Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
City officials hear update on mobility plan
FAYETTEVILLE — The city wants to better its streets, sidewalks, trails, public transit and downtown parking based on what the public has to say.
City Council members on Tuesday got an update on the plan from consultants Nelson/Nygaard, a mobility, accessibility and sustainability firm in San Francisco. Principal planners Zabe Bent and Jason Schrieber presented information based on 850 public comments from the first round of mobility workshops held in May and surveys online.
Aldermen approved in March a $585,000 contract to create a transportation plan and a downtown and entertainment district parking and mobility report.
Nearly 60 percent of residents chose a walk-friendly environment as the top concern. Parking and transit came close behind, among other issues.
The second round of mobility workshops, held at several spots around town, started Saturday and ended Tuesday at City Hall. Each
workshop featured six panels for parking downtown, driving, public transit, walking, biking and a blank space for anything else.
Participants could read facts on each topic and use stickers to vote on his or her preferred plan for a variety of issues. Marshall Barker, 26, said his eye immediately went to the biking section.
Barker, who bicycled his way to City Hall, moved to Fayetteville three months ago from Russellville. The city’s level of interest in receiving public comment immediately impressed him.
The area where Barker lives near Gregg Avenue and North Street is pretty well-connected for bicycles but it’s a different story on College Avenue, he said. He usually drives his pickup to go there.
“It’s a little too chaotic with afternoon traffic and people driving,” Barker said. “I don’t want to get hit.”
Barker listed making Archibald Yell in south Fayetteville more bicycle-friendly on the open-comment panel.
Alderwoman Sarah Marsh said the whole purpose of the workshops and the study is to find out what residents want and base the city’s action from that, much like its other long-range plans.
“We want to make sure that we are implementing the people’s agenda for their city,” she said.
Alderman Mark Kinion encouraged anyone who hasn’t chimed in to do so. Comments can be made online.
“This is the way that Fayetteville generally does things,” he said. “Take the opportunity while you have it.”
The consultants next will coalesce all the information gathered, revise the laundry list of strategies and make recommendations before holding another round of workshops in spring, Bent said. The City Council should see a finalized plan by summer.
City staff will continue to work with the consultants by gathering data, reviewing recommendations and speaking with state agencies and other stakeholders, City Engineer Chris Brown said.
For instance, the city’s parking staff spent hours canvassing the 9,000 parking spaces downtown to see how many cars were parked and when during peak times, Brown said.
Better using the spaces the city already has should be the first of the city’s parking goals, Schrieber said. Parking is never more than 50 percent
Other findings in the study showed 50 percent of Fayetteville residents live and work within the city.
full downtown, although many unoccupied spaces aren’t open to the public.
Alderman John La Tour said the idea of shared parking intrigued him. Oftentimes people who live downtown go to work during the day and leave open parking spaces other people could use, he said.
“That would seem to me to be a reasonable, rational shared parking space,” La Tour said. “But our current system doesn’t allow that.”
Other findings in the study showed 50 percent of Fayetteville residents live and work within the city. About 40 percent of commutes are fewer than 3 miles, but only 8 percent of workers walk or bike to work
The city also could add 80 miles of trails by 2030 to its 70 miles of bicycle lanes and trails.
Half of the city’s transit stops lie within a few blocks of the Razorback Greenway. Twenty-five percent of jobs are within a 5-minute walk to a transit stop but only 1 percent of workers use the city’s public transit to get to work, according to the study.