December 8, 2025 — Transportation Advisory Board Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:00] Alright, Jenny. All yours. Well, hello, everybody. Welcome to our Monday, December 8th meeting of the Transportation Advisory Board for the City of Boulder. Thank you so much for, Darcy, for chairing all of these months that I've been absent. I truly apologize, it's been a really difficult time for me, and I really appreciate everybody's understanding and support, and… So, I will do my best. I was just starting to chair, so I'm not very experienced, so… So, if you, Darcy, feel free to jump in at any time and assist if you feel that that is what we need. But anyway, so I will pass it over. For the technical rules, to, Veronica? Is… Okay…

[1:01] Thank you for joining the Transportation Advisory Board meeting. To strike a balance between meaningful and transparent engagement and online security, the following rules would be applied. This meeting has been called to conduct the business of the City of Boulder. Activities that disrupt, delay, or otherwise interfere with the meeting are prohibited. The time for speaking is limited to 30 minutes. No person shall speak except when recognized by the person presiding, and no person shall speak for longer than the time allotted. Each person shall register to speak at the meeting using the person's real name. Any person believed to be using a name other than the one they are commonly known by will not be permitted to speak. Please use the raise hand function to be recognized for public comment. If you're on the phone, you will need to press star 9 to raise your hand, and star 6 to unmute. No video will be permitted except for city officials, employees, and invited speakers and presenters. All others will participate by voice only. The technical host at this meeting shall reinforce these rules by muting anyone who violates any rules.

[2:02] The Q&A function is enabled. It will be used for individuals to communicate with the host. It should only be used for technical and online platform-related questions. If an attendee attempts to use Q&A for any other reason other than seeking assistance from the host, the city reserves the right to disable the individual's access to chat. Only the host and individuals designated by the host will be permitted to share their screen during the meeting. Thank you. Thank you so much, Veronica. And I think now it's time to open it up for public comment. I don't know if anybody's around, I didn't see anybody, but… Let's see, no one's currently raising their hand. So what's the protocol? How long do we… Wait until we move forward. Meredith, do you know the answer to that? We just… I would say if no one's in the waiting room, we could proceed.

[3:03] Okay, then… Having said that, we will move forward for our item number 4 for matters from staff. And that is all about the board's recruitment and the timeline, which is interesting and fun. So who's gonna do that, Blythe? I think I can cover that, Let me attempt to share my screen. Oop, sharing is not turned on, so I think I'm requesting that of you. Maybe, Veronica? Yes, sorry about that, let me… Okay. Is it working now? Yes. Perfect.

[4:07] Oh, that's the agenda. That's the wrong document. Sorry. Okay, I think that's the right document. Can somebody let me know that's visible? Yep. Okay, I'll run through this, pretty quickly. I think most folks on TAB are familiar with the process. There's a few things that are different this year. About our recruitment. Technically beginning today, and… At the end of the month, some outreach for staff and council members on availability for virtual interviews.

[5:01] Boards and Commissions Open House, which is citywide, on January the 5th. Application deadline for TAB is Sunday, January 25th. And then a series of other dates, virtual interviews. on Monday, February 2nd through February the 13th. And then Thursday, March the 5th, formal appointments made by the City Council. I'll just read these process notes, since also I am new to this process, in case it's helpful. City Clerk staff will assist the independent police monitor. I don't need to read that. That's not for us. As per the BRC Chapter 11, Section 211-12, POP appointments will be made by the City Manager. I don't know if that's related to us or not, I'm not sure what popped. Yeah, that's police oversight panel, so it's not… Thank you, Mike. And I skipped a couple of these items. I'm happy to cover any… anything that I may have missed, or any questions or concerns.

[6:05] of members of TAB. Yes, Darcy. Yes, do you know what the implications of the, open house are for the members of TAB? Who… How does that go? Someone who's had experience with it. I'll… I'll defer to anyone else. I do not know the answer to that question, Darcy. Meredith, how does… yeah, what happens with the open house? This year, they're running things a little differently. They… the city council has had a subcommittee to review, all things boards and commissions, and one of the things is In this open house now, Every board and commission is required to have representation, at least one staff member, and, one or more board members are encouraged

[7:12] It will be at, I believe, East Boulder Rec Center, and, the date is set, I think it's, yeah, January 1st, which is, I believe, the first business day of the new year. Yeah. in the afternoon, early evening, and they are asking us to have materials on hand, etc, and so… The board may want to entertain, you know, seeing if any TAB members would like to… to commit to Being there and talking with members of the Of the public who are resident, you must be a resident to serve.

[8:05] Yeah, thank you. My pleasure. And I… Sorry. Sorry, and I assume we're gonna get more information about this in the coming weeks, right, Meredith? So we can… I call a little B, and… I'm happy to send it out if we get something more. It's… everything's a little new. I can send out, a calendar appointment, if that's helpful. Yes. Yeah. To all of you. Okay, yeah. Thank you. Sure. I'm planning to attend the open house. As the staff representative. Wonderful, and I… and I can… 99.99% Commit to being there, so…

[9:03] I just have to have, like, the last little few details of the time and all of what that… Okay. else, but… but yeah. May I say one more thing about this timeline? It's, the whole process is accelerated this year. There was mention of spring break being earlier this year. formal appointments being made March 5th. mainly. I'm not sure yet. They have mangreen salt in, the March meeting Being the first, tab meeting that the new appointee should attend, usually it's April, so…

[10:02] That might be a new nuance, which would… would not give the new appointee much time To prepare, we'll see other goods. Michael has his hand up. Yeah, but not about that. Sorry. It is related. I was just wondering, where the questions come from, of the… of the applicants? You know, the question… this kind of standard set of questions that are put to the applicant, and whether we… Have any opportunity to provide input on those questions. They are using the standard set of questions that they used last year as approved. I believe by the, City Council subcommittee. Alright, so it's not us that… Gets involved in this. Correct. Correct. Thank you.

[11:00] Okay. Who… Does anybody else have any other questions? Valerie put in the chat the time for the open house. So… It's from 4 to 6.30pm, and it's at the East Boulder Community Center, so all community members hoping that are interested in boards, hopefully they can attend. Blythe, do you want to add anything else? Anybody? If not… Not from me. Thank you, Trey. You're welcome. So then we can just move forward with matters from the board. Oh, okay, thank you, Darcy. So the… So this is something that maybe you can take over, Darcy, because you did such a wonderful job. So Darcy drafted a letter for City Council. And she can take over.

[12:03] Sure. Would you like, would you like me to share my screen? Everyone should have received the… Yes, we did. …letter today. Okay. Michael, did you see the final draft? Okay, I know Mike got it. Hernand, did you get a chance to read over the draft? I don't see anything in my email. Okay, let me, meredith, would you send it to Ernon? Just now, and then I can share my screen, and we can look at it together. Oh, it was sent today, yeah, okay, I got it earlier. Sorry, I missed it, I didn't see it. Okay, let me, let me share here, and let me make it… bigger, if I can. Is that big enough? Would you like it to be bigger? I'm not sure if I can… Zoom it. You could probably zoom… let's see, is there a way to do it?

[13:00] Yeah, how do I zoom in when I'm, like, sharing? I'm trying to figure that out, because I don't see… Under View and Zoom. Oh, yeah. Gotcha. Thank you. Alright, let's do 150. How's that? That's good. Nice. Okay. Readable? Okay, great. So, basically, Thanks to, Mike and to Michael for working with me on this. Over the last couple of months, you know, we talked about a potential approach to this in October, and started kind of throwing some ideas out there, and, Mike added a few things, and then, I added a few things, and then, Michael kind of melded it all together, and I just made a few final edits, and I'm hoping that this communicates what we wanted to communicate, and so I'm hoping that this would be a pretty easy process, because we have discussed this quite a bit. Really, we just… we're… we're putting, four…

[14:04] ideas out there to Council about what they might prioritize that is relevant to the work that we've been doing and that we have an interest in going forward. this idea of a comprehensive signals policy. Of course, all of these ideas are pending, you know, staff time and energy and capacity, but I think… I think we got to a place where these… prioritization proposals are fairly aligned with work that is already happening in transportation and mobility, and or, you know, that could be complementary. So this idea of a signals policy to really, make it clearer how people should behave at intersections, and to really move into those Vision Zero objectives. You know, a lot of

[15:00] Crashes that we hear about have to do with, people… Signal issues, you know, people… crashes at signalized intersections. So this kind of proposes that there should be a deeper examination of those policies and setting new standards for the frequency, timing, duration of crossings. Also really, creating more leading pedestrian intervals, and, you know, strategies that we know really work to keep vulnerable road users safe. So that's the first proposal. The second one is this idea of a communication strategy that we talked about before. The city, you know, transportation and mobility has project webpages for all of the projects that are happening, for the core arterial network projects, even the transportation maintenance fee, all these new things. Everything's got a web page, and there are,

[16:04] Occasional press releases, but what we discover in the course of community engagement and following engagement processes is that people still don't really understand, often, what the implications of these projects are, how they're funded, what the status of funding is. There are so many misunderstandings out there about. How these projects are being done, and what the prioritization is, how they're funded, all that stuff. So, just to really We're emphasizing that it's so important that, the city and transportation mobility are really given the green light to do a comprehensive communication strategy, just to keep awareness out in the community about what's going on, what it means for them,

[17:00] and again, the funding status and all those things. I think those things are really key. So, we mentioned here, you know, a holistic communication strategy that's distinct from project-based community engagement, because there's a lot of engagement that happens, which is fantastic, and the transportation and mobility staff are incredibly skilled at community engagement. This has more to do with the, with what follows on those processes, and what's happening between processes, and projects, and really helping people understand what those projects are all about. So, That's another priority that we're putting out there. And especially as things like the transportation maintenance fee come online, it's going to be really, really important for people to understand that deeply and fully, because it has different implications for different community members. Then we also put in here, the… an eModo School Safety Project. Now, we know that Transportation Mobility is already collaborating with the Boulder Police Department and BVSD

[18:02] There's a web page, there are some strategies that are happening, and again, at the same time, we see a proliferation of these illegal. devices used by young people, who are unlicensed, and with… on vehicles that are unlicensed and unregistered. And so. We're… what we're looking for and what we're proposing here is, something bigger than what's already happening, or something different than what's already happening, that can really get to that problem of young people on illegal devices. Illegal, not street legal devices. There are lots of street-legal e-bikes, and so this is about education, but it's not just about education. It's also about enforcement, and it's also about, this idea of, you know, really encouraging a safe systems audit of the transportation infrastructure at local schools. We need to understand, you know, is there sufficient capacity for locking up

[19:08] regular e-bikes, Class 1 e-bikes, is that safe parking? Is there a way to really clarify what is legal and what's not, you know, at schools? So we're putting this out there as a priority because it's, it's really, really important that families and that young people And that school personnel understand, that these devices are not legal on our streets. And, you know, while encouraging the use of street-legal e-bikes, because those are fantastic and really help young people get where they need to go. So we want to encourage, of course, the use of two-wheeled, electric devices, as long as they're street legal and okay for young people to ride. And we can teach them how to do that in a safe way.

[20:03] And then finally, this idea of an updated and simplified parking geometry standard, So, this kind of harkens to the first recommendation that has to do with a policy that we'd like to see enacted about how, Parking stalls and, EV charging and, the places that people can store vehicles, Are designed, and making sure that those are appropriate, and that they leave room, plenty of room for multimodal, access. And, yeah, more space-efficient design, as we say here. And then we just, you know, end with commending the Transportation and Mobility Department for all their great work, because we know that they do fantastic work. And so that's… I got it down to two pages, and I'm happy about that, because we started off with a very long letter.

[21:03] And so I think two pages is reasonable. I couldn't get it done to one page without cutting too much. So, let's have a discussion about this. Is this acceptable to you? Is there anything missing? Do you think that this adequately And accurately communicates what we discussed before, and really kind of articulates what we want to say to Council. jump in. I think this is really great, and… more accurately, represents our point of view than the previous version. One thing I had some confusion was going through, .3, and it starts out talking about eModos, and then… on, I guess, the third sentence, it… It's unclear, but it's really shifting to… Just to talk about schools on a larger scale, so…

[22:05] I don't know if the introduction to that should be… More, covering… schools, rather than jumping right in on eModos, or also, we could consider, like, after it says, we encourage, put a colon and then just put two Bullet points for the… The next… the end of that sentence and the following sentence. Okay. That would kick it into 3 pages. But not scientists. It's fairly strategic to keep it in paragraph, one paragraph form. More than… But I understand, I mean, for readability, yes, I think… can see Mike's point of, or his, you know, point of confusion. Yeah. Strikes me as something we need to address one way or the other.

[23:02] Well, okay, so, I, I, I understand what you're saying. And… I think it was important to acknowledge that there is already work going on. So, you know, they're… Everyone's very aware that this is a problem, right? And there are certain things that are… certain things that are being done to address that. And I think our recommendation is this part. We encourage a safe systems audit. Because what… We can… what we can offer is that it's likely that The city needs to have a little more of a hand in signage. In… bike parking availability, things like that. You know, what we're seeing also at schools is, like, a crush of, you know. bicycles and e-bikes and e-motos. And so, part of that is BVSD, and part of that is Citi.

[24:08] So, I mean, yeah, I'm not sure what to do about that. I mean, I thought it was… I thought it was clear that this is what we're recommending. We're acknowledging the problem at the top. Then we recommend an audit, and we propose more communications. I guess what confused me is that it starts out all about emotos, and then the first recommendation has to do with bike racks, so… Clearly, that's kind of a different subject. Yeah, I'm wondering… Yeah. You can, if that would be clear, if we flipped some of these sentences around, right? So instead of, we further propose, moving that stuff up, and then saying, in addition, you know, we're recommending this audit, so that the recommendation around the education And enforcement component comes first, and then the recommendation around the Safe Systems Audit.

[25:04] Come second. Nate, would you think, Mike, that would clear it up for you? Because I think I see where you were coming from. It's all about emotives, and then suddenly you jump into an audit, a sentence about audit. So you're saying that, make the last sentence the third sentence, and… Yeah, I may need some massaging to, you know, to… Yeah. But, yeah. At least in terms of the work it's performing, move it up there. Sure. Okay, Can you give me a clear directive? I can… I can move things. I just don't really… Okay, let me, let me… What do you mean? Meh. So… Yeah, after.

[26:00] After this… a suggestion. How about if you go from… there's a growing concern in the community about the dangers posted by high-speed throttle, da-da-da-da-da-da-da, and then from… and there, that's where you insert Darcy. We propose… Oh, God, where'd it go? Last sentence, we propose a… -H I bet that. Comprehensive, yeah. But the second sentence is also on the same subject, so… Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and then you add what we're proposing, which would be the audit. Yep. And then you talk about the dangers and what the police and Boulder Valley are doing already. Kinda like to conclude and round it up. Okay, I just noticed I'm gonna have to stop sharing for a sec, because I have to switch accounts to edit, so let me just do that. Let me go in here.

[27:03] If you broke it off into two points, you said. Yeah. Don't have room anymore. I mean, you could put a… I guess we could put our names in one line, you know, just, coma, coma… Like, that will… that will save you… I'll give you… Or do, like, a back in school and mess with the margins. That will give you a paragraph there of space. It'll be a little bit tight, but… Font size, anyone? Hmm. Yeah, you have to be sneaky. If it's 12, just make it, like, 11.8, you know? Okay, now I can edit. Okay, so I'm going to say… okay, we're gonna… Start with the last sentence, correct? or move it… No, after we further… Second or third.

[28:00] No, no, I'm gonna… Yeah. Second sentence should go first. I don't see how that makes sense. Okay, okay, hold on. Alright, let's just get clear about what this is about. So, We… can't… everybody knows, so we're stating the problem, right? We state the problem that is known. There's a known problem here. The first two sentences are a statement of a problem, and then I think that could just be followed by, we encourage colon… And then something related to the last sentence. Yeah, I mean, that's what… That sounds great. It makes sense to me. Like, to me, this is the best order of the sentences, so I'm having a hard time conceptualizing changing it to make more sense, because I don't think it would make more sense to switch it around.

[29:06] I think the only thing that makes noise to them, Darcy, is that this sentence about, like, how Boulder Rally and the Boulder Police Department are working on the… I mean, I don't know, maybe we could just say… Yeah, I mean… I mean, it starts out all about emotos, and then suddenly it's about schools, and I didn't… associate those… Well, because… But we say that it's about children. Yeah, I mean… young people… they're, like, the culprit, or not… I mean, I hate to use that word, but they're, like. We need to mention them, because that's basically where the problem… We… could we do something like, okay, like, I feel like the intro is really good, Like, there is this community concern, children under 16,

[30:02] So I think that prolong defamation is good. then… I feel like… I feel like we're suggesting a two-part approach, where… Wang is kinda, like… we're stating… I guess our support, right? I mean, that's why we mentioned it, like… like, we support the efforts of the… of staff, and the Boulder PD, on BBSD, And then I think, like, the second thing is, like, the second approach. It's to, like, to improve the safety, we recommend this audit. So I feel like there's two ideas there, but, like, they need a little bit of… I mean, I think, like, yeah, I think maybe we can just keep it as one section, because they are related in the end, actually, but… State that this is a problem, and we have a two-part approach, kind of, like… Support the…

[31:06] Can you guys read what Darcy just wrote? Because I think you fixed it, Darcy. I think you did a really good job with what you just did. Well… My issue was that… The third sentence… suddenly is talking about bike racks at schools, where previously it was all about emotos. Right, because there's nothing… because the solution is to provide more resources for the things that are actually legal, right? The solution is to create a better environment for people to use legal devices, right? And we know that there is a problem with sufficient bike parking at schools. We also know That, there isn't adequate signage, and there isn't anybody… there's not sufficient staffing for people to be out there saying, you can't bring that thing onto campus.

[32:00] the schools don't have the capacity to do that, right? That would be ideal. It would be ideal if they had monitors saying, you can't bring that thing onto campus, you need to take it home and come back a different way. you know, we can't do that, right? So, we have to, rather, encourage communication, better resources for things that are legal, and to, provide signage and other things. You know, the city could provide signage, right? So, these are the solutions that are reasonable. If you have other reasonable solutions, please propose them. I'm just gonna massage this here, because I said… I'm thinking… I was actually thinking that, BDSD and the city would sort of analyze what solutions are reasonable. It may vary from school to school. Like, I know some schools, they have a monitor out there, on the street at the beginning of school and at the end of school, and those folks would be in a perfect position to say, hey, that thing, you know, that thing doesn't come on campus.

[33:04] But maybe that's not the best strategy, maybe the, you know… because those things get locked up on bike racks, right? And, so, you know, probably police department could come by at any point in the day, and, you know… look at the bikes that are… look at the vehicles that are locked up and determine which are legal and which are not. So, I don't know what the strategy is, what the best strategy is, I'm just thinking that, like. this is a thing that needs to get tackled. That's… so… but I do take… I think I… I mean, I guess I would probably be less thrown with the revision… by the revision as it is now than I would have been before. Right. I think this addresses it, yes? So what about, you know, the part in the parentheses, putting, bike racks last. Say, clear signage about which e-bikes are allowed, and improved bike racks. Yeah, that helps.

[34:05] And I think the part where you conclude with greater communication about the illegality of emotos, I think that's super important. I think that parents need to understand before they go and spend their money. what they're buying, you know? I think that there's still a lot of confusion about what these things are, and… you know, the fact that they're still being bought for children is just very disturbing to me. Yeah. Okay, do you think that's sufficient? I, I think so. Okay. Could we be a bit more explicit, though? I feel like it's still… What else would you like it to say? Let me… one thing, let me type it.

[35:00] Because, I mean, like. e-models and e-bikes, I mean, they will be… they're like electric vehicles, but they're separate, right? Like… Yes. I feel… I feel which I'm… okay. I mean, what's really good is that Darcy starts by defining what an emoto is, so there's, like, a clear definition. I think what you're getting after is there, whoever's moving that cursor. Me. That's me. Clear signage about which e-bikes are allowed. That's what I thought. I mean, I just… when we were talking about this, and we were kind of throwing different ideas around, it's like, there's… there's a lot of work happening, right? We're featuring a panel about this at our Connect Boulder meeting on Thursday. Like, we know that there's a lot happening, right? And…

[36:05] it's just that there's probably more that can be done, and that obviously needs to be done, because this is a growing problem, right? It's not going away, it's actually getting worse. So, yeah. Okay. sufficient? Yes? Yes. Hernan, is there anything else you wanted me to add? No, I think it's fine. Okay. I mean, if there is something, say, speak now, or forever hold your peace. Because we're gonna send this thing, and we're gonna vote on it, and we're gonna send it. Yeah. Feel free to chime in at any point. Okay, and then the geometry standards. Parking geometry. And that hasn't really changed since the prior draft, right? Right. I just had minor comments on the first page. Sure.

[37:01] The second paragraph, serious injuries of people walking and rolling on our transportation infrastructure just, makes people wonder what… is that limiting? We're just saying walking and rolling, and what does rolling mean? And maybe we should just remove the walking and rolling, and just say people on our transportation infrastructure. Sure. No, I disagree, because I think that by doing that, you're kind of, like, diminishing like, I think there's been a lot of work to kind of really speak about the vulnerable road users that use our multi-use paths, and by, like, just… rolling could be… whether you're… you're cycling, or you could be on a wheelchair, so… Or a scooter. Or a scooter, yeah. So, I think it's… it's good to… Well, I think we're also concerned about people in motor vehicles, right, and buses, right? Yep. Yeah, I thought that's what Mike was after, fatality data, yeah.

[38:04] Okay, yeah, it goes. We do mention vulnerable. We mentioned vulnerable road users elsewhere. Yeah. It's interesting how now, we're not mentioning motorists. Whereas before… Okay. Interesting shift. Yeah. Well, and here we say vulnerable road users. I bet. And I think we do… I think this really does emphasize… the whole letter really emphasizes our focus on Vulnerable people, especially people walking and crawling. People outside of vehicles. Cyclists, pedestrians, Yeah. Okay, anything else? Are we ready? Is this sufficient? Do you like it? One more thing, just to… Okay, if you don't. Please. No, I like it. Just a technical thing about,

[39:00] Capitalization of a core arterial network and transportation maintenance fee. Yes. They should not be capitalized. Oh, really? Yep. I… That surprises me. I mean… From my perspective as a… Adherent to the… AP guide, they should not be capitalized, because they are not… I mean, maybe the CAN has there's more case to capitalize core arterial network than there is transportation maintenance fee. They're not, I mean, they… they're… they're policies, but they're not, like. Proper names, you know, they're labels, they're not proper names, yeah. I mean, if you want… I know you… if you want them capitalized, I'll capitalize them. I just… I just think it's kinda…

[40:04] You sound like a more sophisticated grammarian than me, so I'll defer… I mean, if you'd like them to be capitalized so that they call attention to themselves, that's okay. You know, that's… because that's what that does, right? It calls attention to itself. Oh, okay. So I guess I have a few questions about, 0.2. Yes. So, what… when you were writing this, like, what were you envisioning for 4.2? Like, are we talking a newsletter? Like, like, a magazine. Oh. like, the, you know, the City of Boulder sense, like, I'm not sure… Yeah. So, the strategies that are currently employed, right, are websites, community meetings. The, the community newsletter.

[41:02] Yeah. And project-based newsletters. And all of these are really good and important strategies, right? And they're part of the communications team. It's their work plan, right? And they're really good at what they do. And there's still gaps in knowledge and awareness, as there will always be. But I guess I wanted to… As acknowledging those gaps, And looking for new ways to fill them. Above and beyond the existing communication strategy. I mean, it's a really good question. It's an important point. What does this mean? And… . And in an early. I guess I would like the… yeah. In an earlier iteration, you had, you know, something like the dashboard idea, I thought? Am I misremembering that? Yeah. And so, when I was trying to meld the two different letters.

[42:08] I pulled out the detail that you're asking about, Hernan, purposefully, because I didn't think it was… Wise for us. to tell them what to do. I want communication experts to tell, you know, city staff, like, how to do this. they can probably discern what techniques are going to be most effective, whether it's a dashboard, or a series of fact sheets, or videos, or, you know, who knows? There are professionals who work in this field, and who could probably advise them much better than At least I could. And so that's why I kind of pulled that detail out of this, in the hope that they'll figure out what works. But just flagging that there is a need here, right? That there is misunderstanding, and a lack of awareness around a lot of their work that needs to be addressed before, it causes us problems.

[43:08] And I think. You know, what… Go ahead. I just wanted to, like… I think that that's a really, really smart point, that we… we are not gonna be able to, kind of. more than what we're suggesting, go further and say, well, this is what we we think should be done. However, there is this deficiency, and that there's this lack of understanding, and the more support we have within the community for these projects, and why they're being built, and why they're prioritized, and what, you know, purpose they… fill, and the timelines. I mean, I think all those things will eventually make people allies of these projects, right? So, and I think that's what we want. But yeah, I'm happy with how this looks, and… That's all I have to say. Oops.

[44:04] Tom. Does that answer your question, Edna? Are you… Troubled by it. No, I think my only suggestion will be, and this is up to you guys, instead of using understand, maybe say. Do not have the information. Because understand implies that maybe they do know, but they don't understand why it's good for them, like, it's a little… It could come off as condescending, rather than just… What about transparency? transparency and data lacking. Like, they just don't have the knowledge, or they don't have information. Or have, like you said, gaps, maybe, or have knowledge gaps about… What corridors are included? What improvements are planned? Yeah, I can… yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, I think it's a little, yeah, more neutral. I agree. I think… I wrestled with understand. I thought maybe that was not the best word. Many residents still do not have a complete picture of what corridors include, what improvements are planned, how projects are funding… funded, and…

[45:06] Stop. And then say… and say how these investments may benefit them, maybe, rather than… Yeah. Benefit them. Right. Right. Yeah, I think that's good. Yeah, I think that's good. I'm happy with that. Thank you. Yeah, thanks, thank you, that was, that was really good. And then, point 4 I like, but I'm not sure if I'm getting the right idea, like… I think, upon the first read. I just have more like, I don't think it needs to be changed, I think it's just for me, if you guys can explain it. It's not like, oh, like, you know, make parking spaces smaller. But what else, like, what's the motivation behind this? Mike? I think it's, to avoid, Wasting space on… Parking, allow more flexibility, and,

[46:11] To not, make everything for the largest vehicles. Is that, like, Is there a regulation that says, like, like. All the parking spaces have to be this size, and there's no flexibility to make some spaces smaller, or… Like, different size of spaces, like large vehicle, medium vehicle, small vehicle. Like, what are the current geometry standards? Yeah, yeah, and this is more like, I'm not informed, so I kind of, like, want to know, because I know sometimes, like, you know, I see some, oh, compact vehicles, you know, like, smaller spaces. You have, like, the ones painted green for, like, EVs. Like, again, I think, like, what are you guys envisioning with this?

[47:01] Oh, what was the, like… Just, like, a revision of, like, you know, like, if everything's still up to date, and… try to find gaps in the… in the regulations and the codes, and try to find… make changes on that? Is that the idea, more or less? Yeah, I think it also has to do with street width and, I mean, things like, you know, this idea of backup distances, you know, that has a lot to do with how parking is integrated onto a streetscape. And, We… we'd love to see Boulder do what some other cities are doing around Reducing excessive pavement and, providing parking within Limits that help to create more Streetscape and landscape for other things.

[48:00] I think. But I… saying that, I… don't have… I'm not really sure how the current parking geometry standards are functioning, how the… how transportation and mobility feels about the current parking geometry standards, given the, Parking reform and, you know, other things that… that we're… we've undergone recently. And also, like, okay, like, with the new parking reforms, like, what does that look like, or what is… Yeah. Because, you know, when you change something, it's like, oh, maybe let's go back and revisit this topic, and… Yeah. Well, exactly, and so, yeah, by eliminating parking. Minimums, you know, we create… we create the opportunity to reuse some space that would have gone to parking otherwise, and so I think this, this sort of speaks to how to create policies to manage that. Lithe, please weigh in. I'm tucking myself into a corner.

[49:09] Thanks, Darcy. I wasn't sure if that was a place for me to weigh in yet, and also just to acknowledge my newness as well, but, speaking for myself, I think Geometry standards are worth changing. I do think there's some things that I can't speak to, because I think a lot of the work Just to restate sort of the premise here, again, with my newness, this is a letter you all are working on, thank you, by the way, that's going to go to the Council. Let's assume that the Council adopts all these priorities in their priority making. Then some of these items, number 4 included. would very likely involve some input from Planning and Development Services. And frankly, I would probably lean heavily on them, because I think, in many cases, these geometric standards Maybe most cases, and you all tell me what your intention is, would apply to off-street surface parking lots, which would probably be more directly in.

[50:00] There you go. in their line of work. Now, I think… citizens don't care whether it's P&DS or transportation and mobility, what they care about is, you know, sustainable, safe transportation. So… whether or not it fits in one department or another doesn't matter from my perspective. But then, I guess, to answer your question, Darcy, I do… I do think this is helpful, but I also think there's a certain amount of it that would have to be shared By another department that isn't represented tonight. Yeah. I don't want to say that as a bad thing, I just say it as sort of answering your question. Yeah, thank you, appreciate that. Yeah, because, right, the whole, kind of, AMPS strategy, you know, involves planning and development services, of course, because it has to do with, you know, how we, yeah, how parking is integrated into projects. So, you may kill me, Darcy, about this. But, I was, as I re-read this now, It doesn't quite hit

[51:01] kind of what my motivation for wanting this in there, was. Not… at least not so clearly. It's kind of… it's touched on, but not… not directly. So, this… the value of space efficiency in parking, is that it creates more room For infrastructure to serve other modes. And… and we… that's suggested there, improved safety for people walking and biking. But God, I wish there was a way to hit that a little more directly, because kind of what I was envisioning is… is… A strategy to provide safe and protected ingress and egress in these parking lots, right? That's, like, for me, if I'm going to the Table Mesa Shopping Center. you know, I may have pretty good infrastructure getting myself there, but then once I get into that parking lot, it is no man's land. It's like cars going

[52:04] this way and that, and it's very stressful. Yeah. That's the kind of place where I'd love to see some parking geometry come… Adjustments combined with improved protection for vulnerable road users, happen. So one enables the other, but. Yeah. Sounds like we're not… at least in my way of thinking, we're not hitting in the second. No, I appreciate that. So I just put that in there. Provide safe and protected ingress… reading. Yeah, provide safe and protected ingress and egress for people moving through parking lots. Yes, I love it. Yeah, I think that's an important point here, because it's not… it's in addition to safety for people walking and biking around, so I… I'm picturing the Table Mesa parking lot in my head, right? Because we've got… you've got the… you've got the Broadway path, right? You've got people walking and biking on Broadway, and you've got people coming in and out of…

[53:01] Table Mesa Shopping Center, and it's a mess. And then you've got, you know, and that… that parking lot was recently re… redone, right? And so they did create some pathways for people. between parking aisles, but not a lot, and it is… it still feels really dodgy if you, you know, if you're trying to walk through the parking lot, right? So, yeah, so I think that's a really important point. Thank you for adding that. Okay. I think that hits it. Yeah, I appreciate that. So, but as you were typing as I was talking, so that addresses it. For me, anyway. And, what would that look like, like, Again, this is an informational question, like, because those are private property, right? Like, what else… what leverage, or what can the city do, like, in terms of regulation or enforcement? Maybe this is more a question for staff.

[54:01] And I always. Right, so those… yeah. Go ahead, go ahead. I… if other staff want to weigh in here, if I don't hit this, but I… I definitely understand, Ernan, that, any new development would come before our planning and development services, and would conform to the guidelines and the BRC as it relates to geometry standards. So that's one way. What I don't know is how that's enforced for parking lots that are already in play. Perhaps somebody on TAB knows that. Yeah, because I would be interested mostly in that. I think what Darcy said about, like, yeah, that, bike path on Broadway. You know, and you have the people coming out of, the Whole Foods, and… It can get a little… it can get a little dicey there, you know, sometimes people go a little bit too far… too forward. Unblock the path. And when I'm biking there with my kids, I'm always like, you know, hey, stop there, you know, make sure you stop there, and, you know, look around, because it's not… I don't feel like it's 100% safe.

[55:02] Under some existing development, right? So, yeah, I just… Informational question again. So, one way that I think what Hernan's concerns could, like, be addressed with would be additional signage. I mean, I've been on that bike path on my bike, and I've literally, like, had to put my hand on, like, people's hoods just because they come out too far into the bike path. But I think that they're not really understanding that there's two-way traffic. that they have to be looking out for. I mean, it depends. If you're here and you're a resident, then you're used to that parking lot and that whole entire, like, dynamic. you know, it's more… it's something that you've grown to expect, but for someone that's from a. Yeah. I mean, they're not really looking out, they're looking out on Broadway, and if you're lucky, they're looking out on one way of the bike path, right? So it's kind of like maybe additional signage, kind of making people, drivers, aware of what's happening that may not be familiar with the space.

[56:09] But I think, yeah, that that is really… and… The people at the running store have shared with me how many near misses they see on a regular basis in that intersection where people come in. It's just… you know, but… complex, you know, type of environment. So maybe, yeah, signage. even painting, like, there's wonderful art that we could do on the road, and on the path, and on the, you know, actual parking lot. I mean, there's so many different strategies, but it's good that we're just pointing out that there is an issue, right? And… Yeah. Well, and updated standards really could, you know, they could apply to new developments that are also subject to the Transportation Demand Management Ordinance, you know, where other… where there's reduced parking and

[57:00] Greater access to active modes, and transit, and so we're… I think just… recommending prioritizing these standards is really important right now, as we move into implementing the TDM ordinance, right? And because we're going to have to rethink parking lots, really. Yeah. What were you gonna say, Michael? Oh, well, the issue that Hernan was pointing to about the crossings in front of Whole Foods, not sure how you get at that through parking geometry, per se. Yes. But, but, I mean, you know, maybe there are reconfigurations that Reynolds would be interested in, if they had more room. And, you know, what I was thinking of, for example, in terms of the kind of things that could happen with changed parking geometry and therefore more space. Is that you could have, you know. more clearly, demarc, and wider,

[58:03] pathways into the center that follow lines of desire, right? Right now, you know, somebody did the… There is some… you can clearly see some intended pathways of ingress and egress in the design right now, it's just that they don't follow anyone's line of desire, so that's a problem. And then secondly, they're pretty subtle. I mean, you'll see… you'll notice it if you're looking at it through you know, Google Earth or Google Maps, but for a driver. Are they gonna notice the, like, you know, subtle change in color of the asphalt? Probably not. So that's, like, maybe an area where you might want to have an elevated… you know, bike path that comes right in, or, you know, sidewalk, so vehicles see, oh, there is, you know, I've got to go up and over this thing, so I need to slow down, but B, this exists for a reason. What? Oh, because there's a pathway through here that people are going to be on. So those kind of changes would drastically improve

[59:03] I think safety and comfort. I mean, I'm not sure… speeds are relatively low there, so I'm not sure it's, like, a whole lot of life threats. No. Yeah. deals. I disagree. I'm not saying, but there may be life threats, but certainly discomfort. Like, every time I'm there, I feel… Anxious about trying to get through that place safely. So I want to add a very crazy idea here, but there's two points of entry to this whole… I'm very, very familiar with this parking lot, as all we… as I can sense, we all are. So there's two points of entry. So I'm wondering, I mean. must we have two points of entry? I mean, what happens… There's a… there's a third point of entry that's not on. So, but that at least interfere with the bike path. I'm talking about. I know, I know, I'm just saying that, I'm just saying… I wouldn't…

[60:02] guiding them through there, that third point of entry, would that be something that people would be willing to at least experiment with? At least shutting one of those down? Because one of them leaves you, literally, like, you can only go south, Or you have to cross both, like, all of Broadway to go north. It is a really crazy type of venture at any given time. I mean, to me, it would seem like if you're… if you're crossing all of Broadway. You shouldn't be using one of those. You should be going over to the… to the light, but… Yeah, me too, but people do it, you know, so… I mean, I think, I think, what you say, Michael, just, like, the, the parking lot on, I think it's Belmont on 28th, I think. I think it's the one where Thibault coin is on, the Chinese restaurant.

[61:02] They have… they do have, like, a bump, you know, like, what do you call those things? My mind is… Yeah, like, right before you leave the parking lot, so you know… it's a good reminder, like, oh, you know, you should, like, slow down, because, you know… table. A speed… a speed bump, right? It's not… It's a table, I think it's called a table, because it's flat on the top. Yeah. Okay, yeah, okay, okay. And, I mean, that's enough, right? Like, it's like, okay, then it makes you, like, even just a little change in geometry. Yeah, that helps. But I don't know, we might be getting a little too in the weeds. I mean, I think this is what it says here. I think we're good. I think so. The recommendation is for transportation and Mobility and Planning and Development Services to think about all this. Yeah. My only, my only… My only other question is, you know, coming from EAB, what does this, the third bullet point, integrating landscape and, mean?

[62:00] Because I think that's something we used to discuss a lot, so I'm kind of curious, like, what does that entail? Yeah, to add plantings, I mean, yeah, in… Because there have been, like, some developments where it's, like, I think… there was some legislation that they want to even reduce, landscaping, unless it's, like, or reduce watering. I can't remember what it was called now. Oh, yeah. Unless it was, like, needed, you know, kind of to, preserve water. It had a… it had a clever name, I can't remember now. I… I don't know, it was, like, more like, you know, in the middle, if you have, like, an island, you know, don't plant stuff, because then you have to water them, and just, you know, put breaks, or… Or… Yeah, we've heard… In our arid environment, the space between the sidewalk and the street is called a hell strip. Not really. Yeah. But they're also… You know, you can put in swales or something, you know, things like that that channel water, but we don't really need that here. They do a lot of that in the Pacific Northwest. We don't really need that here.

[63:10] We get water. we get water? Just not very much. 2013! Hell yes. So… Was there any… sorry, go ahead, Michael. One of the ideas I'm kind of fond of is permeable surfaces. So that's an example of a stormwater feature. You know, instead of paving everything with asphalt, you could put a permeable surface in there that would reduce runoff, and, incidentally, slow speeds, right, because it provides some texture on the roadway. Landscaping, you know, I don't know. My primary grievance about a lot of this stuff is that the landscaping is very often, like, at odds. With the lines of desire, travel, you know, travel, desire for the pedestrians and cyclists… more of the pedestrians and the cyclists.

[64:02] that, you know, somebody wants to make a beautiful row of some plants, but that completely blocks the pathway for the pedestrians, and makes it kind of sketchy. So, those kind of things, I think, are worth thinking about, but, probably, yeah. In this case, literally too down into the weeds. So, do you guys want to keep that then? Like, the… just the landscaping part? I think so, because there's a lot of very. Like, natural, or not natural, but, like, oh my god. just rocks. Rocks are also landscaping. I mean… Things… plants that are from here, that can beautify spaces, that don't need a lot of maintenance, they're just local plants, for example. Yeah, and… and rocks, you know, I mean, yeah, like, landscaping involves hard… hardscape as well as, yeah, I mean…

[65:05] So, let's leave it as a… I mean, I understand the concern, but I think as part of the development of standards, that's the kind of stuff that would be analyzed. Yeah, yeah, I think I get it. I think it's like, okay, so there's more space… How does the landscape and stormwater feature? Okay, so I think there is a connection there. Yeah, yeah, I'm okay with just leaving it as is. Okay. Great! I think we've kind of done it. Are you feeling good about this? Will you put an accent on my name? Peace. Oh, of course! And then, on the age. the A. Yeah, got it, sorry about that. In Google Docs, it's really hard. How do you do it in Google Docs? I do… I own a Mac, I do Option E. And then you press A. What I can do, actually.

[66:00] Here. Do you have access to this? You should have access to it. I… No, I don't think we have. I will… I will make a note to… I'm going to… before we send this, I will, I will add that before we send it. I'll put it in Word, and I'll correct it, okay? That's life. It's his hand up. Thanks, Darcy. I wanted to… ask for… or just point out a couple of places for clarification. Sure. In the item 1, the comprehensive signals policy The first bullet, when alternatives to signals are warranted. can… can tap Clarify what… what that is intended to mean.

[67:00] Well, I could suggest, in some instances, maybe no signalization is required. Because it can be safer if motorists are obligated to slow down and navigate the interchange. Without the benefit of a signal, if speeds aren't too high. Another possibility might be conversion to a roundabout. Which, you know, might… It's a long path, and, you know, there are many instances where it won't work, or where there isn't sufficient space. But, a lot of cities are making those, transitions away from signalized intersections, and it, you know, if it can work here. it might be great, right? We have a lot of inter… We have… well, I won't say a lot, but we have several intersections that have these… that are fairly large, because at present they have slip lanes. Which kind of… kind of inflates that intersection to some degree, and so, you know, the question, I think, is, hey, can we…

[68:06] Can we get rid of this intersection? It's… Can we… can we do this as a roundabout or something else? Yeah, that's what I would… I would say as well, would be, you know, using four-way stops or roundabouts and things like that. Yeah, okay, thank you. I don't know if it… I know you're… you're all pretty well wrapped up on the letter, so I just posed for your consideration. Is it useful to add a clause that provides that clarification? Sure. Such as roundabouts and non-signalized? intersections, I suppose.

[69:09] That makes sense? Yes. about four-way stops, I mean, you know, yeah. And then, the last bullet, the third bullet there, adaptive operations. Can someone speak to that it… what is the intention of… what is the meaning of adapted operations? Adaptive operations? Transit Signal Priority and Adaptive Operations. I think this has to do… with. Could be… Could be. Oh, this is… it's really good to have to sort of describe these things. Wait, you're gonna say something, Mike?

[70:01] Yeah, well, I… yeah, I was thinking that adaptive operations encompasses things like Changes in, the signaling, the signalization of an intersection over the course of the day. Or during specific events or times. So, you know, if you need If you've got a, you know, if you have the ability to kind of make changes to the signalization on the fly, or in predictable ways, that kind of thing. That's what I was thinking, too. I was recently reading about places where they change the signal priority under different circumstances, and I don't know how much we do that, or how much we can do that with our current signal materials, you know? But there… it is… it is possible, and it's often advisable, you know, to either lengthen or shorten or, you know, change, arrow timing, I mean, all kinds of things like that, right? There… there are ways to… to,

[71:09] Make that more context-sensitive. And I know that our engineers can do that, I just, I'm not sure how often we employ those strategies. Does that make sense? Because I think that that's what we're trying to get at here, is like, let's be more context-sensitive. And let's develop a policy that dictates, you know, how that should go. And… for the… Optimal operation of any given signal, right? Yeah. I feel like it means using… Sensors, real-time data, smart signal technology to… Adjust timing to, dynamically, and… You know, improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians, rather than having fixed Outdated timings of signals.

[72:16] It's like… That's really helped you out. -Oh. Are we under 3 pages? That's helpful. Thank you. Yeah, let me… Check. We're good, we're good, we're still two pages. We're not going over two pages. I want Hernande to drop off the edge. No, he won't. We won't let him. If I have to move this to a, you know, linear list, I will, but I prefer this one. Okay, okay, good. Thank you. Thank you, Blyde. Those are great, because, you know, as, yeah, council members have…

[73:08] less information than we do about all of these practices, right? So it is important that we're as clear as possible. Okay, any other points of clarification? suggestions… I think we've really improved this letter over this conversation, and I really appreciate your Your help and our collaborative work on this. Good. Anything else? Are we good? Can we vote? I think we should… Are you ready for a vote? Go ahead, Trini, you can… Lead that process. All right, so everybody in favor of our letter to be submitted to Council as is, please raise your hand or say aye. Bye. So, I can't see Ernan, but I assume he said I. Did I? today.

[74:00] Okay, awesome. Yeah, I… Wonderful, so… this letter will be submitted. Thank you, Darcy, and Michael, and everybody that worked really hard on this, except for myself, other than these comments that I've made. Thank you. And so we move on to open comment. Is there anything that you guys want to share? Board members? No? All right, well then we will move on, to future agenda topics. So, I believe there's a staff presentation. An update, Strategic Transit Plan. With Alex? Is that something that we vote on, or we just are made aware of? That's just a topic that we're gonna be… Or a topic for the future. Or the future. Oh my goodness.

[75:01] Can I just phrase a point of order? I'm just curious. Do we need to, for the vote on the letter, did we need to call for a motion? Did we need to do all that stuff? I mean, Meredith, did we do it okay? Did we need to move to… vote, or anything, or is everything okay? It's all good. Fair enough. We should have a motion with… That's what I thought. I was like. I need a motion to do all that stuff, so, okay. That's okay. Let's go back, so… Okay. Can you guide that, Darcy? Is there a motion to approve our letter? I… I so move to approve our letter to counsel. Second. And… So… All in favor? All in favor? Oh my god. Right? Right. Posed. Nobody. Okay, passes 4 to 0. Awesome. And there was another thing that we did not see in this agenda was, the minutes from the last meeting.

[76:05] Correct. Which I cannot approve, because I was not part of it, but if anybody wants to. They're not ready. The big person. We'll do that in June. I didn't worry. No problem. Alright, well, with all that, I think we can move to adjourn. Neither… to adjourn. Anybody? To second that? Second? Second. Second. All in favor? Bye. Awesome. Well, happy holidays, you guys. Thank you for being here. Thank you for all your hard work, everybody. Everybody from. Thank you, guys. Thanks, everyone. I've really appreciated the conversation. Happy holidays, everybody. holidays. Guys. Thanks. Bye. Bye! Thanks, Trini, good to have you back. Same. Thank you.