Item B: River Avenue Improvements

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Ms. Rojas, seconded by Ms. Damron, moved to schedule a fourth meeting. The motion failed, 3:7; Ms. Damron, Ms. Rojas, and Ms. Vaughn voting in favor. Ms. Damron left the meeting at 9 p.m. Her alternate, Rob Handy, assumed her place at the table. Ms. Vaughn noted that she had abstained because the sidewalk issue was not resolved. Mr. Hill supported removing the sidewalk on the north side ofthe road from the eastern boundary of the Post Office. He thought building a 12-foot Mixed Use sidewalk from that point eastward would meet the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians. In response to a question fTOm Ms. Vaughn, Mr. Hill said the proposal would include a striped crosswalk at the point where the road ceased to have two bicycle lanes and bicycles and pedestrians were funneled to the north side of the street. Mr. Hill did not wish to attempt to design the swale system, but he did not think that curbs and gutters should be eliminated altogether. He commented that planting street trees was a great idea. He averred that everyone supported planting trees on the south side of the road and asked that tree planting on the north side be left to the discretion of the property owners. Mr. Handy suggested that a tree canopy be planted in the center of the road at pedestrian crossings in order to mitigate traffic speed. Mr. Hill asked who would maintain the trees. Mr. Handy replied that neighborhoods often took on the care of the trees growing in them. Mr. Spain pointed out that the property owners were the neighborhood. Mr. Howard thought this should be voted on. Mr. Hoobyar recapped the property owners' proposal as anlended and approved. He asked the gl'OUp to give thumbs up or thumbs down on Mr. Handy's suggestion to put trees in the center lane at pedestrian crossings. The majority gave thumbs down. Ms. Rojas said she wanted to put in flat curbs and gutters in order to promote a more holistic stonnwater drainage system instead of directing storm water runoff into a system that drained to the river. She pointed out that community members paid for river cleanup. She felt a system that used swales would be cheaper and more effective. Mr. Hill stated that some kind of gutter system would still be needed to channel storm water to a swale. Mr. Hoobyar noted a Stormwater Management Plan was in the works for the River Road/Santa Clara area and suggested that one way to address concerns about what sort of system to use for drainage would be to include language flexible enough to allow curbs and gutters consistent with support of bios wales. MINUTES--River Avenue Stakeholder Group- Public Works Deparlment October 5, 2005 Page 9