Burlington Walk-Bike Council — Burlington, VT
Date: 2022-12-07
Time: 17:30

AGENDA - Burlington Walk / Bike Council
 December 7, 2022, Wednesday 6:00 – 7:00 pm
MEETING OPTIONS:
 1. In-person - DPW conference room at 645 Pine Street, Burlington
 2. Virtually - using Zoom:
 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88225473951?pwd=YzFFQ1Q3Y3J4bzcwR2VNYWRFWnhtUT09
 Passcode: 091788 (See other remote access options below)

AGENDA:
1. Introductions, Announcements, Updates and Public Comments (15 min)

2. BWBC formalization (45 min)
We will discuss the idea of formalizing the Burlington Walk-Bike Council to make it more official -
what form that might take, advantages and disadvantages of the concept, and what next steps
should be. We’ll start with a review of some of the proposals that have been made previously.


Previous Meeting – At the meeting on November 2 we got brief updates from DPW on the Railyard
Enterpise Project and on the proposed Plattsburg Ave bike lane (which has since been approved). We then
discussed the BWBC workplan for 2023, with the main takeaways being to focus more on identifying and
prioritizing new projects and investigating formalization of the BWBC.

Next Month: BWBC Meets Wednesday, January 4, 2022, 6:00 – 7:00 pm

The BWBC is an all-volunteer advisory council to the City of Burlington. We work closely with and advise the Department
of Public Works and the Department of Parks, Recreation, & Waterfront on infrastructure improvements and policy
changes for walking and bicycling. The council also leads advocacy efforts and organizes events and activities that
promote and celebrate walking and biking in Burlington and beyond.

See www.burlingtonwalkbike.org (under construction) and BWBC Minutes and Agendas .

BWBC Community Liaisons
Erik Brown Brotz*, Ward 5, erik@burlingtontelecom.net, Chair
Greg Hostetler, Ward 2
Faith Ingulsrud*, Ward 6
Peter Keating, Ward 6
Karen Sentoff, Ward 4
Jason Stuffle*, Ward 1
Kerry Swift, Ward 4
Allegra Williams, Ward 3
* = BWBC Coordinating Committee



Remote access options for non-ZOOM participation: Phone one-tap : US:
+13017158592,,88225473951#,,,,,,0#,,091788# or 13126266799,,88225473951#,,,,,,0#,,091788#. Or Telephone:
Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1
929 205 6099 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 6833 Webinar ID: 882 2547 3951 Passcode:
091788. International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdoOfuotqF
 Burlington Walk-Bike Council Meeting Notes
 December 7, 2022, 6-7 pm

The monthly meeting took place 6:00- 7:15 pm via Zoom and at DPW Office

AGENDA:
1. Introductions, Announcements, Updates and Public Comments (15 min)

2. BWBC formalization (45 min) We will discuss the idea of formalizing the Burlington Walk-Bike
Council to make it more official - what form that might take, advantages and disadvantages of
the concept, and what next steps should be. We’ll start with a review of some of the proposals
that have been made previously.

Attendees:
In person: Erik Brotz (chair), Daisy May, Jak Tiano, Taylor Adams, Ryan Thornton, Julia Ursaki
(DPW)

Virtual: Jonathan Weber (Local Motion), Karent Sentoff (Ward 4), Jason Stuffle (Ward 1),
Bonnilee Hooper, Grey Johnson

Notes:
 1. Public Comments/Announcements
 a. Karen - commissions/council update
 i. Pearl/Prospect/Colchester Ave realignment in PWC and TEUC we’ll want
 to keep track of: VTRANS will be funding design and construction, starting
 in FY24?, Karen noted maybe a recent pedestrian crash there recently?
 ii. In TEUC - link to Pedestrian Crosswalk Device Agreement - available to
 neighborhoods - not new (included in TEUC agenda by mistake) -
 identifies process for a neighborhood to get a barrel to put in crosswalks -
 requires a volunteer to bring it in and put it out as specified in the
 agreement
 iii. Shelburne St. Roundabout evaluation metrics at the TEUC - will be
 opportunity to provide feedback on walking/biking infrastructure - at 6
 month mark - April 2023
 b. Re Pedestrian Crosswalk Agreement: We can promote to neighborhoods. Details
 on regulations on when the sign needs to be removed - winter?, at night? Those
 are conditions when most needed. Could the removal be lined up with parking
 bans instead of by season? Provide feedback and determine if guidelines can be
 clarified or changed. Erik asked Julia who is the owner. - Phil Peterson at DPW
 c. Ryan - Screening of “The Street Project” 12/8 7pm at Old Spokes Home

 2. BWBC formalization
a. Jonathan introduction and history - add timeline/documents here -
 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dmw_28uyb7RUOFLjI1Q-ZGX7qzcs2lb5U
 DN12dcJfXc/
b. Erik noted that the 2012/13 proposal for city council to appoint BWBC members
 was dropped, no follow up happened. Erik himself not enthusiastic about idea
 because less of an advocate role if formalize, not interested in following Roberts
 rules of order
c. Julia - liaison structure? Erik: started in 2019 as a way to reinvigorate the
 walk/bike council, 1 or 2 reps from each ward was the idea to represent the
 interests of that ward for walk/bike concerns/issues. Formed coordinating
 committee (Jason, Erik, Jonathan, Faith), large meeting at Library fall of 2019. In
 practice has not been totally successful. Need to clarify liaison roles.
d. Jason - Geographic for local contacts concerns vs by “task/idea” someone is
 passionate about
e. Not process heavy at this point, still pretty informal
f. Jason - get actual input to DPW meeting, like youth commission members, Erik -
 how do we determine that person and how do they represent everyone
g. Jonathan - without formalization, don’t have to conform to open meeting law
 when quorum of members meeting outside of formal meetings, can get work
 done when not in a formal meeting, would have been more challenging following
 open meeting law to do recent assessment of progress on walk-bike plan. On
 other hand, want to have more more authority and more impact - what is the role
 for BWBC that would make formalization worth while.
h. Proposals for formalization still mostly advisory
i. Jason - as BWBC rep was member of CCRPC/City advisory committee for
 Colchester Ave with actual vote on outcome
j. Karen - important role to be involved in those scoping projects - Battery Street
 Scoping upcoming - formalization would mean we get representation on those
 committees easier/be more recognized
k. Julia - DPW and CCRPC already have BWBC on the radar for involvement in
 projects and scoping studies. Erik - there were BWBC reps on advisory
 committees for Queen CIty Park road, Winooski Ave, Colchester Ave
l. Jak - want agility but also legitimacy. Use the right tool to break through
 institutional barriers - how to shift momentum, so city has more decisive and swift
 action. Need to provide key input at the right stages of the right project to
 influence, take advantage of opportunities, get more people into process
m. Karen - larger scale projects, main routes, best to be involved as advisory
 member at scoping project - that’s where decisions are made. Later design
 stage is about details. Col/Pearl/Prospect advisory was a number of years ago
 and mostly determined, limited public input at this point. For other projects, ID
 priority projects for coming year. Those work well with neighborhood-based
 liaison structure
n. Erik - for Queen City Park road - Peter was not from neighborhood but
 volunteered so representation doesn’t have to be geographic based.
o. Jason - how to get more walk representation - often a small percentage of
 meetings/members main goals
p. Jonathan asked Julia about what she would like to see - Julia - you are pretty
 involved already, DPW takes input seriously but most decisions are fairly public,
 not many decisions just happen. For the letters about Plattsburgh Ave and
 Railyard enterprise - was not a clear process to take a formal position - unclear
 who was represented by letter beyond Local Motion and BWBC chair who
 signed.
q. Jonathan - timeline to respond to a project, hard to write a letter in a meeting,
 approve it and send out
r. Jak - there’s always an assumed default in each situation - some changes are
 hard to make so default to easier. Need more people involved to have more
 impact of BWBC, more grassroots involvement. Make it difficult to deny harder
 projects
s. Ryan- Austin removing parking minimums city wide, started from the the Austin
 walk council letter, what are other things we can be more proactive about
t. Julia - looking at ordinances to revise could occur in the spring - Erik - bringing
 ordinances up to date may have more long-term impact than commenting on
 individual projects
u. Erik success story - BWBC pushed forward law that bikes can cross with
 crosswalk signals in 2021 - not formalization but persistence and persuading
v. Jonathan likes idea of pursuing walk/bike policy - a way to make impact - Julia -
 no one at DPW is actively thinking about that. Erik - maybe we can get new
 planners to think about it
w. Karen - new and different biking infrastructure that we haven’t seen in the city
 before - 2 way cycle track, separated bikes lanes, etc - need to make sure
 ordinances account for that
x. Jason - roundabout example, how do we get the BWBC to have more impact on
 getting more roundabouts across the city
y. Erik - next steps? Instead of formalization focus on what are we trying to
 accomplish and how do we maximize our impact (instead of having to comment
 at every single project), no formal followup on formalization but put more
 emphasis on policy, input on main projects, identifying and prioritizing new
 projects. As we go, consider what about our structure can we change to make
 this better, consider how to have max impact on policy
z. Erik - go to 1.5 hour meeting for January meeting - no objections - 5:30pm - 7pm
 proposed, assume 6pm-7:30pm for now