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MEETING NOTES

DES MOINES AREA METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION (MPO)CENTRAL IOWA BICYCLE-PEDESTRIAN ROUNDTABLE (ROUNDTABLE)

November 15, 2011 MPO Office, Burnham Room12:00 PM Des Moines, Iowa

Roundtable Attendees Present:

Marco Alvarez, City of West Des MoinesMark Arentsen, City of BondurantDana Conn, Transportation Management Assoc.Lisa Hein, Iowa Natural Heritage FoundationLoren Lown, Polk County ConservationJeff Lucas, City of Norwalk

Mindy Moore, City of Des Moines

Butch Niebuhr, City of PerryDennis Parker, Polk County ConservationRon Ward, City of JohnstonVern Willey, City of AltoonaCarol Williams, Story County Conservation

Roundtable Staff Present:

Zach Young, Associate Transportation Planner Nathan Goldberg, Senior Transportation Planner

1. Call to Order

Chair Vern Willey called the November 15, 2011, Roundtable meeting to order at 12:00 p.m.,at the MPO Office Burnham Room, 420 Watson Powell, Des Moines, IA.

2. Introduction

Participants introduced themselves.

3. Approval of Agenda

Participants approved the November 15, 2011, Roundtable meeting agenda.

4. Approv al o f t he Round tab le s Oc to ber 18, 2011, Meet ing No tes

Participants approved the Roundtables October 18, 2011, meeting notes.

5. Project Solicit ation for FFY 2013 Transport ation Appropri ations and the

Greater Des Moines Partnership s 2012, Washington D.C. Trip

Roundtable staff provided background on the annual solicitation process, noting the Greater Des Moines Partnership annually asks the MPO to develop a list of transportation priorities to

put into the Partnerships Policy Book. The MPO in turn requests projects from its member governments. The Bike/Ped Roundtable reviews the trail projects submitted, ranks the

projects, and sends this ranking to the MPOs Surface Transportation Program (STP) FundingSubcommittee. The STP Funding Subcommittee works to identify a handful of prioritytransportation projects from the full listing. Roundtable staff referred the Roundtable

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participants to the listings included in the agenda packet. Previous years lists include theranking recommended by the Roundtable.

Roundtable staff gave a brief overview of past projects that were recommended by theBicycle and Pedestrian Roundtable. The staff then presented a series of maps showing thelocation of projects that had been submitted for the Greater Des Moines Partnerships FFY

2013 Washington D.C. trip.

Roundtable staff then provided time to each of the project applicants to give a brief 3-5minute presentation on their project.

Upon the conclusion of the project presentations the Roundtable proceeded to discuss project prioritization. The Roundtable staff noted that several project sponsors had submitted multiple projects and those sponsors needed to prioritize the projects within their jurisdiction.Dennis Parker noted that if they had to select one of their Polk County Connection projectsthey would place the priority on the Easter Lake project. Mr. Parker noted that the ChichaquaValley Trail project would be their second priority and the Gay Lea Wilson project would bethird. Mark Arentsen noted that the Chichaqua Valley Trail extension would be their first

priority and the trailhead would be their second priority.

The Roundtable discussed the past number one ranking given to the Principal River Walk project and agreed that despite the merits of the project it was not the highest priority of theRoundtable.

Lisa Hein argued that there are two ways to look at the projects. Ms. Hein noted that theRoundtable could give priority to the non-state level trails since they are much harder to fund with the state and local funding sources. The alternative would be to give priority to the statelevel trails.

Mr. Parker noted that the representatives in Washington are really just looking for our priorities and are not taking the time to compare the trail against one another. Mr. Parker stated that the Roundtable should just determine what their priority projects are and recommend them to the GDMP.

Discussion ensued about the best way to rank the submitted projects. The discussionrevolved around whether or not level of significance should factor into the Roundtablesdecision.

Mr. Parker recommended that the Roundtable give priority to 1) Easter Lake Trial Project, 2)Chichaqua Valley Trail, and 3) Gay Lea Wilson Trail Extension. Mr. Parker noted that these

projects are highly recommended in the Polk County Comprehensive plan and that these projects connect major trail segments.

Ms. Hein agreed that selecting these projects is a good choice because they represent the most

significant trail projects in the region. Discussion ensued concerning the shovel readiness of the projects.

Ms. Hein recommended that the Roundtable consider combining the Bondurant ChicaquaValley project and Polk Countys Chicaqua Valley Project.

Discussion ensued on how projects could be combined to meet the funding limit whilesubmitting the most projects as possible. Mr. Arentsen noted that Bondurant would be happyto bundle their project in with Polk Countys project.

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Ms. Hein made a motion that the top three projects should be the Chichaqua Valley Trail project (including Bondurants project), the Gay Lea Wilson Trail, and the Easter Lake Trail project.

Ms. Heins motion was seconded by Butch Niebuhr and passed unanimously by the

Roundtable members.

6. Accessibi lity Guidelines for Public Right-of-Way

The Roundtable staff shared information on the recent proposed accessibility guidelinesreleased by the Access Board.

7. 2012 Iowa Bicy cle Summit

The Roundtable staff gave a brief update on the upcoming Bicycle Summit in January of 2012.

8. Bik e-and-Ride Data

Staff updated the Roundtable on the latest bike-and-ride data from the Des Moines AreaRegional Transit Authority (DART) and CyRide.

9. Other Items of Interest to the Roundtable

10. Future Agenda Items

11. Next Roundtable Meeting Date

The next Roundtable meeting is scheduled for January 17, 2012, at noon.

12. Adjournment

The November 15, 2011, Roundtable meeting adjourned at 1:12 p.m.