The Watershed Building in Hillsdale
6388 SW Capitol Hwy
Portland OR 97239
DRAFT
Attendance: Dave Manville, Don Baack, Hans Steuch, Sharon Fekety, Barbara Stedman, Virginia Hendrickson, Debbie Small, Lee Buhler, Andrea Wall, Glenn Bridger, Michelle Marx, Rob Wilcox, Michael Kisor
Dave called to order at 7:01pm.
Minutes: Don made a motion to accept the April minutes. Hans seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Agenda: Sharon made a motion to accept the agenda. Lee seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Michelle Marx PBOT Pedestrian Coordinator talked about the Portland Citywide Pedestrian Plan. She is the new coordinator for the plan. She does a lot of walking. The citywide master plan project called PedPDX will start in July. The last pedestrian master plan was done in 1998. The plan will prioritize sidewalks and walking paths, crossing improvements and other tools for a more accessible environment for every. They will complete the plan in 2018. Michelle said a lot has happened since the last pedestrian plan. Investment priorities are the most important aspect of the plan. The plan will include: goals & objectives, needs analysis and prioritizing strategies. Don pointed out that the Southwest Trails plan and southwest corridor plan should be included. Michelle said they would coordinate with the Safe Routes to School program.
Michelle said the Southwest in Motion program is on hold as the manager was transferred. PBOT will hire a new person to lead the project and it will move forward when that person is hired. Hans pointed out that this is the second time this has happened.
Michelle said they will have more needs than capacity and that is why prioritizing is important. Michelle said they want to think bigger than sidewalks and look at alternatives. Glenn said there are gaps that are un-walkable now and just because there are zero walkers doesn’t mean it would not be used if it was walkable.
Michelle talked about the implementing strategies and actions. Don said they have talked about traffic calming implementation other than speed bumps. Michelle said there will be a lot of public outreach efforts. They will also have several advisory committees. They have a Community Advisory Committee. They had 260 applications. There will be 24 people on the committee. They picked 3 representatives from each geographic area of the city.
The kickoff will be in July at the Grand Floral walk. Michelle invited people to join them.
Glenn asked about private right-of-way development. Michelle said she was talking about developer implemented walk ways.
Dave asked about extended shoulders. He said they were very functional. He said southwest is very different than other parts of the city. He said one size fits all will not work.
Rob said they have a lot of drainage ditches in the right-of-way. Michelle said they will look very closely at all low-cost walkways including extended shoulders. Rob said some right-of-ways are too narrow and it would be good to have a plan of record to refer to. He said it is also a problem to always develop walkways to be wheel chair accessible. Dave said it is important to capture streets that do not have many walkers today that would if there was a safe walkway. Michelle said they had more funding in Seattle than is available in Portland.
Don talked about several issues including:
- Major Trail Alignment put into the Comprehensive Plan last year needs major revision
- SW Urban Trail Routes need some modification
- City Council Approved List of Trails on Rights-of-Way to facilitate the improvement of trail segments throughout SW Portland
- Policy to classify Urban Trails in the same category as Neighborhood Greenways so we can take advantage of traffic calming and lower speed limits.
- Policy to allow marked crosswalks where Urban Trails cross major streets.
- Policy to give priority of Trails over parking on unbuilt rights-of-way and streets
Vegetation management - Policy on snow management
- Overlay for the Urban Trails
Don suggested they talk to Mark Lear about the Maplewood extended shoulders which have worked out very well. He said the Hamilton and Stephenson have not been done as well.
Glenn it is very important to get wisdom from visually impaired people. He said it was important to consider volunteer efforts in trail work. He said it was an inexpensive way to expand the workforce. Dave said SW Trails has a good maintenance relationship with Parks and it would be good to get the same for PBOT.
Barbara asked why Seattle is so well funded. Michelle said they have passed bonds for improvements.
Rob said it was important to have a way to handle trails that cross city boundaries.
Michelle said she would be glad to come to future SW Trail meetings.
Don suggested inviting a representative from the Safe Routes to School.
Rob Southwest Residential League has developed their priorities and are just waiting to SWIM to get going again. Don said the Homestead Neighborhood is going through the same process.
Sponsorship: Debbie moved that anyone who becomes a sponsor automatically becomes a member. Glenn seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Debbie suggested a structure allowing a monthly payment for a sponsorship.
Hikes: Sharon said Don will lead the June hike, Lee will lead in July and Hans will lead in August.
Signage: Hans will meet Sabrina at PBOT to discuss signage.
Advocacy: Don said he met with Michael Harrison from OHSU. The tram will be down for five weeks in July. PBOT is working hard to improve pedestrian routes due to this. There may be some improvement to the Whitaker trail. Don has talked to Commissioner Saltzman and staff about it.
Don took Denver Igarta and Alexis Gabriel on a walk on the 19th trail. He showed them some of the trail that needs to be fixed. They will have an open house and if there are no objections the work can start.
Don moved that SW Trails PDX would rebuild and maintain the trail on SW 19th from Fairmont to Council Crest. Debbie seconded the motion. The motion passed passed unanimously.
Work Parties: Dave said the work party for June 1 will be in Marshall Park on the Owl Creek Trail at SW 18th cross street Collins Ct from 9:00am to noon.
Events: We will have a booth at the Metro trails event on June 21.
Michael talked about the SW Corridor Plan. They have had several meetings. He has made some suggestions for the alignment to Bridgeport Plaza. He is suggesting a loop route.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:48pm
Respectfully submitted
Lee Buhler
SW Trails on Facebook
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