great work and how much he enjoyed being
on the committee.
Jeff Henry (City of Waterloo)
• Hillside Trail has been paved and because of the paving, was not washed out with the
last rain storm.
• Other multiuse trails have been paved as well.
• King St Streetscape will be coming back in the new year.
• Thanked committee and expressed how much he has enjoyed working with GRAAC the
past 4 years.
• Councillor Henry will be moving to another Advisory Committee.
Jean Haalboom (Region of Waterloo)
• Councillor Haalboom sent this in an email to the committee:
"Dear GRAAC members:
Thank you for your willingness to serve on GRAAC. Advocating for special needs can
be challenging and fatiguing. Your work has made a difference. Municipalities are
reminded to adapt their physical infrastructure for those persons who are unable to
adapt themselves to the existing infrastructure. I believe you have improved everyone's
ease of movement in our Region. I have learned a lot about people with special needs.
With appreciation,
Jean Haalboom, Season's greetings"
Break
10.0 Accessible Pedestrian Crossings — Bob Henderson, Mike Halloran (Design Group)
• At the October meeting, Carrie brought to the attention of the group some of the barriers
she has experienced when using the tactile warning surface indicators (i.e. truncated
domes) recently installed in Waterloo at University and Albert. University and King, and
King and Hickory.
• To follow up, Carrie, Paula, and Vanessa, along with Bob Henderson with the Region of
Waterloo, planned to do a site visit at these intersections. The site visit was cancelled
because of a snow storm.
• Vanessa presented the requirements of the Design of Public Spaces of the AODA
related to the installation of truncated domes at intersections, alongside the design
specifications the Region uses when installing the truncated domes. The group looked
at drawings of the preferred installation design, and two alternative installation designs.
• The group provided feedback that the domes are a good size and colour, and generally
user friendly. However, the dome plates at the intersections mentioned above are
installed in a way that does not allow a person who is blind to align themselves with the
crosswalk. If they use the domes for alignment they will end up in the middle of the
intersection.
• Mike Halloran explained that some intersections do not allow for the preferred
installation of the domes, and instead they must install the domes on an angle to meet
the AODA requirement that the domes be no further than 150mm — 200mm from the
November 27th, 2014 — GRAAC Minutes Page 4
edge of the curb ramp. If they aligned these domes with the crosswalk, part of the
domes would be further from the bottom of the curb ramp than allowed by the AODA.
• Mike and Bob told the group that they aim for the preferred installation of the domes,
where the plates are aligned with the crosswalks, but often features of the landscape
(buildings, utility poles, storm drains) restrict the way they design crosswalks.
• Mike and Bob welcomed any GRAAC feedback on pedestrian crossings, acknowledging
that it was GRAAC feedback on the Edna and Frederick intersection that had led to
improvements.
• GRAAC member commented that the Weber and Victoria intersection is most accessible
so far.
• There were some questions about how the domes hold up to winter snow and plowing.
Mike answered that they now use iron plates for the domes, which hold up better than
polymer plates.
11.0 Adjournment
• Motion to adjourn by Carrie, seconded by David, CARRIED
Next meeting is Thursday December 18th, 2014 at Kitchener City Hall in the Conestoga Room
Motion by Carrie, seconded by Amanda to adjourn. Meeting was adjourned at 4:OOpm.
Next meeting is at City Hall in Kitchener, Conestoga Room
Thursday November 27th, 2014
1:30pm — 4:OOpm
November 27th, 2014 — GRAAC Minutes Page 5