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MINUTES COMPLETE STREETS ADVISORY GROUP MEETING FEBRUARY 19, 2014 MEMBERS/ATTENDEES Linda Barbeau City of Farmington Downtown Association & MRA Commission Virginia King City of Farmington Public Works Lopez City of Farmington & MPO Technical Committee Nick Martin Optum Health Rev. Rebecca Morgan Namaste House Assisted Living Center Christa Romme Four Corners Economic Development Anngela Wakan Safe Routes to School Coordinator Mary Holton City of Farmington Community Development & MPO Officer Joe Delmagori MPO Planner Duane Wakan MPO Associate Planner June Markle MPO Administrative Aide WELCOME Mr. Wakan welcomed the members and thanked them for participating in today’s Complete Streets meeting and discussions. JANUARY 22, 2014 MEETING Mr. Wakan reviewed some of the Advisory Group discussion from the January meeting. He noted that the Advisory Group gave preliminary approval of the list of land use context areas and road types at this meeting. The Advisory Group also discussed the overlay maps that Staff had created for the context areas and road typologies. There was also discussion about the need to look at future land use context areas and where future developments might be planned and not just focus on the current land uses. Staff also presented a video of different parklet design elements and the Advisory Group had discussed how those might be implemented in the local downtown settings. Mr. Wakan stated that MPO Staff had also given an overview presentation of design guidelines and showed examples from several entities and agencies. Mr. Wakan said more of this design process would be discussed during the meeting today. Ms. Holton said she wanted to clarify some discussion on parklets that was reported in the January 22 meeting minutes. She stated that the installation of a parklet would require an encroachment permit issued by the Community Development Department that would then be coordinated with the Public Works Department. She said the issuance of this permit would be flexible and the department would be receptive to such a request. Ms. Holton stated that a parklet would be the business owner’s responsibility for upkeep and maintenance. ---PAGE BREAK--- Mr. Wakan asked if the city would consider creating a parklet plan. Ms. Holton said this would likely need to be stimulated by private business and local market desire. The parklet request would then be addressed through the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency (MRA) Commission. Ms. Holton stated that funding for a complete city parklet plan was not feasible at this time, but it could certainly be considered for the future. She added that she hoped any parklet concepts brought forward would be given as much flexibility and creativity as possible. Mr. Wakan asked for a motion to approve the minutes from the January 22, 2014 meeting. Rev. Rebecca Morgan moved to approve the minutes. Mrs. Wakan seconded the motion. The motion was passed unanimously. COMPLETE STREETS DESIGN GUIDELINES Mr. Wakan gave a presentation to explain further where the MPO hoped to get to with the Complete Streets design guidelines. He also wanted to focus discussion on the large, regional picture and not on the local individual entity. Mr. Wakan stated that there were four themes that would hopefully be applied throughout the design guidelines and the final document: Adoptable – the desire to have the document eventually adopted by all the local entities; Resourceful – provide a usable resource to the entities, developers, and others; Flexible – provide for multiple options for developers and entity staff; Simple – principles and guidelines that are easy to navigate and understand. Mr. Wakan addressed Adoptability. He said that the MPO represents four entities whose elected officials will eventually vote on and approve the Complete Streets document. He added that the MPO worked with the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and these entities might require Complete Streets documents in the future. Mr. Wakan said that if this came about, the Farmington MPO would be that much further ahead having already developed their Complete Streets design guidelines. He added that Albuquerque has been coordinating state-wide Complete Streets efforts that FMPO has been assisting with. Mr. Wakan showed how the four entities, the MPO, NMDOT and FHWA will need to work together to develop workable guidelines. He also illustrated various choropleth spectrum diagrams (use of shading to represent proportions or ranges of statistics) that might infer possible outcomes when producing the Complete Streets document and design guidelines. One choropleth spectrum ranged from very complex to very simple, another from very prescriptive to very interpretive, and the final diagram from unfavorable to favorable. The diagram was shown to demonstrate that it is the opinion of staff that design guidelines that are simple and interpretive may be found as more favorable, whereas guidelines that are complex and prescriptive may be viewed as unfavorable. ---PAGE BREAK--- Mr. Wakan explained that the guidelines also needed to be Resourceful. The Complete Streets document will become a resource for developers and for the local entities. Mr. Wakan explained how the City of Charlotte coordinated with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to develop their Complete Streets guidelines and manual and, through cooperative efforts, achieved a Complete Streets document that also worked at the state level. Mr. Wakan noted that the documents are simple, articulate, and well laid out. Mr. Wakan then shared an example of an on-line book style Complete Streets document created by the City of Johannesburg in South Africa. It was an example of a document easily understood and readily accessible for public consumption. Mr.Wakan explained that the document needs to be simple. As an example, he showcased three complete streets documents from the City of Charlotte, the North Carolina DOT and the City of Johannesburg, in South Africa. As the first example, he showed how the NCDOT manual was more illustrative in its attempt to articulate street cross-section diagrams and recommended street dimensions. Mr. Wakan also showed how the NCDOT manual laid out the plan view of the streets along with key elements which help identify the roadway typology. They also formulated street cross-section zones that included: a sidewalk zone, a green zone for trees and plantings, a transit/parking zone, a bike zone, a motor vehicle zone, and the development zone. Mr. Wakan said it was important to understand these zones and consider how to incorporate them as the MPO’s guidelines were developed. The NCDOT manual then detailed the cross-sectional diagrams which included a range of dimensions for each of the zones, but were still easy to follow. At the bottom of the diagrams, the NCDOT manual included some additional pertinent notes relating to that particular zone. ---PAGE BREAK--- Mr. Wakan compared these manuals on the spectrum described earlier. He thought that both were relatively simple to comprehend. The NCDOT manual was more prescriptive in that it established guidelines and dimensions while the Charlotte manual was more interpretive in its design. Mr. Wakan showed also that both these entities had applied Complete Streets guidelines to their intersections. This was something the Advisory Group had not yet addressed. Mr. Wakan showed the NCDOT view of a major main street intersection with bulb-outs that shorten the distance for pedestrians crossing the street. He noted that their manual also demonstrated different intersection scenarios for different street zones. Mr. Wakan then showed what Charlotte did for their Complete Streets design guidelines. They used a color-coded system for their cross-section scenarios with no actual dimensions listed. They simply laid out the zones which left their Complete Streets guidelines more interpretive than prescriptive. City of Charlotte Complete Streets diagram Mr. Wakan said he hoped the Advisory Group would decide to take the simple, interpretive approach when developing their design guidelines to ensure they would be easy to use. In this way, the MPO at the region level is making recommendations as to what elements a particular cross section should look like. It would then be determined by the local entities what specific dimensions are used for these particular zones. This cross-section below from Johannesburg, South Africa showed the street section on top with the plan view on the bottom with the dimensions laid out. Mr. Wakan said this variation was also fairly easy to understand and was in between the interpretive and prescriptive ranges. ---PAGE BREAK--- City of Johannesburg Complete Streets diagram Ms. Holton commented that she thought the street section view was more geared to lay-audiences and the general public, while the street plan view, which was more technical, was intended for the planners and engineers. She said she thought this was a good way to present the information. Mr. Wakan added that Staff thought the guidelines at the MPO level should be more interpretive and that the individual entities could then make their own individual documents as detailed as they needed or wanted. Mr. Wakan thought the MPO guidelines should simply lay out Complete Streets in an introductory fashion and then leave the detailed definitions and dimensions to the individual entity. Mr. Wakan then showed the Penn DOT tabular approach to defining the road elements. Their matrix below shows the very specific, comprehensive elements (Prescriptive) of a regional arterial as it travels through the different land use areas that they have identified. ---PAGE BREAK--- Mr. Wakan discussed the theme of Flexibility and commented again on the very prescriptive nature of the PennDOT matrix. He described the combinations of land use context areas and road typologies as identified by the following entities to help explain how Complete Streets design guidelines would be impacted by this information: PennDOT 7 land use context areas 5 road typologies 35 possible design guidelines Roanoke, VA 8 land use context areas 4 road typologies 32 possible design guidelines Charlotte 7 land use context areas 5 road typologies 35 possible design guidelines FMPO 8 land use context areas 9 road typologies 72 possible design guidelines Mr. Wakan asked the Advisory Group to consider how the number of possible combinations in the MPO matrix would impact their overall design guidelines. He said that having a flexible document would provide for multiple options and he thought some of the Advisory Group’s current land uses and road typologies might be consolidated. He said that the combination of road typologies and land uses could provide different options within the design guidelines themselves. Mr. Wakan stated that with more flexible options, fewer road typologies and land uses are necessary. Ms. Barbeau said that she liked the idea of flexibility and providing options and allowing for different ideas on how a specific development could look. She said by giving more options, there will be less resistance and push-back. Rev. Morgan appreciated the different perspectives presented from the other entities. She asked how the City of Roanoke came up with four road typologies and the Advisory ---PAGE BREAK--- Group had developed nine for the MPO area. She wondered if our community could be that different from Roanoke. Mr. Wakan said it was possible they had gone through the same process as the Advisory Group was going through now and noted that this was a learning process. He noted that in Staff’s research on road typologies and land use context areas, there was consistency in the number of matrices at approximately 30- 35. Mr. Wakan stated that if the Advisory Group builds flexibility into the document, there should be coverage for all of the road types and land uses. Mr. Delmagori said that the research did show that most entities developed a lower number of possible design guidelines, but that starting with a larger combination was a good first step. Perhaps, as the process continues, the Advisory Group might choose to consider consolidating some of their road types and land uses. Mr. Wakan stated how important it was to develop strong land use context areas and cited the Complete Streets design used by the city of Chicago. They did not define any land use context areas and chose to simply overlay the road typologies onto their existing zoning. With so many zones in a city that size, their matrix is unwieldy. Mr. Delmagori stated that the Advisory Group had given preliminary approval to the list of road types and land use context areas. He said that work would continue using the current list and, as the process moved forward, the Advisory Group could decide if they were comfortable with the list or if they might want to consolidate it. Mr. Wakan added that it was important to understand the MPO, the region, and who would be voting on the document. He stated that it was important to ensure the Complete Streets guidelines were approved and ultimately used in the local communities. Ms. Holton stated that she thought this was a critical time in the development of the Complete Streets guidelines. With several Advisory Group members absent from the meeting, she thought it was important to make sure they were updated and informed of the Advisory Group discussion and direction. She recommended getting entity input and involvement since they know their local streets better than anyone else. Ms. Holton added that the Complete Streets design guidelines need to be a living, breathing document and not something that simply sits on a shelf. Ms. Lopez said she liked the use of graphics and pictures in the NCDOT examples. She thought the concepts were easy to follow and were laid out very simply. After looking at the pictures, more information and detail could be obtained from the street section view provided. Ms. Lopez also thought the book format was good and would allow for easy and clear demonstrations and examples. Ms. Holton added that the Advisory Group could consider utilizing a matrix type system for the guidelines. To ensure that it was flexible, there would be a menu of choices offered instead of simply stating what needed to be done. This would provide a higher level of flexibility. Ms. Lopez agreed that providing the options was important. She added that the Advisory Group could likely reduce their road types because one road type with several options depending on the land use context area would work just as well. ---PAGE BREAK--- INDIVIDUAL EXERCISE Mr. Delmagori explained that the remainder of the meeting would be spent on exercises and sketching road typology ideas. Staff provided the Advisory Group with their list of road typologies and land use context areas, templates for sketching, and snapshots from Charlotte and Roanoke of how they outlined their street cross-sections diagrams. Mr. Delmagori asked the Advisory Group to use the templates provided and begin sketching ideas of what they would like to see a road typology look like in a particular context area. Mr. Delmagori said the templates allowed for a couple of examples to be drawn on one sheet and Advisory Group members were encouraged to use as many templates as they wanted. Mr. Delmagori said the template was kept simple to allow for more spatial or conceptual ideas in order to begin identifying what elements should be included in the street cross-sections. He explained that the development zone shown on the template would be from building to building or from the edge of road to the edge of road. The small mark in the center of each street section denoted the half-way point for the right-of-way. Mr. Delmagori said the templates were set up for 40, 60, 80, and 100- foot rights-of-way. He explained some of the typical dimensions for travel lanes, bike lanes, and sidewalks, but asked the Advisory Group members to first consider the spatial arrangement of ideas rather than trying to incorporate specifics. Mr. Delmagori also explained that Staff had set up several work stations in the MPO office area that had the Streetmix software loaded on them. The software allows the user to determine exactly how they want a road to look and provides many different options for developing their ideal road section. Mr. Delmagori said that once the individual conceptual drawings are compared, similarities or crossovers between what individual Advisory Group members have designed may be identified. These will then help generate actual ideas of what that road cross-section could look like and, perhaps, justify what the Advisory Group as a whole thinks the road should look like. Mr. Wakan stated that MPO Staff would collect all the designs and retain them for future discussion and use. Mr. Delmagori added that this exercise will be brought back again to consider additional ideas and to build upon them. Mr. Wakan also added that Staff hoped to have the March meeting in a computer lab setting to provide more use of Streetmix. Rev. Morgan asked if the Advisory Group members were to select a road type and then draw their idea of what that road would look like in a certain setting. She commented that her ideas would be very different from those of another Advisory Group member. Mr. Delmagori said this was what the Advisory Group was being asked to do and understood there might be variation among the members. Ms. Holton suggested possibly using North Dustin as a good example of Complete Streets and then thinking of what would make another street as attractive. Rev. Morgan also asked if the ideas were to look at what there currently was in the area as well as what would like to be seen for the future. Mr. Delmagori said that new development was, of course, much easier and less expensive to design than trying to retrofit something existing. Ms. Holton agreed and noted that when a major construction project was planned, retrofitting to incorporate Complete Streets ideas might be considered at the same time. Ms. Holton said there could be other opportunities to incorporate Complete ---PAGE BREAK--- Streets ideas but, from a cost standpoint, it was easier to incorporate new designs at the beginning of a project. Mr. Wakan commented on the sidewalk project for 20th Street that is pending and thought there might possibly be some opportunity to include some Complete Streets ideas in that project. Ms. Lopez added that she thought it was important to also consider and discuss intersections and how two different road typologies would intersect. Mr. Wakan agreed this was another element and hoped this could be included in discussion at an upcoming meeting. The Advisory Group members worked independently for over 30 minutes until approximately 11:25 a.m. CONCLUSION Mr. Delmagori said he hoped the Advisory Group members had had an opportunity to see how the different elements of the road typologies and land uses worked together. He said the Advisory Group could discuss their ideas during the next meeting. Mr. Delmagori reiterated that Staff is planning to hold the next meeting in the City of Farmington’s IT training facility or in the computer lab at San Juan College. Staff will see what facilities might be available for the meeting. Mr. Delmagori said Staff would provide the link to Streetmix again along with some tips and tricks for using the software. He said any designs could be sent to the MPO and Staff would work with the City of Farmington on creating an FTP site that would give each Advisory Group member access to view the ideas of the other members. The next meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. The meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m.