Notes from VB Citizens' Voices on Transportation

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Notes from VB Citizens' Voices on Transportation – September 4, 2012

Notes from VB Citizens' Voices on Transportation – September 4, 2012

We met on Tuesday because of Labor Day. Both July and August meetings were canceled.

Present: Bruce Drees, Carolyn Caywood, Carolyn McPherson, Dan Koach, Nancy Craft, Todd Solomon. Bruce has a new email address: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Next meeting will be Monday, October 1, 5:30pm, Virginia Beach Community Development Corporation office, 2400 Potters Road, Suite 300. (Note: someone will need to take notes.)

Todd talked about next steps toward complete streets. Dan handed out a sheet on Complete Street workshops. Click on http://www.completestreets.org/changing-policy/workshops/ and choose the pdf. Complete Streets workshops are $8500 each, less if you have more than one. Envision Transportation did everything in the first workshop, so Todd thinks the logical place to focus would be the 2^nd workshop. The 3^rd looks like something that would happen after the policy is implemented. In the 2^nd workshop, “In a collaborative process, participants will:

* Contrast the ten elements of effective complete streets policies with existing policies and internal procedures
* Identify area complete streets goals and performance measures
* Create draft language for a customized complete streets policy”

The City is using Town Center as a model and feeding the concept into the SGAs, e.g. Oceanfront. Todd says Mark Schnaufer says there is not a structured approach, as of yet. Our question is whether a city-wide ordinance is needed, or zoning variances appropriate to each neighborhood, or what. Is there political support? Do Council members need to hear citizen support? How would a workshop be funded. Is ULI a resource? Our presumption is that the workshop is with a small (30?), invited group of diverse stakeholders. Interests like cyclists, public transit users, pedestrians, schools (childhood obesity), seniors and persons with disabilities would be represented. (No group apparently represents pedestrians.)

Dan will ask for an appointment with Barry Frankenfield and Jeryl Phillips. The purpose will be to investigate how to move forward on complete streets, to hold a Complete Streets workshop, to get an ordinance mandating complete streets. Another way of putting it is how is Virginia Beach coming along with implementing page 6-19 of the 2009 Comprehensive Plan? Todd stated it: “Has the first bullet (Create a definition and applicability for a Citywide Complete Streets policy) been accomplished and if not, do they think a workshop would be helpful in achieving or moving it along?”

Todd also reported on the meeting of mayors of the Virginia “Urban Crescent” that he and Jim Oliver facilitated. He will meet with Dwight Farmer to plan some kind of community discussion, perhaps using Idea-scale or other online format. Funding for transportation is the issue, given the financial cliff looming in 2017 when we run out of money. Carolyn M mentioned that TPO equivalents in other regions could be partners. She cited the HRTPO's CTAC (Citizen Transportation Advisory Committee). Aubrey Layne's letter to the Pilot was mentioned and the possibility of meeting with him to talk about funding VDOT.

HRT is putting together a citizen involvement plan and also an information campaign on light rail.

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