EAU CLAIRE
BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMISSION

Meeting of September 20, 2011

The meeting was chaired by Bob Eierman and called to order at 7:05 p.m. 

Members Present: Bob Eierman, Derek Parr, William Barry, Walter Reid, Jeff Lorentz, Christine Kondrasuk, Beth Norquist, Libby Stupak

Members Absent:   Dan May, Marian Ritland

Staff Present:  Ross Spitz, Pat Ivory

Visitors Present: Dan Goelzer, Disa Walstrand

Minutes.    The minutes from the August 16, 2011 meeting were approved as written. 

1. Discussion of Bicycling/Pedestrian Encouragement Activities.  The Commission continued their discussion regarding activities or events that the Commission could sponsor or participate in to educate and encourage the public about bicycling and walking.  Bob Eierman indicated that Dan May and himself did not have a chance to visit with representatives from Volume One or DECI.  He did note that the Tour de Chancellor was scheduled for Saturday, September 24th to encourage bicycling for UWEC students, and faculty.  The public is also welcome to participate.

At the August meeting, the Commission questioned the route of the recreational trail extending through the Village of Lake Hallie and City of Chippewa Falls.  Beth Norquist provided an overview of the proposed route to be used for the trail.  

2. Discussion of Draft Bicycle Parking Provisions.  Pat Ivory provided an overview of the draft provisions that were presented at the August meeting relating to requiring bicycle parking for new development.  The provisions include design standards for the parking spaces and standards for required bicycle parking spaces to be provided.  The required spaces are based on a percentage of the required vehicle parking. 

Pat then provided a number of examples of recent site plans and how the proposed bicycle parking standards would have applied to these site plans.  The Commission next discussed another option for the bicycle parking standards that Pat prepared based on standards discussed by the Commission and those used by the cities of Madison, Minneapolis, and La Crosse.  Pat noted that this second option attempts to provide a simplified set of standards that would be fairly straightforward to understand and administer.  The draft provisions also provide several options for the Plan Commission to vary the required bicycle parking depending on the unique circumstances of the development.

The Commission thanked Pat for the information and asked him to determine what the required bicycle parking would be for each of the site plans discussed earlier utilizing the second set of standards so that the Commission could compare the two options.  Pat indicated that he would present this information at the October meeting.

3. South Barstow Street Update.  Disa Walstrand from Ayres Associates provided an overview of the design plans for the reconstruction of South Barstow Street, Eau Claire Street, and the Downtown riverfront trail.  The Commission discussed the plans and felt that the plans did a good job of addressing pedestrian needs, but felt it was unclear as to whether the two-way street design of South Barstow Street would accommodate bicyclists as well as the one-way option.  The Commission also discussed the need to determine the locations and amount of bicycle parking along these streets.  Ross noted that these plans did not address the specific needs for where the bicycle parking would be located and suggested working with the Commission to determine locations and numbers of parking spaces over the next few months.  The possibility of some on-street bicycle parking was also discussed. 

Mr. Dan Goelzer, owner of two businesses in the 200 block of South Barstow Street discussed the plans and expressed his concerns about the change from one-way to two-way traffic along South Barstow Street and distributed a letter to the Commission.  He also showed the Commission several photographs of existing conditions along South Barstow Street and discussed his concerns about the proposed change. 

Ross noted that the Plan Commission and City Council would be considering the plans in October.

4. Other Updates and Future Agenda Items.
A. None

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Walter Reid, Secretary