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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6STMinutes_2016_11_171 6th Street Design Ad Hoc Committee November 17, 2016 Minutes A meeting of the 6th Street Design Ad Hoc Committee was held on Thursday, November 17, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. in the Brookings City and County Government Center. Members present: Matthew Weiss, John Howard, Skip Webster and Joanie Holm. Gregg Jorgenson, Shayn Damm and Jamison Lamp were absent. Jackie Lanning - City Engineer, Kevin Catlin – Assistant to the City Manager, Mike Struck- Community Development Director, Mike Lockrem- Chair of the Bicycle Advisory Committee and Brandon Riss – SDDOT, were also in attendance. Weiss called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. Approval of the Agenda. A motion was made by Webster, seconded by Howard to approve the agenda. All present voted yes; motion carried. Approval of the Minutes. A motion was made by Holm, seconded by Howard to approve the November 3, 2016 minutes. All present voted yes; motion carried. Discussion of the Bicycle Master Plan recommendations and possible decision on the 5-lane street design. Webster explained that traffic safety on 6th Street is a major concern to him. He stated that 6th Street is a federal highway and traffic is high with about 17,000 cars per day with turning traffic. He said he felt that a bike path/lane on 6th Street was only going to cause additional traffic and more concerns. He wondered if 5th Street or 7th Street were better routes. Holm explained that she had talked to someone that also felt that 6th Street maybe isn’t the wisest choice for the bike path. Howard stated he agreed with Damm’s comments from the last meeting, but was concerned that 6th Street wasn’t the ideal place for the bicyclists. He stated that 5th Street and 7th Street could be utilized instead as one-way streets. Weiss said he preferred to ride on the street so turning vehicles can see the bicyclists, and stated he was also concerned about the tree replanting. Howard reminded the committee that the lighting and landscaping also needed to be considered. He stated that if the additional shared path was implemented, then there may not be room for lighting and landscaping. Howard also wondered what the shared path would connect to since there was no bike path east of Medary Avenue or west of Main Avenue. Weiss inquired what the status of the type of lighting that was supposed to be selected. Lanning brought up the charter description for the committee, and one of the committee objectives was “to develop and suggest landscaping and lighting features to make an aesthetically pleasing and safe transportation corridor.” Lanning stated that the committee needed to also decide what they would like for lighting and landscaping. Howard asked if the lighting and landscaping design needed to be brought to the City Council at the same time the lane width decision was brought forward. Struck explained that DOT could not move forward with the street design without knowing the plan for lights and landscaping. Riss explained that there are different options for light layout, but ideally a staggered layout was the best for light coverage. He stated if there was a shared path along this section of 6th Street, the staggered layout would be impossible to accomplish throughout the whole length. He also described that the lights may need a notch out in the boulevard sidewalk areas. 2 The group looked at the drawings provided by Riss with the bike path option shown on each side of 6th Street. Riss stated the bike path could work on either side of 6th Street, but was slightly better on the north side. Riss also explained that in order to accomplish the shared path along the south side of the street, additional right-of-way would need to be purchased near Bozied’s at 6th Street and Medary Avenue. He also noted that the 6 foot separation between the driving lanes and the shared path cannot be accomplished along the whole section and some parts of the path would have to be curb-side with no grass boulevard. Riss also explained that to connect a 10 foot path at either end of the project would be difficult. The biggest challenge would be to connect at the west end on the south side near Wells Fargo due to the (east bound) right turn lane. He stated on the east end and south side of the street, there was just enough room by Brother’s Pharmacy, and on the north side they would need to do some reconfiguring to make a connection work. There was some discussion about the 5th Street and 7th Street options. Holm asked Lockrem how the bike committee would view the 5th Street and 7th Street options. Lockrem stated that the comments from the master plan show that the community wanted to bike along 6th Street. Weiss stated he felt that five 11 foot lanes was already going to affect the look of the area from a historic perspective. He stated they should put focus on the historic feel of the area, but said the lighting and landscaping could help with the aesthetics. He said the committee needed to approach the landscaping with the thought of how the area is going to look in the future when trees are fully grown again. Weiss said he was also concerned about the use of bright LED lights in that area and wondered if there would be color choices to pick from that would fit in the historic district. Struck stated that they may want to converse with Brookings Utilities regarding options available and he will provide the drawings of the historical lighting being used on the east end of 6th Street. Lighting and landscaping would be a City cost similar to the east end of 6th Street. Holm stated that the aesthetics of the wider sidewalk in the historic district hadn’t been discussed yet, but it would come up. She stated she liked the 11-foot lanes for aesthetics, but liked the 14-foot lanes for bicycling. Webster stated he felt that the five 11-foot lanes would fit the historic look better and would be less detrimental to property owners. Weiss asked if there was a consensus on the widths of the lanes, as that could help speed up the thought process and vote for the next meeting. He indicated that he felt the five 14-foot lanes might be better for flexibility in the future. Holm agreed. They commented they both felt the that aesthetically, the 11-foot lanes would look better. Weiss wondered if a colored center lane would be an option. Riss said he would look into that as an option. The City would have to pay for that additional cost, but he would look into it. Howard asked that everyone come prepared to make a decision at the next meeting. Meeting adjourned at 3:15 pm.