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HomeMy WebLinkAboutATTAC Minutes 2022-04-12 ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER April 12, 2022 The Active Transportation and Trails Advisory Committee met electronically on Tuesday April 12, 2022, at 4 pm. Present: M. Rodrigues, G. Kirk, G. Piccini, B. Forwell, Councillor S. Marsh, B. Tracey, M. Jackson-Brown, T. Slomke, J. Orita, L. Dramnitzki, V. Jenkins, J. Brosheck, E. Bennett Staff: D. Kropf, Active Transportation Planning Project Manager L. Christensen, Multi-Use Pathways & Trails Project Manager I. Balaban, Active Transportation Planning Project Manager 1. National Volunteer Week D. Kropf, L. Christensen and I. Balaban expressed their appreciation for volunteers. A gift card draw will be held for all city volunteers as a token of appreciation. 2. Pedal Poll 2022 B. Pincott, Executive Director for Velo Canada Bikes, shared about Pedal Poll 2022. Velo Canada Bikes is a national cycling advocacy organization that has been around for 10 years, with a focus on federal government advocacy for a national active transportation strategy and funding, which was achieved last year. One thing the organization has found is there is a big lack of data: how many people work in the cycling industry? How much economic generation is there? How much are governments spending on infrastructure? How much are people riding? Pedal Poll is a way to respond to this, and was hosted last year to count who is out cycling and getting snapshots of communities to see what cycling looks like. It is most interested in who is on the bike with demographic data. That can also reveal who isn’t cycling. Volunteers count perceived age, gender and ethnicity. This can help guide investments to be more inclusive and accessible for everyone. Last year was the first time doing it. They aimed for 14 pilot communities in each province/territory, with 1000 volunteers across the country. It will be hosted every year in the first full week of June and will expand to more communities. Cycle WR has asked to include Waterloo Region as one of the focus communities and they’ll help to identify specific count locations. To volunteer, register at https://www.velocanadabikes.org/. You can also review the results from last year in Waterloo Region. 3. Complete Streets 2024 Reconstructions G. Piccini on behalf of the Complete Streets Subcommittee presented a memo of comments in regards to scheduled reconstructions in 2024. Committee members added additional comments:  Prefer to see bike lanes on the curb side, and not between parking bay and live traffic ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER April 12, 2022  The Manitou bike lane design is a good compromise to save trees for East Ave o Prefer to see less of a grade on the roll curb bike lane design. Buffer between roll curb and parked car should be bigger so there’s a buffer zone. o Want to see a better version of Manitou o Raising the cycling facility as much as possible is preferred  Want to see a cycling facility on King Street that connects to Pandora so Duke can be the alternative into downtown G. Kirk moved: “That the Committee supports forwarding the Complete Streets memo to staff for consideration.” Seconded by B. Forwell. Carried unanimously. 4. Ontario Bike Summit Recap B. Forwell shared highlights from the Ontario Bike Summit:  Hamilton Complete Streets – they defined 7 types of Complete Streets. They were very interested in finding voided spaces and activating them. Key for city council was public buy-in, and they developed extensive outreach as part of reconstructions.  Active School Transportation featured Leslie Maxwell from Waterloo, who shared about Westmount Road and a school located on it. Cycling facilities that were just painted the students didn’t like but started using it when there was separation from vehicles.  Tourism in the Pandemic Area - speaking about the Waterfront Trail and loops in Toronto areas designed for tourism to visit breweries or bakeries.  Trans Canada Trail has different types of trails countrywide  Ontario By Bike shared that E-bikes are becoming a major driver of tourism  Reallocating street space was a big issue talked about. It is a flashpoint issue for the public when streets are changed. If there is a destination plan in mind, that can help to generate buy-in  Bikeway Planning Design – included a speaker from Cambridge who surveyed the lack of facilities in Cambridge. Called them “cycle deserts” and these get a higher ranking for implementation. It was an interesting scoring model that could be considered here. I. Balaban attended a workshop by City of Ottawa on a design guide for protected intersections, as well as a Toronto workshop on intermediate alternatives for protected intersections when a full reconstruction isn’t available. There was an excellent presentation on winter cycling in Montreal. Another presentation was on the bike brigade in Toronto, where volunteers delivered essential supplies to people in need by bike during the pandemic. A panel discussion was hosted on reducing truck collisions, by reducing blind spots of trucks. ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER April 12, 2022 5. Mexico City’s “Move By Bike” Sundays M. Rodrigues shared about his experience in Mexico City where a major corridor and connecting streets are shut down to vehicles for many kilometres. They also teach kids to bike, and host mechanic stations, fitness classes and have a free bikeshare program. It’s very popular. Committee members expressed a desire for more attempts of car-free events on King Street:  Can’t overestimate events like this for being able to experience “what could be.”  They need some time to grow.  Similar to European cities that turn downtowns to car-free zones for the weekends. King Street needs more energy on the weekends.  Vancouver had a car-free day for Father’s Day with a busy street closed for several kms. Streets would rotate as a great community-building event.  Gaukel can serve as the connection between the park and a closed King Street.  One challenge is finding the re-routing of GRT stops. 6. Bike Month: June 2022 D. Kropf introduced plans to recognize Bike Month, including an educational and promotional campaign for the Downtown Cycling Grid, and small scale bike ride targeting various demographics. B. Forwell encouraged to see getting youth out and get kids signed up to learn to ride with Can Bike instructors. D. Kropf will see if Cycling into the Future could partner on that. 7. Bike Parking M. Rodrigues shared that a community member reached out to the bike parking subcommittee and asked if there could be more bike parking. The Bicycle Parking Subcommittee discussed the opportunity for the City to track requests and develop a standing budget item to be able to respond to user and business owner requests for bicycle parking, similar to other smaller-scale standing infrastructure items (e.g., pothole repair). J. Orita noted that the new trails along Victoria Street have made businesses more accessible, but very few of those businesses have bike parking. Can new bike parking be included as part of those infrastructure projects? D. Kropf noted that bike racks are currently installed as part of larger infrastructure funding, with no dedicated budget line just for bike parking. This would need to be advocated for as part of the budget process. It can be time intensive to install bike ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER April 12, 2022 racks. Providing bike racks on private property must conform with provincial policies, to avoid providing an unfair advantage to specific businesses. This would require the creation of a formal program. S. Marsh encouraged the committee to put forth a motion for staff to consider how bike parking can be included in budget and workplans. The strategic plan is another opportunity, which will include a 5 year and 20 year window. G. Piccini suggested bike parking could be tied to business licensing applications, similar to the site plan approval process. J. Orita moved: “That staff be requested to investigate potential options to fund and implement more bike parking and report back to the committee.” Seconded by G. Piccini. Carried unanimously. 8. Staff updates L. Christensen shared:  Upgrades of the Filsinger Trail are out for tender, which will include a refuge island on Westmount that connects the trails.  Wilson Park is out for tender, which includes new trail and creek rehabilitation and a new pedestrian bridge.  Rittenhouse Park trails were done previously but one more leg will be paved soon.  Rolling Meadows and Timberlane Park trails will be paved in summer to avoid school commuting conflicts.  A co-op student has been hired again to capture google streetview of trails, on Walter Bean and Dom Cardillo Trail. B. Forwell asked what was happening with the tunnel under Westmount. Westmount is too busy for a crossing unless it goes down to 3 lanes. L. Christensen noted the tunnel - can’t be closed because it’s overflow for the creek and will remain, but wayfinding will be installed to encourage people to avoid the bridge underneath by using Westmount crossing instead. D. Kropf noted the following updates:  Advisory committee meetings will continue to meet electronically. Starting May 9, City Council meetings will move to a hybrid model. Delegations can attend electronically or in person  Transportation Services is undergoing a reorganization, with a new “Active Transportation & Development” division and is now recruiting a new manager  Bike Check is back! The schedule of events will be shared at the next meeting ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER April 12, 2022 I. Balaban noted that the Region of Waterloo approved updated micromobility bylaws and an RFP process to secure a shared micromobility system, and also directed staff to include e-bikes in the procurement system. The City will have a companion report in the coming months. Meeting adjourned at 6:07 pm.