Meeting Summary of the

Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization

CITIZEN ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 3:30 p.m.
Mayor’s Conference Room 301, Honolulu Hale
530 South King Street, Honolulu, Hawaii

Members Present:

AARP	Mary Protheroe
American Society of Civil Engineers	Tiffany Hamada
Citizens for a Fair ADA Ride	Ronald Pike
Committee for Balanced Transportation	Joseph Magaldi
Eye of the Pacific	Twila Lai
Hawaii Bicycling League	Mitchell Nakagawa
Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers, Local 996	Michael Costa
Honolulu Community Action Program	Darin Olson
Hui Kupuna VIP	Louise Horio
Institute of Transportation Engineers	Robert Nehmad
League of Women Voters	Piilani Kaopuiki
NB #02 Kuliouou-Kalani Iki	Linda Starr
NB #03 Waialae-Kahala	Lester Fukuda
NB #05 Diamond Head-Kapahulu-Saint Louis Heights	Bert Narita
NB #07 Manoa	Tom Heinrich
NB #08 McCully-Moiliili	Ron Lockwood
NB #09 Waikiki	Robert Finley
NB #10 Makiki-Lower Punchbowl-Tantalus	Charles Carole
NB #13 Downtown	Tom Smyth
NB #21 Pearl City	Cruz J. Vina, Jr.
NB #23 Ewa	Coby M. Lynn
NB #25 Mililani-Waipio-Melemanu	Dick Poirier
NB #26 Wahiawa-Whitmore Village	Joseph Francher
NB #29 Kahaluu	Ken LeVasseur
NB #35 Mililani Mauka-Launani Valley	Pamela Young
North Shore Chamber of Commerce	Gil Riviere
Pacific Resource Partnership	Mike Kido
Tax Foundation of Hawaii	Randall Hiu
Waikiki Residents Association	Daisy Murai

Members Absent (Reps):

Land Use Research Foundation	David Arakawa, Chair
NB #34 Makakilo-Kapolei-Honokai Hale	Michael Golojuch, Vice Chair
American Planning Association Hawaii	John Valera
American Society of Landscape Architects	Chris Dacus
Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii	Ray Kunishige
E Noa Corporation	Tom Dinell
Hawaii Centers for Independent Living	Charlene Ota
Interagency COORDINATION Councils	CC Curry
Leeward Oahu Transportation Management Association	Darwin Hamamoto
NB #01 Hawaii Kai	Greg Knudsen
NB #12 Nuuanu-Punchbowl	James Marn
NB #14 Liliha-Alewa-Puunui-Kamehameha Heights	Dale White
NB #18 Aliamanu-Salt Lake-Foster Village	Lorene Godfrey
NB #20 Aiea	Carl Jacobs
NB #22 Waipahu	Thomas Maus
NB #30 Kaneohe	Wendell Lum

Guests Present:

Christine Absher	Citizens for a Fair ADA Ride
Nicholas Poulos	Department of Transportation Services
Ben Gorospe	Hawaii Department of Transportation
Rachel Roper	HDOT
Rose Pou	Hui Kupuna VIP
Robert Whitaker	NB #7 Manoa
Bob R. Smith	NB #24 Waianae Coast
Randy Ching	Sierra Club

OahuMPO Staff Present: Gordon Lum (Executive Director) and Marian Yasuda

Executive Director Gordon Lum called the meeting to order at 3:32 p.m. and announced the absence of both the Chair and Vice Chair. Mr. Lum suggested that the membership elect a Chair Pro Tempore.

Bert Narita moved and Tom Smyth seconded that Joseph Magaldi, Jr., be elected Chair Pro Tempore. The motion was adopted unanimously.

1. New Business

“Draft Oahu Bike Plan”

Chair Pro Tempore Magaldi introduced Chris Sayers, Bicycle Coordinator for the Department of Transportation Services (DTS). Mr. Sayers presented the plan’s vision, goals, and objectives and provided an overview of the plan. This draft plan is an update of the plan that was adopted in 1999. Recent activities, such as Honolulu Rail Transit, Act 54 (Complete Streets legislation), and Charter 8 of the Honolulu City Charter are incorporated into this comprehensive draft document.

One new goal of this plan is to achieve a Bicycle-Friendly Community designation by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB). The LAB uses criteria known as 5 E’s (engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation) to assess communities for the Bicycle-Friendly Community status. Safety, accessibility, and connectivity are some of the key drivers for this draft plan.

The draft plan includes projects that are segregated into three priority levels. Priority one projects should be implemented within a 5- to 10-year horizon and have a combined cost of $18.6 million. Priority two projects should be implemented following the completion of priority one projects and have a combined cost of $39 million. Priority three projects are the balance of the projects in the plan and have a combined cost of $42.7 million.

Discussion Highlights:

[Note: Unless otherwise noted, all questions were answered by Mr. Sayers.]

· In response to a question by Gil Riviere: Comments may be submitted after the August 31 deadline to accommodate boards that meet after the deadline. Mr. Riviere commented that Kaukonahua Road is not appropriate for a bike route.

· In response to a question by Mr. Smyth: Designating Fort Street as a bike route will present a challenge in separating pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

· In response to a question by Daisy Murai: Many different vehicles, such as mopeds and three-wheeled vehicles, are currently allowed in bike routes, but not bike paths.

· In response to a question by Tom Heinrich: Hard copies of the draft plan, and eventually the final plan, are available at the municipal reference library.

· In response to two questions by Mitchell Nakagawa: Parking for bicycles will be available at the 20 planned transit stations. The proposed amount of parking is based on the assumption that 1% of total ridership will require bicycle parking; there will be a minimum of 20 parking spots. DTS will look for opportunities to have some of these projects incorporated into existing roadway improvement projects and piggybacked with existing development efforts. Historically, the City budget includes about $1 million per year for bicycle projects. Alternative funding sources will be sought.

· In response to a question by Harold Senter: There are two intersection bike boxes (advance stop lines for bicyclists) that have been implemented. They are an inexpensive way to enhance the safety of the cyclist.

· In response to a question by Linda Starr: There is coordination between the City and the State regarding bike routes, paths, and plans.

· In response to a comment by Mr. Smyth: There are some bike lockers in downtown Honolulu. Users of bike lockers can increase five to seven times by utilizing locker sharing and the use of a smart card to pay for the locker rental.

2. Approval of the July 15, 2009 Meeting Minutes

Chair Pro Tempore Magaldi asked if there were any corrections to the July meeting minutes. Hearing none, he asked if there was a motion to approve the minutes as drafted.

Cruz Vina, Jr., moved and Joseph Francher seconded to approve the July 15, 2009 minutes. The motion passed unanimously.

3. Other Business

Marian Yasuda announced that a subcommittee for the FY 2011 Overall Work Program (OWP) was being formed. The OWP is a planning tool which spells out ongoing planning activities, planning studies, and technical support projects that are being conducted on behalf of the OahuMPO and its participating agencies and provides detailed budget information about them. The subcommittee would be tasked with developing a list of recommended transportation-related studies for the agencies to consider for FY 2011.

Ms. Yasuda said that the subcommittee would likely meet twice in August and September at noon in the OahuMPO office downtown. Each meeting will likely be one hour in length. A sign-up sheet was made available.

4. OahuMPO Meeting Highlights - Policy Committee & Technical Advisory Committee

Ms. Yasuda announced that there had been no meetings for either the Policy Committee or the Technical Advisory Committee since the CAC last met in July. There were no future meetings scheduled.

5. Announcements

Mr. Smyth announced that a Complete Streets Task Force is being formed by the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT). Applications to participate in the task force should be submitted in writing to the HDOT Director Brennon Morioka.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:24 p.m.