minps 12-09-19 - Laserfiche WebLink

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generally supportive of scooters and a micro-mobility system. A lightly attended public information session was held on 11/23/19.There will be more in the future. David Baas of the Planning & Development Department highlighted key lessons learned by other municipalities across the country while implementing micro-mobility systems. Population density is key to the scooter business model. A notable amount of scooters were pulled out of Columbus and Atlanta by vendors due to unfavorable population density numbers. Lakewood's population density makes it an attractive destination to do business and vendors have retained counsel in town because they're attracted to Lakewood and Cleveland's figures. Scooters are pulled off the street when it snows, as demonstrated by vendor behavior in Buffalo and Indianapolis. Chairman Bullock proposed implementing signage along biking routes to guide scooter use and behavior. Discussion ensued regarding scooter parking station placement.The ideal breakdown of stations should be to have 2-3 per square mile, which would amount to approximately 28 total stations in Lakewood. In order to have a viable micro-mobility system, the stations must aim to cover 70%of Lakewood. A parking station would serve as a rebalancing hub and place to incentivize device return. Mr. Baas indicated that the county could potentially allow only 1 vendor to have devices in Lakewood and allow 2 other vendors to operate in the east side suburbs. Ultimately if the city decided to participate in the county scooter program, it would allow the vendors to operate with a license for a year, followed by a 6-month review process.The city and county could work with vendors after a year to find better parking station locations, prior to the city investing in significant infrastructure for the system. Councilmembers noted that a micro-mobility system could tie into the public transportation system well, and expressed concerns about ride origination data and age appropriate use of the vehicles on city streets The meeting was adjourned at 6:01 p.m.