>> All right.
Welcome to the mobility committee meeting for August 27, 2025.
Seeing that we have 1, 2, 3, 4 of us, we have a quorum so we can go ahead and get started.
Let the record show that Chair Byrd is out and I have stepped in as vice chair to run
the meeting.
All right, so with that, we will move on to citizens' comments on agenda items.
Any citizens' comments on agenda items?
I don't see any.
So moving on to item 2, items for individual consideration.
Item 2A, MC25039, consider approval of the minutes of July 30, 2025.
Has everybody had a chance to review the minutes?
Can I get a motion on this item then?
>> I motion to approve the minutes.
>> First from committee member Penn.
You'll second.
And -
>> Siegel.
Okay, thank you.
It was - I appreciate committee member Siegel's -
>> Right there in the minutes.
>> I tell you right, you know.
And I will take - and so let's go ahead with the vote.
All in favor say aye.
>> Aye.
>> Vice chair is also an aye, so that's 4-0.
And I will take the moment to welcome committee member Siegel to the committee.
Welcome, and see we can vote without any issues at all and it goes straight in and it works
great.
All right, so with that we will move on to item 2B, MC25027, receive a report and hold
a discussion regarding the city of Denton bus recommendations.
With that I'll turn it over to staff.
>> Good morning chair and committee members.
Farhan Butt, deputy director of transportation services division.
I'm here to present city of Denton bus recommendations.
This presentation will include a few slides on transit planning primer that will cover
the transit planning aspects of existing condition, what we need to consider and what different
types of elements are included there.
And then there will be a few slides on DCTA strategic service plan and then transit service
in Denton.
A few slides will be there and then staff recommendations.
When it comes to transit planning, the concepts depending on what kind of service they are
providing, these public transportation agencies, public transit agencies, it's always depending
on two elements.
One is either it is ridership centric or is it coverage centric?
Ridership centric essentially means that the transit service would compete with majority
of the modes and including cars and would try to provide service to the users as much
as possible in a certain concentrated area.
It will also compete more effectively with cars allowing more people to travel on busy
roads in terms of multiple modes.
It will collect more fare revenue, increasing the share of the budget paid by the fares.
And then also it will provide most valuable and frequent services to the most significant
number of people.
For example, high density areas, that would be focused.
In case of coverage, the concept where coverage is focused for public transportation services
or public transit service, the idea is to provide, to cover the social side of social
aspects of the communities.
For instance, households with zero car households, that could be one of the priority.
The priority could be that where transit access is not there and how do we reach out to those
areas.
And then providing some services to everyone who pays taxes to support the public transit
and any transit framework.
And then also support low density developments where there are zero car households or there
are people with less access to traditional transportation systems.
So the concept of coverage versus ridership is extremely important because then in later
slides when we discuss how this entire process should be improved would factor in there.
Another aspect where we could look into public transit, another set of lens is a density
or equity.
So density is, the concept is essentially similar as to ridership or coverage, but the
idea is that in case of high density areas, public transportation would thrive because
you'll have a lot of different uses, land uses mixed in there and public transportation
system would be able to pick up a lot of riders from there versus if we go to the low density
neighborhoods, the chances are that zero car households or the households with car, their
proportion could be varying and the service could, service levels could vary.
So the idea of high density neighborhoods, that's why planning practice nowadays is promoting
more and more high density neighborhoods, high density land uses because that provide the
opportunity to have mix of land uses in one, well, so per square footage we can provide
more uses.
I think that's the net concept for that.
And on the equity side of things that also helps where we can cover fair share, external
costs, inclusivity, affordability and social justice in terms of low income, are we providing
access to public transit to low income neighborhoods, neighborhoods with people who are differently
challenged or they have disabilities.
And then if there are neighborhoods where we have unique challenges as in case of minority,
neighborhoods with minority with special needs.
So all of this could be addressed if we have a balance between density and equity.
And that's the delicate balance that public transit agencies have to deal with while providing
service.
Do we need more riders or do we need to provide service where the service is needed?
So I think that's the balance which is required.
When it comes to DCTA strategic service plan, this slide pretty much covers that DCTA has
a lot of different modes that provide service.
On average there is more than around 1.8 million total bus ridership for fiscal year 2024.
And then UNT shuttle was the ridership a significant part of that.
And then there are three connect routes and around 11 bus shelters which DCTA relies on.
This information came directly from the strategic plan as the source caption states.
And then A train also is one of the significant projects here that serve the community.
And there are 11 trains in the fleet and total ridership for the year is around 260,000.
And then I think on average monthly boardings include around 21,000.
And it has five stations which are listed here.
In addition DCTA also offers better transit service and demand response services and lift
partnerships and we have GoZone which in a way serve as a mobility as a service or on
demand service to the residents.
According to the operating and capital budget of DCTA for 2025, around 860,000 GoZone ridership
were there for fiscal year 2024.
And average boardings were over 71,000.
And so GoZone has been an active service provider in the area and the community has been able
to benefit from it.
And from Denton City perspective we need more GoZone locations in equity-based areas.
And later in my slides I would cover that aspect of the City of Denton's public transit
scape.
So when it comes to transit service, DCTA's transit service in Denton, they have an initiative,
NCTCOG has a recent initiative that is called Transit 2.0 Initiative.
And City of Denton, NCTCOG has established a subcommittee for this task which is going
to be regional task for DFW region, dental forward region.
And City of Denton has been -- will be serving as a chair of that subcommittee.
Denton member Jill Jester would be serving as a chair of that subcommittee.
And so this committee would look into different aspects of Transit 2.0, how the service would
expand, how planning studies would be conducted, and how the overall -- the regional densities
would be looked at and equity and accessibility in the region could be looked at.
And then how the integrated services could be provided in keeping in view the demographics
changes that we are expecting coming with adopted 2050 demographics data that is adopted
by NCTCOG for their forecast and travel demand modeling, which is used for transportation
investments.
So Transit 2.0 would consider those demographics data set and see how demographics are changing
and what -- how the transit scape needs to be improved in the region.
So that is going on as well, and DCTA and many -- and other public transit providers
in DFW region will be part of that.
Other initiatives include that DCTA is considering new Corinth station to be added to the A train.
That is still in consideration, last presentation to the council by DCTA's executive mentioned
that it still is under consideration.
And then seamless transfer between A train and Silver Line, that is very -- it's a significant
step.
It will improve the service of A train significantly, and it will provide seamless access without
any transfer for -- from Denton all the way to DFW airport, so the international airport.
So that is a right step.
I think it's going to -- staff thinks that it's going to improve Denton's accessibility
to Dallas' Fort Worth region, and especially the airport significantly.
Also another positive aspect is that DCTA is improving the frequency of A train.
Previously, it was 30 minutes headway, and now it's going to be every 15 minutes, at
least during the peak times.
And that -- what that means is that essentially during the peak times, the DCTA service is
doubling for the region.
And that's a very good step.
Again, this is going to help the region, help city of Denton as well.
From city of Denton's standpoint, our goal is to maximize access to public transit.
And staff conducted some equity-based analysis where we looked at zero-car households, first
of all, which the map, the thematic map displayed here in pink color or shades of red is -- shows
the percentages of zero-car household in different parts of Denton.
Then we -- staff asked another question to address where -- how many of these households
are commuting by public transport to their work?
And the blue shades are showing in percentage how much of that percent of people or residents
there commuted via public transportation to their work.
So the only significant difference I could show is that if you could see that 12.2 percent
and significant on the northwest side, significant area where 6.6 percent are there, you could
see that these are equity areas with zero-car households, northwest, where 6.6 percent,
and in particular, 17 percent in core downtown area, and then 12.2 percent in core downtown
as well, close to downtown.
And then southeast side of this map with red shades, you would see that 9.4 and 11.8 percent.
When you compare these larger parcels, you would see that these percentages are almost
zero.
That means that these are zero-car households, but in the blue shaded map is showing that
almost minimal percentage of people are commuting by bus from there.
So if they don't have car, if they don't have access to bus, they must be walking or using
bike or some other mode.
And one of the reasons, significant reason could be that we can provide additional service
there.
Understandably, bus service cannot be provided in these areas because of the frequency, because
of the sustainability and cost and of cost of operation, but we could add additional
go zones so that, you know, they could be stations on demand, they could walk or commute
or bike to those go zone locations and then continue to commute to work.
So I think that's one request we can make to DCTA to increase the number of go zone
locations in equity-based areas with zero-car households so that people have access.
DCTA is already doing a lot of work.
They have a lot of good initiatives for that, but I think city can make this request to
DCTA, and that will help.
Staff recommends that in the short term, there should be a BRT service, bus rapid transit
service that should be initiated, and these services are premium services.
They are offered to people who could drive, but they are offered to -- but they have an
option of paying some premium cost, and they can drive -- instead of driving, they can
get directly to their place of -- near that place of employment.
And typically, these bus rapid transit services, they have fewer stops.
They don't operate like milk routes or bus routes that stop everywhere, but they have
fewer stops.
Like in many cases, if there is a service, three or four stops, and that gets you there
in the morning.
It operates differently from express bus because typically, the cost is a little bit higher,
but it offers more options like Internet on the bus.
As soon as you get on the bus, you would be working if you are a computer professional
or some other industry that relies on computers and many other things.
It adds a lot of perks, and then these are operated typically during AM and PM peak hours
when people get off from work and/or they go to work.
And other than that, the headway changes to one hour.
In some cases, I've seen one hour or 30 minutes as well.
Staff is also recommending enhancing mobility on-demand service to equity-based areas.
This is related to this map that I showed where we are recommending that, okay, understandably
if DCTA cannot provide a bus service or a route, please add more go-zone locations to
these areas so that people -- where we are seeing that 0 percent from these zero-car
household areas they are traveling by public transit, we will start seeing them using public
transit in Denton.
And the last is Denton-specific Transit 2.0 study.
NCD-COG has been emphasizing to all jurisdiction in DFW to look into this that's coming, demographics
are changing, and for Denton County and Denton, they are more than doubling.
What it means is that by 2050 we'll have more than double the population, more than double
the employment in Denton.
That's official adopted demographics dataset by NCD-COG that is being used by forecast
models to make investment -- transportation investment decisions.
So one strategy the city could have is that via DCTA and NCD-COG, we could launch a study
to see what needs to happen.
And this study could be individually by city of Denton and DCTA, or in staff's recommendation,
this could be a combined study with three-member cities, including Lewisville, Highland, and
Denton, plus DCTA, to look at the regional perspective of how -- what needs to happen
for Transit 2.0.
And in most cases, I think this could also be -- there is an opportunity where we could
-- staff could look for funding via NCD-COG or FDA for this study.
Midterm recommendations look at express bus service with morning and evening peak, serving
universities or some employment areas, also participate in studies, explore community
rail service possibilities, and extend -- maybe future extension of light rails if possible.
And then that is in long-term, and land-use planning is of high importance as well.
We cannot -- even for short-term months, we will have to rely on some high-density land-use
planning.
The city has to look into those aspects as well.
Thank you so much.
All right.
Questions from the committee?
Anyone have questions?
Yes.
Go ahead.
I don't know the cost of GOES-ON.
What is the cost of ride GOES-ON?
Staff is not sure.
I could circle back.
I'll have to check with DCTA, but the cost is not only weighed in monetary value, but
it is weighed in riders, plus if we had service there, what would it cost, plus if we don't
have service there, how many riders we get, all of that math goes into it.
Other questions?
Go ahead.
Thank you so much for your presentation today.
This is really, really great information.
I just want to say, I'm in that group of people that -- ridership for me is low, however,
my family is wanting to incorporate more trips on the bus.
And we are eager to see if it expands so that we can use it more frequently.
So I was curious with the Deton Transit 2.0 study, are we -- when are we -- when is that
going to begin?
And could our committee kind of help set a target deadline for getting that started or
having that completed?
What does a timeline look like right now for that?
So Transit 2.0 study has been completed, actually, by NCT-COG, and there's full information available
at NCT-COG's website, and staff can provide the link to that.
But what needs to happen is that that study was done for all the member cities of NCT-COG,
which includes from north of Frisco to all the way west side, and it has a lot of cities
and a lot of jurisdictions.
So it is general -- it provides general guideline, and, in fact, it's ready to be used by cities.
What staff is recommending is that now is the time that we focus on localized study
that focuses on member cities for DCTA.
And in collaboration, we collectively make decisions on what needs to happen, what needs
to improve, and how we will improve.
This may also include other discussion items as well, that are we looking at extensions,
are we looking at BRTs to be launched, because BRT will not serve only as a project.
If it has to be sustainable, it cannot be only running only in Denton, because it has
to go to member cities at least, or maybe to at large to the DFW area.
So I think staff is recommending that we do localized study in particular for Denton only,
if that helps.
But our recommendation is that it should be collective study with three member cities
and DCTA together, in collaboration with federal agencies and NCTCOG.
>> So how can -- how can the mobility committee -- Vice Chair, can the mobility committee
agree with those recommendations and find a way to bring this forward so that we can
start implementing that study?
>> So let me go to Ben real quick.
Are we -- it's unclear from the agenda title, are we posted to give direction, or we just
posted to receive report?
What level of authorization are we doing today?
>> You're posted for discussion at this stage.
I think you review what Farhan has discussed, and I think that staff can grab that and take
it and maybe bring a report, if that's what you're asking for, at the end of the agenda.
It's just not posted for a direction at this stage.
>> So staff is beginning to have discussions with COG, DCTA, and private developers regarding
transit 2.0.
We're in the very early stages of trying to see what kind of path we need to take and
what all will be involved.
So we can absolutely bring that back to the committee for input, discussion, direction,
once we get a little further into the process.
As Farhan mentioned, the transit 2.0 larger study was just rolled out.
We've met with COG.
We understand the direction they're heading.
There are a lot of moving pieces, especially some planning and zoning and kind of code
and zoning requirements that we need to look at on our side before we are ready to move
forward with implementation.
So we will bring that back to the committee once we have a firmer handle on timeline implementation
and what would be required.
>> Okay.
You still have the floor.
>> Okay.
I just have another question.
So in the -- I guess a Denton area study to assess our needs, one thing I'm curious about
is the current bus stop locations.
Is that something -- who decides where those bus stop locations are currently?
>> DCTA decides that.
>> Okay.
>> But Denton staff is in touch with DCTA.
We have a biweekly meeting and we can make some recommendations.
But ultimately it's DCTA's decision.
>> Okay.
So one thing I would be curious about is if -- I don't know if it would be a city staff
under direction from council or if this would be maybe something that could be addressed
in the study.
I'm curious as to why we don't have bus stops at services like our public libraries and
our rec centers.
Since those are facilities that are free and house incredible services and assets for our
citizens, currently there's not a bus stop at those facilities.
Is that something that we can request?
>> If you provide us the locations, staff can reach out to DCTA during one of our meetings
and we can get the response on that.
>> Okay.
And in the study, would other areas similar to that be addressed if we could find out
where else do people need to go?
They may want to go to the downtown, but they may need to be going across town to, you know,
access shopping or medical facilities or doctors.
Is that something that would be covered in a study like that?
>> The study would reasonably cover the scope that is set by the subcommittee for the transit
2.0.
>> Okay.
>> And many of these recommendations would come directly to that.
There will be a public engagement process as well in that.
And then, of course, public and community members can reach out and make these recommendations.
And then the methods and assessment process would look into that.
>> Okay.
And my last question about the BRT, are we at the early stages with that as well or is
that something that this committee could revisit so that we can make further recommendations
for council to move that forward?
Is there anything that's -- that is preventing us from moving forward on pursuing that right
now?
>> So BRT, DCT is already taking that initiative and they are already working on a concept.
There are different levels.
And this may take some time to -- to mature, the whole idea.
But DCT is already on it and I'm positive that they'll have public meetings as well.
>> Okay.
>> And City of Denton staff is already part of that process.
We engage on multiple meetings with them.
>> Okay.
Great.
Thank you.
>> Commissioner Ziegelt, did you have any questions or concerns that you want to raise?
>> No.
>> Okay.
Then I will jump into mine.
And so -- okay.
We answered that one.
For slide nine, back one.
No.
Well, yes.
There we go.
There -- is -- is this self-reporting?
How did we get -- how did we get the data?
>> This is census track data set from where and then we had a combination of journey to
work data set.
Two data sets are used.
>> I'm sorry.
Which -- what was the --
>> So one is census track data set for the basic population and demographics data.
>> Uh-huh.
>> That is an insight.
Then we have ACS journey to work data, American Community Survey.
>> Okay.
>> Journey to work data.
>> Okay.
And then again, that was self-reported or it's based on state statistics or where are
we getting the data?
>> So census and both ACS are a component of federal and state --
>> Okay.
>> -- regulatory process.
>> Okay.
And the reason --
>> It's a state and federal-owned data.
>> Perfect.
Thank you.
The reason I asked that question is just you worry about self-selection bias on some surveys.
People that are very interested in transit say one thing, and the rest of the people
that are just going to work that actually desperately need the transit may not say anything.
So you end up -- if you don't have some sort of third-party review of the data, you know,
it gets -- the data gets biased.
>> Yeah.
So in this case, yes, since it is data, so naturally there is a probability of bias.
>> Yeah.
>> But -- and then another aspect is that equity layer that we used is also FDA's equity
layer.
>> Okay.
>> They have a standard, and they have this equity layer for entire U.S.
You could go into districts, you can go into city levels, and they provide you equity-based
areas.
And that layer is all the funding applications to -- federal funding applications, they hinge
on that layer to make decisions on how the equity is to avoid that bias.
>> Bias.
Okay.
All right.
I appreciate that.
I mean, like, it just jumped out at me that the North Lakes area had no percentages and
some other things that made me question that, and it just may be the scale of the map is
all.
>> Yep.
>> Did you have a question on that one, Rom?
>> I just wanted --
>> Go ahead.
>> What year was the data pulled from?
>> This was a year ago.
>> Okay.
>> Well, roughly about six months ago.
>> Oh, okay.
That's good.
>> When we last updated.
>> Yes.
I think that's good.
I would be curious -- there are newer developments where I see people walking way more.
They may own a car, and so it is a little bit -- whether people own a car is different
than whether they will not use it, I guess.
>> So this map is a tool for us to assess that how, and it's not an exact information,
but it's a tool for us to understand how this whole process is and where it stands.
And this obviously is a snapshot in time.
>> Sure.
>> Go ahead, it may change, the data may change.
>> All right.
Jumping to some of my other questions to keep us on time so we don't go too much over.
Similar to Commissioner Penn's questions, it seems like our team has the best understanding
of destination pathing across our cities.
Where are the schools?
Where are the retail?
Where is the commercial?
Where is the development?
I know our team would share that with DCTA in order to make their route development plans
better, and so I'm glad we're working collaboratively on that.
But it seems like we lack a lot of workplace and retail routing.
When I look at DCTA's planning, it's a lot of residential, which is understandable.
That's where the people are for eight to 12 hours a day while they sleep and eat and work
with their families and whatnot.
But they need to get to the places where they can be employed for employment routing and
for the school-age folks, university and below, they need to be able to get back and forth
from their destination too.
So I encourage us to, as we carry forward, to think about and stress the larger transit-oriented
design elements that are more than just housing.
Not going to deny, it's not the most critical piece, but there's a big hole in, say, I bring
it up every meeting for the Westgate tours, where it's a big employer of ours, and there's
a big hole, there's no bus coverage, there's no GoZone coverage.
So if anybody wants to comment on that, that was more of a, "Hey, can we stress this going
forward?"
So in this midterm, if you read this midterm, first bullet emphasized on that, enhance the
background bus network and feeders to major modes of travel.
So that essentially is suggesting that we have a train that is running as a core, but
then provide feeder buses through different areas to a train, and then, of course, express
bus services, another aspect where staff is emphasizing that provide express bus services
typically for employment-prone areas where people are going to work in the morning, and
then afternoon, they just return, so express bus would cover those aspects.
So yes, they are part of the process.
Okay, gentle, gentle, agree to disagree on that one.
I'm not talking about the A train, obviously that has larger implications for the Metroplex
and employment, and the ability to work downtown, but live in Denton, completely agree that
that's critical.
I'm so looking forward to dragging my luggage without a car all the way to DFW, but I guess
the point is more locally and our local transit offerings, I think we need to stress in our
collaboration with DCTA these destination pathings that are more than just UNT and some
of our apartment locations.
And I have personally had that conversation with Paul and Austin at DCTA, because it's
very important that we are helping our citizens get to their jobs, and a lot of our employment
center, like you said, is around that Westgate area, and so we have made that a priority
of ours.
I will tell you DCTA obviously has been undergoing a lot of change recently, and they have told
me it's not in their short-term plan, but it is in their mid-term plans.
Okay, I appreciate that, and I'll just make this, oh, you mentioned you're not sure with
some of the map on the previous slide, and I'm not asking you to flip back, you don't
need to.
But you're not sure whether they're walking or not, I question, and maybe you can answer
now or bring it back later, and that is if they're walking, if they're not taking the
bus and they're not driving, do our pedestrian offerings for mobility support pedestrian
transit?
Because if we don't have a lot of safe routes to not just school, but X, if we don't have
a lot of safe routes for pedestrians, then we're raising their risk profile if for whatever
reason they've moved themselves into the pedestrian bucket.
I encourage us to make sure that these areas where there's a misalignment with transit
also are maybe places we can focus on our pedestrian offerings.
Is that what happens?
Yes.
So the sidewalk work plan and then also the criteria that we are using looks into these
as factors.
Okay, two, let's see, one of the things I brought up with Director Christina was similar
to the destination pathing we just discussed for these transit-oriented design elements.
Are there opportunities for developers to buy in, to purchase, to incentivize routes,
either GoZone or Transit in order to make their offering, both retail and residential,
more attractive?
That's a lot of verbiage.
If they buy a route, is that an option for them to make it so that people can come and
go to their destination of choice?
And if not, I encourage us to consider ways that we can incentivize developer buy-in.
Is that something that -- I don't hear about it happening.
So public-private partnership is always there.
It's an element of transportation, and it's not only valid for public transportation but
also for bridges, but that option would open up with DCTA, and City, of course, if that
discussion starts, City could participate in those talks as well.
But, yes, public-private partnership, in many cases, routes are owned by private agencies
and they serve on the process.
And last question to keep us on time, I know that there's lots of things that we have in
the plan, different routes, different things, but one of the things that's come up over
the entire time I've been in office, and I think it's particularly apropos now that the
buses are only in Denton, do you know if DCTA is where they are on removal of fare boxes?
Because if that's a barrier at all, then that's something that we can remove, especially if
they're relying on other revenue streams to fund the buses, and we're trying to accelerate
the implementation and use of buses and go zone writ large, if there's a way to, I mean,
is that in the thinking of anyone's, so that we don't have any, you can just hop on a bus
and go if you're in our corporate limits and we don't have to worry about Highland Village
or Louisville or anybody else because the buses are all in Denton.
Staff will circle back on that, staff is not sure about where they are.
Because I could see that as being an attractive feature that would augment all the rest of
these things because we just don't use fares to pay for these things.
That's just not something, it's like what, less than 5% of the revenue stream is fares?
Confirm that number, I think it's even smaller than that.
Yeah, so I'm not sure, I will confirm.
I appreciate that.
Okay, in the interest of time, I will get back to staff on some of my other questions
offline.
Any other quick questions on this item?
All right, seeing none, then I will move on to item 2C, MC 25040, the staff memorandum
and whoever is going to lead on that.
All right, good morning board members, Seth Garcia, Director of Capital Projects.
So I'm going to cover the first few items that includes the quarterly construction report.
So we did provide a response for the Reeves Elementary.
Some of you may know we did open up Riney Road to Bonnie Bray on August 20th.
So hopefully that's providing some congestion relief there for the high school and elementary
school and we are anticipating having the remainder of the sidewalk in place by the
end of the month.
So they're actively working on that this week.
Now, before we keep going, Seth, do you want these one at a time or you want them in mass?
Sure, go ahead.
If you've got questions on Reeves, we'll do that.
I'm going to cover the first two items and then I'm going to pass it to Farron for the
remainder.
Okay, so questions on Reeves.
I drove it that morning, it was closed, that afternoon it was open, it was amazing.
It's like I had missed it, but I know it was physically open that afternoon.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Yeah, you bet.
Go ahead.
I had a question about the timeline for, well, okay, let me ask this.
How, when this portion of Bonnie Bray is complete, I know this is kind of a little bit further
down the road, what is the width of Bonnie Bray?
What is the expected width of Bonnie Bray once the road is finalized?
Do you know this?
Does anyone know this offhand?
So, can you be more specific about the width, are you talking about the pavement widths
or the width of the rideway take?
Or the lanes.
Are you talking about the lanes?
The entire, so where children will be using a finalized crosswalk to get from, let's say,
the west side of Bonnie Bray to the east side of Bonnie Bray, they'll be going along a crosswalk.
Yes, ma'am.
How wide will that be and will there be, what do you call that, where it's like an island
in the middle for kids to get all the way across?
Gotcha.
Okay.
So, great question.
It's going to be roughly probably 70 feet, so it's going to be built out to accommodate
the full six lane with multiple turn lanes there that'll be going on westbound towards
Bronco Way.
There won't be an island.
We'll work with the transportation services group to make sure that there's adequate timing
for the signal to where when pedestrians activate, hey, we're coming across the crosswalk.
We don't want to strand folks there in the middle.
And so, they'll work with the timing to make sure they can get fully across that intersection
safely in the configuration with the stoplight.
And the stoplight's being included with this project at Bonnie Bray.
So, hopefully, once the project's complete, that won't be an issue.
Okay.
And on the Reeves campus, it's not at this intersection, but I was curious where, if
there is in place a crosswalk further down Riney, there's kind of a temporary sidewalk
that gets them to the campus.
I haven't been there.
I'm usually dropping my kids off at a different school.
Where are kids crossing?
Will there be, right now, there's currently no ramp even to get to the street level from
that little neighborhood over there.
So, what can we expect right there for kids to get across safely to the campus?
Yeah.
So, with this project, we're going to install a temporary sidewalk across the two parcels
that's going to take it to Hardaway Road, which is the first kind of gravel road that
goes into the neighborhood.
That's going to be used as a temporary crossing.
The Riney Road East project is going to build the full configuration of the sidewalk in
that intersection where a permanent crossing will go in with reconfiguration of those sidewalk
ramps.
We're expecting that project to go to bid towards the fall of this year, being construction
early next year.
And that's one of those areas that we're going to try and prioritize to get in as fast as
possible with the contractor to make sure we have that safe access.
But for now, through this fall semester, it will be in a temporary configuration.
Will there be a striping?
Until that gets done.
Is there a plan to stripe where kids are crossing currently this school year?
Let me pass that to Farhan.
Okay.
Thanks.
Currently, Farhan Butt, Deputy Director of Transportation Services.
Currently, there is no plan to stripe at that location.
So right now, their kids are just crossing with the guidance.
It requires having a crossing guard there on Riney to stop traffic.
Yes.
Okay.
Can I ask why we're not planning on striping it for this school year?
So Chandra, Chandra may respond to that because he's working on that.
Okay.
Thank you.
Good morning, Chair and Commission.
Since it's an active constriction zone, there is no ramps that lead up to the crossing.
So which will be a liability.
But there is an active crossing guard managing it for the school year for now.
I understand the liability issue.
I'm curious.
It won't hold in the ground because it's dirt basically.
I know.
Yeah.
Okay, what's concerning though is that there are times when children are going to school
or walking home if they've got after-school activities.
And if they miss the time for a crossing guard, they're crossing a busy road unattended without
any striping or any way for drivers to notice that that's where kids cross.
We have beacons right now with flashes out there at Riney.
At the east side of the campus?
East side of the campus.
Okay.
Good.
That's something.
Okay.
Thank you.
Sure.
Before you step down, I'm going to follow that one up before we go on.
And I just I want to make sure that I double down on that.
I think we did Reeves and DHS backwards, and normally that would be fine if we're talking
about a shopping center or something else where we kind of develop it in stages.
But we don't have the luxury of having risk mitigation for children.
Nobody's going to tolerate additional risk for children.
And I think that's what you're hearing in Mr. Penn.
And paint versus children's safety is everyone will budget paint.
So I bet you we have unanimity on paint, striping, signs, cheap solutions like that to draw attention.
Even if they're extra, even if they're redundant, if you can focus the attention on drivers
around pedestrian children, I would like us, I'm being a little forceful here, I would
like us to take those extra measures and recommend them to council or wherever.
And I'll bring it up in matrix if that's what's needed, Ben.
He said looking out of the corner of his eye.
But does it matter who is responsible for the planning of the school and the mobility
around it?
I know it's a collaboration of DISD in the city, but we've got to get this right for
the children.
Children are foolish and do foolish things.
Oh, absolutely.
We are taking safety as the top priority as a process right now.
So we will explore options and we are also working on giving the Bonneberry crossing
a little extra time because it's a combo school, high school on the other side, and elementary
now open this year.
So we will explore and we will follow up.
I'd appreciate that.
And I'll bring it back up on the matrix.
Any, any, yes, go ahead.
I'd like to comment on that.
We have taken this, this whole area very seriously.
I know our staff has spent a lot of time making sure that it is safe for our kiddos.
We do not want anything to happen there, but also we have a lot of different constraints
in that area.
So we put the temporary sidewalk there knowing that there were there were kids walking.
We pushed and pushed and pushed to get that done as quickly as possible.
I know that Farhan, Chandra and Seth have spent a lot of time looking at that area and
making sure it's not just a matter of we're not budgeting for the paint.
And we are we are doing everything possible to make sure I mean there's there's an overall
plan to make sure that those kiddos have a safe way to get to those schools.
Now unfortunately, some of the weather on the roadway hurt our timing, but Seth's team
really pushed it.
And so now we're waiting on some of those other activities to finish out before we complete
all of those overall improvements.
But there are a lot of constraints in that area.
And we especially do not want anything to happen to those kids.
I don't want anyone to think that we're prioritizing striping over kids.
We are not.
We are looking at it collectively as a whole area.
I appreciate that comment and anything else before we move on to the next item?
Please go ahead.
To anyone, what does a temporary sidewalk look like?
Leave it to Seth.
Yeah great question.
So in this case, it is going to be a five foot concrete sidewalk.
We're going to build it to where the current path is in front of the fences there.
There's two properties on Hardaway Road, where with the Riding Road Project, we're actually
going to move the fence lines.
So it's going to be built in a place that ultimately it's going to be ripped out with
the roadway construction.
So in the sense of temporary, it's not in its permanent configuration.
It's only going to be a short term sidewalk, but it will be a four or five foot concrete
sidewalk.
For the other piece, for Denton High School, what we did last year, we built a four foot
wide asphalt trail, and that's what we used as a temporary sidewalk to allow students
to get across Rainey Road and across Bonnie Bride towards the Denton High School.
Okay.
Thank you.
Vice Chair, I just want to make one last comment.
I live in the North Lakes neighborhood, and I recently talked with a lot of parents in
that area, and that neighborhood right now is zoned for Reeves.
The frustration is that yes, there's a lot of moving parts, but those things were not
done in a way that families feel that they can even send their children to Reeves.
There's a family that I spoke to that instead of sending their children to Reeves, they
have pulled their children from Denton ISD because when they have one car, they cannot
safely get to Windsor because we don't have a sidewalk that even would get them to any
form of sidewalk or side path that would eventually get them to Reeves and the bus systems would
not come and pick up the kids from my neighborhood.
So there's kind of a whole, so it's just, it's difficult because we didn't have these
things done in an order where families can even choose to send their kids to the public
school that they're zoned for.
They had intentionally not sent their kids to the school because of the limitations on
safe mobility and a safe route to school for my neighborhood specifically.
- Okay, well, I think we're trying to balance really hard the issues and I think this feedback
is useful in terms of stressing some of the importance of these considerations.
I appreciate everybody's comments.
Next item.
- Yeah, so next we're gonna cover the quarterly construction report.
So I'm not gonna touch on all of these, but do wanna highlight a few updates.
So Bonneberry 3, currently under construction, we've been coordinating closely with TxDOT.
You may have seen we had a recent closure of FM 1515 as TxDOT completed their tie-in
there at the service road.
So we were able to get that open this last week in preparation for UNT's football game
this Saturday.
So hopefully we will be open through the remainder of the year as we continue finishing out the
paving there.
We're still on track to be done Q4 of 2026.
- Seth, that stops just shy of Walt Parker Boulevard or whatever it is.
The last time I was there at least.
Will that increase at all between now and Saturday?
- So it will not increase between now and Saturday.
So it's gonna be essentially that four lane section that you see that was built up to
the first driveway.
As we go throughout the year, we're trying to minimize the impact on the football season
by working actively right there in front of the stadium.
So we've actually dropped some crews back towards the railroad tracks.
They're working in between Willowwood and Parvin Street getting that done.
Once again, we'll still continue pushing forward construction in that area.
In some phase, we've just coordinated with UNT to try and minimize it as much as possible.
After football season, you'll see more traffic come back towards that side, construction
traffic to get that tied in before next year's.
- When would you, and what is done looks really, really nice.
I'm really pleased with that.
So when would Willowwood tie into that part of Bonnie Bray that's already done?
- Yeah, so I would suspect before the end of next summer, we'll be complete.
That's the goal, to have more open for the '26 football season.
Really the last section we're gonna be working on is right there around the railroad tracks
because there's so much railroad coordination.
And that will be towards the end of the project, those last six months that take us to project
completion.
- Thank you.
- You bet.
- So before we get going, I did have one follow up to Councilor Holland, and that is we get
a lot of feedback.
I shouldn't speak for Councilor Holland, I get a lot of feedback of when we start a project
and then idle because either a vendor or our team is trying to properly get to the kind
of quarterly ETA timelines that you have on the other exhibit.
And it looks like nothing's, it's something started, but nothing's being done.
And so if we could get some additional verbiage that we could get out into the community,
because that's very disconcerting to the citizens that don't understand the process and timing,
to see something dug up and then sit idle for six months and then get started all over
again, that's very frustrating for them.
- Yeah, no, absolutely.
So we did put out some recent information last week in the Friday report that talked
about kind of the overall construction sequencing, but we can look to add some more narrative
possibly to our Discuss Denton page that will have all those resources that you can point
people to that will give out gaps and when they may see contractors mobilize in, complete
their work, mobilize out as we're waiting for other contractors to move in.
So I think we can add some narrative to that.
- And do we have standards for what state they leave an idle project in?
I know we don't let it be open because they need to use the roadway for emergency reasons
or just day-to-day life reasons.
We try to put some sort of asphalt patch down or something.
But is there cleanup or some other standards that we apply so that it's not an active construction
zone when it's idle, unless it needs to be?
- Yes, so we do have some different general notes within the plans and our specifications
that talk to trash, dirt piles, different things that look like it's active construction,
how it should be coned off.
The biggest line of defense is our public works inspectors that are out there.
They work with those contractors every day on those areas to make sure that we're keeping
it neat and orderly.
Again, it's still a construction zone that we don't wanna cause rework for the next contractor
moving in.
So a lot of that is done through regular communication with our inspection staff and the general
superintendents or superintendents out on the job site.
- Perfect, thank you.
- You bet.
- Would it be helpful, would it be necessary to indicate that this is a temporary thing,
a temporary sidewalk, a temporary asphalt or something?
- I hear frequently, the city paved it and then they tore it up, they, the city, doesn't
know what they're doing.
They paved it and then they tore it, you've heard that, you know what I mean?
If we could just convey that thought to the citizens that no, no, no, we're not finished.
I actually got a copy of an email that some ill-informed citizen got that the city was
simply gonna give up on Bonnie Bray, it's just too hard.
We quit.
- Throw in the towel.
- And absurd as that sounds, you know, we just quit.
So I think that'd be handy if we could just indicate to people that driving all that,
that this, that yeah, we're, this is, you could drive on it today, but we're gonna tear
it up tomorrow.
- Yeah, no, absolutely.
We do put out several communications with residents as we go throughout the life cycle
of a project.
One area that we kind of struggle is for the people who may not live on the project site
or adjacent to the project site, but for those folks that are just driving through, again,
without them going to our Discuss Denton page or watching one of these wonderful meetings,
they may not get that information.
So we'll see if we can come up with some proactive ways to get that messaging out there a little
bit better.
- Thank you.
- Absolutely.
Okay, just to touch on a few more.
So Bonnie Bray 6, again, we prioritize Riney Road.
They've been doing a lot of drainage infrastructure out there.
Our plan is to pave those southbound lanes, so those future new build lanes.
So you'll see those concrete crews start working on that on the southbound side.
We'll get the majority of that in place before we start ripping up the northbound lanes,
the existing current lanes.
So again, active construction there, still on try to be done, Q127.
So McKinney sidewalks, we were currently in at 90% design.
We are going through right away acquisition for a couple different parcels.
We had a lag there at the intersection of Woodrow and McKinney Street.
We think we found a good workaround solution.
Our goal is to have that bidding next month, and then we're to expedite construction as
fast as possible pending those two parcel acquisitions.
And then lastly, Hickory Creek 3.
So I don't know if any of you have been out there recently.
They are drilling a lot of drill shafts, so a lot of active bridge construction going
on.
Mario Sinicola is out there.
We will have a few gas line agreements coming before council over the next couple months
that are going to relocate some gas lines within the city's right of way.
Other than that, we're still moving towards our Q4 2026 completion date.
Otherwise, any questions, or I'm going to pass it to Farhan to cover these last few
items.
>> Okay.
Any questions?
No?
All right.
>> Thank you.
>> Good morning, Farhan through Chandra under the bus.
>> So we had from the previous meetings, they wanted to find out the guidelines for crosswalk
stop yield to pedestrians, and crosswalk yield to pedestrians, the difference.
So we outlined what's from METCD, and if you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer.
>> Questions about this one?
>> How do we determine how are crosswalk needs determined, and is it required, is a crosswalk
required to go from one ramp to the other?
And if there is not a ramp, is that something that we ever go in and add so that we can
actually have a safe crosswalk?
I'm thinking maybe like at a T or at a mid point in a street.
>> It varies from case by case request and heavy usage of the pedestrian environment.
But usually on a mid blocks, we use crosswalk yields, and if you have to put in the crosswalk
markings, then it needs to have ADA ramps on either side.
Otherwise it will trigger an ADA investigation if you are putting a crosswalk, but it's not
accommodating for all pedestrian use.
>> Okay.
Thank you.
>> And at intersections, we use stop signs or crosswalk stop to pedestrians.
>> Okay.
Thank you.
>> Sure.
Mine is similar, but it's more on the markings themselves, not the proper design of the ramps
and crosswalks, but I'll try to use examples like the one at North Lakes Rec where we're
debating about how to move that hawk out and where to put the stop signs and markings,
and I really do think we need some advance.
Now I'm not a street engineer, but just driving that on a nearly daily basis, it is clear
to me that drivers do not understand how they're supposed to operate in that zone.
They just don't.
They need way more, you know, in that case, treat us like seventh graders and give us
a lot more signs, a lot more markings, a lot more expectation management, and I don't mean
just because of the placement of the stop sign relative to the crosswalk.
If you drive up and down Windsor, there's a number of places where okay, you know, schools
are obvious, but other places where we're not, is there an opportunity to put more yield
to pedestrian signs, put more advance markings, put more of the paint striping that tells
you a crosswalk is coming?
I forget the symbology we use on the roads for that one.
You mean the inverted triangle?
Yeah, okay, but many more visual references to, because this is both a semi-stroad, it's
almost a, you know, it's a high use collector, but Windsor especially needs a lot of guidance
to our, as traffic flows around in there and people try to cross, whether it's at Sherman,
whether it's at Nottingham, whether it's at Fireside, you know, there's just places all
over where clearly drivers don't know how to behave.
Whether they live there or not doesn't really seem to be germane, and to the extent that
we can get more helpful guidance for how drivers should behave, that would be desirable.
So that's the good news, as of yesterday morning, we have moved the stop bar behind, and since
the intersection with North Lake Spark at Windsor isn't always stopped, so we are moving
that beacons for advanced pedestrian to Windsor at Fireside, because we got a lot more requests
to have some electronic devices to have more visual for pedestrian yielding.
So we're moving that equipment out, and we moved the stop bar behind the crosswalk, so
if you drive around there later today, you might notice.
>> Oh, I didn't go today because we were having this meeting, I appreciate that.
Yeah, you have something on the yield signs?
>> Well, we could talk about it offline if needed.
That's great that we're moving that to Parkside, and I did see you now where the stop sign
is in front of the crosswalk.
>> Yes.
>> It's still incredibly frustrating that there is no safe passage from North Lake's
neighborhood on Parkside to access either the park that is named after the neighborhood,
or the rec center that's also named after the neighborhood.
There's more people in the North Lake's neighborhood.
>> If I may, we're getting into specifics, I know initially, I think it was made a reference
to show an example of, I guess to express what you're talking about, but when we're
getting into specifics, we're not posted for that, and I think the appropriate time may
be for the end to bring it back if you have a specific question.
>> All right, appreciate that, Ben.
Thank you for keeping us on the straight and narrow.
I had a question on Evers, and if we start to verge into ask, then just holler at me,
Ben.
A lot of feedback on this one from the community in the region, and no feedback in the community
not in the region.
They are just generally for school safety, but the people that live along that block,
they're not upset that we're trying to make it safer for the children.
They're upset that they now don't have any place to park because we've stripped that
west side away from them.
Is there a middle ground for residents other than saying, hey, in the morning, go park
your car somewhere else and then go back to bed or go back to your breakfast and then
go to work?
It feels like they're taking both sides of the street for no parking in order to affect
pick up and drop off.
It's useful because we want to, again, I said earlier, we want to protect the children at
all costs, but the same token, now we're preventing parking on that west side, and is there some
sort of hybrid, some sort of win-win we could get to on that?
So basically, the request for no parking on the western side came about because parents
are utilizing to pick up drop off and the kids are playing hide and seek during the
pick up hours.
Crossing guards could not manage, they are not there to manage traffic, they are to safely
take them across the street, and based on the request, we had a public hearing.
There were two residents who were opposed to that.
We only had restriction between seven to eight and two to three in the afternoon during the
school hours, school days, no restriction on the weekends or during summertime.
But in that instance, one resident had five cars, and it's a public street, it's a privilege
to park, unfortunately, if it's right next to a school and if it's meant for school safety
and for the kids, we have to make this restriction, and we outlined the same issues in the public
meeting, but they weren't convinced.
Unfortunately, there is no other alternative when the houses are adjoining a school area.
Okay, you understand the difference, well, I don't want to get too into it, I will just
make a comment and then I'll talk to you all after the meeting and we'll bring it back
up in the matrix.
The challenge is, the problem is being created by not residents of the region, the pick up
and drop off parents who are parking for pick up and drop off, that's then impacting people
who actually live there, and it feels like we could come up with some sort of, I don't
know, pass, sticker, something.
I don't know all the potential engineering solutions that would accommodate both needs
at the same time.
So that's just a comment, I will either bring it back up at the matrix or I'll bring it
back up to you off line.
Next item, Strauds.
Farhan Bhatt, Deputy Director of Transportation Services.
So in this case we staff provided detailed information on what elements could be included
when it comes to addressing Strauds and how we can prevent the evolution of Strauds on
cities, streets and roads, and if there are any questions, they are in exhibit four, and
if there are any questions?
Questions on Strauds for Dr. Bhatt.
I do.
Is there anything preventing the transportation services from putting these ideas and these
design methods into practice?
No.
We are currently adopting them, including them into our processes, and continuously
evaluating and making sure that we include them into our planning practice.
For the past facilities that have evolved into Strauds due to developments, and we are
also proactively looking into those and trying to ensure that if we can make any safeguards,
we could do that.
So would it be, I know we are also, as we also addressed with Vision Zero, I know there's
seems like there's some overlap, would it be helpful to have a specific policy or requirement
or I guess a way to say if we're building a new road, these things that you've outlined
here are must be included based on our desire as a city to have places for people to walk,
places for people to access, like you said, people-centered design.
Would it be helpful to have something in place such as a policy that would stand for anyone
moving forward as we continue, that we make sure these things are happening as we build
new roads or as we evaluate roads that are already there?
So we have two documents to reference to.
One is comprehensive plan.
That starts the story of how city will play on planning practice or engineering practice
as well.
That tells overall picture.
And then we have a mobility plan in particular that drives all these standards and rules
and that provides information on how things would be done as part of the overall process,
larger process.
Then we go further down to active transportation element of the mobility plan that further
defines it.
And then finally, so these are the two documents.
And then finally what we rely on, transportation criteria manual and development code as well.
So mobility plan is planned, we are planning to update it starting 2026, I think that we
will start the process for that.
And then of course, that will be an opportunity where we will review and improve things, not
only from Strode's perspective, but overall from many aspects of planning.
So that's great.
Do you have anything set up right now that would help you, I guess, determine, for example,
you talk about kind of like piloting a project where you may try some inexpensive, even temporary
measures to see if they work.
Do we have any?
Actually, hold on.
Sorry.
Hold on.
Am I getting too far?
No, you're good.
There's nothing you're doing wrong.
We just drop below quorum.
And so Ben, we're okay.
All right.
Go ahead.
Okay.
Do we have anything in place that would help us find those intersections or those areas
to start piloting some of these implementation ideas that you've laid out for us?
So the current process, as you highlighted Vision Zero, we have identified 11 corridors
in that.
In the next report, this report was almost done when we had this final information from
our last task force meeting.
It was presented there.
So we will include that in our next transportation services report.
We have identified 11 corridors based on fatalities, walkability, and also serious injuries.
And those will be the corridors in City of Denton, which where we will focus for improvements.
And when it comes to short-term improvements, but again, we'll have to rely on the planning
documents.
We will pivot all our decisions regarding planning practice applications on mobility
plan and planning documents and our transportation criteria manual.
This works in combination of ways.
When the developments are coming, we ensure through our development review process that
the walkability is covered, bike lanes are covered, all those aspects are covered.
We even look at traffic operation side of things when it comes to new developments.
When it comes to city, existing city streets, we have an ongoing process and we are through
our work plan.
For instance, we have sidewalk work plan.
We are through work plan, we are addressing those one by one.
And ADA transition plan is as well.
As a matter of fact, in the report that you, the implementations that we have provided
with before and after pictures, we are tying them to ADA transition plan now.
As we speak, we are, staff is working on that and we are tying how many of those barriers
are removed.
So it's a continuous process and, but overall process will be, will be part of the mobility
plan update.
Okay.
Thank you.
All right, the, a couple, let me pick up from there and right from there because as you
were rightfully saying, the development code, which is not necessarily under your purview,
it's a different department, but is quintessential for you developing an effective mobility plan
and so they have to work hand in glove to augment each other so that you can get to
these kinds of things.
So it might be, you, you said that the, we're, we're adjusting mobility plan in next year,
we're starting to do that adjustment next, next year?
We'll launch the initiative, the update, plan update.
Okay.
It will be completed within a few months, I think at least six, eight months.
Yeah, no, it, it takes a while to do it.
Yeah.
But I think, you know, yeah, to the extent that the two, all the relevant committees
can be updated on that one, that would be lovely.
Just because I think you're, you know, if you have mobility needs, but the development
code isn't matching them and vice versa, then we're out of sync and, and we will reinforce
what we're doing now instead of what we need to do if we don't sync up properly.
That's, that's more of a comment.
So help the committees help you is, is I guess my general comment.
I did have a question and maybe you brought it up and I just didn't see it.
So please correct me.
But I know that a lot of road design is hierarchical.
We're going from, from, you know, smaller to larger to larger to larger to try and have
a tree line hierarchical structure, except that everything I'm reading and, but you're
the expert.
So please correct me if I'm wrong.
Seems to suggest that this, this is what leads to strode's because we now have these hierarchical
networks that are running through these other areas and it might be better to have less
hierarchical networks and more duplication of smaller scale.
So instead of having fewer big roads, more duplication of, or more routes that involve
middle and smaller roads so that we, we don't create strode's.
So is that, am I interpreting that correctly and is that accurate?
Yeah.
So the easiest way to interpret it is that we have to go towards high density land uses.
And then what happens is that if we are building a road from A to B, we are building a road
not a street.
So road is the one that go from destination A to destination B, which is at a longer distance.
And over time, over the course of 25 years, and that's where the demographics data part
comes.
That if we plan without NCTCOGS demographic data in mind, and we just plan without considering
that data set, that what that data set is telling that there'll be growth, there'll
be employments in these areas according to their forecast.
If we do that, then what happens that we plan a road that over time would become a strode
because there are developments popping in, popping up.
And in that, those developments will pop up because the density is acting in whatever
land use planning way we are deciding.
So I think land use drive how streets or roads will function.
If we change the land use as we bring a big employer right in the middle of a road from
A to B, the characteristic will change.
Then many markets will start popping up, strip malls will start popping up, restaurants will
open up to serve those jobs, and there you go.
So the chain reaction starts.
So I think densities with high accessibility to use cases of land use is the correct answer
for that.
I appreciate that clarity.
Thank you for helping my understanding.
Other questions?
No.
All right.
Well, then let's see.
The next item is the transportation report, I guess.
Yes.
Did you have any lead in or are you just going to throw it to questions?
Throw it to questions?
Yes.
The report covered all aspects of transportation services from September -- from October 2024
to July, and of 2025, it's fiscal year 2024-25 report.
I just want to jump off the bat and say I really -- 200 pages, it's really clear that
your team has done a lot.
I appreciate the executive summary where you've listed all the things.
I especially see you're really strong on grant funding since you, Dr. Budd, have come on
board and been very focused on that.
I really appreciate that we've had opportunities that we haven't had in the past.
So I love that.
One of the things that might help me that it was a little challenging to go through
the report is maybe in the executive summary, sort of more of the strategic one, five and
10 year goals or whatever time frame you're organizing them on so that I can understand
as those change, you know, you listed accomplishments, well done, lots of great accomplishments.
It was hard for me to grab onto the through line of this is -- I'm trying to accomplish
this with these goals and here's the 12 things that I did that.
So maybe a little middle layer of what are the plannings.
I think that would help both at this committee and the council, just because you're doing
so much that I've got to keep track of it all.
So we'll tie them to comprehensive plan and mobility plan, goals and policies.
Would that -- Probably.
Probably that would help a lot.
We will do that.
Staff will do that.
That would be amazing.
And that way we can help you with, again, it's like what I said earlier, help us to
help you.
So other comments on this?
I will say before I pass it completely off, I'm still fully digesting it.
There's almost 300 pages of material.
I'm not complaining about that.
I love having more material.
It just takes longer to digest.
So other comments?
Go ahead.
I would love to discuss the report further.
What would we recommend if there's items in the report that we would like to hear more
about?
Would the recommendation be that I request those to be added to the agenda for a follow-up
discussion?
I think based on comments earlier, if you want an in-depth report, Ben and Farhan, correct
me, or Cassie, where they need to do additional work, probably yes.
If you just have some quick questions on some items, we could probably address some of those
now.
Okay.
Just one quick question that is mentioned on the report is the school crossing guard
program that was recently taken over by transportation.
I believe previously it was under DISD.
No?
It was not.
Sorry.
I didn't mean to muddy the water.
No.
The crossing guards were previously managed by the police department for the city of Denton.
It's just moved under a different department for management.
Okay.
I guess one question in regards to the crossing guards.
Does the transportation services, do we currently have the budget and the staff capacity to
fully manage at all of the locations that you have determined?
We need people there.
Yes, we do.
Are we covered right now?
Yes, we do.
Our city leadership has been very, very cooperative on that and they have been helping us.
Thank you for that.
Okay.
Good.
I guess beyond the staffing, beyond having people there, are there other ways that I
guess we can support making sure that we've got the quality people and that they have
everything that they need and that the families in the area know what to do when those people
are in place?
This process is fairly new and as it is new, we are trying to digest the information as
staff and we are trying to understand the process.
Our foremost and top priority right now is to provide coverage to all schools and ensure
that we have a stable season within a few weeks.
Once that is streamlined, then we will open up under city leadership's directions, we
will open up for further improvements or process improvements, but for now, staff is trying
to ensure that we have full coverage and we are taking care of all the immediate needs.
Okay.
That's great.
Thank you so much.
I think it's a positive update.
Thank you very much.
Other comments, concerns, any ... Well, and if it's big, like I said, we'll bring it up
here in a second when we get to the matrix.
No?
Okay.
Vice Chair.
Yes.
Can I just take a minute to recognize our transportation services staff for doing a
phenomenal job on the ADA updates at Oak and Austin Street.
The improvements look fantastic and I think it's really going to make a lot of improvements
around our downtown squared.
Well done.
Appreciate that.
And that's the whole team, it's working together, including traffic operations and transportation
services and our contractor as well.
We get so focused on what's the next deliverable that we forget when we've delivered on a deliverable,
so I appreciate you bringing that up.
We need to tout our own accomplishments at times.
Okay.
So going on to ... Okay.
Is future items in this one or the next item?
Okay.
So then we'll close item C out and we'll move on to item D, MC25041, receive a report, hold
discussion and give staff direction regarding future meeting topics.
All right.
So as you can see here, we are proposing to remove five different topics off of the future
items matrix.
So that's item four, understanding strode, item six, the city of Denton bus recommendations,
the guidelines for the crosswalk stop and yield signs, parking in Evers Parkway area
and then the Reeves Elementary item.
If y'all are good with that, we can entertain a motion to remove those five items from the
matrix.
So moved.
Okay.
Is there a second?
Second.
Okay.
So that's the second discussion and I'm going to lead off on the discussion.
I would ask that we not, because there was a bunch of items that came up in the discussion
about buses and getting back, you know, transit 2.0, bus stops, bus fares.
So I'm not sure whether that needs to be a separate item or we could remove this one
now.
I'll leave that up to staff before we vote on the motion on the floor.
Can I make a suggestion?
Sure.
I would suggest we remove the item and we can bring it back for those particular questions
that were brought up during the presentation.
We'll put it as an update in the memo if the committee is okay with that.
So amend that one.
Okay.
And then I also, well, I hadn't brought anything up to folks on, about Evers, but I do want
to, I think we do need to have additional discussion about some that.
So again, I would take recommendation from staff, whether that is a separate item or
whether that's pulled that one as well.
We can leave that item on if you have additional discussion that needs to be added.
I'm going to ask the motioner for a friendly amendment to remove buses and remove Evers,
but keep the rest of your motion.
That's fine.
Is that okay with you?
And do you continue to second that?
All right.
So we have a motion to keep all the yeses except for buses and Evers all in favor.
Aye.
Our vice chair is also an aye, so that's four zero.
And now additional items to add to the matrix.
And like I said, I listed some of them.
What I heard in our conversation was transit 2.0 reporting, bus stop reporting, bus fares.
I heard about specifications and feedback on idle street conditions, parkside crosswalks,
Evers parking and buses, that's what I made note of.
Do we need a real time update on Bonnie Bray as it progresses?
Is that necessary?
So we provide those updates quarterly as part of the quarterly construction report.
If you're okay with that, we can continue quarterly for Bonnie Bray three and six.
That's just such a vital project and it's a forever project it seems, but that's fine.
Okay.
It's longer than Robinwood, isn't it Seth?
Almost.
Wow.
I won't take that one personal.
That's so mean.
I took some hate on Robinwood this morning, by the way.
We're almost done.
Yeah.
We're almost there.
Are there other things that you want to bring to the matrix or if you don't want any of
the things that I said earlier?
I have a few.
Go ahead.
Could we discuss based on the report and based off of the memo about Strode's that Farhan
provided and the additional information that he provided, could we discuss adopting essentially
a Complete Streets policy with intention to then bring that
to council?
Cassie or Steph, I thought Complete Streets was our policy.
Yes.
It is already our policy as part of the mobility plan.
It is.
Okay.
I'm just wondering some of the more specific things that were outlined.
I'm wondering if those need to be, I don't know, made more in stone or more in like this
is now required or these are the things that, but if you say it's already in the mobility
plan that's already been, okay.
In the report, there is a section about parking, whether we change some of our parking policies
as well as the use of the monitors around the square.
Is that something that we need to add to the agenda in order to discuss further and if
we're ready to move forward with that plan?
We do have the citywide parking study that's being conducted.
The downtown parking study was conducted first as part of the design downtown master plan
initiative and so we are conducting a citywide parking study that will come back to this
committee with its overall recommendations that you can see it's number one on the future
items list and so we will have that coming back to the committee already when it's complete.
It's not complete yet.
You still have the floor.
Yeah, I know.
I'm sorry.
It was a lot to look through and I'm trying to think back if there's anything else in
it.
I can't think of anything else right now.
Staff is very good.
To come back next time.
We're going to meet again in a month ish, I think, no, September 24th.
So we can all digest this large transportation services report and staff is really good about
letting us stick things on the matrix.
So I think there's an opportunity and if you have concerns beforehand, I would say in this
case reach out to Cassie or Scott as our point of contact representatives and they can preemptively
get things on the matrix as needed.
Okay.
Great.
Okay.
So anything else while we're thinking about while we're in the matrix, I'm not no.
Yes.
No.
Okay.
Then we'll go on to we'll close that we'll go on to item three concluding items any concluding
items please.
I feel it's such a big breath you made to feel it's incumbent upon me to thank the committee
for their support of my removing the back end parking on East Hickory Street.
I voted in council to not support that because of the overwhelming cost of that.
I still think it's a good project.
But in light of in light of the economic situation, I just didn't think that this was the right
time and I wanted to explain why I why I did not support my own motion.
Thank you.
I think I probably came to a similar conclusion after after we talked about it.
I had to hold my nose, but that's that's what I felt.
I felt that was the right thing to do under the circumstances of other concluding items.
We sort of did some with the I didn't.
I know you all had council or commissioners.
I'm trying to elect you to a position I didn't get to greet her last time I did that at the
opening Commissioner Ziegel and then we praised staff on the transit report.
Any other comments before we close out the meeting?
I will say that as I said earlier, the next meeting is September 24.
I think everyone I believe has indicated they will be around but staff will certainly update
us if there's any changes to that any issues with quorum or anything they're really good
about that.
So with that at 1135 I will close out the meeting.