M E M O R A N D U M
To: Honorable Mayor and Town Council
From: Rafael G. Casals, ICMA-CM, CFM, Town Manager
Date: February 19, 2020
Re: Adoption of the Cutler Bay Mobility Hubs Plan
REQUEST
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A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF CUTLER BAY, FLORIDA, ADOPTING THE CUTLER BAY MOBILITY HUBS PLAN; PROVIDING FOR IMPLEMENTATION; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
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BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
The Town of Cutler Bay (the “Town”) proposes to adopt the Mobility Hubs Plan (the “Plan”) that includes a sketch planning assessment of the Town’s existing circulator and bus system and recommendations to improve the Town’s overall transit performance, connectivity and safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users. The goal of the Mobility Hubs Plan is to identify first/last mile strategies to increase the number of residents that utilize the Town’s existing municipal circulator system and ultimately Miami-Dade County’s transit system. Adoption of the Plan is aligned with the Town’s adopted 2014-19 Strategic Plan Goal No. 3.1: Provide the infrastructure needed to meet current and emerging needs of the community, as well as Strategic Plan Goal No. 6.2: Optimizing the smooth flow of traffic through the Town by minimizing traffic congestion and maximizing the capacity of our local roadways.
On September 26, 2018, the Town Council adopted Resolution No. 18-68, accepting a grant from the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) in the amount of $50,000.00 to develop the Plan. Subsequently, the Town Council adopted Resolution No. 18-63 authorizing Marlin Engineering, Inc. to develop the Town’s Plan. The planning proves of the Plan included working with residents, staff and elected officials to develop consensus on a vision to guide mobility hubs projects and policy. The Plan strives to incorporate residents’ concerns reported, as it relates to growing transportation needs. In the process, existing conditions were documented by the collection of new data via surveys from drivers/operators and riders. The Plan has resulted in recommendation(s) for neighborhood, community and commercial level mobility hubs along the Town’s roadway network.
The following tasks were completed as a result of the Plan:
Ø Public Involvement Workshops
Ø Data Collection
Ø Transit Hub Assessment
Ø Conceptual Design
Ø Recommendations
There is an art and science to Mobility Hubs Planning. To gain consensus and implement projects the community must agree to and want, what is being planned. The Plan placed great effort into both the art (finding out what is wanted), and the science (finding out what is needed). What is wanted stems from a significant engagement of the public to build consensus. This is done the old-fashioned way, by earning it. Town staff focused on Public Involvement throughout this project by hosting three (3) workshops in order to gain a better understanding of the community’s needs and wants. Additionally, 106 surveys were collected by residents at the Public Involvement workshops and submitted via Town website.
Multiple efforts were undertaken to engage the public, explain the projects scope of services, existing conditions, data collection, and system utilization, in order to determine the desires of the public and keep the project moving forward. Public Involvement Workshops were provided to gain consensus for the study’s results and recommendations.
The purpose of the public involvement task was to discuss and receive public input on key local planning issues related to the Plan. The process began with coordination in a meeting with the Study Advisory Committee, after which a series of Public Involvement Workshops were held.
Public Involvement Workshops:
Multiple Public Involvement Workshops were held to engage residents between April 2019 and September 2019. Additionally, all the Public Involvement Workshops were open to the public.
Public outreach efforts for these workshops included meeting time and place postings on/in:
Ø The Town’s website.
Ø The Town Hall’s bulletin board.
Ø Public notice in the Cutler Bay Community Newspaper on April 2019 and August 2019.
Ø Email notification to persons who have opted into the Town’s email list.
Ø Two (2) Town monument electronic message boards, announcing Public Meetings.
Ø Flyers posted on Miami-Dade Transit buses that operate within the Town.
During these workshops, information was presented on background findings and analyses to date, with a discussion and solicitation of feedback from the public on areas of concern for further investigation as well as potential projects for implementation. Meetings with people in small groups were also undertaken. An initial Kick-Off Meeting with the Study Advisory Committee was conducted on November 26, 2018 to collect critical components in evaluating the Town’s mobility concerns. The Advisory Committee was comprised of the following partners:
Ø Town Staff
Ø Miami-Dade TPO
Ø Florida Department of Transportation
Ø Miami-Dade Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee
Ø Southland Mall
Ø Cutler Bay Business Association
The following dates, summarizes the Town’s Public Involvement efforts that, was comprised of a series of open forum style meetings with residents:
Date Meeting/Location
April 30, 2019 SMART Moves Mobility Hubs Workshop #1
6:00 PM Cutler Bay Town Hall-Council Chambers
September 23, 2019 SMART Moves Mobility Hubs Workshop #2 2:00 PM (English) Cutler Bay Town Hall-Council Chambers
September 23, 2019 SMART Moves Mobility Hubs Workshop #2
6:00 PM (Spanish) Pine Woods Villa-Club House Dining Room
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Mayor and Town Council approve the attached Resolution adopting the Cutler Bay Mobility Hubs Plan.