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Page 1 of 3 Community Development Department 222 Lewis Street River Falls, WI 54022 715.425.0900 www.rfcity.org MINUTES PLAN COMMISSION MAY 5, 2026 CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS Members Present: Rob Gormanson, Diane Odeen, Rebecca Prendergast, Steven Severson, Michael Woolsey, Alison Page, Members Absent: Chris Holtkamp Staff Present: Emily Shively, Becky Corson, Todd Nickleski, Joe Reardon CALL TO ORDER Meeting convened at 6:30 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES M/Odeen, S/Woolsey to approve minutes. Motion carried 6/0. PUBLIC COMMENTS ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS City of River Falls Safe Streets for All (SS4A) Safety Action Plan (SAP) Mitch Coffman with Toole Design gave a presentation on the Safe Streets for All Safety Action Plan. Coffman summarized the City of River Falls Safety Action Plan and that the program is funded federally. The plan is a comprehensive strategy for eliminating traffic injuries and fatalities in River Falls by 2040. C offman indicated this will require a revised approach that will create a system of redundancy to reduce incidents and crashes. Coffman covered the engagement that the task force saw during the durat ion of the engagement portion of the project work. Coffman highlighted the three themes: enhanced pedestrian connections, improving intersections and pedestrian crossing, and better child safety and safety around schools. Coffman explained the trend lines for safety needs and opportunities within the City and that business as usual will not allow us to meet our goal. Coffman indicated that vulnerable road users were involved in 2% of all crashes and 37% of fatal and serious injury crashes. Based on this the first area of enhancing safety of vulnerable road users as they tend to be at a higher risk of death or injury. C offman shared the results of data received during the study and that vulnerable road users feel less safe than someone operating a motor vehicle. Coffman covered the second big takeaway during the completion of the Safety Action Plan is enhanced intersection safety. The data shows that about half of all crashes are within 100 feet of an intersection, including those involving vulnerable road users. 1 Page 2 of 3 Coffman then covered the third top priority which was to improve the general safety near schools especially for children walking and biking. There is an elevated risk for vulnerable road users during the Fall which aligns with back-to-school time. Coffman next discussed the specific safety needs and opportunities in specific locations such as infrastructure investments. The high injury network map shows elevated crashes in areas like Main Street, Cascade, and the Downtown Area. The high-risk network identifies 15% of the roadwork in the City where contextual factors correlated to elevated crash risk. Coffman discussed the maps and what areas have overlap based on 10 years of data collected. Based on the information compiled, the top identified areas of concern are Cascade and Main, Division and Main and Paulson and Main. Coffman next discussed recommended action steps. There were 21 policy and program recommendations. Five general safety recommendations: formalize and institutionalize roadway safety into City policy and planning processes including integration of a safety task force into the City structure, regular reporting on safety measures, ensuring plans are consistent with the Safe System Approach, and encouraging broad Vision Zero commitments. Five safe road user recommendations: foster a safety culture and promote safe behaviors through City staff policies and training, ongoing community engagement and capacity building, safety campaigns, and safety technology integrations. This includes approaches to leverage partnerships to ex pand resources. And finally, two safe vehicle recommendations: enhance vehicle safety by ensuring City fleet and contractor vehicles are sized and equipped with appropriate safety features and operators are trained. Coffman then discussed there are three safe speeds recommendations: promote appropriate vehicle speeds, particularly in school zones, that reflect the roadway context, street activity, and users of all modes. This includes developing a local traffic calming pilot program focused around schools. There were four areas in safe roads: assess and design streets that support safety and accessibility for users of all modes as well as the adjacent land users with specific emphasis on intersections and post-crash evaluations. Also, implement infrastructure safety enhancements by integrating projects, countermeasures, and safety principals into the City’s capital and maintenance program. And finally, two post -crash care items: enhance post -crash support by expanding resources, technologies, and coordination with emergency response a nd trauma centers. Also, partner with community -based organizations to enhance support for those impacted by traffic crashes. Coffman covered some infrastructure countermeasures that could be implemented and a tool to help guide staff on choosing the appropriate countermeasures based on the identified areas. Coffman discussed the priority network which identifies were the City can start with interventions that aligns with data and community input. In addition, Coffman discussed how progress tracking and reporting is required. Coffman summarized that the next steps will be to go to City Council May 12th, and the SS4A Implementation Grant Application deadline is end of May. Discussion was had on the areas identified in the Safety Action Plan and if it can be coordinated when the project on Main Street moves forward. Discussion was also had on how to group the recommended steps to take within the City to help decide what to work on or evaluate doing. Todd Nickleski, City Engineer, covered information on the grants available for the City to apply for and that our intent is to follow Council’s Strategic Initiatives to write an application that covers items in the Safety Action Plan for the Downtown area in hopes of being awarded that. Page 3 of 3 Emily Shively, Asst. Director of Community Development, covered how the planning efforts that we are doing as a City with other related plans layer in the safety action plan to build on each other to then go forward into the vision for the downtown and all are connected and to have multiple functions all happen together. Discussion was had if the data we collect can specify if it is distracted driving compared to bad weather. Coffman indicated it doesn’t specify based on distracted driving, but correlations can be reviewed such as lighting, weather, etc. As well as ways we can possibly gather extra data in the future to help identify causes for accidents. Michael Woolsey made a motion to forward the resolution to adopt the Safe Streets for All Safety Action plan to Council with a recommendation for approval. M/Woolsey, S/Odeen – carried 6/0 Planning Update Emily Shively gave a planning update that there will be a meeting on June 2 nd and the plan is to bring back some of the ordinances we have been working on over time. Shively indicated one of the items is driveway width and that Council wanted more thoughts going back into that. The e - bike and e-scooter amendment will be also coming back in June. The third thing would be some wetland ordinance amendments. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Odeen made a motion to adjourn at 7:01 p.m. S/Gormanson; motion carried 6/0. Respectfully submitted, Becky Corson, Community Development Coordinator