- This meeting will come to order with the wrapping of the commemorative Scott Robinson gavel. This is
- a meeting of the Transportation Commission for September 2025. Can we please have a call of the roll?
- Copic here Stramitis Volin here Flaherty here Davis Stossburg here
- We have a quorum and I note that Shelly's tremendous is here for John Connell on behalf of Bloomington
- Transit Just to review the agenda We're going to have approval of minutes reports and communications
- from commissioners several reports from staff including an update on 190 day orders on the City Commission
- parking study on the quick build project at 12th of Monroe and the 2026 proposed budget update and
- We'll also hear four cases, a TCR 2505 parking on North Illinois Street, TCR 2506 parking on West 8th
- Street from Maple to Rogers, TCP 2507, a 2025 resident-led traffic calming program on West 11th Street
- between Monroe and Maple, and TCR 2508, Hopewell West and related code updates. We'll then have discussion
- of topics not on the docket, general public comment on items not on the docket,
- adjournment Let's move now to approval of minutes We need a motion for approval of the minutes of July
- 21st the previous meeting a Motion to approve the minutes. Is there a second second? We have a motion
- a second. Are there any? Corrections comments or to other fixes to the minutes to my right
- Mr. Flaherty Yes, only briefly just a question an opinion I guess with respect to narrative minutes
- and if those are particularly owners for staff, I don't know if I Personally feel like they're necessary
- I don't this is something that you could also ask the the city clerk about but I don't think generally
- We're required to produce full narrative minutes, especially when there are video, you know videos of
- the meeting and that kind of thing and so
- more of like by way of summary and You know actions taken that kind of thing might be suitable just
- for consideration Is that a question directed to staff or just a comment in general? Just opinion and
- a comment Thanks Does staff have any care to respond? I Recognized that the meetings minutes were extensive
- and that was not possible
- done purposefully it was I Started with a program of would someone know that this is in the packet.
- Oh, this is not in the packet I should write it down to some degree. I did try to be brief, but there
- were some questions that folks asked That I felt I might want to be able to search for one day, but
- it is my prerogative to try to be more brief Mr. Flair. Yeah, just briefly that
- I don't have like a strong preference that we do one way or the other just noting that I have comfort
- with Like I think there is value in in the more extensive and thorough Set of minutes to assist trade-offs.
- So I'm just noting that I don't have I don't I don't see that as like a strict requirement By any means
- and just my opinion as one commissioner Other comments to my right to my left and
- Will add to mr. Flaherty's comment. I thought the minutes were great and very thorough a Couple of amendments
- like to make first of all The first sentence says the first meeting was held and it was a copy of the
- meeting from the actual first minutes this was the second meeting and
- So that should be changed accordingly. I don't know what you need to number every meeting from now on,
- but just I would fix that. I'd also ask that the time of adjournment be included at the end of the minutes.
- And as for other changes, I have some thoughts about formatting to make it more optimal. I would say
- that one of the benefits of narrative minutes, however long, is
- Allowing people to quickly get the gist of what was discussed and if they want to they can use it as
- a supplement to a video To help them reference what was talked about One other thing I might suggest
- might be noting the time that An item listed on the agenda was started that also helps people find there
- because most videos don't get bookmarked the way that the PDF
- Packet does so but I'm happy to sit with staff and talk about ways that we can tweak the minutes format
- so that it's more practical, but I do prefer airing on the side of completeness it's just a matter of
- how to reference it and I want to note also that in addition to the the packet or the minutes being
- thorough the packet and
- very thorough and Bookmarks in the PDF very much appreciated. So thank you for that Without if there's
- no other corrections to the minutes. I just wanted to correct the second meeting and the time of adjournment
- All in favor of approving the minutes as proposed please signify by saying aye aye Opposed say nay All
- right, these minutes are approved
- Let's move on now to reports from commissioners. Is there any report from a commissioner on my right?
- I wanna encourage you to report on anything if you have it. To my right. Okay. Let me make a brief report.
- We are still in the process of inventing a commission from scratch. This is our third meeting and our
- second one with any stuff on the agenda.
- We are still working on our procedures So and we're taking over from three different commissions that
- had different ways of doing things I'm gonna once again exhort my colleagues to ask questions no matter
- how rudimentary We still are trying to figure out how this commission works I know that the bylaws are
- on the website, but they're the initial ones adopted at our first meeting in June and not the ones that we
- Approved in July. So hope that those will be corrected soon And I just want to say so generally to the
- public sorry that we didn't have coverage at our Previous meeting and it because cats couldn't be here.
- So there was a limited visibility for anyone
- The only thing you could see that meeting was the day is because we didn't have the benefit of camera
- operators So I'm glad they're here now should make the meetings easier to watch But it shows how important
- The own presence of cats is for the public to be able to take part from afar and to understand what's
- happening here If there are no other reports from commissioners Let's go to staff. Let's start with
- an update on 180 day orders Andrew Seabor director of engineering Hello
- City engineer just wanted to continue the trend as as or if there are new 180 day orders that we keep
- this commission updated Since our last meeting to there's been action on two orders one was the essentially
- renewal or extension of a prior order that was nearing Expiration that was regarding for always stop
- intersections on 7th Street so just extending that another 180 days and
- And then a new 180-day order regarding action that you took at your last meeting regarding stop signs
- on two intersections of 13th Street at the Woodlawn and Indiana intersection. So I just heard from this
- commission and then also just wanted to implement those changes before students were here to reduce
- changes to the population. So it's just what they are accustomed to when they arrived. Happy to answer
- any questions you have on these orders. Okay, are there any questions for Mr. Seabor?
- 180 D orders to my right To my left I do wanted to ask I wanted to ask how many orders are currently
- in force right now The most recent one I issued was 25-08 so I believe eight So How I mean do you have
- a what's a record number of 180 the orders you've had I
- Calendar year I'd have to go through but my gut is eight is on the very high side Is there a complete
- list of 180 orders available somewhere there are I guess if you went between this meetings packet and
- our last meetings packet they should all be Of the current ones in those packets. Okay, that's helpful
- Can we also make that available as a web page or is it you know, are those online? They are the packets
- are online
- Okay, but you don't you don't put up a hundred day order as a web page as a matter of course No, I don't
- think it's people something I've heard people asking for from the public But it is something we could
- entertain if we feel there's a need to put that Out there. I would definitely like to see that I'll
- put my two cents in yes I'd like to see it would be a simple thing to upload the order as a Separate
- web page. You can find it as a URL separate from
- Any packet having to go digging so and if we can connect it to the Transportation Commission site, I
- think that would be useful We'll think about that in and follow up with you on that idea. Okay, I'm
- gonna keep asking till you do it. So that's fair Also, can you include the date of issuance of the order?
- in references to it from now on as well as the date that it takes effect and
- Because you you refer to it in the narrative But it'd be nice if those two items like when was it issued
- and when did it take effect? And we know that we can add 180 days. I I can they are on the subsequent
- pages actually lists when they are issued and when they're in effect for but if it needs to be added
- in another spot I'm just like in the title or in any listing of it just so people can see when it was
- issued. Okay Any other mr. Flaherty Yes, thank you
- The memo at the top notes that the practice has been to submit changes to the City Council
- for the consideration as an ordinance that modifies applicable section of Bloomington Municipal Code
- I'm sure you recall Sometime in the last year corporate Corporation Council Rice was opining that in
- fact the City Council has no role to play legally in a lot of infrastructure things including stop signs and
- And others and I never I don't think we've reached a resolution on that point necessarily if this is
- better deferred for Someone else to answer or for a future meeting. That's perfectly appropriate. I'm
- just curious if there are any updates by way of the administration's legal position, I guess on Whether
- or not these types of things will be coming to council at all whether or not we are seeking a different
- type of code overhaul that would remove them from city code and leave it purely in the kind of administrative
- Responsibilities of the city engineer any updates on that front. No that great question I don't think
- there are any significant updates to that. I think the City Corporation Council's opinions are out there
- That being said it is somewhat unresolved on how things will move forward in the grand scheme If this
- Commission would like we can certainly reach out to the legal department to see if they are able to
- come to a future meeting and that be a topic on the agenda But that that's a possibility
- Thank you Thank you. Yeah, we'll entertain that Let's move on now to one more question. Mr. Flaherty.
- Sorry one more on the on 7th Street specifically Are we tracklet tracking and cycling volumes? Is that
- something we're still tracking on 7th Street with respect to the 7 line, you know, I have to double-check but we do
- Have a permanent bicycle counter on 7th Street, but I want to say I don't know the status because it
- did have a malfunction Several months ago, and I'm not sure if that's been resolved. So I don't know
- if we're actively getting data Currently, but we can always do short-term data points, but we don't
- have anything right now But I'll look into the status of that permanent counter. Yeah, if you wouldn't
- mind letting us know Yeah, if it's being resolved or not, I'd be curious of
- If there's been an impact at all on a usership. Yeah, absolutely Further comments on this item or questions
- Seeing none. Thank you. Mr. Seabour. We will move on now to an update on the City Commission parking
- study who is here to present on this Is while welcome
- Very distant, which one which one are you? Hello. Thanks for waving All right, well, please go ahead I
- I will introduce them now. The first one is John and Mark, and the second one is Lauren all around.
- If anyone wanna go ahead and take over, unmute, and go on camera, they're going to be providing you
- with an update of the parking rate study that was started in March of this year. John and Lauren, are
- you there? Yes, yes, yes.
- I tried to undo my camera, but I can't share it. So you can't see me, but that's okay. Okay. I'm going
- to share my screen. I'm going to leave it to them. Thank you. Can you guys see my screen? Okay. Okay.
- Thank you. I'm Lauren Algram with Walker Consultants. I will jump right in. For some of the tasks that
- we have completed, we have done a 32 question survey in collaboration with Bloomington Parking Services.
- We did receive about 1,500 responses
- and had 483 open comments. Additionally, we've held multiple stakeholder engagement sessions with 19
- participants. We've also done a benchmarking analysis of five peer cities, as well as IU Bloomington.
- We did select the cities based on population, region, and
- proximity to a university. We've also done various site visits in spring, summer, as well as IU's move-in
- week. We've observed the various parking facilities operations as well as utilization and had meetings
- with parking services staff and the city clerk's office.
- We did ask survey respondents to choose the option that they best identified with. You can see we got
- a lot of other responses. Many of those were Bloomington residents. They just did not identify as a
- downtown resident as well as Monroe County residents.
- Some of the comments we received on the survey was that people felt that enforcement hours should be
- reduced and that parking should be free on the evenings and weekends. People also really like the coin
- option for paying for the meters and do not want to see that be taken away. And they feel that there
- should be designated loading zones for the delivery drivers.
- More than 77 percent of the respondents stated that they visited downtown at least once a week for dining
- and retail purposes. Most respondents reported being in downtown Bloomington for one to two hours. Ninety-six
- percent of downtown Bloomington visitors utilize their private vehicle.
- And people mostly try to park on street at the meters and they pay for parking through all the various
- methods credit card coins and park mobile that question did allow for respondents to choose multiple answers.
- For the user experience, 35% of respondents felt that their experience and time to find a space was
- good to excellent for on-street parking. For the city garages, that went up to 45%. We felt it's really
- important to note that 28% of respondents do not utilize the city-owned garages. Many people reported
- that they didn't know that the city-owned parking garages
- and they did not know that the city garages were cheaper than on-street. John will talk about some of
- the stakeholder findings. Sure. Thank you, Lauren. These are the in-person meetings that we had with
- stakeholders, just summarizing the comments that were brought up. One, it was a common theme that everyone
- acknowledged and
- the importance of parking, public parking on the businesses. If there was a lack of accessible short-term
- parking, it would be impactful on the customers. Some of the comments we heard were that ticketing,
- the citation issuing, some people thought it was aggressive and they felt like if that could be a negative
- experience to someone that's visiting,
- they would not likely want to come back because of that. We did hear examples of that at some of the
- meetings. It was also expressed that businesses are generally under some strain. Over the next five
- years, there's some turnover, the potential turnover that was expressed and they felt like parking could
- be a contributing factor to these businesses if they don't stay.
- Um, and then just finally, uh, just kind of the, sorry, the, the, um, just some concerns about enforcement
- and, and policies regarding rates and the benefit to the, uh, to the community. And some of the perceptions
- we are, we kind of looked at that and said, okay, they were about profit. It's about making money, it's fines.
- Parking is kind of a hassle, maybe confusing. And then kind of across the board, I use academic calendar.
- That is definitely a factor. And I think that kind of sums those perceptions. Get the next slide. Okay,
- here we go.
- Um, and I think the, you know, some of the comments about policy enforcement, again, this, this picked
- up on the, uh, how Bloomington may be different because the community, uh, with the, with the college
- campus, the flexibility and in times, uh, and that aggressive enforcement, some people commented more
- than one person commented about getting more than one citation a day. That was, that was definitely
- perceived as negative. Um, and,
- They've looked at the enforcement times. They thought they should be reconsidered. They felt they were
- longer than they needed to maybe end at five or six instead of I think nine o'clock off the top of my
- head. And then that overall transparency. So they wanted more information to be public facing. And then
- as far as the infrastructure goes, we did hear some,
- some messages were about the mobile app. The park mobile app was maybe inconvenient or inaccessible
- to maybe older citizens or lower income residents. We heard that. Um, and then a lot of times they might,
- they indicated the meters don't always work. That was seemed to be frustrating. They're the single space
- meters that they're, they're definitely getting, uh, they've been around
- since it was restarted, so their age is a factor. The garages, we heard that, hey, some people would
- say, oh, we didn't even know that were garages. We already heard that in the survey. But maybe the signage,
- maybe some concern of safety and unawareness of the cost. So the $0.50 an hour, that was not something
- people were aware of. And then they talked about, we heard about the bike removal,
- the parking for bike lanes on 7th Street that that was, didn't go over well. People weren't happy about
- that. Okay. And then some of their ideas were maybe to have some free period. They talked about 15 to
- 30 minutes or maybe a little longer. So some free period of parking, they talked about
- Maybe some in the summertime when IU students aren't in session actively to have some different rates,
- lower rates, and maybe some kind of promotions, improving garage signage, and kind of mention maybe
- a circulator to maybe improve circulation within the downtown. And then again, that data and making
- that publicly available.
- Thank you, John. I will review some of the findings from the benchmarking analysis. So the cities included
- Ames, Iowa, Lawrence, Kansas, West Lafayette, Indiana, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Iowa City, Iowa. Bloomington
- is the hashed lines on the graph. So population and enrollment is similar to these comparison cities.
- Similarly the number of parking spaces Ann Arbor is a larger city they do have significantly more garage
- spaces but otherwise Bloomington falls in line with the other cities.
- Here are the enforcement hours. You can see Bloomington at the top in red has longer enforcement hours
- than any of the other cities and just a couple hours shorter than IU Bloomington. The garage hourly
- stay for average length of stay being two hours. Bloomington is lower than any of the piers.
- The exception of Ames, Iowa is they do not have any garage spaces. Similarly, the off-street hourly
- rate, Bloomington is lower. Again, with the exception of Iowa City, they do offer the first hour of
- parking free and then it goes to $2 an hour. The off-street daily max,
- Bloomington is higher than Lawrence and Ames, but lower than Ann Arbor and Iowa City for off-street
- parking. If you were to park during the entire time of enforcement hours when a city requires parking,
- Some cities do have a daily maximum. If you stay to a certain period of time, they wouldn't charge you
- past that max. Or monthly garage rates. City of Bloomington does offer various monthly permits depending
- on if you want to reserve space or not.
- So you can see how they compare to these other cities. Again, Ames doesn't have any garage spaces, so
- Bloomington has higher monthly rates than Lawrence, Kansas and West Lafayette, or sorry, higher rates
- than those cities and then lower than Iowa City and Ann Arbor.
- The monthly rates for surface lots, Bloomington only offers these monthly permits in lot five. West
- Lafayette does not offer surface lot permits and you can see how the rates compare to the various cities.
- Bloomington is a little bit higher than some and a little bit lower than others.
- Or the on-street hourly rates, the dollar an hour. That's the same rates as Ames, Lawrence, and West
- Lafayette, but is lower than Ann Arbor, Iowa City, and IU Bloomington. Citation fees for an expired
- meter. Bloomington does have the highest citation fee.
- Iowa City does offer a warning for your first violation and then has an escalated fee scale where the
- more violations someone has, the higher the ticket price goes up. Our tasks in progress, we are almost
- complete with the policy review, which includes looking at Title 15, comparing
- Title 15 to these peer cities municipal codes, finding the best practices and that will allow us to
- form our recommendations. We are working on a financial review to look at the parking services, revenues,
- and expenses to identify areas of improvement and see where there's opportunities to enhance revenue
- generation.
- and providing cost estimates to implement the changes that we do recommend. Additionally, we're working
- through an operations review for the various parking facilities, including the surface lots, garages
- and on-street. We are reviewing the existing parking equipment and looking at the alternatives as the
- parking meters are nearing the end of their useful life.
- and doing an overall general operations review of the parking services department. And looking ahead,
- we will complete the in-progress tasks this month. Next month, we will submit our recommendations, our
- implementation plan and review the findings, and we'll finalize the report before the end of this year.
- Thank you.
- Report Yes All right, are there any comments or questions from commission members, I know I have some
- Councilmember Flaherty sure first just could presentation slides be made available I suppose online
- as well as sent to commissioners. That'd be helpful a second question just about the and thank you for
- the presentation
- What happens after the report's submitted? Will it be presented to this body as well? Will there be
- some type of endorsement or approval sought? Will there be opportunities for feedback and potential
- rounds of edits? What's anticipated following completion of the work underway? Yeah, I can take that.
- I mean, it's issued as a draft, and then the process with the city, that's up to the city. We'll issue
- it to Michelle Wall,
- at the parking, that's who we report our findings to. And then that process is kind of, that's how it
- gets reviewed, that's an internal process. But I would anticipate typically, we would have meetings
- and discuss it, and certainly address questions that will come up. I guess, thank you, and I guess to clarify,
- If staff want to weigh in on any of the questions I'm asking, if they are in a better position to answer
- the question, please feel free. Yeah. Hi, this is Michelle again. Yeah, what will happen is this is
- just like an interim report. And so once they give me more information with the financial on all the
- other reviews that they're doing with our organization, then we will come back and update you. Absolutely.
- I'm sorry. Can you clarify by internal report? Like will we see the final report and get a presentation
- on it? Well that what's that? I'm sorry. I didn't hear Yes, okay. Thank you Questions other questions
- from members Let me ask a couple first of all With respect to what mr. Flaherty just asked Can this
- commission expect to have literal?
- Input before the report is finalized or are you saying that this is a report of the parking services
- department? As well Yes, so what will happen is this is an interim report once we get the next report
- we will come to Come to you guys again Let you ask questions
- And then, of course, there will be a review period that we will come to you before and discuss all these
- concerns, if there's any concerns or issues, and then finally, if we agree on the recommendations, we'll
- go to council. So you're saying that there will in fact be an opportunity for this body to have meaningful
- input and make meaningful changes to the report before it goes to the council?
- meaningful input I don't know about. It depends on what the changes you're requesting. Well, that remains
- to be seen, I suppose. Correct. All right. Well, let's talk also about the individual stakeholders that
- were consulted on this. You had a meeting on March 24th. Can you describe the individual stakeholders?
- Can you characterize them at all?
- Is there a list of the people you consulted? There is a list and it was all department heads and directors.
- And clerks from the appeals office and I can supply you with the list. That's not an issue. Yes,
- in fact, in addition to that list. I'd also like to ask that those slides be sent as soon as possible
- to already online Steve.
- They're under the webpage, our webpage under the parking review. What's that? Okay, very good,
- thank you. You're welcome. Sorry? You're welcome. Okay. Does this commission count as a stakeholder?
- Just to clarify.
- Yeah, hey, Mr. Bowlin, Adam Ways and Public Works Director. I'm sorry, I couldn't be there in person
- tonight at a high school athletic obligation for my daughter, but can you hear me okay? I'm going over
- right now. Yes. Yeah, perfect. Hey, so yes, the Transportation Commission is absolutely a stakeholder.
- It's why we came here tonight to give an interim update. We knew we had made some meaningful progress
- on data collection, on peer community review,
- and then wanted to let you all know what those next steps that Lauren outlined were as far as these
- next phases. So we'll issue out any of the information up to this point. We do expect that you'll have
- meaningful input and such. This is gonna make some big recommendations on technology uses,
- on rate structures, on things like that.
- Not everyone's going to agree on what is probably going to be presented as final information, but we
- certainly value the Transportation Commission. Their input and you know, over these next 30 to 4560
- days is a real big period of time where.
- a lot of this information is going to come to light on the operations study on the financial impacts
- of the financial review of the recommendations on different technologies and payment options and all
- those different sorts of things. So we'll plan to come back probably not at your next meeting because
- that agenda looks pretty full but then probably maybe in the November meeting and in the meantime be
- sharing out the information that Walker is
- able to so that you have the ability to start reviewing that and thinking about what input you want
- to provide. I appreciate that context. I will point out that this body in its first two meetings has
- Conceived for having three different types of items before it petitions resolutions and what planning
- staff is called transportation inquiries or what we've together named and This seems to fall into that
- third category and we're still talking about how to conduct a meeting to hear it But effectively it's
- like a steering committee meeting or a if you recall the old committees of the whole I think that such a meeting
- We would be more than happy to schedule a special meeting to address this because the topic is so big.
- So if it would be amenable to us creating a meeting just to talk about this issue, I think it would
- be in order. How do you feel about that? We certainly will take that under consideration, try to get
- it scheduled soon.
- We'll look at all the schedules and where we're at with the information from Walker and their next steps
- and how far along they are and try to figure out the best time to make something like that happen Well,
- we also have to schedule ourselves as well. So I hope that we'll do that in consultation with each other
- That's what I mean. That's exactly what I mean. Great. All right. Thank you One last question for Walker
- I noted that you had charts with the five peer cities that all had major universities. You also listed
- IU Bloomington data. Did you study the data of the universities in those cities as well? It seems incongruous
- to include IU if you don't also include the universities of the peer cities as well. Do you have that
- data? No, we were looking at peer cities.
- And then we were asked to include IU because it's right there on the campus. So we went ahead and did
- that. We did not specifically go into details of each of the universities, only the, only the, we were
- really focused on municipalities. That was the intent, but we were asked to go ahead and include the
- IU campus since it's right here. Cause that would, oh, we knew that would come like a question because
- it's right, right here in the same area.
- and it's a missed opportunity, can we expand their remit slightly to have them go back and check the
- status of the universities so that we can? I'm not sure that we'll be able to change the contract terms
- and things like that to do that right now. We can talk with Walker, see what data points they collected
- from IU and see if the information's readily available and see where it goes, but I can't commit to
- anything right now in terms of changing the project scope without really digging deeper on what that means.
- Okay, are there any other questions from members before we move on Mr. Coppock Is there is that broken
- down into times of day and is that gonna be data that's available to us And when you say times a day
- as far as the question goes I'm sorry like how much money do you bring in from?
- seven o'clock to nine o'clock at night, say. Was that data that will be available? Like for each of
- the peer cities? Just by Bloomington's. Oh, well, we're not necessarily doing a financial analysis.
- This was, those comparisons were really just to focus in on how that rate compares. So again, we're not,
- We're not necessarily doing a financial analysis, so that was not directly part of the scope. Rick,
- this is Adam again. Mr. Coppock, we can definitely pull information from our own system and provide
- that out, though, on how much the meters bring in different times of days and such. We can definitely
- extrapolate that information. Thank you. We can make that part of a
- the conversation at the special meeting we convene further questions from commissioners One
- more councilmember Flaherty, thank you It sounds like I mean this is there were things in the slides
- and in the presentation indicating I mean essentially this is a set of policy recommendations That will
- be coming from this so there was mention of identifying best practices making recommendations and
- Implicitly all of those things are underpinned by a set of value choices and I'm wondering where Specifically
- those values if at all if those values are articulated our goals are articulated for what we're trying
- to achieve with any policy changes I'm certainly familiar with the comprehensive plan and other You
- know formal policy documents that define some of those things but often we need to go further the the
- now defunct parking commission did have a
- Policy framework that it adopted and used for a number of years as well. For example So yeah, just curious
- a little bit more for a little bit more either from staff or the consultants are both about How we're
- making those recommendations, I mean they don't They all follow from some value framework. What are
- we trying to optimize for? Etc. So could someone please speak a little bit more to that? Thank you. I
- Yeah I'll jump in here just to start and ask that Walker or Michelle and her team but yeah we can certainly
- try to provide that framework of what we're trying to do here generally but I think it's to have an
- efficient parking system that values all users and does it at a fair cost and tries to do it equitably
- and all those things you know we can certainly make sure that that's part of a set of
- how we frame where we come with these recommendations from, you know, we want to look at all the different
- users and user types and try to balance that with the different needs of all the users. And so, yes,
- we can certainly try to articulate that more formally as part of our reporting back and the conversations
- with the Transportation Commission, even in those one in those, you know, stakeholder meetings we'll
- have with you all.
- Thank you and maybe for Walker and are you all familiar with all the formal policy statements of the
- city of Bloomington with respect to parking policy like are those things you have in hand to help inform
- your review of best practices and recommend any any policy recommendations Yeah, I think I think part
- of what we know we've done is we have definitely reviewed, you know the code we've reviewed previous
- reports and
- I think some of the recommendations that we have kind of evolved around, let's make sure that that value
- is documented and a clear statement. I think the findings that from the stakeholders that input that
- a lot of the things we heard and in the survey too, we heard what people understood and how they use
- the system, what they appreciated, what they liked. So we gained knowledge that way. And that then some
- of the things that we heard
- were didn't necessarily line up with what we thought we would say, hey, these are not issues. So the
- comments that when we got in the stakeholder meetings about being aggressive, meaning the technology
- doesn't work, that doesn't necessarily surprising because the age of the equipment. I will say, I do
- personally, I focus on technology at Walker.
- The equipment in the garages is the useful life for that line of equipment is ending, I think in 2027
- is when the support ends. So there definitely needs to be a change. That's something that I don't think
- it's a surprise, but if you're not in the parking technology realm, you may just look at that equipment
- and say, oh, it looks okay to me.
- But yeah, the company that sells it is not supporting it after 2027. So we know that this is gonna be
- a change and the age of the single space meters, I followed the stories of over the years of the equipment,
- because I've been at Walker 22 years, I was involved in a study, I don't know, 2007 maybe in Bloomington.
- So I've definitely followed the story and I find it interesting
- to see how it's evolved. So those comments are very helpful and in our report, the draft report will
- definitely outline recommendations and policies in line with what we've read and understand. Thank you.
- I'd like to just point out that in the packet for the Transportation Commission are a number of items
- brought to us by staff that we'll be considering later. And each one comes with a staff report that,
- and I just want to read to you the items, the way that staff, planning and engineering staff consider
- each item is consistent with the city code that defines this commission. It calls for us to consider
- four things in order.
- They have to see if the proposed change is consistent with the comprehensive plan and other applicable
- city adopted plans That's the first item Secondly is consistent with the best practices for eliminating
- all transportation related fatalities and serious injuries within the city That's probably a lesser
- concern for parking but still a concern number three is consistent with advancing a
- a sustainable transportation system and equitable access to all transportation facility users while
- prioritizing non-automotive modes. And that precedes the final concern, which has adequately conducted
- public engagement and considered community-centric design tied to targeted outcomes. I note that this
- presentation started with public opinion about parking, which is important, but it's not the sole concern,
- and I believe that
- this order which we're here to observe and act under would be useful to Walker as they continue their
- study. We hope that the study takes into account all four of those items in that order. I see that Director
- of Engineering, Andrew Seaborg, has come to the microphone. Please go ahead.
- The way just to organize things for the Commissioner's sake and then and then I'll certainly follow
- up with with parking services that their team is prepared but With that we're when we're just doing
- staff reports. We haven't followed that outline, but when we ultimately are taking things that request
- Action or vote by this Commission. We will be following that all things in your packet so
- When this this parking study is likely to result in title 15 changes, which is certainly something that
- will require action or a recommendation from this board So that packet would have to follow that so
- I'll provide it to Walker and parking And there will certainly be more dialogue as they work to finalize
- their report and then ultimately if there are recommendations this body will definitely have that chance
- I appreciate that. I also just want to point out that it's not too soon to be asking for a
- Everyone to be thinking in this way. That's why we're here. Absolutely. I appreciate you highlighting
- that I'd also like to point Walker to the last complete study of the parking commission from 2018 which
- goes into some more detail than I've heard I might expect from this report up to an including a financial
- analysis not just of You know budgets but also of
- You know meter transactions even in 2018 2019 Cash was dropping as a use and park mobile was booming
- as a use. It's only gotten I mean, I've seen the data as all the way through 2022 and I know that that
- was a consistent trend even during the pandemic so I think that they would find it interesting and I
- recommend that they take a look at it while they're preparing their report and
- If there are no other comments on this, we can move on. Any other comments? Thank you for the presentation.
- Appreciate everyone being here. We hope to see you at a special meeting that we schedule as soon as
- it can make it community for everybody. Let's move on now to a staff report on the quick build project
- at 12th Monroe. I see Hank Duncan. Hello, my name is Hank Duncan, bicycle and pedestrian coordinator
- in planning and transportation.
- This is one of the fun projects we're working on in May of this year the Indiana Department of Health
- division of nutrition and physical activity Awarded the city of Bloomington a $10,000 grant For their
- tactical urbanism and demonstration grant to support a quick build project at the 12th in Monroe Street
- intersection This project is designed to improve safety of children walking to and from Tri-North Middle
- School the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington and other nearby destinations
- Identified as a priority corridor in the city's safe streets for all action plan The project will reduce
- pedestrian crossing distances through the installation of curb extensions Using delineated post and
- parking blocks the city street department plans to complete installation This fall in 2025 and I'm happy
- to answer any questions or comments you may have Are there any questions from mr. Duncan on my left
- is Davis? Could you explain
- little bit more about what the what curb ins what curb extensions and delineator posts and parking blocks
- Look like sure, of course actually Kindle Kenoki our project engineer has been working on the concept
- I don't know if you would like to come up and explain it a little bit more Sure thing Kendall Kenoki
- engineering department
- We have some park it parking blocks in storage that we've been trying to utilize and We first put them
- out on East 3rd Street They didn't hold up super well in that environment. Mr. Kenoki. Can you what
- is it? What is a parking block a parking block is? When you go and pull into a parking space This stops
- you from moving all the way forward your tires. That's its primary design and use they have other uses
- these are rubber parking blocks and
- So in this case, we're using a combination of rubber parking blocks and delineator posts Which you also
- see out on East 3rd Street right now about half of them been knocked down But there are they are out
- there and this basically creates a space in the roadway that used to be Allocated to vehicles that is
- now an area where pedestrians can occupy and vehicles have to slow down and go around
- So in this case, it's a quick build more of an interim setup until a more permanent concrete Bump out
- solution might happen or they can all be removed and the road can go back to what it was before so Miss
- Davis, did you have a follow-up? Further questions I Have a basic one
- Define quick build project. What does that mean? Sure, of course. So Essentially, this is any type of
- project that is not made with permanent materials not concrete So there are different versions of this
- some demonstration projects may last months three to six months quick build may last three to five years
- essentially it provides that first step of seeing what this type of project will do in terms of changing
- behavior changing safety along the street or intersection and
- So if and when we have funding for a more permanent project, we have the answer already in hand We can
- go in and do it without having to study it Wait, did you say that the quick build can last 35 years?
- Sorry, three to five years Okay, but the permanent project supposed to last only six months So demonstrate
- some demonstration projects depending on what type of material you use could last months. This could
- last years Thank you. We got it further questions
- Not thank you for the report. We appreciate it Let's move on now to the 2026 proposed budget update
- who is presenting this item. Mr. Seabor I Guess I'll introduce myself again Andrew with city engineering
- Just wanted to take this opportunity to provide the Commission an update on the city's draft budget for 2026
- Really presenting this as you review the Commission's, you know, why does it exist? It's to review all
- projects and to make recommendations about things like capital planning and program implementation So
- just thought this was important to highlight Also just for those not into the weeds this year
- the administration and City Council are working to rethink how the budget is presented it's kind of
- an interim step as we work forward to the future and
- But one of the major priority areas or buckets that the budgets being presented in is the transportation
- bucket And so roughly that part of the city's budget comprises you could see roughly 33 million dollars
- spread out between multiple departments and divisions within departments As in the pie chart that I've
- taken much more is in the City Council's budget packet materials
- And and within the transportation priority area multiple departments work together to develop a list
- of projects that are basically underway this year in 2025 and then also projects that are anticipated
- in 2026 Assuming the budget as presented was is approved. So Just wanted to provide this opportunity.
- I know this Commission. This is our third meeting just wanting to at least put out there what we're
- working on and if
- Just give an opportunity to identify projects or topics that this commission wants us to go deeper into
- I'm happy to answer any questions that you have Thank you for the report. Are there any questions from
- commissioners? Am I the only one who's going to ask questions? All right. Well, first of all, could
- we get something as simple as just a table of actual dollars and not just a percentage of things and
- You say it's $33 million roughly, you know, where is the bulk of that money going? Which projects is
- there any kind of breakdown like that? I think at least I think in the report had a link to the more
- full packet that was presented to city council so that would get a more of a table format of Specific
- dollars to departments and types of programs So so some of that is is embedded within there right now and
- And does staff have any opinion about the next budget process and to what extent? This commission will
- be involved in the setting of priorities. I Think at this point, we're just we're wanting to share this
- information and curious for for Comments and questions as we move forward That's I guess my initial
- answer I mean but you can understand why we might be interested in taking part in
- Absolutely. And ultimately the the budget and the projects that are selected from my perspective are
- Should be focused on implementing adopted plans that this commission would also be viewing. So so hopefully
- there aren't major surprises But just to make sure that's that's the direction we're going forward Okay.
- Well, I look forward to digging further into the budget packet to find the data. It's you say it's linked
- here in the packet Yeah, I think it's that where it's a page we're seeing on that blue. I think it would
- take you there. Okay, I see it great
- Any further comments or questions? Let's move on. Thank you very much. Let's now move on to cases. Let's
- start with resolution TCR 2505 parking on North Illinois Street. Is there someone who wants to introduce
- it? Good evening, everybody.
- My name is great style with the city engineering Jason who? Dries thank you Nice and close to the mic
- appreciate it this time with the city engineering department, so We received multiple Concern about
- illegal parking on the west side of Illinois Street between 12 and 15 Street and one of the main issues
- was vehicle blocking the stop and
- the bus stop, which creates problems for buses and for riders trying to board safely. And the current
- situation is on the west side. Signed no parking, but drivers still park there frequently. And on the
- east side, parking is legal, but cars often park too close to the intersection blocking sight line.
- Enforcement in the neighborhood is limited. So the current restriction are not working as Intended so
- that's why we proposed on the west side the blunt No parking signs and alone when parking except at
- the bus stop Where new no parking sign will be installed like like it's shown on the west side of Illinois
- Street in the plane there
- and on the east side we will keep parking legal but Add short no parking buffers at intersections to
- improve visibility for the traffic so and the benefits of that this will improve safety at intersections
- at the bus stop and it provides more legal parking for residents and it might also help with traffic
- calming sense and
- Cars park on both sides can visually narrow the roadway and slow the driving drivers down So and I also
- want to highlight something to the commissioners so When it comes to parking restrictions when we install
- no parking sign It requires an ordinance update this by city cool and
- So it's reflected in the city code, Title 15. But when we install or extend the yellow curve, that doesn't
- go through council and it's not COVID-19. So anyway, I will go back to that. From resident perspective,
- signs are more effective because curves can fade or covered by snow.
- by snow so while signs are visible year-round and clearly communicate the rules and this Illinois project
- Is a good example where both yellow curb and Signs will work together, but signage provides the long-term
- Clarity needed for residents and for the enforcement. I will stop here, and I'm happy to answer any
- questions may you have
- Thank you. Are there questions for this case? Mr. Midas not a question just a comment that this has
- been reported for us for a few years So I really appreciate staff looking at it if and then if this
- is not the ultimate solution I know there's a possibility for also installing some sort of bus island
- That would potentially provide more parking in the future, but I'm very happy with this as a as a solution.
- Thank you. I
- We're still on questions here. Any questions from commissioners? Mr. Flaherty yet to thank you. Thank
- you for the presentation. First is em this My assumption is this will increase the number of Legal parking
- spaces on the street or is that right? Correct and the west side there's no parking right legally currently
- but alright in practice Yes, but that's if we do that project. Maybe we'll give more spaces parking legal
- Yeah, even with the additional yellow line extensions for sight distance. Yes side Excuse me. Do you
- want me to? Why we extended on the east side. Oh, I don't think I think I understand the rationale.
- I was just confirming the net Gain of parking. The second question was just is this based on like the
- street with Does this make it function a bit more like a queuing street where you wouldn't necessarily
- be able to fit a
- Parked-car two cars passing and another parked car all at the same time Like I'm guessing is that has
- that something that has come up has been looked at so These were measured in the field by engineering
- staff so the length correspond to intersections side distance or the best clearance for from our measurement,
- so I'm pretty sure the road it's
- Will be like Can to traffic or to vehicle pass fine there? Gotcha, I'm not sure I 100% followed but
- Isn't that the definition of a queuing Street? Oh, maybe I just misunderstood. I don't maybe you someone
- could define queuing Street I Do I colloquially define killing the street as maybe we should have an
- engineer definition instead as one where it's uncomfortable potentially impossible for two cars to pass
- one another if fully parked out and so that you have to wait a moment for your oncoming neighbor to
- to pass Prior to it like like how street is one that I'm familiar with which is functions a bit like
- a queuing street Based on a relatively narrow width for instance Which is generally positive for safety
- and speeds Yeah, I think so again Andrew
- I think there is a fair likelihood that where parking exists on both sides It will feel very narrow
- and likely would function as a queuing street Given there's some back and forth on each side of the
- street and with driveways that those pinch points will be pretty narrow or limited but but ultimately
- We are supportive of having that is that people are already parking there now but also We think it's
- it has that safety benefit from a traffic calming perspective. Okay. Thank you. I
- further questions on this case Okay, I don't have any others should we go to public comment on this
- it's time for let's go open the floor to public comment on case number TCR 2505 if If you want to speak
- you must sign in before being recognized by the chair and you're limited to one three-minute term turn
- per issue and
- Direct dialogue or questions are not permitted. All remarks must remain respectful. Zoom participants
- may use the raise hand feature to be called on to speak. Is there anyone in the room who would like
- to speak to this case? Is there anyone online? No? Last call for public comment on this case.
- Seeing none, we'll come back to the commission for debate. If there's any final comment.
- This might have started weighed in on behalf of transit to anyone who has any thought to my left to
- my right Seeing none. Let's call the question on case TCR 2505, please call the roll I'll have the vice
- chair do it from now on go to just make a motion to adopt this recommendation
- Second second we have motion to second, please call the roll Bowlin yes Flaherty yes Davis. Yes Stossburg.
- Yes Copic yes Sturmitis. Yes That's adopted 6-0
- We now move on to the next item I've moved to introduce the next item TCR 2506 parking on West 8th Street
- Maple Street to Roger Street Second I Appreciate that you actually don't have to do that one But I appreciate
- well, we're gonna do it now anyway, so yeah, that's fine. Please present mr. Robling Thank You Ryan
- robing planning services manager
- Planning and Transportation Department the city received a request from the second Baptist Church Which
- is 321 North Rogers to extend the limited parking zone on West 8th Street from two hours to four hours
- You can see that here on the map. Hopefully everybody can see that. Oh, it didn't do it the way I wanted
- to So from two hours to four hours so
- This would be on the 500 and 600 blocks of West 8th Street between North Roger Street and North Fairview
- Street there again currently a two-hour on-street parking from 8 a.m. To 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
- with an exception for residents who own Hold a zone 10 residential permit and they would be able to
- mark park 24 7 regardless of the rule change so the Proposal here would change
- roughly It would sorry it would modify the two-hour limit to a four-hour limit on the north side of
- West 8th Street between Rogers and Jackson and on the south side for the entirety between North Rogers
- and Fairview we reached out to the Elementary school and have not heard comment back so we did we did
- receive that they heard our
- But haven't heard any comment one way or the other So with that we have some proposed findings
- the transportation plan identifies this portion of West 8th Street as a neighborhood residential And
- gives guidance to allow for unmarked on-street parking the comprehensive plan in currency it encourages
- the expansive use of on-street parking in the downtown in mixed urban or mixed urban residential areas
- of which this is both and
- It is consistent with the best practices for eliminating all transportation related fatalities and serious
- injuries within the city well utilized on street parking Has a traffic calming effect by creating side
- friction that narrows travel lanes as we were just kind of speaking about this portion of West 8th Street
- is approximately 34 feet wide and accounts which accounts for 20 foot travel away and seven to seven
- foot parking lanes so while this typical cross-section
- Is up for it is a typical cross-section for neighborhood resident residential streets. It is unusual
- for streets without consistent on-street parking So this change will allow for more consistent on-street
- parking as it will not have to turn over every two hours It is consistent with advancing the sustainable
- transportation system and equitable access to all transportation facility users So while on-street parking
- does not directly advance sustainable transportation
- or prioritize non-automotive modes of transportation. It does provide for safety benefits through traffic
- calming and providing buffering between travel ways and integral sidewalks, or occasionally referred
- to as monolithic sidewalks. So this will provide an additional buffer between people on the sidewalk
- and the roadway. And finally, has adequate, has this petition has adequately conducted public engagement
- and considered community-centric design tied to targeted outcomes.
- Again staff contacted Fairview Elementary, but have not heard back and then oh of note though 20 neighborhood
- resident residential permits are allotted for Fairview Elementary Employees and that's not proposed
- to change with these rules and the proposed changes will not affect portions adjacent to residential
- properties only to the commercial and Elementary school
- So with that staff recommends the Transportation Commission adopt the proposed findings and forward
- the resolution for an amendment to section 15 32 0 8 0 Related to the four-hour limit on West 8th Street
- with a positive recommendation and I can answer any questions Thanks for the presentation are there
- questions from commissioners on this case Mr. Flaherty Thank you
- I believe you just articulated some proposed findings, but if I'm not mistaken, I don't think those
- are in our packet They there was an updated packet. There was an error in the packet. If you refresh
- it, it should work now Okay, I think I did see that email go out this afternoon and I will I will do
- that now I do have a second question if that's okay which is Have we just thought about removing these
- sections of street from zone 10 neighborhood and parking zone which I
- Best of my recollection is like sort of massively undersubscribed relative to the available spaces already
- Great question. We did not in this petition. It is something we are considering long term though We
- it did spark a conversation about zone 10, but we haven't resolved that we wanted to address this one
- As the church has been waiting a bit for a while now Got it. Thank you Further questions to my right
- to my left I
- Did did you look at the? Performance of the block of West HG that has meters on it like just west just
- east of Rogers is a tiny meter zone Because that might also give you an indication of how much is used
- in the block to the west of it We did not look at that for this petition no that was there any
- Data collected like any Spot checks of how many cars were parked at a given place at a given day. Yes
- staff did go out and look for vehicles We did not it was unfortunate that it was not school year. So
- we had a handful of residential but didn't see any along the elementary school or Commercial properties
- just to be clear you saw no use of the parking at all during went out to look at it
- Yes during the two spot checks again, that was not during the school year. So I don't know how reliable
- that is long term Further questions before we go to public comment Seeing none, let's go to the public
- if you'd like to speak Please sign in you'll have three minutes
- Hello, my name is Daniel Pierce I'm not here for this topic, but I do have children who attend Fairview
- Elementary and I can say that that stretch of 8th Street is used for the drop-off line and pick up and
- drop-off line And there is I personally do use the parking along that street when picking up and dropping
- off my children So I know there is no response from the school, but I know that that is a
- the state of things there Thank you Thank you Is there further public comment if there's somebody online
- who would like to speak you may use the raise hand feature in zoom to be called on to speak I See no
- other speakers in the room. That's anybody online last call for public comment on Case number TCR 2506
- Seeing none, let's move on
- Debate are there any final comments on this case is presented To my left To my right I'll say a couple
- things first of all I Think it's safe to say that we would like to see data If you have data that should
- be part of the staff report any data and if data isn't
- I mean, in the case of a neighborhood parking where it's not easy to get data because we don't have
- meters tracking it, some kind of collection. I know that we collect traffic speeds, and I mean, we might
- want to talk about what would be a simple, pragmatic way for staff to collect data, but it's better
- than ANIC data. Nevertheless, I also take to heart the
- of this particular neighborhood zone. I mean, the neighborhood zones all were started in reaction to
- people commuting to IU, and zone 10 was the first zone that skipped over downtown, and it might have
- been an overreaction. And something that I think that we need to think about, the commission and staff
- need to think about how to evaluate neighborhood zones.
- The last I knew from the parking commission five of the ten remaining neighborhood zones were undersubscribed
- and five were oversubscribed and it might lead to an assumption that we should change the price in those
- zones that are Undersubscribed to be lower and the ones that are oversubscribed to be higher so Something
- to think about when we take that I take that it was a transportation inquiry I
- Having said that, if there's no other comment, can we please call the roll on TCR 2506? You still have
- to make a motion. Sorry. We did that at the beginning. No, you have to make a motion to adopt the proposed
- findings, if that's what your goal is. Sorry. I move that the Transportation Commission adopt the proposed
- findings and forward the resolution for an amendment to section 16 to council with a positive recommendation.
- Second there's your motion. Thank you. I appreciate it Clerk, please call the roll Flaherty, yes Davis
- Yes Stossberg, yes Copic yes Sturmitis. Yes Boland. Yes That is adopted six zero Do I hear a motion
- for the next item?
- I move that we hear the TCP 2507 for Resident led traffic calming program on West 11th Street Second
- we have motion in a second here to present apparently is Hank Duncan Hi again, Hank Duncan bicycle and
- pedestrian coordinator
- The resident-led traffic calming program provides Bloomington residents with the opportunity to request
- and shape traffic calming measures in their neighborhoods. Applications require signatures of support
- from adjacent residents and letters of support from neighborhood associations or community organizations.
- Applications for 2025 were reviewed and scored using the program's criteria, which prioritize safety,
- demand, and equity.
- Out of the four complete applications the West 11th Street corridor received the highest score and was
- therefore the highest priority location for the 2025 program After sending mailers to nearby residents
- hosting a public meeting at the boys and girls club Publishing an online comment form and coordinating
- with other stakeholders like try North Middle School EMS and Bloomington Transit City staff narrowed
- on a concept that reduces the posted speed limit from 30 to 25 miles an hour and
- which will implement three sets of speed cushions along the project area to slow motor vehicle speeds
- and encourage safer pedestrian crossings. Staff recommends that the Transportation Commission adopt
- the proposed findings, approve this project concept, and forward the proposed amendment to section 15.24.020
- of title 15 related to the posted speed limit on West 11th Street to the City Council with a positive
- recommendation.
- I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you, Mr. Duncan. Are there questions on this item from commissioners?
- To my left. To my right. I have one question. I see a bump out for a mid-block crossing there, and I
- wonder if that
- I mean, this is a neighbor with monolithic sidewalks Can that bump out be made big enough to put a tree
- in? So the bump out that you're describing at Blair Street Currently so that currently exists that was
- a part of a crosswalk program a couple of years back and
- Essentially what this project attempts to enhance is the pedestrian crossing at that specific crosswalk
- You have a lot of children and students walking to and from China North Middle School at that crosswalk
- and so with this project two of the three sets of speed cushions are Alongside that crosswalk to slow
- down traffic there That tree plot exactly. I don't know the width of it, but it looks to be about
- Three-feet wide maybe for max which would be too narrow for a tree that said I can still talk to our
- senior environmental planner to Discuss that possibility. I guess what I meant was can we is it perhaps
- possible to make it policy that tree plots added to monolithic sidewalks be widened enough that it could
- conceivably have trees in them because it's not actually a tree plot as it is and
- Yes, so in general, yes, absolutely. We support that for this specific location Again, this was a project
- that was done before I came into this position but I believe the width was of this mid-block crossing
- was designed to allow for Narrowest streets but not so narrow that it detracts from EMS accessibility
- transit service, etc Thank you
- The other question I had was about can you in the prioritization scores for the different blocks that
- applied? You have an item called walk potential. Can you please define walk potential? Yes, and actually
- I might pass this off to Commissioner Stossberg who developed this Commissioner Stossberg, I believe
- you have something to contribute to this discussion. Yes so this walk potential metric defines Pedestrian
- demand throughout the city
- by looking at 20 different categories of interesting destinations which you might want to walk to. Could
- be a barbershop, church, various things. And the more categories of interesting amenities that are nearby,
- the higher your walk potential. This is not a metric for comfort, for walk, what you might call walkability.
- So it's useful in a planning context because you can
- Use it to locate places where you say this has a lot of potential There's a lot of things that
- are interesting nearby to walk to but yet the sidewalk is missing or it's in poor condition or so forth
- so the there were four given here two of them including the block we're considering Where it had a score
- of four point six seven one had a score of eleven point six seven one at a score of fourteen What is
- the maximum possible walk potential? so
- If you use the wrong number of categories, there's about 20 In some in some context you might scale
- it to 100% So I don't know in which well, I mean how was this used was it used as out of 20 or out of
- 100 or what? This was used. Let me look at the rubric if I can pull that up because every category has
- a specific weight to it and Essentially if that block is
- Had a walk potential of a hundred that it would have received the full weight of that category. Yeah,
- oh The blue in ten-minute walk score rubric and it's up to 14 points. Yes, so the highest score is 14
- points if that project area had a walk score of a hundred and The entire partition score is out of a
- hundred points. Yes. Okay, very good. So this one scored at 86 percent and
- Seven versus 1752 and it was a pretty easy choice. Yes The last one was only scored at 21 percent. Is
- that because there were no measurement of motor vehicle speeds there? Because it says motor vehicle
- speeds of zero on North Woodburn Avenue between 17th and Vaughn Clipway Yes, so that was an interesting
- case where? actually half of the street is privately owned half of it is publicly owned and so
- While we would like to Implement some type of traffic calming that it's just not a feasible street in
- this process to do so got it But that people applied to have that street be calmed. Mm-hmm. What did
- you advise them about? I mean they must have been dismayed by this very low score so essentially what
- I recommended them and I actually did this myself a couple of years ago when they first applied is attempt
- to contact the
- that multifamily complex along the street that takes care of a maintains the street and I wasn't able
- to actually reach anybody with influence in that After many phone calls quite honestly, but that that
- would have been my right that was my recommendation to those residents to Contact them about traffic
- calming on that part of the street. Thank you Any further questions before you go to public comment?
- Seeing none, let's go to the public for comment on case TCP 2507. If there's anyone in the room who'd
- like to speak, please come to the mic, sign in. If you're online, please raise your hand in Zoom. You'll
- have three minutes. Seeing nobody in the room, there's anybody online. Last call for public comment.
- Coming back to the commission,
- Are there any is there any debate on TCP 2507? Am I right? On my left Seeing none is there a motion
- I Move that the Transportation Commission adopt the proposed findings and for the proposed amendment
- to section 15 To counsel with a positive recommendation second a motion and a second will the
- Whoever is acting as the clerk, please call the roll Secretary secretary. Sorry. No, you're okay Davis
- Yes Stossberg, yes Copic. Yes Sturmitis. Yes Boland. Yes Flaherty. Yes TCP 2507 is adopted six zero.
- Let's move on to the next item. I
- I move to discuss TCR 2508, Hopewell West and related code updates. Second. We have a motion and a second.
- Here to present is Mr. Kenoki. Thank you, commissioners. Good evening. Kendall Kenoki, engineering
- department. So I'm here to present to you the Hopewell West Jackson and Rogers Street project, specifically
- under your consideration tonight.
- Amendments to the Bloomington Municipal Code. So first is to amend schedule a of 15 12 10 to add a stop
- sign on the new Jackson Street and then the second item is to amend the 15 32 100 schedule Oh loading
- zone to add a loading zone on Jackson Street, but wanted to give you a overview of the project so this
- is the first phase of the build out of the Hopewell West site and
- Which is the site of the former IU Health Bloomington Hospital. This is the Site where the main hospital
- building was if you remember the old hospital site the primary purpose of this phase of construction
- is to build infrastructure to support the redevelopment of the former core administration building which
- is now redeveloped into the core community flats, which is an affordable housing project and
- A ready grant was received from the Indiana Economic Development Council or committee or something the
- IEDC 1.8 million dollars so a large portion of our construction and design costs were covered by that
- grant which was great and this includes the construction of a new block of Jackson Street adjacent to
- the core building so just west of the Project there you see that new street
- Within the orange outline that is the new section of Jackson Street There's also a new alley to the
- north of the core building. It goes about halfway That's part of this project and then the entire length
- of South Roger Street So everything's being built per the current transportation plan standards. So
- Roger Street is getting protected bike lanes and
- A new 10-foot wide sidewalk and five foot wide tree plot on the west side, which is where the subdivision
- is First street was recently reconstructed in accordance with their transportation plan and Jackson
- Street is a new street It's being constructed in accordance with their transportation plan. So Again
- the item for you all tonight is those two changes to the Bloomington municipal code so I will go ahead
- and read the
- Recommendation here. Excuse me, give me a moment here. There we go.
- Staff recommends that the Transportation Commission adopt the proposed findings and forward the resolution
- for an amendment to schedule a Stop intersections and schedule Oh loading zones of title 15 to the council
- with a positive recommendation Happy to answer any questions. Thank you Thank you for the presentation
- Are there questions from commissioners on? the measure under consideration To my right To my left
- So just to be clear, these are streets that are being, I'm looking at the diagram, this is a street
- that's being added, right? Yes, South Jackson Street and the alley are new streets. And they don't have
- any controls on them yet and you're just asking for the controls to be put in? That's correct, yes.
- Thank you. Mr. Flaherty.
- Further the rationale with the alley not extending through to Rogers the East West alley there Yeah,
- I that was a decision that was made before my time at the city But I believe there were issues with
- the grading to get that to connect at the time I can find out more for you if you'd like the as in the
- differential in height between Rogers and we're okay. Yes. Thank you Any further questions
- Seeing none, we'll go to the public for a comment on TCR 2508. If there's anyone in the room who'd like
- to speak, please come to the mic, sign in. If you're on Zoom, please raise your hand and you'll be called
- on. You'll have three minutes. I see no takers in the room. Do you see any takers online? Last call
- for public comment on TCR 2508. Seeing none, we'll come back to the commission for a debate.
- Any comments to my left? To my right. Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion. I move that the Transportation
- Commission adopt the proposed findings and forward the resolution for an amendment to Schedule A for
- stop intersections and Schedule O for loading zones of Title 15 to counsel with a positive recommendation.
- Second. Motion and a second. There's no objection. Will the secretary call the roll? Stossberg. Yes.
- Topic. Yes. Strabitis. Bowlin. Yes. Flaherty. Yes. Davis. Yes. That's adopted 6-0. That completes our
- cases for tonight. We now move to discussion of topics not on the docket. Does any member have any item
- they'd like to bring up? Mr. Coppock.
- Asked Andrew maybe about if they've ever looked at the intersection of third and college for traffic
- accidents Someone asked me to bring it up because they have quite a few accidents there And wondered
- if that had ever been looked at for any possible way to remediate those Yeah, I feel like I've gotten
- that question before and I wish I had a better memory than I do but I know that intersection is is has
- been looked at and
- I also know I have a great team that almost every day checks to see any note significant crashes that
- have happened throughout the city I also know there's a lot of changes coming at that location Beyond
- the convention center. There's there's also the college and walnut corridor study. So so really right
- now from my perspective Looking forward to further discussion on that that upcoming course already and
- expect this commission to get an update in the coming months on that as well
- Thank you. I must confess. I thought he said third in college mall and so I thought that's a that's
- another state state highways, but is there a handy list of Crash like data like the top ranking crashes
- easily found There is the city or excuse me the Bloomington Metro Bloomington Monroe County Metropolitan
- Planning Organization recently launched
- A crash dashboard which has a map of all the crashes that have taken place in the last five years It
- also has a bunch of interesting data like highest risk intersections So you can look on that online.
- I'll link it to the Transportation Commission website. I'll also send it to you all and that's not just
- state roads That's all roads in the city every road in the county. Well, that's wonderful. Yeah, that's
- wonderful Any other items for discussion I've got one or two
- Mr. Flaherty just briefly when we were speaking about parking earlier and and some other things we were
- talking about to head occasion to revisit city code for that authorizes this commission and spells out
- its duties and just wanted to remind us to that we've got an Item d7 which is to produce or oversee
- an annual analysis of parking asset management Including when I limited to reporting all costs and revenues
- for city-owned structured parking surface parking meter parking neighborhood zones, etc
- Documenting real utilization rates including longitudinal trends conducting or contracting for parking
- data analytics and recommending changes to that system based on our city goals And I did have to miss
- a meeting earlier of this Commission So I don't know if we've discussed this at all yet, but like that's
- a big undertaking. It's probably one that will entail some resourcing to have Consultant support is
- my guess that we don't have that in house capacity necessarily or expertise
- but this was an important part of the formation of this this Commission to make sure that we weren't
- going to lose Some of the really valuable data that the parking Commission produced an analysis Even
- if had we had fallen behind based on the the sheer magnitude of that Work to produce it. So just wanted
- to bring that to our attention. I know we got started halfway through the year here and
- Maybe it's not feasible this year. I don't know but we do need to be thinking about it and proactively
- planning for how we're gonna get there. Thanks Is there any discussion of this item? Does any commissioner
- have a new thought? I'll just want to echo mr. Flaherty then I note that it sounded it did not sound
- like the Walker study was going to do as much as what mr. Flaherty just described and
- and so we are a little late to their show and I hope that we can still get them to Consider some of
- the things that is our remit But I appreciate you bringing that to our attention and I would like to
- you know to talk with staff administratively about how we can organize to produce that kind of report
- Any other items from commissioners
- Mr. Oh, how about the well ahead before you do that? I think mr. Robling had something to say about
- all this. Oh Let's go to let's go to mr. Coppock first mr. Coppock you reference it close to the mic,
- please you reference the 2018 study on parking is that available online? it's on the old parking Commission
- website, we will endeavor to make sure that it and other items from the
- Preceding commissions the traffic and the bikebed Commission get linked onto the Transportation Commission
- site as soon as possible Again another thing for an administrative session to try to get all this data
- planned Mr. Robling Yeah, I just we planning and transportation is having a couple of upcoming meetings
- the noteworthy one before the next meeting is the 10th Street safety improvement project and
- We will be meeting at 530 on 10th Street at mr. Copy if you're familiar with that It is 501 East 10th
- Street. It'll start at 530. We'll have some proposed designs Engineered designs to go over with the
- public. So if you're interested come on out, thank you Thank you other items for discussion of topics I
- One question I have is is there a master list of all the corridor studies that are currently? That have
- been done or being done and if so, we're the ones that are done available. Are they on the engineering
- website or Planning corridor studies would be on the planning and transportation website. We haven't
- completed any as of yet, but once we get that Completed they'll start to come online on there
- How about past studies? I think there was a self-wallet study for example years ago Oh sure, we could
- go back that far. Absolutely. We could link those actually that would already be on the planning and
- transportation plan or excuse me planning and transportation department Clearing house page, but I can
- update that and link it on the Transportation Commission webpage Finally I wanted to ask I know that
- I spoke with Commissioner drama Johnny before this meeting and I had a similar request both of us have
- observed that
- Near where we live an example of a place that could use attention in the way that we had with case TCR
- 2505 tonight there's a block that could use a sign not just a yellow curb that there's a Visibility
- problem where there's a lack of a crosswalk or something and we both had the same sort of Loathing to
- to put it forward because we live near it and
- And yet we also want other people to bring forward such ideas. So I don't know if there's any discussion
- to be had except maybe administratively how to do it, but I'd like to propose that somebody look at
- the corner of University and Henderson. He'd like to propose somebody look at Smith Road near Hoosier
- Acres and Gentry, that there's no crosswalk there. These are not formal requests yet.
- We don't know how to proceed or what staff has in mind for Addressing such concerns and how can we then
- teach the public to use this process? We have yet to create Mr. Seabor Yeah, I think the the answer
- I usually give is I encourage the public to use the city's you report system that's I think the best
- weight for the public and for staff to be able to track requests and
- And to initiate discussion and in some of the cases I think that you saw today started as a you report
- so so that so that's my first thing then where I would point most folks to as commissioners, I'd also
- suggest that We are staff here to support you and so you're more than welcome to shoot us an email as
- well And we'll follow up with that Okay. Thank you very much Any other
- Discussions for the topics of topics not on the docket. I Just asked for I can report that I submitted
- the you report yesterday and before 9 a.m. Today I had an initial reply and by 11 it was resolved and
- my experience was submitting your reports over the year has has always been positive in their received
- prompt attention, so Our government is working well for us in that regard and I I second the recommendation
- to use your report if you
- find something in our city that needs fixed. Thank you. Ms. Davis. Mr. Robling, I wonder if you could
- say again what exactly is happening at Mr. Copy on 10th Street. Also, and I'm asking because I don't
- believe Mr. Copy is accessible if one had to go inside for whatever is happening.
- Okay, great question. It is outside so it should be accessible and there will be no cars in the parking
- lot I mean you can park in the parking lot is what I mean It'll be after the minister copy closes. We
- are that there's a 10th Street Safety improvement project that is taking place. It is between Kendall's
- not here so I can't double-check with him park and let's say Rogers, but that's not right. It must be Morton so
- There is a it's a high priority stretch in the safe streets in roads for all safety action plan So we've
- prioritized this as a potential project and so we have some improvements that We are looking to complete
- and this is the second public meeting So this is the first where we come with a roughly engineered design.
- It's not a hundred percent design It's more of a thirty percent design of what we're thinking is
- To get feedback from the public and like I said that will be on September 22nd at 530 in the mr. Carver
- copy parking lot Okay, did you have any follow-up I Guess no. No, you're good. All right Let's go now
- to general public comment on items not on the docket if there's any member of the public who would like
- to speak to the Commission on a topic we've not already brought up today, please sign in and
- And you'll have three minutes Good evening, my name is James Ferguson. I am representing the petition
- for the Blue Ridge Community the last meeting We discussed this petition which was originally Presented
- to the old
- Commission which was dissolved immediately after We presented this and I know there was interest from
- this Commission to See the minutes and possibly somehow get those approved but in barring that I have
- brought the copy of the petition and the proposals for the
- the changes to North Walnut Street that we are asking for it Came to our attention that Planning or
- engineering department had done a study and determined that the light was not something that was necessary
- Although we're still hopeful and pushing towards that goal because there are the speeds on North Walnut
- Street and
- Excessive there have been well, let's see just from the data one of our constituents found for the last
- four years there was three rear-end accidents one side swipe and One person ran off the road. That's
- in the last from 2019
- Previous to that, there have been multiple other accidents in that region, which I presented a list
- of accidents, et cetera, et cetera, and there had been at least one fatality at that intersection. So
- we are very concerned about the safety of this intersection. We've noted the changes that the engineering
- has come up with as far as adding two dedicated turn lanes.
- to that intersection, although in our proposal we are requesting for two more dedicated. One is a shared
- right turn lane which would share the current bicycle lane that turns into Blue Ridge. This would make
- it much safer for people to turn into Blue Ridge because right now people are illegally using
- Bike lane as a turn lane because they're afraid they're going to get rear-ended and I don't know how
- many times I Personally have had people honking and road rage kind of situations while trying to turn
- into our neighborhood And the other one is a dedicated turn lane into the chiropractic center, which
- is just north of the visitor center And that is because they too have had accidents and near misses quite
- Often in that location. So if you would like I will present you with this information give to the secretary
- and thank you for it and let me just say that for anyone who might want to present a petition in this
- way that that that he's done it in the proper way and that Commissioners can can take up the petition
- and ask to put it on the agenda as they see fit. We have 134 signatures now
- Voting age residents. Thank you. Thank you for your thank you very much your comment. Is there any other
- public comment? Please come to the podium sign in and state your name If you've already signed in that's
- okay, okay Yes, my name is Dana Pierce. Hello again I'm here in support of the safety improvements that
- mr. Ferguson was just talking about walnut and Blue Ridge I'm a resident of Blue Ridge petition
- My experience with that intersection is that, in particular, turning towards Bloomington out of Blue
- Ridge does not feel safe. And it has become routine for me to not use that intersection when traveling
- into Bloomington, even at times when that would be the most convenient and the most expedient way to
- get to my destination. For example, when taking my children to school at Fairview,
- Taking the route that goes on North Dunn Street adds at least two minutes, if not more, to the travel
- time and an additional half mile of distance, but I don't feel safe, especially at rush hour times of
- the day to drive with my children trying to turn left at the intersection. So yeah, I support safety
- improvements at the intersection, particularly when turning out of
- Blue Ridge heading towards Bloomington. Thank you Thank you. So any other public comment on items that
- are not already on the docket? Please come to the podium sign in and state your name. You'll have three
- minutes Hello, my name is Carrie Floyd my husband if you could please bring the mic down close to it.
- Thank you. I
- Okay. Hello. My name is Carrie Floyd My husband Kevin and I live in the Blue Ridge neighborhood and
- we are concerned over the safety of the intersection of North Walnut Street and East Blue Ridge Drive
- Walnut Street is heavily traveled and the cars are often going very fast This makes turning onto Walnut
- Street from Blue Ridge Drive dangerous at times, especially when making left turns Kevin and I are cyclists
- and we use the existing bike lanes on Walnut and
- It's challenging and scary sometimes to make a left turn onto Walnut Street going across two lanes of
- traffic. I hope you all consider putting in a traffic light and make this intersection safe. It's a
- dangerous place for cyclists as well as cars. Thank you. Kevin Floyd, Kerry's husband.
- Yeah, we do cycle out of Blue Ridge, and it's quite challenging to get across. I don't know how pedestrians
- would get across there. I guess there's no way for a pedestrian to get across the street. Now,
- on game day, that's a whole other story. This Walnut gets just clogged up, and it's almost impossible
- to get out onto Walnut safely.
- on game days. Usually if I know there's a game, I just plan on just staying home during that time. The
- proposal they've got now of putting in a double turn lane on Walnut, that only encourages the traffic
- to keep flowing, so it doesn't do anything for people making a left turn out of Blue Ridge. A stoplight or
- or some kind of at least signage saying there's a street there and traffic coming out because there's
- nothing and a stoplight would be the safest thing. Thank you. Thank you. Is there any public comment
- from people watching online? Please raise your hand in Zoom and staff will call on you. This is on
- Items not on the docket Any takers last call for general public comment Seeing none this period is closed.
- We now go to just matters of schedule the next meeting of the Transportation Commission is Monday October
- 20th at 530 in this room and I want to encourage anyone who has a
- Done like the residents of Blue Ridge to make their concerns known to an individual commissioner if
- they know them can send email to transportation.commission at Bloomington.in.gov to contact this commission
- generally with any concerns they might have and we will consider it in forming the next agenda. Is there
- any other any other announcements from members? Seeing none this meeting is adjourned.