Apr 18, 2018 Mobility Committee on 2018-04-18 11:30 AM

Subcommittee meeting it's 11 33 and we have a quorum council member Briggs won't be here today So we'll start with item 1 items for individual consideration item a consider approval of the mobility committee of the Denton City Council meeting minutes of March 21 2018 Madam chair move approval and I'll second all in favor. I Passes unanimously item B Receive a report and hold a discussion with dockless bike share operators concerning the recent bike share ordinance adopted by the city of Denton and provide staff direction I Believe mr. Nelson will be presenting Good morning, madam chair members of the committee Earlier this year we passed the city of Denton passed a ordinance established in a bike a dockless bike share policy actually, it's a pilot program six month pilot program and We had some we had some concerns That were registered with staff and with a couple of the council members in terms, you know from from the bike share operators and so Councilmember Gregory had asked us asked staff to invite some of the operators or representatives from the bike dockless bike share Operations to come and visit with the committee to outline some of those concerns We do have representatives from spin Luke petty John and then from lime bikes Miss Katie O'Brien. We had also invited representatives from From v bikes. We got no response from a number of different emails and as well as phone calls and then OFO Servando Had indicated that he would come and present service around the Esparza However on Monday late Monday afternoon, he submitted a written statement I put that at each of your places I'll quickly outline some of the comments there before I turn it over to To miss O'Brien and then Mr. Petty John can follow in terms of any comments they have so long the short is is you know OFO and they had indicated this in the original Prior to as we were moving through the policy development They had concerns with the cap on the number of bikes. One of the concerns they would have they had was just having Having a number having the number of bikes that the market demanded so Having enough Enough of their assets in the marketplace so that those who wish to use it could find a bike in short order and Move along and utilize their service in addition to that having a larger number of bikes Then would provide them an opportunity to have a more robust Rebalancing team here on station here in our community to be more responsive They also expressed a limited service area. In fact, that was one of the responses that we also got from From vbikes in terms of limited Service area their concern was is that there was another bike sure operator who had already had an agreement with both of the universities and so their their thought process was is that that's a Market rich opportunity and not being able to operate on those particular on those campuses would create a Strain in terms of their ability to compete and then the data sharing there were some concerns. Yes, ma'am. I was a little bit confused about the comment about not operating on campuses because I don't believe our ordinance prohibits anybody from operating on campus our Ordinance does not necessarily prohibit operating on any of the campuses. The concern was is that The universities had entered into memorandum of understanding with a single bike share operator on their I don't want to call it private Private property but on their campus state state property Okay, so I'm still not following So how would that how does our ordinance plan with these mo use between the bike share operators and I don't know that it's necessarily a slide against specifically our particular ordinance, it's just the market in general here in Denton in terms of not being able to Have access and have their bikes on those particular campuses Was a was a concern that they had they felt like that limited their their market share. Okay Thank you. So the other one was data sharing and in fact staff has has participated in a Roundtable if you owes conference call and we plan to do that for the next for the next year, but the roundtable conference call with a number of different municipalities with North Central Texas Council of Government Working to identify how we might be able to establish a data sharing program that That assists the the local communities objective in terms of what we want to do with that data how we utilize the data and Essentially the interest in gathering that data is to create heat maps, right? So those heat maps then Provide a planning document for our engineers and our bike bike and ped coordinated coordination Efforts where we might implement new infrastructure where we need Where we're deficient in certain infrastructure how we might be able to improve other components in terms of that bike and ped infrastructure and so The concern that that is outlined here and the email from from OFO is you know, certainly I Guess it's it's market data or private data that they not wish to to communicate or if it becomes public data then Another competitor may request that information. So one of the theories was is well Maybe if we have it on a trailing basis because this data is really I want to say it's Important For a limited period but certainly within four to six months trailing It may not be as valuable in terms of the competitive side however, it would still be valuable on them on the municipal planning side in terms of again where to put those enhancements in terms of Bike and ped infrastructure. So I don't necessarily have it That's a quick some summation of the email and the information that was provided to us from OFO If you have any additional questions, I'm willing to answer those now or can do that at the end of the prison After we hear from the the two other bike share operators that are here today with us So if Katie O'Brien she again represents I Think what would be beneficial if you just had a five minute short rundown in terms of What we had discussed to kind of via email what what some of the concerns are and then maybe towards the end the two of You could come up and answer collectively those questions if that suits the chair. Okay Good afternoon And My name is Katie O'Brien. I'm here on behalf of line bike today we appreciate the city of Denton for including us in this process and the planning and in conversations about the ordinance implementation and We hope to partner with this city in the future However, line bike is not intending to complete a permit application at this time So I'm just here to provide feedback a number of the company's Concerns are similar although not exact to what you heard from OFO And it's important to our company to be good partners with all the municipalities Where they operate and for that to be true we we really would like to see some changes to the ordinance for the ability to have the right size fleet to meet the the needs of this community and a different fee structure and also a larger fleet would allow for us to dedicate more resources to serve a community like Denton and make sure that the bikes are adequately rebalanced and maintained throughout this community and it is not our intention to have bikes here and to not Serve the fleet or the community appropriately and so at this time we will not be submitting a permit application But hope hope to partner at some point in the future I'm glad to answer any questions that anyone has or I'll wait until after spin Thank you chairperson So, what does a right-sized fleet look like for the demographics in the city the size of them And line bike would prefer to Operate here for a period of time and see how how many bikes are necessary. We understand there is not a need to Flood this community with too many bikes But for a city the size of Denton with two large college populations 100 bikes will be dispersed so Widely throughout the community that it will be difficult for an individual to Regularly find and maintain expectation of the ability to find a bike as when they need it So I don't have a a perfect number. I apologize and From our previous conversations we would prefer to bring in the ballpark of 500 bikes to this community Which would allow us to dedicate staff full-time staff to the city of Denton and to the area and And it would also help to create an expectation of the availability of bike share as a true mobility tool or option for your residents So you're saying start with maybe 500 and you might adjust up or down based on what your experiences Sure, we would we would prefer to be able to have a conversation with the city and to come to that an agreement about that number without Always having a cap in the ordinance But if there was a cap in the ordinance We would just prefer to be able to come back to the city with our recommendations and your Department of Transportation or engineering departments recommendations for what would be the best fit for Denton and most were many cities across the country municipalities do not have a cap and it's a conversation that's Ongoing between the vendor companies the municipality and the perceived need of the community Thank you and there were some back and forth in in our discussions about the ordinance about whether it would be good to have an ordinance that just allowed for as many bike share groups has wanted to come in with the caps that we had or that it might be better to have a a Memorandum of understanding with a single company put out an RFP or something like that have you had as your company had experience with both of those different scenarios and How do how does each one of them work for you? Yes, sir Line bike and I probably speak for all of the companies operate in in about any regulatory environment that you can imagine and But while we always prefer to have the option to compete and participate in a market and at a single MOU agreement Works well in some instances in order to provide Enough service and accountability for the municipality and the vendor But for example regionally in Plano Plano's recent ordinance that they adopted they are will have an a open-ended permit so for a Permit fee a company can bring as many bikes in partnership with the city You have to have approved docking stations and service agreements to maintain adequate operations So they're calling for some you're saying docking stations. I'm guessing we'd call them corrals. They called them home zones Okay but places where the bikes are supposed to Rebalance be rebalanced to that's right the ordinance was drafted a little differently than the city of Denton's in that every bike does not have to be in a home zone but That you're asked to I don't want to misspeak on behalf of the city of Plano, but you're asked to identify several particularly in their Central business districts that would be places to locate the bikes initially in in deployment Unfortunately, I think part of our ordinance was simply a reaction to Trying to catch up with with what's going on and respond trying to balance the the desire to Have a bike share program or more in town and yet be Sensitive to property owners and to people who are using sidewalks and It appeared that the vendor that was here and I don't know if we could even call them a vendor the Company that was here Whatever their technology was to locate bicycles was Maybe not what we expected it was going to be because even when they left they you know Send a note saying well if you all find any bikes, let us know where they are And I'm thinking I thought your technology allowed you to find those bikes because I could drive down the road and find them but So can you talk about the technology that you have to find bikes and how Precise it is. I can't speak to other companies technology, but line bike has active GPS on all of the bikes. So Just like the user is able to identify the location of the bikes it's It's accurate within several feet. It's not I can't I Don't know the exact accuracy in terms of five versus seven feet But it it's the GPS technology is is remarkable from my lay experience and that same technology the company has and it maintains and monitors all of its bikes and Monitors how long the bike has been idle for example where the last ride was who which user? Completed the last ride and we're able to locate any of those bikes are Our software system also has In app reporting features. So if a user ever has trouble with a single bike They can report that in app or obviously through the 1-800 customer service phone number as well So we have able we are we do know where our bikes are at all times Thank you answered my question about the number of bikes so I don't have any other questions thank you for your time. Thank you And I think we have somebody else coming up next Hello welcome, hey, my name is Luke petty John I'm from spin I'll just kind of go through a few of the a few of the questions and spins answers to them as well and how everything relates regarding the bike numbers and the caps that were placed I Don't think 100 is outrageous But I think it was contemplated there would be four or more companies coming in with that many bikes Which would indicate that perhaps the 500 number of total bikes for the Denton area makes sense I Don't know that that makes sense per operator however Seeing as there's only probably one left standing at the end of this. Maybe that number does make sense when spin entered into the agreements with UNT and TW you It was almost prior to any permitting being contemplated in Denton because V-bikes was on the ground and I had several conversations with the schools beforehand and with the city as well saying that It didn't really make sense to bring more bikes to Denton without the schools buy-in Which is why I pursued the school first because that's where most of the ridership is going to come from and there were already v Bikes all over the square and elsewhere around town Not all of which appeared to be written all the time unless they were just doing an amazing job restocking them on the square every day so I Didn't I didn't want to overcrowd the square or other popular areas around town with more bikes just because of that option I wanted to focus on the universities at that time and that 's how we kind of arrived at the numbers that we did with the universities beforehand a smaller amount for TW you 25 to 30 bikes and and a much larger one for UNT because the campus is much larger and the student body is much larger as well and that number was 250 that we arrived at at the time and we were customizing the bikes to have school colors school branding all of that . So the the the fleet numbers that we arrived at on campuses was not a way to try and get around any any number that was proposed here and At the time it seemed like it would tie into the direction that the the ordinance was heading And then we had a few changes even in session with reducing that number further We also advocated for the single vendor RFP kind of from the beginning because Again, I think that would probably serve this community best to have the schools and the city under the same thing and and even possibly under the same same guidelines across the board the Data sharing aspect of everything. I agree with with both OFO and line bike we really prefer to have a third party that can aggregate and Anonymize all the data that we submit so that city is able to just look at bikes not this company 's bikes in this company's bikes and and and determine Who has the the most ridership or anything in that way because at the end of the day We're all working to provide the same service and that is an alternative mobility option for the people. So We have no issue sharing all the data that we collect which does not include any personally identifiable information. It's just trip data Start and locations routes duration of the time that took to ride that length So all of it is something that that we're happy to work with and we do provide this to schools Openly and freely we have a dashboard that we share and it shows these heat maps that you're talking about For planning purposes and really helps with determining where that next parking lot or garage should go Striping for bike lanes those kind of things And the only other the only other comment I really have is that for the the requirements in the ordinance on virtual bike corrals I'm not sure that everyone was even on the same page as to as to what that is When it was being discussed in the in the council meeting and and how that would look I I understand how the performance requirements of picking up the bikes and rebal ancing them to those locations works and Showing the users in app where those locations are so that they return the bikes to those spots But I don't know if that was a notion that was presented by one of the companies in the draft phase of everything and sort of shook out differently in that that company did not choose to apply or what but It it is something that that spin is capable of doing and and we showed how in our application But there there may be some some confusion on that going forward until everyone's on the same page So happy to answer any questions as well. Thank you So you have a Memorandum of understanding with both universities. Yes, sir, and your plan right now is for how many bikes at each campus right now 25 bikes at TWU and Still ongoing communications with UNT plan to start with 100 And ensure that no more than 100 bikes ever leave the campuses and are on any city right-of-way So you you're hoping to keep them on campus and not So what if a university student wants to ride downtown, right? There are some predetermined locations that we put out in the application for at the DCTA stop and the square So there are some virtual bike corrals that we've proposed where students can ride into town I'm just saying that our operations will work to make sure that we don't have any anything more than the cap on city right of way Is it your understanding that that they can't ride throughout the rest of the city No, they're they're more than free to ride throughout the city. Oh, they are free. Yes, sir. I Didn't hear the question. I was just I was wondering if there was some Notion that they weren't allowed to go anywhere in the city . No, they'll be they'll be for service for community members and students alike, okay So we do have a presentation following this and it's with a University of North Texas Proposal that kind of outlined some of these operating issues We can go into detail at that point in time if you wish or we can handle that at this point in time but the theory would be as Mr. Petty John indicated is that there's a set number to Service or provide the level of service has requested by the University of North, Texas We would expect that some of those migrate off campus. However, as Mr. Petty John said their their tracking and GPS capability would keep that number below the 100 within the city of city of Denton right of way and Meet both the spirit and letter of the law of the ordinance And you're you're locating Technology is it how accurate is it? It's as accurate as any GPS out there It's and it's a GPS module as well So, you know sometimes when you're driving your car in one light of the road It thinks you're on that next lane over but it's it's as close as GPS can get. Okay Well, I was kind of just crunching some numbers because the cap discussion is interesting to me I tend to agree with you that if we have you know, let's say there are four vendors in town and they all want 500 bikes To me that seems like some over saturation and it actually could serve to prevent other vendors from entering the market So I don't really view it as kind of a let the market decide situation if you have the ability to just completely Put as many bikes as you want. I mean the biggest operator will win in that situation So I was looking at the student populations at Texas Women 's University, which is 15,000 now I thought it was still 11,000 which just shows you how behind the times I am and then UNT's that I think it was 37,000 plus probably grad students as well so Thought it was interesting that you know UNT is getting 25 and then I'm sorry TWU is getting 25 and then UNT which is just slightly More than twice the population is getting four times as many bikes, but I'm assuming that has to do with the size of the campus How spread out it is and things of that nature. Yeah, not trying to question your business judgment I'm just trying to kind of figure out the math here So then we know when I kind of transpose it to the city of Denton where population of 140,000 people But our kind of adult and mobile population is significantly less than that. So I Mean, I'm really interested in a conversation about how many bikes can be supported in the city. I just I don't see that you know if If UNT is getting a hundred bikes for instance Tlb is getting 25 bikes. I can't see that the city of Dent on with a total population of 140,000 would ever need You know a thousand bikes, right? But that's that's my perspective and I think it's shared by some people on council I'm totally I'm really open to the idea of having this discussion though, because I think the data will help a lot And that was kind of our goal with the ordinance was to have a way to figure out You know where where the heat maps are I'm okay with the N DA's As well as far as I'm concerned. It's your proprietary information So that's kind of where I stand at the present moment I certainly I'm kind of surprised to hear that our ordinance would really have a huge effect on UNT or TWU because their state organizations, I Mean, I guess to the extent that there's outflow of the bikes, but ultimately we don't regulate anything that happens at UNT so the issue is That we have city didn't ride away within the campuses And so that's where that's where the regulatory component from our ordinance would play in and that's how whether it be TWU or UNT could have something more than the 100 bikes that our ordinance if if those bikes are generally stationed on their campus at you know particular locations, let's say the library or Education or business building and then maybe out near some of the different larger parking lots that the commuters use So you'd said that Heald had advocated for a single vendor on RFP program. Tell me about your experience Are you operating in both environments and why were you advocating for the single vendor? I was advocating for it here because I think one vendor serving all the all three Entities makes makes the most sense It prevents the the spillage from too many bikes going on to campus off of campus It's a lot easier to control just one company and then the back and forth on what goes in is a much easier process You're not having to hear from several different Competing interests at the same time. We've done Like he said, we've done every possible regulatory thing imaginable across the country whether it's a single vendor RFP Linebike and spin have jointly won RFPs in in a few locations Other places there is no regulation Or they're working on it like Dallas and it just becomes a free-for-all. So I thought that a Single vendor where we can work closely together and you select the one that presents the best solution for the Denton area made the most sense at the time and and if you Would guess at a number of total bikes Getting at what is we Gary was saying total bikes given the universities and in the general city population What do you think would be the right number for them at least to start off with? I think it would be less than 500 less than 500 Well, I don't think we have any other questions, but thank you for the presentation appreciate it Did you have any other presentations for this item mark, okay, so You're wanting direction or what? Did you want to go ahead and have the discussion with you and T and then give direction on both You know that might be more beneficial Then I'll go ahead and call let's see. It's item See receive a report hold a discussion and provide direction regarding University of North, Texas's bike share pilot proposal Now it's a now it's afternoon good afternoon madam chair members of the committee mark Nelson director of transportation We have included in your backup we a proposal from the University of North, Texas As stated in the backup material, we've been working with the University of North, Texas on trying to identify an op different options on on how we might roll out bike share up opportunities Both here in the community as well as on campus to serve the the different needs of our different of our agencies We met last week Again with the University of North, Texas They have refined a proposal and that proposal essentially is At the heart of it At the heart of it they are trying to address an issue Which is essentially abandoned bikes and bike clutter on on their campus And I'm remiss before I go much further. I did want to introduce the folks from the University of North, Texas. We do have Dr. Clark VP in the administration and then Chris Phelps director of transportation and then Grant hell with with the transportation department as well and Back back to the proposal We met with University of North, Texas. They they You've got the proposal in the backup. But again what they 're looking at trying to do is provide Really two issues here is provide additional transportation Options on their campus as well as reduce the overall clutter on campus typically what happens And I might have contributed to it to my alma mater and that is a student will bring a bike and they'll use that bike and maybe forget about it after two or three or four months and then Maybe never get back to it and there it stays locked up to a particular bike rack or in some cases a lamp post or a Park bench, whatever the case may be University of North, Texas has and they're what their experience has been is at the end of The spring semester each year. They have to go through and figure out How how how to address that issue to clean up their campus make it presentable make it safe I mean, they're tripping hazards it's just it's just not a good scene or Situation that they would like to to continue and so their interest is is you know, quite frankly entering into an agreement with spin Who would serve as the logistics arm of their program UNT would own the program essentially and It would provide initially they roll out with about a hundred bikes But may push up to 250 bikes and those bikes would be pre positioned or or located at designated areas Where you might see higher traffic Obviously the parking lots for those students that are comm uting from off campus There may be locations around the student union the education building business business build their parking lot of internal parking lots as well but they would have those identified and There would not necessarily be restricted to be utilized at those locations But based on their experience they know that they've got a certain number or volume of students moving from one location to the other So in the morning as part of the rebalancing program They'd have those those bikes and assets stationed where they needed to be and their proposal that talks about having those bikes rebalanced at 7 a.m. Every morning so For 8 o'clock classes students rolling in it into those parking lots at 715 730 or maybe 759 They have a transportation mode to get to the next to their class wherever they may be going They understand that that those bikes are going to migrate off campus as well and so spin has then agreed to as part of their Preliminary agreement or contract would be again to re balance those back to those locations again as mr. Petty John indicated They've got the they've got the technology. They got the capability to get those bikes back to central mass locations if you will Sure, are there going to be a handful of them onesies twos ies that may not make it back Out of the city of Denton right away or from different retail areas that may be outlying areas initially We'd expect that but generally speaking The overall program would be to get get those bikes back on to campus at usable locations Where they'd be a benefit to to the students and to the university and again one of the other aspects of it is is it being a customized program in terms of the color of the bike and so that they they know That that particular bike belongs to that particular operator which is associated with the University of North, Texas now Texas Women's University has a similar branding aspect. I don't think they're planning to go with green. I think they like a much Different color maroon a Couple of us in the room like the maroon color Anyhow point is is they've got they've got a branding You know a market brand for each of the programs and you know at the University of North, Texas Madame chairs you state is going to be a little bit more robust a little bit larger campus in terms of physical area how it stretched across You know universe, you know across 35 and then certainly just told number of students I'd like to invite dr. Clark up here to maybe finish or clean up anything that I left on unsaid or or misstated But then the two of us could answer questions that you may have if that's okay with the committee Good afternoon, my name is Alan Clark I'm a graduate from TWU and I'm a graduate from UNT. I've been here 22 years and this is exciting times for the city and to see the growth in the management of that taking place just Want to add some statistics to mr. Nelson statements? The University itself we're just right over 38,000 students . Where do we want to get to? In the next five years around 45,000 students. We've got about 7,000 employees We have 6,600 students living on campus right now in in our dorms If you go walking across campus and and I had mr Hale go do this and just count every bike for that day we came up with 1,091 bikes and they were chained to everything if it was standing they were chained to it What I'd really appreciate the opportunity to do is when the parents come for orientation this year to be able to say don't bring your bike Just leave your bike there and the difficulty for a student is they go one place And they got to go get that back to go someplace else I want to provide the opportunity You know what just grab another bike and go where you want. You never have to worry about getting that bike back to your home base Some other things that have affected us this past year We lost over 1,100 parking spaces and that's due to construction and it's good I we have some wonderful things new CVAD building going in new Resident hall going in new dining facility going in and interest to the campus being built But with that we lost 1,100 spaces. And so how do you overcome that? Well, you go build right now 550 spaces on the other side of 35 at the very back of the Apogee Stadium That means the students are going to need to commute and and what we've discussed with spin is the ability for to have our bikes out there in Actual cages at that point. So ours is kind of what we want to represent as a hybrid Out in the parking lots. There is a station where those bikes are at students can take them into campus They use them they move about wherever they want to migrate throughout the day but a large portion of those bikes go back out to those places where our individuals can come in and remotely park and you know our buses I took over parking and transportation three years ago and One of my first things that I asked to be done is that our buses no longer go down Highland Street where all the students Are crossing and so that means we're going back on Eagle and just circling the campus and with that we need this ability for just this Mobility to where the bus stops are but also a good partner to come in and be able to grab the bikes each night Get them back out to the locations and what we've talked about and is the opportunity to Reward the students in some way if you'll help us take the bikes back out there When you when you go ride a bike back out to the parking lot and help us get it there We need a reward system The proposal right now is that that these bikes would they would be green and then be black and they'd be branded with UNT Logos and UNT phone numbers if somebody's concerned about a bike being someplace UNT will actually be paying for all of the any costs associated with the ridership and so I Personally, I'd like to get down to where you go count Maybe there's 200 bikes on campus that belong to individuals, but I think in doing so We're gonna approach the number of 250 bikes that we're gonna be looking at at midfall What we have talked about is working through this process with the city of Denton Would and and I think it would be helpful But us as UNT even going through the permitting process with the city Make sure all the bikes are permitted through that and we 've had the opportunity to work with the city there And for us to be able to gather the data on a daily basis and know where our bikes are being used what the heat maps are showing for usage but us as a Smaller part of the city of Denton to be able to communicate that and work with the mobility council and how we can Ensure our bikes are serving our clientele and not cl uttering your streets but With that I have a bike clutter problem today that we're trying to solve So the opportunity would be hopefully in this summertime a hundred bikes out to see how they're used how they're going where they're being placed at Having a major communication campaign for to influence students faculty and staff But my goal would be to move into the 200 250 range by October November as we're getting more students on campus And they're recognizing the need for mobility and transportation So that that's kind of some numbers of statistics where we 're at and I'll be glad to answer any questions that you have Thanks for joining us dr. Clark my pleasure. I was looking through the UNT report or the proposal I guess in the backup and one thing that Intrigues me is how many how many bikes are left over that you have to impound at the end of the semester? we It's in the hundreds that we impound each semester and you have to go through an announcement process and then you have to go through a Auction and they're auctioned off in lots because most of them their value probably by the time they've been Abandoned they're in the ten to five dollar ranges as far as that some of the things we would like to do though is I'd like to put out an RFP to the bike community in the bike stores here and see if they can help us with the possibility at least the ones that are abandoned if we can go in and refurbish them make them available to Maybe folks who are a little less fortunate at schools or any of the places where children arrive at So we use those to recycle back into the community. But yes today It's it's in the hundreds that we end up getting each year and having to go auction off So let's say that you know, there's 250 line bikes on campus I'm assuming come May spin. I'm sorry spin bikes apologies I'm assuming in May There are there's not gonna be a need for 250 bikes at that point. So what is the plan for? Come summertime with those bikes The plan would be to back off that service. We as the city are concerned with bikes just sitting right? One thing that would be helpful in our instance even with the 250 they're in Corraled stations in our parking lot. So they're not just being we abandoned You know a hundred bikes because there's no ridership at this time and and we'll certainly work with spin to bring back and Rebalance that and have the ridership numbers. I would like to make an offer on On behalf of UNT. We'll be looking at our data as well if there's a point where we want to do joint data collection and Research on that information using statistical packages would be glad to help with that I'm gonna reminisce for a little bit excellent nine I'm about to go off council after nine years and when I ran nine years ago was approached during the campaign season by some bike advocates mainly associated with UNT and They did a lot to educate me Because I was concerned about quality of life in the city an active lifestyle healthy lifestyle More bicycling opportunities and people feeling safe doing so seemed to be a worthwhile cause to champion So I became the bike guy excellent excellent lately. I've become the cemetery guy different story, but I Had anticipated either one of those when I first ran One of the the problems about being the bike guy on City Council is that when Some bike riders do stupid things People call me as if I'm responsible And I did a lot to educate myself and apparently some of the most stupid things done by bike riders are males aged 18 to 25 Who think that they're invincible? and I was actually at a national park and found out that That same demographic presents problems for them That's who they have to rescue most often So I have tried to advocate for a long time that when you do your orientations your freshman orientations that possibly you would work with the city of Denton and us providing some bike safety education So that that some of those folks would think about because it's it's unsettling when when I'm driving a vehicle a Motorized vehicle and I am suddenly startled by a person in black on the black bike without any reflectors or any lights Because it would really be bad if I was the one that ran over a bicyclist It'd be bad if anybody did but I would I would feel particularly embarrassed by the whole thing So if if we could work with you guys on a bike education program I would be very grateful for that because I think it would be better For the the safety of the students that are riding bikes and it would be better for us as a community to be able to encourage bike riding without getting some pushback by people who Actually are somewhat antagonistic towards sharing the road with bicyclists The other thing is you said and this may be for mark that y 'all would probably need to ramp up to 250 bikes mark how does that mean that we might need to The council might need to come back and do some revisions to the ordinance to to facilitate that you know council member that's that's that's certainly in play, but our our interpretation of that would be that it could Because it's it because it's going to be on the University of North Texas campus and it's not going to be impacting or at least it should not be impacting the city right of ways, which is where the ordinance was really crafted for We had anticipated Something like that from the universities. How would we how could we enforce a an ordinance on state property? And so that's why I was drafted for to address the The right of way which we do have oversight So, you know certainly we could bring that forward in terms of an informal staff report find out what the pleasure of the council is If it's something that this particular committee wants to push up to the council as a recommendation certainly we can go that route But you know at present what we look at quite frankly would be moving forward with an interlocal agreement that kind of outlines that and As dr. Clark indicated, you know, they're they're wanting to get moving fairly quickly So that'd be something that would be coming through within the next three to six weeks so they they could be in the middle of June deploying bikes Well the notion of having Some share a bike share that was would be available to get people from the the downtown Transit Center either to the square or To the campus because I happen to know folks They're actually faculty members that that ride the train to Denton but Are not always interested in riding the bus from the Transit Center over to campus They walk or they'd like to ride a bike and if they if we had bikes there That would be available, but I'm not sure if if the plan as I'm understanding it would position You know ten bikes at the Transit Center and ten bikes on the square well, I would tell you that I've seen some communications going back and forth between our bike and ped office spin and with Christina Holcomb VP of planning over at you know DCTA they are looking into that in terms of where they'd be able to station a number of those bikes But yes, I think they're certainly DCTA is open to that And dr. Clark is there anything that you need from the city in order to Facilitate or to to support your your efforts for the bike share program on campus I think that the main thing is that we are good citizens to the city and And and as stated we need to outline the interlocal agreement Get that prepared And I think that we need to come to an agreement does you know does UNT and having these bikes? Branded as UNT bikes and also for us to look for the opportunity to actually go higher than the 100 Do we go through the permitting process? I think that needs to be clarified and that's been the recommendation up to this point and have no process or no problems with doing that but just need clarity on and we will begin on the work on the interlocal agreement from Existing so that we have had and start drawing that together but I think the clarity on the permitting process of how we go do this and We we have agreed to come together with a strategic bicycle plan that is laid into the work of the city and Quite honestly as you're stating We don't want our citizens to know that they've gone from UNT property to the city and you have to do something different But at night we need spin to go make sure that work reconfigured each day to support the campus now we do have 178 parking spaces that we've come into agreement out at Medical City and Certainly will work with DCTA as a part of this for Stationing bicycles at the locations for that work with DC TA And so we are working to get further and further away from campus But we're going to count on spin to make sure they're in locations each day as the day begins 450 parking spaces out at the Medical City Hospital that that would be used by Students or faculty. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I misspoke Med Park. Yes. I'm sorry. I Misspoke thank you, sir. Okay. Thank you At this point, thank you so much Well, we were supposed to give staff direction Sure, sure You know, it's very comfortable here we can we can talk about many different things I do want to tell you the first thing at orientation. We asked the kids, please Don't walk with your cell phone and take your earbuds out and quit stepping in front of bicycles and cars And so it is something that we work towards their safety to understand you you had to be aware of what's going on So I would welcome the opportunity to ensure the discussion of How we have a safe communication of transportation for bicycles is important and we will work towards that Well, the city actually has a bunch of bike safety broch ures and a whole box a large box full of giveaway lights that can be attached to bicycles that blink and and Help help people see them at night. We will have approximately 10,000 new students coming on campus and we welcome any Anything's that that we can to promote safety with bicycle. We'll have our people talk to your okay. Thank you. Appreciate it I'm just curious if that Notice is working better with the 18 to 22 year old demographic because it doesn't work with my 14 years What if what's working better the earbuds and look? Well, you know, I'm kind of it's hard to not consider your own personal experiences when you're up here I was a bike commuter in college. I mean I Loved my bike like that was I took care of it and I can't imagine abandoning a bike, but I don't know I guess different strokes different folks did your bike have a name? No I'm not weird Actually, my new bike has a name the white cloud so yeah, I am weird Well, I guess the question then becomes If I think what I'm getting from the interlocal discussion is that We don't necessarily have the ability to regulate something that happens on state property But it would be beneficial to have a path forward even though you know, we're two separate entities and right It's you know, it's more As much as anything to outline the program What's expected of the University of North Texas and their? Logistics partner spin and then for you and T on our end to know what's expected of us in terms of what would be required Obviously a permit would be required, but it but maybe the interlocal agreement would Wouldn't make that permit not necessary because you now have a separate agreement that outlines You know how we would how we would interface with the University of North Texas So I guess the concern then it sounds like is well what happens if there's more than a hundred bikes at the city somewhere spread around the city From for when you roll out the 250 number I don't even know how we would well Madam chair, I think what we would do is maintain them 100 in terms of being within the city of Denton right away And so that's ease that that's feasible. They can still station their their bikes whether there it's a regular spin bike or or a UNT branded by at DCTA or other points of interest just as long as that number doesn't go over a hundred now Might that number go over a hundred between say? 530 to 8 p.m. At night Potentially, but what's that? What's that overall number? Maybe in the 10 to 20 percent over that number? But certainly by 0 700 the next morning Sure, that's gonna be back down to an acceptable number of something a well less than 100 bikes Well, I'm okay with proceeding with interlocal or at least taking it up to council to have that discussion I think that that would be great direction because I think that that the interlocal agreement means that the city and that the City Council is Aware that they're gonna be actually more than a hundred bikes from that vendor potentially potentially but that that There's an effort to to control that And and then they're aware of it and and then if they're it appears that there's a need to make an adjustment in the ordinance itself That could be done either either When that interlocal agreement comes up or at a later time, right? I would expect that that the council would would be interested in bringing a a Quick work session item right as part of that as part of that discussion sometime in the May And they'll be even slower without two of the sharpest members going off council The we'll miss your leadership, I'm sure You'll miss the the stupid stories One thing I would suggest is so so often. Here's one of the few things I've learned in nine years is that when council simply reacts To a situation or is doing it by reacting We tend to not maybe do as well and that we need to think in terms of what our goals are Every time that we make an action and for me when we're talking about about Bike share I Think that our goal is to allow for bike share as a transportation option for students and residents of the city of Denton But to allow it in a way that is respectful of private property and Does not interfere with other mobility options Particularly Interfering with pedestrian facilities in other words blocking Sidewalks and things like that. So if we can if we can find a path forward That that that allows even more people to have the opportunity to participate in bike share program But do it in a way that's respectful private property respectful of the right of ways I Think that everybody ends up winning and so if we can maybe keep those goals in mind and reference back to them and and and check and see if if if if those goals are The goals that the entire council or the consensus of council wants to work towards because it's easier for you guys to craft Policies if you know what what are the end goal is So if I'm understanding correctly We have direction on item C which is that we'd like to go ahead and have the interlocal agreement reviewed by City Council on item B I Hear you know a kind of broad like 30,000 foot view of the goals Are there any specific items? regarding the ordinance that I would recommend that that that we come back maybe that the this time next year that that it become a part of an agenda item for mobility or council to come back and review a year's worth of experience on the campus and a Review of the ordinance itself and if if the ordinance as it stands is appropriate if it needs to be adjusted if it needs to be changed from an ordinance that allows just any number of vendors to come to a Single a single source through a RFP You know, I think that that that this time next year there will be a lot more experience a lot more knowledge and Some decisions could be made Are you suggesting them that the existing pilot program which is a six month? Program that sunsets in the September 2018 time frame may be extended To the spring of 2019. You know, I don't I don't think we 're gonna know anything but all we know by September of 2018 is that that the bikes bailed I Don't know that we're gonna get much more information between understood. Okay So definitely coming back with you know a follow-up on the interlocal in A year's time as far as the actual ordinance itself. I mean , I'm trying to figure out exactly what Changes might need to be made and What I heard I think was data The bike corralling issue perhaps And bike caps I'm okay with sending that back up to council. It'll be a new council. I won't be there. It's the best of luck Can I ask a question of the committee so as far as the making potential amendments to the ordinance to Extended additional say till next spring We would need to bring this probably back to mobility just with those amendments and those suggested changes And then take it before the council, correct Just just making sure yeah I'm probably you know with I think the thing that I remember the most from our discussion was the intense interest in the bike corralling and Keeping the right-of-ways clear because it's not just for pedestrians. It's for people who have limited mobility to disabilities Or you know, they might trip on a bike I think somebody in Dallas actually did injure their ACL or something really horrible and it was somebody who was vision impaired So, I mean, I think we have obligation to keep those pathways clear. So with the understanding that you know The overarching direction is I think maintain is the same we have to keep right-of-ways clear and I think correct Holy wholeheartedly concur. I think one of the things we can do is staff is we can incorporate a informal staff report and when an upcoming Friday packet with this information knowing that North Texas is pursuing down this path with with the with that M OU and certainly Texas women's as well with with spin Incorporate those those points and an ISR and also lay out that in an upcoming mobility committee meeting will be bringing forward some recommended amendments to the ordinance because By the time September comes around the semester will have just started You're not gonna have a whole lot if you really much data to really get back to the city. So The path forward is to make the extension and then just see how that how that plays out And I think we we had a discussion about doing an RFP process I thought that that was a part of our Ordinance that there would be we would be looking into an RFP process at the end of the six at the end of the Yeah Okay Yes, the one other thing is that when when there's a revisit at the mobility committee if we could have Representatives from UNT and TWA you here to kind of share with us their experience. I think that would that would be beneficial Thank you have your direction any other questions for us Not on this particular item. Okay, great. Well in that case , we'll move on to item D, which is Yes, may I suggest a take a couple of yeah, we'll take a little break so people can you don't want to hear all of our other business We'll take a five minute break Okay, we're back from our break we're gonna take these items a little bit out of order to accommodate mr. Pulsar schedule and Just because we're interested item F receive a report hold a discussion and make recommendation Make a recommendation regarding past and pending actions of the RTC So this is a follow-up from a well This is a follow-up from an item that was considered last month it's been an item in front of and that item is 635 how to advance the 635 East project, which is a capacity project from US 75 East to I 30 and Mesquite so 75 in Dallas to I30 and Mesquite and it's essentially adding additional Additional main lanes as well as the local or the regional plan is to add these Managed toll lanes which also help fund that so with that madam chair I can go up and walk through a presentation very quickly that was given at RTC and Then have mr. Pulsar kind of walk through some additional information that was just presented Within the last 24 to 48 hours that was not included in the backup material and as you know There is a special call meeting tomorrow Thursday The 19th a special call meeting of the RTC to consider this particular item So Again Mark Nelson director of transportation. This is a presentation that was provided to the RTC last week at their normal regularly scheduled RTC meeting for April and Essentially what this presentation will show and I'm going to go through it very quickly It shows a handful of different options that were identified by RTC staff in terms of What what What are the different How might they be able to advance the project from a no- build scenario to a scenario? which RTC staff has has advocated from very very early on there's essentially 12 different options So with that I'm going to move through that very quickly. This information is in your backup. It's also then been put online So this again is a no-build again quickly just taking a look at it. It is from 75 here generally on the north easterly side of Dallas to Mesquite at I-30 and this is the existing conditions now. There's HOV lanes in there now They're told if you don't have X number of folks in your vehicle. So if you're not an HOV you get You get you get a toll. That's a critical point This corridor already has a toll-managed lane in it while we're asking to do is that a secondary toll-managed lane? the officials that we've met with To negotiate this issue. We're not even aware that there was currently a toll-managed lane in this corridor So this is option two it really just starts bringing forward how you might be able to do the overall project and These are non toll in the middle not you go ahead and add the additional capacity additional general purpose lane in each direction and then adding the express toll lane down the middle two lanes in each direction just this express lane and This is those lanes will be free to travel on and they would have fewer entrances and exits and it's called an express lane and there's only one Express lane that exists in the entire state of Texas and that's the elevated section of 35 through Austin So when you envision how this would work and you put a grade to whether it works well or not Imagine the elevated section of 35 in Austin Moving on to option three this essentially provides the additional Capacity in terms of a general purpose lane in each direction. However Here in the median it is not it's not developed So it essentially is a leaveout for a future decision to be made or funding to advance a project that may or may not come at some point down the road Fairly similar situation In option four And I guess the reason there's different options that all look alike from a cross-section is those are different ways of funding the 10 and 2 frontage so the these cross sections be Concurrent to the options, but the options were different ways of funding a family of projects. There's like six families of projects Here's where it starts changing a little bit in this particular family where you're only doing a certain section basically from 75 down to the Royal Miller intersection here and then you have a different you have a different option east of there to six to thirty so this Basically says in the original environmental assessment it called for toll manage lanes down to Royal Miller and Express lanes all the way down to 30 in this particular alternative You would build the toll manage lanes to Royal Miller and you leave blank leave it open in the green section So there would be no express lanes there to further decision So does the does this option option six the blue section Does that blue section pretty much resemble what we see to the west on 635? Yes, sir so what happens on 635 to the west of there is as you come into the LBJ Express corridor, it's got six lanes of toll manage lane three in each direction And so as you get closer to 75 it drops down to two four in each direction And then as you come around an existing After you cross 75 it drops down to one. So it goes three two one what the blue segment in this would add additional two for a total of four So we'd continue that cross section from D&T over to 75 which is the four toll management And those are toll managed lanes in the current north part of 635 that are Both directions all day long all day 24 hours and there's are going to be a point we talk about 24 hours a day seven days a week for a reason and we'll get into that okay Option six John It's just an alternate way of being able to do the same thing because you'll see it says open median for future development So we would do the same thing as option six. It would just be funded differently Option eight same thing. It's a different alternative And here is where we get to it a different Scenario where we would build to Royal Miller the toll managed lanes and then from Royal Miller down We'd open them up and build them as an express lanes Okay in text that I mean cog would pay for the express lanes Text that would pay for I mean the toll managed lanes and text that would pay for the non-tolled express lanes This is the actual alternative that the RTC passed our Resolution last year is called 1701 That says that we're going to told all four lanes all the way in 30 from 75 to 30 and in doing that is Part of actually a funding scheme to pay for yes, sir We'll split those hairs in a minute in 711 is just simply another way of doing the same thing from a different to lling A different financing mechanism same insane And that's all we have on the okay on the documentation other than the so the the conversations that are Being had is is that there's about anywhere between 355 million in a tiffy alone is needed to be able to do this alternative In order to do the tiffy alone the feds require you to toll the facility 24 hours a day seven days a week they want the maximum amount of revenue underlying their loan If the state was willing to go ahead and pay the on top of the 300 million that we're asking for them go ahead and Pay the additional 355 million The RTC could then turn around and only operate the toll managed lanes as a congestion management tool Which means it would be in the a.m. In the p.m. Peak periods the rest of those alternate times would be free Weekends would be free because you only want to use the toll component as a congestion management tool That's why even if they were willing to pay for it. The region doesn't want to give up and turn those into general purpose lanes because imagine you've got seven lanes of traffic because We'll get this with the conversation. We have a lieutenant governor. The question was why don't we Go ahead and just build all seven free lanes and let everybody drive where they want And the answer is is that everybody when you have seven lanes, they're gonna spread out into seven lanes You've got eight lanes will spread out into eight lanes and you don't have any differential movements through the corridor what these managed lanes do during congestion periods is act as a as a Pressure release valve and so what happens is you have a corridor that has a higher level of speed that can make it to that location quicker and faster and more predictable and Even when you don't drive on the managed lanes by having them there the general purpose lanes end up Increasing their travel time speed. So the information we have on 35 North Terrain Express and LBJ is that the p.m. Peak and a.m . Peak period Lowest level of traffic speed average drops to 50 miles an hour from the posted 60 before they were introduced in those corridors They were into the 25 30 miles an hour. So even if you never take the toll lanes You're benefiting Second reason why we couldn't do this just turn them to seven GPS is because as a non-attainment area North Texas is required to Before they add any single occupant vehicle Capacity improvement they have to demonstrate that congestion management Alternatives don't exist. They clearly exist in this corridor by using the toll managed lanes And so we we would have to buck the feds on that So the last week there was a resolution that was going to be passed that basically says we're standing by our 1701 policy for this alternative because of air quality issues because of conformity because of federal law and Because it's with the will of the people in this corridor and then they come back and they describe exactly What it is by putting into words what that? exhibit Shows somewhere along the way The chairman of the RTC Rob Frankie had some conversations with the chairman of the Commission Chairman bug and he says hold off on the resolution for a week We need a little bit more time to work something out with the governor Wasn't really clear on what it was, but we found that afterwards that somewhere along the way bug and the governor realized There's already a toll managed lane operating in the corridor Right and so the compromise was going to be hey, we're going to let you go back with one and the reason the one toll managed lane doesn't work is because There are people that get into that toll managed lane and actually drive the speed limit on the general purpose side And the toll managed lane has a higher speed and if you get in and you're paying a toll And you're stuck behind somebody who's driving the same speed as the GP's You can't get around them and you can't get out for a while So it depresses the use of that corridor and so if you have two lanes We've seen that where you have alternate additional capacity those managed lanes get used more so Essentially they were going to try to get us to agree to just go back with what we had and there obviously that's not going to work for the region and so Chairman Frankie has made several calls to chairman bug Over the last Friday through today and they've not been returned a councilman climbing from city of Dallas. Who's you know Significantly impacted by this corridor has made multiple calls to the chairman. They have not been returned Commissioner each met with lieutenant governor Dan Patrick. I call lieutenant Dan and Patrick compared the managed lanes I mean the the managed lanes in North Texas to the lanes on the Katy freeway. He said the Katy freeway lanes Don't have anybody in them Well, Commissioner reads is a very astute human being but he's not an expert on transportation So he wasn't aware of the fact that what's on the Katy free way is an HOV lane is where the region was 20 years ago Right. Nobody uses an HOV lane. So he's comparing the Katy freeway Experience to what we have up here. So he's clueless on what told manage lanes are He doesn't he's not aware of the fact that can air quality conformity issues require the regions to do certain things and To do what the lieutenant governor wants will require us to violate federal law. And so We're gonna be drafting a letter for him And basically give back all the stuff that we put out in these presentations before The blue-collar worker as he calls them benefits if he never touches it There's air quality issues that we have to consider and the HOV lane truly doesn't work He's right and that's why we're building told manage length . And so we're gonna try to basically Put it in writing that he doesn't know what he's talking about and then move on And so tomorrow You're putting it in writing to educate him. I Thought that's what I said Well, see the answer the reason I didn't say it that way because I do not believe he's gonna be able to be educated Oh, and the reason is and this the reason is this is my opinion not yours Abbott and Patrick are looking at their political careers and Abbott's worried that Patrick's trying to get to the right of them and Patrick's trying To reward to make sure that he stays to the right for the next cycle And so in the conversation each the conversation we've had with the governor lieutenant governor They both asked what's what's the other guy doing? Right, and so they're they're vying against each other and has nothing to do with the policy. So We're gonna respond to check the box, but we don't think he 's gonna learn anything from it So we just have to move forward and where I think the RTC is going tomorrow Is they're gonna affirm the resolution is originally written and I think that you're gonna hear a city of Dallas suggests that The state of Texas is usurping some of the federal authority that the RTC has and the only way to Resolve that is through litigation In federal court, yes, sir So that's where I was last month could occur I'm really worried about the five million dollars a month project cost that's going up on the 635 project because litigation doesn't take a Month that takes 17 25 months may take so long to resolve they'll dig their heels in I Think we will win will prevail because they don't even have legislative authority to act the way that they're acting But it's a political move for them To behave this way as you mentioned So what happens to the 635 project in terms of the funding? because all of this goes I mean the reason the region the region is interested because All of our projects are tied to a large pot of money and it affects us indirectly or directly in the case of Dallas What happens when that money is being squandered while we 're? You know trying to assert our authority so The fact that the project escalates in cost over time I Was arguing that that was a false argument to begin with because all projects 35w is a 1 billion dollar project By the time we get around actually doing what we're gonna do there It's gonna cost significantly more in the future than it is today every projects that way so I think That whoever proffered that argument up front Didn't think it through because nothing cost you less in the future So that's gonna occur on all projects the more danger we have is if we allow the state to come in and dictate What we know doesn't work for political reasons it'll start to impact Property taxes all those other issues and you'll end up being a war to the state And so the answer is the best the safest the safest path forward if we can't get them to do alternative 11 or 12 Is the no build and leave it as it is until they come around? John I have appreciated you for my entire nine years in your frankness and I like your humor, too In this particular case I would say It may be helpful to dial back a little bit of the strong feelings that you have for this reason Whereas a lawsuit May eventually get us where we want to be Remember that when you talk about the political realities Both of the the the leaders and the governor and the lieutenant governor would probably embrace being sued by a Liberal big city In the in the federal government That that actually is part of their political narrative and I don't think that that serves as a I Mean it might finally get us where we want to be but I think in the process it plays it plays right into what they want So so I don't know I'm calling it back Be I'm gonna work on that I want you to be but well I like being I like hearing the unvarnished truth from you here But the person on the phone with the lieutenant governor wasn't the county judge of Dallas County, which is purple or blue It was the county commissioner Reddish County on the in the region, right? And he's backed up by Colin and Rockwell County and coffee can switch all very red the Senator that was opposing this that actually has the project the Republican Party editorial convention passed a resolution Demanding toll-managed lanes, so we're not allowing City of Dallas or Any of the blue Colored folks have a conversation because they're that would play into their hands, right? My point to you is is that no build Puts the ball back on their court. Yeah as far as not performing So I don't know what I'm just saying that City of Dallas threw that out there. That's the next step I don't know if the RTC as a whole is gonna pick that up But the reality is there isn't gonna be any education of the governor lieutenant governor And the chairman of the commission is not even returning the call because it's not about the facts It's a political play sure and so I'm willing to just wait them out Because when I started this two things one Michael Morris was still the director of transportation back in 1991 and Ann Richards, I think was governor then Governors and lieutenant governors come and go State reps state senators come and go The RTC is about as stable organization as you get and will outlast them too. So I'm not worried about These two guys or whoever their friends are I'm worried about RTC Selling their principles that will damage you drastically dip more to 635 in the future and so yeah, I'm I'll talk I'll tone it down and when I need to But I never know when that is Yes, sir Any other questions on the update on our TSA We can bring that I'm looking at the caption it says make recommendation regarding past and pending actions Of the RTC obviously we don't have time To get any type of direction from counsel, but we have the prior resolution that was passed which is in support of local control So I'm guessing I have to use my judgment if there's a vote First basically says support 1701. Yeah Are you not on If they can get the TIFI alone covered then There the region would then go back to because the policy says it's a congestion management tool The revenue helps but the congestion management is the key to what we're trying to get to if we can get them to pay because The lieutenant governor goes well, why don't we just paid you to build all that is toll as a free We would still need the ability to do the congestion management and if we can get somebody cover the TIFI alone Then we operate at four hours in the morning Four hours in the evening. So that's eight out of 24 and then Two days on the weekend are free. And so the majority of the time those manage lanes are operating They're free That's the compromise Okay, well I'll never understand why I Mean, it's it's complicated, but it's not rocket surgery so Yeah, I just don't understand People don't understand How tolls actually work, you know, it's a progressive form of taxation It's congestion management. It affects behavior. It affects air quality anyway, that's my one final point to just point reason why these people aren't really wanting to be educated is because when the conversation with lieutenant pat lieutenant governor Patrick Lieutenant governor Patrick would not allow Commissioner E ads to have anybody else on the phone staff wise But he had three other people on the phone with him to give him information. So he's not looking for The answer he's looking for the his answer and so it was it was very it was enlightening because I think Commissioner Eads was still thinking that there was a Statesman involved in this scenario. He's no longer suffering from that illusion On our next item for today we have item G Receive a report hold a discussion and provide direction Regarding text dots on system projects in the done area to include 35e and you can go fast on this one Three items real quick. Okay, I was gonna say rather than bring those up as we've done in the past He's gonna just yeah, just do the highlights because the information is in the backup as well as online So the major issues that we're dealing with right now is we are meeting I think next week again But we meet regularly every two weeks or so on 2181 and some of these other projects But 2181 we have some utility conflicts that we're working through Everybody's got the shoulder to the wheel and we're trying to resolve those utility conflicts But those utility conflicts have a potential to impact the schedule and so that's why it's critical that we stay on top of that Second good news Union Pacific Railroad. It only took us ten years. They have signed the agreement Oh, so we are done and done the Project will let in July. It's fully funded and we're ready to go on that and again on that topic before We let the contractor go to work and after it's awarded and we know who the contractor is the number of hours In the number of days we will set up a public outreach with the communities along 277 to make sure they understand what's about to happen And then 2499 section 5 it is essentially open at Robinson now one lane in each direction We did it as a stop condition again, the signal is driving the schedule but I think open it up to one lane in each direction has pulled some of the pressure off of the folks and I think we're We're good there your 35 Mayhill Prinker project you notice that we've been changing lanes out on the main lanes In the last week or so the bridge demo, I think went fairly well I was out and around Saturday and I didn't see a whole lot of trauma, but that's done And so we're got to work on the schedule because they're still saying December and we're still saying October and that's when Buckeyes is telling us they'll be open in October in October So that's that's why we need to stay on top of that one Yes Madame chair, I would just also let you know that we've we 've been in in conversation with Texta Denton area office to see if there's some other Traffic mitigation options in terms of some additional sign age along the frontage roads and some right-hand turn lanes along Dallas Drive to help the local traffic while the on ramp specifically the northbound on ramp just north of 288 since that's going to be down for a minimum of five months so I think that's going to continue to create some traffic congestion and anything that we can do whether it's enhancements to signalization some advanced warning signs turn lanes So and so forth. That's what we're trying to work with the text local office And I appreciate you. I requested some additional signs for The reduced lanes over by Mayhill and they were really quick. I think they went up this morning So I requested it yesterday day before so not to put too fine a point on it, but it's incumbent upon me to to give you one warner caution on this is that To the extent that we toy a lot with the traffic control that that OHL has we give them an excuse Right to miss their deadline. So we I know we got to address it But as we do it, we just need to do it in a manner that doesn't give them a chance to well I hope a sign doesn't you'd be surprised really? Okay, Wow Learn something watching that I just wanted you to know that okay that If it doesn't happen as quickly as you wanted to sometimes because we have to negotiate the impacts. I see okay Well, that's good to know Spread the word. Okay. Well, you're free to go John. Thank you. Appreciate it Yeah, thanks John try to keep that blood pressure low We're gonna jump back to item D which is consider a resolution of the City Council of the city of Denton appointing a primary and alternate member as official voting reps to the North Texas cog RTC and providing an effective date and this is to replace my seat Since I'll be rolling off Correct so It's my part to mention with her Vacating the position and we've been requested to go ahead and advance or staff has been requested to go ahead and advance Councilmember Ryan as who is the current alternate Move him forward as or at least prepare a resolution that would nominate him or appoint him as the As the primary representative there's some other options as to how you address the alternate position here So I did I kind of jump in for just a second Councilwoman Briggs did express to me that she'd like to be the alternate. So I wanted to advance that Well, if what we need is do we need a vote today to move this to council? Yes That's correct. We've got it. I would move to The resolution as it is to go to council and then council can add the alternate. Okay, so that's my motion All right. I'll second that and all in favor Pass unanimously Sorry to interrupt you. Do you want to go ahead and explain the alternates that we have or do you want to explain it to ? the full council I Can do that real quick here. Yeah, so in terms of the alternate options in the past We've had both city of Denton elected officials So that's one of the other items is because we've appointed an elected official The alternate must be an elected official now. The question is whether that's an elected official from City of Denton or could it be from one of the cluster cities which we represent and again just as a reminder and it's in the backup The city of Denton represents the city of Denton RTC seat represents a cluster of cities to meet population levels as set forth in the bylaws and those cities are Moving from the south would be Lake Dallas Corinth and then Sanger to the north a community needs to be at least 5,000 population to be represented on RTC So there's a number of different Seats on the RTC that are cluster cities or whereby there's more than one municipality represented by a single seat now The RTC has has encouraged Sharing the seats among those different cities an important point with the city of Denton RTC seat is that because the 1990 census when The city was over 50,000 population. We were awarded We were established as an urbanized area and therefore Eligible or required them to create an MPO metropolitan planning organization Rather than having all the additional overhead big of creating said MPO We elected to join the North Central Texas Council of Governments and so As such we have a seat That is really owned more or less by the city of Denton McKinney is in the same scenario as is the city of Louis ville and so each of those cities also represent cluster cities, but they typically Hold the seat for their For their RTC representative from their respective councils and then from time to time They will appoint an alternate that that might serve in fact Back in the early believe 2012 to 2013 timeframe former mayor of Highland Village when we represented Highland Village Was the alternate for the city of Denton so that that is also an option I just wanted to make sure that that was clear and also the reason why In the past the city of Denton has really pretty much held the primary RTC position just to reiterate that so it transfer of information if you will Okay, thank you So next item is Out of order here It's item E receive a report hold a discussion and make a recommendation to the Dunn City Council requesting DCTA to dedicate annual funding and the amount of two hundred fifty thousand to enhance passenger amenities I thought we already did this at the council level Do we need to do it here too? I mean we can that's fine. I just thought it was already done. I Think then tent was excuse me. It was when was brought up by Mr. When mr. Klein came and visited with council I know there was a directive by council to incorporate that those additional amenities I thought that what we were thinking of staff is to bring forward the item to mobility To then take formal action so a resolution could be considered by the full council to basically Just formalize the request. I think madam chair one of the other items was is the number of two hundred and Number of two hundred and fifty thousand was was given but at the same time the I Guess staff's understanding was this would provide an opportunity to discuss if 250 is the correct number if you wanted to consider another number if not, we'll still we've got it set for We've got a teed up for council action on the 24th. So whatever your pleasure is We've we've got it listed right now at two hundred and fifty thousand Well, I'm okay, I don't know what the right number is What I would I'd like I'd like to to a little more Certainty that that number really reflects what it would take on a year-to-year basis to To address the needs, you know is do we need more is is that really too much? And I don't know where to get the answer on that That's part of what I requested when we had our DCT a meeting was kind of to figure out the process that they have of how they put in passenger amenities how it's determined what's put in and You know without that process in place on their part, which they don't have that process in place I feel like we're not going to be able to reach a number you just kind of have to pick a number that Seems reasonable and then dial it back if it's too much Ramp it up, but they need a chance to develop their process and without some direction from us I don't think that they will with with that understanding if I may I hope I'm not Coloring outside the lines, but I think moving forward with the two hundred and fifty thousand number Would be appropriate whether they embrace that full two hundred and fifty thousand I think what you'll find out is that the request will go to DCTA. They're starting their budget process much like the city of Denton is and as they as that moves forward through their their budget process and decision You know matrices they will identify What number is is correct feasible? It may not be the two hundred and fifty thousand It may be two fit two hundred and fifty thousand for for year one and two and then it may back off to something substantially left But that's really probably something that would be a request made by this council and a contributing member city And that they would formulate a policy based on that request given that information. I move that we Forward this resolution on the council Item H staff reports I didn't miss anything today So Very quickly. There's some backup material Outlining what we've listed as public meetings. We've misst ated that those are actually public hearings And so we've got public hearing for 35w Tomorrow evening there's public meetings later this week for next week for 380 and then a public meeting is taken Public hearing is taking place today for DCTA. Actually, I will be heading over there later this afternoon That's from three to seven over at the Transit Center if you want to weigh in on any of their Any other proposed service changes, so That's what you have there Councilmember Briggs had requested some information on the federal budget. I've included some in for backup information That was provided to us from our consultants from Washington DC Capitol Edge So if there's some specific questions on that we'd be happy to come back on and address those or we could set up a conference Call and handle those specific questions with the with the consultant what I will tell you is that That particular proposal from the administration is not really gaining much traction Which was the request that I understood from Councilmember Briggs on the the switch from 80/20 federal local to the 20/80 in terms of the federal government trying to stretch their dollar further Moving on to To the new business matrix we can walk through that Let me see if there are any questions do you have any particular questions about the new business matrix I Don't either and it seems like several of these are council member Briggs. Well one of them That you haven't addressed so the rest are all yours So I think if we don't have any questions, you just want to touch the highlights that's fine Correct. Okay, so hitting hitting on number Five, I think we've covered that clear that DCTA passenger amenities I think we can clear that now in terms of once we move forward with the resolution This one item seven or regarding protected bike lanes and changes since the plan was Implemented as stated here bike and ped operations or traffic engineer will cover that at the May meeting Covered the item eight in terms of the funding 80/20 split the Arlington Transit report We've got some information on that we just weren't in position to to present that In a hole at this particular meeting and plus there's a handful of items on this agenda So we'll bring that forward and so maybe that's something that councilmember Gregory can watch from home next time Update on the downtown narrow streets item 10 that's been assigned to traffic engineering I don't quite have a date yet on that likewise with the musical roadways, I think City engineer was going to touch base with you on that particular item So with that I'll take any questions or on that particular item if that takes any staff time or funding just drop it If the committee would mind just for a few moments on item number four on the Hickory Street improvements We'd like to give you a quick update on where we are on that won't take very long Is that the are those the streetscape enhancements that were paid for out of the TIF no These are the the potential adding the sidewalks or moving the sidewalks and the distresses the west side of Hickory Moving the sidewalks along with the lighting to match West Oak So just to give you a broad overview of the project This is the one where we have water wastewater and streets crews working on Hickory from Bonnie Bray back over to Carol Currently you've got water and waste while water is complete wastewater is nearly complete streets. If you look at where it's kind of shaded green That's about where we're wrapping up right now Around North Texas Boulevard moving on to the next segment that will take us Avenue C following this So part of the discussion for the lights is actually taking Lights on the north side of Hickory they exist on the south side today pedestrian level lights not full street lights pedestrian level lights putting street light are putting special level lights on the north side of Hickory from Welch all the way over to Carol so that you get a similar look on both sides and just you've seen this before oak You've got the lights that look like this a pedestrian level lights on both sides and Hickory You only have it on one side So part of what we've looked at here is what would the overall project cost additions be? potentially there is some Marriage of the two projects because we would be narrowing a little bit of the roadway We'd still retain the bike lanes still retain parking still have to travel lanes through there, but the road was a little bit wider So we would alleviate some of the cost that we put for Asphalt and we would just offset it with cost for moving the sidewalk some other issues What we're looking for right now to really get any idea of what we're dealing with long term as far as what what are the details? What are the impacts to individual property owners to actually put this in the ground? We really need to engage a consultant and we need to get that person on board to really get into the fine details of How much grading do we have to do? What are the ADA impacts when we move this sidewalk? Do we have retaining walls that need to be shifted or moved or do they go away altogether? All those things need to be looked at in greater detail To the best of what we can figure at this point you can anticipate about 75 to 80 thousand dollars going into design fees We do have some options to look at for where we could fund that but that would be the first step if it's something you Still want to go forward with looking at is putting those pedestrian lights on the north side of Hickory Well, we're gonna I mean you want direction now because it 's under new business, I'm not sure we're just trying to give you some ideas to Consider we do have a pathway forward. We have an active Merchant's Association out there That's continuing to push us for this direction And we just need to get some idea of where you'd like us to go We could come back with an item that goes with the design of it or we could go something a code different direction If that's where you chose Thank you. I would recommend that you T this up for a work session to get direction from Council As you do it you might also If you if you have the possibility, I may not be able to do it without design Talk a little bit to them about How wide the sidewalk would be and how close the sidewalk would be to the curb? Because I know that those are issues for pedestrians. Absolutely. Okay, but I think I think move it on to Work session so that we could move forward with that on that that amount does not seem out of line. I Agree with that. Thank you That it Okay, that takes us to number two concluding items any concluding items None for my me either. So with that we will adjourn