“I don’t think it’s ready for prime time,” said Larry Gamble, member of the Transportation Advisory Board, on Feb. 5.
The members of TAB met to discuss the most recent draft of the Multimodal Transportation Plan. Discussion of this plan and the Transit Development Plan were both on the agenda, but time ran out in the two-hour meeting without coming to consensus on the multi-modal plan.
Each of the citizen board members suggested changes to the document, some of which were deemed nonstarters by the Town’s Public Works director Greg Muhonen, who reminded them that the plan is meant to look forward 20 years and details about individual improvements and possible projects need not be included.
Along with pointing out typos and errors in the document, members of the board questioned whether the entirety of the input was considered. The draft plan had been open for public comment until Jan. 3, and that without explanation, priorities identified by TAB were not necessarily included, or they needed to be re-ordered.
The president of the board, Belle Morris, wanted to see more bicycling improvements included in the multi-modal plan.
Carissa Streib criticized the length, 165 pages, and the number of new projects proposed, 79.
“It is very bicycle based, and like Misti (Mercantonio) said, there are not a lot of people that are bicycling downtown, except for the ones on the electric bikes that are taking their lives in their hands,” said Streib.
TAB is a citizen-led board of residents and several members of Town of Estes Park Staff. Town Board Trustee Mark Igel is the board liaison to the group.
In May of last year, TAB announced it has begun work on the Town of Estes Park 2045 Transportation Plan and started the public outreach process. This study is in its final stage now and the consultants created two drafts to be included in the master plan: the 141-page Estes Park Multi Modal Transportation Plan and the 62-page Transit Development Plan.
At the Feb. 5 meeting, the intention was to review both documents and direct staff to instruct the consultant to prepare the final reports. These would then be presented to Town Board as an aspirational master plan for future transportation infrastructure improvements. After much discussion, the multi-modal plan was sent back for changes before approval.
“I heard some widely disparate opinions on what should be in this plan,” said Jeff Bailey, town engineer. “And that’s stuff you gotta nail down immediately, if not before you hire a consultant, immediately thereafter.”
Bailey explained that “radical changes” would require more money authorized from the Town Board to revise the study results.
The consensus was to delay approval and send the document back to the consultant for revisions.
The TAB will meet again on Feb. 19 at noon, to discuss the Transit Development Plan. The location of the next meeting has not been published, but usually TAB meets in the Town Hall Board Room, 170 MacGregor Ave.
I’d love to see other options for people to get to and from Estes Park that does not require parking a car. However, I’m glad to see it not being rushed. Haste makes waste, let’s get this right so it can last.