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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/13/2026 - Regular Minutes - Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Advisory Board MINUTES - AMENDED BICYCLE, PEDESTRIAN, AND GREENWAYS ADVISORY BOARD MEETING April 13, 2026 MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairperson Scott Shafer, Board Members Kathy Langlotz, Carla Robinson, Thomas Woodfin, Neo Jang, Matthew Jackson MEMBERS ABSENT: Joy Chmelar STAFF PRESENT: Assistant Director of Planning and Development Molly Hitchcock, Public Works Graduate Engineer Deanna Ordoñez, Transportation Planning Administrator Jason Schubert, Senior Planner Jesse DiMeolo, Staff Planner Joe Allen, Staff Planner Carl Ahrens and Staff Assistant II Grecia Fuentes AGENDA ITEM NO. 1: Call to Order, introductions and consider absence requests. Chairperson Shafer called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m. AGENDA ITEM NO. 2: Hear Visitors. There were no visitors who wished to speak. AGENDA ITEM NO. 3: Agenda Items. AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.1: Consideration, discussion, and possible action to approve meeting minutes. Board Member Jang pointed out a grammatical correction in how the initial motion read for Item 3.2 at the March 30th meeting. Board Member Langlotz motioned to approve the meeting minutes from March 30th with the correction identified by Board Member Jang, Board Member Woodfin seconded the motion, minutes were approved 6-0. AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.2: Public Hearing, presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding an ordinance amending the Comprehensive Plan by amending the Thoroughfare Plan and Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Master Plan to remove the future extension of Pavilion Avenue, a Minor Collector, between Sebesta Road and State Highway 6 South including associated future bike lanes and sidewalks. Administrator Schubert presented this Public Hearing. Administrator Schubert told the Board that staff recommended approving this request due to the changing conditions in the area. He said that staff felt the purpose of the backage road circulation was being accomplished. Board Member Woodfin asked if the road located behind the car dealerships was a private road. Administrator Schubert confirmed and added that it had a cross-access easement on it, and was different than the typical ones because it was constructed as a wide drive aisle and a sidewalk so it was more of a private street. This was required to be there in accordance with the city’s development ordinance to meet the cross-access requirements. Chairperson Shafer asked what the likelihood of that area continuing to develop was. Administrator Schubert said that the property would eventually be developed further to the south at some point and would likely add a new driveway that would connect to the frontage road. Chairperson Shafer said that theoretically the city funds dedicated for that stretch were no longer needed because the Big Six project by TxDOT would be taking place there. Administrator Schubert confirmed and said that a shared use path along State Highway 6 was now shown as funded because of being part of TxDOT’s Big Six project. Board Member Woodfin asked what College Station ISD had planned to develop in that area. Administrator Schubert stated that this was an application that was submitted by Mitchell & Morgan on behalf of the school district. He mentioned that they owned more than forty acres that included frontage and access to Sebesta Road. He added that they had different plans for the property but referred to them for further details. Chairperson Shafer opened the Public Hearing. Veronica Morgan, Managing Partner at Mitchell & Morgan Engineers, stated she was there representing College Station ISD. Ms. Morgan stated that the property was intended for an administration building and any other type of office facility. The property was not intended for a school and there was no intention of placing one in that area. She added that the use of this facility had been provided by the backage road and that the bike and pedestrian facilities would be accommodated by the shared-use path through a different route. Chairperson Shafer closed the Public Hearing. Board Member Jang made a move to approve the removal of the future extension of Pavilion Avenue, a Minor Collector, between Sebesta Road and State Highway 6 South including associated future bike lanes and sidewalks. Board Member Langlotz seconded the motion. Motion was approved 6-0. AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.3: Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding the upcoming Cycle with Council community bike ride. Planner Ahrens presented this item. Planner Ahrens informed the Board that the Cycle with Council was rapidly approaching, and a route for the event had been chosen. He told the Board that flyers were already in the process of being printed by the Public Communications Department. He also mentioned that this year the route was going to use Dominik Drive making it a little closer to five miles total in distance. After last year’s success there were several sponsors reaching out and wanting to join in this year’s event, which would be providing several goodies for the participants. AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.4: Presentation, discussion, and possible action on the draft Active Transportation Master Plan. Planner DiMeolo presented this item. Chairperson Shafer suggested taking out the first sentence on page 21 in the box titled, “What is active transportation,” that read, “Active transportation is human-powered mobility, such as biking or walking”. He pointed out that the last sentence in that same box described what it is, “Bicycle electric bikes, wheelchairs, scooters, skateboards, and even walking are all considered active transportation.” Planner DiMeolo said the verbiage used on this was taken straight from the United States Department of Energy website but could look for a way to modify it and perhaps start the quote on the second sentence instead. Chairperson Shafer asked staff if they had planned to bring back some ideas on how to improve safety on electric scooters. He said that this was requested by Chairperson Melissa McIlhaney in the previous City Council meeting. Administrator Schubert confirmed that there were future agenda items for staff and other departments to discuss options and share their thoughts on the topic. He added that there was an implementation of some of those components already stated in the plan such as Speed Management and Share the Road Campaign that would be embedded as part of the new Master Plan. Board Member Woodfin asked Chairperson Shafer if what he was asking was about policies on micromobility devices. Chairperson Shafer confirmed and said that there were several policies included, but he wanted to know if there were any policies specifically that they should be considering because of the safety concerns brought up in the crash data. He said the crash data showed that scooters were going up. He mentioned that he understood some of the things were tough to enforce, but some people were using basically electric motorcycles and riding them at 30 miles per hour on sidewalks and bike lanes. Board Member Robinson mentioned that there was a reference to the Texas Transportation code that prevented cities from excluding micromobility from any roadway or trail that allowed bicycles. She suggested that maybe the city could control other aspects such as the speed limit. Board Member Woodfin said he had asked this question about the policy at the last meeting and the response was that multiple city departments were scheduled to discuss it in June. He noted that the crash data analysis was missing some of the most critical takeaways relevant to the Active Transportation Plan, particularly those related to bicycle and pedestrian crashes. He recommended that staff point out safety issues identified by the data and propose ideas to address them. He also suggested incorporating the partnership with Texas A&M. Planner DiMeolo said that chapter 3 contained an analysis of the data and stated that other information could be added. Board Member Woodfin stated that the charts and maps are somewhat confusing, partly due to formatting issues. He explained that the presentation jumps between text and visuals, making it harder to interpret the data, especially in sections discussing pedestrian crash data like page 62. Planner DiMeolo responded and said that the later chapters would propose a new network map and plan to help address these issues. He said that they make some edits to make a clear reference in the analysis. Board Member Woodfin suggested using the “Floating and Colored Bike Lanes” as an example to improve pedestrian and bicycle crossing safety issues. Administrator Schubert said that in Chapter 4 stated in section “5.22”, that they would use the crash data to evaluate if improvements were beneficial which would allow staff to dive further to see all the different components. Board Member Jang made a suggestion of adding language on page 25 for “Goal 1: Enhance Safety for All Users” to read “ To define a measurable baseline for this safety, prioritize a ‘Primary Safe Route’ network within the 2-mile walk zone of K-12 campuses, establishing at least one continuous Level of Traffic Stress 1 (LTS-1, Low Stress) spine from these residential subdivisions to their zoned schools, ensuring these corridors are safely navigable for an unaccompanied school-aged child.” Planner DiMeolo said the goals on the plan were more general and was not sure where the best place to connect the language would be. Chairperson Shafer explained that the idea Board Member Jang suggested was more specific than a broad goal to help achieve a larger target. He said that this approach was not wrong, but it was just a different way of framing things. Planner DiMeolo suggested that staff could revise the pedestrian LTS to make it more accurate. Another idea would be to increase the weight of projects near schools receiveed in project prioritization. Board Member Jang showed the Board the Hazardous Exception information from the College Station ISD website, which read, “Students within two miles may be eligible if their neighborhood qualifies as hazardous under the district’s hazardous transportation rating system.” He stated that the school board discussed and voted on their list of hazardous roads. He clarified that during the 2024-25 school year, CSISD incurred $107,000 in costs unreimbursed by TEA to bus students who live within the two-mile radius but cannot safely walk due to hazardous conditions. He suggested that addressing these infrastructure gaps presents an opportunity to use local taxpayer funds more responsibly. Administrator Schubert replied by saying that citizens may not want to see kindergartners cross over State Highway 6 even if there was a shared-use path, therefore he would not suggest stating that a lack of facilities was the defining point. Board Member Jang stated that there was data that had very specific information including the street names when defining these hazardous roads. Chairperson Shafer said the Board would keep it in mind and suggested Board Member Jang to consider how his idea could be incorporated into the larger plan. He mentioned that existing plans included safe routes to schools that already encouraged this kind of understanding to improve things for students. Board Member Woodfin suggested adding CSISD specifically under 5.20 on page 51 or make the connection however appropriate to empower the plan. Chairperson Shafer asked what the staff’s timeline was to get this done. Administrator Schubert suggested having an additional alternate meeting that would allow more time for the Board to be able to discuss this further and have it finished in time. Board Member Jang expressed his concern to pass up an opportunity to make a difference in updating the plan this time around stating that this only happened every 8 years. Administrator Schubert responded that this was much different than the 2018 plan update as it is more of an overhaul to rewrite the language that had been used in the previous 2010 plan. He said he would like to aim to work on implementing the plan. Chairperson Shafer asked Board Member Jang what he was specifically wanting to stop and look into. Board Member Jang responded that he agreed that the language needed to be included, but maybe not in the goals themselves. He said he would make it his personal goal to look at how the language could possibly fit into the plan by the next meeting. Administrator Schubert said that ultimately the goal was to be further along by the time of the next meeting and have a more polished document rather than still looking into formatting and language of policy statements. He expressed the urgency of this timeline due to this document also being a part if the agenda packets going to the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council shortly after. Board Member Woodfin stated that from his personal point of view he appreciated the mention of the connection and partnership CSISD that were also going to be addressed. He said there should be sufficiently robust framework for future actions. AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.5: Presentation and discussion regarding the following items related to biking, walking, and greenways. a)Public Meetings of Interest – •Open House Meeting for the Active Transportation Master Plan ~ WednesdayApril 15, 2026 at 5:30pm in City Hall •Council and Transportation Mobility Committee ~ Tuesday April 21, 2026 at3:30pm at City Hall •City Council Meeting – May National Proclamation ~ Thursday April 23, 2026 at6pm in Council Chambers at City Hall •Cycle with Council ~ Saturday May 2, 2026 at 8am at City Hall b)Capital and Private Project Updates – No updates AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.6: Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding the Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Advisory Board calendar of upcoming meetings. a) May 11, 2026 ~ Bicycle, Pedestrian and Greenways Advisory Board Meeting AGENDA ITEM NO. 4: Discussion and possible action on future agenda items. A Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Advisory Board Member may inquire about a subject for which notice has not been given. A statement of specific factual information or the recitation of existing policy may be given. Any deliberation shall be limited to a proposal to place the subject on an agenda for a subsequent meeting. There were no inquiries for future agenda items. AGENDA ITEM NO. 5: Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 5:05 p.m. APPROVED: ATTEST: ____________________________ ____________________________ Scott Shafer, Chairperson Grecia Fuentes, Board Secretary Kathy Langlotz for Scott Shafer Kristen Hejny for Grecia Fuentes