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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTCSP Oversight Committee Minutes (4)TCSP Oversight Committee Laurel, Montana MEETING MINUTES OF MARCH 9, 2000 The Laurel TCSP Oversight Committee met on Thursday, March 9, 2000 at the City Council Chambers from 7:00 to 9:00 p.nx Those in at~ndauee were: Chairman~ Bud Johnson, Mayor Charles Rodgers, Cai O~min. Debbie Ricci; Kate Stevenson, Gay Easton, Ken Olson, Dr. John Smith, Lany ~MgC. ann. Kathleen Banmgarlnar, Diane Walker, and Jennifer Dalrymple. Bud Johnson called the meeting to order. Bud asked ffthere were any additions or con'eefiuns to the minut~ from the Febmmy 10* meeting, and, since them were none, Bud stated that the minutes would Cai intmdueed Jennifer Dalrymple, Bike/Pedestrian Coordinator from the Helena office of the Montana Department of Transportation to the mst of the commiRee. Cai presented copies oftbe p~liminary street graphics. These copies are reductions of 24 x 36 drawings. Tbethreedmwin~are asfollows: Main S~reet looking north with to a roundabout to First Avenue and First Steel aerial view looking down on the same streetscape with roundabout at the north end, and South First Avenna looking north fi.om about the Interstate. These graphics are not engineered, but aro educated sketches. The landscape artist put these together with all of the street.scape concepts we have discussed. Debbie Ricci staled tha~ the intersections look like they are made out brickwork and asked ff they are imended to be asphalt or cobblestone. Cai answered that they are not cobblestone and that colored concrete might be used in these areas. The pedestrian bulb-outs con0.ept are not imended to be mnde Out of cun~.t~e. The'traffic engineer suggested planters be built that are mobile for this area. These graphics wffi be contained in the mailer with a place for questions. Lany McCann stated the diagonal parking on Main SWeet needs to face in the right direction. He also stated that the imersection is skewed and a sidewalk crossing will need to be placed in the right spot. Diane Walker asked what size the paper would be once folded for the mailing. She stated that she cheeked into the detailn of having the return portion of the mailer in post card size. She reported that for o1~ mailing it is not worth the money to be spen~_ If a pest card was enclosed with the return information, the cost of start up would be $200.00 alone and there is also the cost of the return postage. The problem with the return postage is that ali postcards have to coptnln postage. Payment cannot be for just the postcards that are returned. Gal slated that a letter folded over for responses should suffice, and there should also be a way to just pay for the responses ~hat are returned. A suggestion was made to put posters with the drawings in the stores and to offer a $30.00 drawing prize in order to encourage all to retom the questionrmlre& CUl stated that this worked before with the Laurel Economic Development Organi:,'ation. Bud stated that when the study commission did a mnilin§ with the water bills, there was good response to it. Cal asked if this could be done without th~ postcards. Jennifer Dah'ymple asked ff anyone has spoken to the students who do design work. Ken Olsen said that it might be getting too late into the school year. Jennifer suggested either an art class or draffing class be asked to devote one hour to envision Laurek Ken said that the City and School hold meetings and one of these meetings willbe belduextweek. Ifa forum couldbe put together bofore nexfTuesday, then this could be Presented at that time. Kathleen slated that there is no drsffing class in the high nchnO1. She feels that new is not the time to do this and earlier in the year would be better. Jeunifer suggested sending p~ckets home with the school childrem This was done in Helena'and it was found that out of 119 students, the return rate was 85. Debbie stated that it miglR be wise to ask tho school if they would be willing to put something in their nawsletter Ken stated that they are ooordinaling with the YMCA in the newsletter, and they do not have objections to adding things in the newsletter. : ' · Cai stated that thc m~k is to send out three graphics to 2,700 households. These graphics w/Il have tear- off sbeets with questions along with a space for write-in answers. Drop off plaeas for the que~fionnnires have W be eslublisbed. Copies of "Ideas to C-et the Que~donnaire Discussion Slain' were handed out. Cal said that questions ueed to be developed in order to gct responses hack. He further stated that people in Laurel are nut generally aware that there are alternatives to autos. This gets to be an education process in order to ga more feedback. People ueed to realize that they don't have to spend more on infrastsuCm~ in order to get things accomplished. The whole p~ of the survey is to get people ~inki,~g about the issues. Jennifer 8ugg~ted having people pick a street ia Laurel and tell why this slxeet is their favorite. Kate stated that there should be a tie with the main group of people who walk in downtown Laurel. These arc fi~ middle school chil,:,~ during the lunch hour. With tha ~ accident, Kate stated that it might be best to address parents' safety conceras. The questions would have to be simple. The public could be told to look at the d~wings and to not just look at the beautification issues, but to look towards traffic c~lming devices with the focus on safety issues. Sennifer stated that people get adamant about '~Dra~c c~lminoo" type of words. She suggested addressing this as "safety coneerns'. Kathlean a~ked if the different age groups would be factored i~ She is concerned that the se~ey may be targeting only eartnin age groups. Debbie stated that she liked the question about how people feel about gatfing around town. She said that this would bo a way to §~t people to start lhinklng a~d lnlking about th~ issues, Kale staled that whe~l people get these drawings, they would be thinking abolR bealllification projects, The questions asked will need to be geared towards getting them thinking about the slreats. Ken asked when sending this questionnaire out, will a ~mmaty also be enclosed exp]aining what thig coalmitt~ is ~jLqg to do. Kathleen stated that the information about safety should be put with the heading. Cai stated that the explanation would be listed on one side of thc flyer with the questions on thc other side along with the three graphics. There will be a total of two sheets of paper in this mailer. ]Cafhleefl staled that ]~opie would wonder how much their laxes are going to increase after seein~ the graphic~ Cai stated that taxes could be reduced if workable alternatives to motorized traffic infiastmcaa~ can be implemenled. Cai asked for specific questions to be lisl~L Ken stated that the questions need to be general and safety shoald be piacgd in soll~ area of the questionnaire. Some of the questions chosen were as follows: (1) If you could change or add to the physical layout of Lamrel, what would you change or add? (2) Would your family frequent de~¢ntown ff it lcoked like this (gmphlc shown)? (3) What would you like to cha~ge in order to malce the streets more pedeslrian friendly? Larry stated that he will need this mailer on Thursday at 8 a~m. in order to have everytlfing in the mail by Friday morning. The cost to the TCSP Project will be half the total cost, about $300.00· Discussion was held on the folding. It was decided that the mailer would need to be put on 11 x 17 sheets of paper in order to be properly foldecL The drep-off points for the questionnaire will be at City Hall, Jan's IGA, Post Office, and Ricoi's Thriftway along with posters of the graphics. Diane stated that she will get permission for this f~om each. Cul handed Out Amle Cossitt's sustainabillty survey results and there are no smprises. Cal also handed om the flnnl of the first phase of the Transportation System Analysis. This is the final first phase to the transpoltation analysis. ~ will be changes made to the graphics~ Gal stated that this is a very interesting document and en~oILrag~ all to re. ad through it and compare it to the coatract in order to see what the uext phase will be. He also said that more data is needed on visioning and w'a.lkability. · Lany said that before diagonal pafldng can be implemented, the Public Works Committee and the City CouncA1 will have to approve this. Signs will have to be put up and this will cost money. Cai stated that signs would have to also be put up in order to prohibit extended crew cab pickups from the diagonal psrkin~ There are some issues with diagonal paddng like snow removal and ~ cleoning that have to be tested before ubunge in parldag is allowed. Every tom made by the plows and/or street cleaners will leave spots that cannut be cleaned ualese by hand. Cai stated that this issue could be addressed through the B.I.D. The businessmen are expecting a lot of parking to be created out of changing to diagonal. In erder to do this fight; about 6 parking places will be created rather thsn 15. Jennifer suggested tslking to Paul Relchert in Helena about the concerns since they recently dealt with this issue. Debbie said'that she would coutact Mr. Relchert and report hack at the next meeting. Cai repotted that more pa.q. icipanta are ne~lexl to the VL~d Prefe~nco Screening. This slide show was recently shown at Rotary Club. Ken stated that in th~ fall of 2000, there would be more opportunities to show this to tl~ stud~ts at the high school in order to fit it into tbe cirriculmn. Debbi¢ suggested showing it to th~ students the w~k after th~ seniors have graduated. Ken said he would check into this. Invoices presented for payment were: Fisehe~ & Associates - G.I.S. $712.50 Cessitt Consulting- ongoing evaluation 70.00 Dcbbi¢ Ricci made a motinll to pay these bills, seconded by Ken Olson, and all present voted in favor of the motion. C. al stated that Start Jonulis with the Billings office of the State Highway Department (MDT) regretted not being able to attand this meeting since he had a prior commitment out of town. Next momh's agenda will include: 1. Final form with responses from the mailer. 2. Diagonal parking. 3. School response. Debbie asked ff people are needed in attendance at the Public Works Committee meeting on Monday. Larry said all are welcome at these mcO~s. This meeting will be held Monday, March 13z at 7:00 p.m. at City Chambers. Mayor Charges Rudge~s stated that A1 Champlin, owner of Coast Rental recently told him that this committee and the ~ Revitali~fion League have been great for Laurel, but he would like to see the elevator tom down. It ia difficult for people to see that there ia a downtown with this elevator visible fxom the highway. Kathleen asked flit would help to get a time-linc in order for this committee to get more accomplished. Cai stated that he wonld ~e what be could draft up. The meeting was adjonraed.