Good morning and welcome to the November 19th, 2025 Transportation Infrastructure and Planning Subcommittee meeting.

I'm calling the meeting to order.

And if the city attorney could please explain public comment.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Members of the public may speak for up to two minutes on agenda items to be discussed.

Comments must be related to the agenda item and the action being discussed by the subcommittee.

General comments that go beyond the scope of the agenda must be made in the call to the public session at the end of the agenda.

The city council and staff cannot discuss or comment on matters related to pending investigations, claims, or litigation.

Additionally, any members of the public who appear before the subcommittee in their capacity as a lobbyist must, as required by Phoenix City Code, disclose this fact before addressing the subcommittee.

The City Code requires speakers to present their comments in the respectful and courteous manner.

Profane language threats or personal attacks on members of public council members or staff are not allowed.

Speakers should not act in a disrespectful manner that is openly hostile to others.

A person who violates these rules may lose their opportunity to continue to speak.

Thank you.

And next I would like to introduce the interpreter, Elsie Duarte.

She's uh not visible to you because she sits downstairs.

Elsie.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair Stark.

My name is El C Duarte.

I will be providing Spanish interpretation during today's session.

I will now take a moment to address our Spanish speaking audience.

Buenos días, my name is Elsie Duarte.

Estar interpretando L in Australia de Able Hispana durante esta session del subcomité de Transporte Infrastructure y Planificación.

Las personas registradas para ser un comentario publico sepan que podran hablar libremente sin interrupciones durante el tiempo disponible.

Sous commentarios serán interpretados al momento que usted termine de hablar.

Gracias.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you.

Next, we have approval of the minutes of the October 15th, 2025.

Do I have a motion?

So second.

Okay.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

The ayes have it.

Passes unanimously.

Next we have our consent agenda, which is items two through seven.

And I believe we have two speakers, but they said only if necessary.

So I unless we have any questions.

Can I please get a motion?

Second.

All right.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

And our consent today basically was pretty much aviation and historic preservation.

So thank you for that.

Next we'll move on to items eight.

And I believe um Josh, you were saying that you would also like to present item nine with it as well.

Combine them.

That would be great.

Thank you.

Madam Chair, members of the subcommittee.

Thank you for the opportunity to present to you today.

As you mentioned, items will present items eight and nine together with me today.

Our assistant director, Adam Miller and Chief Tim Christ from the Phoenix Fire Department.

So the first item eight is really uh an overview of our process improvement efforts.

As as you know, and thank thanks to so much for your leadership.

We've been working on this for the last two years.

Thanks to your support, the partnership of our development partners, other city departments, the city manager's office, and the incredible work of our team members in the planning and development department.

Happy to report that we've seen a lot of success and accomplishment in this last year.

So I want to highlight just some of that progress that we've made, celebrate some of the accomplishments we've made together, and then talk about what we're gonna do next.

So we had a big year this past year.

The Phoenix General Plan was approved by the voters.

Downtown Phoenix Code was overhauled.

We updated our development impact fee program, rolled out a green stormwater infrastructure program, and updated our 14 Phoenix building construction codes.

That is an incredible run for a year.

And we should all be very proud about the accomplishments that we made as a city with respect to planning and development this past year.

Through that all, we've been really busy.

Close to 50,000 people served at our development counters in City Hall that were fully staffed every day.

And we uh served over close to 300,000 inspections, all done within 98%, uh meeting our 98% within 24 hour turnaround time.

Speaking of turnaround times, one of the things that we don't lose sight of as we have these conversations about culture and process improvement is the commitments that we make to turnaround the reviews and the inspections that we do every day.

Happy to report as part of this report that we are meeting, exceeding, and improve or improving on all of our turnaround times from last year.

Highlighted some of the improvements that we implemented this year regarding our hillside grading and drainage plan uh requirements, updates to our floodplain requirements, civil inspections, gas sign-off, as built drawings, and our building code update.

As part of our building code update, huge effort with our development partners, the development advisory board.

We're able to eliminate permits for replacement walls and fences.

Again, I'll thank the Madern chair for your leadership in spearheading that.

Eliminated code modifications for water sewer crossing property lines, installed uh flexibility with respect to permanent section and uh permit and extensions, modified requirements for refrigerant lines and multifamily development, and added mass timber for buildings up to 18 stories, just to list a few.

Part of this effort, as I talked about last year, is keeping the conversation going.

And process improvement requires us to have open and ongoing dialogue with our customers about what's working and what's not.

We had a series of listening sessions with a host of stakeholder groups.

This one here is a snapshot of one we had just on high-rise development.

Want to thank those development partners for coming into City Hall and also our partners from the fire department and participating.

One of the outcomes of that discussion was a new checklist for high-rise development so that projects, as they get close to the finish line, know exactly what they need to do to get a certificate of occupancy.

As many of the conversations that we've had in those listening sessions, we've also begun to track well how we're how are folks feeling about the service that we're providing and running out a series of customer service surveys that measure the overall experience they're having with us, but also the communication that we're providing.

Again, we're committed to keeping that up and to making sure that we're fulfilling the commitments we make as part of this ongoing conversation.

A big emphasis that we've had this past year is building a culture, a culture dedicated to service and partnership.

This is a snapshot of our personal seamless and innovative customer service that every member of the department had to take this year, and we'll have to take uh here on out.

We adopted a vision, mission and service commitment focused on this concept of partnership, and you can see in the acronym service.

The idea of focus thinking of ourselves as partners in the development process, not just planners, not just administrators, not just inspectors, but partners to help the folks making investments in our city get where they need to go.

We also took time to celebrate the service that we that we're providing.

I want to thank our development partners for increasingly writing in and recognizing the great service that our team members provide day in and day out.

We celebrate that the that at quarterly coffee chats, recognizing the service that was received and sharing that with not only you as the council, but our entire department to point to this service as the model that we want to follow moving forward.

We've installed training programs to help on help our team members have the resources that they need to provide the highest level of service.

Every team in the department was required to provide an overview of who they are, what they do, and what they're working on.

So those team members that are engaged by customers, maybe they're not at the right spot, but they certainly know where to send them out uh when they when they speak with them.

So, what's next?

Really proud of the work that we've done.

We also want to keep that momentum going.

We've got a lot of high-profile, important projects, big and small throughout the city that we want to continue to provide the highest level of service to.

To that end, we rolled out another series of listening sessions this fall.

I want to thank all those who participated and gave us feedback on this version of the of the report.

We've also outlined a series of updates to our services that we want to roll out next year if we're positioned to.

One of the biggest things we've heard from our partners is an issue of running into uh a challenge out in the field where maybe something isn't meeting code or something's not aligned with an approved plan.

Uh we want to position our inspectors to resolve those issues out in the field so that plans don't have to go back into the queue.

We're proposing to roll out a revision by inspector pilot program.

We want to streamline and standardize our admin review procedures, continue to make updates to our organizational or organization staffing.

Uh, excited about going uh full implementation of Shape Phoenix on April 13th of next year and beginning to implement artificial intelligence into our service model.

We'll continue to make improvements to our department training program and rolling out a customer service initiative focused on personal, seamless and innovative service.

And again, we'll roll out a permit with Pride and Phoenix initiative to highlight the benefits of actually securing a permit with us.

And of course, we'll continue with our listening sessions.

I talk a lot about partnership with our customers.

And part of that requires a two-way conversation.

As we have listened to them for the last two years about what's working and what's not, I use this year's report as an opportunity to talk to them about the things that we need to continue to provide that service and some of the challenges that we're facing as an organization.

Chief Christ and Assistant Director Miller, we're gonna spend a little bit more time on these topics on the next uh next item, but I want to introduce them here right now.

As many of you know, we are an enterprise fund in the for planning and development for our development services function.

We're one of only one of two major Western cities uh along with Houston that operates like that, which means basically that we only are able to uh function off of the permit revenue that we bring in.

Smaller portions of our department, like our planning functions are general funded, but the bulk of the department functions off of our permit revenue, permit inspection revenue.

So here's some budget realities that we've been talking about with our department partners.

Fees have not been updated since 2010.

We did do a fee study in 2019, but as that got finished, we really were moving into the pandemic and we didn't implement it.

We have a new fee study teed up for spring of next year.

With all that in mind, though, we are facing a structural deficit that will drain our fund balance here in the next 24 months if we don't make an adjustment.

And again, Adam Miller and uh we'll spend a little more time on that.

So before I go to the next time, I just want to again thank the mayor and council, this subcommittee for their support through this.

We have really enjoyed and valued the opportunity to engage with not only our our customers, but you as the council and our department partners about what we can do to enhance the service we provide.

As I mentioned last year, we want to lead, continue to lead in this industry across the country and deliver the highest level of service possible.

I'll pause there to ask if there's any questions from the subcommittee, and if not, I'll turn to Mr.

Miller to go through the next item.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Director Bernarek, Madam Chair, members of the subcommittee, Adam Miller uh with the planning and development department.

It's it's my pleasure to go over the staff recommendation for a proposed user fee increase uh along with Chief Christ.

Uh as we launch into this conversation, uh I really want to just start out to make sure that the audience understands uh exactly what's on the table.

So why not start with a Thanksgiving pun?

What we're it is the season.

So what what we're talking about today are our user fees, and Director Bindarik spoke to this uh briefly.

Uh these are not taxes, these are not not rates that are applied to uh a large customer base.

These are user fees that are charged for services that are provided by the planning and development department and by the fire department for plan review inspection and permitting services.

Um as you can see on this table, uh, what we're looking at at the planning and development department are existing fees.

We are not looking to add any new fees uh under building code changes.

Uh we're not looking to add new fees under any additional programs.

Uh I do want to give Chief Christ uh a moment here to to speak to uh the the fees that the fire department is recommending, uh as well as to speak to the partnership, uh the importance of the partnership between the planning and development department and the fire department.

Thank you, Mr.

Miller.

Madam Chair, members of the subcommittee.

The fire department and planning and development services department are partner organizations throughout the development process.

In my experience with the fire department and starting my career in fire prevention, that partnership has only grown over the years, and it is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of interdisciplinary collaboration that I have seen.

And the reason for that is because for the good of the community that we serve, we are best aligned when we're working together.

What that means, a few examples for us in the city of Phoenix is when we do a code adoption process, we do it together.

When we inspect buildings and review plans, we do those efforts together.

We coordinate that work as well.

As a matter of fact, there are folks who work for the planning and development services department who are aligned with our organization, reviewing plans on behalf of the fire code and inspecting buildings.

We literally have people embedded in their department.

We utilize the same operating systems.

We work together in every way.

And the factors associated with things like fees are perfectly aligned for both the fire department and the planning and development services department because we're using the same employee classifications to do the work.

Now, what's different on this for us in the fire department is we will discuss the existing user fees.

There are a couple of new user fees associated with two operating permits, which I'll discuss that are connected to the adoption process that we are requesting support for with the 2024 International Fire Code.

I'll discuss that in a moment as well.

And then for the fire department, there are some existing user, or excuse me, existing program fees associated with the special hazards unit and our hazmat assessment facilities, which I'll discuss a little later in the presentation.

Thank you.

So as Director Bernarek mentioned, the last fee increases uh took place in 2010 for planning and development and shortly followed suit in 2013 for the fire department.

And this was an adoption of an of a hourly rate of 150 dollars.

And as Chief Christ described uh the hourly rate assumptions, the underlying assumptions, as well as the the forward-looking trends that we're seeing with our operations uh are really in alignment, and that 150 hourly rate adoption in 2010 is the same hourly rate that fire adopted uh a couple of years later in 2013.

As you can also see in the note, the special special hazards program that Chief Christ referenced uh was last updated in 2003, so over 20 years ago.

So, what's changed since that time?

Well, we've experienced over 50 percent inflation according to the consumer price index.

Um anybody who has spent any time in any part of Phoenix recognizes that we are seeing a very high volume of development, and notably the development that is taking place in and around Phoenix is the most complex uh types of projects in the country.

Uh in order for the planning and development department and the fire department to manage those demands, uh, it is very important that we're able to retain and recruit the top talent in the region.

Council approved an important employee compensation package a couple of years ago uh that has helped tremendously in that regard.

But what we're seeing as a result uh of the rising costs is a structural imbalance to our development fund.

And so what you're looking at here is uh a forecast of the development fund uh for the next several years, and you can see that we're quickly moving toward the negative if we don't make some changes.

I've overlaid on the on the fund forecast our target fund balance.

We shoot for a target of one year of operating expenses.

This allows us to respond to increases in activity should we need to uh increase our resources uh and service levels, uh, but it also allows us to respond in moments of uh uh declines in permit activity.

Director Bednarik covered several items of what we what we've accomplished at the prior item through our process improvements, uh replacing our permitting system with the latest and greatest technology, not only uh for today, but also positioning us to continue to move forward and integrating new technology moving forward.

Uh also uh mentioned updates to the the building code last summer and uh anticipating an updated fire code later this winter.

I'm gonna focus a couple items uh on the last bullet there, the financial stability plan.

Um I just want to highlight that that when council approved the compensation package, we understood that there would be a structural imbalance.

Uh we have been taking steps since that time through preparing a financial stability plan.

Uh one of the first steps that we were able to take was to update our building valuation tables for the first time again since 2010.

We have been looking at cost control measures.

Uh, we certainly understand that when we're having a conversation about uh uh a revenue request that uh that begins and ends with service levels and also a deep dive look into where we can control and manage our costs, and we have been taking those steps.

Uh I also finally want to highlight that we have put in our budget uh funding to conduct a comprehensive user fee study.

Uh that will be launched this spring and give us the opportunity to look at all of our business processes uh and ensure that customers are paying the right amount for the services that they are providing.

This is particularly important in light of the integration of new technology where we have moved from almost exclusively paper to almost exclusively digital plan reviews.

So we looked at several options uh to address this imbalance, and what we heard from our customers is and industry stakeholders is that they seek stability, uh, they seek uh consistency, and they want to see a continued investment in improving our service levels.

Staff has brought a recommendation to the subcommittee under the build resiliency option that includes a 30% increase to our hourly rate, moving that from 150 dollars to 1950.

This would put us in a position of full cost recovery, and it would begin to restore that fund balance that you saw declining on the earlier chart.

There would be very low risk of service cuts in the short term under this option.

We'd be able, we would be well positioned to continue making smart investments and improving our service delivery.

And finally, this would put us in the strongest position to respond to the outcomes of the fee study that I mentioned earlier.

Here again, you can see the chart that I that I showed earlier with the forecast of the fund balance without any change.

Uh this chart shows where we would forecast the development fund balance under that 30% build resiliency option.

And so you can see that we come into line with our increased expenses, even beginning to reduce the gap between our target fund balance uh and and where our projected fund balance would be.

Give you an idea of how that will compare to other cities in the region.

The red bar is uh represents a residential building permit valued at $700,000 today in Phoenix.

The purple bar represents what that would change to under the build resiliency option.

That's an increase of just under $1,500.

You can see how that compares to other cities in the region, and just want to uh make note once again that we are the only city that is a self-funded uh development services functioning department.

Uh many of our neighboring cities are receiving allocations from their general funds.

If I can just interrupt, I'm I'm just curious.

Did you also check to see when they last updated their fees?

Or is that Madam Chair?

We have we have looked at that.

Several of these have been updated recently.

Okay.

Uh I don't have the specific dates in front of me, and we can certainly follow up with the with the subcommittee with that information.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

This is the same uh same idea, but looking at a commercial building permit valued at a million dollars.

The fee increase for this permit um is is just over $2,000 in Phoenix.

Again, you can see how that compares to our neighboring communities.

With that, I'm gonna pass uh pass it to Chief Christ, and he'll review the proposed fire fire uh fee changes.

Thank you, Mr.

Miller.

Madam Chair, members of the subcommittee.

Starting with the special hazards annual assessment program, this is part of our special hazards unit.

And this was a program that was created in the year 2000.

And the program exists to identify permit and inspect hazardous materials facilities that store handle or use hazardous materials in significant quantities.

This program allows inspectors to partner with those facilities and get into those facilities that already exist to provide those inspection services.

It's an important program for firefighter safety as well as public safety.

There's nearly 1,600 facilities that have enough quantities to be part of the program in the city of Phoenix.

And as Mr.

Miller described, the last time that the hazmat assessment fees were increased was in 2003.

The programs divided into five categories, five groups, and I'll describe those groups to you now.

The group one facilities, examples are paint stores or metalworking facilities.

Group two facilities are medical offices or auto shops.

Examples of group three facilities are large chemical manufacturing facilities.

Examples of group four facilities are large hardware stores, automotive warehouse with significant quantities of hazardous materials.

And group five are bulk flammable liquid storage applications, generators and tanks, and these sorts of things.

The SHU fees as they currently are since 2003 again.

Group one is paying 400, and our proposed increase would raise that to 710.

Group two is at 800, and we propose to increase that to 1425.

Group three is at 1250.

We propose to increase to 2,225.

Group 4s are at 800 to 1650, and we propose increasing those to four, excuse me, 1425 and 2,940.

And the group fives are at 550 plus 125 per tank, and we propose increasing that to 980 and 220 per tank.

Shifting gears a little bit to the 2024 fire code, as we described earlier in the slide, the Plain Development Services Department's already adopted the 2024 International Building Code and Associated Codes.

The fire department is moving in that direction as well, as we always do.

There are a couple new permits to highlight, and this is the kind of takes us back to slide two.

A new permit for battery storage and handling, and this is focused on lithium ion batteries, and those particular quantities above 15 cubic feet would trigger an operational permit.

This is in base code for the 2024.

Another new permit in base code is one associated with heating, cooking, and warming fire permits, specifically in vulnerable high-risk settings like construction sites, event tents, and wildland urban interface risk areas.

Where we're at with the 2024 International Fire Code, early in the process, we developed a fire code adoption committee.

We submitted the fire code for public review.

The fire safety advisory board reviewed the fire code.

We posted the fire code for public comment, had fire safety advisory board public meetings and stakeholder outreach, and we're happy to say that the fire safety advisory board has approved the 2024 code as presented unanimously, and we're hoping with your support to move the fire code on to City Council for the December 17th uh actions for consideration for council.

Thank you, Chief.

Just to round out our presentation before we we take questions, a look at the steps that we've we've taken and the next steps uh here going forward.

So the notice of intent for this fee increase had been posted uh in the middle of October in accordance with state statutes.

Uh, we did take this recommendation to the development advisory board at the end of October, received unanimous support.

Uh followed that discussion um on November 13th that the Fire Safety Advisory Board received unanimous support uh from the fire safety advisory board.

Uh we also held uh in addition to the listening sessions that Josh mentioned in his presentation.

We held two virtual information sessions to go over this recommendation with customers.

Uh, those occurred on November 12th and November 13th.

Uh, here we are on the 19th with the Transportation Infrastructure and Planning Subcommittee, uh slated for council second meeting in December on the 17th, and if approved by council, uh the changes would take effect uh January 20th.

And with that, uh, we'd be happy to entertain your questions.

Um we do have one speaker, so do you want to take the speaker first before any questions?

Okay.

John Baummer with NAAP.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Uh Chair, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My name is John Bomber here on behalf of NAOP Arizona, the commercial real estate development association.

Our members include uh owners, developers, investors, and related professionals in the office, industrial retail, multifamily, and mixed-use real estate development.

We share the city's goals to ensure that Phoenix has a planning and development department that is truly best in class.

Development only succeeds when the city's review, inspection, and permitting systems are predictable, well staffed, and aligned with the pace of the market.

When those systems work well, projects move forward efficiently, investments stay in Phoenix, and the city continues to position itself as a number one destination for business growth and job creation.

We appreciate the city's work to consistently improve services, adapt new technology, and expand coordination across departments.

At the same time, we hope that the proposed adjustments to the fees are paired with measurable commitments on staffing, service levels, transparency, and customer communication.

Developers and businesses need to clearly understand how changes will translate into faster reviews, more consistent inspections, and better coordination across the enterprise.

Our goal is a planning and development system that matches the scale and ambition of Phoenix, and we look forward to continued collaboration with city leadership to ensure the best outcomes and excuse me to ensure that both outputs and inputs guide this process and deliver the high performing department that the residents and business community deserve.

Thank you for your time and continued partnership with the development industry.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

I had the opportunity to um go to several coffees with leaders in the industry, and um we really did make that commitment that we're gonna make sure we continuously improve ourselves, that we're delivering good service.

I did not meet with NAP, but later on I met with Cheryl Lombard, who I know represents you, so I appreciate your comments.

Thank you.

Um and I do think it's important we continue to deliver good service.

We had a very good meeting.

I went to one of the listening sessions where both streets and uh water join planning and development, and there is I think a commitment from all the departments that work in development that we need to deliver service.

We recognize that the development community helps build our infrastructure and supply some of our needs.

Um, one of the things that we talked a lot about was affordable housing, and we will make a commitment to ensuring that we make affordable housing happen in our city.

Clearly, we've done a wonderful job with employment sector.

I mean with the semiconductor, and we've done quite well, I think, in ensuring we have quality uh commercial, but we still need to continue to build um affordable housing.

And to that end, I did ask um our city attorney to look at the possibility of looking at a different fee structure for the 10 to 12.

We don't get a lot of them because there's not a lot of funding out there, LITEC projects, which are the low-income tax credit uh projects that we uh process in hopes of having the ability to really ensure that we're building an affordable housing.

But I will say, from my perspective, you guys have done a really great job.

Quite frankly, the last time they raised the fees, I was the planning director, and I haven't been the planning director in what 13, 14 years, so it's been a long time since we've increased them.

I think you guys really have done a great job of outreach, and I I'm really impressed with some of the ideas that you're coming up with with regards to um process improvement.

But I do think it's important to remember that our users are paying your fees, so they expect good service.

It's just like when you go into a restaurant and you have uh a serve staff, you want them to serve you well, otherwise they may not get a tip.

So I think it's really important we remember that, but I really do see a commitment from all the departments involved in in the development process, not just the two sitting here, but also streets.

She's nodding her head and water.

And so, with that, I think we should move forward with increasing the fees.

Do you have any comments or questions?

You're not taking any chips, are you, Josh?

No, no.

No, no.

It was just trying to make a comparison.

Any other comments?

Well, I don't think we take action today.

This is just putting us on oh, do we?

Madam Chair, members of the subcommittee.

Yes, we uh the request is uh for a recommendation to the council.

Because I saw the last page say questions.

I'm sorry.

My apologies for not making that clear.

Okay, well, um so our action would be to could you put that in a recommendation?

Yeah, madam chair, of course.

Uh Madam Chair, members of the subcommittee, our our request is to move to approve the proposed fee, uh the fee fee increase per the staff recommendation.

Okay.

And I um we'll ask for a motion then.

Forward, I'm so moved.

Sorry, second.

Okay.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

It passes unanimously.

Thank you so much, and thanks for the presentation.

I appreciate it.

I know we've done a lot of work on it.

Next, we have um we discussed this in a previous subcommittee, and I see this as an update and um further discussion on the five-year plan for high visibility crosswalks and stop bars.

And so, Brianna, thank you for being here.

Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the subcommittee.

I'm joined by assistant director Matt Wilson, and we are here today to share information and options related to implementation of high visibility crosswalks and stop bars.

As you recall, in May of this year, a citizen petition was submitted requesting that council update the city's design standard to require the use of high visibility crosswalk markings at all signalized and non-signalized pedestrian crossings, and to require stop bars at all pedestrian crossings, including intersections with signals, stop signs, and hot crossings.

The petition was referred to this uh subcommittee for additional discussion.

At the June subcommittee meeting, the committee members directed staff to evaluate a five-year plan for the installation of high visibility crosswalks and stop bars citywide.

As mentioned in the Gene Subcommittee, Streets adheres to the standards, guidance, and options for pavement markings found in the latest edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, also known as the METCD, which is published by the Federal Highway Administration and adopted by the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Crosswalk markings are classified as either transverse or high visibility.

The METCD has identified three styles of high visibility markings that can be used, such as the longitudinal bar, ladder, or bar pair.

I'm now going to turn the presentation over to Matt to provide information on the evaluation.

Good morning, Chair Stark, members of the subcommittee.

As a refresher, I'll quickly walk through the categories of streets that we have here in Phoenix.

Our arterial streets are our largest roads with the highest volumes and speeds.

These streets are typically between four and six lanes.

Mid-block crossings are preferably hawk crossings, and all crosswalks have been previously upgraded to high visibility.

Our collector streets are between two and four lanes and move less traffic at slower speeds compared to arterial streets.

These roads typically connect neighborhoods to the arterial streets.

Here we will find a mix of crosswalks ranging from uncontrolled to circular flashing beacons along with some hawk crossings.

Local streets are the lowest volume in speeds.

These are the streets where the majority of homes connect to our network.

Crosswalks are generally unmarked within neighborhoods.

Stop bars or lines perpendicular to traffic that indicate to drivers where they should stop at intersections or crosswalks.

These are not required by the MUTCD, and Phoenix has not historically included them at signalized intersections.

We will adopt them into the revised standards that are being developed.

In our prior discussion with the subcommittee, we were asked to look at peer cities beyond the valley.

Staff reached out to New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Austin, Denver, Jacksonville, and Philadelphia.

With the exception of Houston, these cities use high visibility crosswalks at signalized intersections.

Lower classification roadways show mixed results with many transverse crosswalks existing today.

During the June subcommittee meeting, Streets was asked to evaluate what it would take to upgrade all crosswalks to high visibility and add stop bars within five years.

Streets hired a consultant to help with the data collection and analysis, which I will summarize over the next several slides.

The data collection phase identified that Phoenix has 6,389 marked crosswalks throughout the city.

Of these, 573 or about 9% are high visibility crosswalks today.

563 crosswalks, also about 9% include stop bars.

To develop the five-year plan, we considered the labor time, staffing, and costs involved in converting crosswalks to high visibility.

The costs for each crosswalk vary across arterial collector and local streets, with a cost range of up to six thousand dollars for arterial streets.

Stop bars are less expensive and complicated and can be installed relatively quickly for about $1,000 each.

One of the greatest challenges we face in pursuing a citywide program of upgrading crosswalks is that the majority of our crosswalks are on pavement that requires removal and replacement prior to the installation of the crosswalk marking.

Streets has had a program to refresh school crosswalks, and based on that experience, we estimate that our maintenance maintenance division has had to repave about 75% of these crossings before crosswalk striping can be installed.

The photo on the right shows an example of a crosswalk that required asphalt removal and replacement.

A common misconception about our crosswalks is that they are painted, and so the crop cost and labor required is assumed to be very low.

Streets uses a material called thermoplastic, which is much more durable than paint, but has a higher initial cost.

Thermoplastic is also better for visibility and traction.

Thermoplastic is applied through a heated kettle, which is shown on the right.

This equipment requires a smooth pavement surface to apply the thermoplastic and can be damaged by uneven surfaces.

Of the nearly 6,400 crosswalks in the city, about 1,400 of them will be replaced by the city's pavement maintenance program, which I'll provide some more detail on in a moment.

For the remaining 4,400 existing non-high visibility crosswalks, the cost to upgrade these is about $95 million, including the pavement costs.

The city's crews are already fully utilized, so we would also need 20 additional staff physicians across our traffic services and maintenance divisions to complete this work within five years.

Our crews persistently experience a significant number of vacancies.

These estimates of additional labor assume that we are able to fill additional existing vacancies.

Even with its improved durability, thermoplastic has a lifespan of about five years.

This means that the maintenance cycle will need to begin upon completion of the five-year plan, so annual costs will remain high in following years.

When factoring in the lifespan of the pavement, the annual program cost to install and maintain high visibility crosswalks citywide would be $24 million per year.

For comparison, the existing budget for our citywide signing and striping operation is $9.8 million.

Given the staff current staffing and budget constraints, Streets advises that the five-year plan is not viable.

The city's pavement maintenance program provides critical opportunities to efficiently install high visibility crosswalks.

Our pavement maintenance program treats about 900 miles of pavement per five-year cycle.

When new pavement is applied, it is a chance to apply new crosswalks without the same maintenance concerns.

This program involves about 20% of city crosswalks over a five-year period and can be leveraged to make significant changes to our existing stock of crosswalks.

We have identified three alternative options for the next steps given that the five-year timeline requires more resources than we have available.

First is the upgrading of all crosswalks when they are replaced, whether through the pavement maintenance program or routine maintenance.

The timeline to complete the full upgrading of crosswalks citywide would be accomplished in 12 years with the allocation of about 50% of the city's crews.

The installation and maintenance costs would be unchanged from the five-year analysis and remain at $24 million per year.

Second, we take the first option but accelerate the upgrading to high visibility crosswalks with funding from the Vision Zero Road Safety Action Plan.

The program is fully allocated through the 2029 fiscal year, so this could not start until fiscal year 2030.

The funding would be utilized to hire contractor partners to work with our crews to install crosswalks on a shorter timeline.

The cost would increase as we estimate contractor installed crosswalks would cost at least 25% more than city installed crosswalks.

For example, a $2 million allocation would support the installation of about 300 crosswalks per year, which equates to a year per year reduction over the project life.

This allocation would allow for completion in nine years.

The ongoing maintenance costs would be unchanged.

However, we would also accelerate the timeline for that maintenance to occur.

Third, we have identified critical locations where high visibility crosswalks provide the maximum benefit.

These locations would include all mid-block locations, the high injury network, and crosswalks that are close to schools, key community areas such as libraries, parks, and recreation centers, and high ridership transit corridors.

Additionally, all collector and local street crossings would be upgraded.

These locations account for 78% of all crosswalks in the city.

And the installation timeline would be approximately seven years.

This option significantly reduces the installation costs and long-term maintenance compared to the other options while providing high visibility crosswalks where we have the most pedestrian traffic.

Streets is evaluating whether the alternative high visibility crosswalk styles included in the MUTCD and shown earlier, reduce installation cost and maintenance, uh installation and maintenance cost and effort.

These crosswalk styles are commonly used throughout the country.

The image of the bar pair crosswalk on the top right is taken from Flagstaff, while the picture of the longitudinal bar crosswalk is taken from New York City.

And with that, I will turn the presentation back to Brianna.

So as Matt noted earlier, the resources needed to implement citywide within a five-year period are significant and not available today.

And recognizing that as the fifth largest city and growing, there is an opportunity to improve road safety while also balancing uh existing resources and ongoing maintenance.

And so with that, staff recommends to proceed with option three, install stop bars citywide when replaced at signalized intersections and stop-controlled intersections that includes a crosswalk as the new standard.

Install high visibility crosswalks when replaced at all non-signalized crosswalks citywide as the new standard, and very specific signalized intersections.

This would increase the percentage of high visibility crosswalks, an additional 78% 78% citywide over an estimated seven-year period.

And with that, we'd be happy to take any questions.

Thank you.

We have a couple of speakers, but I believe Councilman Waring had a question.

I do.

Uh how wedded are you to your thermo device and product?

Because what you're saying is it lasts for five years.

It sounds like the machine itself is finicky at best.

Oh, it has to be completely flat, can't it?

It's a road.

At some point, that just sounded ridiculous.

So I'd rather have you out there with a paintbrush and having it last three years and at least be something rather than doing what I'm hearing.

Now, I assume you've probably done some kind of metrics that this makes sense.

But the product you're describing doesn't sound that great to me.

So maybe you can explain why I'm wrong, and that's just a layman's analysis.

Because if that was a stock, I wouldn't buy it.

Good question.

Um, Madam Chair, um, councilman wearing.

Uh so one of the reasons that we use thermoplastic specifically on our Terials is the high volume of traffic.

And so we see so much truck traffic and vehicular traffic on these.

If we were to use paint, we'd probably get a life about six months.

Um, so it would tear through that pretty quickly.

So when we think about our arterial network, that is probably where we need to remain with thermoplastic.

But I think you bring up a good point is further evaluation if on our lower volume roads and lower speed roads, such as the local streets, if paint could be considered versus thermoplastic application.

And can I follow up with that, Madam Sharai?

Anticipated that.

So when was this thermo stuff invented?

Because I'm sure it wasn't around when streets were invented.

So what were we doing in 1950?

What product was being used then?

There was still a lot of cars on there were fewer streets and fewer people, but it was more concentrated.

There was still a lot of traffic.

There was still this invention called the truck.

It seems like at some point you were using.

I'm not saying paint, like just go to Sherman Williams and buy some paint, but I'm sure there's some special product that was being used at some point that somebody invented for streets before you got to this other thing that only lasts for a few years that is really a pain to put on.

Um, and I do not know when thermoplastic um came into to play, um, but I know we've been using it uh for multiple decades now.

I'm just saying prior to that, something else was being used.

I don't remember growing up like, oh, there's just no crosswalks, it's just buyer beware, just wander out in the street.

I don't remember things being like that.

So something else was working.

Probably as good as this or better is my guess.

I have found that not every scientific theoretic advance actually leads to better stuff.

A lot of times move backwards, just think about every time they update your phone.

Is it always better?

Not necessarily.

So thank you.

I appreciate you considering it.

Um, I am curious for an answer at a future meeting.

We discussed this.

Thank you.

Um why don't we take our speakers?

I I will let you know that the mayor's office and I are uh have been working on trying to look at some type of organization like we have for friends of transit and friends of uh the airport and um the parks foundation and perhaps have someone who can help long term that are friends of the streets that could help with maintenance.

But having said that, that's going to be a little bit of work.

Um it's kind of a heavy lift.

It's a heavy lift, but I think it's worth exploring.

And we uh have been talking to several people that are interested in in helping.

It's just a matter of how to organize that.

So why don't we turn to our speakers?

Okay.

Our first speaker, Nicole Rodriguez, spiritual.

Are you there?

Thank you, Councilwoman, to start.

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Thank you.

Oh, good.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Um, I I do want to say that I really appreciate uh the work that went behind this uh presentation today.

Um, so thank you, Brianna and Streets Department.

I um I I did initiate the citizen petition on this uh topic, and I really um excited for that option three with a few things in there that I would like for it to be considered with funding.

Um, as a taxpayer, we already put our money into the T2050 funds, which can be allocated towards high visibility crosswalks and uh stop bars, as well as her funding.

Uh, there's a considerable amount of funding there, doesn't need to be necessarily just from the Vision Zero uh fund bucket.

So um I would like to um ask if staff could um look into that and how to overlay those funding options.

Um and then just lastly, I I do like with uh what I hear from Councilman Waring.

I think we can explore um other options for the local and the collector roadways and just understanding better what other options are out there other than thermoplastic.

There is potentially something that could be expedited more efficiently and uh less costly.

But you know, the last thing I just want to say is that when we talk about this, I do appreciate how I did not hear anything about convenience because when we think about saving lives, um, when we think about the reason why we wear seat belts, why we register our vehicles, have license plates, all that, or even put fencing around swimming pools, all that is about life safety, not about convenience, because there's nothing convenient about um where we could talk in the same topic about convenience and life safety.

So I do want to say I appreciate very much that I did not hear anything about convenience, um, other than maybe the implementation um on major arterials, but I think you know sometimes uh there's alternatives to moving vehicle traffic around if we could do things more expeditionally expeditiously and you know applying these high visibility crosswalks and stop bars.

Um, with that, uh, you know, I would love um as being the president of Valley Urban Action Alliance and Urban Phoenix Project to work closely with staff on this further.

Uh I reached out and um would still love to hear back from someone.

So please consider um you know having uh discussion and also with um councilman Waring.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you.

That's it for me.

Thank you.

Um I think there's a lot we could do besides visibility.

Clearly, I I personally think our local streets should probably be more narrow.

Um I I live in a uh uh a middle housing product, and we have narrow streets are 26 feet wide, and people really drove drive very slowly.

If anyone goes more than 20 miles, you feel like they're speeding on the street.

So I think on top of this, and we need I do believe we need to do this, but I think we need to have a larger discussion about things and techniques.

I know there's a lot of traffic engineering analysis that would need to be done, but I think there are some things we should be looking at.

As a matter of fact, if we had narrow streets, maybe that would help with affordable housing.

I mean, there's a bigger discussion to have, but I do appreciate um what you have done.

We have one more speaker, and that is another Nicole, Nicole Sanderson.

Virtual as well.

She is not on.

And she marked neutral.

So thank you.

Um, so are there any questions or other comments?

All right, can I please have a motion and perhaps, Jim, do you want us to add to that motion to accept if I may, I'm not sure if you can hear me.

Welcome, Councilwoman Hyde Washington.

Sorry about that.

No worries.

Thank you so much, Chair.

I I just wanted to take a few moments.

I wanted to first thank and now the community members advocate advocates who have consistently pushed to help us make our streets safer.

And I also wanted to thank staff for their thorough analysis of what it takes to expand the high visibility crosswalks and stop bar citywide.

Um, I just wanted to again safety must remain our top priority, and the data we should receive today shows that we can upgrade our crosswalk, it's not just a design preference.

It could be a critical tool at helping to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries.

Um I appreciate their ability trying to balance the financial operational realities of a citywide conversion.

And I am also just wanted to voice my support for option three.

I think it gives us the best balance of urgency, equity, and fiscal responsibility.

It directs our resources to places where we will help save the most lives.

This includes um neighborhoods on the high injury network, school zones, community center, and our busiest transit corridors.

This approach will uh upgrade approximately 78% of all crosswalks within seven years.

It's a little longer than I we originally would have liked, but I believe that it is the most prudent and fiscal investment that we can make under the circumstances.

I believe it is responsible, strategic, and life savings, and I'm ready to support staff recommendation.

And I was very happy to hear that the community member behind the citizens petition is also in support of option three, and I look forward to helping for us moving this forward.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

So could I get a motion with that?

So moved.

Second.

Okay, all in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

The ayes have it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Deb, I was prepared to take Brianna on the honor system about getting back to the case.

Okay, so we're on the honor system for like you gotta make it a stipulation.

Put it in the well, like it's it's okay.

It's she'll get back to it.

We never know where you're coming from.

No, I appreciate that.

Thank you.

All right.

Now, if the city attorney can explain public comments.

Yes, thank you, madam chair.

Uh journey citizen comment members of the public may address the subcommittee for up to three minutes on issues of interest or concern to them.

The issues being addressed, however, must be on the subject matters that fall within the jurisdiction of the Phoenix uh City Council uh or the subcommittee and upon which uh the uh and upon which the Phoenix City Council or the subcommittee has the power to act.

That is an open meeting law permits the subcommittee members to listen to the comments, but prohibits members of the subcommittee from discussing or acting on the matters presented.

Thank you.

And we have one uh speaker today, Jerry Van Gas.

Come on down.

Good good morning, subcommittee members.

Um most of you know me.

I'm Jerry Van Gas, uh public watchdog for the parks and preserves system.

And uh, I drive around pretty much every day to different parks, uh, preserves and trailheads.

And overriding comments and questions I'm getting is what is going on at Camelback Mountain.

Uh you know, and we're the influx of visitors is in town and coming.

And the vast majority of them uh want to take advantage of our mountains and do a hike.

And Camelback is the most iconic hike uh in the valley by far.

So no update since the torrential rains October, uh first week of October until uh this Monday.

There was a press release, you know, indicating that they've identified three boulders they need to uh safeguard with some cage or whatever.

Uh but subsequent to that press release, it's the first one since October 16th.

And we've got three meetings.

We had a parks board meeting Monday.

We have this meeting today, and this afternoon we have council meeting, and yet parks is nowhere to be seen to address any of these questions that people have out there.

The press release is very lean on facts, and it doesn't answer, you know, it raises more questions than it answers.

And they keep stressing safety before they reopen the trail, and yet I heard from you know uh management at the parks that they want to get it open as soon as possible once these boulders are rectified.

Uh that's that's not what we want to hear.

Uh our attorneys are filing record requests right now.

We want to see the assessment that they're stressing this is all based on.

Because frankly, uh I don't think there is one.

We want to see it.

So uh I'll be at the council meeting this afternoon.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next item is future agenda items.

Do you have any?

Okay, we are adjourned.

Madam Chair, Madam Chair, before I'm sorry, I keep forgetting I I apologize.

Who is it?

Yeah, who is that?

Thank you for the opportunity.

I don't really have a future agenda for them.

I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday today, as we celebrate your birthday today.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

You're welcome.

We are adjourned.

Thank you.

So I put cilantro, I put um melons, we did watermelons as well.