To

Mayor and Council

Subject

Amendment to Resolution No. 92-14, Complete Streets Policy

Initiator

Planning

Recommendation

Adopt the proposed amendments to the local Complete Streets Policy resolution

Approval

Pending

Background

In 2014, city council passed resolution 92-14, authorizing a local Complete

Streets policy based on the statewide policy issued by the Georgia Department

of Transportation. This resolution made clear that Columbus would make an

effort to be inclusive of all modes of transportation including pedestrians,

bicyclists, transit users, persons with disabilities, and would encourage

transportation projects to consider safety mobility. While this has been a step

in the right direction and new projects are now being designed with other users

in mind, more could be done on the policy side to ensure that these state and

national objectives are being met. Georgia Bikes and the office of the Mayor

have proposed that we look to other cities that are leading the way in complete

streets, such as Reading PA, in order to strengthen Columbus?s Complete Streets

policy and continue to promote equitable transportation. The planning

department has drafted these proposed amendments to strengthen the policy.

Analysis

The proposed amendment calls for three major changes to the policy that will

strengthen the policy, allowing for more transparency and accountability.

Outlined here are the three proposed changes:

1. Adopt specific engineering design guidelines for the application of

bike, pedestrian, and transit facilities; including acknowledging the role that

aesthetic design can have for encouraging safe and welcoming streets

2. Create a committee to publicly address and make transparent the

process of how CCG/GDOT decide which roadways may be feasible for Complete

Street implementation. This committee shall abide by objective, quantifiable,

criterion when evaluating a corridor for the feasibility of a complete streets

application

3. This committee shall report a status update to the public on the state

of complete streets project implementation and other metrics that are crucial

to monitoring and allowing stakeholders to have the data and information

available to them in order to help direct public discourse

Financial Considerations

None anticipated.

Projected Annual Fiscal Impact Statement

None anticipated.

Legal Considerations

None anticipated.

Recommendations/ Actions

A motion to amend resolution 92-14 to include the proposed changes to the

Complete Streets policy.

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