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HomeMy WebLinkAboutKCTAC Minutes 2020-08-11 CYCLING AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER August 11, 2020 The Cycling and Trails Advisory Committee met on Tuesday August 11, 2020, at 4 pm. Present: D. Brotherston, M. Clark, V. Hand, E. Hannah, M. Rodrigues, Councillor S. Marsh, G. Piccini, G. Kirk. Staff: D. Kropf, Active Transportation Planning Project Manager L. Christensen, Multi-Use Pathways & Trails Project Manager B. Cronkite, Director, Transportation Services N. Lobley, Director, Parks & Cemeteries F. Hosseini, Transportation Planning Project Manager A. McCrimmon-Jones, Manager, Transportation Planning 1. Online meeting protocols Due to COVID-19, this and future meetings are being held electronically. M. Rodrigues introduced how online meetings will function. 2. General updates D. Kropf, L. Christensen and F. Hosseini outlined several initiatives since the committee met in March.  Activation of Streets staff report was approved, with 13.5 km of new active transportation infrastructure in response to COVID-19, plus expanded patio space and food trucks allowed in residential neighbourhoods. In that report:  Slow Streets (quiet streets closed to through traffic) installed on 9 streets  Krug Street bike lanes will be installed this week  Franklin Street bike lanes will be installed in coming weeks  Stirling Avenue bike lanes will be installed in coming weeks  Delta Street approved to become a permanent trail in 2021 following reconstruction. Temporary closure in 2020 now in effect.  Patios on Gaukel Street, Ontario Street, King Street and Belmont Avenue are now open.  Tenders are now out for new trails on Wilson Avenue and in Budd Park, for construction in the fall.  Secure bike parking is now open at Duke & Ontario and Kitchener Market parking garages.  Region of Waterloo project called Rapid Reallocation of Road Space for Active Transportation to Address the COVID-19 Pandemic saw 30 km of temporary bike lanes, including Frederick Street and Westmount Avenue in Kitchener. Committee members are encouraged to ride them and complete the survey at https://www.engagewr.ca/rapid-reallocation-road-space-covid19 CYCLING AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER August 11, 2020  The city’s separated bike lane pilot on Queen’s Boulevard and Belmont Avenue is fully installed, with fresh paint added in the past couple weeks. This will be discussed further in a future agenda. Initial bike ridership counts show a 65% increase in ridership on Belmont Avenue and an 85% increase on Queen’s Boulevard.  The Cycling and Trails Master Plan and Downtown Cycling Grid will be discussed at a future meeting.  A Micromobility Feasibility Report was presented to regional council, recommending a carefully managed “lock-to/hybrid” system with designated hubs and flexible service area. The 2019 pilot project with Drop Bike was not renewed due to COVID-19. The region and cities will seek new proposals for bikeshare providers in 2021.  The Ministry of Transportation announced a 5-year e-scooter pilot. The region and municipalities are working together to pilot e-scooters in 2022-2023.  In February 2020, Transport Canada announced that it would be downloading responsibility for defining e-bikes to the provinces & territories. Consultation opportunities for this definition will be on-going. 3. Winter sidewalk maintenance The city has conducted several years of investigation into improving sidewalk snow clearing. N. Lobley and F. Hosseini provided a presentation summarizing work to date:  All pilot work has been completed, though staff were delayed reporting back to council due to COVID-19.  The winter was relatively mild.  The status quo program is that city clears some sidewalks (city-owned property, back-lotted roads, and downtown). All other sidewalks maintained by property owners by bylaw.  Several pilots and program initiatives were conducted in 2019-2020:  Bylaw review  Contractor-led snow event service after significant snowfall  City-led full service  Identification of priority routes with high pedestrian traffic  Proactive bylaw enforcement  Assisted services partnership with The Working Centre, assisting property owners in clearing their sidewalks  Shared snow blower grant program  Sidewalk snow clearing matching application (ceased this program due to significant risks and issues)  Statistically valid survey  The staff recommendation going to the committee meeting on August 31 and to city council on September 14 is to make permanent and expand the Assisted CYCLING AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER August 11, 2020 Services program and make permanent proactive bylaw enforcement, with four officers to enforce high priority areas of walking zones, such as around transit, schools and seniors’ homes.  D. Brotherston asked if people shared their self-reported mode share, what method was used for determining actual conditions of sidewalks, what coverage there was for bylaw officers and commented that the existing bylaw is not very strong and that city-led full service increased passability more significantly than any other pilot.  N. Lobley responded that the statistically valid survey asked if people were frequent or regular users of sidewalks, and the vast majority of respondents identified as regular users of sidewalks. City inspectors monitored the sidewalk conditions according to good, fair, and poor. Bylaw inspectors covered the whole city, 7 days a week, but with a focus on priority areas. Survey results showed that residents were not willing to pay for the city-led full service, though a majority of respondents who lived within the full-service pilot were willing to pay for it.  Councillor Marsh commented that we can do better in ensuring people clear their sidewalks between snowfalls. Significant discussion occurred on the bylaw regarding bare pavement because of concerns for overusing salt. Very hard to distinguish between “passable” sidewalks, compared to “bare pavement.”  A. McCrimmon-Jones asked if analysis was conducted on first-time offenders who received a bylaw warning?  N. Lobley responded that a single notice was found to be very effective at encouraging good behavior for the year. F. Hosseini commented that less than 1% of residents who received notices were in violation of the bylaw at future inspections.  M. Rodrigues asked if the recommendation could include a focus on walkable corridors (transit stations) and provided encouragement to see this program evolve as winters change due to climate change.  N. Lobley commented that bylaw enforcement has already been focused where sidewalk use is heaviest. Staff conducted a significant environmental review of all pilots.The city-led full service would see a 4% increase in CO for city’s footprint, but that may come with a long-term decrease with mode shift from vehicles. Regarding salt, impossible to know existing salt usage, but it would be a significant increase to the city while reducing in the community. Hard to know the balance of it. T. Hannah joined the meeting at 4:50 pm. 4. Committee name and mandate D. Kropf informed the committee that due to cancelled meetings, the committee will not be able to change their terms of reference before the recruitment period for the next term begins. The committee discussed ways to try to improve the timing and recruitment CYCLING AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER August 11, 2020 but ultimately decided to delay making formal changes to the committee’s terms of reference until the new term begins in 2021. D. Kropf summarized potential changes to the terms of reference:  Rephrase purpose to emphasize safety, accessibility, comfort and convenience of streets and trails for all users, with an emphasis on protecting vulnerable users (pedestrians and cyclists)  Under Responsibilities: o Put a stronger emphasis on pedestrian safety and experience (along with cycling) and how active transportation contributes to a well balanced transportation mix o Include the review of policies and strategies related to broader transportation initiatives (e.g. Complete Streets, Vision Zero, climate action, etc.) o Add a new point about engaging the community in promoting a positive culture of active transportation and recreation, through public consultations, social media campaigns, events, etc. o Add new point regarding encouraging recreational walking and cycling for healthy living, community building and vibrant neighbourhood life M. Rodrigues commented that the changes are reflective of past conversations. G. Piccini commented that new members are likely to welcome these changes. 5. Remembering Walter M. Rodrigues reminded the committee of a previous discussion on ways to honour deceased committee member Walter Waganka. The committee agreed to encourage its members to give a donation to Cycling into the Future: http://www.cyclingintothefuture.com/donate. Meeting adjourned at 5:55 pm.