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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTSMinutes_2007_08_09BROOKINGS TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMITTEE City Hall meeting room Thursday, August 9, 2007 12:10 p.m. Members Present: Connie Bridges, Keith Bruinsma, Bryan Gums, Jackie Lanning, Brian Lueders, Matthew Nelson, Louis Skubic, Becky Thompson. Members Absent: Dennis Bielfeldt, Daryl Englund, Tim Heaton, Jerry Sikkink, Margie Wagner-Carpenter, Skip Webster, Brad Whaley. Others Present: Dale Ulvestad, Brenda Schweitzer, Alex Brown, Eric Hanson, Allyn Frerichs. Call to Order: meeting called to order. Matt/Connie made a motion to approve minutes from the July 12th, 2007 meeting. All present voted aye. Motion passed. Addition to Agenda: 1) Discuss Safe Ride program and bus loading stall. Connie/Louis moved to approve agenda with this addition as a discussion item only. Jackie and Allyn Frerichs have worked together on a committee with a program called Safe Ride for the college students. Alex Brown and Eric Hanson informed the committee this program started about 1 ½ years ago with the idea of creating a bus route to run on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights to different student housing areas from downtown to move students along from the bars or just to help with transportation on the weekends. It was in full implementation last year and there were about 5000 riders throughout the year and they saw an increase in students averaging out to 300-400 riders per weekend once the word got around. They are now redeveloping and revamping their routes. They had two routes last year with about 12 stops total and have almost doubled the amount of stops this year to include more student housing locations and also Wal-Mart, HyVee, Perkins and other places that students may go to. They passed out brochures from last year for members to look at. They want to establish sign locations so students know where to go to get on and off the bus; it wasn’t signed in the past. More about the program was discussed along with the signing issue. Louis/Keith moved to go on record as supporting this plan. All present voted aye. Motion carried. Old Business: New Business: 1) Request for a bus parking stall on the south side of 2nd Street South near 624 2nd St. S. Marty Robinson is requesting a temporary bus parking stall for the Jefferson Lines bus to stop twice a day, at 10:20am and 6:20pm, for 20-30 minutes per stop. The south side of 2nd Street South has no parking the entire length to Medary Avenue, but there is parking on the majority of the north side. Dale Ulvestad owns the lot and does not want the bus parking in the lot. The majority of the committee members felt 2nd Street South already has visibility problems and we would be allowing parking in a no parking zone. The bus is rather large and anyone coming off 7th Avenue would not be able to see around the bus. Brenda Schweitzer, previously Jefferson Lines, said the bus would be parked there approximately 20 minutes. Connie asked about putting a cut out into the boulevard. Jackie said she would have to check into that, but the City owns the right of way and parking is not allowed. Bryan wondered if the drive-way is long enough to pull in parallel to it. Jackie talked about widening the drive-way approach; she can look and see what the allowable width is. If they parked there anyway, they would be subject to ticketing. Connie/Louis moved to allow for a temporary bus zone for up to two times per day. All present voted nay. Motion failed. Jackie said she would contact Mr. Robinson and discuss widening the driveway if the zoning is appropriate. Jackie reiterated she is concerned because parking is not allowed at all on that side of the street and is really worried about safety and visibility. 2) Request by First Bank & Trust for speed bumps in the alley from 5th to 6th Avenue between 5th and 6th Street. Jackie said about two years ago we discussed allowing two- way traffic in this alley. Typically alleys have a 20’ wide right of way, but in this case the bank got permission from the City to curb and gutter the alley and also widened the road way 4’ feet on their own property to the north so there are basically two 12’ lanes in this alley. It operates more like a street than an alley. Connie said kids use the sidewalks on both ends and/or use the alley when heading to school. The bank would be responsible for purchasing and placing the temporary speed bumps. They would place it right in the middle of the alley to keep people from driving too fast. Jackie asked about putting up stop signs but Bryan said if you put them there where would you stop because there have been requests before. Jackie said the temporary speed bump would be an object placed in the right-of-way that the City owns, so where would the liability lie if someone got hurt rollerblading or something like that. If the City allowed it to be placed on our property, but we don’t own the object, which insurance company would pay for it? Issues like this would present problems. Also, there are no speed bumps currently in the city so Jackie said she would not be in favor of this. Jackie said she would research the possibility of stop signs if the bank would want them. Connie said she would talk to bank personnel and let the committee know. Member Reports Meeting adjourned. 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