HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-17-2018 - Anholm -SchwartzCity of San Luis Obispo, Council Memorandum
DATE: May 17, 2018
TO: Active Transportation Committee
FROM: Luke Schwartz, Transportation Planner-Engineer
VIA: Derek Johnson, City Manager
SUBJECT: Draft Meeting Summary for 5/10/18 Anholm Bikeway Community Meeting
Overview
On May 10th, 2018, about 100 community residents attended a neighborhood outreach meeting to
develop plans for the “middle section” of the Anholm Bikeway Plan. As adopted in April 2018,
the Anholm Bikeway Plan identifies specific design recommendations for the “northern section”
(north of Ramona Drive) and “southern section” (Downtown to Lincoln Street) of the proposed
bikeway corridor, while calling for further development of plans for the “middle section” (Lincoln
Street to Ramona Drive) to evaluate design options that may be acceptable to the community while
also achieving the transportation goals of the Plan. The purpose of the May 10th meeting was for
the community to participate in a design charrette, developing additional or different ideas to be
incorporated into refined plan that will be presented to the Active Transportation Committee
(ATC), Planning Commission and ultimately, the City Council for consideration.
This memorandum provides a draft summary of the activities and community input gathered as
part of the May 10th design charrette for ATC consideration. A final meeting summary will be
prepared and shared with the community via the Anholm Bikeway project website and project
email contact list within the following week.
Staff Presentation
City Manager, Derek Johnson, and City Transportation Manager, Jake Hudson, led off the
community meeting with an overview of the project purpose and need, history of planning efforts
conducted to date and an outline of the proposed ground rules and objectives of the design
charrette. City Transportation Manager, Jake Hudson, reiterated the following specific direction
in the Council-adopted Anholm Bikeway Plan with regards to the “middle section” of the corridor:
“Further evaluate Broad, Mission, Chorro and Lincoln Streets to determine if a Class III Shared
Street with traffic calming and diversion on Broad, coupled with measures to mitigate impacts on
Lincoln and other streets, is acceptable to the community. If a solution cannot be developed to
achieve established multi-modal goals, return with a plan for protected bikeways.”
Staff discussed the available “design toolbox” of traffic volume and speed management treatments
for attendees to consider when developing their own suggestions during the design charrette.
Draft Meeting Summary for 5/10/18 Anholm Bikeway Community Meeting Page 2
Community Design Charrette Input
Before commencing with the design charrette, attendees were first asked to identify their
overarching “hopes” and “concerns” for the project. Their responses are summarized as follows:
Hopes
• Project will include traffic calming and slow down motor vehicles
• Design will be safe for all street users, and maintain quality of life for residents
• Traffic diverters will not be required
• Plans will optimize traffic flows
• Planning process will be civil
• Responsible use of city resources
• Plans will focus on a complete street approach, with roadways shared by all users
• Implementation approach is thoughtful, deliberate, allows for testing
Concerns
• Potential increases in traffic on side streets
• Traffic diversion will create “winners” and “losers” amongst travel modes and/or residents
of various streets
• Design will be unsafe
• Impacts to property values
• Removal of on-street parking
• Traffic calming alone will not do enough to meet city’s multimodal goals
• Chorro Street carries an unequitable share of auto traffic
• Design elements will detract from the aesthetic quality of the historic neighborhood
For the design charrette, attendees were organized into 11 groups, and were provided large area
maps and other materials to help with designing their own desired plan for the “middle section.”
Below is a summary of the key highlights from the design charrette submittals that the various
groups presented:
• While the charrette ground rules explained that the design proposals should fit within the
context of the Adopted Anholm Bikeway Plan, requiring a Class III shared street with
traffic calming and diversion along Broad Street, only one (1) of the 11 groups presented
a recommended plan that included diversion. While several tables appeared to include one
or two participants who supported or were at least open to potential for traffic diversion,
the general response from residents was opposition for physical traffic diversion within the
neighborhood.
• Multiple groups stressed that a traffic calming package should be pursued as a first step,
and to avoid considering physical diversion unless community goals cannot be met through
other means. Others presented plans that included traffic calming only, but acknowledged
that this may not be enough to truly encourage shifts in mode share per the city’s goals.
• Several groups were not able to finalize a specific design proposal, either due to lack of
consensus within the group or due to challenges with developing a design that satisfied the
competing interests of various stakeholders within the allotted time.
Draft Meeting Summary for 5/10/18 Anholm Bikeway Community Meeting Page 3
• There was general agreement within the groups supporting some form of traffic calming
throughout the neighborhood to reduce motor vehicle speeds and reduce the attractiveness
of local streets to cut-through traffic.
• Several groups commented that the plan needs to improve safety and accessibility for
pedestrians, with higher-visibility crossings, lighting and accessible curb ramps.
• One group proposed the addition of a park near the US 101/Broad Street ramps.
• A couple of groups stressed the need for community education and enforcement to improve
safety and respectful actions by all road users. A couple of attendees suggested that all
bicycle travel through the neighborhood should be discouraged, instead forcing bicyclists
to traverse the boundary of the neighborhood via arterial streets and regional multi-use
paths.
• Several groups identified the desire for access restrictions and/or traffic calming on local
side streets and routes parallel to Broad and Chorro (i.e. Lincoln, Almond, Meinecke) to
avoid potential for increased cut-through traffic, regardless of what plan is pursued for
Broad Street.
• A few attendees asked about potential for revisiting previously considered design concepts
for the “middle section”, like a Lincoln Street bike route or a Broad/Chorro one-way
couplet configuration with dedicated bike lanes.
• Many of the groups expressed a preference for traffic calming measures that provided
potential for landscaping and/or aesthetic appeal for residents without significant
disruption to motor vehicle flows, such bulbouts and raised median islands/pedestrian
refuges—or what a few attendees appeared to call “diffusers”.
• When provided the opportunity to rank the appeal of various forms of traffic calming
devices through an interactive poll, attendees ranked the following design measures from
most appealing to least appealing without specific discussion of cost or constructability:
1. Median islands/pedestrian refuges
2. Bulbouts
3. Speed Humps/Cushions
4. Neighborhood Traffic Circles
5. Chicanes/Pinchpoints/Chokers
6. Diverters
Next Steps
As mentioned above, a final meeting summary, including staff presentation materials and photos
of design charrette group aps/notes, will be made available within the coming weeks on the
Anholm Bikeway project website and distributed to the project email contact list.
Staff will take current plans and information provided through the community design charrette to
the ATC for consideration on May 17, 2018, with plans to present refined concept plans to the
City Planning Commission on July 25, and ultimately to the City Council on August 21st, 2018.
G:\Transportation Division\_Transportation Pln Eng\_Current Projects\Broad St Bike Blvd\Meetings\8_ATC Meeting Middle Segment\Memorandum_Draft Design
Charrette Summary 20180517.docx