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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 01/24/11 Work SessionMINUTES Eugene City Council Joint Work Session with Lane Transit District Board of Directors McNutt Room —City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon January 24, 2011 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, George Brown, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka, George Brown, Pat Farr. LANE TRANSIT DISTRICT BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Mike Eyster, Chair; Mike Dubick, Greg Evans, Gary Gillespie, Dean Kortge, Doris Towery. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the January 24, 2011, work session of the Eugene City Council to order. Lane Transit District Board of Directors Chair Mike Eyster convened the board meeting. Board member Ed Necker was not present. A. Committee Reports and Items of Interest from Mayor, City Council, and City Manager Mayor Piercy expressed appreciation for the opportunity she had to read to students at Prairie Mountain School the previous week. She reported that she attended a meeting that included representatives of Lane County and the Lane Historic Museum regarding potential uses for the United States Post Office building on Willamette Street. Mayor Piercy also attended two meetings held by the Oregon Congressional delegation. She had participated in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day walk as well as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration that occurred later that evening with the theme Voices of our Youth: Tomorrow's Leaders. She commended both events and appreciated being able to participate. Mayor Piercy reported she had awarded the "Bold Steps" award to Cafe Yumm for its use of the triple bottom line approach. She also attended the combined Eugene - Springfield firefighter and EMS awards ceremony in Springfield. Mayor Piercy announced the January 2011 Mayor's One -on -One event on January 25 at the Grocery Outlet Store on River Road. Ms. Ortiz would also be present. Mayor Piercy concluded by commending the Champions Parade held on January 22. She thanked Assistant Manager Sarah Medary and Billie Moser of the Library, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department for their hard work in facilitating the event. She also thanked City Manager John Ruiz and Community Relations Manager Jan Bohman as well as all City staff who contributed to the success of the event. MINUTES — Eugene City Council January 24, 2010 Page 1 Joint Work Session with Lane Transit District Board of Directors Ms. Taylor concurred with the mayor's remarks about the parade and her thanks to staff. She thought the parade had been a good example of cooperation between the City and University of Oregon. Ms. Taylor discussed the plight of a constituent who was having difficulty paying for a street assessment because of lost income. She shared a communication from David Cole of the Crest Drive Neighbors that recalled the City's promises that no one would be forced to move or go bankrupt because of the Crest Drive improvement project assessments and suggested that the remedies in place did not envision long- term unemployment or the mortgage crisis. She hoped something could be done for the individual in question. Ms. Taylor expressed concern that the recent court decision aimed at members of the Lane Board of County Commissioners could cause others to be reluctant to run for public office. She considered the decision an injustice. Mr. Clark reported that he had attended the Springfield State of the City event and Police Commission meeting on January 13. He had also attended the opening night for Matthew Knight Arena, and he commended the arena. Mr. Clark reported on a Board of County Commissioners discussion about the 190 agreements between the County and its special districts, saying it appeared there was a renewed spirit of cooperation on the part of the board to address some of the issues that residents living in the urbanizing areas have raised. He thought future discussions would be fruitful, and expressed his appreciation to the board. Mr. Clark had also attended the combined Eugene - Springfield firefighter and EMS awards ceremony and said the community could be proud of its fire department. Mr. Clark reported he had Mr. Poling continued to work with the Cal Young Neighbors as its members discussed reconfiguring the organization. They had also met with staff to discuss the issues involved with such a process. He asked residents of the area in question to contact him or Mr. Poling if they were interested in a leadership position in a smaller association. Mr. Clark also commended the City staff for its work on Champions Parade and said staff did an amazing job in very little time. He reminded the council of the upcoming Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce Celebration of Business, which would include presentation of the First Citizen Award to Rob Bennett. Ms. Ortiz said she had also attended the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day March, the Springfield State of the City event, and the opening of the Matthew Knight Arena. She reported she attended the Whiteaker Community Council meeting and heard a discussion about the proposed west Eugene EmX route. She asked City Manager Ruiz to discover why the toilet was removed from the Whiteaker Station. Ms. Ortiz reported that she attended the Leadership Breakfast at PeaceHealth- University District and heard a presentation on the hospital's University District redevelopment plans. Ms. Ortiz said she attended a meeting of the board of directors of the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency earlier that day and believed that the board's communications had improved as a result of the team building work the group had done. She had agreed to sit in with other board members on employee listening sessions in early February. Ms. Ortiz said she would be in Washington, DC, in early February to attend a training session on redistricting. MINUTES— Eugene City Council January 24, 2010 Page 2 Joint Work Session with Lane Transit District Board of Directors Mr. Pryor reported he had been in Washington, DC, to attend a training session on community engagement. He had many ideas to share with the council from the training. He had attended the local meeting held by Senator Jeff Merkley regarding foreclosure relief and mortgage assistance and learned that there was not enough money to address all the relief funding applications. He anticipated some legislation would be drafted to help address the problem. Mr. Pryor reported he had attended the Springfield Chamber of Commerce dinner the previous week and it was an enjoyable event. He also commended the Champions Parade and thanked all those who worked on it. Mr. Zelenka said he had attended the opening of the Matthew Knight Arena and believed that the residents' hard work on the Arena Parking District had paid off. Mr. Zelenka reported he had attended the Metropolitan Policy Committee meeting on January 13 and the committee had appointed Lane Council of Governments Director George Kloeppel as its representative to the Lane Area Commission on Transportation. The committee also reviewed the Regional Transportation Plan project list to determine if projects that had been on the list for some time were still relevant and had approved a letter of support for Eugene's "Safe Routes to School" Program. Mr. Poling reported he had attended the most recent meeting of the Harlow Neighborhood Association, which had been held at the North Park Community Church. He thanked the church for allowing use of its facility. He said that all the elected officials who represented the Harlow area were present. Those in attendance heard a briefing from the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) on a project that would affect traffic on Coburg Road. He had also attended the combined Fire and EMS awards. Mr. Poling expanded on Mr. Clark's earlier report about the Cal Young Neighbors, saying that he and Mr. Clark also met with staff and representatives of the Neighborhood Leaders Council to discuss possible changes in the makeup of the organization. He noted that the neighborhood association had also discussed the possible location of a cell tower on the Oakway Golf Course. Mr. Farr reported on the recent meeting of the Human Rights Commission, saying the commission heard testimony from residents opposed to a commission motion that called for the commission to draft a letter to Israel critical of its actions in response to the "Freedom Flotilla." He clarified that the commission had not, in fact, drafted such a letter, and passed a subsequent motion to place any action on the letter on hold. Mr. Farr said the Community Resource Group continued to meet and had another meeting scheduled the following day. Mr. Farr reported that the Bethel School District, in conjunction with the Active Bethel Citizens and City of Eugene, would soon break ground on organic gardens for education and public use. Mr. Farr said he had attended a January 18 town hall conducted by commissioners Peter Sorenson and Rob Handy on plastic bags in grocery stores. It had been an interesting event and he planned to send more information to the council on what the legislature planned to do regarding plastic bags. Mr. Brown reported that he had also attended the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day March as well the evening celebration. He had attended his first meeting of the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission. Mr. Brown said he had attended a meeting of the McKenzie Watershed Council, which heard a MINUTES— Eugene City Council January 24, 2010 Page 3 Joint Work Session with Lane Transit District Board of Directors presentation on habitat improvement. The EWEB representative to the council discussed the utility's revised approach to protecting water quality in the watershed. Mr. Clark asked City Manager Ruiz to find out whether community gardens could be established directly next to Bond Park on undeveloped land owned by the City. City Manager Ruiz recognized Mark Loigman of the Hult Center and Sergeant Darrell Schultz and the Police Traffic Team for their work in making the Champions Parade possible. He also thanked Lane Transit District for rerouting its buses to accommodate the parade. He thanked Building Official Stuart Ramsing and his team in Building and Permit Services for their work in ensuring that the Matthew Knight Arena was ready to open. B. WORK SESSION: West Eugene EmX Update The council was joined by members of the Lane Transit District (LTD) Board of Directors and LTD General Manager Mark Pangborn, LTD Planning and Development Manager Tom Schwetz, and West Eugene EmX Project Manager John Evans, who were present to provide information about the project and answer council questions. Mr. Schwetz and Mr. Evans shared a PowerPoint presentation entitled West Eugene EmX Extension Update. The presentation highlighted the policy direction that drove the project, the recommendations of LTD advisory committees and community organizations, mitigation concepts being considered for the route, key performance measures, anticipated capital and operating costs, travel time comparisons, ridership projections, and the local preferred alternative selection process. Speaking to the recommendations of the advisory committees and community groups, Mr. Poling, a member of the LTD EmX Steering Committee, reported that he supported forwarding the West 11 "'/West 13`" alternative as well as the Transportation System Management (TSM) alternative. He was unable to support the committee's final action since the committee did not forward TSM as well. Mr. Pangborn highlighted the information in the presentation that indicated that because of $8.3 million in federal funding for bus replacements, LTD should be able to maintain its current service level and add EmX without incurring deficits or requiring service reductions. Mayor Piercy suggested that the presentation lacked mention of State and local goals related to carbon emission reductions. She anticipated that carbon levels would "move dramatically" with the institution of EmX. Mr. Schwetz responded that LTD had done some analysis of that issue and more would occur through the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) of that. He acknowledged that current methodologies to determine corridor -level greenhouse gas emission savings were not well - developed, but LTD had research that suggested that transit was a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions both at the corridor and regional level. He cited reductions in vehicle miles traveled and transit passenger loads as indicators of savings. Mr. Kortge emphasized Mr. Pangborn's point about the extra money that LTD received for buses. That funding removed some operating costs and affected the estimates for EmX. He said that the estimates had changed because of such factors. Mr. Dubick emphasized that reducing VMT, congestion, and greenhouse gas emissions were of importance to the board, and the board perceived EmX as a way to achieve those goals. MINUTES — Eugene City Council January 24, 2010 Page 4 Joint Work Session with Lane Transit District Board of Directors Mayor Piercy acknowledged that LTD was working to decrease the negative impacts of the route on businesses and residents, but she did not want LTD's efforts in that regard to work against the goal of achieving a viable public transit system. She was pleased to see that even with mitigation, the buses would run on dedicated lanes 75 percent of the route, which was an improvement over both the Franklin and Gateway EmX routes. Ms. Taylor determined from Mr. Pangborn that the information generated by LTD was corridor - specific and he did not know for how long the data would still be valid. Referring to the committee and community recommendations, Mr. Clark noted the West Eugene Collaborative (WEC) position that it was not an option to maintain West I V Avenue as it was currently configured. The WEC envisioned that the road would be rebuilt as a different sort of thoroughfare and that land uses in the corridor would fundamentally change. Currently, businesses along the corridor were auto - dependent and thus dependent on the current road configuration. Mr. Clark also noted that the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce had pledged to work to ensure West I V Avenue businesses and property owners were not adversely affected by the route. That raised the question of the larger vision for West 11 "' Avenue and what would happen to those businesses. He acknowledged the issue was one for the council to resolve. Mr. Gillespie pointed out to Mr. Clark that the WEC had stated it was not an option to maintain the road as a "congested" retail avenue. He said there was no intent to eliminate retail uses in the corridor. In response, Mr. Clark pointed out that through the Envision Eugene process the City had looking at the future of the corridor and there was discussion of multi -story businesses close to outside edges of the core, which he interpreted as meaning that existing businesses along West l I 1 Avenue would change. Responding to Mr. Clark, Ms. Ortiz said that was not what she heard "at all." She believed that LTD was "definitely listening" to the affected businesses and attempting to address their concerns through mitigation. She never heard anyone say that they were trying to eliminate those businesses, "change the face," or replace the existing businesses with multi -story buildings. She believed that people understood there was value in the businesses in place, although they were not thriving as they once were due to the economy. She thought the EmX route would augment those businesses. Ms. Ortiz shared what she had learned in Cleveland, saying that Cleveland had established kiosks in association with routes where businesses could deliver products for pick -up by riders. Mr. Eyster reported that several board members participated in a listening session facilitated by Bob Chadwick to hear the concerns of the opponents to the West 11` Avenue route. He acknowledged the risks that business owners faced from such projects and reported that a representative of "Our Money Our Transit" had recently spoken about the extent to which LTD staff had gone to mitigate potential damage to businesses. Staff had met individually more than 150 times with owners along the corridor. Mr. Clark expressed appreciation for that. Mr. Clark asked if the City's vision for West I V Avenue was one of a denser transit corridor with different businesses than were in place now, or was it protect and maintain what was there. Mr. Zelenka asked Mr. Clark what his vision was. Mr. Clark indicated he was inclined to the no build option at the moment because of concerns that the system was too costly at this time and that the process was being rushed through. He also felt it was important to consider how decisions from the Envision Eugene process affected the question. Mr. Clark pointed out the council was talking about large -scale community changes and he wanted to ensure that those change occurred in the context of a larger vision. He believed MINUTES— Eugene City Council January 24, 2010 Page 5 Joint Work Session with Lane Transit District Board of Directors that the plan LTD developed was the plan it was asked to develop, but he was unsure that the council and community had the appropriate conversation about what West 1 lch Avenue should be. Mr. Pryor acknowledged that people felt the impacts of such a project now while the benefits were realized in the future. It was challenging to have a conversation about the future when living in today, particularly when one was still trying to quantify the benefits of the project. He suggested that the City Council could help by discussing the future of West Eugene and transit's role in that future and believed the work that LTD had done in regard to EmX was essential to that conversation. He pointed out the vision of the WEC was not the only vision for the area. Mr. Pryor anticipated that the land use conversation would happen next. Mr. Eyster agreed with the remarks of Mr. Pryor and said that was the reason the board had approached the mayor and manager about the potential of changing the order that approvals were done. He believed that the issues mentioned by Mr. Clark and Mr. Pryor were under the purview of the council. Mr. Zelenka commended the first phase of the EmX system, terming it a resounding success. He found it convenient and useful and said its ridership was "off the charts," and said that was why other communities were looking to Eugene - Springfield as an example. He believed that the Gateway route would "be that or better." He was impressed with the many public meetings that LTD had held and its receptiveness to changes. Mr. Zelenka emphasized the importance of articulating the benefits of and need for the system, which he maintained was "all about the future." He thought it was particularly important to acquire right -of -way for a future light rail system. He maintained that the benefits of the system were clear. He said the population and jobs in the corridor as well as the transformation he envisioned would occur along West 11 th Avenue were all factors supporting the EmX route. Mr. Zelenka maintained that over time, the entire community, particularly its transportation corridors, would grow denser. He envisioned the EmX system would realize travel time decreases that made it an attractive alternative to the automobile and that further it would result both in reductions in green house gas emissions and in lower operating costs. Mr. Zelenka went on to state that the system would result in no reduction in transit services, no financial deficits would be created by the system, and that EmX was the most cost - effective of the options examined. He commended the mitigation that LTD had done and said it had listened to the community, no matter what anyone said. He asked how many trees LTD would plant along the new route. Mr. Schwetz indicated that LTD would plant more trees than it removed. Mr. Zelenka spoke enthusiastically about the physical changes that EmX had produced on Franklin Boulevard and along the Gateway route. He considered the Gateway route much more attractive than it had been before. Mr. Zelenka pointed out that in spite of the "dramatic" reduction in property acquisition, the proposed route would still run in dedicated rights -of -way 75 percent of the time. He also commended LTD's plans to stage construction. Mr. Zelenka agreed that the current businesses along West 11 Avenue were important and should be taken into consideration. He suggested there were mitigation mechanisms and funding that could deal with their concerns. He pointed out construction would not occur until 2014 -15, and he envisioned that the economy would have improved by then. Mr. Zelenka did not believe any businesses along the other routes had failed because of construction. He determined from Mr. Pangborn that LTD did not have to resort to eminent domain on the other system phases. MINUTES— Eugene City Council January 24, 2010 Page 6 Joint Work Session with Lane Transit District Board of Directors Mr. Zelenka suggested that businesses along West 11 Avenue could make eminent domain a self - fulfilling prophecy, or they could negotiate with LTD. Mr. Poling recalled that a previous City Council had viewed schematics of the corridor that included several mixed -use centers identified along the route, none of which had come to fruition. He observed that in his eight years on the council, only one of the identified mixed -use centers had been built. Mr. Poling endorsed the recommendation made by resident Josef Siekiel - Zdzienicki that the decision about the west Eugene EmX route be incorporated into the Envision Eugene process. Mr. Farr suggested that LTD's ridership statistics did not take into account the volunteers that used the bus to reach Food for Lane County. Mr. Farr suggested to Mr. Clark that the WEC vision for West l P Avenue was a long -term picture, and EmX was a long -term solution for travel on the road. Mr. Farr suggested that more people in Bethel would be able to access a system that turned around at Winco. He asked what process LTD went through to select West 11 Avenue, as opposed to Highway 99, which had more residential neighborhoods. Mr. Pangborn said the City Council selected West 11 Avenue as the next corridor for LTD to pursue. Mr. Farr referred to the fact that West 11 Avenue was also State Highway 126, and recalled that Highway 126 was to have been relocated to the West Eugene Parkway, a project the council terminated. That meant Highway 126 would continue to be on West 11 Avenue. He understood that the EmX system was intended to complementary to the parkway, and asked how Eugene could change the vision for EmX on West 11 Avenue now that Highway 126 would not be relocated. He asked LTD staff to respond to that a future meeting. Mr. Farr observed he heard many business owners along West 1 lth Avenue complain that they had not been able to provide input earlier in the process. Mr. Brown asked questions clarifying the location of dedicated lanes along the route. Mr. Pangborn indicated that current maps of the route could be found on LTD's Web page and LTD staff would provide paper copies of those maps to the council. Mr. Eyster characterized the route as a moving picture because staff continued to work on revisions with input from the businesses. Mr. Clark posited the route would better serve neighborhoods and manufacturing and employment centers that were less retail- oriented than a corridor dominated by retail uses. He asked if a Highway 99 alignment that reached into Bethel would serve more neighborhoods and employment centers. Mr. Dubick suggested that the council needed to factor in that retail establishments had employees that needed an economical way to reach their employment. Mr. Pangborn did not think that people realized how many people lived in high - density housing within a short distance of West 11 Avenue. He believed that LTD needed to serve both employment centers and residents where they lived, and that such routes needed to have good connections to other parts of the community. Ms. Towery suggested that discussion of the transit - dependent population was missing from the conversation. She said much of the high - density housing mentioned by Mr. Pangborn was low- income housing, and she believed that an EmX route made it possible for those people to be connected to the community more effectively and efficiently, which added to their quality of life. She said that LTD had MINUTES— Eugene City Council January 24, 2010 Page 7 Joint Work Session with Lane Transit District Board of Directors worked to connect to those individuals, who lacked the money to pay signs and four -page advertisements in newspaper. She maintained the route was an important corridor for those reasons. Mr. Clark agreed. He emphasized his question was on the merits of the routes relative to one another. He wanted to ensure that the community was receiving the appropriate service with the appropriate tools. Mr. Gillespie emphasized that LTD was building a system, and each route deserved a systematic approach. As a transit - dependent person, he found EmX important because he did not have to know the schedule, and the most time he would have to wait for a bus during the day was ten minutes. He emphasized the importance of such frequent headways to those shoppers who sought to visit West 11 Avenue on their lunch hours and other short periods of time. Mr. Evans believed that community growth in west Eugene over the last 20 years changed travel and development patterns and placed pressure on existing arterials. He believed that transit planning had lagged other types of planning, with consequences for LTD travel times on corridors such as River Road. He maintained that West l I Avenue had changed dramatically over the past few years and would continue to change, and if LTD did not act now, congestion would increase in the corridor because of planned growth in the west and north. He predicted "deep trouble in the future." Mr. Evans believed a previous council was wise to select West l I Avenue as the next EmX route. He averred that "people are avoiding West I I th Avenue if they can" but sometime they would not be able to avoid such routes to get back and forth. Mr. Evans concluded by stating in the final analysis, the "only real solution" was a transit solution. Ms. Ortiz emphasized the importance of transit to a healthy viable community. Mr. Poling referred to the summary of operating costs provided to the council and LTD's assertion that it was able to offset the operating costs of EmX by delaying the purchase of buses and equipment. Mr. Pangborn clarified the amount involved was $500,000. Mr. Poling asked how LTD proposed to fund operating costs in the future. Mr. Pangborn said LTD projected out to eight years and anticipated that its budget would be balanced and the agency would not have to cut services even adding the west Eugene service. Mr. Brown determined from Mr. Pangborn that the ridership projections were derived from a computer model used nationwide for all transit enhancements. The model employed local data. Responding to a question from Mr. Farr, Mr. Pangborn clarified that that LTD had not selected a "no build" option for Coburg Road; Coburg Road was still a critical link in the EmX system. He said at the time that Coburg Road had been under discussion, LTD was considering both the Gateway route and the Coburg Road route. As the process went on, more controversy about Coburg Road was raised and the Springfield City Council had indicated it was ready to go forward with Gateway. Subsequently, LTD built the Gateway route and put the Coburg route on hold because it could only build one route at a time. Mr. Poling recalled that at the time of the decision to postpone Coburg Road, the Eugene City Council had required that 80 percent of the route be in dedicated lanes, and it had been impossible to physically achieve that level of dedication. The council had then decided to drop the route. Mr. Zelenka contrasted the jobs that existed in the West 11 Avenue corridor as opposed to the Highway 99 corridor and suggested that the numbers were not even close. He was puzzled by discussion of the Highway 99 route. He did not think it was a matter of which route; he said both were needed, as was the Coburg route. Mr. Zelenka averred that the decision on those routes was made long ago. He hoped that the Highway 99 corridor was constructed next. He did not want to start all over again given the time it MINUTES— Eugene City Council January 24, 2010 Page 8 Joint Work Session with Lane Transit District Board of Directors took to reach this point. He feared further delay would delay construction a decade. Mr. Zelenka questioned if the Highway 99 extension would be constructed at all if the council killed the West 11 Avenue option. Mr. Kortge suggested that as residents aged, they would increasingly want to ride the bus and people would not want them driving. Mr. Eyster recalled that TransPlan had called for a regional transportation system and all the EmX corridors were identified in TransPlan. He maintained that it was a question of when EmX, not if EmX, and in what order. He did not want to hear further discussion of reordering the routes. He said the City Council had come to the LTD Board in 2006 to request that it proceed with the West Eugene route. It was now 2011, and he did not think now was the time to rethink the corridor selected. Mr. Eyster concluded by stating that the system was based on community values. Mayor Piercy stressed the importance of the local elected and appointed officials acting with one voice to secure the needed federal funding to construct the west Eugene EmX extension. She recalled discussion of LTD proceeding with EmX on both Highway 99 and River Road to ramp up construction of the system. She acknowledged the challenge of that. Mayor Piercy suggested the Gateway phase represented a step forward because EmX began to look more like a system. She believed the West 11"' Avenue extension would really help the system function as such. Mr. Poling did not interpret the council's questions as suggesting a need to stop what was occurring now, but rather as seeking clarification of why the system was moving forward in the order it was. Mayor Piercy adjourned the work session at 7:23 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ,6 'a �. Beth Forrest City Recorder (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES— Eugene City Council January 24, 2010 Page 9 Joint Work Session with Lane Transit District Board of Directors