Integrated Transportation Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:
Date:
Time:
-
Location:
Room 247, Level 2, City Hall

Kerry Eaton (Chair), Tom Carrothers, Doug Benton, Tim Park, Ken Rutter, Jason Manayathu

Kayla van Zon, Claudia Segatore, Carm Piro, Councillor Shawna Stolte

Dan Ozimkovic (Transportation Technologist), Catherine Baldelli (Burlington Transit Manager of Planning and Business Services), Georgie Gartside (Clerk)

Catherine provided an overview of the 5-year transit business plan and alternative service delivery.

Committee suggestions:

  • add kiss and ride locations throughout the city.
  • allow pets to travel on buses (currently only service animals are permitted).
  • public engagement should include those living in the areas that are targeted for on-demand service.

ACTION:

  • Catherine to provide ridership information at the January ITAC meeting.

 

Dan shared the following updates:

Cycling Plan – plan is being reviewed by senior staff in transportation department. Next step is to take the plan to Council and aiming for early 2020. Cycling Plan looks at all roads south of Hwy 407 and includes better cycling network aimed for ages 8 to 80.

North Burlington Active Transportation Strategy – the strategy includes adding active transportation facilities on roads north of Hwy 407. Two open houses were held early in 2019 and great feedback was received. The consultant developed a map showing the proposed active transportation facilities. A second phase of engagement will roll out starting with an online component (target mid-January), followed by an open house in March. The purpose of the engagement is to see if anything has been missed.

Bike Share - Council directed staff to investigate bringing a bike share program to Burlington. The industry is changing rapidly - it went from regular bikes, to electric bikes, to e-scooters. E-scooters are not currently permitted in Ontario, but Ministry of Transportation is reviewing this. Staff plan to bring a report to Council early next year.

Halton Cycling Summit - held on Nov. 19 at Velodrome in Milton and hosted by Tourism Halton. The goal is to promote cycling across the region, not only for those who live here, but also from a tourism aspect. The group plans to get together once a year.

2020 Cycling Event - committee looking to team up with the Moon in June road race on June 6, 2020 and provide a fun cycling ride following the same route as the running race. Currently talking to organizer and city special event staff to move ahead with this.

New sidewalk warrant policy – city's current sidewalk warrant policy is over 20 years old and driven by data. When a local road is being reconstructed, pedestrians are counted during peak periods and sidewalks are warranted based on the number of pedestrians. However, residents may not be walking because there are no sidewalks. New sidewalk policy will connect people to places and look at different land uses in the neighbourhood to determine if sidewalks are warranted (schools, shopping centers, churches, etc.).

Elgin Promenade - a portable counter was installed on Elgin Promenade in October. Over 9 days, there were approximately 500 people daily using the promenade. The counter includes all active transportation users and doesn't distinguish between pedestrians, cyclists, rollerbladers, etc.

Kaylan was unable to attend the meeting and shared the following email update regarding the Integrated Mobility Plan:

  • the Request for Proposals (RFP) will be issued today.
  • section 3.0 of the RFP contains a detailed work plan. The SWOT exercise we undertook with ITAC back in September, and the data collected, was used in the preparation of the Terms of Reference.
  • tender will close after the holidays, giving consultants 4 - 6 weeks to prepare submissions.
  • internal staff team will be created to evaluate proposals (Transportation, Transit and Policy Planning).
  • staff will review proposals first week back from holidays - aiming to award the contract at the end of January.
  • initiating work on the Engagement Plan and Project Charter.
  • when engagement plan is drafted, it will be brought to ITAC for review and comment. 
  • external Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will be established and will include:
    • ITAC
    • Burlington Economic Development Corporation
    • Halton Region
    • City staff (transportation, planning, engineering) 
    • Public Health
    • City of Hamilton
    • HSR
    • Town of Oakville
    • Oakville Transit
    • Conservation Halton
    • Niagara Escarpment Commission
    • Metrolinx
    • Ministry of Transportation

ACTION:

  • Committee members to provide suggestions to Georgie of others to include on the external Technical Advisory Committee.

Doug said that the Accessibility Advisory Committee held information sessions over the summer at the farmer's market which were very successful.

Tom said the committee discussed the advisory committee review at its last meeting. Also, a sub-committee is currently reviewing four parks in the city to see how senior-friendly they are.

Tim shared the following:

  • SDC had an extra meeting this month to gather comments about the city-wide private tree bylaw and the Official Plan downtown policies.
  • feedback was submitted about the advisory committee review.
  • the committee has started a pilot project for submitting their feedback on SDC matters using an online file sharing program.
  • hosted an event at Central Library on Nov. 12 about climate action and had 50-60 people in attendance. 
  • Climate action report will go to the December 2 Committee of the Whole meeting.

The committee agreed to forego a meeting in December and get together socially.

ACTION:

  • Georgie to book December social and email details to committee members.

Kerry shared that the committee's feedback on the Official Plan downtown policies was submitted to planning staff. The downtown is where we need to focus on active transportation.

Georgie shared that there is a Planning and Development Committee meeting being held on December 5, 9:30 a.m. at City Hall, Council Chambers focused specifically on this topic. Committee members can attend or watch the meeting online. Planning staff and the consultant will provide presentations, delegations will be speaking and members of Council will be discussing the two concepts for the downtown. If anyone wishes to delegate and speak to the committee, they can do so as a resident and not on behalf of ITAC.