Municipality of Mississippi Mills

Presentation Eastern Ontario Active Transportation Summit – May 13, 2016

BUILDING AN ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION PLAN

About Mississippi Mills…

Diverse community covering over 500 km2 Consists largely of rural areas, four villages

(Appleton, Blakeney, Clayton and Pakenham) and the urban area of Almonte

Created in 1998 through the amalgamation of Township of Ramsay, Township of Pakenham and Town of Almonte

Population of approx 13,000 (5,500 located in urban area of Almonte, 7,500 in rural/villages)

About Mississippi Mills…

366km of roadways, 148 acres of parkland Many locations of cultural and heritage significance Strong tradition of celebrating cycling in the

community (MM Bicycle Month)

Why Initiate an AT Plan…?

New wastewater treatment facility in 2010-2012 Municipality was completing Master Plans in

preparation for new growth (solid waste, water and sewer, parks and cultural plan);

Access new revenue potential through Development Charges Bylaw updates;

Transportation Master Plan (TMP) was the last of a series of master plan documents needed for infrastructure planning;

A TMP had never been done for the amalgamated municipality;

Why Initiate an AT Plan…?

The municipality wanted a transportation system that balanced the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles. The 2006 Official Plan needed further details to expedite this vision;

Encourage use of more active modes for recreation, commuting, running errands and tourism;

Influence decisions and behaviours that affect ability to travel, daily physical activity and health and wellbeing;

The AT Plan was included as a specified module in the Terms of Reference of the TMP

Initiating the Study

Challenges were encountered when establishing the Terms of Reference

How do we handle the CPR Corridor? How do we handle County Roads? Do we include roads, parks, trails, waterways, and

unopened road allowances? How do we achieve our objectives while managing

costs? The appetite to study was large and the budget had

limitations.

Building the Request for Proposal

The RFP was structured around the planning framework of Transport Canada’s guide “Active Transportation in Canada 2011”;

Scope focused toward existing open road corridors (Stay within Schedule A – Municipal Class EA);

Steps included: Stakeholder identification, Situational assessment, Vision and Objectives, Option identification / Option evaluation, Implementation Plan and Monitoring and Evaluation;

Background Material for RFP

Municipality offered availability of Official Plan & Zoning Bylaw; Parks & Recreation Master Plan; Development Charges Bylaw and Background Study; County of Lanark Transportation Master Plan; Traffic Count Data (2012 to present); Bridge and Road Asset Inventories; OPP Collision Records (2012 to present); and Mapping (properties, roads, parks and sidewalks)

Conclusion – Doing your homework saves $$$

Consultant Engagement

RFP was released March 2014 and closed after a five week period;

Procurement was a two envelope system – awarded on a balance of merit and scoring;

A total of 8 firms bid the project – Dillon Consulting was successful firm;

Bid proposal was $129,500 taxes included ($16,500 of this cost was Active Transportation);

Council awarded contract in June of 2014;

Initial Outreach – E Survey

E-survey in November 2014 (2 weeks) Launched through Web and Facebook Survey Monkey - 26 questions What active modes do you use? Why and how

often do you use them? What changes should be made to increase use of AT in Mississippi Mills?

207 responses received, almost half of the respondents provided written comments on what they believed to be key routes or missing links

AT Stakeholder Workshop

AT Stakeholder Workshop

Stakeholder Workshop held in Dec 2014 Group included sub-committee representatives,

business community, leaders from the health community, environmental groups, cycling community, accessibility advocates, policing, schools and parent councils, youth etc…

Good representation – geographically; Initial presentation on Active Transportation,

preliminary E-survey results; Format – Breakout groups, maps and note takers

AT Stakeholder Workshop

What we wanted – Flush out high level objectives from community to seed further study work;

What actually happened – Many participants did not want to be contained by study scope / individual agendas came to surface;

AT Stakeholder Workshop Findings

Need safe crossings (arteries); More public spaces for rest and relaxation; Accessibility barriers need to be removed; Improve connections to schools and community

facilities; Bicycle network connections between villages,

neighbouring municipalities and tourist destinations;

Improve winter maintenance practices; Bicycle parking facilities and improved lighting

Open House # 1 – Feb 2015

Provided outline of what AT Infrastructure included; Outlined health, financial and environmental

benefits; Looked at barriers that prevent users from

choosing AT as a mode of travel; Summarized results of E-Survey and AT Workshop Presented a preliminary spine network for

pedestrians and cyclists; Presentation materials posted to web and

comments opened for a two week period;

Open House # 2 – June 2015

Presented strategic direction for study, problems investigated and transportation strategy;

Summarized three primary networks in plan; Complete streets concept (multi modal); Pedestrian facilities (sidewalks, multi use

pathways, paved shoulders, etc..) Cycling facilities (shared lanes, paved shoulders,

dedicated bike lanes etc...) Proposed pedestrian and cycling networks

presented (rural and villages); Preliminary costing for AT established

AT Plan – Final Report

Section 1 - Introduction

Define Active Transportation for reader (not everyone is an active user);

Outline types – leisure, utilitarian travel or tourism purposes

Outline the objectives of study – “built by the community” through consultation, develop priorities, and create a more accessible and safe environment for users.

AT Plan – Final Report

Section 2 – Why is AT Important

Educate on the health benefits (60% of Canadian adults and 26% of youth are considered obese);

Low physical activity costs us an estimated $5.3 billion per year in direct and indirect health care costs (Transport Canada, 2011)

Benefits – economic, health, environment Alignment with Official Plan, Parks and Recreation

Master Plan, Accessibility Plan

AT Plan – Final Report

Section 3 – AT in Mississippi Mills Summary of existing conditions; Strong culture yet limited formal networks; What makes people want to walk / less likely to

walk? What makes people want to bicycle / less likely to bicycle?

Traffic, paved shoulders, separated pathways, cargo/passengers, lighting, distances etc..

Neighbouring AT infrastructure – County of Lanark, Ottawa, Town of Arnprior, Carleton Place

List of Issues, Opportunities and Barriers

AT Plan – Final Report

Section 4 – Vision and Goals Vision integrated and diverse transportation system foster the culture and infrastructure to support AT

Goals make it easy for people to use AT in favour of their

automobiles improve AT connections between communities and facilities develop an AT friendly culture through education and

communication (municipality, police, schools and other partners)

AT Plan – Final Report

Section 5 – AT Needs Analysis

Identify barriers and potential solutions; Identify gaps in overall network; Identify pedestrian and cycling facility alternatives

and where applications are best applied; Screen options for connecting routes and

recommend preferred solutions

AT Plan – Recommendations

Pedestrian networks were presented for villages and urban areas;

Cycling networks were also presented showing spine routes and secondary routes for rural areas and villages;

Priorities were recommended (ranking projects as high, medium and low);

AT Plan – Implementation Plan

Establish an AT Advisory Committee (10 members);

Update Policies – Official Plan, Accessibility, Winter Maintenance, and Streetlighting

Operational Improvements – sidewalk warrant program, hard surface road shoulders, begin screening routes against OTM Book 18

Enhance AT - pedestrian crossings, sidewalks, catch basins, enforcement

AT Plan – Implementation Plan

Work with the County of Lanark to enhance network;

Education and Promotion – “work on informing and developing culture change”

Explore Funding Opportunities – Federal Gas Tax, Ontario CycleON Strategy, OMCIP, Etc…

AT Plan – Approval & Next Steps

Plan was presented to Committee of the Whole on December 17, 2015;

Received by Council in January 2016 AT Committee Appointed February 2016

Challenges Encountered

Ownership of CPR Railway (the perfect spine route locally)

Maintaining focus on a backbone network amidst pressures to expand scope;

Public engagement can be challenging for rural areas;

Smaller municipalities do not have same AT goals and objectives of major urban centers (ie. commuter cyclist);

Challenges Encountered

Looking at the “infrastructure cost” of a new AT Plan can be a hard sell politically in a mixed rural/urban community;

Resources to maintain a plan need to be considered on a go forward basis;

END OF PRESENTATION

Questions or Comments?