Meeting Summary: December 2, 2010

Attendance & Agenda

• Welcome new members and guests
  • Jen, VACC member and District of North Vancouver resident
• Attendance: Peter, Bill, Antje, Jen, Dianne, Tamiko, John, Heather
• Additional business: none
• Reviewed November minutes

Education & Outreach

• Recap of VACC tabling at Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) Speaker Series at Centennial Theatre (Heather/Bill/Antje)
  • Many cyclists on Tues, less so on Wed and Thu, but good shows all nights
  • Most popular items from the table: cyclists are sexy sticker, Metro Vancouver bike map, Momentum magazine
• North Vancouver Bicycle Master Plan review (John/Antje/Bill)
  • Antje summarized Dec 1 JBAC special meeting on master plan review. Lots of good input for master plan update.
  • John summarized shortcomings of current master plan and how VACC can provide input for the new plan
  • Municipalities will start master plan review next year (February or March)
  • John asked committee to ride existing bike routes and document deficiencies and all cycling-related infrastructure en route
• FAQ NS cyclist resource (John)
  • John added lots of contacts on Google spreadsheet (see his email to Yahoo group for login). Enough information now to post on the wiki.
• Additional useful links for wiki site (Peter & Heather) which it was suggested could be placed on a "Resources" page
  • Motor Vehicle Act rules for cycles
  • Motor Vehicle Act rules for motor assisted cycles
  • Cycling Infrastructure Partnerships Guidelines
  • Shared Use Lane Pavement Markings

Hot Spots & Issues

• Lions Gate Bridge (Peter)
  • New contact is Matt Choquette
  • Online map with cycling facilities still not updated, but everything discussed at September on-site meeting is being built
  • On Marine Drive we will lose westbound bike lane and eastbound wide paved shoulder
  • Project to be finished by end of March
• Iron Workers Memorial Second Narrows Bridge (John)
  • John summarized 2nd meeting, this time with Richard and Lorraine
  • Richard Campbell (Director on the BCCC) continues to advocate for funding for major improvements such as new or wider bridge while John will pursue short-term improvements to existing bridge infrastructure
  • John spoke with MoT. Suggestions included cyclist-friendly rub rail on bridge sidewalks to reduce risk of falling because handlebars hit railing or current rub rail brackets, a problem MoT didn't seem to be aware of.
• SeaBus bike facilities (Tamiko)
  • Tamiko spoke with Gavin and new Translink contact about improving bike access and parking on SeaBus
  • Positive conversation: discussed removing seats to increase cyclist and pedestrian capacity, loading through centre doors
• Hierarchy of cycle route constructs and markings (Peter)
  • Peter shared prioritized list
  • John mentioned that the North Vancouver Bike Master Plan has a detailed description of bike route infrastructure
• Welsh Street (Bart, by email)
  • WVD Engineering met with Squamish Nation ("SN") Council in November. Based on SN's direction a meeting with the public is to be scheduled for January next year followed by a presentation of the final design to SN Council in February. Note, no open house was schedule for late November.
• West Vancouver budget for cycling network and greenway plan (Bart, by email)
  • The budget to update the Cycling Network and Greenway Plan for WVD is before Council.
  • WVD Engineering is looking at a possible new project of the creation of bicycle lanes on Marine Drive between 25th Street and Oxley Street as a project for 2011. If this could be accomplished it would be a very symbolic advancement of biking in WVD.
• Hwy 1 crossing at Lynn Valley Rd (Jen)
  • Discussed safety issues when crossing Hwy 1
  • JBAC and City of North Vancouver proposed a pedestrian/cyclist overpass from Casano Drive to Loutet Park (Casano-Loutet overpass)
  • Still no action on 2009 study carried out by the City of North Vancouver

Social

• Festive season gathering
  • Brunch on 12 Dec, 11am
  • John will send out an email with the details

Action Items

• Peter to follow up on Taylor Wood issues
• Tamiko to follow up with Translink
• Jay to email Cllr Bassam to initiate dialogue on future advocacy efforts in District
• Jay to follow up with City and District regarding signs and driver education about green sharrow lanes
• Group to follow progress at JBAC and District TPAC
• Everybody to document existing bike routes in North Vancouver for Bike Master Plan review