05.19.20 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes May 19, 2020 open lanes. During this crisis, more people than ever are turning to active transportation as they seek relief from enclosed spaces, but cyclists and pedestrians have been allowed such a limited allocation of street space, they often struggle to give physical distance. The acres of impervious surfaces given over to cars have been brought into stark relief. Nationality, cities small and large are responding by creating "slow streets," "open streets," or "healthy streets" programs where humans are getting back some of the space giving over to cars through the closing of just a few streets to thru-traffic and limiting non- resident access to only emergency and delivery vehicles traveling at slow speeds. A movement for this type of program is growing in Central Texas as well and Austin City Council passed a resolution to create their own "healthy streets" program earlier this month. These programs utilize basic signage and a number of guides for implementation are available, similar to the graphic at right by Street Plans. Inspired by these national movements and resources, MoveSM worked in collaboration with SimpleCity Design to create the attached document and map which offers some streets distributed across a variety of neighborhoods for your consideration of a Phase 1 roll-out of San Marcos' own Slow Street Program. It is encouraging to see portions of Belvin St. have recently been made limited access, which demonstrates the ease of implementing a slow street. Nearby San Antonio St. is also proposed as a Slow Street in the attached document and the Open Curb style shown above would be an excellent option given the large width of that street that would maintain full vehicle access. Regardless of the streets selected, it's important that slow streets be equitably provided throughout the community as all residents deserve the opportunity to safely use public space. Thank you again for your service to the City during this challenging time in our history. And, thank you in advance for creating Slow Streets in San Marcos for the health and safety of your citizens. Sincerely, The Members of MoveSM PRESENTATIONS Receive status reports and updates on response to COVID-19 pandemic; hold council discussion, and provide direction to Staff. Bert Lumbreras, City Manager, provided a brief introduction and turned the presentation over to Chase Stapp, Director of Public Safety. Mr. Stapp provided status reports and updates on response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Known Cases - as of today • 1,480,349 U.S. cases with at least 89,407 fatalities (13,284 new cases since yesterday) • 48,693 cases in 222 Texas counties with 1,347 fatalities City of San Marcos Page 4