HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/07/2024 - Meeting Minutes SALT LAKE CITY
TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD
Minutes of the October 7, 2024 Meeting
Present from the Transportation Advisory Board Greg Sanchez, Jon Larsen, Josh
Stewart, Justice Morath and Steve Wooldridge.
Electronically present from the Transportation Advisory Board were Craig Buschmann,
Daniel Mendoza, John Close, Johnnae Nardone, Julie Bjornstad, Matt Gray, and
Matthew Morriss.
Absent from the Transportation Advisory Board were Isaac Astill, Miranda Bradshaw,
and Suzanne Stensaas.
Present were Oscar Arvizu, Troy Saltiel, and Becka Roolf.
Electronically present were Martin Cuma,Amy Lyons, Mary Beth Thompson, Mary
Sizemore, Heather Mclaughlin-kolb, Julianne Sabula, Orion Goff and Mike Atkinson.
The meeting was held both electronically and in person and was called to order at 4:03
p.m. by Greg Sanchez.
Welcome and Introduction of Guests — Greg welcomed everyone, and the guests
introduced themselves.
Motion: Daniel Mendoza moved to approve the minutes of the August 8, 2024 TAB
meeting and the September 16, 2024 Joint Meeting. Justice Morath seconded the
motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Public Comment — Oscar said he's been a Salt Lake City resident for over 25 years
and he's here to support the Rio Grande Plan. He believes this is a project that aligns
perfectly with the City's long-term goals. This plan could serve as a foundation for
future initiatives like the revitalization of downtown, the Green Loop, the Ballpark and
even the upcoming Olympics. It has the potential to be the central hub that connects
them all, driving economic growth, and making it easier to move people in and out of
downtown while reducing traffic and parking issues. In addition, the Rio Grande Plan
could complement future Transportation projects such as high-speed rail from Boise to
Las Vegas positioning SLC as a key hub in that network. This would also boost
development and profitability at TRAX stations throughout the valley. More
importantly, it would finally connect the east and west sides of the city eliminating the
frustrating waits for miles long freight trains to pass through our capital. He urged the
Board to support the Rio Grande Plan, which is a brilliant idea that is sorely needed for
the future growth of Salt Lake City and Utah as a whole.
Report Out — by Members
Justice would like to request having UDOT back to give them an update on the I-15
expansion. He's hearing rumors from the west side that there are houses needing to be
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moved, that they are being forced to move and he wants to know the legitimacy of that.
He'd like to see if that's happening because UDOT said in a prior TAB meeting that was
never going to be a requirement, it was going to be optional for some of the houses that
were impacted and potentially some backyards. He wants to make sure to get clarity as
to what is happening on the ground. Greg has also heard those rumors and would like
to hear confirmation. He suggested they reach out individually to the project team and
see what they can find out on their own to report back to the group. Justice thought it
would be better to have them on record with what the truth is. Julie asked what the
report out section on their agenda is and what the protocol for public comment is. She
said it seems like they have public comments in the beginning, but then certain public
comments get strong through the entire meeting whether verbally or through the chat.
She's wondering what the protocol is as it seems to be different than a City Council or
Planning meeting. The process was explained which is that they felt the public deserves
to offer feedback if time permits and that the public chat does not need to be addressed
during the meeting. If there is a question within the chat or within the public comment
period, it will be responded to at the bottom of the TAB minutes. Greg said public input
has been an ongoing discussion and then explained that the Report Out section is
basically for members to share, or report concerns they have heard or observed and that
are related to TAB or the Transportation Division. Greg said that on boo North in the
Rose Park/Fair Park area, they've had utility construction going on for a while. He said
they've taken up essentially the middle three lanes of 70o North by Redwood Road on
the east end. This is causing heavy trucks, essentially the bigger vehicles to turn right
and eat into the park strip which creates huge divots near a prominent bus stop. It's
prominent in the sense that there are always people waiting at this bus stop and he
thinks it's a safety concern for pedestrians and cyclists. He thinks especially with the
amount of unsheltered people they have walking in the area, it's kind of concerning that
construction vehicles are tearing up the park strip. He doesn't know what can be done
about it because they can let the construction continue and then have the company go
back and repair it. He does want to know if there is some way to cover or repair those
divots now so there aren't huge holes adjacent to the sidewalk where people can trip.
Jon said he would report this to Engineering and Greg could also report it on SLC
Mobile.
Capital Improvement Program (CIP), io-Year Capital Facilities Plan, and
Prioritization Process
TAB previously spoke about these topics including the new internal CAP Committee, the
recommendations they have made to the CDCIP Board, and the revised prioritization
process that strongly weighs capital maintenance as an interest of the City. It does
represent considerable change in terms of the prioritization process from prior years.
Becka went over a spreadsheet summary of the past three fiscal years showing a
summary of the requests as well as the rewards. Mary Beth said there will be a one-year
CDCIP application process, similar to what was done for FY25; however, by the end of
calendar year 2025, they will have an internal Capital Asset Plan that will hopefully be
for io years but definitely for 5 years. Finance is hoping to incorporate all maintenance
associated with all the inventory SLC owns. The CAP Team currently has four separate
work projects which are the Capital Asset Plan, the Capital Asset Maintenance, CIP
Applications, and software so they can track and update their plan annually. Johnnae
asked where the money for maintenance is coming from, and Mary Beth said they have
to identify the maintenance needs first and then figure out where the funding is going to
come from. Becka went over the CIP funding summary for FY23-FY25 and Jon asked
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for their thoughts on balancing the budget between maintenance and new projects. John
Close asked if there is a dedicated line item for maintenance and why maintenance is
coming out of a capital budget. Jon said there are ongoing maintenance activities to
help care for City assets. Where it comes into the capital budget is when assets degrade
to the point that maintenance no longer does anything. Johnnae is leaning heavier on
new projects to give people multi-model options and put less car strain on the roads.
Julie said that if they're expecting high pedestrian activity in an area, they should be
trying to make safer pedestrian crossings. Because something works for a bicycle does
not mean it will work for pedestrians. Jon asked them what level of complete streets
elements they think should be included when a street is reconstructed. Johnnae thinks
everyone would benefit from more of a definition of what the minimum requirement for
a complete street is. Jon said partly why he thinks it's ambiguous is because it's been
changing a lot. The minimum expectations have gone up as far as what people expect.
John said it would be helpful to receive a draft of framework for them to review and
respond to so they could move forward.
TAB Elections
Becka gave the members time to review the description of both the Chair and Vice Chair
positions. She explained the elections process and nominations began.
Chair —After the nominations, Becka proposed Johnnae as the new Chair. Everyone
consented to Johnnae as the Chair. Johnnae consented to be the new TAB Chair.
Vice Chair —After the nominations, Becka proposed Justice as the new Vice-Chair.
Everyone consented to Justice as the Vice Chair. Justice consented to be the new TAB
Vice Chair.
Invitation to WFRC Fall Workshop
Becka suggested that instead of a November TAB meeting the members attend a
Wasatch Front Regional Council fall workshop focused on regional transportation. She
thought it would be a good opportunity for the TAB members and WFRC thought it
would be a great idea and would be willing to let all members participate. It is an in-
person meeting and will be held at Millcreek City Hall from 4-6 p.m. on November 4th.
Motion: Justice moved to approve in lieu of the November meeting; they go to the
WFRC fall workshop. Greg seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Motion: Greg Sanchez motioned to adjourn the meeting; Justice Morath seconded the
motion. The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:36 p.m. and the next meeting of the TAB is scheduled
for December 2, 2024.
TAB WebEx Meeting Chat
Sabula, Julianne 10/7/2O24 4:33 PM • I'll add a few notes as Becka walks us through
this.
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Sabula, Julianne 10/7/2024 4:33 PM • Planning projects are no longer eligible for
capital funding except for planning activities that will lead to construction within three
years.
Sabula, Julianne 10/7/2024 4:34 PM • Some of the awards you are viewing for FY25
were added by Mayor or Council after the CAP Committee had made recommendations.
Sabula, Julianne 10/7/2024 4:37 PM • Signals fared much better under the new process.
However, inflation has impacted signals more than other project types, therefore, it will
probably be less common to see more than one or two signal projects funded in any
given year. E.g., HAWKs cost about $15oK a few years ago and are now coming in at
about $SooK.
Sabula, Julianne 10/7/2024 4:43 PM • Part of this is tied to Council Resolution 29 of
2017, in which the Administration was asked to focus on three priorities, one of which
was capital maintenance.
Sabula, Julianne 10/7/2024 4:45 PM • Capital maintenance is, as you noted John, the
result of too little funding for regular maintenance.
Sabula, Julianne 10/7/2024 4:53 PM • Local streets typically don't have striping and
generally don't carry bus routes, so a 'complete street' locally would sometimes need
only ADA ramps to comply with the CS Ordinance.
Martin Cuma 10/7/2024 4:54 PM • I will repeat this at the BAC meetings, but, recently
we started venturing around with our 6 y/o and her 11 y/o sister, experience from riding
with a 6 y/o (who made it from our house near 21S/17E to Library Square and back) is
that I'm comfortable riding with them on low volume neighborhood streets, and on
multi-use paths like Parley's Trail or 9S, or even buffered bike lanes on lower volume
streets like 30oE but, NOT on any streets with bike lanes,like 800S. So, my
recommendation for making an inclusive network would be to focus on neighborhood
byways (especially crossing busy streets, e.g. Kensington and 130o E), and on putting in
more multi-use paths.
Roolf, Becka 10/7/2024 4:54 PM •We have about 10 minutes remaining for this
discussion
Martin Cuma 10/7/2024 4:56 PM • Our route to Library Sq. was 150o E to 1700 S to
McLelland Tr, 900 S, 30o E. The scary part was crossing 130o E. on 1700 S, there's no
good way to cross 130o E north of Parley's Trail.
10/7/2024 4:56 PM • Everything else was great.
Troy Saltiel 10/7/2024 4:56 PM • Complete Streets for local streets should have safe
crossings where they intersect collectors and arterials. If it's unsafe to make a trip
because of a crossing, I certainly wouldn't consider it "complete" or that it works for all
users.
Sabula, Julianne 10/7/2024 4:59 PM • Julie has been trying to contribute.
Sabula, Julianne 10/7/2024 5:03 PM • Good news on the transit access to schools,
Justice. UTA recently added extra trips to bus routes that are at capacity at the
beginning and end of the school day.
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Martin Cuma 10/7/2024 5:03 PM • I'll just add that crossing big streets like 700 E or
Foothill requires extra attention. I like how the 9 line crosses 700 E. That was
comfortable to cross with the 6 y/o. Same thing for Parleys Trail and 700 E. That are the
only two good crossings in town I can think of. There's none such crossing of Foothill,
for example.
matthew- BAC (he/him) 10/7/2024 5:04 PM • "Complete street" feels very ambiguous
Troy Saltiel 10/7/2024 5:o6 PM • The current ordinance is way out of date and
incomplete
Troy Saltiel 10/7/2024 5:o8 PM • I used Smart Growth America's framework to rate our
policy and it gets a 17/100
Approved by Transportation Advisory Board 12-02-2024.
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