Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Mr. Inerfeld commented that the Access Management Policy currently being developed by the City staff, a group of strategies designed to improve roadway safety and efficiency, would be presented to the City Council in the fall. Mr. Inerfeld gave a brief description of the Metro Waterways multi-year study to assess the current status of local waterways, which was being performed by the City in conjunction with both the City of Springfield and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mr. Inerfeld provided a brief overview of the timeline and detailed staff responses to the WEC recommen- dations, as included in the agenda item summary materials as Attachments A and B. Ms. Piercy recognized the various members of the WEC who were present at the meeting and thanked them for their time and input. Ms. Piercy appreciated that WEC's focus on short-term strategies intended to relieve local transportation congestion, particularly along West 11th Avenue, and hoped that a careful review of the group's recom- mendations would lead to effective and efficient transportation planning policies for the City of Eugene. Mr. Poling thanked the WEC representatives for their time and effort. Mr. Poling wished to make it clear that the City's investigation into the use of the aforementioned Quick Response program was only in the advance planning stages and did not represent a firm course of action regarding development along West 11th Avenue or Amazon Creek. Mr. Poling felt the TIGER grant might represent a significant opportunity to address long overdue issues of local infrastructure redevelopment. Ms. Solomon agreed with Mr. Poling's comment regarding the TIGER grant opportunity and asked if there was anything that the council might do to assist or accelerate that process. Mr. Inerfeld responded by providing the council members with a brief explanation of the application process and grant requirements, and further noted that the final determinations regarding the TIGER grant awards would be made in February of 2010. Ms. Solomon noted that with respect to the City’s TSP updates and the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan, there had historically been very limited bicycle access in the areas near Highway 99 and hoped that the WEC recommendations might be used to address those deficiencies. Ms. Piercy asked if it might be helpful to staff completing applications for TIGER grant funding, for the council to request support from other legislative entities. Mr. Inerfeld noted that staff had asked the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to complete the TIGER grant applications jointly with the City of Eugene. He further noted that ODOT and the OTC would be making a determination in that regard sometime in the next week. Ms. Piercy hoped that staff would take advantage of every available resource with respect to the TIGER grant applications. Mr. Inerfeld, responding to a question from Ms. Ortiz, noted that the any TIGER grant funding would th primarily be applied towards addressing problems with westbound traffic along 5 Avenue near Highway 99. MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 12, 2009 Page 5 Work Session