Montgomery News

City of Gaithersburg Transportation Committee met January 23.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

1. Call To Order

The Regular Meeting of the Transportation Committee was called to order at 7:00 pm with Chair Joseph Allen presiding.

Attendee Name; Title; Status; Arrived:

Joseph Allen; Chair; Present;

Larry Seeger; Member; Present;

James McNulty; Member; Present;

Richard Arkin; Member; Absent;

Carol Berger; Member; Present;

Staff present: Engineering Services Division Chief Mumpower and Planner Roff. Council present: Harris.

2. Election Of Officer

A. Election of Chair

Motion was made to elect Joseph Allen to serve as Chair.

Result: Passed [Unanimous]

Mover: Carol Berger, Member

Seconder: Larry Seeger, Member

For: Joseph Allen, Larry Seeger, James Mcnulty, Carol Berger

Absent: Richard Arkin

3. Approval Of Minutes

A. Regular Meeting held December 19, 2017

Motion was made to approve the December 19, 2017 minutes.

Result: Approved [Unanimous]

Mover: Carol Berger, Member

Seconder: Larry Seeger, Member

For: Joseph Allen, Larry Seeger, James Mcnulty, Carol Berger

Absent: Richard Arkin

4. Discussion Topics

A. Updates

1. BRT

• Open house Gaithersburg High School, January 24, 7:00-9:00pm.

• Jim McNulty brought up an idea about Ride On Extra connecting Lakeforest Transit Center and the mall by way of Midcounty Highway.

2. Road Code

• Should hear back from TOOLE (consultant) by first week of February in order to fit the time frame for next meeting’s presentation.

3. County Vision Zero

• Open dataset is on the County website, action items will be updated quarterly.

4. County Bike Master Plan

• Public hearing on January 25. Washington Grove is planning to testify in order to raise the priority level of the Brown St connection to Crabbs Branch/Shady Grove Metro. The City will not be testifying. The City has requested minor map updates (show Johnson annexation) to be handled through back channels.

o Jim McNulty brought up that this connection would benefit the Gaithersburg High School Track/Cross Country team who use this route.

5. Neil’s guest, county resident from the Willow Ridge neighborhood, near the Johnson Annexation

• The county resident is having concerns about the students commuting to school in the morning.

o Most make a U-turn in front of his neighborhood on MD-28.

o SHA wants to put a No U-Turn sign for certain parts of the day following rush hour, resident wants this to be an all-day sign.

▪ He feels any U-turn is unsafe and would rather cars make the turn at the Riffle Ford Road intersection.

▪ Ollie explained that this turn is impossible to make.

o County residents suggest the new intersection near the Johnson property be redesigned.

▪ This option was not understood by some committee members and not supported.

o Committee’s determination was that the student parking lot at the school should have an exit only on to MD-28. That way, students would not need to make the U-turn. Traffic uses the entrance on MD-124 instead.

▪ Jim McNulty suggested the resident contact the school system to redesign their parking lot.

• Neil brought up discussing more projects in the committee

o Olde Towne Traffic Study.

o Suggested Kentlands apartments as the next project to discuss the right in right out and some of the street alignment with the phases of the project.

▪ Joe Allen and Carol Berger asked if someone from staff could give a brief presentation for the context.

6. NIST Pathway

• There was a brief discussion about this subject.

B. Bike to Work Day preparation including possible 2nd location in Olde Towne

1. Committee looked over the Donation Tracking document

• The committee went over jobs from last year.

o Special thanks to Joe Allen’s wife for her involvement.

2. Discussion on the logistics of having a second Bike to Work Day pit stop at the Olde Towne Plaza

• Plaza should open on May 18 before Bike to Work Day.

• Since the Bike to Work Day is near the Book Festival date, Ollie suggested coordinating with Parks and Recreation to borrow a table for the Plaza.

• Ollie noted the decision needed to be made by January 31 to confirm the information to Washington COG (Ollie sent them this on January 26).

C. Topics for Next Year's Meetings

i. Current suggested topics include Road Code presentation and/or a presentation regarding how the City CIP is programmed

This was not discussed during the meeting, so it was pushed to discuss at the March meeting.

5. Adjournment

There being no further business, the session was adjourned at 8:30 pm

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