Sep 17, 2018 Traffic Safety Commission on 2018-09-17 5:30 PM

Okay, everyone. It is Monday, September 17, 2018. We have a quorum, and welcome to the September Traffic Safety Commission meeting. We have a big turnover of members, and so I'd like us each to introduce ourselves right before you put food in your mouth. Tell us which district you're in, and if you have a particular interest and that you are hoping to represent on this committee. We'll start with Henry after he swallows. My name is Henry Jason. I have a history of -- I'm sorry, speaking to you. I thought I was loud. Hello? Hello? Hello? My career has been involved in civil service. I was a political appointee myself. I ran civil rights enforcement agencies, served on handicap committees providing education, legal opinions, general expertise to all segments of the community, not just people who are protected by law, but we also provided it to employers, to transportation districts, at all, so the people would get equal protection and equal service. All right. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you. Jeff? Thank you. Appreciate you all having me. I look forward to working with you. And that's a tough resume to follow. I do not have that much of experience. I've lived in Denton for over 30 years. I have three children. We've seen Denton change quite a bit, and with that, a lot lately with the addition of all the new highways, et cetera, to me, and just having the experience I've had in Denton and seeing all the changes and some of the things that have changed that what I thought were positive might not have come out that way, and I was interested in this position to just address some of the issues with the team and our commission and try to make it as fluid as possible as of right now with a lot of the construction and things that are going on. It's not fluid in many places, and so I'd love to contribute in any way I can on that. All right. Thank you. Dan Kretke. I originally was appointed by Kevin Roden and then reapp ointed by Gerard Hutzbeth, and I'm in District 1, live in District 1, so I think everyone knows I'm a big walkability advocate, love bike lanes, pedestrians, and in the urban core, I hope Denton can become safer and we can encourage more people to get out of their cars and use other ways of getting around, and if anyone's interested in those ideas, I've really... Jeff Speck's work, he has a couple books that are really easy if you're interested in walkability that have influenced me a lot. Thank you. A push to start? Oh, you're good when you're green. I'm good to go, okay. Clay Thurmond, and I'm in District 1, appointed by Paul Meltzer, and my interests are cycling infrastructure. I love the Safe Routes to Schools concepts, the linking that's been done in some of our city parks, and I'd like to see us develop a true bicycle network of good infrastructure in town. My wife is disabled, so I am always keeping my eye out for parking spots and places that can be converted and general disabled access. And I also am a motorist, so I see things that I may want to bring forward. All right, thank you. I'm Patrice Lyke, and I live in District 3. I'm about a seven-minute bike ride from here, cutting through the Quaker Town Park. My primary interests are with bikeability and walkability, because I'm an 11-minute walk from my office, and so that's really, you know, the streets are what I pay attention to, where I'm walking and where I'm biking. I'm also the current chair of the Oak Gateway Small Area Plan Steering Committee. That's a lot to put out there. But as a result of that, we've been really looking at mobility, parking issues, and again, you know, all the ways to make our streets safer in the area that's been designated for the small area plan. Yes, my name is Jim Owen. I'm a UNT bus driver, second career. Moved here in 2010 to get connected, reconnected with the family. I got on this committee. John Ryan put me on the committee. I live in District 4. I drive these streets every day with a 37-foot bus. So parking and student responsibilities of how they do that , and Hickory Street and bike lanes and all that, it's important. It's important for livability in this city. It's in transition from just a little small town to something a lot bigger, and we have to plan for the future. And also, Dan's vice chairman, Patrice, is the chairman of the committee. So I just wanted to mention that. I've been on it since 2015. So has she. Thank you. Hi, my name is Preetam Deshmukh. I am the city traffic engineer, also the staff liaison from the city side for this particular committee. And it's good to see a lot of folks are into overall mobility as opposed to just moving traffic. And also another perspective of driving a big bus through the town. So different angles, different perspectives, and it's great to have all these committee members here. Thank you. Great. All right. Thank you, everyone. So we have 1A, which is TSC 18-030, which is to consider the approval of Traffic Safety Commission meeting minutes of May 7th, 2018, and July 2nd, 2018. Has everyone had a chance to look at the minutes? And are there any corrections? Or is there a move for approval? I make a motion to move for approval as read. Okay. We have a motion for approval. Anyone have a second? I second. Okay. And we have a second. So both sets of minutes will move forward as unamended. Item for consideration 1B then is TSC 18-0 -- I'm sorry. I was so excited. Okay. Okay. Everybody in favor? Aye. Okay. Aye. Okay. Good to go. All right. So 1B, TSC 18-031, which is to receive a report, hold discussion, and make a recommendation to City Council for approval of an amendment of an existing ordinance 2006-358 and updating the associated interlocal agreement to allow University of North Texas to enforce parking regulations and restrict on-street parking to permit parking along Kendall Street south of Wilshire Street. Thank you. Once again, my name is Preetam Deshpuk, traffic engineer for the city, and I really like maps. So I can start here. This is a general idea of where the campus is. You can see all the highlighted areas and the street covered within the campus. I also have with me from UNT Chris Phelps, who is within the transportation division for UNT. And if you have any specific questions as to why, how, when , he might be able to dive into those. But overall, big picture, if you can see all the blues, and here, currently UNT under that existing interlocal agreement has the right to enforce parking on all these streets, starting with all the way from North Texas Boulevard to almost Bernard in the east-west, but north-south, if you see there are some streets missing. And one of the recent developments that happened, and this is why we're here, is to understand that Kendal during the I-35E widening project, one of the things that TechStat completed, and this was in coordination with the city, UNT, and all the stakeholders, that Kendal was completely blocked off. If you can see there used to be a connection similar to what we have at New Sea here. Now Kendal has a curb, and part of the reasoning behind this was the property take in this area as well as the big intersection signal where the right turns are already backing up into this particular intersection. So it didn't make any sense to provide an access where people would swing through lanes and get into the far side. It was a big safety concern. TechStat was on board. So this was completely shut down. Subsequently UNT acquired this particular parcel, and they already own the old second save on this side. They already own this particular parcel. So they own property on either side of this particular segment of Kendal Street between Wilshire and I-35E Furniture Road. And what they're requesting at this point is they better, they need to have a better control of parking. If you see and zoom in, cars are literally parked every which place they can find. Especially their access around here, getting in and out, access on this particular driveway, general access at this intersection where you're looking at line of sight. And then also if you look at the existing parking, they're trying to put in an administrative services in here for UNT and their parking is restricted on all sides. And so they want to be a better control and use this particular on street parking. And what they're asking this evening is first amend the interlocal agreement to add this particular segment so that they can actually have control over parking. And then second restrict parking to permit only. So if they can issue permits and those permitted people can only park here, given that they own property on either side, I don't see an issue or any opposition from any of the property owners that are not taking access off of this particular street. So currently staff recommends that commissioners approve this particular item and recommend to council for approving the restriction. Any questions? Any questions for Chris? We'll be more than happy to answer. Do you have to press the button when you ask? No, actually if you leave it open, that's fine. Green light's good light. Curiosity, what's the working relationship for Denton police and UNT officers? Can we still tick it? So given our parking enforcement staff, we're really low on parking enforcement staff. I think we have three officers at the most. And given that in and around the campus itself, it is really hard to keep on top of parking enforcement. This will be actually helpful if UNT takes over. It will be a relief for our officers. And there is coordination and interaction if there are certain things that are really illegal or something that UNT PD or Denton PD thinks that you're in someone else's jurisdiction, they'll coordinate and contact each other and make or change the situation by enforcing it. Is that viewed as private property, campus? I'm sorry? Is campus viewed as private property? It is a state property. We don't necessarily have jurisdiction over the parcels within the streets, but the streets are public right away. That's the city of Denton. Very good. Thank you. So Preetem, looking at the map, this is just a quick idle question, but all the red is where they will eventually be hoping to? They have not requested, but it will be on a case-by-case basis, like the one that we're currently looking at. It's a really small section. And we have come in the past, I think back in 2017. Last year we came in for a smaller piece along Central, I believe. That's a direct access. So I think Central is down here. But yeah, it is on a case-by-case basis where we don't look at the whole map and then the red. It just... So that's their aspirations? Red is aspirational? Sort of. Okay. I'm just curious. As the campus is growing, I think it makes more sense and it's much more easier, especially the enforcement side, because these are students that park in this area, primarily, almost 90, 95% of students. And on the enforcement side, if City of Denton starts giving them parking tickets, all they're gonna do is save it for three, four years and throw them out and not really be enforced. But university has a lot of more leverage. They can actually withhold their degree at the end of everything. So... Okay. Okay. I would think that the fire department's in support of this too. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. Because of the clearances? Correct. I think they'll get more driving space if clear up. That is correct. And then this, just a quick mention, this particular closure here is mountable curb. So fire department trucks can easily exit out here. So mountable curb only for fire trucks. It's not... If you look at the... If you are out there, any normal vehicle wouldn't dare to go over this. But if fire trucks are in this area, they can easily go over and leave. And then this area would be cleared off, especially from emergency response standpoint, so that no one's parking here. That's the intent. I have a question, please. Yes. So I just wanna make sure that I understand you correctly. So the future they're gonna have that is an administrative building. And I'm not sure who's currently parking in that. Kindle Street there. But you said that they were suggesting that they're gonna be parking in that building. So is that correct? Correct. Okay. So is that correct? Correct. Is that permit only for the administration or is it for students and administration? That's a good question. Maybe Chris can help me there. Chris, you might... So again, thank you for the opportunity to be here. My name is Chris Fowlis. I'm the senior director for transportation services. So the building is scheduled to open, I believe, in January . It'll be administrative, so it'll be faculty staff that are there. There's currently, I wanna say, 98 spots in there, but we 've got a couple 300 people going. So they will utilize that lot. They will utilize... Just north of Wilshire next to the PD is a lot we just did last... I didn't wanna say December. Oops. December. Yeah, this is lot 21 here. This provides some parking. But no distinction has been made, is it student, faculty, or staff? One thing to understand, if we make it for student parking, faculty staff with their permit can downgrade to park in that same spot. You just... You can't upgrade your parking. So it really depends on the needs in that lot or are the folks that are going over there going to take away the parking that I have. Student parking and whatnot, I have plenty of parking on campus. Contrary to what you hear, it may not be where you want it, but I've got it. And so we provide... And I'm glad Jim's here because we provide upwards of 47, 000 hours of bus service to help people move in and around campus so that they can go to the remote parking areas and then get to it. But we've not had an actual distinction in terms of the type of parking. I will tell you that just north of Wilshire by the PD is faculty staff. So it's currently faculty staff parking, so it's not student parking. Just so... Sorry, did you have a follow-up? Go ahead. I was just trying to understand, so you have... There's like three sides of parking there that when you remove or eliminate the ability for those cars that are currently there to park there and then put the administrators or the faculty or whatever the permits you're going to put in there, you're going to have a lot of the same issues. With the exception of the student parking, the parking is going to be a lot more difficult to get in there. So it's not going to be a lot of parking. It's going to be more of a parking. So it's not going to be a lot of parking. It's going to be a lot of parking. So it's not going to be a lot of parking. So part of what we do, and Central is a good example if you 're by there, we actually work with the city to line out what that should be striped. The clearances, you heard Preetem talk about the side angles as you approach the curb, and we enforce that so that folks can properly navigate the roads. I think the emergency access and egress is something that is, I think, not just who gets to park there, but crucially cleaning that up so that those folks can get in and around safely because I'm telling you, I see two cars, and I talk to students when I see them, and they've got this notion that if I'm over the line, it's okay. And so they're front bumpers over the line, but you have to kind of tell them you've got to be between the lines, not over the line. And so it creates a lot of issues, and Jim can talk to that as well as far as taking a bus through campus and some of the challenges that you have with that. So hopefully it would clean that up and provide a better experience for the area, and as well as the incidental uses of folks coming up and down. Thank you. Yes, sir, you're welcome. Just curious, what is, this is just a related issue, obviously, because we have a lot of people wanting to park in a small amount of space. That's always, every college campus has that, but I agree, sometimes the problem is exaggerated. I was at TWU before UNT, and I could find parking on the days I needed to without problem, but that's just my experience. But is there, so has UNT been working with the city, any, to try to encourage alternative ways to get to campus? And is there some more, there's obviously a lot of bike racks on campus, and they're used, I mean it's actually jam-packed, it's pretty impressive how many people are biking to campus. Is there anything else to encourage faculty and students to not drive? So that's a good question, and yes, our department is all things, not just parking, but all things related to moving about. I'd like to think that this last year we worked pretty well with the city on our bike share that we just launched with the start of school. We're partnering with VeoRide to provide that service. We're actually working with them through the city to get their application done, so that's, three weeks into it has been well received on campus, so we 'd like to see that mature out into the city, but we've got an agreement there. We're part of the small area plan. We've been working with the Oak Gateway neighborhood on that. I think there's a lot of good work to come out of that. We're working with DCTA. We have a promotion now whereby students, faculty, and staff with their ID can now ride the A train for no cost. You can actually get off at Med Park and take the bus into campus. You can now go to the downtown transfer center, catch route eight, and pretty much go directly to campus. We've made some changes on the bus service route six this last year. Now connects with Discovery Park. We have faculty, staff, and students who are now utilizing the train and the bus to go directly to the final destination instead of having to come to campus and transfer. I think there's a lot of partnerships that we're looking at above and beyond just internal to campus. I think that partnership with the city is important for us. As Preeten mentioned, we were here last year looking at Central. I think that has worked out real well. So I think from a departmental level, we're certainly working well. They know who we are. We know who they are. We communicate frequently. On the overall big picture, we have quarterly meetings with the UNT management. As part of that, over the last year or so, we've coordinated with them to better understand the campus master plan for their facilities as well as the overall transportation plan. A lot of the elements within the transportation plan are more focused and geared toward moving people, pedestrian and bike access, and getting cars out of the campus area and situating them in parking lots that are on the fringe. So we're looking at some options of closing some of the streets also. Once we get through the study, we'll bring it to the commission and discuss it. But we're going through a joint study effort where both UNT and city are participating in getting it actively complete. I've seen some... Oh, I'm sorry. I just wanted to follow up on that. DCTA, I know they're free until January. That was the deal. So what happens in January? Does it go to that... I've been a little confused about the pricing. I thought I understood it and then it's been a little confusing about it because previously there was a two hour option and that could get you into Dallas places if you're going one way pretty well. And I thought it was gone, but then I saw it back on the app and so I'm a little confused because that makes a big difference. If you have to pay for the full day, it's like 12 bucks now , whereas I could get to Dallas previously for five. So I was trying to figure that out. So I can't speak to the interlocals between the fare zones. I can't tell you that the UNT student ID card will get you on any DCTA service with showing that card through the fee arrangement that we have with DC TA. Once you get into DART or into the Fort Worth area, then you've got to pay the respective fare there unless you buy a regional pass. And my understanding is it's better to buy it here locally and then use that all over. So it's not the seamless that we'd like to see, but I think it's a step in the right way. What happens after January I think will determine what happens with ridership and that through the promotion. I noticed your signs on the freeway directing people that they could park at Med Park. So I thought that's the first year I've seen that. And I thought that was a really good idea for people who are sitting there, you know, stuck in traffic. Well, thank you. That's actually the second year we've done this. The idea was to give people kind of a heads up before they everybody has an idea where they want to go park, but they don't have a plan B. And so the signs on the road were a way to just say, hey, go here. And folks, it's interesting to watch people's habits, especially when we have what is more remote. I can park you remotely and get you to class faster than if you want to. Some people just want to circle a lot just to circle. And it was just an attempt to kind of help raise some awareness. Go here, go there instead of where you think you were going to say these lots were full. So you know, did it help? I don't know if it helped one person, then it helped. But at least the awareness is there to hit him before they get into town. Yeah. And the Textile Project helped it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You did. And you know, this is the second year we've done the promotion with DCTA at Med Park. And we appreciate that partnership where folks that works for them, they can go there, park, go to they don't have to buy a permit. When I took classes at UNT, I did not fund the department. I did free parking on Oak and Hickory. It worked for me. I never got tickets either. But, but, you know, just giving people options that that really meet their needs. And a lot has changed, especially if you've seen in the last few years with online education, a lot of people are coming to campus less frequently. Therefore, they don't see the value in a permit. So that's why we do the park mobiles and some of the other options for hourly parking, that if you're there, you know, a handful of times during the semester, that's probably the best value for you. Unfortunately, as an auxiliary unit of the university, you know, we have to we have to raise our own funds to provide for the services. We're not funded through any tuition or fees. So so we have to we have to fight for that crazy dollar to to provide the resources that people want. So one more question is there going to be on street handic apped parking for the by the admin building? There will be parking in the building or in the lot. Yeah, there'll be accessible parking in the lot. But nothing on street. Not unless it's required or called for. So I don't have I don't have too much accessible parking. It's all in the lots is where that's at. So I haven't seen a need yet on campus that we haven't been able to meet in a lot. So and that's both kinds of parking, both just the accessible and the van accessible. So and we have we work we have an office of disability that guides us and telling us, you know, where we need to provide and do that. So between those two partnerships with the city and with them, we look to provide those those resources. Thank you. Yes, sir. You ready for a motion? Thank you. Thank you. Is there any other discussion? Everybody happy with questions and the answers? OK. I'll make a motion that we accept the staff recommendation and pass this test. You know, 31. OK, we have a motion to recommend to we have a second. OK, and we'll vote everyone who is in favor of accepting this recommendation moving it forward. They I. I. Anyone opposed? OK, unanimous. Just for the minutes, I can't vote. OK, I wasn't sworn in. All right. No voting from you. All right. Me too. Oh, OK. Thank you. There's four of us. Yes. OK, that brings us to item one C, which is TSC 18-032. Receive a report, hold a discussion and make a recommendation to city council for approval of an interlocal agreement with University of North Texas regarding traffic signal operation during UNT special events and upgrading traffic signal equipment at four intersections within the city of Denton. All right. Again, starting up with maps and these are the four locations mentioned, but a little bit of background. As I mentioned and alluded to in the previous item, we started coordinating real closely with UNT staff and upper management a little over a year ago. I think it was May 2017. And through some of those discussions, we really understood or we were trying to understand the needs for the campus as well as our master plan and the city's infrastructure within this area. And what we found out that there was a request from the police department at UNT to help them operate some of these signals during special events. Currently, they have police officers manning North Texas Boulevard at 35E as well as Bonnie Bray at 35E Furnage Roads. You have seen in the last couple of years, I think that it has grown from being a small puny intersection at North Texas to this huge giant four lane in each side, but then six lane on the bridge. And it becomes quite a task for officers. The number of officers requires pretty high. And talk a little bit of events. They currently have UNT hosts between 40 to 50 events a year. These are the larger kinds, about 27 high school gradu ations in May. Then we're talking about 20 UNT, half of them in May, half of them in December. Six football games, those are huge. There might be more if they get into some kind of competition. And then about five high school games, up to five high school games in a year. And one dent and fire show. I mean, that's a big event too. So with all these events happening every year, they approach the city and request, what's an alternative? What can we do? How can we get officers off of these intersections, especially dealing events? And how can we better manage it? And part of the solution that was agreed upon is city would jump in and help or provide staff help during the event. So when we started reviewing what the conditions of the signals were, we required some upgrades to actually be able to do that with a considerable less number of technicians. So we're requesting that this partnership between UNT and city upgrades these four intersections with cameras that we can watch the traffic with signal equipment that we can actually talk to remotely from a traffic management center and change the signal timing, change the phasing. So part of the item here is to provide for partnering with UNT and upgrade the equipment of these signals. The second portion is whenever these events come up, city staff will be on an hourly basis start working at an agreed upon rate. There's a rate at the end of the agreement to man these events. So there will be one technician out in the street for these two intersections, one for this and then one technician up in a traffic management center where we can remotely control all of that. So there will be eyes on the ground initially as we try and figure out how these signals are functioning, how they're operating. And slowly once we get a hang and feel of it, we can go back more remotely with just the cameras zooming and tilting and then operating these signal timings. So primarily the operation needs to be operated when people are coming in, which is approximately half hour to 45 minutes before the event, a little bit of trickle after that, and then right after the event ends about half hour to an hour. So we're talking about that kind of time for every event. And financially it's much more feasible for UNT. They're spending a lot more officer hours out in the field, a lot more overtime. So when the discussions begin, we offer the solution. And Citi is on board helping UNT make it safer through the events and manage them better, manage the inflow and outflow of traffic. And that's why we have this agreement, interlocal agreement in front of us. And staff recommends that we move forward with it and execute the agreement so that it would get the special events traffic situation much more better. Any questions? Excuse me. There was something in the document that I was reading at home regarding a 30-day period of notice before cancellation. Where does the 30-day language come from? I read everything. I'm sorry. That's a good question. I think the language, let me actually get to the language, but I think the language was related to if we decide to go this path and if we upgrade the equipment, and there was a 90-day clause in here, if we upgrade the equipment and within 90 days, if UNT does not pay their share of the cost, which is 50% of upgrades, then this agreement is invalid because then we won't move forward with having to help them because at that point, we went ahead and spent the money as a city, but we're not getting reimbursement. It's a way to make sure that our time and investment is, the agreement is followed. I think we want a 50-50 partnership. It's just a better legal way to look at it. Right? Can you just make a comment? Yes, absolutely. Yeah, I think it's a very important issue, especially since North Texas continue to win football games. I agree. I also like to make a comment. I drove Eagle Point, which is the shuttle between the Union and Apogee Stadium on the first game with 30,000 people. We had the backup on the bridge. We had the backup in the north and south. It was horrible. So this is going to help. Any other questions for pre-tem? Any comments? Does anybody want to make a motion? We accept it. Second. Okay. We have a motion to accept, to approve this. We have a second. And do we have a vote? Everyone in favor? Aye. Okay. That's all of us. All right. Okay. That brings us to item 1D, which is TSC 18-033, which is to receive a report, hold discussion, and make a recommendation to City Council for restricting eastbound right turn on Red on Robinson Road at FM 2499 in order to improve safety. All right. So again, back to the map, and this is where we're at. Brand new road, 2499, just wrapping up construction. This was the last piece that was installed, a brand new traffic signal at Robinson in 2499. When this road was designed, it was designed within residential neighborhoods, and I think the way it was laid out was pretty restrained as to what kind of right of way they would get. Fairly has its share of number of horizontal and vertical curves given the grades. So there are certain segments within the street that has huge, you can see here, huge sound walls, especially for someone's backyard backing into the street with that kind of expected traffic volumes, text-on design sound walls for everyone, and I think it's up and down the corridor. If you actually drive the corridor, it goes all the way south up until it reaches FM 2181. And what has resulted in the restricted area for them to design and implement this particular arterial is the limited amount of side distance that is available at some of the intersections. I think Robinson Road is one of them, but there's another one at Hickory Creek, and Text-Dot, the city has worked with Text-Dot to temporarily block the right lane so that people can actually make the right out of Hickory Creek Road. But this is a similar situation, and I have some pictures that Sarah took while she was out there, and if only I can open it. And this will help you understand what I'm talking about as far as if you are at the stop bar, and she's even past that crossing area for pedestrians, you can barely see that. This is the car in the last lane, which is the first vehicle that's going to show up when you move in, and it's barely 100, 150 feet at 50 miles an hour, this is not a good enough side distance. You can see way back there, but that doesn't help who's hiding behind this curve. And you have to almost, let me show you another one, you have, so this is where the actual line is. So if you stand back and not even scoot over and cringe over, this is what you're seeing. And this becomes a hazard. I have received multiple complaints even, I think, from one of our police department officers. He was afraid for his daughter to make these turns. And I was out there, we've talked to Text-Dot, and the immediate fix at this point, since this is private property, retaining wall, sound wall, pretty expensive affair, the best thing is to just have not people turn on red. And the signal circles pretty fast, so if it doesn't pick up traffic on FM 2499, it'll circle back to Robinson. So it's not a big weight behind anyone that really wants to make that right turn movement. That's why for all these reasons that you really don't have the line of sight to make a safe call to get, to turn right from the eastbound direction onto southbound on FM 2499. So staff recommends that we restrict this movement during the red phase on Robinson so that people are not really slipping in. When they have green, they can definitely move forward. Any questions? What's the speed limit on Robinson? I believe Robinson is pretty low. It is in the 30 or 35, one of those, because it goes from a two lane, just opens up here and then... Okay. So it is in the 30, 35 range. It's not even 40. Okay. And then what's the speed limit on 2499? Text-Dot is still deciding that. Oh, okay. They conducted some surveys and they have initial data. It's around the 45 range, but we're reviewing and going back and forth with tech. Given the terrain and the horizontal vertical curves, we wanted to make sure that we put a place to write speed limit. They want 50. How long has that sound wall been there? A few months. Oh, okay. Yeah, I think December is when they wrapped up most of the construction. I believe in the last year or so, the sound wall was... You can see, this is probably 2018 Google data. It's still under construction, so earlier this year. Do we have any development code guidelines for how tall sound walls can be in the city of Denton? I mean, will this get to be a problem in other neighborhoods that we can avert it now before? Correct. We are going through, as we mentioned a little bit earlier, growing pains in the city. That means currently, our arterials are not backed up to someone's neighborhood. We're not designing our tills after the fact, but sound wall is something that has definitely been brought up by some of the council members. As our projects move forward, we're coming with designs, but definitely we'll look at corner side distance on some of them. You're right. I mean, moving forward, we need to have some kind of design guidance on that, but this is a textile facility. Right. Yeah. Sometimes, if there will be a need for sound walls, we may need a bigger easement so they set back. We have some clips set backs. Yeah. Did there have been a number of accidents at this intersection? I can find that number out, but to my knowledge, there have not been that many because the signal was not opened until recently. It was always stopped. That means everyone really had to come to a complete stop. That was a good thing. The minute the signal opened, we started noticing and we started getting the complaints that we might and visibility is not, so we're trying to act as fast as we can and get it ahead of anything happening here that's serious. If it's recommended, we'll move forward with the council and then immediately implement it. It is four lane at that point? Two going? Correct. Robinson is four lane. Okay. Anybody have questions? Concerns? comments? I'll make a motion to recommend the staff recommendation. Okay. We have a motion for approval. We have a second and do we have a vote? Everyone in favor? Yes. Okay. Once again, moving forward. That is going to bring us to one E, TSC 18-034, receive a report, hold a discussion and make a recommendation to city council for approval of an amendment for surface transportation system project agreement for traffic signals, state contracted and with the municipality providing limited materials and or labor and or equipment at the intersection of I-35E and Brinker Road. We specifically worded to make it difficult so that by the time we get there, like, all right, we're done. On this project, this is a, I wouldn't say it's an after thought, but it's definitely something has happened to put it that way. I-35E project went in with a widening project without really having Brinker Road underpass as part of their original project. It was just have to do with the timing where this particular development, which is the Buc-E's, they came in slightly behind when I-35 widening was already underway. Once they came in, TechStop felt the need that we need to do something about it. If that connection is going to happen, then we have to look at this connection as well as down here if we need some improvements. That was a second project that came about to existence, which is currently under construction. AGL wrapped up the big I-35 project. They left town, but we never saw anyone leave because this project was still going on or picked up even before AGL left. This is a TechStop project, second project, that comprises of Loop 288 interchange upgrade, which they're actually pretty close to putting the bridge down on one side. Brinker interchange, which will connect Brinker underpass. The freeway will go over. The last one would be a U-turn at Mayhill, which they've already installed the U-turn, Texas U under the bridge. What had happened is in that particular project, they designed Brinker at the Furnage Road as a always stop sign. City had to go back, fight it for a little while. Then finally everyone realized it's not going to work. They went into design at a later phase while this project had already begun construction. Now they're coming back and saying, "Okay, we'll install signals." That's why they need this amendment to add the signal equipment that the city will provide TechStop. We have some specific equipment that the city recommends in order to connect and communicate with different signals. That's the equipment that we will provide, and TechStop will reimburse for those pieces of equipment. That's the amendment that was attached to signal improvements at Loop 288. Staff recommends that we move forward with this and accept it so that we can get reimbursed for the equipment that we're putting in by TechStop. Any questions? Yeah. Excuse me. I'm curious, what kind of light setup is it going to be? Is it going to be exactly like you would have the Lily Miller crossing or back down on Mayhill as far as it going underneath the highway so you're going to have lights? Correct. It would be the same setup as Loop 288, which will have two lanes in each direction going under the pass and then left turn lanes in either direction . Both of them will be signalized at the southbound furniture as well as the northbound furniture. They'll coordinate the same way the loop signal coordinates the different phases. That is also the main entrance to Buc-E's. I think you can actually see that now when you pass by, you can see they've already laid out the entrance here. It doesn't show up here. So the lane entrance is literally at a light? Literally this is a cross and this becomes their main entrance for Buc-E's. Do they have multiple exits from Buc-E's? They do have access here, back here, and then they have another access. I think it's right there. They have one access back here, but this is the main signal ized entrance for Buc-E's. So you get funneled right in? That's the idea. Instead of percolating back here or other places. How many pumps are Buc-E's putting in? I'm not aware of the number of pumps. Probably between 75 and 100. Typically there are 75. The one in Austin is about 75. So Chell's recommendation, but I mean how do you, I mean I guess obviously I wasn't here for planning and zoning or whenever that was happening . With the traffic studies that Buc-E's gonna change, how do you think that that will affect say the flow to Lillian Miller with all the Buc-E's traffic that is gonna be sitting right out in front of it? So Buc-E's traffic is primarily. I'm sorry, not to Lillian Miller, but down to State Hill School because that's a one-way road there. Here at Mayhill and State Hill. So Buc-E's traffic is primarily going to affect this exit ramp, get on, do their Buc-E's, do the Buc-E's thing and then get on back here. Anyone that really wants to go north, they have an access ramp here. And then anyone that wants to get onto Buc-E's has an access ramp here. So it is fairly localized in this area, but big picture impacts, there will be impacts because of this interchange being in place at the same time Buc-E's going in. And the city is looking at a long-term projection and looking at 20, 25 years in the future. What are the implications? And we have a traffic study conducted. We're still not out with the results as far as what are the implications. We submitted the text offer. We need them on board and once they're on board, there might be some other more improvements needed. And part of that study clearly shows that a lot of this traffic that's waiting here may start using this as an alternative route to get to the interchange in the freeway. That's just my biggest concern of how they might just change the traffic flow because you already have the route that you just said, the alternative route that they might take. That's already backed up. They're already backed up right in front of Buc-E's. They're already backed up at State School on both sides. And so if it's going to increase it even more, it just doesn't seem like a viable thing to do if we're trying to make traffic flow better. I think the actual lane capacities on the 35E, once the freeway really opens up to three lanes, which is what it was intended to, but it didn't really go all the way to three lanes in each direction just because this project was coming behind and it would have disrupted everything. So the contract for this particular segment to be from May hill all the way to Loop 288, just north of Loop 288, that segment was never upgraded to three lanes in each direction. It was always kept two lanes because the amount of disruption, the new interchange here, the fill and level change. So once the freeway is back to three lanes in each direction and the connections are appropriate, I think it'll be much more better than what you see today. It's pretty backed up because of the two lanes and the construction at the same time. Now, I was talking more specifically Mayhill and both sides of Lillian Millen. You're talking about these intersections? Yes. Just to give you an update, there's another TechStop project to update this interchange. It was never the part of I-35E project. This bridge width was never widened. So now they're going to, since they've completed 249.99 coming in, and this is a wider segment with two lanes in each direction. They're thinking of widening this bridge, which is a choke point at this point. So that's a new project that is currently kicking off design. So in a couple of years, it should go to construction and should be done. Yeah, there are a lot more projects going on. Any other questions? Any questions, comments? All right, do we have a motion? Come on, Dan. I can't call it this week. Huh? I can't call it. Can I? Call the motion? Right, because I can't vote this week. So I guess you can't call the motion. I'll make a motion to approve the staff recommendation for TSC 18-034. Okay, we have a motion to approve. Do we have a second? I'll second, otherwise we're going to be in a mess. Okay, we have a second now for a vote. Do we have a second? Okay, so we have two votes to approve the amendment. Aye. Aye. And opposed. And a no vote. Okay. Wait, I'm sorry. Why are you not voting? Is that not an option? No, sir. Sorry, under the rules that council has promulgated, unless you actually have like a recusal because of conflict of interest or something. In my thought process on that was just I would like to have seen a lot more information regarding that. It's probably not good. It's here today, out of brand new, so I didn't have the chance to study it in the past. And so with that, I thought I might be able to abstain, but that's not an issue. I'll say nay, and it doesn't matter. Okay. So do you want us to revote? Do what? Do you want us to revote? To be official? If he's voting nay, then you have to vote three to one. Okay. Okay. Here we are. Okay. I'm going to leave early. Okay. Wait, did you say motion fails? Okay. Okay. That means we won't get reimbursed for $30,000 from Tech Stop. That's the bottom line implication of this. And we will spend the money, but we can go to council. You swear us here? Would you reconsider your vote? Because we're losing $30,000 from TechStop. Yeah, we won't be reimbursed for that $38,000. Yes. When you have it, when you're doing it, if I can reconsider my vote, I will because it doesn't matter. He didn't understand that implication of it. Okay. Yeah, I'm sorry, I did not hear that. Okay. Yes. Do we have three votes? We have a motion to reconsider in a second. I'll make a motion to reconsider. Second. Okay. So we will reconsider our vote. Oh, take a vote on that. Okay. I'm sorry. All right. Sorry. Okay. So first we're going to vote on whether we will reconsider the vote. So all in favor of reconsidering the vote. Aye. Aye. Okay. So we will have another vote on whether we should approve this item, TSC 18-034. So do we have a motion to approve? I'll make a motion to approve. I second. Do we have a second and a vote? Everyone in favor? Aye. Aye. Here we are, four. Thank you. Okay. Now that brings us to actually the most fun part, which is the matrix. So item 1F, TSC 18-035, staff reports of the matrix. So since there are so many new members, I just want to quickly outline what we do here with the matrix and what are the intentions and how do we track it or what are some of the outcomes of this particular process. A matrix is a list of different items, different issues that you really want to -- more information or see something done, action. Say, for example, you want to sidewalk at some location. What are the ways you get there? You put it on this matrix. We have a discussion. At some point, if you want to, you can convert that item into a full-blown discussion item where you have -- you can bring an AIS and have a full ag endized item because if it's not on the agenda, we can't really go into the depths of why and how and where. So this is a starting step for anything that you really want to move forward and get things done or want more information on. So these are the list of things that we've been tracking for long -- some of them are a pretty long time. We can start cleaning it up. We can start a new one. We can consider changing some of the format, but this is what we have. And there were some requests that were made in the past by some of the commissioners and they're in here, but what we've started doing is under each of these requests, we've started saying what improvements or how would we address it or were we considering some of these things. For example, if we can -- let's jump to item number two because that's much more easier, parking on Myriad Street between Oak and Scripture. That's within the Oak Gateway Plan area and as part of that specific plan, they're studying parking and traffic as a big picture approach to how do we fix it, what are the ways we can do it. So this item was brought in and then, yeah, we're currently with the specific plan underway that is going to come up with ways to address the issue on this particular street. So those are the things that we're tracking. Typically in a meeting, I hit on the newer ones where some of them are highlighted, newer responses, and then after that, any new items that you want to add will be added subsequently. So that's the process. I can start with item six because there's an update on that and just a quick aerial map, my favorite part. So there was a request about sidewalks and safe pedestrian passage along Mingo. This is the stretch of Mingo we're talking, all the way from Old North which is here to the campus, T.W. campus, Bell, so -- which is right here. So part of that, I think main concerns are this particular area where a lot of T.W. students live in these apartment buildings and some of them here and then the campus is right here. And typically they have to go around on university or then they have to walk in the ditch around Mingo if they're closer on this particular edge. What we're currently doing is working with T.W.U. with their master plan and their interim phase is actually looking at reusing some of these golf course paths and we are partnering with them to see how we can connect these to the street and then bring them in and provide smaller connections. That way this will create pedestrian areas for them to walk around instead of being on the street and getting on the street they will be easily connected. So that's part of the solution, interim fix. Eventually we'll come back and widen Mingo and the sidewalk will be part of Mingo. Item number -- >> While you're on that. Will that incorporate some bicycle paths when you're talking about widening? >> Widening Mingo. Definitely bicycle is a consideration on most of our projects. We're putting a multi-use bike path on Bonnie Bray, May Hill, all the big projects. Anything that we design we try and implement some multi-use paths and/or bike lanes. It's a combination. >> Because I use Mingo right there to bicycle into town sometimes. >> Okay. >> And also while you're on that, that corner also as I'm driving down Riddell and approaching that stop sign, the fencing, just a little bit back, you've got the several couple of light poles, utility poles, and that fencing as you're coming up kind of prevents a little screen just right about there from car viewpoint. And I was looking at it today thinking that if we could -- if you want to keep the fence, that light pole on the right just past where the truck is, if you move down Mingo just a little bit. Yeah. Basically, if we go from that light pole where that truck is right over the little bridge, and if that fencing could be pulled back a little bit to open up that corner for visibility. >> Okay. I'll add that as a separate item and then we can talk about it next time. I'll work with -- it's a TW Golf Course fencing. >> Yes. >> And I'll have to work with them to make sure that they are okay with removing it. >> Right. Because you've got a couple of big utility poles and then you've got this fencing that creates a screen making it a little difficult to see around there. >> Okay. >> Do you have any -- if we're going to be widening Mingo, do you have a feel for when that's going to happen? >> We're looking at least two to three years before we can design it. We don't have the funds yet. >> Okay. Any talks with railroads for right of way for putting pads and stuff on? >> Yeah, that's pretty tough. There's no way around that. So let me update some of the other items that I really wanted to talk about. Item number 11, there were concerns of parking east of on H ickory Street, Fry Street, cars are parked not properly entering traffic. It was an enforcement issue. We've asked parking enforcement to go in there and put it on their regular watch list. They have a list that they continually rotate. So we're trying to stay on top of that particular item. It's a safety related. The next item also, Malone Street, it's completely redone. And bike infrastructure is in place. We are working through that. Some of the kinks of new configuration. >> Malone and where? >> The entire stretch of Malone between scripture and US 3 80. Yeah. That has a bike lane and it's been converted to a three lane section. The next item, item number 13, left turn needed at Old North University, Old North University in Nottingham. We've completed the Old North at the university. The left turns are in place. They have separate left turn lanes. And it seems to be working well at this point. We're still monitoring it. We just completed it last week. The next one, Nottingham University is to follow. It's in our next phase of small transportation projects. So we're kicking off the design in a month, month and a half to get that thing moving. Number 14, we have reviewed and addressed it. There were some issues with the traffic controller. It was really cycling fast. Didn't have enough green time for the cross streets. And then we've addressed that. So I'm going to remove some of these items that we've already addressed and then next time I clean up the matrix. And then the last one we have added that, the 10 foot sidewalk, we have added that to our sidewalk gap list. Typically, we add them up on an annual basis and set it up so that we can package it and send it out for design. We're currently working on 2018 sidewalk design package and then construction will start early next year or probably mid next year. And then 2019 is already under on the same path. We're taking it to council for getting a design consultant on board. And then I just added fencing and mingling with the first side distance. Any other items that anyone wants to add? Well, I'm going to have a question about cautionary 20s. Is that what it's called? Caution 20 or cautionary 20 mile an hour? I believe there's one on scripture, but my neighborhood, E agan, Congress, somewhat on panhandle is getting more and more populated by families with young children. And we're close to Denton High, we're close to Calhoun Middle, and this summer we had another person who ran the stop sign, ended up in one of my neighbor's yards and actually hit her car first and then ended up in her yard. And so there's three children that live in that house. So any number of them could have been out there. So is there -- we're working on this with our small area plan. But what else just from this perspective of our commission, what can we think about, look at, ask for so that we've got multipronged approach to making that area in particular safe? And these are little kids. They're going to be there for a while. So the orange caution, children playing kinds of signs, how do those even happen? So a couple things. Quick response to this. I can't really discuss much in detail, but putting a sign out there is not going to help because they're going to look at it and just ignore. That's the first approach. 20 miles an hour, typically according to our ordinance, can only be a street adjacent to school or hospital or park. We can't really have a 20-mile on our cautionary speed anywhere other than that ordinance area. And I can give you the specifics. That's one thing. What we're doing, and the second two-pronged approach, is I 've talked to several residents in that neighborhood and several other neighborhoods, and we are looking at a traffic calming toolbox where we go to communities, subdivisions, areas similar to yours, and present the toolbox. These are the options. These are the pros and cons. Compact circle or compact roundabout, bulb outs, islands, other pavement markings, signage striping. All these options will be laid out, and once we come up with what are the preferred options, we can look into how do we fund them and how do we implement them. So that's an approach. We are going to start. I'll probably bring an item in the next meeting or the following with the whole traffic calming toolbox as to what's entailed, what are the pros and cons, and then that's something that we can -- I'm going to start going to each community and presenting and let them have a weigh-in on what happens in their community. That's a better way of controlling speed and cut-through traffic, is making sure that it becomes a really localized area where people really are forced to slow down as opposed to just signage that doesn't really help much. So if you're coming in at a really narrow angle and close down the -- almost close down the intersection, you have to slow down. >> It's going to be a little bit of a sea change in mobility attitude in order to do that, which I'm all in favor of. >> We have to create the right guidance for them to change the behavior. Slow process. >> I'm also wondering, now that we have Mark, too, if the city has completely given up on discussing the stop is yield sign -- stop is yield for bicy clists, the Idaho stop. >> We'll look into that. I can't really answer that right away. >> It's okay. >> What was the -- what's already been discussed? >> Nothing. >> Okay. I would love to see that. >> Stop signs and yield signs for bicycles. >> But yeah, basically, yeah. >> Yeah. Right. >> And especially -- >> Changing their behavior, too. >> I'm sorry? >> Changing their behavior, too. >> Yes. Yes. Well, and especially as we are having more of our streets being, you know, bicycle -- you know, bikes can be part of traffic. It's really a bigger pain in the butt for cars to be behind a bike that has to get back up to speed when there are -- when there is no traffic coming. So if all you have to do is slow and keep going, you really -- the traffic keeps going at a better pace in those areas. >> And you -- >> The sparrows. >> And stops and stop lights would be like stop signs. That's the way you see it. >> Yeah. >> A quick response the way PD looks at this is they really consider bicyclists as a vehicle. And they enforce it that way. So if you don't stop, that means, yeah, you're in trouble. >> Right. >> But -- >> See change. >> -- we'll investigate. >> When you're on a bike and the person's car and a car is frustrated behind you because you're going three miles per hour, it creates a far more dangerous situation. >> Right. Right. If they have to feel they have to speed up to get around you because you are -- >> And that's the most dangerous thing. >> -- instead of you're being able to -- when you can, just keep on going. >> That's the only close calls I've had is people swerving around out of frustration because they don't -- they think only cars should be in the road. >> Right. Yeah. Okay. So in terms of the matrix, that means that, you know, we're the eyes on the street. So when there are things that you see that can -- some of these things are super quick fix. You know, we've brought things in. We've said pre-tem, we need help, and one meeting later he says, okay, and this is what we did. And so some things he can say, oh, okay, I didn't know anybody was concerned about this. This is something we're addressing via this project. But, you know, this is a really good way to find out and add things or find out where we are. The city might be working on things that we don't know they 're working on, and you bring it up and they can say, okay. And then you can bring that back. We bring that back to the community who's been asking about it. So, Dan? >> Can I just -- I don't know if it's time to ask a question because I don't know what can happen related to it. But the new pedestrian cross on the square, there's like new pedestrian cross. What was the -- I mean, I guess that's probably out of our realm. What was the thinking behind those? >> You mean the sound or -- >> No, there's -- >> The sound, too. >> No, like the shorter ones, right? They're like shorter -- that weren't there previously. They're installed in the last six months. >> So it is ADA compliance. The new ADA compliance requires that the pedestrian buttons are within a certain distance of the street and the ramps. So that's why you have those shorter ramps. But at the same time, their sound is unique enough so someone with a visual disability can actually differentiate between different sounds of which direction you're going. >> So those actually emit sound? >> Yes. >> Okay, that's good. >> And it emitted different sound and we just changed it last week. >> Was the alignment changed? Because it seems like -- and maybe I'm reading wrong, but it seems like when I'm on the square, you have to press the button now. >> Correct. >> Or to cross. >> And that's for ADA compliance. >> So it can't be automatic? >> If it's automatic, it's hard for anyone that's visually and also hearing impaired that they wouldn't know what direction where to cross. So you have ramps that are directional and then you have buttons that go with those. So we're just being compliant. And yeah, it's a little bit, but it helps everyone to not just get into the street immediately. >> Is that something that we've had to coordinate with Text Dot? >> No. >> Because L and Locust? >> Well, they reviewed the plans, yes. >> Okay. >> Okay, so I do have one question on the matrix. This is probably an enforcement question about station motors, which is at the corner of Locust and McKinney. They just block sidewalks and I think they've been doing it for years with cars. And that whole area has kind of always been one of my biggest concerns because of the you come off the square, it's pedestrian friendly and then it opens up and cars gun it near where pedestrians are walking. But that area in particular, you're just pushed into the road as a pedestrian because they always block it. So that's right at Locust and McKinney. So I don't know if that's an enforcement issue. And then I had one other question I brought up. We were just discussing before. Is there anything temporary we can do on Hickory? I know there's long term plans on Hickory, but I know I've been since probably my first meeting in 2016 complaining about we have two urban areas and we have one small gap between them. And it's one of the worst roads and we put a bike lane on it. And then we tore it up. So now we have a bike lane with torn up terrible traffic. When you bike on it at night, which I do every night, you can't see more than a foot or two in front of you on parts of it. It's incredibly dangerous. Someone is going to get really hurt riding over there. And we as a city built infrastructure to tell them to go there. And I don't know how long it's going to take to get this stretch fixed or get something done because the sidewalks are all inaccessible. If anyone in a wheelchair wants to go between UNT and the square, they're out of luck. It's just I don't know. It's just so bad. And we made it way worse. I don't know what happened with putting the pipes in. But man, that road got torn up and it just looks like it's about to sit there for a while. And so I'm just frustrated with the status of it. It's been bad for years. It's gotten worse. And if nothing else, can we get some lighting, some temporary lighting in the area so that there's it's not dangerous for people. So it is a project. Yeah. We're working on it. More to come. I know. I'm just disgusted. Yeah. Well, and I think that is a question for the for night. You know, since right now the lighting is so are there any temporary measures to illuminate that area until it's done? And I think when it's done, it's going to look great. I think it will be pedestrian oriented. But right now, I think everybody I talked to who goes down who walks or bikes down Hickory, it feels like they're in it, you know, taking their lives into their own hands, you know, even even in the broad daylight. Yeah. Yeah. So you at night just a little extra extra way to put a little extra light in there, I think would be it would be good. That would make a big difference just so you can really see where you're biking in front of you right now. Yeah. When you hit those bumps, you sometimes don't even see them coming. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we're looking at bike. We'll look at options. OK. Thank you. Thank you. OK. Is there anything else? A general question. I'm the new kid on the block. I like reading research, statistics, reports in order to make an informed decision. There might be times I'd say I'm going to say no, simply because I don't have all my questions answered. How would I get supplemental information before this meeting? I'm going to vote on something. Is there a way to do that? You can send a list of questions you may have ahead of the meeting. I don't know what's on next month's agenda. You can send them Monday if you can, the morning of today, and then we'll get enough time to respond to all the questions. OK. Thank you. So because you get it on Friday, you don't have enough time , but you can read it over the weekend. If on Monday morning you want to send questions or you have follow up information, we can make sure that we try and address most of them. If we have something pending, then we'll provide you at a later time, but we'll try and address them. And I think we talked about too, is there simplifying the way to find existing projects on the site? I think they have done some updating already. Correct. I can send you a link. Is that linked from our page? That would kind of make sense almost to have a link to it. I don't know if that's-- I don't know. That'd be great if you could-- thank you so much. OK. Anyone else have any questions, comments? OK. We will adjourn at 6.59.