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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Committee Minutes 2.11.25 (To be approved) Attendees: Al Hartman Paul Esslinger, Council Jim Collins, Transportation Director Evelyn Meuret Jeff Armstrong Steve Tomasik, Operations Manager Jim Stapel Deb Martin Excused: Sean Lynch Also Present: Lt. Kraemer (OPD), Justin Gierach (Engineering) The meeting was called to order by Al Hartman who gave a quick overview for the public comment protocol. One citizen was present to give commentary on a non-agenda item and was instructed to approach the podium. Jacob Klaameyer (505 Hobbs Ave. Oshkosh, WI 54901) Jacob said he is an advocate for the Day-by-Day Shelter in town. He said he is representing some guests that voiced that the parking situation along Ceape Avenue has become a problem resulting in verbal conflicts with the home owners threatening to get their vehicles towed or ticketed. Since this group of individuals are homeless, all their possessions are stored in their vehicles and being towed or ticketed would present an additional financial strain for them. The whole goal of the shelter to is empower this group of individuals to work and create their own income to improve their current situation. Since parking is the issue, Jacob was wondering if allowing parking in the Leach Amphitheater lot during non-event nights could be an option as that lot appears to be underutilized. The shelter is always staffed so an assigned overnight pass could be managed by authorized desk personnel. The other suggestion he had was allowing overnight parking in the Convention Center North lot next to Fire Station 15. Jim Collins stated that overnight parking is not allowed in city owned parking lots without a permit which is $30 a month or a lease which is $50 per month. Al Hartman asked if Mr. Klaameyer spoke to the Parks Department yet and what the results of that conversation was. Jacob said he believes Molly, their director, has been working with them. Jeff Armstrong asked what the suggestion would be when there was a scheduled event, such as Waterfest on Thursday nights. Jacob said an overnight permit would simply not be used/available those nights. Paul Esslinger suggested getting formal input from both the Parks department and Chief of Police on this subject. Jim Collins said this topic comes up often and there are many concerns expressed including the possibility of people sleeping/camping in their vehicle overnight. He advised the board that he will investigate the citizen concern more and report back at a future meeting. Transportation Committee Meeting Minutes February 11, 2025 2 | Page Roll Call & Approval of Minutes Chairperson Hartman requested roll call, and later Evelyn Meuret made a motion to approve the minutes from the January meeting, seconded by Paul Esslinger. Motion carried after roll-call vote. ❖ Old Business – Request to reduce Paratransit Service Hours to 6:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. Monday- Saturday and 7:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. on Sunday – Jim gave a quick refresher of this topic that was discussed at the November Committee meeting stating there are several reasons for changing paratransit hours including the following: • the desire to make the system more efficient by providing vehicle and driver tracking • improve the accuracy of data for Federal reporting • improve the ability to recruit and retain quality drivers • and ultimately to be fiscally responsible for the city and tax payers The main obstacle to achieve these objectives is the 24/7 service hours making it not attractive for transit vendors to submit a bid when the vendor contract expires. At the November meeting, several members that are actual paratransit users expressed concerns mostly based on quality of life. Although the Federal requirement is to match fixed route hours, the current proposal is to compromise by offering more hours to accommodate the concerns expressed especially Sunday service hours for the paratransit program only. He then turned it over to Steve Tomasik who gave a brief presentation. Steve reminded the committee that after he conducted several audits of the program and analyzed ridership data, he discovered how much it was being utilized after hours. He said only 4.4 rides were tracked per night. Steve said they met with the ADRC (Aging and Disability Resource Center) board and presented the new proposed hours and that board was very supportive. He also said they formed and met with a focus group including most of the concerned riders from the November meeting. The focus group also supported the recommended compromise. He stated that the Access-to-Jobs program would remain 24/7 and would not be changing at this time. Al Hartman asked if Jim or Steve spoke with any new vendors that would be interested in competing for the contract. Jim said the current vendor is still set through at least the end of the year so it hasn’t been out for bid yet. Although there haven’t been direct conversations with other vendors, the fact that the overnight shift being eliminated will certainly make it more desirable to bid on when it is time. Al asked if it would go to council next year or if the change would take effect sooner. Jim said the goal would be an April 1, 2025 effective date if he can get it added to the next agenda for Council approval. Jeff Armstrong said at the November meeting there were fiscal concerns and was curious if these new hours would reduce costs enough to address that issue as well. Steve said it is hard to predict but at least it is a step in the right direction. Jim Stapel said it seems like a good compromise and as a fairness issue was wondering if fixed routes would eventually change as well. Steve said that wouldn’t be an option currently but, in the future, the routes that have low ridership may need to be addressed with the possibility of adopting some type of hybrid Microtransit service similar to what other peers have been doing. Jim Stapel made a motion to approve the recommendation for the new program hours; seconded by Jeff Armstrong. Motion carried after roll-call vote, one present vote (Paul Esslinger). 3 | Page New Business Request for a recommendation on the layout of Bowen Street in the area of the intersection of Mill Street and Waugoo Avenue. Dead ending Mill Street at Waugoo Avenue will be the focus for committee recommendation. Jim Collins gave a quick overview of this project reminding the committee members that they heard the initial recommendations for this project from the consultant in January of 2024. The goal is to get the committee’s recommendation on this intersection’s layout to take to Council for approval at their next meeting. Justin Gierach (Engineering) was also present to answer any questions. Steve from AECOM gave a PowerPoint (attached to the file) with an overview of the project including crash history statistics. This area was identified as an unsafe area with a need for improvements. Planned bump-outs will shorten the pedestrian walk-way, increase greenspace and promote traffic calming. The final recommendation is to dead-end Mill Street and expand the terrace and driveways in front of 3 homes in the immediate area. Jim Stapel asked how the 3 home owners feel about this. Aecom said there have been several attempts to contract them with no response. Evelyn asked if it is the Homeowner’s responsibility to maintain the newly created green space, sidewalk and driveway. Jim Stapel asked if they must pay for the long driveway construction expense. Paul E. also wanted to know the actual length of the proposed driveway and what the plan is for maintenance. Justin G. said the length of the full driveway is projected to be a 60’ after the 40’ extension. Sidewalk along the west side of Mill Street would be the property owners to maintain. The sidewalk along Bowen Street would need to be discussed further but could be the City’s (DPW or Parks) to maintain. Justin G. said he believes one of the residences is a rental but the others are owner occupied. Evelyn suggested putting an ad in the Herold as another attempt to notify; Jim Stapel agreed and said to include the actual proposed layout. Jim C. said notices were sent several times to contact the homeowners by both Engineering and Transportation so he feels adequate attempts were made to notify the home owners. However; staff would consider the input. Paul Esslinger asked if there are any other possibilities being considered. Jim C. said this area has been an issue for quite some time and the goal is to improve safety in this stretch of roadway so staff is recommending this option after an extensive study by Aecom. Deb said homeowners might be pleased with the change because it does get traffic away from their houses and gives them a much bigger front yard. Al Hartman said he agrees that ample attempts have been made to contact the home owners and this roadway needs to be fixed now and not delayed until it comes up again in a few years. It might be inconvenient for these few houses but it is for the greater good. There were no additional comments or questions. Jim Stapel made a motion to approve the staff recommendation, seconded by Paul Esslinger. Motion carried after roll-call vote. Staff Statements ❖ Ridership Update – Steve Tomasik said student ridership is down 4.8% but was happy to report that there appears to be a lot less joy riding on the buses causing behavior issues and the kids are 4 | Page simply using the bus service to get to and from school which was always the goal. As far as prepandamic numbers, ridership is still down about 7000 rides per month. Jim Stapel asked if that is linked to school attendance also being lower but Steve said he didn’t have that data as a comparison. ❖ Pedestrian Mall Ordinance – Jim Collins said he was just giving a heads-up that one item that will be added to a future meeting is a Plan Commission item where the city will be looking to add the Art Alley (back of Ruby Owl) to the Pedestrian Mall Ordinance which will restrict access for vehicles other than deliveries and provide better safety for pedestrians in this area. Future Agenda Requests Al Hartman asked if there were any additional agenda requests for future meetings other than the citizen request earlier; to which there were none. Adjournment Evelyn Meuret made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Jeff Armstrong. Motion carried after roll-call vote Meeting adjourned at 4:53 pm.