Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.070622 1 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION JULY 6TH, 2022 Chairman Jeb Ball called the meeting to order at 8:35 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Angi Wang, Charles Cunniffe, and Amanda Tanaka, Kiki Raj, and Terry Butler. Absent was Bill Dinsmoor. Staff present: Sandra Doebler, Special Events Nancy Lesley, Special Events Director PJ Murray, Civil Engineer Pete Rice, Civil Engineer Other attendees: Councilman Ward Hauenstein & Alycin Bektesh of ACRA 4th of July Recap: Mr. Ball said he asked Sandy and Nancy to stop by for a recap of the parade. He said they did an awesome job. It was super organized, and they were easy to work with. The event went off really well at least from his perspective. He thanked them and said it was a pleasure working with them. He said he hopes to do this again next year. it would be helpful if we can have any feedback to enhance 2023. Ms. Tanaka commented that people thought it was really short and sweet. Jeb said it was 45 minutes by his watch. Ms. Doebler said they wanted to keep at an hour. Mr. Cunniffe said people thought it was too short. Ms. Doebler said there were only 50 participants this year. Mr. Ball asked how the community village was received. Ms. Doebler said she thought it went over well. It was on Hyman between Galena and Spring. Mr. Cunniffe said he felt the middle had a void so next year, he would like that hole filled so it has more continuity. Ms. Butler said people were loving the free hot dogs. It was a lot of fun and super organized. Ms. Tanaka said it felt very calm and nice to be in town. Not as crazy as it has been in the past. Councilor Hauenstein said the Cycle Bar stopped in front of the Jerome for too long. It was great the fire department had leaky hoses. Mr. Ball said it was too windy for the jumpers because that would have been a really cool addition. If we start looking now, maybe we can find a marching band in the next 12 months. Ms. Doebler asked for feedback on the Jerome. Mr. Ball said the facility and the DJ were awesome. Ms. Tanaka agreed and said it’s where you should be. Mr. Cunniffe said she spoke with Debbie at ACRA, and all is good after we got everything cleared up. Nina did a great job singing. Ms. Doebler and Ms. Lesley thanked everyone and exited the meeting. Presentation on Galena and Cooper Living Lab: Kathleen Wanatowicz of PRS Studio along with PJ Murray and Pete Rice. 2 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION JULY 6TH, 2022 Ms. Wanatowicz said she was hired to support the living lab this summer. She will be sharing feedback from some of the businesses around as well. PJ Murray and Pete Rice are also here who are working on this project. Ms. Raj entered the meeting. Ms. Wanatowicz said this lab came about to provide safety and mobility in the downtown core. ACRA did a survey and those results have created the lab as it is today. She summarized what has been happening over the past couple of weeks and said they have set up a phone line for customer service and received 33 phone calls and emails. People have called in who have businesses in the core and people who don’t. Ms. Wang entered the meeting. Ms. Wanatowicz said some people don’t think a bike lane is needed in this area. We did not contact everyone in the downtown core face to face, but we did send out letters. There is a handful of people who don’t read the paper and they would like face to face contact. She spoke about public concerns and safety measures. Ms. Butler said she doesn’t like that the cyclists don’t care that Galena is a one way. Mr. Rice said the parallel parking provides for less accidents. They are working on more bike education and are actively pursuing this with the community. Most of you will tell us it’s the tourists. Mr. Ball said there are also a good mixture of residents as well who disobey the bike laws. Ms. Wang asked about the data and if it’s available to the public. Mr. Rice said this has been developed through community plans. The initial concepts were laid out years ago. Ms. Murray said that staff and council were hearing the community asking for safety to be improved in the core, and we do have accident data for the core. Mr. Cunniffe thinks this program promotes the cyclists having free reign no matter what. This is empowering them more. Councilor Hauenstein asked if Mr. Cunniffe wants enforcement and tickets for cyclists. Ms. Wanatowicz said that was also brought up in the meeting with ACRA. Ms. Murray said street smart education is obviously needed. The design attempts to provide a safe place for bikers and this lab is to test out if bikers will use this bikeway. Mr. Cunniffe also thinks it’s hurting shoppers who want to park their car and visit the mall. This is the total wrong direction to go. There are far less bikers than other people who want to come to the core. They don’t need to go racing through town, we should ban them for three blocks. Mr. Rice said it’s a real problem all over town. Mr. Cunniffe spoke about the workers coming into town with trucks. Councilor Hauenstein said we did staging before to shuttle people in from Brush Creek and asked how that went. Pete said that was when the streets were shut down for construction so it’s not really the same thing. 3 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION JULY 6TH, 2022 Ms. Wanatowicz said the current plan allows for a one-way road with cyclists and drivers, dedicated counter flow bikeway with protective curbs, parallel parking on both sides of Galena and one block of Cooper, to improve sightlines. Councilor Hauenstein said he agrees with Mr. Cunniffe that the cyclists need to obey the rules. Councilor Hauenstein said there should be somewhere to give feedback on negative bike interactions. Ms. Wanatowicz said that City Council will review feedback from 24 hours of data collection and technical observations, personal interviews, testimonies recorded, a community survey, pop up surveys, focus groups, feedback from the parking dept, etc. She said she has homework for CCLC and is asking that everyone connect with five people and get feedback. It’s the best communication method and she wants them to experience it as a different type of user: pedestrian, motorist, cyclist, etc. She would like to come back and have a follow up meeting on the third Wednesday in August. She said they will present to City Council on everything in the fall as to how the experiment went. On August 3rd, Mr. Rice said he would like to present on a different subject and then Ms. Wanatowicz will come back for the next meeting. Mr. Ball said face to face communication is the gold standard. An ounce of prevention is really necessary with projects like this. Ms. Wang motioned to approve the minutes of June 22nd; Ms. Raj seconded. All in favor, motion carried. Ms. Bektesh said she’s hearing the same things we are. Mr. Ball said there is an opportunity to provide them with a lot of quality feedback on the 17th. Ms. Wang said we really did pound the pavement to collect data and email addresses previously. We can still use this list to reach out to people. There is a coalition of businesses coming together and have one platform to come back to the city. Ms. Bektesh asked if anyone has signed a petition from Jill at Ellina. Ms. Wang said there is 7-800 signatures already and that multiple businesses have petitions at this point. Mr. Cunniffe said that bikers are not your shoppers. Ms. Raj said this was all driven by the poor little girl that died. Ms. Tanaka said being safe is one thing, but she doesn’t understand why the bike lane is there. Mr. Cunniffe said the intention is right, but the strategy is wrong. Ms. Wang said people also don’t know how to parallel park and there have been a lot of fender benders. Jeb motioned to adjourn. He paused to congratulate Terry Butler for selling her property. Ms. Butler said she closed on Friday and the buyers are lovely people. It was a long process. The buyer is Simon Chen, who was the former GM of the Little Nell. They are wonderful people and are leaving the hotel how it is. Ms. Butler said she still gets to live there for life. 4 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION JULY 6TH, 2022 Mr. Cunniffe seconded. All in favor, motion carried. ________________________________ Nicole Henning, City Clerk