and good morning everyone welcome to the mobility committee we've determined that
a quorum is present and we're going to convene in a regular meeting today
Wednesday April 24 10 a.m. in the council work session room first thing on the
agenda is the citizens comments on the agenda items we have any comments that
have been coming in okay thank you number two items for individual
consideration MC 24 - zero zero eight consider approval of the minutes of
March 27 2024 can we get a motion for approval move to appear the minutes okay
we have most approved we have second all in favor you know you know okay all
right thank you so that's unanimous go on to be MC 24 there's zero zero nine
receive a report and hold a discussion regarding the city of didn't
transportation mobility project status reports good morning good morning how
y'all today I'm Barry heard with ITS it's been a few months as I've been here
I'm taking John's place today to give the report I was trying to remember the
last time I was here I think was October somewhere in that time frame and it was
a good report and this report's got a couple of good items also so as we get
to those I'll I'll be sure we we bring those to everyone's attention are you
aware of the first page with all the project information let's go back to
the page yes yes ma'am so those are all the page are all the projects and the
costs associated with those projects exactly all right there's a lot of
projects going on at the same time and these first two projects are really the
ones that are that have a lot of good news okay so on the first project 535
north let me see if I can zoom this out just a little bit here okay there's this
project or this page encompasses four projects ones currently under
construction the one in the purple color the 76 project one nine five two seventy
six that's at the four fifty five thirty five interchange and Sanger it's
approximately fifty percent complete approaching fifty percent the other
three projects that are from us seventy seven north three double oh two are all
approaching the hundred percent plans completion so they're all within the
the scheduled letting windows the first one the 81 from view road south to where
the interchange ends at four fifty five is scheduled for letting in December
twenty twenty four and this page just denotes all the utilities that are
moving as you know they've been moving from UNT Boulevard all the way to three
double two double oh two four for a while and for the sake of the viewers
the yellow highlights that has changed for the better yes there's the changes
are denoted in yellow you can see unlike on the first one Atmos is expected to be
clear by August Brazos electric this is for this the the first project the 74
that's currently under construction all right thank you okay then this is really
the the biggest news the merge project 35 e 35 w marriage this project led on
April 4th and the project was over cost the estimated cost I don't know if you've
kept up with the recent cost increase and as a recent over the past three to
four years construction costs have almost doubled nationwide and across the
state with text dot text dot has kept their cost to the eighty to ninety
percent range of that doubling so I think we've done a good job or text dot
has of staying below the national average but this project let for five
hundred eighty eight million seven hundred eighty thousand eight hundred
forty one dollars to SEMA construction was the low bidder there were two bidders
on the project like I said it was over and the amount it was over was 18%
there's 56 months of barricade almost approaching five years and that is to to
project completion we have a question yes sir so I the we didn't put the
estimated construction costs in until more recently in terms of these reports
but I know that the the quotes and stuff had to have the engineers estimates and
I guess my question is more knowing knowing the scope of how the trends are
and how construction costs are more and and their supply chain issues and what
not what was the biggest thing in the in the 18% overage it was really across
spread across all the items and that's what I was saying earlier construction
costs as far as the inflation have not stabilized yet and that's what we're
seeing across all the projects is more of a increased cost across across the
board so tech start has tried to keep up with this as best they can and I was
aware that they had updated their estimates ongoing you know every three
months and that's what we're doing on our other projects too but even then
this was such a large project that and there were only two bidders that the
that the project went over to that amount roughly since projects are going
up from my estimation five to six percent every every few months that's
then that's what it's been for for a while now but if I can follow up just
for just for my own understanding of things in general for tech stock when
when will they tap the brakes when when the overruns well what is there a
threshold every every project has so much of this that's already done they
can't really stop every project has a recommendation of whether you can award
or rebid or pull the project back or save cost that's happened on for
example I 30 I 30 in Rockwell County the project let it was not awarded they
pulled some items out to be constructed later and and relet the project the
decision was made by the district on this project to get to move forward with
the award I appreciate that thing I have a general generalized question and my
question is is that when these companies come out and be it for these types of
large amount projects do we know anything about their profitability status
is there like a generalized concept of what you know type of profit besides of
the company they have to have a specific bonding capacity that they have to meet
to bid on the project as far as the profit the profit is spreaded they
figured different ways when they do their estimation so as far as an actual cost
of what that profit is going to be no not ahead of time it's just the the project
is going to go to the low bidder yeah as far as with concern any other questions
hey thank you
all right 35 e and Mayhill this project is being designed by LTRA it's been
under under design for a while the ready to let date is November of 2024 with a
scheduled let date of June 2025 the design is complete they the utilities
are being moved and that's what's driving the letting date I must say that's
my favorite project I love that project I just love driving by there believe it
or not before I came to ITS I worked at LTRA and I worked a little bit on this
project but there is a lot of as you can see at the bottom there there's a lot of
with a hospital and everything there's there's a lot of communications fiber
lines there and that's what's all the splicing is what takes a while to get
that moved out of the way
35 W frontage roads this project is an acquisition of right away process
expected to be complete later in the fall of this year the plans are
approaching 95 percent completion the 100 percent plans expected by the end of
the year and with a ready-to-let of September of 2025
380 at 377 this is another good good report here they expected the
substantial completion is complete and the construction is expected to be
finalized with that means the district acceptance in May of 2024 so it is
basically in punch list the stage right now
and there's no more expected lane closers if they are they're going to be
too minimal during the day compared to what they have been yes let me go back
here yeah again kind of feel I'll see it on what we were doing over there on the
north they were installing the barrier and the pedestrian elements along the
side and so I don't know if you notice they've got their small barrier wall
that separates the pedestrians and then the pedestrian railing on the outside
to have a shared use path and as well as separate traffic for safety with the
raised mediums as similar to to what Colin has done you know on their on
their side now this section in the middle is going through the same same
process okay loop 288 West frontage roads this project is expected with 100
percent compliance 100 percent plans to be complete in December of 2024 there's
a environmental reeval right now that's expected to be approved this month for
the John Payne Underwood area that 2449 we've got 10 parcels in ED nine are in
possession so roughly halfway through but the parcels in ED are are moving
along to the stage now that I think they're going to come in to being
complete and in the next you know a few months yes okay so I noticed that the
environmental is popped on a couple of times as they've done some reevaluation
is there is there a particular thing that's that's tripping them up that
they're they're paying attention to the right of this is not a reeval for the
entire section this is just for this isolated area and it has to do with a
development and right away in that area specifically and access so there's not
necessarily any large reeval along the whole process it's just more of a
formality even though it's a formality it still takes you know in roughly four
to five months to get that complete so this started I guess sometime if I
remember right November December to look at that area again thank you a question
yes it says for John Payne Road extension approval is expected where is
John Payne Road up in that area it's right at it's right here in this area
where 2449 comes in and we've been working with the city and the developer
to to make sure the access is correct and there's a water tower in that area
that we're trying to to make sure the access is okay provided I can't remember
it was a water tower electric but I think it's like yes electric sorry thank
you okay moving on to the loop 288 380 project this project we've had a public
meeting previously estimated cost of construction on this project is nine
hundred twenty two million this is a project that that will add capacity to
the loop as well as provide a connector from 380 to the proposed loop I just
leave it there do you have any questions yeah okay yeah the last meeting last
couple meetings I've been gently pushing for for whatever spider webs and fairy
wings alignments that we have I don't I don't care that they're they're ephemeral
I don't care that there's 300 of them for for this or in the neck in the
future items for the outer loop but I would like to see those if at all well
to the I'm gonna stop saying if at all possible I'll just end at the sense I
would I would I would like to see those
I will add I have one that I can share at least and kind of walk through the
group we're not ready to publish anything text artists is refining some
of those and we're gonna have it for a public meeting so happy to share after
the meeting and kind of walk through what that looks like and I appreciate
that I I mean so I understand we have sort of semi to meeting members of the
public sort of but at the same token most of us here have had feedback from
the community and and getting ahead of some of that feedback and aligning with
the alignments as it were that's very recursive but we're happy we're happy to
do that they are they are hearing what the community is saying they are
listening to the feedback and they have provided changes that we like so I think
it's very fruitful I think people will be happy and and so we can kind of walk
through where that's at they're still working through some heights on bridges
and whether it is completely possible so we don't want to put something out there
to the public ie publish in this meeting that's going to demonstrate something
that is not possible to do so I'm absolutely happy to share it with the
entire committee just it isn't a document that I can share because it
doesn't belong to me whatever vehicle that you you have available to you to
share with us I think absolutely well thank you and one of the most one of the
things we're doing that's to tag on to a little bit what Scott was saying is the
the area closer to the 380 connection making sure that clearances we've had
some comments back from DME making sure the clearance is vertical and
horizontal and fit so that's like he was saying that getting everything just
right to where to see if it's viable for presentation I think's where we're at
no I appreciate that it's I mean there's a lot going on in that Northeast
corner I mean yes sir utilities infrastructure residents I mean there's
that I think that's why the community has a lot of heartburn because there is
so much going on in that corner and it has been the redesigns or multiple
designs have attempted to to minimize any relocation or impacts as possible
but we also have to keep in mind that I'm just going to say what maybe
somebody else other folks are thinking we're just have to be reminded I'll
remind the community that when we start taking on these projects and at the very
beginning phase is a bit scary because we you know have our you know not in my
backyard type syndrome thing that goes on in the world so I want us to when we
received when we receive what we need to receive the I want to be trusting that
everyone has done the very best they could exactly so you know we start
getting a lot of noise at the beginning of the projects it it doesn't progress
the project any faster but it probably actually you know slows it down but of
course everybody has their their reasoning so there's a lot of yellow up
there so what that gives me is the knowledge that things are continuing to
move forward and that's what I appreciate about it anybody else have
any other comments all right thank you I just like to say one thing to tag on the
way you were saying is the process of planning that for the DFW region region
and Denton County is is as good or better as anywhere in the state and then
I think you're right it does maybe it takes you know a few months longer to
get the right answer but that's what everyone on the team it's a concerted
effort between tech stop the cities ITS the everyone involved to make the right
decisions and then again that's why it takes so long for things to get done well
that's one thing I was going back to planning myself recently I was in
construction more than design for a long time and then even the construction
there's issues that come up that that caused some inefficiencies or delays
there also so okay the Bonnie Bray segment 7 this product this was added to
the will be part of the schematic on the on the previous project FM 1515 Airport
Road and the consultants working on the final plans final design is expected next
month and and then at that point it'll be ready to let the rate to let date is
June of 2025 based on utilities utility clearances I'm sorry yes you have a
question there's not a lot of wiggle room right there do we don't expect an
alignment that's very different than what we see right no it's following the
existing alignment just phasing it in to add the add the additional lane and some
turn lanes I appreciate that thank you
okay FM 1173 this project is north of Denton or the north Denton area from US
77 new location approximately halfway and then ties into the existing 1173 to
go through the city of crime and end at FM 156 the hundred percent plans are
expected in November of 2024 and right now the utilities are getting underway
with their relocations they are sorry I'm sorry show us where that's on there
can you show us where I know there's a Hopkins Road do you know where the
Dollar General is right there that's Hopkins Road so there has been
historically a drainage issue there and that parking lot floods and even floods
the store sometimes so I guess there was some communication with the city of
whether to wait until Hopkins Road ties in at a different location that's farther
to the east but the project will be designed as originally wasn't just
provide for that tie-in so that was going to change some of the drainage
considering the Hopkins Road Hopkins Road realignment but that's that's no
longer on the table okay the outer loop so the outer loop is in the preliminary
design phases this is a huge project 1.5 billion dollar project it's a lot of
environmental studies and alignment alternatives that are going on right
now so the consultant LGA has I think there's we're net down to ten different
alignment scenarios right now and another public meeting is expected in
the fall so working with I'm sorry yes the question about the next public
meeting okay so since this has been looked at and re looked at and realigned
and you know ten times we're hearing right now another public meeting is that
public meeting going to be as valuable as the first meeting I mean how does that
how do you yes there's a process that as you know even with the loop you go down
and you start with various alignments and you narrow those down there those
down there those down the next public involvement will be down to just a few
alignments okay two to three typically okay so our variations of those okay so
the public meetings are of course very important and then you say you got you
done the ten alignments possibilities and you're gonna have another public
meeting and you're hoping to narrow that down to maybe a couple of possibilities
yeah and at that point there will be a final alignment determined at the
schematic level and then the environmental process through there and
this follows the NEPA process so that the project will be eligible for federal
funding put that much money involved same same I alluded to the same comment
I even if there are 300 alignments I'd still like to have access to to whatever
we can get to the committee if that's possible and so I'll just leave that one
there there there is again even you know this is just north of that previous
region but there's is a real tight fit we know the core the core is really
limiting what what they'll let happen and that's really affecting the
alignments but there's there's even more you know activity than then these this
alphabet soup that's listed here for for LJ was an LGA to coordinate with it
there's there's there's more going on there that will probably end up impacting
that and I you know I don't want to jump the gun too much but it you know there's
there's a lot of ducks to get in a row and it's it's making me nervous as well
so I you know maybe maybe I'm the one that needs to be calmed so I can calm
others don't you nod your head at me chair but but that is sort of it is yeah
there's a lot going on to make sure you follow the right process yes there's
some level of nervousness on all of our parts I'd go through this and you know
on all of our projects to you know it's well there's just to mention the other
agencies that are involved there's the Corps of Engineers because we're
crossing the green belt there's text dot damn and and the cog as well as all the
cities and and the county thank you anybody else Christine let's see here
okay Elman Locust this is our other good news I guess and this first line in the
yellow the the and I don't know if y'all talked about this at the last meeting or
not but the turn back memo was approved by the Transportation Commission I
don't know so that's very very good news so I guess the overlay and the
improvements that tech start are doing are scheduled to start in the next week
or so oh my gosh so it's a very very ending completion here between that and
they merged those those are very good very good news I was thinking back there
were seven area engineers that were trying to take this off system through
the years and two of them are no longer with us that's how long it has taken so
and I was one of them but I wasn't I wasn't there very long you know that's
probably gonna make probably about 75 80% of all didn't I so happy yes agree all
right that's the end of the report unless y'all have anybody has anything
else anybody have anything else all right thank you very much appreciate it
thank you okay we're gonna move on to see MC to for that zero one zero
receiver report and hold a discussion regarding the city of didn't staff
updates in the transportation services engineering capital projects departments
including the bicycle pedestrians senior planner and city engineer general
manager of capital projects thank you so I don't have a presentation for you
today but just wanted to give you an overview I know you had asked last time
what's happening with the vacant positions the we have eliminated the
general manager of capital projects position just did not feel like we needed
the position any longer due to some operational efficiencies that we found
with capital projects engineering so Brett bourgeois has been named the city
engineer so I want to congratulate him on his new role and he will be reporting
now up through development services so to Scott McDonald and working with his
team obviously still working with capital projects just a different
reporting function and then still have Trevor crane is our director of capital
projects as well as Ethan Cox is our director of public works so both of
those directors will be reporting to me directly and then wanted to get let you
know the bicycle and pedestrian senior planner we have made an offer we're
still waiting to hear if they're accepting it so fingers crossed for that
but hoping to have that position filled very quickly but I'm happy to take any
questions that you have about this is the updated org chart I did want to let
you know this org chart does not include the interim police chief reporting to
the city manager so off off topic for this conversation but just wanted to
let you know okay so you're acknowledging that the the interim police
chief will report directly to the city manager yes yes but other than that the
the general manager position has been eliminated and now capital projects and
public works will be reporting to me directly okay thank you very much so
we'll move on to DMC to four days zero one two receiver report and hold
discussion regarding to the proposed fiscal year 2024 didn't count a
transportation authority transportation reinvestment program which is called
trip on the funding application good morning chair committee members for
hard but transportation services division DCTA provides financial
assistance to DCTA members cities for transit supportive projects consistent
with their long-range service plan budget equals 15 percent of DCT is net
available fund balance from the previous fiscal year and project eligibility
criteria include criterion include located the project should be located
within primarily within the DCTA service area and then also in the city
boundaries and city jurisdiction and near near to the a train station but
these are not the final eligible eligibility criteria there are other as
well as we go in into the analysis part where you know we tie it to pedestrian
safety accessibility walkability and now other micro mobility user pieces as well
this is tabulated list of projects that we are proposing this year based on our
analysis on walkability and accessibility and yes and I will go into
details of these projects yeah so I'm trying to zoom it in but yeah so maybe
I'll just go to the projects individual projects and then we could I will share
more details we did analyses on these projects based on routes and stops and
goes on located nodes on-demand service nodes and walkability part and
accessibility part starting with our first part proposed project is McKinney
Avenue from Carroll Street to loop 288 we are requesting 1.85 million dollars
for this project and this will include multimodal enhancements to this corridor
this is not limited to only bike lanes or multi-use paths but we are looking at
holistically to you know the corridor assuming that there are pedestrian
safety issues because imagine when pedestrians are reaching out to these
bus stops or goes on nodes they have to traverse to sidewalks they have to come
from their you know first mile and last and reach to last mile so we are covering
that aspect as well and it's not just just the sidewalk of it okay and it's
not just a sidewalk of sidewalk only but we are looking at all factors that would
be included in this on this corridor yes hold on just let me let me note
something here um be sure and let me know when you are ready to speak so I
can kind of keep tabs on all of that instead of going direct all right thank
you so what was your question it's on you don't have to do anything so the
picture here shows from Woodrow to 288 but the text description shows Carol to
88 just clarification on that well so you know the corridor is as I said that
larger little bit larger in definition and then we are going to audit this
area and then we'll be able to finalize exact exact location for this but we
will amend that with the final project extents as we audit this completely I
have a question yes now we we've already witnessed Woodrow being upgraded or you
know new a new road including the utilities does these funds include that
upgrade let's say between Bell and Woodrow it's a nice new fresh upgrade
there so we are going to look at the Woodrow project as well Woodrow Lane if
you are specifically asking about Woodrow Lane yeah McKinney Street
between Bell and Woodrow yes we will look into that aspect as well if it is
if any segment of the road is touching McKinney yeah we will and then
specifically if there is a go-zone node or a bus stop we would use a buffer of
well we will decide a buffer based on the location of course it depends if it
is a commercial or multifamily development we will look into those
segments as well so I'll go to the next project which is north-south Woodrow Lane
I had a question yes I'm sorry yes it's just popping into my head I appreciate
your your understanding of that part but I was wanting to clarify what is an on
street path okay so on-street path is a multi-use path in general definition but
again it is context sensitive when we say on-street path it is context
sensitive in some cases on-street path would be just for a specific use maybe
pedestrian won't be allowed because if the speed is really high in other cases
and and the buffer is not present on the on the path and if the buffer is present
and and the speeds are not much then it could be a full full scape multi-use path
where it could include pedestrian it could include include separated bike
lanes and could also I've seen other cases where it includes micro mobility
users as well so it is dependent on what the location is okay so an example would
be the Oakland path over there yes Oakland Parkway Park Parkway Parkland
Parkway Parkway so multi-use paths are highly context sensitive especially if
they are on-street because high speed segments should not have any pedestrian
users or or or even bike users for safety aspects so that's just a
generalized statement that doesn't necessarily mean anything to this
particular project right here right what we so first of all of these proposed
projects even though we did preliminary audit yeah we saw potential for segments
there are segments where we have multi-use where we have a possibility of
multi-use path on-street in some cases we'll have to take them back on the side
so you know once we submit this we start work on this we will complete the audit
and provide the full details of what safety interventions we would do what
multimodal enhancements are needed all of that will be reviewed audited from
from context standpoint well you know from my perspective in I'm sure many
others when we're talking about from Carol to Luke 288 I'm just talking about
just the the shallowness of it all is what we see is that there's been a lot
of attention paid to McKinney Street from Carol to to Woodrow yeah so I you
know am just wondering why we're still giving that kind of attention to that
area and knowing that we do have a significant issue between between
Woodrow and 288 so you know I I think that it's I just think that it's a lot
of additional kind of wasted time from a you know from a layperson that to
spend you know any other additional time other than between Woodrow and 288
that's what I got but I wanted to just go ahead and make that clear that we
see in our laypersons he things that have been done already and things that
really really need to be done so there we go yes and and thank you for this
observation and we are on board with that to some extent the idea that we are
presenting here is to not go on some segments only on on a particular corridor
when we see a travel corridor we are looking at it from from look at looking
at it as a corridor standpoint not as a segment standpoint what happens is that
if we address some safety issues and some you know multi-modal enhancements
on a segment of a corridor then we end up having one phenomenal part of corridor
and from a time model standpoint the other would be deprived so what we are
trying to achieve here is that a kind of a model quarter if you ask me that we
will have all these enhancements wherever possible within the budget and
based on our audit that's what we are looking at so we are looking at
corridors not the segments okay thank you next is north-south Woodrow Lane
McKinney Avenue to Spencer again we are requesting 1.1 million dollars here
from DCTA and we will as I said we are looking at these corridors not certain
spots we will be holistically looking at the corridor we'll try to bring these
multimodal enhancements improvements and make sure that the corridor is is
suitable for other users as well not only auto owners and so the next is
more Street from Y Street to Woodrow Lane that's another project that we are
looking at and we are requesting 1.1 million dollars as DCTA funding for this
one and I we based on our audit we understand that previously it was a
trick funding was requested for this project about or slightly over
hundred fifty thousand dollars that funding will still be used and it was
requested for striping and some some other enhancements this additional
funding that we are requesting is would as I said earlier would be looking at
the whole corridor and bring these multimodal enhancements to make sure that
they are it is suitable for all other users regarding the status of the
previous trip project I think on this corridor it was put on hold to look at
downtown master plan to make sure that it is well coordinated effort and then
also for public feedback now we are taking it to public in next week next
week I guess and then based on the feedback if we get we will we will take
the course in case if the public suggests that no we don't want any
improvements there then we are planning to revert the funding back to the total
funds available and we'll use it some other part okay any questions yes I just
want to say that one of the first things I did when I started getting involved in
transportation safety around here was do a speed study on this corridor and
around 10 a.m. I was clocking people doing 45 down it and one person who was
doing 45 and nearly got rear-ended by the person behind them who was doing even
even faster so this is I think certainly a corridor where some sort of speed
calming infrastructure so naturally if we provide on-street multi-use path or
we still have to decide on that but that's the route we plan to go but if we
do that so naturally we'll be narrowing absolutely and so that will be a
natural incentive there and maybe an intervention to slow down the traffic
that's how we are looking at it is there any other question yes I'll just reiterate
I guess for anybody watching that I've talked to councilmember bird on this
previously like before I was on this committee but yeah definitely one of the
best ways to get people to slow down is to narrow the roadway there's just not
enough people parked along the street to narrow the roadway that way so narrowing
it some way vertically is probably going to be the best bet to slow people down
so we are also so in addition to that we are looking at hybrid pedestrian lights
as well all of these tool you know tools are available to us but as I said
context-based we have to look at the context if they are pedestrians heavily
used crosswalk we will look into that aspect as well and if it is high speed
area Riley Road from Bonnie Bray to North Allen Street this area has a bit of
activity when it comes to you know we have UNT Discovery Park and then we have
elementary school and also multifamily units here so there is a lot of activity
that we are a potential activity that we are seeing here so that's why it has
been selected as a project again we are requesting for 1.1 million dollars for
from DCTA and we hope to bring a lot of multimodal enhancements for this these I
must say that these funding requests these projects are extremely important
this funding is very important for us because just with the existing budget we
won't be able to implement these these enhancements multimodal enhancements
which are essential and integral part of any corridor I mean when we are when we
are looking at these roads as you mentioned that a high-speed road where we
have potential pedestrians and their safety issues using these this funding
we'll be able to look at all those aspects and improve our corridors I
won't say they'll be perfect but they'll have they'll be much better with all
these multimodal enhancements I'll be happy to answer any other questions
question about writing so the the final budget amount the six million something
is that including the car part of it because I think I heard the surface is
being redone as well I think this is six point five million number I got from
Trevor from CIP maybe Trevor could address this question
hey good morning Trevor crane director of capital projects so yes though this
running road project is already a current CIP that's moving forward so the
purpose of asking for the trip funding would be to supplement those projects to
make sure that we're incorporating all that the multimodal the part are
portions that that need to go on in this road so absolutely this project's already
moving forward that project estimate is about five point five million so with
this additional money it would be about six point five thank you yes ma'am it's
that gonna be like a lot of drainage because that's a fairly high expense
for a fairly short corridor sure so that project actually includes so it's a it's
a small portion of widening it does have some multimodal so sidewalks it also
includes a trail that will connect the new elementary school to north of North
Lakes Park sorry North Lakes Park so there are some additional pieces in
there that are going with that also includes acquiring right-of-way to make
that sidewalk connection there's a couple of parcels in there that we'll
have to acquire so that's kind of what that all all know a big number looks
like so I want to lead with we absolutely
need these multimodal additions I think they're really important and I think
you've laid out a lot of really good ones so I don't want to I don't want to
over I want to lead with a carrot before I pull a stick out of my pocket and that
but the thing that's a little I'm confused by is the trip funding is
mostly related to mass transit and related to essentially the buses and
go-zones so I no way want us to get in front of the projects that Farhan is
listed as a city but I'm a little confused as to how how they're related
to the sort of mass transit and I asked that in this sort of scheme of you know
sort of maybe when what are the deadlines for this year and then maybe in the
future going forward you know the the option and feedback process in future
years trip funding okay so I'm gonna let Farhan answer a portion of that he is
much more eloquent in that than I will be but I did want to add a piece that
that we also added into this programming and then I want to do a little bit of a
disclaimer of why it is we're here today versus previously so we did not get much
notification for this trip funding to go in and so we worked very aggressively to
say okay what is it we need to do in conjunction with what we see for
multimodal so this directly relates to what we need to get people from point A
to point B and not necessarily with a vehicle so it absolutely ties back to
what we're trying to do with DCTA and our partnership which will take me to a
second portion that we're also adding or modifying what our request is is to
include some enhancements to some of the existing bus routes to add some stops so
we're going to be adding bus stops to those existing routes where we're seeing
that there are spikes and go zone activity so we can better utilize the
go-zone vehicles add to the bus routes and increase ridership so we've got
some other pieces that will be bringing forward the second part to your question
is is that we're going to take a proactive approach to bringing forward
what we think our planning is going to be for the next year in advance of the
request being asked so we will be pre planning this will work through this
committee to develop what our plan is going forward how we're approaching
this so when it is that they come out with the trip funding we already have a
plan in place so what you've experienced today is we reacted very quickly Farhan
has been here for less than a year next year the expectation is he has this all
mapped out in advance of it he will take care of business and you guys will be an
integral part of doing that work that answer most of what you're looking for
most most of what I'm looking for and I appreciate the comments apologize I
appreciate the comments about the additional mass transit related projects
is that coming out of trip funds yes it will be it's a partnership to work
through what we're doing with trip funds so we'll be coming back to you and kind
of talking through what we're going to be doing and approaching amending kind
of what we're talking about here today so it's a very recent development and
again we're trying to be next nimble and flexible and what we're doing and we
want this we want this committee's input we just haven't had the luxury of doing
that because of the timing so I assure you we were going to be incredibly
transparent and forward-thinking and use this body so speaking of flexibility we
were some of the the lead-ins to all these projects are a little bit of an
exploratory phase and I think Farhan mentioned this when when he was in his
narrative how much flexibility do we have with the funding I mean there is it is
it is it tightly coupled to our project scope and narratives or we have some
degree of flexibility if we find conditions on the ground don't match I
mean our funds could have to flow back are they gonna stay with us and we can
reuse them I'll say yes so so I think I think we have I think we have
flexibility and again it's the important part of our partnership with DCTA that
we're trying to improve ridership and working through that they're they're not
necessarily as long as we're doing what we're supposed to be doing a good faith
that's complementing you know our mass transit that's what we're working to do
and and I think they're gonna be a good partner with us as we do that they do
have a process where if our needs change on the ground we can go through a
process to change the allocation of the funding that's received to different
projects right pending DCTA approval there is a process though to change the
allocation thank you both thank you well that was a lot of conversation there
but I think what I heard and I'm gonna summarize it on my kindergarten as I do
that what we're talking about today is more the infrastructural part and then
there is a there's additional funding that we are going to be able to use for
things like bus stops you know in that kind of thing which is not part of the
ground so to speak yep so right now we're just talking about the groundwork
yes and then we're gonna come back at some other time which hopefully that'll
be pretty soon but he said it would be we'll be connecting talking about where
bus stops are located new transportation routes all that stuff is
gonna come yes yes we will be in loop we'll bring all of these items to the
mobility committee and we will discuss that we'll have an opportunity to change
or improve or bring all of those things will be there thank you I just want to
clarify the bus stop additional bus stops will be determined by DCTA and we
have been meeting with them and we're just trying to make sure that our
funding and projects align with their potential plans for additional bus stops
that we're not detracting from that that we are truly being partners in this so
as we have more information from DCTA we'll absolutely bring it to this
committee is DCTA still taking time to come and visit either or this committee
how is that gonna go with us of forward yes they have been working on some
additional bus stop planning I think he's been wanting to do that before he
comes back before Paul comes back to this committee or council but I can
follow up with him and make sure we have a plan going forward I know you have
already requested that he present yes so apparently it's just not time I need to
be a little bit more patient okay yeah we have somebody on our on our committee
now that is dedicated and committed to that so we're gonna you know ask her to
stay on top of that for us appreciate you being here well in that case I'll
say that route six is the one that's gonna be getting most of the new bus
stops that project that's coming in across from the library has two bus
stops going in by it and they're looking at adding additional trash cans seats
benches shelters across a lot of stops and that's your job thank you thank you
is anything else yes all right thank you so much thank you so much we
appreciate that update okay then we are here for emc to four days zero one one
staff memorandum so I'm not sure if you have any questions on each of the items
we don't have a presentation but can go through and answer any questions that
you may have on each individual kind of section or update all right well just to
let the audience know that we do receive these ahead of time and it gives us an
opportunity to come up with questions any thoughts on each one of these
sections instead of having someone to come in front of us and you know go line
by line so so we do have someone that has a question
dr. Beck yes thank you my first question is on the second item bike racks policies
regulation I appreciate the feedback on that that we have DC regs that govern
permitted and new development additions I think it was 20 yes you know 20 to 1
the the concern that I have is that's new and I our turnover is only so much
as busy as planning and development services is they still are only
addressing so much of the distribution of these things so what what vehicles
what mechanisms do we have for the built out areas to to enhance because if we're
going to achieve some of our vision zero and climate action and yada yada yada
there's about half a dozen different strategic priorities that include
multimodal and bike if we're going to have that we have to have the
infrastructure to support it and it can't just be in the newly developed and
newly permitted areas or or will be really spotty in terms of our
infrastructure so what do we have in the way of getting that into the built out
areas yes so so that is absolutely a challenge so two pieces and I'm gonna
go back to a full transparency mode here we had a question our member rumor that
was asking the very question on how it is we're currently doing bike racks
today Cassie had provided an update on our staffing and we're quite excited
that we're gonna have somebody on board very very soon to focus specifically on
bike and pedestrian so answering kind of both of those at the same time we have
some standards within our codes and criteria that specify what were to be
using for bike racks that was a relatively new addition to our code
there's a gap and thank you for identifying the gap of where it is how
those show up on our civil plans versus where they should be on building plans
and who's inspecting what's getting installed so we have a disconnect in
particular one of those with was with a DISD campus I visited with the ISD they
have no problem upgrading changing and making sure that we're compliant where
we need to be and so that model is already going to be going forward so
that correction has been made going to existing structures that don't have that
that's going to be really a tool of or an incentive on how it is that we can
get people to provide those and an educational component of where it is
that we can show or illustrate that providing those those amenities provide
benefits to whoever that is whether that's a multifamily project or whether
that's a retail establishment so we're going to put together what those
incentives could look like and what it is those educational pieces are that we
can start doing some of that communication but again we need that
dedicated staff member that's going to focus specifically on that is to be able
to communicate that much more effectively so hopefully that takes care
of both of your you have another question I'm being good wait yeah I just
wanted to add to what Brian was saying I think I've seen some cities or maybe
organizations and cities sometimes there's grant funding out there and then
they can offer to install bike rack for free to businesses that want them so
that is like he said incentives one way to start to get some bike parking and
built up built out areas and and I will say that you know Farhan Farhan's team
has been incredibly aggressive on going after grants and he I don't know if I
would say he bombards me every day but it feels like he departs me every day
with another request to do something else so I'm fully confident that we're
gonna chase and continue to chase those dollars we're leveraging everything that
we can to make Denton just as good as we can so I have a generalized question in
regards of studying something and it appears to me that we're always in a
mode of studying something and so like citywide parking study and I know we've
gotten you know it's gotta be something out right there out there on the books
already anyway so can you kind of walk through with us what does a study looks
like why are we still studying stuff and you know from a lay person's perspective
how long does it take to go from a study to actually seeing something happening
we know how long it takes to see it start to happen and then it takes a while
for it to be finished but what's like a time frame for a study then to do
something today for a year about a year no no it could be a day could be a year
always a day or a year so that's a very broad question meaning based on the type
of study let's talk to the citywide parking study okay as an example so so I
see Brett wander up here for the the citywide parking study he can speak she
can speak to that which is kind of kind of tracking with that yeah going back
to why we're doing studies overall so so the city hires subject matter experts in
a variety of topics and again based on the staffing loads that we have and the
work that we have to perform that the depth and the breadth of what we need to
do may not be a in our wheelhouse or we don't have the capability to perform
that task or that work so why we have two different parking studies is because
we have two different elements that we're trying to look at and so we want
somebody to focus specifically on that topic and depending on again is it
citywide or is it a downtown parking study and what is it that we're asking
to be studied and so if I talk about the downtown parking study we were looking
at how the spaces on the square are being used how much available parking do
we have for downtown and is there a difference between daytime nighttime and
weekday weekend so it's that's that's some very specific data that requires
someone really just kind of boots on the ground to be able to evaluate those
types of things and then I'll let Brett speak to kind of why the citywide but
that'll give you a good example of how it is that we do different studies for
different reasons and we have a continuum of studies that have to be
performed and I can tell you with Farhan Farhan's group probably been since he's
been here for seven months for studies that he's requested to have happen
because again the amount of data that we don't have the data that we're not
capturing that we're beginning to capture today which will help to provide
you know what we need for the analytics the metrics to be able to make decisions
going forward but when we haven't gathered that data we don't have the
information to be able to make a decision so that's kind of that big
picture high-volume sort of look at it and I think Brett has something to
mention as far as the citywide thank you very much
Brett Blujewald City Engineer so for the citywide parking study the reason we're
looking at that kind of independently of the downtown parking study is the
downtown parking study you're looking at a very defined area how do you promote
walkability how do you promote utilize the parking spaces that are there for
the citywide parking study the city is very diverse you have areas around the
college campuses which are one type of character so how do we handle parking in
those areas versus how do we handle parking on residential streets compared
to how do we handle parking in retail centers like I raise a ranch or on Luke
288 South Luke 288 so there's lots of different aspects of the parking and you
can't just kind of lump them all together as one one one uniform policy
across the whole city you have to kind of look at each different type of use and
how does that how do you use and how do you change the code or the requirements
or the regulations or the ordinances or how do you enforce them differently for
those different areas so that's what we bring a consultant on is to kind of okay
what can we do what are other communities doing nationwide they have
the expertise because they do this in those different communities they can do
the research they can bring back and say hey this part of the city we'd classify
it this way it's an example these other cities are doing it this way here we
think it can work in this spot in your area so once we get those
recommendations we can bring items forward to council and to the committee
here to say okay we're thinking of this how do you feel about it what do you
want us to do how do we enforce this or how do we implement these new policies
or new plans and then those roll out over time as we're able to make those
implementations go forward okay and my next question is whenever these studies
are done they and they're not done all the time you know they're done in
increments of years correct and so with that being said I'm thinking about
particularly for my district that is already kind of filled in but there's
still some a large swath of infield that needs to be done and my brain goes of
course directly to Woodrow in 288 will you have to go back and restudy after
those areas are you know have been developed I ideally not because when you
do this study you kind of look at the land use and you look at what the
proposed options are and then we'd tailor a a requirement or ordinance or
recommend or policies that would say okay this infill area is zoned as this
whenever this comes in this is the policy want to use in this neighborhood
or this type of character of the neighbor of the city and say okay we want
to you know there's been discussions a lot of cities are going with no minimum
parking requirements no minimums okay well is that effective citywide or is
that something that we want to look at for infill areas or more urban areas
versus big box stores so how does that all kind of play together and so that's
what we have a consultant kind of guide us or provide us recommendations or
options that we can evaluate and bring forward so the study is laid over the
the area of development it's going to be laid over on top of that and whenever a
company or you know developer comes in to do what they want to do they're going
to have to meet rise to the level of the study or it's a study has to you know I
just asked question does the story have to be redone so just for clarification
that the study is going to overlay on top of whatever development they're
kind of putting so the way that be a housing development or or business
development role of businesses that study is it's going to lay over on top
of all of that is that is that to say yes or no
I think the way the the easier way to think about it is if you take the city
and you break it up into different sections right so you have residential
sections you have urban sections you have retail sections creating policies
for those sections that you can apply regardless of what comes in if you're in
that residential neighborhood you're you might see mostly residential but you
might see some local shops corner stores whatever they would fall within that
residential section of the parking policy so you kind of break it up like
what is the youth sections like and try to craft policies towards those and that
would be with staff would bring recommendations towards the committee or
towards council and get your feedback in your direction on how to implement
those and those recommendations okay anybody have any other questions
about Ryan hi okay all right so I'm done with my questions and you have a
question go ahead yeah so the memo mentions that a safety audit was
conducted I was just wondering if somebody could speak as to what happens
in a safety audit sorry on Ryan hi the crossing between Ryan hi and dollar general
morning chair and committee members Chandra with transportation services
during any safety audits we go observe what's out there existing facilities are
there for like in this case at Ryan high school a safe crossing is there and if
so what are the speed limits out there what sidewalks are there out whether
they have safe sidewalks to cross on either side and this specific location
is a school zone of course it's high school students they kind of cross
wherever they want and but there is provisions for sidewalk and a safe
school crossing at the signal based on two observations we did not see any high
school kids during the after-school disperse and in the morning hours but on
the third audit since we had a specific request that they are crossing we did
not see on the third audit during lunch hour at 11 a.m. they were crossing at
dollar general but it was not at a specific location they were like on
their own jaywalking and crossing at their specific locations but the good
thing we noticed it's a school zone although the speeds were 45 miles per
hour it was reduced to 30 and in front of the school so it we did not see any
unusual conditions with the facility infrastructure is already there but we
cannot regulate somebody to force them to cross here but if they are willing to
cross anywhere it's either the enforcement part and which we don't want
to push on high school stores so I'll just I'll add that I went and did my own
counts of student crossing so I went Monday afternoon and I saw about 25 ish
students make the cross and that was primarily one way they were headed
towards that neighborhood back behind the dollar general not actually to the
dollar general itself and then this morning I pulled up a little bit late
having trouble finding some stuff to leave my house but I saw 17 students
and those were primarily crossing to and from the dollar general so my concern
there is that if the the safety infrastructure that is put in place is a
few hundred feet away and it's not actually getting used and it's not
actually serving that safety purpose so that's just my concern there but with
this particular site yeah there weren't as many people crossing as I thought
there were so it again it depends on how they want to cross we have provided a
traffic signal and that is the safest place to cross right in front of the
high school where the signal is on Ryan way and we expect them to use that to
cross but again if it's a preference for them from across the play fields to go
to dollar general or wherever they want but again on the two instances we did
not see but the third one they were using those but it's kind of like
unmanaged day walking and we looked at text art Chris data for any incident it's
unfortunately if we have any incidents then we could provide like a hop hybrid
pedestrian crossings but it only validates for if there is any previous
incidences unfortunately but we could revisit the site in six months and we
see if there is any potential unsafe then we could do improvements thank you
sure yes yeah I have a similar well a little bit similar question on the last
item where we were talking about the the the conflicts between various types of
pedestrian and multimodal control versus emergency services access and I think
as for me for to to mitigate future questions I like to do my homework so if
staff could help me could provide information on these sort of conflicting
stakeholders we have we have the EMS and safety response and they have certain
hazards that they're trying to mitigate certain safety requirements at the same
time we have our mobility hazards and safety requirements and they both have
associated costs with them and and so if we if I could get some sort of of the
committee could get some sort of report about like okay these are the these are
the costs and hazards that that you know safety is trying or emergency safety and
EMS and fire trying to mitigate these are the safety and costs associated with
you know mobility because what I am concerned about potentially is sort of
what's the relative values of those two numbers if I'm trying to save I'm gonna
make up a number that makes my point because I have no idea what the number
is if I'm trying to save $5,000 in fire truck repairs versus a hundred and
fifty thousand dollars in in pedestrian safety then then we have our our
priority out of alignment but if it's the other way and then you know these
fire trucks and whatnot are very very expensive and I don't want anyone's life
impacted or the the response times impacted in any way at all right I mean
those are clearly emergencies we need not to impact them so if y'all can
provide mostly educational materials and maybe just a scotch of data so that that
I can do my homework and read and not have future questions where I'm asking
people to come up and go oh you know what is this thing every single meeting
and slows down that would be really helpful to me sure so yes we will we
will circle back with the committee on on the more information but my previous
experience with the emergency response quantification is almost impossible
because how do we quantify a fire fire services or emergency services reaching
out to a severe injury location trying to save somebody's life one minute is
more important so versus speed hump provision on on on a road so I think
quantification of these services especially emergency is it's very
difficult but we will try to figure out what the average cost is but again it is
context-based if the ambulance is going there to save somebody that is I mean
five minutes two minutes is important so so we how do we quantify that it's it's
it'll be very complicated but still we can provide the committee some numbers
to to to compare no I appreciate that I mean I don't want us to get into nobody
wants to get crass to get into it like insurance actually I really take the
value of yes that are the other thing so I just I'm not I said that on purpose to
make it clear I'm not asking for that because we're not gonna put values on
people's safety yes I'm not asking you to do that I'm I'm asking to the extent
that we can when we're when we're you know when we're providing oversight and
advice in this committee or for Vicky and I in council you know we are having
to do what y'all are having to do and juggle and that's what that's all I'm
trying to do is get some background information okay we'll circle back and
we'll bring more information thank you thank you so much I have a generalized
question in regards to speed cushions yes now there are some neighborhoods that
do have speed cushion and those may generally be HOA's kind of doing you
know pecan concrete neighborhood villages of Carmel and then I'm there's
another street here in town that has those speed cushions and I don't believe
they're in like an HOA neighborhood is there some type of grandfathering in of
certain streets in older neighborhoods the street that I'm particularly curious
about is Greenwood and they have you know they have it's a it's a long street
so I can imagine the reason why they put it there but is there some kind of
grandfathering in of these things generally based on our discussion with
fire our colleagues at fire department maybe it's discouraged but I know that
there's some some I think some leverage some some flexibility on on how what the
height of these questions would be but the standard questions it's a no no for
fire department but I think we could work with them but if there's a
specific case if you could just let us know and we could look into that well I
did Greenwood Street they're out there okay that's just one street so but I
just noticed that you know from my from my learning is that you know this is
something that's definitely discouraged but you know we still have some that
are out there yeah well we'll evaluate what we have out there it absolutely is
discouraged and we're looking at other traffic calming methods so there's some
other methods some other things that we can do so we're evaluating those things
and again that'll be that comprehensive approach to all of what transportation
services looking to do all right anybody else have anything on anything else that
we've spoken on okay yes now at this point do we go in and talk about some
things that we'd like to get on the list right do you have the future items
okay tricks and given the discussion I'll say maybe we have the request to
remove the raised crosswalks and speed cushions but I'll we won't take that off
pending we'll come back with the data request in the specific street request
that you just had so we'll not remove that one but okay we are requesting to
move the add remove the other items since we've been discussing those and I
know that you asked for additional items on the the connector so we will we'll
keep those on as well yes doc pick yeah I think considering that we still have
some outstanding community engagement pieces on on Kings Row Windsor maybe we
don't remove that one that's later in the week and then I mean I know Steph
was gonna come back to us with the possibilities that Susie and I talked
about for built-out infrastructure for bike racks but I so I don't know if that
crosses the threshold of staying on or not I mean it's a small piece so I
wouldn't get a hard I wouldn't get hard bird either way I would recommend we add
an item for the future to discuss bike rack maybe programs or initiatives for
existing infrastructure so we can remove this one but then be more specific about
the future request if that's if you're amenable to that okay and then keep the
Kings Row and Windsor we'll keep that one that item pending more discussion
you know when you all are talking to us about these different roads we gotta go
in our brain and find need to have a map is there anything else would you like
to add anything future items any other future items okay well I don't have any
future items there's a lot going on up there so we're going to just look
forward to some of these things becoming closer to fruition and appreciate you
all for all of the work that you've done if there's not any other additional
questions comments or concerns about anything that we've done today I'd like
to go to number three is there any kind of concluding items and anybody DCTA
board meeting tomorrow I believe for anybody interested DCTA board meeting
tomorrow what time 10 a.m. it'll be online and also at their Lewisville
headquarters oh which is in an office park and not at the rail corridor that
Google Maps will direct you to initially did we ever have any DCTA meetings at
indents and at the DCTA building occasionally they have community
engagement meetings there but they don't have regular board meetings there if
they are looking at expanding into a new facility in the next couple of years
that will be built at Old Town Station as a transit oriented development okay
Old Town Station is a nice place okay well there's not there's any any
additional concluding items we're going to close the meeting today at 1124
everyone thank you so much for your hard work
you