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September 2000

Citizens Advisory Committee on Transportation

Meeting Minutes

September 13, 2000

Present:

Maureen Budetti

Charles Langalis

Sandy Lewis

Robert Puentes

Meredith Soule

Helen Reineke-Wilt

1.Administrative Items

A. Review and approval of outstanding minutes 

Maureen read the July minutes and will distribute them by email for approval at the October meeting. Charles will provide the April minutes in October.

B. Election of Officers 

Rob Puentes will be acting Chair until we hold elections in October.

2.Discussion Items

A. Electric Bus

Two buses are here, but the batteries have been recalled.One more bus is due to arrive on Sept. 18.The grand opening date for the electric buses will not be set until all the buses have arrived.

B. Discussion of the Hillwood Avenue project

Nothing to report.Helen will update the Committee by email.

C. Discussion of development projects

  1. Falls Church Episcopal Church and the closing of E. Fairfax St.
Rob Puentes attended the City Council work session on this issue.Representative of the church spoke about the project, but written plans were not available.The City Manager felt that the traffic counts provided by the Church were low. Other issues that must be considered are the benefits to the City, cost of relocating utilities, access for public safety vehicles, and parking issues.

  1. Eckerd Drug
An Eckerd drugstore will replace the old McDonalds and the Chinese restaurant on W. Broad St.A bike rack will be provided on Broad St..Otherwise, the committee does not see any other transportation issues related to this site that need to be addressed right now.

  1. Anderson site
Ackeridge and Madison Homes have taken over from Bob Young as the developers.The Committee will continue to follow this project as it progresses.

  1. Transportation Task Force
Charles Langalis and Rob Puentes have represented the Committee on this Task Force.They feel that it is working very well as a way to deal with specific citizen complaints on traffic and transportation issues.The next meeting is Sept. 21 at 4:00 p.m.The Committee also feels that, with the Task Force taking over citizen complaints, the Committee will have more time to work on regional issues, the development review process, and walkability and bicycling concerns.

E. Pedestrian/Walkability Plan

Rob discussed some things he has been looking into regarding Pedestrian/Walkability issues in the City.He mentioned the need to identify the issues, the existence of an International Walk Your Children to School Day on Oct. 4, the need to improve the City's bike route, the possibility of doing a walkability checklist along with the schools and project Earthwatch, and a possible citizens Forum on walkability in the future.CACT plans to spend more time focusing on these issues in the future

Meredith Soule