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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-05-15Clarington If this information is required in an alternate format, please contact the Accessibility Coordinator at 905-623-3379 ext. 2131 Active Transportation and Safe Roads Advisory Committee Minutes Date: May 15, 2023 Time: 7:00 pm Location: Microsoft Teams Members Present: Jim Boate, Bark Hawkins Kreps, Ron Hooper, Connor Houston, Hawa Mire, Lori Moore, Richard Oldfield, Rick Stockman Staff Present: Rob Brezina, Lindsey Patenaude, Laila Shafi, Catherine Verhoog Regrets: Councillor S. Elhajjeh, Brad Jakobsen, Bradley Whittle 1. Land Acknowledgement Statement Laila gave the Land Acknowledgement Statement as well as a presentation on the background of the statement. A copy of the Statement will be provided to the committee, and it must be read at the beginning of each meeting. Laila left the meeting at 7:10 p.m. 2. Introduction of Committee Members and Staff Each staff member and then each committee member introduced themselves. Connor announced that he is a member of the Region's Active Transportation Committee and will be able to act as the committee's representative. 3. Committee Orientation Presentation by Lindsey Patenaude, Committee Coordinator, Legislative Services, regarding Committee procedures. 4. Election of Committee Chair and Vice -Chair Jim Boate nominated Rick Stockman for Chair, Rick agreed to stand, there were no other nominations, and Rick was appointed as Chair. Page 116 Jim Boate nominated Connor Houston as Vice Chair, Connor agreed to stand, there were no other nominations, and Connor was appointed as Vice -Chair. Rick then took over chairing the meeting at 7:50 p.m. and Lindsey left. 5. Agenda Motion to accept the agenda with the addition of a regional update by Connor under Discussion Items. Moved to approve by Ron Hooper, seconded by Richard Oldfield. CARRIED 6. Discussion Items 6.1 Review and Acceptance of the Committee Terms of Reference Ron indicated that there may be a Durham Regional Police Safety Committee that has Terms of Reference that overlap with this committee. This is to be discussed at the next meeting and Rob will reach out to Traffic staff for more information. Motion to accept the Committee Terms of Reference. Moved to accept by Bart Hawkins Kreps, seconded by Lori Moore. CARRIED 6.2 Document Sharing Overview Rob to follow up with IT to provide an update. 6.3 Road Safety (General Discussion) If the committee members become aware of any traffic concerns or issues, they can forward them directly to Rob as the committee's staff liaison or submit them to Report a Problem - Clarington. 6.4 Bike Month — June 1st to 30t" The Region is providing a platform for municipalities for events and promotions and Connor has requested some swag from them. Here is the link for more information Region of Durham Bike Month. The Region is promoting a Bike Bingo contest, and a region -wide cycling contest using the Smart Commute app, but the Scavenger Hunt is not being held due to the cost for the app but it will be looked at again for next year. Page 216 Jim has helped coordinate four walks along different trails across the municipality for each Wednesday in June and he will be reaching out to the members for assistance. Motion to request that Council declare the month of June as Bike Month. Moved by Jim Boate, seconded by Lori Moore. CARRIED 6.5 Clarington Public Library — Summer Reading Club Event The library has reached out to see if the committee is interested in participating in an event during their Summer Reading Week. The afternoon event would focus on the Bike Safety Program and would occur during the first week of July at the library's Courtice Branch. The focus would be on teaching children ages 3 to 12 road safety and general cycling safety including helmet safety and hand signals. Jim has offered to be the liaison for the committee and Ron Hooper will assist as he is member of the Library Board. Hawa Mire left the meeting at 8:30 p.m. 6.6 Family Safety Day - Saturday September 30tn Rick will be the liaison to coordinate with Emergency Services the committee's involvement. He will reach out to other members as needed. 6.7 2023 Active Transportation Infrastructure Construction Schedule and 2023 Project Forecast. Rob gave a short review of the 2023 schedule and forecast. Current projects include Baseline Road Reconstruction from Courtice Road to Trulls Road which includes an urbanization of the road with dedicated cycling and pedestrian infrastructure and is expected to be completed by November this year. The intersection of Highway 2 and Bowmanville Avenue (Regional Road 57) is currently being reconstructed by the Region and includes expansion to a four - lane roadway with a multi -use path (MUP) and urbanization with completion in 2024. The Region's future forecast includes the next phase of the urbanization with an MUP being constructed on the west side from Baseline Road to the CPR bridge and connecting to the MUP that is currently being built. Longer term the MUP will be extended from Stevens Road to Longworth Avenue. Coming soon for public circulation is a re -envisioning of downtown Bowmanville line painting assignments to implement dedicated road cycling lanes. Phase one consists of King Street from Liberty Street to Haines Street being rehabilitated to Page 316 include dedicated cycling lanes from Liberty Street to Haines Street. Space for the lanes will be achieved by implementing a road diet for the existing travelled roadway and reclaiming some of the space from where the road is four lanes. A project being undertaken by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is the implementation of an MUP on the west boulevard of Mill Street on the bridge over Highway 401 during their bridge rehabilitation. One of the projects for 2024 is the rehabilitation of Darlington Boulevard in Courtice which includes dedicated cycling lanes and will provide connection to a future extension of the Farewell Creek Trail. In 2024 the Region is undertaking the reconstruction of Liberty Street from Longworth Avenue to Concession Road 3, with the implementation of a roundabout at Longworth and Concession 3. The preliminary plan includes a cycle track from Longworth to Bons Avenue, and then an MUP from Bons to Concession 3. Richard's biggest concern is implementing a safe way to travel Highway 2 from Maple Grove Road to Bowmanville Avenue. The sidewalk on the south side of Highway 2 immediately west of Bowmanville Avenue is in terrible shape and needs replacing. Rob indicated that as part of the Region's current project, the temporary asphalt sidewalk is to be replaced with concrete sidewalk. Richard also mentioned that he had heard that at one point a bike lane was going to be put in at the area of the south end of Bowmanville Avenue and the Highway 401 ramp, where the new Petro Canada truck stop is being built. to connect to the waterfront trail. Rob indicated that as part of the site plan requirements for the Petro Canada that the owners will be required to construct an MUP across their frontage. The Ministry is also undertaking an interchange improvement to eliminate the bottle neck of traffic during peak hours, which includes extending the north MUP along Bowmanville Avenue to connect to the waterfront trail. 6.8 Soper Creek — Phase 3 — Public Information Centre — May 16, 2023. Proposed extension of trail north along creek valley to Cotton Street and it is targeted for construction this fall. Link to join Public Information Centre (PIC) meeting: Soper Creek Phase 3 Public Information Centre May 16, 2023 7. Presentations/Delegations 7.1 Active Transportation Master Plan and Wayfinding System Strategy The Municipality is currently in the process of selecting a consultant to develop a plan to address the connectivity challenges with the community's infrastructure. Partly due to largely inaccessible areas for active transportation, the plan is to best determine in a long term 15-year horizon how to fill in those gaps and allow people to utilize active transportation methods to move around the Municipality. Outlining a network improvement plan is the core focus, by looking intensely at our urban cores to identify gaps in infrastructure. The committee should expect to Page 416 be involved sometime in August/September to participate in sessions with the consultant to further expand on what the active transportation gaps are. As part of the same plan, a wayfinding strategy will also be developed which will include the physical implementation of signs, other information mediums like digital websites, QR codes on routes etc. Funding of $50,000 has been received from the federal government as part of their Active Transportation Fund and that is what is helping to fund this project. The Region of Durham is also undertaking a similar investigation across the entirety of the Region to ensure a uniform presentation of information for users travelling and navigating through the different areas across the Region. 7.2 Clarington Traffic Map Rob to email link to committee members tomorrow. 8. New/Other Business Jim and Lori both inquired about the painting of the sharrows on West Beach Road where the waterfront trail comes out onto road for about 200m to the dog park. Rob will follow up with the Traffic Division. Lori would like a high-level map of all cycling accesses, multi -use trails, cycling lanes, as well as immediately proposed works. Rob to send link to committee members tomorrow to mapping system that shows all this infrastructure. Richard would like to know what is happening with the request from the committee last year for sharrows on Concession Street West between Liberty Street and Elgin Street. Rob to follow up with Traffic Services. Bart would like meetings in person to be considered in the future. Rick to speak to the Municipality and will send email out to all members and see if there is a consensus and if there are rooms available to the committee. 8.1 Regional Update Connor reported that the Region of Durham's Meadoway Visioning Study is underway to create a large active transportation and greenspace corridor being put through Oshawa, Whitby and Ajax. There is the possibility of extending it into Clarington in the future. The Region is also investigating applying for bike friendly status through Share the Road for the first regional designation. The committee should investigate further. Page 516 9. Future Meetings Schedule/Date of Next Meeting The next meeting will take place in August. Rick will send out an email to all members for consensus for what the preferred day would be. Rob indicated that Wednesday or Thursday would probably be best due to Council meetings etc. 10. Adjournment Motion that the meeting be adjourned at 9:18 p.m. Moved by Jim Boate, seconded by Connor Houston. CARRIED Page 616