Title
Approve Meeting Minutes - January 24, 2018 (Action)
Body
Transportation Commission
Date of Meeting (03/28/2018)
Item #4B
(ACTION)
Approve Meeting Minutes - January 24, 2018
DRAFT MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
CITY OF ALAMEDA TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2018
Chair Bellows convened the meeting at 7:00pm.
1. ROLL CALL
Present: Chair Bellows, Vice-Chair Vargas, Commissioners Bertken, Soules.
Absent: Commissioners Hans, Miley, Palmer.
2. AGENDA CHANGES
*None*
3. ANNOUNCEMENTS/PUBLIC COMMENT
Jim Strehlow thanked Public Works for keeping on top of the leaves in the streets. He asked what the detour signs near Otis and Fernside were for. He said a flashing crosswalk is needed at Harvard and Fernside.
Staff Member Payne said there would be some night time closures of the Bay Farm Bridge to do maintenance work and the announcements are on the website. She said residents could use SeeClickFix to request traffic calming efforts. She said the city hired a new engineer, Robert Vance, to work on the city’s traffic calming and capital improvement plans.
Staff Member Vance introduced himself to the commission.
3A Transportation Commission Meeting: Wednesday, March 28, 2018 at 7:00 p.m.
3B 2018-5117
Upcoming Grant-Funded Bicycle Safety Education Classes: February 12 and February 28, 2018
The flyers can be found at: <https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3309108&GUID=6599A16A-CAAF-4DAC-8696-E1A464857057>
4. CONSENT CALENDAR
4A 2018-5118
Approve Meeting Minutes - November 15, 2017 (Action)
Vice-Chair Vargas noted that he was absent from the November meeting.
Chair Bellows said that we did not have a quorum to approve the minutes and would have to wait until the next meeting to approve them.
5. NEW BUSINESS
5A 2018-5123
Approve the City of Alameda Transportation Program Plan for Seniors and People with Disabilities for Fiscal Year 2018/2019 (Action)
Victoria Williams, Paratransit Coordinator, gave a presentation. The staff report and attachment can be found at: <https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3312459&GUID=A99E4217-6663-4E87-B5F6-D4FD20FD2A63&FullText=1>
Chair Bellows asked if the Measure BB funding will continue and be able to sustain the program into the future.
Staff Member Williams said she thinks they will be able to continue to provide their services, noting that the large capital expenditures would not be necessary in the future.
Commissioner Soules asked how many stops are co-located with AC Transit stops.
Staff Member Williams said about ten stops were co-located.
Commissioner Soules suggested getting the service added to the transit feature of Google Maps, which could help ridership.
Chair Bellows opened the public hearing.
Pat Potter, CASA and Bike Walk Alameda, asked if tricycles had been considered by the program to provide for seniors who would like to get outdoors.
Commissioner Vargas asked how the Cross Alameda Trail would help the program.
Staff Member Williams said it would help provide options for seniors to safely get places and get exercise, and said it connects some shuttle stops.
Staff Member Payne said the separate trails and mid-block crossing near Independence Plaza would be assisted by this funding.
Commissioner Vargas said that the connection may need a little more explanation to justify that connection. He asked why there was a planned drop in the outreach cost.
Staff Member Payne said that they are doing the big push for outreach now and that by next year will be able to reduce that number.
Commissioner Bertken asked if the vouchers were still available.
Staff Member Johnson said the vouchers are still available and the price has been further reduced.
Commissioner Vargas made a motion to approve the staff recommendation. Commissioner Soules seconded the motion. The motion passed 4-0.
5B 2018-5124
Discuss Repairing Alameda’s Aging Infrastructure (Information)
Staff Member Ott gave a presentation. The staff report and attachments can be found at: <https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3312460&GUID=7A7A901C-CDB0-4E4A-A924-206B55E63DB7&FullText=1>
Commissioner Soules asked how the data would be aggregated.
Staff Member Ott said this qualitative survey is following up on the annual community survey quantitative work.
Commissioner Soules asked how they were ensuring feedback from the broader community and not just those that have time to seek out the survey.
Staff Member Ott listed some of the stakeholder and community groups that they have been reaching out to hear from all segments of the community.
Commissioner Soules said she would like to see the entire list of groups that were reached out to on the city’s social media feeds. She said that the disaster preparedness information on the website needs updating and could be a focus of the efforts. She said we are trying to focus on people who need and want to use transit services and get rid of their cars, which means we need emergency plans for those populations.
Staff Member Payne said she recently took the CERT class, which helps community members understand what the emergency response plan would be.
Commissioner Vargas asked if a chart could be developed to show the percentages of funds needed in different areas to help identify alternative sources of funding.
Staff Member Ott said that they are developing some of that information internally and would pass the feedback on to share that data more widely.
Commissioner Vargas asked how much response there has been and if there is metadata available.
Staff Member Ott said they are doing scientific surveys, but she does not have that data available at the moment.
5C 2018-5125
Approve Proposed Transportation Program and Fees for Alameda Point Existing Businesses Consistent with the Alameda Point Transportation Demand Management Plan (Action)
Staff Member Ott gave a presentation. The staff report and attachments can be found at: <https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3312471&GUID=7543762B-FDF1-4D12-8B68-5285AC40CAC2&FullText=1>
Chair Bellows opened the public hearing.
Jim Strehlow said there is no TDM solution for certain types of businesses and taxing them based on square footage would not be fair. He said he would understand if it were an infrastructure tax instead of trying to just get people out of their cars. He said it is unfair to people who have storage units at Alameda Point.
J.P. Frary said he hopes his employees will use the EasyPasses. He said they were a little concerned about the administrative costs and the responsiveness of some of the TMA board members. He suggested charging for parking at the ferries to support transportation in Alameda. He says ten people in his building would use the bicycle incentive.
Staff Member Ott said they are close to going public with a strategy for Main St. parking plans. She explained the bylaws of the TMA determine who sits on the board. She explained who was on the board and why they were chosen. She said they did their best to pick people that represented the different interests on the base and terms are up every three years. She explained the process they went through to come up with appropriate fees based on different land uses.
Commissioner Vargas asked if a renter of a storage unit would see any fees.
Staff Member Ott said that the owner of the property would receive the invoice.
Commissioner Soules asked what the routine engagement would be for the TMA.
Staff Member Ott said they would have immediate issues to come before the commission for input on. She said they could invite the board members to future commission meetings.
Commissioner Vargas suggested adjusting TMA fees for employers who hire locally.
Staff Member Ott said they could look at that. She said they often see employers come here first, then their employees move to the island.
Commissioner Bertken made a motion to approve the staff recommendation. Commissioner Vargas seconded the motion. The motion passed 4-0.
6. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6A 2018-5126
Review Quarterly Report on Activities Related to Transportation Policies and Plans (Information)
Staff Member Payne gave the staff report. The staff report can be found at: <https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3312486&GUID=BCBAF319-4C77-42AB-9444-0BEF5BC07731&FullText=1>
6B Potential Future Meeting Agenda Items
1. Line 96 Route Adjustments
2. One-Way Carshare
3. 2014 Parking Occupancy Goal Update
4. Traffic Calming Draft Policy and Prioritized List
5. Approve Alameda Transportation Demand Management Annual Report
7. ANNOUNCEMENTS/PUBLIC COMMENT
*None*
8. ADJOURNMENT
Chair Bellows adjourned the meeting at 8:30pm.