Appendix E: WEST CENTRAL AREA SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL TEAM MEETING NOTES

APPENDIX E: WEST CENTRAL AREA SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL TEAM MEETING NOTES

WCA Meeting 1: 2/9/21

(Wayne goes through MNDOT planning guide/timeline)

-Already did a version of school zone hazard observational assessment this fall. Will do another one for morning and afternoon observation. Elbow lake and Kensington on separate days. Hour before bell rings. -Looking at: crosswalks, stop signs, parents stopping at stop signs, yielding, other drivers behaving poorly, high school driving poorly. -Gives Glenwood observation. -SRTS is about walking and biking to school, not about how to make it easier to drop kids off at school. Kids not cars. -School Env policy assessment is underway. -Walk and bike audit. Already did one, but will be done again. -Jill and Naomi artist toolkit for SRTS purposes. This can be deployed in Elbow Lake and Kensington. -Community engagement event will probably be the bike sculpture with survey.

(Jill shares safe to school toolkit)

(Vision statement analysis) Change between schools, kids not biking from Elbow Lake to Kensington. Make a change to and from school facilities like baseball fields.

Biggest Barriers: -Crossing the major highway is a barrier as parents feel it is not safe. -Kensington: Highway 55 to school side is cumbersome -Railroads through both cities -Buses get stuck behind trains

Improvements: -Main street crosswalks in Elbow Lake -In front of the school is a 45ft street. Kids are walking on both sides of the street. Bus was making a turn and had plenty of room to make sure the kids are safe.

Opportunities: -SHIP is great partner for SRTS planning. Has provided funding in the past. Encouragement and education -Crystal will be on Grant county schools -Dollar general across highway 79, young kids are running across the highway for school supplies -Car wash is going to be constructed by dollar general which may increase traffic, also new apartment buildings being built. -Channel sidewalks to safe locations. To apartment buildings and to parks. Find some natural corridors.

Safe and convenient areas: -Main street Elbow Lake -West side of South Elementary has updated sidewalks, lights, and ADA accessible grants

The street scape is more important than the speed limit signs. Making a narrower street makes drivers go slower. With a larger street have opportunities to add walking lanes.

Action Items for Team: Parent survey by the end of Feb STT end of April SZHA April SEPA currently underway Community engagement: Think of location for sculptural bike table Walk Bike Audit when WCI in town for observation Identify location for public viewing of project: Can be put on WCI website Schedule for following meeting: End of March. Get together with Dale and Deb for dates.

WCA Meeting 2: 4/6/21

Attending: John Van Kempen, Deb Hengel, Wayne Hurley, Julie Larson, Aaron, Maggie Johnson, Chrissy Oachs, Makala Simon.

Go over table of content of the plan.

There is currently no bike rodeo in WCA.

Went over environmental policy assessment for North and South Elementary

Went over Wikimaps. Wikimaps will be for both Elbow Lake and Kensington. The link to map will be sent out with the parent survey.

Schools will decide if they have a preference for a paper or electronic version.

The student travel tallies will be done in late April, May on a typical school week.

Not all schools are in schools on Wednesdays. But are all in one on Mon, Tues, Thurs, Friday. Need to have conversation as to what days teachers will take the survey.

Observation dates: All team members, WCI staff, and community members are welcome to join in observation day. This will include observing kids walking and biking to schools before schools and after dismissal. All members will be placed around the school and in strategic locations in the city. Should we place a member on 79? Depends on the amount of volunteers. WCI will put together a map of potential locations and will run them by Deb and Dale as to which are the highest priority. For WCA needs to be done on 2 separate dates.

Be at the school 30 minutes before school starts. Once the bell rings then the team will pull back together for a debrief. Then WCI will spend day in town performing a walk and bike audit. Then go into position 15-20 minutes before dismissal and perform another observation. Police will be notified the day that observation is occurring. Minimum of 6 volunteers at each school site. If more than enough people then volunteers will be teamed up with community members. High school students can be welcome to volunteer. In Hawley the National Honor Society volunteered. Each high school student was paired with an adult volunteer.

Tentative Date: April 27th and 29th. 27th Elbow Lake has a number of city committee meetings. Elbow lake prefers the 29th .

Next committee meeting in early May. Discuss SMART goals. SMART goals will be based off of data collected. Student Travel Tallies, Parent Surveys, Observation day.

Meeting #4 will be early June. After there will a several week period where plan can be reviewed. Plan will be released for review before meeting 4.

Wikimap will hopefully be done in the next 2 weeks.

In West Side of Elbow Lake there are children who have to walk to bus stop. In Winter kids are walking on the street because the sidewalks are not cleared.

WCA Meeting 2: 6/8/21

Participants: Wayne, Mallory, Dale Hogie, Deb Hengel, Crystal Hoepner, Chrissy Oachs, Jennifer Kangas

Notes: Wayne: The current plan is still being revised. Need to add photos and format. Plan to send out first draft out by the end of the week.

Dale proposed question on whether traffic was counted at Kensington when a parent drops student off at school. Wayne: Not specifically counted, but WCA could apply for demonstration project to propose option that can help with a recommendation for high traffic volume.

Deb proposed question about what parent group can call themselves (i.e. PTA). AT North and South the parent organization is called “PTO.” Wayne changed to PTO.

Deb mention to include an image of the map with the west side of Elbow Lake.

Dale and Deb agree that the plan has a good appearance.

Executive summary and the visual executive summary will also be included in the future plan.