APPENDIX E: MORRIS SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL TEAM MEETING NOTES

APPENDIX E: MORRIS SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL TEAM MEETING NOTES

Morris Meeting 1: 1/11/21

Discussion: Where is there need of work

Parking lot near school is a barrier to getting kid sot walk and bike to school

Shane: Kids cutting through parking near crossing of Columbia. No crosswalks. Need to address the safety piece.

Blaine: This area used to be a grove of pine trees until hospital put in parking lot.

Shane: I have gotten calls from medical center that kids are cutting through parking lot

Diane: Backroad where buses come in between school and college. But no path in winter. Filled with snow.

Tony: I drive up hill and see younger students. Gets nervous because they have to cross 2 entrances in the schools. Cars in 4 different places flying in and out. Challenging for little kids.

Darcy: Distinct West side and East side of town. No welcoming invitation for kids to get from West side of town.

Wayne: During walk audit, didn’t spend much time on West side of town. Spend more time there navigating what is going on. Morris has a very good sidewalk network that are good shape and on most of streets.

Blaine: Completed length of sidewalk green river park to 7th street. Cali ave to 7th st. Sidewalk around green river park. There are pink markings in sidewalk for cracks. There will be major sidewalk project this year, but it is ongoing. Morris has worked on SRTS grant before. South side Morris below tennis, put in sidewalk along backside of school that links up path at university, that links up other trail system. This would allow students not to walk in the front. Need to change attitudes on whether parents will allow students to ride bikes. Lots of parents driving kids to school.

Discussion: Great place to walk or bike

Blaine: Missed boat with MNDOT. Took sidewalk out by Dairy Queen, there is no good sidewalks along main highway. Not putting in highway project. A lot of people and bicycles traveling along the highway. Good opportunity along entire length. This would get people to uptown.

Jeff: South and east of county rd 22 along highway 9.

Todd: Riley edition, NE part of town. There is no good way to get their on highway. That whole neighborhood is isolated. Comes along 7th street across baseball field. This area is landlocked. Parent has to drive kids out of neighborhood.

Reggie: They let kids goes into church parking lot by H28.

Blaine: No consideration for how neighborhood built to allow for walking and biking. Across 28 on other side. Northside. Newest neighborhoods. Not just bicycles. It is water and sewer. In future link up all infrastructure with neighborhood. Trailor court and houses too.

Reggie: Could SRTS partner with school to create bike path.

Wayne: Possibility. Have talked about people cutting though yards. Could be find 2 homeowners to give up space to create sidewalk/paths for kids. Talk more about it in the future. Great opportunity. Formalized shortcut.

End of discussion

Wayne: Everyone look over questions and reply. Suggest email chain with everyone’s email. Brainstorm via email. Action items: work with school (Darcy and Shane) to get it sent out. Schedule SZHA and Walk bike audit in spring.

MNDOT wants location for public viewing of plan. WCI can host on website. Meeting schedule for following meetings via doodle poll.

Get two more meetings before finish contract. Look at March and (mid)May.

Morris ends at beginning of June.

Chris: Thanks everyone. Great forum for learning.

Darcy: Excited, great team

Wayne: Thanks, stay in touch. Questions?

Shane: Information as needed?

Wayne: Yes, we will give you information as it is needed. Give you homework as needed.

Questions about Hancock planning grant… Underwood also applied.

Could get trail by Riley edition near Superior St??

Darcy: Parent Survey/Student survey?

Wayne: With student travel tally, in classroom…, wait till April, or late April. Takes only a week. Covid may cause Morris to go back to distance learning. We could do one now to have a winter one and do another one in the spring.

Darcy: Can we do one in the Spring and one early fall?

Wayne: Too late. Need to be done prior to June. But please continue doing them in the fall and spring forever….. Better idea about the data and impacts of what we are doing. Serious discussion MNDOT D4 for requirements for funding we would require student travel tallies required prior to application. Down the road STT would benefit community to have in place. Not difficult just gotta do it.

Darcy: PE teachers see students every day and we can assist with it.

Wayne: We can do PE or homeroom. Up to you guys to do one now or late or now and later. Parent survey can be done at any time but can be skewed because of winter. Be comfortable finishing before the beginning of May. No later than the end of April.

Darcy: What to do before March?

Wayne: Do the school assessment. Enrollment, FRL.

Morris Meeting 2: 3/29/21

Attending: Wayne Hurley, Jeff Kuhn, Mallory Jarvi, Rebecca Young, Mary Safgren, Makala Simon, Chris Watkins, Blaine Hill, Autumn, Reggie Welle, Maggie Johnson, Deann, Jane Butzer, Tony Reimers

Update on Planning Process: Scope of work: Task 1 and 2 are done. Task 3 is in process. That is mostly observation day and student travel tally. Action Plan and Plan development are in the process. Plan review will be the last scheduled meeting in May/June. Complete by the end of June.

Draft Table of Contents: Table of contents is almost finalized, need to add labels for appendices of the data once received. Need to decide SMART goals for Morris and will have a specific meeting for this topic.

School Environment and policy Assessment: Went over Morris and St. Mary’s School environment and policy assessment. This data will be created into a narrative in the SRTS planning guide.

WikiMap: WikiMap rough draft is done, waiting for final comments and changes to publish the map. The map works by adding a point or a line to the map were barriers or improvements could be in the community. Anyone in Morris will be able to submit comments and/or pictures to the WikiMap.

Parent Survey: Parent survey is ready to go, just waiting for WikiMap to finish. Once WikiMap is live then parent survey will be sent out to school. Student Travel tally will wait for the end of April to pass cold weather. Parent survey and STT can be sent out the same week.

Observation Day: Need to schedule observation day. Push to end of April, for decent weather. Kids arrive at 7:45 at the elementary. Be in position at 7:30 for the observation day. Need to decide where to place observers to watch for kids walking and biking. WCI will supply all the safety vest, clipboards, and forms. Everybody will leave post at 8:30 to head back. Then quick debrief to hear what people’s observations were. Reconvene before end of the day and do another observation. WCI and whoever wants to join can perform a hazard assessment. Walk around community and take some notes on sidewalks and other infrastructure. Can join for all or some of the assessment.

Next Team Meetings: Meeting #3 shortly after observation day to discuss SMART goals. Meeting #4 Late May or early June

Other Topics/Questions: • Publish notice of ADA transition plan. There is a 30-day comment period for the plan. Also looks at handicap crossing for all the intersections.

Morris Meeting 3: 6/18/21 Attending:

Wayne, Mallory, Blaine Hill, Chris Watkins, Jeff Kuhn, Maggie Johnson,

Morris had a bike rodeo on June 14th from 5PM-7PM. Gave away free helmets. Hosted by the Morris Police dept at the Morris Elementary school. Add to plan that Morris started having bike rodeos again.

Blaine- Faded crosswalks need to be fixed. Could implement continental style.

Blaine: Should have been a sidewalk along HWY 9 when developed. There is no good way to get to town home from ELM or south st. There is a sidewalk around Green river park. Looking into funding along HWY 9. When built bank and funeral home they took out the sidewalks. Put recommended sidewalk along HWY 9 to Columbia. People walk along highway from motel. Put on East side of highway.

Jeff: Link HWY9 to Green River Park.

Blaine: Presented sidewalk to southern housing subdivision, but no one wanted sidewalks because they didn’t want to pay for it.