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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-09-11 Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Meetings Minutes Town of Ocean City, Maryland Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) Meeting Minutes OCEAN CITY BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE (OC BPAC) Meeting Minutes DATE: Wednesday, September 11, 2019 TIME: 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM LOCATION: City Hall, Executive Conference Room 301 Baltimore Avenue Ocean City, MD 21842 RE: OC BPAC Meeting#14 ATTENDEES: See Sign-In Sheet for all attendees (only Members are shown below) Joe Marx(Business Owner) X Sgt. Allen Hawk(PD &Vice President) X Tom Allen (Resident) Bill Neville (Planning&Zoning) X Mike Steinen (Resident) X Tony DeLuca (Council Liaison) X Paul Mauser(Engineering& President) X Glenn Irwin (OCDC) Hal Adkins (PW) Jana Potvin (SHA Member) X=In Attendance at Meeting ACTION ITEMS: #: Name: Action Item: Due By: 1 - - - ANNOUNCEMENTS: • Donald Dean from the Montego Bay Community attended the meeting. • Sandy Gillis served on the BPAC from the start of the Committee but was unfortunately not able to attend meetings due to the meeting recurrence being moved to 2:00 from 3:00 and voluntarily withdrew as a Member. In accordance with the Bylaws III.E, "In the event of a vacancy, the Mayor, with the advice and consent of Town Council will appoint a member to complete the unexpired term of the vacant position." Sandy's term continued until June 30, 2022 and Tom Allen has been appointed to fill that vacancy. Tom has lived in Ocean City since 1974 and is a very active member of the community and provided an introduction to the Committee. • Recent Press Releases: o https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2019/08/22/bike-friendly-designation-sought/ DISCUSSION ITEMS: 14.1. Review&Approve 2019.08.14 Meeting Minutes and Action Items: a. Paul reviewed the Meeting Minutes and Action Items with the Committee. b. Tony motioned to approve,Tom seconded, none opposed. 14.2. Lights on Bikes Program—status update (Allen Hawk,Tony DeLuca): a. Allen reported results of Bicycle Light Distribution and Bicycle Collisions in Town as noted on the chart below. The OCPD has installed nearly all lights from their inventory again Page 1 of 5 Town of Ocean City, Maryland Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) Meeting Minutes this month and need more. A total of 516 lights were installed in the month of August— the largest amount by far of any month yet in the program history. b. Tony,Tom, and Allen recently setup near the intersection of Coastal Highway and Robin Drive and distributed 61 lights in one evening. c. Donald mentioned that Montego Bay plans to purchase 100 lights next year as a community and provide to bikers in the community. d. Tom discussed the possibility of purchasing lights in large bulk quantities in order to save on costs and was going to look further into that. Tony discussed that to date there has not been sufficient funding to support a large quantity purchase. Tony also discussed the importance of the 1 year warranty that is provided with the current lights that are used. Bicycle Light Distribution 2018 N/A N/A N/A 1 2 1 33 1 3 1 17 1 88 1 35 1 30 1 0 1 0 1 208 2019 0 4 7 1 10 1 34 1 123* 1 142 1 515 1 - - 835 894 Distributed at J-1 Events Bicycle Collisions January February March April May June July August September October November December Total 2019 0 0 0 1 1 4 11 4 1 - - - 22 2018 0 0 0 1 3 4 9 5 3 1 0 0 26 2017 0 0 1 0 2 a 9 9 1 0 0 0 30 2016 0 0 2 0 1 2 12 7 3 0 1 0 28 2015 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 12 1 0 1 0 23 Avg. D 0 D.6 0.25 1.5 3.75 9.5 8.25 2 0.25 D.5 0 26.75 2019 Bicycle at Fault—18(3 Transported for Medical Treatment) Driver at Fault-2 Pedestrian at Fault-1(1 Personal Injury) Unknown-11 14.3. J-1 Student Education—status update (Mike Steinen): a. Mike is continuing efforts to educate J-1 Students about the importance of obeying traffic laws and utilizing bike lights. Mike installed another 13 lights this month. Mike completed a bike ride through Town recently at night and noticed there are still a significant number of cyclists without lights on their bikes. b. Tony discussed a plan to reach out to Aspire Worldwide next year and get a list of the top 20 employers of the J-1 Students. The goal is to target those employers for soliciting donations to acquire bike lights. c. The group discussed an idea to provide an informational pamphlet to the J-1 Students (in their own language) similar to what is provided by the League of American Bicyclists: https://www.bikeleague.org/guickguide d. Also see Meeting Minutes 14.10 below—Strava Profile. 14.4. Bike Route project updates: a. West OC Hiker/Biker Trail project update (Jana Potvin): Page 2 of 5 Town of Ocean City, Maryland Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) Meeting Minutes i. Jana was called into an impromptu meeting at SHA and was unable to make the BPAC meeting. Jana did provide an email update that the project was moving along as scheduled. SHA is in the review/approval process for the plans which connect the Hiker Biker Trail from Inlet Isle to EB US 50 adjacent to Kelly Bridge Lane. ii. From the August 14, 2019 Meeting (see Meeting Minutes 13.4.a.iv), Tony discussed that there are parking concerns on Route 50 adjacent to Hooper's Island. As a potential solution,Tony advised that a median fence could be added in this area to improve safety. Tony specifically emailed James Meredith (SHA District Engineer) about the proposed idea and Jay advised to have Town Council discuss with SHA and also acquire support from Worcester County as that portion of Route 50 is in the County. b. 146th Street DE Connection (Paul Mauser): i. As the biking season is slowing down, Paul recommended to move this to next year. ii. Tony requested a design completion date of April 15th, 2020 and Paul agreed. c. Montego Bay(Paul Mauser): i. Grant Application completed for$60,000. MDOT Bikeways will announce awards around the end of September to early October. The $60k will be used for thermoplastic crosswalks, stop bars, and "Sharrow" symbols, as well as signage. ii. Donald from the Montego Bay Community politely shared that there are concerns with speeding in Montego Bay. Paul informed that those concerns were discussed with the Montego Bay Board and OC Engineering Department on August 19th and are being actively worked on by the City Engineer,Terry McGean. iii. Donald also discussed that there are concerns with aggressive vehicle behavior (riding too close to bikers, passing closer than the required minimum clearance distance of 3 feet, cars opening doors into cyclists, etc.). The OCPD (Allen Hawk and Rick Wawrzeniak) added a lot of clarification in this area and informed that "Bicycles May Use Full Lane". In most cases, it is much safer to use the full lane such that a vehicle must either slow down behind you or else fully leave the travel lane to safely pass. Furthermore, Rick added that if Montego Bay requests, the OCPD may be willing to provide a type of"biking class"to the local residents. https://www.roads.marVIand.gov/Index.aspx?PageId=357 iv. Paul added that he could provide a write-up of the proposed project to the Montego Bay Board to include on their Facebook page if requested by the Board. V. The Montego Bay Board has a meeting this Saturday, 09.14. Donald is planning to be in attendance at the meeting and will provide a summary of the OC BPAC meeting. vi. The Town desires to have full endorsement from the Montego Bay Board for installation of the proposed bike route. 14.5. BFC Application—status update (Paul Mauser): a. Application completed and submitted on August 7th! b. Awards will be announced in November. Page 3 of 5 Town of Ocean City, Maryland Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) Meeting Minutes c. The League of American Bicyclists provided a public survey link and advised the Town to "distribute this link as broadly as possible to residents and local area bicyclists". Paul provided the link to: BPAC Members, Ocean City Today,The Dispatch,Jessica Waters (to include on Town Facebook page),Ashley Miller(to include on OCPD Facebook page), and Mary Jo Breslin to include on the Montego Bay Facebook page. The link is: https://www.surveVmonkeV.com/r/app BFC FA19 14.6. Shared Use Path—Philadelphia Avenue (west sidewalk) N Division Street to S 15t Street (Jana Potvin & Hal Adkins). a. Jana and Hal were both unable to make the meeting but provided email updates. b. Hal emailed SHA on 08.16 to request consideration of the proposed Shared Use Path and SHA replied on 08.20 that approval was received to move forward with the Shared Use Path as part of the continued paving and sidewalk work planned for this fall. 14.7. Bike Racks at Street Ends for Individuals Biking to the Beach (Paul Mauser): a. 28th Street Bike Rack is planned to be coordinated with removal of the old wooden bulkhead at the street end. This work is planned during the winter months. b. 67th Street Bike Rack completed on 08.22. Tony visited the bike rack right before the meeting and it was in use and seems to be well received. c. 120th Street Bike Rack is built and installation is planned for the week of 09.16. 14.8. Update on Impediments (Hal Adkins & Paul Mauser): a. From the 2019.08.14 BPAC Meeting, Paul was to complete a site visit to the 72nd / 73rd Street oceanside Town Alley. The site visit was completed on 08.21 and it is noted that clearing, some grading work, and stone placement will be necessary to open this path up to bicycle use. Bollards will likely need to be installed to prevent vehicular access as the proposed path would not be suitable for vehicle traffic. 14.9. Alley Lighting Program (Glenn Irwin): a. Glenn provided the following summary of the program: i. Program was started about 1.5 years ago with OCPD and OCDC. ii. Program was initially geared for Washington Lane from 4th to 10tH iii. Program later expanded to include Wilmington Lane from 4th to 15tH iv. The focus is to provide better lighting for pedestrians and bicyclists. V. OCDC has budgeted $5,000 to support this program. vi. OCPD has analyzed where the "dark spots" are. vii. The program provides a reimbursement for 50% of lighting costs, with a maximum contribution of$500 from OCDC. Lighting must be LED. viii. To date, 3 property owners have utilized the program. ix. Program is mainly active during the "offseason". X. Glenn will provide the group with another update in the winter of 2020. 14.10. Ocean City Strava Profile (Rick Wawrzeniak): a. Rick utilized the computer and projector in the room to provide a real-time overview of the Strava web-based global platform. The platform would allow the Town to "create" and "share" actual Town bike routes with any Strava user. This could help to facilitate Page 4 of 5 UPTown of Ocean City, Maryland Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) Meeting Minutes communication of the Town bike routes to visitors as well as the J-1 Students who are recognized as tech savvy and would appreciate this type of interface. b. There are many opportunities that Rick presented with the Strava platform and the Committee really appreciated this idea that Rick brought forward and would like to learn more at the next meeting. If there are any corrections to the Meeting Minutes, please notify the author within seven (7) calendar days. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 9th. Best Regards, Paul B. Mauser, P.E. Engineering Manager OC BPAC President Town of Ocean City Page 5 of 5