General Information

Government Type

Municipality

Entity

Salt Lake City

Public Body

Bicycle Advisory Committee

Notice Information

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Notice Title

Bicycle Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes

Notice Tags

Bicycles

Notice Type(s)

Notice

Event Start Date & Time

February 8, 2021 05:00 PM

Description/Agenda

SALT LAKE CITY BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE Minutes of the November 16, 2020 Meeting Present from the Bicycle Advisory Committee were Daniel Houpt, David Parrott, Josalyn Bates, Joshua Poppel, Martin Cuma, Nathan Anderson, Todd Hadden, and Zachary Anderson. Absent from the Bicycle Advisory Committee were David Brooks, Elicia C rdenas, Gabriela Knudson, and Jacquelyn Thiel. Also present were Amy Lyons, Julianne Sabula, Lara Handwerker, and Jorge Chamorro. The meeting was held electronically via WebEx and was called to order at 5:05 p.m. by Zachary Anderson. Approval of Minutes - Motion: David Parrott moved to approve the minutes of the October 19, 2020 meeting. Joshua Poppel seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Public Comment - There was no public comment. Committee Announcements & Updates - Martin mentioned that he had seen crews building trails in the foothills area of Salt Lake City. He asked if anyone had an update on when those trails would be complete and open to the public. Zach responded that he had recently read an update in the online newsletter from Salt Lake City Trails and Natural Lands. He related to Martin that there were multiple types of trails currently being built in the foothills, that the trails in and around Memory Grove were currently open, and the trails in the foothills and near Popperton Park are scheduled to be open in the spring of 2021. Lara said this is the last meeting for several of the members and she thanked them for their time on the BAC. Compliance & Enforcement of SLC Bicycle Laws Jorge Chamorro, SLC Compliance Division Jorge introduced himself and said one of the main ordinances Compliance can enforce is the one that restricts vehicles from parking on marked bicycle lanes. Zach gave an outline of the past BAC discussion on bicycle laws and said they would like to review and ask Jorge questions about some of the enforcement. The targeted ordinances they came up with are bicycle licensing, bicycle inspections, enforcement of parking or blocking bike lanes, safe passing laws and if there's time, the Idaho Stop law. Joshua said he understands the perspective of vehicles in bike lanes and asked how that applies to other objects such as garbage bins in the bike lane. Jorge said unfortunately there is no ordinance that exclusively prohibits placing a non-vehicle object in a bike lane causing a hazard. He said they do enforce the ordinance that talks about vehicles in the bike lanes and he understands the hazard that it presents when there is an unannounced obstacle in the bike lane. From time to time, Compliance officers can remove those, but it is part of a larger awareness and communication that needs to happen. The residents are asked to put their bins out on the street once per week and stay 3 feet from the curb. They aren't considering the surrounding area and how it represents a safety hazard for cyclists. Joshua wants to change this and thinks it should be a priority discussion. Jorge agrees and recommends starting with a good communication effort so people are aware that their choices may present a hazard. He said Sustainability is over the garbage collection program and that they have a pretty robust communication program. Lara will reach out to them and see if they can work on some sort of education campaign through their social media, mailers or fliers, specifically using a targeted approach in the areas where this is a bigger problem. There was further discussion of other potential City Departments that may be able to help. Zach asked how the Committee could go about making an ordinance regarding this. Joshua said they should come up with a few key recommendations from the BAC and take it to City Council asking them what steps they could take to make them happen. They will finish discussing the ordinances they have highlighted, make some recommendations, then summarize them and take a vote on what they want to send to the City Council. Committee Discussion of SLC Bicycle Laws The first item discussed was bicycle licensing requirements and the bicycle registration process. The Committee agrees that a voluntary registration process as a tool for bike theft and the recovery of bikes is a good idea. They are concerned that required licensing may create the ability for police for police to stop you and check on your license indiscriminately. Technically the way the law is written, the police can confiscate your bicycle if it is not licensed and not everyone has access to the internet giving them the ability to license their bike. In addition, the ordinance refers to an old system no longer being used and should be updated. They would like to see the ordinance wording changed from licensing to registering your bicycle, doing away with the licensing requirement. The next topic was bicycle inspections. Law Enforcement can currently pull over any cyclist for a bicycle safety inspection and confiscate the bicycle if it is not licensed. Several members of the Committee don't feel this is a necessary thing and could potentially be used to profile people on bikes, pull them over and charge them with non-bike related crimes. Dave said since the State is no longer doing safety inspections on motor vehicles which are more dangerous, it seems ridiculous to have this ordinance for bicycles. Josh said if someone is operating a car or bicycle at night with no lights, they're breaking a different law and PD can pull them over for violating that ordinance eliminating the need for a bicycle inspection ordinance. The next item discussed was the ordinance stating no motor vehicles shall drive through, stop or park in a bicycle lane. This is something that Compliance can enforce but the problem is with garbage bins and other non-motorized items in the bike lanes. They all agree there should be a system to help with bike lanes and that there should be a bicycle liaison from SLCPD as they had in the past, to help deal with these concerns. There were suggestions of some sort of bike security officers and Josalyn said if they would make bicycling a priority and put more funding into it, the bicycle community would grow. The last item on the list is the Idaho Stop recommendation. The current code in SLC requires bicycles to stop for no less than 90 seconds before proceeding through a light. Since most light cycles are 30-45 seconds, this doesn't make sense and the Committee would like it to read more like the Idaho Stop recommendation which does not have a specified amount of time as long as the cyclist has stopped and looked for traffic before proceeding. Since this is a State ordinance, Lara recommended they reach out to BikeUtah to see about getting this changed in the Legislature. They did review this at one point but the potential change either timed out or was not passed. The Committee members decided to summarize their discussion and talk about some action items they could follow through on. They are as follows: blocking travel lanes in general and specifically mentioning bike lanes and multi-use paths and having an enforceable ordinance. Removing the licensing requirement from the SLC ordinance and rather just encouraging bicycle registration. Removing the right to have random bicycle inspections. Working with Sustainability to get them to engage in an education campaign with stickers or fliers related to not placing garbage bins in the bike lanes. Motion: Zach Anderson made a motion to write a letter to the SLC Sustainability Division asking them to staple a mailer to trash bins, recycle bins, and/or green bins that are actively blocking bike lanes. The mailer would inform the bin owner that it is illegal and dangerous to block active travel lanes with their bin; Joshua Poppel seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Motion: Todd Hadden motioned to adjourn the meeting; Joshua Poppel seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 6:31 p.m. Approved by Committee 02-08-2021

Notice of Special Accommodations (ADA)

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Notice of Electronic or Telephone Participation

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Meeting Information

Meeting Location

349 South 200 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
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Contact Name

Amy Lyons

Contact Email

amy.lyons@slc.gov

Contact Phone

8015356630

Notice Posting Details

Notice Posted On

February 08, 2021 05:16 PM

Notice Last Edited On

February 08, 2021 05:38 PM

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