Meeting Minutes for November 19, 2007

• Eric Brandon
• Brenda Dutton
• Pauline Edwards
• Rich Figley
• Jane Fulks
• Chuck Hathaway
• Robert Herr
• Steven Lambert
• Michelle Louks
• Brenda St. Clair
• Steve Simmons
• Carol Stewart
• Jim Sweeney
• Jan/Bruce Warner
• Donna Woods

• Dan Burden, Walkable Communities
• Bernice Cage, MORPC
• Larry Creed, EMH&T
• Brian Forschner, McKenna & Associates
• Dilip Karpoor, MORPC
• Nick Popa, City of Columbus
• Nick Shultz, EMH&T
• Terry Stewart, City of Columbus

• Ahmad Al-Akhras
• Chris Gawronski
• Brenda Noé
• Nancy Reger

• Terry Stewart welcomed everyone to the meeting at 5:00 PM
• Mr. Stewart explained that the City of Columbus has been working in the Franklinton area for about eight months. He stated that the results of the efforts and ideas of the residents would be presented this evening, but some concepts are still in progress.
• Mr. Stewart introduced Mr. Larry Creed, Project Manager for the Franklinton Project from EMH&T. He recapped the project and gave a status report. He also described how the 321 comments received during the process were categorized.
• Mr. Creed introduced Brian Forschner, McKenna & Associates, who discussed the policy recommendations associated with this project

The policy recommendations associated with this project tend to be more program-oriented and associated with community involvement. They also deal with land use and development – they look beyond street and sidewalk and look at buildings, uses, community programs, housing revitalization efforts, design issues, and things such as convenience, personal safety, and general attractiveness of the environment.

Policy solutions are grouped into five categories:
• Access and Parking

  Looked at Broad Street and concern with parking for businesses. Looked at a two-pronged approach – a series of tools to address existing needs of businesses, and looking at sample block analysis showing vacant lots that could be developed into parking. Another consideration is bicycle racks; these could be added with the streetscaping. One way to increase the parking availability is to identify the area where the parking need exists, and buying homes and instead of refurbishing the dilapidated homes, demolishing them and converting them to parking areas. This also allows for widening of alleyways and gives room to buffer the remaining homes with landscaping and trees, protecting them from the impact of increased parking and traffic.

  Looking at residential areas – the main issue appeared to be narrow lots and areas where the homes were designed as single-family homes, but zoning has allowed them to be converted to homes for up to four families. This could create additional parking problems due to current parking spaces available. It is suggested that limitations be put on multi-family conversions. Alleys are deteriorated, dimly lit and are security risks. It is suggested that lighting be installed on garages and code enforcement be included.

• Community Programming

  Community programming – school safety programs. Other organized events include walk-to-school days where everyone walks to school and does not take the bus or get dropped off by parents/guardians.

  Community clean-up – another area that fits into the programming. Get people out to “keep Columbus beautiful,” participating in programs that can be helpful and valuable in making the city more attractive and safe.

  Parks should be focal points for neighborhood events. Most parks are under-utilized and isolated. It is thought that neighborhood events would not only activate the parks but make them safer.

• Housing Revitalization

  Safe and attractive environment creates a neighborhood with more homeowners and makes it more “homey,” creating ownership of the area and public spaces. This relates to code enforcement and home rehab.

  Homes next to industrial uses are also an issue. While the industries are necessary, there is conflict between them and the homes. It is thought that there needs to be a transition over time, perhaps encouraging the businesses to relocate or rezoning after the businesses leave. It is hoped for a gradual turn to residential areas in all of these locations. Zoning is a good way to accomplish this. If these programs are approached one block at a time, the trend will continue throughout other neighborhoods.

• Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

  Things you can do to control access to the property while controlling natural surveillance so that the entire section of the property can be observed from the sidewalk. This acts as a preventive measure, decreasing crime while increasing personal safety. This includes anything from trimming shrubbery to maintaining a front porch on the home.

• Gateway Enhancement

  where there are railroad overpasses, trim the weeds, improve lighting, and clean them up. Use them as opportunities for public art display.

  A discussion ensued regarding the railroads and allowing painting of overpasses.

  There are four focus areas in the Franklinton area along with recommendations for each area. The groups are:
  • Broad Street

    Broad Street will be a focus for access and parking, crime prevention through environmental design, road diets, medians and roundabouts.

  • Neighborhood Anchors (schools, parks, hospital, etc.)

    Neighborhood anchors should be focal points for housing revitalization, community programming, access and parking, median and curb extensions and one-way to two-way conversions.

  • Hard Edges (railroads, river, expressway, etc.)

    Hard edges will focus on gateway enhancements, such as roundabouts.

  • Remaining Residential Blocks

    Residential block areas still have widespread issues. Examples include access and parking, housing revitalization, enforcement efforts, crime prevention through environmental design and individual property maintenance. Other ideas include curb extension, traffic circles, medians and truck re-routing.

  Charts and pictures were presented

The meeting was then turned over to Dan Burden to explain how the tools work.

About 30-40% of master plan ideas will be built. Mr. Burden made reference to Portland, Oregon and what it had done when the streets were re-formatted, including bike lanes while decreasing the streets to two lanes and decreasing the speed in the process. Again, charts were presented as to how the bike lanes will aid the bus passengers, serving multiple purposes.

• Road Diet

  The first basic tool is the road diet. This is the process of taking away un-needed extra lanes. Photographs were presented of past road diets in other areas. Diagrams were presented as to how Broad Street would look with the road diet scenario. Another presentation was for Sullivant Avenue.

  It was stated that the mayor would like to go beyond Portland and become the most bike-friendly city in the nation. However, it was stated that in order to become the most bike-friendly city, Columbus would be competing with Seattle.

  Photographs were presented as to what Seattle has done with the road diet plan in various areas.

  Additional photographs were presented of an area and what the addition of green can do to the area.

  Lists of curb extensions were presented, totaling 86. These will be prioritized as the project moves forward. Details of curb extensions were presented by charts and pictures. Pictures included curb extensions that were installed on Route 66 in California.

• Mini Circle

  The next tool is the mini circle; a fairly inexpensive process. Mr. Burden presented a chart listing the benefits of the circle, pointing out that they can be made of any size and noted that landscaping can add value to the neighborhood as well. Any intersection can fit a mini circle - narrow streets and wide streets - and can be installed with or without curb extensions. It was noted that the landscaping decisions should be left up to the residents of the area where mini circles are going to be placed, which helps to get the community involved.

• Roundabout

  The largest of tools is the roundabout. This keeps all traffic moving and cuts the personal injury crashes by almost 90%. The roundabout can handle 30% more traffic and the roundabout allows for parking almost up to the edges, which increases street parking. Mr. Burden pointed out that there were images of a number of the roundabouts on charts, and pointed out some of the benefits and details of some of the images. The roundabouts seem to be very popular around schools, easy for the children to get to the school. Landscaping of the roundabout aids in the look of the community.

• Median

  The next tool discussed was the median; which is recommended for a number of locations in the study area. A chart was presented, showing how the median can be presented as a gateway to the community or to change the variety of roadways, and to aid the pedestrians in crossing the roads. Medians can be used with intersection designs and can host a lot of tree cover and add color, creating a visual effect which will further slow the traffic.

Another area that was discussed was the state of the sidewalks. It is the City of Columbus’s priority to install sidewalks where sidewalk is missing on arterial streets near elementary schools. For all other areas, assessment programs can be used. For those areas that have sidewalks, the maintenance is the responsibility of the adjacent property owner. There are a lot of streets in Franklinton that do not have sidewalks at all, so it is necessary to address these areas.

A summary of exhibits displayed around the room was presented to wrap up the meeting.

The next step – some of the larger ideas need to be presented to the city so it can help offset the cost. It was questioned if the mayor’s budget would include these improvements, and it is thought that these projects will be included. There are grants to be applied for, and if redevelopment begins, tax increment re-financing and other sources of financing are available. None of the ideas are “set in stone,” but the ideas presented were less costly and able to be brought about in the short term.

The floor was opened for questions and discussion.

The open house ended at 7 p.m.