ITEM TITLE:
Title
Consider setting the date of January 9, 2024, to hold a public hearing to close a public access easement for the Elmer Thomas Connector bike route crossing Lawton Public Schools property located approximately at 753 NW Fort Sill Blvd.
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INITIATOR: Charlotte Brown, Community Services & Planning Director
STAFF INFORMATION SOURCE: Kameron Good, Senior Planner
BACKGROUND: An application has been submitted to close a public access easement. The approximate address is 753 NW Fort Sill Blvd, Lawton, Ok 73507. This request was made by CDBL, Inc. on behalf of Lawton Public Schools. Lawton Public Schools has been working on fencing in all the school properties to increase safety by controlling the points of entry. A building permit was submitted by CDBL, Inc to build a fence around Lawton High, the Shoemaker Center, and the Middle School. In 2013 the Board of Education granted four public access easements across their property for sidewalk and bicycle routes. The Elmer Thomas Connector route starts in Elmer Thomas Park and crosses LPS property between the baseball fields and goes west between the middle school and the Shomaker center. To fence across this easement the route will need to be rerouted and the easements will need to be closed. Two Alternative routes are being proposed. After the existing route crosses LPS property it then crosses NW Fort Sill Blvd and goes west down NW Cherry Ave to NW Laird Ave. It goes up to NW Elm then goes west to NW 21st St where it comes down to NW Ferris Ave.
According to City Code and State Statutes, a 30-day written notice must be given to the property owners within 300 feet of the requested area and the private utility companies prior to Council considering the ordinance.
On November 7, 2023, the City Council set a public hearing date of December 12, 2023, waived the fee for the closure and requested the selection of the alternate route be brought back after it was taken to the Streets and Bridges Committee for their recommendation. The public hearing for the closure is being reset because staff failed to get the notices sent to the property owners on the required date and ODOT informed staff on November 21, 2023 that Title 23 of U.S.C. that this will result in the severance of an existing major route or have significant adverse impact on the safety for nonmotorized transportation traffic and light motorcycle, requiring recipients to provide appropriate replacement detour accommodations in the event of permanent or temporary closures, using adequate warning, delineation, channelization, and other traffic control devices that are compliant with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD)." A detour must be provided before the original route is closed. This would include while option A or B is under construction.
On November 15, 2023, the Streets and Bridges Committee made the recommendation of Alternate Route A. On December 5, 2023, the LMPO Tech and Policy Board are meeting to discuss the possibility of a proposed temporary detour route. This would take the Elmer Thomas Connector from NW Ferris Ave south at NW Dearborn Ave, continuing East down Dearborn to NW 13th St, south to NW Columbia Ave, continuing East on NW Columbia Ave, crossing NW Fort Sill Blvd. at an existing crosswalk, continuing East on NW Columbia Ave to NW 6th St were it would connect to the existing trail system. Their determination will be presented to Council when the public hearing is held on January 9, 2024.
Council Policy 5-1 establishes the criteria for closure of public ways and easements. This request meets the criteria because the proposed fence will not allow the path to be used in the future.
Route A was proposed by the contractor CDBL, Inc. and will take the Elmer Thomas Connector route north of the middle school. It will then go down the west side and tie back into the existing route just northwest of the shoemaker center. This route would require approximately 270 LF of new 10’ sidewalk, stripe the west side of the existing parking lot and widen approximately 190 LF of existing sidewalk to 10’. After discussion with the Engineering department, $9.45/SF is a good estimate for sidewalk construction cost right now. Route A would estimate out at roughly $34,492.50.
Route B was proposed by staff in accordance with the True North Statement by Creating a Safe Community. This proposal would take the Elmer Thomas Connector route down NW 6th St. The route would go between the football field and the McMahon Memorial Auditorium to NW Ferris Ave and then west down Ferris Ave all the way to where it would tie into the existing route at NW 21st St. This would require the sidewalks along the north side of Ferris to be widened from NW 6th St to NW Fort Sill Blvd and the restriping of NW Ferris Ave from a four-lane road to a three-lane and a dedicated bike lane. One lane would be going each direction with a turning lane down the center. After discussion with the Engineering department, $9.45/SF is a good estimate for sidewalk construction cost right now. Route B would estimate out at roughly $50,557.50.
In 2015 Jeff Speck gave a presentation to Council on Moving Towards a Walkable Lawton. In that presentation he talked specifically about Ferris Ave and encouraged the council to strongly consider restriping from a four lane to a three lane with a bike trail as originally planned in the 2010 Lawton Bike Plan. According to his presentation, a three-lane road has a capacity of 15,000 - 20,000 cars per day and the current volume of Ferris was 11,307. Shrinking a road from four lanes to three lanes decreases the injury rate from 41 per year to 12 per year, Tripled the cyclist, and decreased the speeding from 75% to 17%. All of this while not impacting car volumes or trip times. The restriping of NW Ferris can be completed during the Mill and Overlay project.
On September 27, 2023, Council approved a motion to formalize a Council priority for the Streets Division to implement a program for street repairs. Included in the approved motion was a project entitled “Ten Wins for the Citizens, On Target On Time”. Working with the designated engineering consultant firm, EST, a minimum of ten street repair candidates are to be selected and work started by Thanksgiving this year for milling and overlaying. On October 10, 2023, Council approved the Streets and Bridges Committee’s recommendation for a list of 10 streets. On October 18, 2023, the Streets and Bridges Committee selected an additional 13 streets for Council to consider adding to the priority list for milling and overlaying projects. The attached list is the Streets & Bridges Committee’s recommendation for the next thirteen priorities. This is in accordance with the True North Culture by creating an efficient and transparent process for street repairs and by providing for a safe community for our citizens to thrive.
EXHIBIT: Easement Location Map
Existing Bike Bath
Proposed Route A
Proposed Route B
Proposed Temporary Detour Bike Route
Easement B7061 P108
Easement B7061 P111
Easement B7061 P114
Easement B7061 P117
Street Mill & Overlay Priority List #2
KEY ISSUES: Does council want to close the easement? Which route does the council want for the reroute?
FUNDING SOURCE: N/A
STAFF RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION: Set date of January 9, 2024, to hold a public hearing to close a public access easement for the Elmer Thomas Connector bike route crossing Lawton Public Schools property located approximately at 753 NW Fort Sill Blvd.