Welcome to the uh city council and well, I guess it's kind of an open workshop.

I don't know if it's a specific group.

So there's been a lot of work going on uh between the city of Newport, uh Newport Police Department, uh the bike uh pedestrian advisory commission and bike Newport, uh going over all things related to pedestrian travel, bike travel, um safe streets, things of that nature.

So uh it was thought it was a good idea to have a workshop to try to catch everybody up uh and just try to have some conversation about what's going on and where we're headed.

Um we have a few topics we're gonna uh go over tonight.

Um, include and there's we'll also be open for questions from the public.

So if you have anything you want to you want to bring up, um we have I think we should just go around first and just introduce everyone that is here.

Um we'll start over here with Councilor Smythe.

Alan Pinnock, City Council Ward 1.

Lynn Segley, City Council Ward Two.

Uh Charlie Older, City Council Tara Zambrana, Chair of the BPAC, Jason Head, Sergeant, uh Traffic Division, Colin Kennedy, City Manager, Chris P and City Solicitor.

Ryan Duffy, Chief of Police, changing seats.

I knew that would get you guys up here.

Um we also have uh Teresa Crean, uh, Peter Bramante from the director uh resilience sustainability.

Uh Scott Wheeler, uh from the parks, uh Harp Darnley, I see you back there, fire chief, uh few other folks.

So um so we're gonna get who's gonna kick it off tonight, Colin.

You gonna start off?

Okay.

All right, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, and again, thank you very much to the members of the city council and the bike and pedestrian advisory commission, Barry from Bike Newport and members of our public safety team who are here to join us tonight.

We really, really appreciate your time.

Um a couple of topics as the uh as Chair Holder uh mentioned tonight we want to get to.

Number one, we'd like to talk a little bit about the future of the Narragansett Avenue corridor.

Uh it has been the subject of the Keep Newport Moving Transportation Plan uh to date, and we are getting closer to making some movement on that.

But a little ferry came by a few months ago and dropped a four million dollar grant in the city of Newport's lap.

And so now we are faced with the with the good problem to have of how to align the capital stacks we have for the for the improvement of that corridor without shooting ourselves in the foot.

Um it's a question uh of a balance between funding alignment and timing.

Uh on one hand, uh if we uh take the council's uh allocation from last year for $500,000 worth of CIP fiscal year $26 to move towards immediate work uh on Narragansett Avenue, uh, we may end up sacrificing the ability to use that money as a required matching amount for the grant allocations that are that are provided in the state streets for all grant, which which uh actually when you include the intersection improvement at Bellevue and Narragansett uh are over two million dollars.

It's a significant amount of grant money that the city has been uh has been blessed with.

Um conversely, uh the the opposite of that is that if we wait until fiscal year 27, we're able to really make really efficient use of the capital funding that we have through the grant, but it might come at the expense of missing uh an opportunity to put shovels and shovels in the dirt this coming summer.

And that in turn begs the question of whether that's the appropriate decision for and this is what this is what we're here to kind of talk through.

And also if we decide to wait until fiscal 27, I'm sorry, fiscal 28 in 2027 to begin the work on Narragansett.

Uh that begs the question where does that 500,000 allocation that was approved in in this year's budget go to a range of we don't have to decide that tonight, but it does open the door for the city council uh by resolution to reallocate that funds to similar similarly related keep Newport moving infrastructure projects, for example, sidewalks, sidewalks and bicycle and pedestrian structure.

Um so that's the seed that I'm that I'm that we're kind of planting uh as the framework for the evening.

I'll I'll turn the microphone over to our director of resilience and sustainability.

Uh she's here tonight speaking on behalf of Trish Reynolds, who also serves on the state's coastal resources management council, and they had a meeting tonight, which she could not miss.

So uh she sends her regrets.

Uh, but um uh director creen is here to kind of walk through some of the pros and cons of what we're trying to do with Narragansett Avenue.

Uh later on in the meeting, we'll we'll we'll we'll pivot uh to the discussion about some of the recommended ordinance changes that have been uh that have been worked through as communicated to council between Bike Newport and the uh Newport Police Department.

But for now, uh Teresa over you.

Okay, great.

Test, good.

Um Teresa Crean, Director of Resilience and Sustainability.

Um there, I'm gonna first orient everybody to a few visual aids specific to this item related to Narragansett Avenue.

We have uh the memorandum that was submitted to council on the back uh counter, and you should all have a copy of that.

It's a two-page memorandum that lays out option one and option two that um city manager Kennedy just um articulated.

Yep, looks like this.

This one, not the spreadsheet.

This one.

Um we also have uh a spreadsheet, uh colorful spreadsheet on the back counter that shows the details of the safe streets and roads for all grant, the SS4A, if you hear it referred to that that lays out all of the Newport specific projects that are funded under that um $4 million-ish award um to the city.

And we also have from the keep Newport Moving plan.

Oh, and I'm sorry, that spreadsheet is up on the screen.

We have multimedia tonight.

And then we also have um printouts of the maps from the keep Newport Moving Plan, and those are also available as handouts unless they've all been snatched up that show the pedestrian network, proposed pedestrian network, and the proposed bike network.

And if you look at the boxes on the lower right hand corner of each of those maps, it illustrates the Narragansett Avenue um section uh of proposals for under that keep Newport moving plan.

So just in summary, you all have the materials in front of you, but the summary of what we're here tonight to discuss is option one construction of the sidewalk and on street bike lanes that we can construct this year with the $500,000 of approved fiscal year 2026 CIP budget funding.

And option two is to pause for this year and initiate the project for the next fiscal year as we get the federal grant agreement settled, signed, and buttoned up to make sure that we the city is able to use the maximum um benefit of our match dollars to the grant.

The grant it does require a match of uh it's over eight hundred thousand dollars uh total, and our total award is four million uh twenty twenty-seven thousand dollars.

So we the um on the bottom of page two of the written memo, we have a nice little table that is a summary comparison of the two options.

So option one construction start is estimated four to six months from now, so summer to fall.

The project scope only includes sidewalks that are curbless and limited on street bike lanes.

The financing, as I already mentioned, would be uh capital improvement plan money and the amount of $500,000.

And if we use that prior to execution of the grant agreement, we cannot use that money as match for the four million dollar uh SS4A grant.

Um, and the the benefit is focused on launching the pedestrian and bike infrastructure construction as called for in our keep Newport moving uh transportation master plan.

Option two, if we pause for the federal grant integration, we're looking at a construction start of 12 to 15 months.

The scope includes sidewalk with and without curbing and bike lanes with intersection conflict markings, and the scope of that or the length of that project is from Oakra Court to Spring Street, so it's a longer section of sidewalk that we would be getting from this.

Uh the SS4A funds 1.5 million with the local match of 800,000.

And the benefits include um not only launching our pedestrian and bike infrastructure construction, but also traffic calming, bicycle and pedestrian safety enhancement measures at the Bellevue intersection.

Um, and that can be incorporated into the design.

And um, and if also if we wait, we have a better ability to reallocate city budget funds as matched to increase the project scope or reallocated to a different project.

So and just uh if you want to just talk about real quick, we're all this grant is also in conjunction with Middletown and Portsmouth.

Yes, so any changes we make you yes, because we are we recently were awarded this grant in the last few months.

Um it this the city of Newport did um offer to be the fiscal agent for this $19 million grant.

I believe it's 24 million all in.

Raymond, would you mind scrolling up to the very top of that screen?

I know we just asked you to scroll back down, but it does include uh island wide, so it's Middletown and Portsmouth.

So we have all the whole scope and the breakout of those scope items at the on the screen there, totaling 24,000 68,000, 24 million sixty-eight thousand dollars.

And we do have to coordinate with Middletown and Portsmouth on any scope changes and the federal highway um points of contact have instructed us that any changes we make to the scope will require additional time to get approval of that scope before we can execute a grant agreement.

So we've already had several meetings with the um funder and Peter Bramanti, our grants officer is here who can speak to the details of how we are working toward executing this um this grant agreement with federal highway and they federal highway did make it clear that we cannot use any match dollars if we spend them prior to the start of the grant.

That's a uh hard limit.

And um, that once the grant is going, we have a grant agreement, it will be difficult to make scope changes after the initiation of the grant.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Can you tell us a little bit?

I I read through and I was curious, money down.

Um but could you tell us a little bit about the details?

For example, there's specific requirements to get the funds.

It's not just a straight implementation grant where we hire someone, we pay the bill, we get reimbursed.

It looks like there's specific obligations that require planning and demonstration activities, as well as having satisfying the National Environmental Policy Act, which would probably require, I'm assuming hiring specific consultants for this.

Can you talk to us a little bit about what that means and and kind of what those costs are and how we go through that process?

I don't know that we have a breakdown of costs yet.

Okay, but as far as any federal money that the city receives requires a NEPA or National Environmental Policy Act compliance.

So we're going through that right now with the cliffwalk.

Um we have to go through historical reviews and environmental reviews.

Um and our federal highway partners will sort of help um you know guide that process with the other federal agencies.

Um but any time you spend federal funds, you're required to comply with NEPA.

So we um, you know, when we hire a consultant to do the design on this, permitting would be part of that.

Did you want to add something, Colin?

I was just gonna say, and and that 12 to 15 month horizon that we've put uh that includes all of those.

So that NEPA process is incorporated in that timeline.

That's part of the reason we have to wait until we would have to wait until next year to begin.

It is incorporated into the into the into the sequencing of all the pieces and parts that need to go into execution.

I was just gonna add that in our conversations, um, and we haven't determined this yet, but with the other two municipalities, we may be able to put our NEPA request under one um consultant across the three communities, which would be uh very efficient cost savings, which would allow more money for the grant dollars for construction and demonstration.

Um, but that's something that we'll be discussing uh in the next few weeks.

What about the planning and demonstration activities?

Because I assume we already did all of that for the original keeping.

There's additional planning and it's divided.

Um actually, Raymond, would you mind scrolling up?

So the first in the green are all of the construction projects, which include sidewalks, buffered bike lanes, intersection geometry, um traffic calming, et cetera, et cetera.

The orange section is the additional planning.

Oops.

We've got a wild screen, and the blue are the demonstration projects.

So one of the demonstration projects is the buffered bike lane that would in the the option two uh continue from Spring Street all the way to Oaker Point.

Um, and that's a buffered bake bike line, or at least that's what's in the proposal versus just laying striping.

And then the demonstration project is about, and could you just move to the next orange section, Rand?

Nope, the other direction.

Yeah, right there.

That's great.

Um, is the one of the key elements of the safety action plan that was adopted by the council from Newport, but also in the other two communities are um uh Newport share of that is the 40,000 that you see there, which is the school-based plan uh to promote increased safety for students.

So that was an addendum beyond all the other studies that had been done, and this was something that was part of the grant requirement was for us to further look at this through the safety action plan.

So your your 12-month estimate on kind of this delay includes all of plans.

Well, work would be you know, um it wouldn't be complete in the 12 months, but the amendment and the grant agreement and the selection of the various vendors who would do the work would be in place, and then the hope would be that the construction piece of it could be shovels in the ground for the following summer, correct?

Teresa.

Oh thank you.

Um how is the money allocated among the three communities?

We have four million dollars.

Sorry, I need to ask for Peter's brain again.

We have more linear fee or they're not gonna be able to do that.

No, they do.

We have so we have four million, the other two communities have between six and seven million dollars because they have more linear feet of roadway that and and sidewalk that they're putting in.

Okay, so we get a little less than we do, okay.

So we get four four million.

Correct.

Okay.

We have any questions from the public on this grant.

Come on up.

Anyone got any pictures of what this thing looks like?

Not yet, that's what that's what comes during the design period.

So uh if if once we have the grant agreement in place we're kind of we're kind of just kind of foolish, it seems to me.

Uh if we can't even see what we're what we're buying.

What we're doing.

And like a preliminary engineering plan.

Where do they go?

How are you gonna get the trees out of there?

When would that happen?

What does it look how close to the fences that are already there?

Is this sidewalk gonna be somebody got a vision?

Yeah, except for money.

Well, this is what the money is for.

The money is for develop the vision is already there in our uh transportation master plan, keep Newport moving.

This money is to implement specific designs that have not been developed yet.

Or what we have uh the details laid out in these spreadsheets that detail the you know the scope of the project, but we'll be hiring somebody to do the graphic vision concept plans and pictures to illustrate to the community what this will be.

We don't know where we're gonna spend money.

We have to hire somebody to do all that for us.

Nobody in in-house that can we have it explained in text right now as part of a scope of work.

Our commission has seen a preliminary from the planning department, but I don't think it fits into either of these options.

Um that is something our commission has repeated asked for preliminary which would be part of this process.

Okay.

We'll be developing those as part of this process.

Chris did not send me with any kind of graphic uh layout or or design plan for tonight.

It has been only so far as we're executing the grant agreement, a text scope of work.

Um, I would assume that the the grant has certain requirements for design, yeah, process design and right.

So this is we're under a certain mandate to do it a certain way.

Is that correct?

We have it all laid out here.

Sidewalk construction, Narragansett Avenue, Oaker Point Avenue, um, Narragansett Avenue, Spring Street, Poker Point, intersection geometry, traffic coming, bump out, refuge islands.

All of that will be incorporated into a a draw, a drawing of drawings and construction documents.

How are we estimating cost without that being um order of magnitude cost estimates?

I believe I can follow up on this to make sure I'm right.

Came from our work with tool design.

Does that ring a bell?

We had a we had a transportation master plan consultant, helped us with the um bright island and also transportation master plan um to generate what we call order of magnitude cost estimate to request the grant money for um approved.

Don't know specifically costs, don't have a preliminary hearing.

And not until you until you go out to bid, don't know what the construction costs are.

So there's a delay of when you put in for a grant, you receive the grant monies, which is only recently months ago, and then you have to go through the process of executing the grant agreement and then putting out a uh a request for proposals from construction uh design engineering construction companies to give you an accurate cost estimate, and then you can use to award the contract, and with inflation and changing cost of everything, you can't do ready to put a bit of scope together in a bit package.

Where did the 500,000 estimate basic sidewalk?

My understanding was that was put into the um capital improvement plan in fiscal year 26 to cover initial projects for the transportation management uh planning.

And at the time we uh the staff um basically what can we do with 500,000 at that time?

The estimate was to do Narragans Avenue, just sidewalks and another question.

Uh the uh transportation master plan, I think calls for improvements to the sidewalk narragansett also for poker poker coin also for Ruggle.

Will this help at all to send it?

We're gonna look at that.

We'll certainly look at it.

So this this the grant would not fund any of those ancillary uh like ochre point itself or ruggles.

However, that's an example of where if we reallocate the 500,000 dollars towards more targeted projects that upon the advice and consent of council, we might be able to tackle some of those needs.

There's another uh Chapel Street as a terrible sidewalk in town.

Uh there's a couple off of Broadway where lots of elderly people live that that are in rough shape.

Um and some of these may or may not, as it stands now, meet the criteria based on the limited funds we have, which is a you know, somewhere between zero and a million dollars a year to do routine maintenance to these sidewalks.

This type of additional infusion of capital could help us really start to tackle some of those that may not even be on an immediate list with the city engine.

I I for one would like to know how many trees you're gonna leave.

You're gonna have to take out when you do it, what it looks like after you do that, because you're gonna have to do that before do any sidewalks or anything else.

A hundred percent agree with you, Pete.

Uh, and that's uh I'm not gonna make them go to the podium, but Scott Wheeler, our our our tree warden is here, and I know uh that he and his team uh would would absolutely ensure that as many trees are saved as possible because that is a value in the city.

There's 30 trees on south side of Narragansett that look like they're right in the way of the sidewalk.

Not necessarily.

Uh you know, we'll we'll we'll engineer that out, but the roadway is very wide, and so we may very well be able to move the roadway and shrink the travel lanes a little bit so as to leave those trees while still maintaining room for a sidewalk and a buffered bike line.

Plus, we have an ordinance that says if we take down a tree, we have to put up so there they have to be replaced.

We got a lot of ordinance.

Thanks, Pete.

True.

Thanks, B.

I agree.

Good evening.

Um, Pete, you don't need to worry that much about it because uh first of all, Therese does a really good job running a project.

And um, if you look in the Green Street plan, when you see um they've got the um they've got projects um allocated by three different different uh risk factors, and in the major one, it says that any tree removal anywhere needs to come before the tree and open space commission, and there needs to be planning and there needs to be consolidation.

Additionally, in our ordinance in our direction, major tree cannot be removed on any location without a tree and open space doing a workshop on it.

And when you put into the other fact too that the canopy report that's just that we've all been working with, we have a 21% mandate to increase our canopy in town rather than to diminish anymore.

So there's gonna be a lot of factors, and I'm assuming that we're gonna be compliant with every commission that has anything whatsoever to do on major projects like this, so you can rest assured that everybody will be kind of doing their job.

I know, and you know, I almost said you.

I I know it doesn't have anything to do, but all right, we gotta stay on topic here, please.

Thanks.

Absolutely.

Hi, um, Rachel Schmidt, and I have a question.

Um, what are some possible foreseeable roadblocks to implementing this bike line on Narragansick Avenue?

Um that we can see because um I'm also a member of Baypack Newport, and we were told that we were gonna have a bike lane from Spring Street um going up to Narragansett to Cliff Walk.

Um, and then we get information that well, there may not be enough room for a bike line, even though it's a very wide street.

Um so and yes, there are trees, but my understanding is those trees are within 10 feet.

Shouldn't have been there can be relocated somewhere, not saying like burn them or anything, but uh relocate them, but we do need ways for individuals of all could you could you speak more into the microphone?

People are having a hard time.

The trees that are there on North Narragansic Avenue are within 10 feet of the street.

So I hope that's not a potential roadblock, as that is not supposed to be there as a city owns that and that they can be moved.

We need to be able to have ways for individuals with different levels of mobility to move around.

And so a bike lane, pedestrian, that is what we were told was gonna happen on Narragansett.

And so I just would like to know what some of the possible roadblocks would be to implementing this if we wait the 12 to 15 months for the federal grant.

I mean, so the the roadblocks if you don't wait are the fact that you can only do so much with 500,000.

And then you and then you simply what that does is you you begin to impede upon the scope of work that the grant otherwise would have taken care of, which forces you to rescope the grant, which in injects a two to three month delay into the grant process, and then does not allow you to take full advantage of the of the two million dollar sum to ultimately uh work that entire roadway from spring all the way down to 40 steps uh with buffered bike lane and sidewalk.

So you'd be you'd be you'd be getting a quick win at the expense of a long-term loss.

So that's so the so waiting until fiscal year 20 uh 28, which is next year in 2027, going into the fall of 2027, allows us to do all of those things in one fell swoop.

Now you asked about what are some of the roadblocks.

Uh it would only be because of any bureaucratic delays, which we do not envision because we have a really good working relationship that we've developed with the federal highway administration.

We have points of contact for this particular grant, but we also have existing relationships with federal highway through Director Bill Riccio and his work on the Protect Grant, which are really coming in handy as well.

So we we know a lot of people at in the federal government level who are participating in this to help us through this.

They want to see this work.

This is a major priority of the department of the US Department of Transportation.

Many, many regions and municipalities across the country uh were were awarded these types of grants, and we were able to score a lot of funds because we went in together with Portsmouth and Middletown to maximize our efficiency.

I I'm really, you know, and I'm really really optimistic that this is going to be a really really good win for Newport next year, but we have to make a decision soon so that we know which direction we're heading.

Let me okay.

So if we wait and the decision comes to wait the 12 to 15 months for the grant, do we have any guarantees that there will be a bike line a bike lane implemented on Narragansett?

The the plan I can tell you that the plan as it as it's written now includes uh and I'll read it directly from the sheet, a proposed location uh for a one-way buffered bike lane, Narragansett Avenue from Spring Street to the Oaker Point Avenue, in other words, the entire corridor.

Um it would be a six-foot bike lane, a four-foot buffer, and eleven foot traveling.

So that's that's that's in the grant.

Um and between the grant allocation and the city's required matching funds, that should provide enough buffer where uh buffer I use not buffer bike lane, buffer um to provide any, you know, give her plus or minus 10% depending on the ultimate cost of contracting and procurement.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Yeah, absolutely.

Um just just so um so also a little bit of context that no, the majority of this city council has been adamant that this money for this project gets put in place and happens.

And just just so um so also a little bit of context that no, the majority of this city council has been adamant that this money for this project gets put in place and happens.

That's where that 500,000 originally came from was for this project.

The reason we're at where we're we look we're looking at possibly waiting is because as the manager said, the long-term gain will outweigh the short-term win.

So that's why we're here having this conversation of would you rather spend the 500,000 now or two million dollars later.

But the bottom line is that project, again, the majority of this council has fought from and make sure we got in the budget that this project is gonna happen one way or the other.

So there's no guarantees, unfortunately.

I don't know what's gonna happen with the next council might come up in and happen in November, but I can tell you that this council is steadfast and make sure this gets done.

My name is Jim Fryam on the BPAC.

Um and I have a question from sort of a different point of view.

If we don't have engineering and design work done yet, why do we know we only have one limited bike lane?

Why do we know we're we're gonna have 11 foot wide traffic lane when my understanding is you can have 10 foot wide traffic lane.

It seems to me that we're limiting ourselves.

So if you're someone who's uh you know a summer tourist and you're riding up to 40 steps.

You have a bike lane one way and you're riding in traffic the other, or if you're a student at Solvey.

You have the same issue.

And we've decided ahead of time there's only one lane.

I don't understand how that happens.

No, you're right.

You're actually you're actually right.

We haven't officially decided that.

What what we have in front of us are suggestions that use that went into the orders of magnitude that that director creen talked about, but how you come up with an estimated cost.

Once you once you have the grant in place, now you can in in the course of the concept which leads to the plan and the plan which leads to the design, you can make some changes depending on community feedback.

So this is only step one of a multi-part process, and we're certainly welcoming of uh of alternative options that fit within that paradigm as we go forward.

It was a it was we we view the the the width as we laid them out as a point of departure in order to establish the the grant application, which we really appreciate Bike Newport helping us work on.

Um and then from there, once we get into the design, we start to uncover some of the some some of the alternative options.

I understand that'll be in all the details, but if we're approaching a project in on one of the widest residential streets in Newport, and we're beginning from the beginning point saying one bike lane, it seems to me we're limiting ourselves.

Um and I hope that's not gonna happen on this road or others where we need more extra transportation.

You're welcome.

Can we just make sure we have conversations for the whole public and not side conversations are up there?

Hi, my name's Lily Dick, and um I am the chair of the board of the Kutnik Island Trust.

I know Marragant Avenue very well as my children went to Pell School, and I walked that pathway every day.

Um rain and shine.

I think that um it's very important as a group to uh thank the transportation, the pedestrian and the bicycle committee, city council, city staff, we have the fire department here, and we have the police and also even our city solicitor.

That shows how seriously you take these changes, and I for one really appreciate that.

And I know that we all want the best that we possibly can.

And one of the things that um that the public as over the many years that I've um volunteered for the city is that they want to know in advance what the suggestions of any changes are going to come.

You know, we are as a community risk-averse unless unless we know what those plans are.

And so I appreciate the fact that you're considering um doing an in-depth plan.

I don't know if you were going to, but I would strongly urge you to do an in-depth landscape plan.

And that would include the bicycle lane.

Um, I don't know how wide, how many feet wide is a bicycle lane.

Very well, I know that a an ADA sidewalk is five feet.

The average width of the sidewalk of that area on the south side of Narragansett right now, um, the median is about 11 feet.

It varies 10, 11, 12 feet, but let's say 11 feet wide.

Um, but what can happen?

I think that you need to consider the fact that trees are extremely important.

Obviously, you know I'm going to mention trees.

But trees are very important.

They're important for not only the beauty of an avenue and Narragansett Avenue is in fact an avenue, and that's because it's wide and it should have beautiful trees on it.

And I know that there's no one here who doesn't want us to plant some more beautiful trees, but there are also property owners who don't know about this plan.

Um, I have submitted a letter to the city council members from Lisa Perolt, and she um has six Katsura trees that she planted on Narragansett Avenue for the benefit of the beauty and the public.

Um if you go up and down, there are 20 about 28 trees on the south side of Narragansett.

There are many more on the north side, and that's because they are newly planted trees, and that's because the residents want to have trees.

So in a proper landscape plan that you hopefully will require, you will have those specifications.

Which trees are going to be have to be taken out because they're not viable, which trees should you put in, which trees can you save, which trees might you move.

You might also consider, since there is no um curb, you might consider a hard curb in between the bicycle path and the curb.

And it was suggested also possibly um you know lowering this the width of the two uh traffic lanes on Narragansett Avenue and putting in two bicycle chains.

You won't know that unless you actually put in an engineered landscape plan.

So I endorse uh the mayor's suggestion is option two, long-term, what did you say, long-term, short-term gain, short-term pain, long-term gain.

So please um please go for option two.

Also, I just want to little show and tell.

I won't bore you with the writing, but you can see all these tabs.

This is the Newport Park and Open Space Master Plan.

A few of these tabs speak clearly to the benefits of trees on streets and in the neighborhood.

So if you are bored one time and you want a really good read, this is the one.

Thank you.

I'll just say again, you know, we want to make sure as a city, you know, anything, any project we we take that we do the right thing, you know, and do the do it the right way.

You know, the last thing, and I'm starting to hear a little bit of this like, but the last thing that I want to deal with is have have like the tree versus bike people going at each other because if we have to take trees out to put a bike lane or don't put a bike lane because there's trees.

We're gonna make sure we we do a plan that's gonna be the best for the entire community and not just one, you know, one group or another.

Make sure that's out there.

My emails already starting.

How are you doing?

Hi there, my name's Elizabeth Peterson.

I'm with the B Pack.

Um, I'm actually not talking about trees.

But I just have a small comment.

I think that, you know, obviously we've been looking at Narragansett for a while.

Having a bike lane would be great.

Waiting for more funds would be a good idea.

More funds is always a good thing for safer streets.

Um, just one thing I noticed with the prospective funds is the speed feedback signs.

I noticed a lot of speed feedback signs in this prospective plan.

And I don't think that they're necessarily a bad thing, but I think that as a traffic calming measure, we may want to look at traffic calming measures that support more road users instead of only slowing cars down.

Uh Malbone is obviously a completely separate issue to this, but I live off of Malbone, and a speed feedback sign went in there some time ago.

There's one at the bottom of the hill, but I don't feel that it is really any more bikeable or walkable with the speed feedback sign.

I'm glad that cars are driving slower, but I would like to see more traffic calming that supports more road users.

I just wanted to highlight that in the perspective grant planning with safe streets for all.

Is one of the theories that narrowing the road is a um does help with speed?

Yes, is what I've heard, yes.

That I concur.

That's true.

So having like more bike lanes instead of only the calming could slow down the cars as well as support more road users.

So I would just like to see things like that in this plan.

I think that's a very important to me.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Mr.

Chair.

Um, I just want to kind of lend another perspective here, especially from a contracting my history with contracting.

Um, that typically a project of this magnitude and with a lot of moving parts, that you have to come up with some type of basic project description that leads you to a government estimate.

And then that government estimate is gonna tell you how you're gonna basically come up with the design, the architecture that will lead to your scope of work and your performance work statement.

So to put some type of performance work statement ahead of any type of government estimate, in some ways you're shooting yourself in the in the foot because you really need to know what kind of funding that you have in order to really pull together a robust performance work statement to figure out exactly what you can do and what you may have to pivot or wait or ask for more funding on.

So that piece is very integral to be able to come up with the project itself.

Um so I just wanted to kind of throw that out there and pull in some of my contracting knowledge.

Um, but I also had a couple of questions.

Do we know how many roads in Newport need sidewalks or how many sidewalks need work?

And is do we do we have it kind of broken out based upon urgency and public safety?

I I don't have those numbers off the top of my head.

I know we have that sketched out through the city engineering department, it's reassessed annually.

Um limited funds often limit what we can do.

Looks like Teresa might, I know she uh uh, you know, she's a she's a supervisor for Bill Riccio and Bill Boardman, so she might looks like you're ready to speak, so go for it.

Yeah, treats of cream or design sustainability.

Um I like to call these uh emails Bill Boardman story hour.

We did ask um deputy director boardman for how sidewalks are selected.

Um, and there is a sidewalk improvement program, and he lists out criteria that are generally used to replace existing sidewalks in poor condition.

Green and complete streets is a reference.

We locate roads with good pavement but bad sidewalks.

We look at project cost efficiencies, and that could be um, you know, long lengths of sidewalk repair compared uh combined with smaller or random repairs around the city, um, combined areas in close proximity to minimize contract or remobilization in the field, um, making targeted repairs to small sections of sidewalk where roadway condition will require near um will require future mill or overlay.

So that's just a quick uh cliffs notes of um direct deputy director boardman story hour on sidewalks, but we do have um yeah criteria that are pulled together for project selection.

Okay, thank you.

Sorry, Trace, I broke sorry.

I couldn't click off, I couldn't click it on.

Um I was just wondering how much community engagement goes into those decisions.

Really good question.

And I believe, and I'm again, I'm I'm standing in for Trish uh for Director Reynolds tonight.

But Peter, do you recall with the SS4A how much of the of the budget is um requires public engagement?

Is there the line item for that in the SS4A?

Do you mind coming up?

Sorry.

We're recording.

Um I came into this project in sort of the mid point of it.

So I I helped to get it over the finish line.

Um I know there was a great deal of community engagement in the building of it, and Bike Newport was uh uh on the bike and ped commission were a big part of building it in terms of um I I would imagine the construction phase would have community meetings to obviously look at design options as they come up in terms of what was discussed tonight, or what what are the best solutions?

Um and the supplemental planning and the demonstration projects, and in fact, there's a uh 3D, each of the communities looked at uh 3D modeling um for community engagement to look at other future opportunities and problem areas.

And so that's a really exciting part of using technology and getting more involvement from the community around not only making this grant um but for future applications and future needs.

So it hasn't been entirely timelined out yet, but it is an integral part of the grant.

Thank you.

Um just one more question.

Is any of that decided by the demographics of an area?

So if there's an area of the city where there's maybe more of more vulnerable population, be it children.

Um I think that's something I can I think that's something we can um discuss in terms of criteria for project selection in the context of the keep newport moving plan and with our bike pedestrian advisory committee.

Um, one of the things we discussed as a staff today is like how do we, if we decide to go with option two, how do we decide what we're gonna spend the 500,000 on is short term if we choose that?

And I think that's a that would be a public conversation we'd want to have with the council and with the BAC to determine where the best fit is.

And in terms of prioritization of projects long term, um, you know, that's something I'd I'd like to ask Director Reynolds to address in terms of how we um carry that out in with equity in mind across the city.

That's fair.

Thank you.

Right.

We'll move on to the bike-related ordinances.

Move on, just say one.

Um I I think as a group, we'll all decide do what we think is best for the city, if that means delaying this project to get a better option.

You know, I'm happy to support that.

Just want to make it known that one of the reasons I joined the BAC was because it was not active for over a year because the members of the previous B PAC felt so frustrated that nothing was being accomplished.

And one of the things that we've been hearing feedback from residents are people are a teeth on the plans.

We have given our input.

Taxpayers have over and over again been asked to give their opinions on how to make the city great.

We're doing it again with the comprehensive plan that's happening.

I think people have made their voices heard, and now they really want to see some action.

Um, so that's something we've been really focusing on with our BAC is trying to actually accomplish something, not just talk about it anymore.

So although it might be better to wait, uh, ultimately that still means people are walking on the street for another year.

Um, so I do think that you know, I I took some notes on we have 19 specific items listed in our transportation master plan in three buckets.

Um immediate implementation, which was supposed to happen within the first two years.

None of those items were accomplished, and short-term implementation, which we had items that were supposed to be completed within two to five years, which were now in, and those items are still not being addressed.

So I just wanted to be publicly known that we need to start putting shovels in the ground.

We need to start taking action because we have a problem of trust with the public.

We need to show as a city that we can actually accomplish things and not just talk about them.

Um so I just want that to be on everyone's mindset as we move forward.

Oh, right.

All right.

So uh I'm gonna take us through the review of Newport's bicycle related ordinances and recommendations uh for updates.

So how how it's how we'll work is there are two documents, and I have extra copies over here.

Are there still um if the deputy city manager is there is there still are there still copies over there on the board?

Okay, so everybody has a copy that would want one.

Um so there are two documents here.

One are the slides, which is kind of a 30,000 foot view of what we're gonna move through, and the other document is a more granular look at um kind of a line by line uh if we need to reference it.

So uh Ray would start with slide number one, please.

So just give you an idea as to um as to why we're here.

Uh the ordinances hadn't been uh updated or uh in terms of the uh those related to um bicycle ordinances uh in many years.

Um in um a in 2023, um the police department and the uh BPAC and Bike Newport got together and embarked on a project to look at the ordinances and update them.

Uh and in that um we did that by many meetings, uh 10 meetings over the course of a year.

Um put a lot of effort into kind of like looking at them, looking at what the future looks like, how does it work with the city, uh, the city's multimodal pillar and um identifying uh what things worked other places that might work here in terms of ordinances and how they're written.

Um and at the end of the project um or at the end of the review came to seeing the elimination of one ordinance, the consolidation of six ordinances uh into other others that were related, uh, create creation of four ordinances and um no changes uh to three out of the 20 ordinances that were in the review.

Next slide, please.

So uh just what the process was, as I mentioned, we uh we reviewed it um as a group and that's complete.

We did that.

Uh we then um uh presented it to BPAC for any um any revisions or uh any suggestions, and that was complete.

And now today we're here in a workshop, mainly because there are 20 ordinances and to uh take that on on during a um uh regular council meeting would have been would have been too much.

So we're here today to try to get uh public feedback to get the council's feedback uh if there's anything that should be adjusted uh as we move forward.

Once we take that feedback, we'll make any adjustments.

We'll anything that's changed.

Um after that, we'll have the solicitor take a take a look at it uh uh to make any adjustments from his perspective, and then we hope to come back to council for for approval and adoption.

And and uh in best case scenario, we'd love to have it back uh back to council and and having two readings by the end of June so that everything is uh in in place for for the summer.

Go to the next slide, please.

So just a an idea of the document that's in front of you, the big thick one.

Um there are three sections in it, sorry, four sections in it.

Uh one's the current city ordinances, the second section are the proposed ordinances.

Section three is the one that we will mainly look at tonight because it has both the the original ordinance and anything that's uh edited or deleted um that we refer to.

So we'll be mainly in those pages, and then we may dabble into section four and appendix and if we have to answer any particular questions.

Uh next uh next slide, please.

Um so the first one, and I'm gonna kind of take my cues from from the room uh and uh from council about how granular to get into each specific one.

Uh this first this first one is definitions.

If we turn to page 29 in the big packet, um I will uh so if you look at the big in the in that big packet, you'll see a lot of blue in there.

And all that blue are um new text and new uh new definitions.

Uh and what I'll do here is I'll just maybe uh give you a moment to uh I I certainly can read them uh verbatim, but uh what I'll do is uh if you have if you have specific questions about something, what I'll do is um just take you give a minute here to everybody kind of um look through to kind of refresh themselves on, and if they have any questions, I'll answer it on on these definitions.

And these definitions or this particular slide spans 29 through 32.

Please.

Yeah, turn your mic on.

That's on top.

There you go.

Uh just adding that um uh many, if not most of these recommendations also take into consideration Rhode Island state law.

So anything that's defined in Rhode Island state law, we want to make sure is defined here, and we want the definitions to match as closely as possible.

Thank you.

Great excellent point.

All right, just take a look around to see if there are any questions in regards to the first Mr.

Rice.

Could you please come up with the night?

There's a share uh definition of a shared use path here.

What's the difference between that and uh and a bike path?

And uh do I read it correctly that uh can't put electric bikes or motorized vehicles on a shared use path.

But you can on a bike path.

So bike path uh halfway up on the right, Barry, if you could help me out with the so the bike path is defined as a route physically separated from motorized vehicle traffic by an open space or barrier, and either within the highway right of way or with an independent within an independent right of way.

So that that forbidding restricting restriction appears later.

It's not part of the definition of the bike path here the bike path talks about um the separation is what makes it a bike path so these where they I'm sorry where the shared use path um is defined differently means a paved off road facility designed for travel by pedestrians and those using modes of transportation that include bicycles roller skates or skateboards where use is limited to non-motorized vehicles and the speed limit and direction of travel are set and enforced for the safety of all users and that will again be sure and I'd like to add the context to the fact that the these definitions are the is the are part of the wording which shows up in ordinances later so the context of how that how the definition is being used uh can be found later in the ordinance that it's used it'll all become clear so a shared use path that we have is on Connell Highway.

Correct that's the only shared use path in the city is the new one where say that again the only shared use path in Newport proper is the um the one that's along that starts down at the uh terminus of the rail follows the rail corridor up to the uh roundabout and then continues on Connell Highway.

Doesn't this uh definition say that uh it's only for non-motorized vehicles bikes yes that's that's a bike path I'm not I'm not following the question I'm sorry.

Is it a bike path or shared use path?

It's a shared use path because it's not just bicycle so you can't have motorized vehicles on it in a share on a shared use path?

Yeah that's what I think shared use path is defined as non-motorized vehicles are you going to enforce that?

Are you getting to e-bikes?

Is that what you're working up to the e-bikes will be defined not as motorized vehicles let's get to those definitions and then see if it fits so yeah so so I think what we're talking about by motorized vehicles is different from the three classes not the fourth the three classes of of e-bike so there's actually a definition.

Oh sorry we do that yes might as well yep yeah we're good um it's motor vehicle as opposed to motorized vehicles so we might want to make the match uh means any vehicle constructed and designed for propulsion by power uh designed for propulsion by power other than human power except for electric bicycles motorized bicycles epa md and mobility assistive devices such as electric wheelchairs so is it okay to have e-bikes on the bike path because they're not bikes because they're not motorized vehicles they're not motorized yeah just uh the update that it's the difference between a motorized bicycle and an electric bicycle is two different things motorized bicycle has uh electric bicycle is electric motor correct but they don't they don't define it as a motorized bicycle motorized bicycle is almost companion to a moped but an electric bicycle the class one can be on a uh path there's different classes okay thank you for the question though uh any other questions on the definitions all right thank you if we go to the next slide uh this is referring to page on page 33 and page 34 so uh it the changes that that are in this change change vehicular track traffic to motor vehicle traffic throughout the this ordinance it adds uh uh bicycles as a road user and recognizes uh code by road user rather than by the color of the signal which is a just uh a different change it's a change in perspective on how on how the definition works next slide please uh flashing signals uh the changes here are uh changes drivers of vehicles to road users uh throughout the uh throughout this particular ordinance just a change in the nomenclature next slide please this is on page 36 um it adds uh number two on there any bicycle lane trail or path uh and uh in the in here as part of the uh parking prohibited in specified places so you'd think you you'd think you wouldn't be able to park on a

Next slide, please.

This is on page 36.

Um it adds uh number two on there, any bicycle lane, trail or path uh and uh in the in here as part of the uh parking prohibited in specified places.

So you'd think you you'd think you wouldn't be able to park on a bike lane trailer path, but if you did, without this ordinance change, we would not have a way to enforce it, correct?

That's correct.

Yep.

Next slide, please.

Bicycles.

I think you got it.

Um so this removes the entire section here, includes the definition of bicycle and electric bikes in uh in the uh definitions that we had just gone over.

Next slide.

So the uh the change here, which is on page 38.

Um the review committee uh well, I shouldn't say this a change, although the do we wanted to mention it because the review committee had recommended that the police department um embark on using a um a list service for um uh for an official bike registry, uh which is something that that we've agreed would be a good idea and important to uh to do.

And uh that way when we collect when we um have found bicycles, which happen very often, um a registry is uh is a good idea for being able to return them.

Mr.

Rice.

The wording on the uh it says you may register your bike.

There's not a requirement to register a bike.

No, that's correct.

That seems a change to me.

It is a change.

We we eliminated uh we eliminated the mandatory registration.

Yeah.

That's that seems fairly significant to me.

It is, but in the reality of what of what happens, the um to make it a must and then not uh as you you know to make it a must do and then not uh because we're not going to we felt it wasn't it wasn't right to to go out and enforce uh force people to register their bicycle.

Um and so we we felt it was more with the times to make it a a May, which isn't which is advantageous for the um uh for our residents, as opposed to doing some saying it's a must and then not having the police go out and enforce and enforce the fact that you didn't register your bicycle.

Yeah.

You don't have a as complete uh uh list of what all the bikes and well we we haven't had a complete uh I know that yeah, so that so it's it's uh and it's you know when you're looking at resource management and things that you enforce it it didn't seem like it made sense to keep that in as a must.

Kind of similar to the yield stop sign.

Yes.

Yes.

I'm just adding to that that the um by encouraging people to register uh in the national database, it provides all of the information to the um to the municipality.

It also provides what the bicycle owners need to be able to uh to find their bikes wherever they are, not just in the not just in the city of Newport.

Um so it's uh a movement, you know, really uh universally across the country, even around the world uh to register in databases that are shared by all of the uh by all of the police departments.

Uh Chief Duffy, so what would be the the process of registering a bike?

Is it gonna be a sticker kind of thing or no?

We we'd be um you we'd be uh you can either come into the police department and we would take the information and enter it into the database.

Also um there's an opportunity for people to enter to the database from home that we would have access to.

So you get home with your with your new bike and you can register it.

Uh that way, if for some reason either either gets stolen or it it um um is lost in some way or or mistakenly picked up, we have it, we have all that information and we can get it back to the to the owner.

Okay.

And you can also include a photo and it it's helpful to when we find the bikes to be able to track down the person they belong to.

When I was a kid, we had to go down to the police station.

The reflective sticker.

Yes.

That was the last time I wrote a bike.

Uh next slide, please.

So this um this next ordinance, which is on uh page 39 goes from 39 to 41.

It uh combines now um all the the basic or the important uh aspects of operating the bicycle.

And so you on the slide here you see uh changes A through M, and that basically gives you the um gives you the summary line of of what was changed in each one of these sections A through M.

Uh so uh A updates the language that adds 15 miles an hour to speed limit to on a shared use path for a bicycle.

Um B obedience to regulations specifies riding the same direction of traffic.

Uh turn signals, bicycles not required to maintain hand signal when when it's unsafe to do so.

Um D clinging to motor vehicles, it improves we improve the language a bit.

E maintaining control adds uh always having one hand free to control the bicycle.

F riding on sidewalks establishes that pedestrians have the right of way uh when under 13 when uh person under 13 is using the sidewalk.

Uh this G is new.

Um it talks about cell phone usage prohibited, essentially um talks a little bit about ensuring that uh that you're using hands-free if you're talking and that uh also that your ears are not covered, both ears are not covered.

Uh riding on sidewalks adds language to dismount on on sidewalks.

I carrying a passengers, it's edited to uh to clarify only as designated with uh one seat for each passenger.

Uh J we're actually gonna be holding off on for right now.

It's um it's about um uh improves the language.

It's uh for how many bicycles are abreast and the concept of taking a lane.

Uh we're holding off on that because it's uh this the state may have some language coming out in a state statute, so we're just gonna uh hold off on that presentation to to counsel when it comes.

K helmets improves the language requiring anyone over 15 or younger.

Um anyone excuse me, 15 or younger to ride in a helmet with a helmet.

L equipment on bicycles uh adds a requirement for a front white light and a rear red light at night.

Um brakes and uh relax uh reflectivity and forbids sirens and whistles.

Yes.

In general, I I we'd be a lot safer if uh there was a requirement for uh a flashing white light, yeah, uh at all times.

Uh especially during the daytime.

It's more more probably more important to bike riders in daytime than it is at night.

Yeah, it always bothered me.

Yeah, you get uh drive down the street and guys pull out in front of you, they don't see you coming.

Uh but I don't think we're gonna balance we aren't gonna get there anytime soon.

That's probably too hard.

Sure.

Yeah, I think the balance here is is uh you know um identifying what makes sense with safety and what access to equipment and things of that nature, and and during the day, there still are um reflectors, but um and I think we're having a white light, and maybe Barry you can speak to this, or anybody can speak to this is definitely a better thing to do.

It catches your attention.

But as far as making an ordinance for it, we felt that the balance was was to concentrate on the nighttime driving.

Uh you might want to permit flashing white light and flashing red light.

Some people don't uh don't like that.

Sure.

Uh I uh think of what on my bike and what you're specifying as needed here.

The first thing I don't see is a mirror.

There's no requirement for a mirror.

Uh there's also no requirement for a horn or a bell to warn other people.

And uh I find them necessary.

Uh need bells are good.

People listen to bells.

Okay.

They don't listen when you yell at them.

Yeah.

Got it.

Well, thank you for the feedback on that.

We'll we'll take that back for consideration.

I won't go without a mirror.

You won't what now?

Yeah.

Won't go fly won't go on a bike without a mirror.

Oh, yeah.

Well, it makes sense.

Makes sense.

That's a smart move.

Will you?

Yeah, a lot of what you're raising are education related as opposed to ordinance related.

for the feedback on that we'll we'll take that back for consideration I won't go without a mirror you won't what now yeah won't go fl won't go on a bike without a mirror oh yeah well it makes sense makes sense that's a smart move will you yeah a lot of what you're raising are education related as opposed to ordinance related so all of these things that you've mentioned or addressed when when we work with people about how to ride safely on the road but to the chief's point uh education self-preservation you know are uh different from ordinances where people could be you know fined or arrested for not not arrested but fined for uh not using them um Barry do you just go into the schools to talk to kids about bike safety and still we are currently teaching all third and fifth graders in the district um and we have uh after school programs and we have assemblies uh we're in all three school districts now so the program continues to grow we're reaching many many many more children uh each year um and that's really where it all comes from I mean if you have bicycle education from kindergarten to twelfth grade by the time you're driving a car you have a very different understanding of the road as a bicyclist as a motorist etc thank you education is key and M uh is a new uh electric bikes shall not be operated by a person under the age of 16 uh and that's just a to parallel state state law did Barry did you want to make any comments at the bottom um about the additional recommendations um yeah additional recommendations to marry Rhode Island state law to require anyone under the age of 21 to wear a helmet while riding an e-bike um and also uh noting that items D I J K and L are all currently addressed in a different section and I recommend it to be moved to this section thank you next slide so this refers to the bicycle businesses um uh point zero seven zero of this particular ordinance adds the requirement for businesses to buyers uh read and acknowledge in writing uh the new port uh bicycle ordinances uh in 080 it updates and improves the requirements of rental agencies uh adds a requirement for the businesses to have renters read and acknowledge in writing newport bicycle ordinances uh 090 removes uh the the police evaluation of good character and financial responsibility of the business um and uh uh one zero zero removes a readiness for police inspection and point one one zero removes a readiness for police inspection just services that we just have not done in the 20 six years that I've been at the police department chief duffy do any of these um rental ordinances does that include hotels or Airbnbs that let rent guests use them for free well that's a good question about the free part of it uh I'll have to look at that um but I so I couldn't answer that sitting here but if it's considered considered a bicycle business I mean I suppose if you are I know I'd have to look at that because so many of them available yeah yeah I was gonna bring that up yeah um I think it should be a requirement in an ordinance to wear a helmet or no that the uh that they're licensed to make sure that the whoever's riding the bike has you know knows basically knows the rules of the road the same things for rental agency as a hotel even though they technically give them away it's still part of whatever the fee you're paying so that's good hotels Airbnbs like that's good feedback we can make that adjustment so in in order uh for this to be in place the um the businesses have to have the information to share so it's gonna be on us to make sure that we're providing the document that has to be read and acknowledged um and that was done on a volunteer basis slightly uh but we'll be able to work together um bike newport and the police department to create the documents that they will then have to duplicate and show and have people read and uh and sign before taking the bicycles the big very big improvement yeah thank you for that feedback we'll work that in next slide empower and disposition of bicycles uh these recommendations clarify and uh simplify the process for impoundment and disposition of bicycles which includes the police department's participation in and promotion of an optional national database to record bicycle ownership and uh assist with theft deterrence which is what we talked about a little while ago and includes the process uh to collect bicycles deemed to be abandoned and requires them to either be donated or discarded so it in these in the lines here on page 43 it talks a little bit about the difference uh you know that if a bike is in a bike rack for a certain amount of time then we uh and it has and it looks like it has been moved and and um that gives the permission from the police department to to um to remove the bike uh try and find its owner and remove the bike and also provides that if we find a a bike just laying on the sidewalk or on a street corner it allows us to immediately address that bike so that's that's what the context of this of these uh of these changes questions next uh additional ordinances related to bicycles

So that's that's what the context of this of these uh of these changes.

Questions.

Next uh additional ordinances related to bicycles is um page 44 and 45.

So this the recommendations here to um to remove um uh uh point one three zero to one seven zero.

Um to move all sections of of point zero six zero operational bicycles to uh to all the to the section of uh 060 operational bicycle, which we went over earlier.

So this is just part of the consolidation of the ordinances.

Next slide.

Uh proposed new ordinance, which is on page 46.

Uh unsafe passing of a person operating a bicycle.

Uh this adds a requirement for drivers and motor vehicles to pass a bicyclist only when it's safe to do so.

It just adds the the safety language there.

Uh it mirrors state law 3115 18.

Um and the annotations are for annotations are referring to language in that state law.

Next slide on Spring Street.

Well, it's when I'm sure everybody's driven down Spring Street behind a bicycle.

Uh, when a bicycle moves over to the moves over to the right and it's safe to do so, it's safe to pass.

What if the bike's on the left side on the sidewalk side because all the parking's on the right?

Sure.

I I I think it's it comes.

It's it's no, it's not higher points.

Um it's uh I I think it it's just a matter, just brings it in that it's on the onus of the operator to pass only when it's safe to do so.

So because that that leads to a question I had news about earlier about when bicycles are riding, if there's no obviously there's no bike lane, should they be on the right side when they can or yeah, that was addressed.

That was addressed earlier in the uh position of the bicycle in the operation of a bicycle.

This is different.

This is talking about driving past a bicyclist, regardless of whether what they're doing is correct or not.

So if the bicyclist is riding incorrectly, the driver still can't pass them because they'd be putting them in danger.

So it might be irritating, but what this is saying is that you can't pass the bicyclist if it's unsafe to do so.

And the way that the state law is written is that there has to be enough room for the bicyclist to fall over sideways and not hit your car.

So this is about the safety, regardless of whether the person is observing the so is there a certain I guess distance.

Because obviously they're different size bicycles.

So for some for a bicycle riding on.

I mean, I know it happens a lot at Ocean Drive in particular, um, where they're riding and they're you don't want because there are some spots where there's obviously there's no sidewalk, there's rocks, sand, what have you on the side.

Is there a certain distance that it need to be careful of?

Or so it's a good question.

The it's not stated as three or four feet in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island's law states that you have to give enough room.

You have to pass with enough room for the side for the bicycle, bicyclist on the bicycle to fall over and clear you.

Um so that's it's it's a judgment on the part of the driver of how safe it is to pass and at what speed.

Yeah, there is no answer.

Yeah, so the shadow is only showing that there are bicyclists present.

Uh it's not a positioning of the bicyclist.

Yeah.

So that's I mean, you're asking the right question.

Yeah, because Spring Street and I'm happening to be there every single day, but it does happen where and I I mean if I was riding a bike on Spring Street, I wouldn't go near the right side of the street where the cars are.

You never know if he was gonna get out.

Sure.

That's why I was like we have thoughts about Spring Street too.

And then how to move better.

Uh but again, right now it's about the the bicyclists can't ride too close to the cars because there a door can open and the car can't pass the bicyclist too closely because they can hit the bicyclist.

It's all about everybody taking a chill pill, being careful, and only passing when it's safe to do so.

But we didn't write it that way.

Yeah.

Right, right.

Uh next slide.

Oh, here we go.

And this is this is uh yeah, so this is the the one uh that talks about the position in the roadway.

Uh currently the royal state law requires bicyclists to ride as close to the right hand side of the roadway as practical.

Uh this proposed ordinance, uh clinic clarified road position by providing exceptions that we kind of come across fairly often in this in situations where riding to the right hand side of the road is is unsafe.

Uh impractical or contrary to late line uh lane markings for the bicyclists.

Uh 46 and 47.

That we also provide uh 10, I think 10, 10, uh 10 examples as to when those conflicts are.

Um just as an illustration, I'll um uh read uh just a couple of them.

When um when overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction, um or when um when riding on a roadway designed for one-way traffic, the bicyclist may ride as near to the left-hand side of the roadway as judged state by the bus bicyclists, similar to what we just talked about on Spring Street.

Next slide.

Uh this is a proposed new ordinance that establishes a requirement for a person opening the door of a motor vehicle on a roadway move with moving traffic to do so only when safe.

So that when uh for example, when um you Ubers are letting out on America's Cup that you know its ordinance addresses that there's a Sydney ordinance that you uh have to look look out and open the door only when it's safe so that we don't have so we don't have people injured by um by passengers leaving an Uber.

Allowed to park or embark.

Yes, yeah.

So uh so they can um temporarily to allow passengers to debark to disembark.

Umbers and taxis can pull all the way to the right on the on the lane.

So loading and unright, correct.

Next slide.

And this uh this one is uh proposed stop as yield.

So we bring this up um just so you can kind of read the read what the future looks like, something we may be asking for in the future, but right now the state laws state is looking at this.

Um uh and we're just gonna hold off until the state has some clarity on on how they want to word it.

So um that's the totality of it, and uh open to any general questions.

Hi everyone, it's Elizabeth Peterson again with the B-pack just for the microphone.

Um just a little note on that last part where we were saying that Ubers and Lyfts and things can stop in the bike lane.

I I'm a little concerned with that as a bike user on that roadway, because I've had a few different times before where I've been bicycling on that roadway in the bike lane, and Ubers or Lyfts will be, I think is my theory, looking in their back mirror at the car behind them if they can stop and don't see me in the bike lane.

And they I have had cars pull into the bike lane before and brake check me, and I've almost hit their back mirror, their back windshield because they didn't see a bike coming in the bike lane and didn't know to stop.

So I would really love to see not sure how we could help indicate this to maybe have them let people off on theme street where traffic is already slow.

Not that that would necessarily solve the problem.

I know the traffic on thame street's already a big problem, but um, I would love to see more discouragement of sudden stops in the bike lane because I think people don't see with the vehicle traffic that there are bikes in that bike lane always on that.

We're were we going to establish spots, um you know, locations for Uber drop-ups and pickups.

That was where I thought we were headed.

Yeah.

There is one that we currently put into ordinance uh down by uh O'Brien's on themes.

Uh so we started it.

Um but uh with your uh understand uh your issue and it is an issue, but uh there is specifics to that law as far as but they can't just pull over and knock you off a bike, obviously.

They have to have have some sort of due care of uh pulling over, but uh but they are allowed, even with signs erected that says no stopping standing or parking.

Sure.

When Uber came around and they were very big, we we um because we did have this taxi stands and taxis were really good about using the taxi stands.

When Uber game lift came around, we uh we tr tried very hard to to um stop them from doing that, and it was uh it was true tile, you know, where they have that they have the right to do it by state law.

We it got it, thank you.

We looked we looked, we looked into like almost like a geofencing kind of thing also.

The airport does that, but they only do that if they're in violations.

So we we can't do it just to drop a geofence and say they can't because that's what basically what people are, they're walking around like zombies with their phones uh looking for the Uber to pick them up, the Uber pulls over, sees them, they pick up and go.

Um, so it's kind of a conflict between the people and uh driver because they merge together.

Okay, they kind of be limited for the drop-offs, if not the pickups.

What do you mean?

Designated locations.

Uh they I mean we can put those suggested ones where we what we have, but we uh but because of the law it says they they're allowed to pull over to momentarily drop off or pick up, it says loading or unloading.

I would like to just note on that.

I wonder if having drop-off zones, even if it weren't even if they weren't legally required to stop there.

I wonder if that would help guide people to once because even if like as a bike user, I knew where people probably were gonna stop and I could slow down.

I wouldn't mind blowing down and going around them or whatnot, just as long as I know someone's gonna stop.

I think one of the things we can say is in addition to thanking you for raising this is that this is something that we can continue to look into and make improvements on in the city.

So while it might not be part of this package, yep, figuring out how to protect people in inactive bike lanes, you know, is something that we'll be continuing to figure out how to improve.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh yes, hello, my name's Christopher Daly.

I'm with the BPEC also, and just kind of piggybacking on that same particular issue.

There's one area that's even more egregious than Dam Street or the other areas where Ubers and tourists pull off and stop.

And that's coming down memorial where people stop to uh offload and upload for lift walk.

And that's the exact area where you're at optimal speed on a bike, and that's the exact area where the bike lane ends.

And so I mean, I've nearly been killed there many times.

So that's I I think a whole sign needs to be put there.

It's it's really really dangerous.

Um, you know, because I mean you're already losing your bike lane, and cars are not really real, they're not particularly tuned to that.

So you're being squeezed over and they're stopping.

So it's uh it's really real dangerous.

Um I would like I'm sorry, would you like to speak to that?

Oh, you know, I understand where what you're saying and where and where that particular uh spot is.

It's it it is frustrating.

Um it's frustrating.

It's a frustrating situation there.

Yeah, and and you're one of your fastest speeds and a bike in town.

The only other sp place you can go faster is coming down Green End Avenue from Middletown or coming down, you know, by surfers and there.

Other than that, you can get up to easily over 28 miles an hour down that hill.

Sure.

So you're you're talking about um where the access area is to the cliffwalk, is that what you're saying?

Exactly, right above first beach, yeah.

Yeah, Ubers all constantly stop there to let passengers out.

Um then also just kind of a generalized comment in relation to a lot of the uh laws in reference to passing bicycles, also.

Um I think a lot of it puts the onus on the driver to determine to you know their judgment to think what's safe and what's not safe.

And and as a biker, I rarely think that their judgment is to my interest at all of what's what's being safe and and how would that ever be enforced?

I guess the larger comment being is how do any of the ordinances get enforced?

Because they all seem to be judgment calls as true.

I think that if uh unfortunately, I think if there is a if there's a collision, it's something that we can we can enforce after the fact.

Also, you know, it can be enforced if the judgment of the officer, you know, observes the somebody passing very close to uh to a bicycle, uh, like uh, you know, very very closely.

It's something that an officer can enforce.

Yeah.

But then be to be there at the right time as far as the as far as the officer is concerned.

But but often we um enforce a lot of um infractions, unfortunately, after there's a after there's a collision, uh a lot um, you know, going through a stop sign and then there's a uh a collision or things of that nature do do get enforced afterwards.

But yes, we we can we can enforce what we see, but it's it's tough to it's tough to you have to be there at the right moment to do it.

Yeah.

I spent a lot of time uh writing the ordinances in the past and editing them and things like that, and and also doing surveys of what other towns and municipalities around the country do.

And we actually had previously had specific language in relation to the exact number of feet that a car is safe to pass a bicycle, and I think it was like three feet up to 30 miles an hour, and an additional foot for every 10 miles an hour over that, and that which is very tangible and and measurable and quantifiable, and and I see that's kind of not been I understand what you're coming from.

So I think a lot of cities actually have that where it's actually exactly known to everybody, you know, which is understood where you know, and granted there's an arbitrariness of people, you know, whether they can visualize what three or four feet is, but at least there's something written to to that effect, you know.

And I think this just leaves it kind of the door open to apparently a lot of people don't think don't know what you know a safe distance is in this town.

Um I had one last point, but it's escaping me.

So um I guess that's it for now.

I appreciate your time.

Jim for I B pack, and it's uh also something of an enforcement issue um and in the same area.

Uh I have seen this as a summer problem more than a winter problem, but right along First Beach and a few other bike lanes, there are sometimes people who have these scooters, which are motorized vehicles, and they'll go zipping down that bike line, particularly the backup uh from Middletown uh past first beach.

Um I noticed that uh we have officers there a lot enforcing the uh 25 mile an hour speed limit.

Um I hope that also this other issue is enforced.

I've seen scooter riders on this bike path do dangerous things for people who are on the bike path and people on the sidewalks.

And I I've seen families respond to that.

And so if we're gonna have officers out there keeping us from going under 35 miles an hour, um, which tends to be when you'd give a ticket, let's maybe also um uh urge them to enforce these bicycle ordinances, such as what Chris was talking about, and perhaps these scooters in that line.

Just to clarify scooters right away.

Um is it like kid scooters or moped scooters?

Well, you know, the uh the scooters that you can buy um that you don't necessarily have to get a license for, it's not an e-bike, but it's uh a scooter.

Um I'm sorry, I don't know.

There may be a two-wheeled vehicle, are you talking about two wheeled razors?

Two-wheeled vehicles, they're not bicycles, the raisins.

They're not motorcycles.

And so some of these people who are riding these think that, oh, I can go down the bike line.

Someone on a seat, no, no, standing or standing.

I think he's talking about it.

No, on a seat.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Then I'm not sure.

I think why you're confusing us because scooters are like the things that are on the ground and you're standing, but you're talking about like hyped up bikes, like that no longer qualify as an e-bike.

Is that right?

Well, yeah, but I mean, you can buy a scooter that's not even called a bicycle that we don't have to that and a lot of people do that because our distances are so short here in Newport.

Um they go faster than the e-bikes.

Um they often often these the people who are riding them are not thinking about they're they're thinking about having fun in the summer.

I mean, I had one talk me off on the left when I was trying to turn on to Bellevue from Narragansett.

What I what I will share is that the conversations that take place in this very complex environment of uh of motorized multi, you know, two-wheeled things and and uh efforts to stop calling them bicycles if they're not bicycles and to classify them and understand them and limit them and hopefully one day require registration and licensing.

But right now that's not available in the state, and the state is looking at what to do, and every other state in the union is looking at what to do.

And I can tell you that the Newport Police Department is extremely accessible and involved in trying to figure out how we can manage this here to everyone's safety without taking away anyone's form of transportation, because most people who are riding those don't even know that they're not street legal, you know, or that they have been changed or that they don't meet a definition.

But I'm very very grateful uh to be living in a town where the police department is working so carefully on figuring out what we can do to make sure that people don't lease lose their means of transportation and that we make our roads safer and that everybody knows what the rules are.

So that's the I apologize if it sounded like criticism.

It wasn't.

No, no, it wasn't.

I'm sharing with you that we're lucky that given all of these questions that we're living in a place where there's a very active accessible conversation about what the best way to deal with this is.

And afterwards, I'll I'll get with you after this so I can understand exactly what so we're talking the same thing when we talk about a scooter.

Okay, I'll pull up a picture on my phone and I'll be here.

Sir.

Yes, hi.

The last point I had wanted to make was back to back to e-bikes.

I know that we now have language to say that uh no one under 16 can ride an e-bike.

We also have language in the ordinance saying that nobody under 13 can ride on the sidewalk.

So between those two, does that mean that no e-bikes can now be on sidewalks?

Yes.

But I don't think that's said anywhere clearly in there, is it?

I think you have to extrapolate those two pieces of knowledge to actually get there.

Uh okay.

I think it's worthy to maybe just say no e-bikes on sidewalks.

Uh I think we have that in an ordinance.

There are no bicycles on sidewalks unless they're period.

That is a unless you're under 13.

Under 13.

But then there's the other piece of knowledge where you unless you're under 16 now, you can't be riding an electric bike.

So right.

So if you're under 13, you can't be riding that e-bike.

So we understand each other.

Does it say that?

Sure, no, it doesn't, and that's a that's something we can we can look at.

Making that statement just makes it clear.

Yeah, and I and I think it's great that we've you know now defined the different classifications of e-bikes and stuff.

We've been kind of talking about this for years and appreciated uh, you know, having all the uh workshops that you've gone to and come to us in the B pack and stuff.

But I'm wondering if they're almost like obsolete now.

I mean, my feeling is that over 50% of the bikes now have governors taken off them, and it far exceeds these any of the speed limits that we're even made in here, and that are going so much faster than anything we're contemplating or even discussing here that I think you know larger steps need to be put in place.

And I'm wondering if anything other than the under 16 state ordinance related to e-bikes is being adopted or any other language and whether it needs to be one of the things that's at the state level is considering the definitions and the language so that we we're not calling them bicycles, uh you know, considering emoto, for example, is something that's uh a new category that's not a bicycle.

Yeah, um, and that has different restrictions with it.

So that's why I was saying that Newport, the state of Rhode Island, and every other state is working on trying to figure this out so they can be consistent across all um maybe a future adaptation.

I I don't think it's far off.

And yes, there will be future adaptations, but there'll be one at a time.

That's running at a time.

Okay, thank you for your time.

Uh one last area, one area that uh wasn't addressed in the uh whole thing was uh uh bikes interacting with other bikes.

Thing that popped into my mind was uh uh there should be some verbal communication between bikers when you pass another biker saying on your left uh the very useful uh tool.

Uh kind of a it's civilized uh guess that gets well articulated on uh bike paths and other states, Massachusetts states that on the bike paths have you haven't seen it on the roads, and I haven't seen it as ordinances, but on the bike paths it's required that you verbally signal when you're gonna be passing someone.

I was uh uh beginning with the e-bike thing a little bit.

Audible the uh I was struck by uh all the the many definitions of different kinds of e-bikes.

But uh and we we define class one, class two, all this other stuff, but there's no rules, they don't apply anywhere, it doesn't make any difference what class they are.

They don't they don't change any of the ordinances the state of Rhode Island uh through the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management just recently um set the rules as opposed to ordinances.

The ordinances the DM will determine the rules and DEM determine the rules that only class one are allowed on uh on the state's bike paths when shared use paths.

That is that has nothing to do with uh yeah, it's not in here.

Yeah, I was struck with it going through the definitions.

I haven't been riding very much lately, but there's a whole bunch of beasts in there that I've never seen or even heard of me.

Uh and what's this one uh EFAMD?

Did it used to be a segue?

E P A M D.

Yeah, it's it's similar to a segue, that's just their technical, I guess, jargon or um what's a tri-shaw?

Uh Tri-Shaw is um uh uh piloted uh bicycle.

It has three wheels.

Um our uh chat that we brought over uh that that uh it's a piloted ride.

So you have two people in the front sitting in the it's a kind of a flip of a bike of uh pedicab.

The driver is in the back.

Segway is the company that makes those, and the other term is just the technology.

Tri-sha, yeah, no different.

Tricia has nothing to do with Segway.

Oh, okay.

And there is no mention of uh scooters in the any of the definitions that I saw.

Powered scooters and uh probably because it's not used and it's not used in any ordinance, is it's ever refer to a scooter in the ordinance?

Should it be no scooters on sidewalks?

What is a scooter?

We just heard four different definitions of a scooter.

I think scooter, yeah.

I think scooter is a colloquialism.

I'll have to I'll have to I specifically identify the the the scooter that you're speaking of and uh scooter is kind of like a uh uh um you know a catch-all phrase for sounds like a couple of different things.

Yeah.

So I uh which is why it doesn't show up in the definition.

It's it's it's didn't we almost have a company here?

Wasn't it bird a couple years ago who was gonna uh offer rental scooters?

Uh that would have been fun.

Yeah.

But we shouldn't they at least be defined as to what they are and where they can go.

It's a catch all phrase though.

It's used in so many different ways.

So that's good.

If we get if we ever get those, they're gonna have to have a different name that we can define.

Well, we've got them.

I mean, they're sport it's used in the different ways.

But what is they?

What do you know?

What is a scooter to you?

If if you're talking about like the the uh like what I refer to as motor scooter, which is something that is less than fee less than a fifth 50cc combustible engine on uh on uh uh which is you know it's the s the smallest version of a motorcycle, if you will.

Um that it already has definitions in state law.

Yeah.

And I'm I'm talking about the uh stand-up one, the little kids right.

That's the thing.

They go about 25 miles an hour.

Yeah.

But those are two very different vehicles.

Sure.

Yeah, so uh uh we may not have it, uh have the definition here, but thank you for the feedback.

We'll what's a quadricycle?

Four wheels.

It's got four wheels, says never anybody ever seen one.

It's not in here.

I don't see last thing we had that had multiple people in it.

Uh we were gonna sit uh side by side and drink beer.

Is that the well that's the that's the question?

Are they uh I think the I think the point of having the definitions is if if they're used in the ordinances.

So if they're not referred to in the ordinances, they don't require a definition.

Is that accurate?

But how many of these things are powered?

Uh uh pedicycle.

I mean, I they're out there go they're going pretty good pretty fast.

Do they get regulated as motor vehicles at some point?

Yes.

If we're talking about e are we talking about or back on e-bikes, because we're talking about e-bikes as a certain class that is considered a motor vehicle uh or no longer an e-bike.

Petty cabs.

Well, petty cabs are our d definition that we that we have in here because it the petty cabs show up in in ordinances.

Yeah, but the petty cabs we're seeing out there now are powered.

I mean, electric.

Oh, I see what you're saying.

Yeah.

So I I'd have to see what the I'd have to I'd have to look at the pedicab and determine what class it it fell into.

Yeah, I don't know what off the top of my head what you're which petty cab you're referring to and what class it would fall into.

Uh I tell you, but they go by so fast I can't keep crazy.

Well, talking talking about speeds, regardless of what you're in, but over 25 techniques speeding could be pulled over.

Yeah, um last thing I just want to touch on um is uh and we we've been talking about a little bit is enforcement.

Obviously, no matter what we do for ordinances or laws or whatever, if they're not enforced, then they're not worth the paper they're written on.

Um I I know like last summer the police department did a fan fantastic job of trying to do more enforcement.

And one of the biggest things we we deal with um with bicycles is going the wrong way on Fame Street, Spring Street.

Going into this season, is there any other enforcement?

You don't have to say it, so you don't want to surprise anyone.

No, I just well, I think you know it's important to know that we do when the weather turns and we start seeing everybody out on the bicycles.

We we do a campaign of uh targeted bicycle safety enforcement.

Uh the wrong way, going the wrong way on the on the um one ways.

That's all part of part of the uh of our like season opener, you know, for for us is to get out there, make sure we're getting the education out there.

We'll do some social media blasts and say, hey, we're gonna be out there, and you you're just you know you're on a bicycle, you're not immune to getting a citation, right?

So that's part of uh part of the opening of the season for us where you get into that gear, and then we sustain that to a particular level throughout throughout the summer.

I would just like to echo Chief Duffy.

He has come to our commission with Bike Newport, and that has always been the goal with these ordinances to have them ready to go before the summer season that they had do that enforcement I'd also had that I did a little research when I learned about the police department's efforts in this uh nine months.

What I found was that enforcing bicycle ordinances.

Almost every community has a code with bicycle, but to find a police department that enforces them is very, very rare.

Most communities don't want to touch this issue with 10 foot full.

Newport is not most communities.

We we value bicycle safety and the safety of all those around them.

So that that's a credit to the department reaching out and and responding to the community interest and making sure that our roadways are so just a plug for Chief Definitely.

Yeah, yes, definitely the team.

Uh we're we are up at RATT uh a number of times in the course of the season, not just municipal ordinances, but also taking to the state court for uh especially when we have those repeat violators, and we are one of the few departments up there that's that's uh that's seen it at RATT with bicycle ordinances.

And so it it then it shocks people up at RATT too.

So Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal, it's the state's um state's traffic court.

And lastly, I just want to give a big thanks out to uh Bike Newport and Barry especially for all the hard work hard work you've done.

Um encouraging people to ride bikes, but also educating people and like we mentioned earlier about the schools and the programs that you you've done in the schools.

Um it's it's it's just been it's been fantastic.

And uh the fact that we have workshops, you know, encouraging bikes and wanting to make sure that people are following the rules and regulations, we want to make sure it is uh a safe mode of transportation uh um as we push forward.

So thank you for all the work you do.

All right.

Any further questions on the council?

Right?

Uh Chief Duffy, Sergeant Head, thank you so much, and thank you everyone for showing up tonight.