Session 06-07 a meeting of the
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Mary Calhoun,
ABSENT: Fred
Pfeil,
STAFF: Deputy
City Clerk Johnson
AGENDA APPROVAL
The agenda was approved by consensus of the
Committee.
SYNOPSIS APPROVAL
A.
There was no discussion.
The synopsis was approved by consensus of the
Committee.
PENDING BUSINESS
A. Boulevards
– Homer Area Roads
The Committee expressed the desire to postpone until
Committee members Pfeil and Smith are present. It was noted the current plan includes
definitions that were already researched, yet there may be technical issues to
resolve.
CALHOUN/STARK - MOVED TO POSTPONE BOULEVARDS –
HOMER AREA ROADS TO THE NEXT MEETING.
There was no discussion.
VOTE:
YES. NON
OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS
CONSENT.
Motion carried.
NEW BUSINESS
A. Shuttle
Bus for Homer
At a recent city council meeting Kevin Hogan
brought up the idea of a shuttle bus for the tourist season. Local shuttle bus entities may want to do a partnership,
as the costs are substantial.
Alternately it may be more cost effective to provide vouchers for
cabs. Kenai and Soldotna had discussions
of ride assistance and may have material available.
A Spit shuttle may not be in agreement with the parking
plan on the Spit, creating a need to integrate it into a parking
arrangement. The Committee would like to
talk to local shuttle operators to find out how practical and effective it
would be from a business standpoint.
Chair Marquardt asked for postponement to another
meeting to discuss with a full committee and come up with a strategy and
STARK/CALHOUN - SO MOVED, TO POSTPONE AND
INCLUDE ON THE NEXT AGENDA.
There was no discussion.
VOTE:
YES. NON OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
A. HARP
(Homer Accelerated Roads Program) Policies and Procedures for New Local Non Motorized Trails
The passage of HARP for sidewalks and trails
brings up new uses and trail expansion should be effective. Recently the City
Kenton Bloom, city resident, was invited by
Chair Marquardt to speak to the Committee on trails. Mr. Bloom stated the Bureau of Land
Management is coming to Homer on November 9th at
There are three classifications and standards
that diagram the City’s trail system, none of them including motorized use:
Tier 1 – inter-model (as in the Spit Trail and
the East Road Trail) associated with the highway and part of the DOT installation. In urban areas of town with sidewalks and
trails the gravel hard surface paths still fall under this tier.
Tier 2 – multi use path (as in the Baycrest Trail) with a range of 4-6 ft. wide. It has an improved surface that includes wood
chips or up to a 6” layer of gravel. It
would handle horse traffic, bicycles, walkers and snow shoers. Trails would extend through urban and rural
areas.
Tier 3 – 2-3 ft. wide foot path (as in
Neighborhood meetings will provide a strong
community outreach. There are statewide
grants up to $50,000 and adding trails to the CIP list enhances the chances for
improvements. Integrating a pedestrian
system within the city will enable use of HARP funds and federal grants can be
applied for. Currently trails are being
installed at the
The conditions for trails are:
*
Legal
access
*
Functional
*
Demonstrated
local support
*
Cost
basis support for overall connectivity
*
Grants
for funding
The City could fund the trail improvements as a
grant process as opposed to pushing the process through Public Works. There they would turn into Davis Bacon labor
with 25% to 30% administrative and management fees. Those types of trails may be in
At
Because the Trails Committee has not met since
February, a subcommittee may be needed to take up trails. Mr. Bloom has met with the Parks and
Recreation Commission regularly. His
feeling is they have never been effective enough nor have had reason to be
excited about their job. It is a hard
job, but they could be a lot more effective to make trails work. They could do the ground work for trails and
have public hearings. Empowering the Parks
and Recreation Commission a regular mission will give them a feeling of a voice
and make the commission more effective.
There will be more people that will want to be part of the trail
development process. The Parks and
Recreation Commission could determine:
*
standards
*
priority
*
community
outreach
*
funding.
The TAC has a wider perspective than trails and revamping
the Policy Manual is a substantial project.
DnR (David Scheer’s business) is looking forward to working with the
City in coordinating easements that are held outside the city limits. Currently trail easements are being placed on
plats and are not being documented by the City.
Mr. Bloom currently has 15 trail easements the City has not figured out
they have.
The Committee expressed their appreciation that
citizens are willing to help in the trails process. Folks with historical perspective can
integrate and pull together. Mr. Bloom brought out some great points and ideas
how the non motorized trail portion can be handled. The
Road Standards Committee (now known as the Transportation Advisory Committee)
was formed to develop a mechanism for operating the HARP program. There are many changes needed in the Policy
Manual to accommodate the addition of trails, new streets, sidewalks and other
transportation needs. The TAC will need
to determine how much will be allocated from the HARP program for non motorized
trail uses. The City Manager, Public
Works Director and City Planner will be invited to hash it out. The TAC needs to know the fund balance in the
program. How many roads will be
constructed or should a heavier portion of the fund be given to trails at this
time?
The TAC members are to write down the qualifiers and
priorities for local trails and get the numbers from the Finance Director. It was suggested trails may be obtained
through the LID (Local Improvement District) process.
A. Memorandum from Deputy Clerk Johnson, Re:
The regularly scheduled TAC meeting falls on the
Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving and the Committee discussed an alternate
day. By consensus the Committee agreed
to reschedule the November meeting to
INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS
A.
Public
Input on Question of the Week
The Committee discussed traffic signals versus stop
lights and street names, mainly the
PUBLIC COMMENTS
There were no public comments.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before
the Committee the meeting adjourned at
_________________________________
JO JOHNSON, DEPUTY CITY CLERK
Approved: ________________________