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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/09/2011 Work SessionCity of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, MAY 9, 2011 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in -the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, May 9, 2011 at 5:40 p.m., with Mayor Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors Pishioneri, VanGordon, Wylie, Moore, Ralston, and Woodrow. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, Assistant City Attorney Mary Bridget Smith, Administrative Specialist James Larson, and members of the staff. 1. Introduction to Scenario Planning. Assistant Public Works Director Len Goodwin, Planning Manager Greg Mott, and Transportation Manager Tom Boyatt presented the staff report on this item. In 2007, the Legislative Assembly adopted strict targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases calling for a reduction from 1990 levels of 75 percent by 2050. In 2009, the Legislative Assembly, as part of the Jobs and Transportation Act required the Portland Metro area to develop at least two planning scenarios to meet those targets with respect to motor vehicles under 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight and to adopt one of the scenarios into the Metro Cities' comprehensive plans. At the same time, the Legislative Assembly required the Central Lane Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) (which encompassed Eugene and Springfield) to similarly develop such scenarios, but did not require adoption. In 2010, the Legislative Assembly further required all of the metropolitan planning organizations (MPO) in the state to engage in the scenario planning process, provided that this obligation was dependent upon funding being made available to the MPOs and Cities by the State. Using funds provided by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), that department and the Department of Land Conservation and Development we're engaging in a set of rule making processes to flesh out the scenario planning exercise. One of those processes - to adopt a rule setting specific . reduction targets for each metropolitan planning organization - would be considered by the Land Conservation and Development Commission at its May meeting. Mr. Boyatt introduced Andrea Riner, Program Manager for the Central Lane MPO. Ms. Riner had been involved at the State level on various -committees for scenario planning. Mr. Boyatt provided a high level summary of the information in the agenda packet. Over the past several years, the State identified the issue and then moved towards adopting targets to reduce greenhouse. gas emissions. The MPO's were looking at land use and transportation planning strategies to reduce commute vehicle emissions, with the assumption of technological improvements included. This activity was called Scenario Planning. This tested outcomes for scenarios by manipulating the inputs or the assumptions, and was not a specific implementation strategy. He provided an example. The process called for significant citizen involvement. The preferred outcome or scenario needed to be acceptable to each of the MPO cities, as well as urban Lane County. Costs for the activity were to be provided by the State, but there were a lot of unknowns in that area. The Portland area had a complex City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 9, 2011 Page 2 outcome and the MPO was taking on some of the cost themselves. Mr. Boyatt noted that additional information was provided in the Council Briefing Memorandum in the agenda packet. Ms. Riner said the legislature for this had come through over the .last few years and required the MPO's to be on the cutting edge. Much of it was based on legislative action taken in California on this subject. Here in Oregon, those involved were trying to determine what this meant in Oregon and how it overlapped with existing programs. They had been very active at the State level to make sure the rules, targets and processes had some relationship to funding available and planning already being done. Although some of the terminology seemed different, City staff had been working on reducing vehicle miles travelled for many years. Ms. Riner said the initial legislation looked at what the State Transportation Department was doing and what policies were and were not working. The State Department of Transportation (ODOT), Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD), Department of Energy, and Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) had been working together to build the statewide strategy which was scheduled for adoption in December of this year. One of the things they looked at was what could feasibly happen within the technology sector .of our fuels and vehicles. That study provided details for the specific targets, but basically found that 70-80% of the greenhouse gas reductions could be addressed through those means. The target for the MPO's was the other 20%. That was 20% per capita measured from 2005 to 2035. A lot of this was about technology, data, and expertise in modeling. There was a sense that additional State strategies would help carve down that 20%. Ms. Riner said they had been working to make sure they were complying with the requirements of the first bill, HB2001, which said we would develop the modeling capabilities and do the scenario planning for a local collection of preferred alternatives by approximately July 2013. All of that was contingent on getting funding. A scope of work needed to be developed as well with local jurisdictions. The costing would. need to look at the additional planning process that no one was doing at the local or regional level, or determine if it could be integrated into our regional transportation plan or local Transportation System Plan (TSP). The rest of the statewide strategy was required to provide guidelines for the Scenario Planning and tool kits that listed possible strategies local jurisdictions could look at to reduce greenhouse gas. Many of those things were likely to be things that were already being done. They were proposing that 10-12% of our community was mixed-use development, and we may need to increase that to 45%. In adopting the target rule, the State was saying local jurisdictions didn't need to meet that target, but rather it was for informational purposes only when doing Scenario Planning. She explained. Ms. Riner said the State was also required to develop a robust tool to help local jurisdictions measure the outcomes from current plans. There was not such a tool in the country now, so ODOT was working on developing something that could work on the local level. She asked for questions. Councilor Ralston asked if the State was expecting a 20% reduction in greenhouse gases. Ms. Riner said 20% per person for transportation. Councilor Ralston said light vehicles were only 20% of the cause of greenhouse gases. It sounded like they made rules before they knew what they were talking about. Mixed-use could be a good strategy, but they would then have to guarantee the person that lived in the mixed-use area worked in that same area. It seemed like there were a lot of questions and no answers. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 9, 2011 Page 3 Ms. Riner said a lot of it was relying on good planning and measuring. She agreed that just because they planned it didn't mean it would be implemented. Councilor Ralston said working at home would be a great way to reduce greenhouse gases. Councilor Pishioneri asked about the figure of 20% referred to by Councilor Ralston. Mr. Boyatt said transportation made up a percentage of all green house emissions. Light vehicles made up a percentage of transportation. The 20% was the percentage of emissions from light vehicles that needed to be addressed. The other 80% of the emissions from light vehicles was assumed to be eliminated through advances in technology and fuel economy. Councilor Pishioneri said that equated to about 4% of the total emissions. He noted the cost in reducing the emissions, and that there were still other countries contributing to the emissions. He asked if there was a bigger target that was cheaper. Ms. Riner said Oregon was out front, but was not alone. The Oregon Global Warming Commission had a full set of strategies for the energy sector, residential and commercial sector. Each had their own work plans. This plan was moving forward more quickly because a lot of the work was already being done by land use planners and transportation planners locally. The thought was that with some millions of dollars, we could move forward on this piece quickly. Councilor Woodrow said allowing people to work at home one day a .week would reduce it by 20%. In looking at the total 4%, they could - strategize through scenario planning where that 4% would come from without it being an overwhelming lifestyle change. That sounded more doable. Councilor Wylie said with the advent of hybrid and electric cars, it would be hard to estimate the impact over the next twenty-five years. The population growth showed a graph from 1990 to 203 5. She asked if it was accurate and the increase in population had followed the graph. Councilor Ralston said it looked like population was growing faster than the graph. Mr. Mottsaid the projection recently adopted was about 1.1 % annually between 2010 and 203 5. Councilor Ralston asked for the definition of a light vehicle. It was anything under 10,000 pounds. Councilor Ralston said he would never get rid of his truck in favor. of an electric vehicle because he needed it for trips in the woods and snow. A lot of people might go with electric vehicles, but there would be many that would not. Ms. Riner said the State did remove rural traffic and transportation for that reason. Their goal was to make sure there were choices for each individual to make regarding their vehicles and transportation. Mr. Boyatt said it was a learning exercise. HB 2001 stated that the Central Lane MPO needed to select a preferred scenario on or after January 1, 2013. There wasn't anything in the laws that said the MPO must select a scenario that achieved the target.'The learning experience was meant to inform us of what was practical. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 9, 2011 Page 4 Councilor Moore asked what the State was putting into this plan, and if they had committees working on the scenario at the State level. Ms. Riner said part of Bill 1059 was for the State to develop a strategy for scenario planning. The State needed to look at the entire transportation sector, not just light vehicles and not just in metropolitan areas. They were looking at how they managed their transportation systems and how they funded alternative modes and programs, such as high speed rail. The MPO's couldn't address those statewide issues. There was a statewide policy committee, although there was not a local representative on that committee. Our region had good representation on most of the committees that were put together. She could send information regarding the statewide policy committee. That committee would be reporting to the legislature next year with proposals. Councilor Moore discussed interstate trucking issues. Local jurisdictions couldn't do anything about the traffic on I-5, which ran through our area. She asked how much of.the metropolitan area was responsible for traffic passing through. Ms. Riner said the MPO for Salem/Keizer brought that issue to the table and asked if their targets could be reduced because of that situation. Their target was not reduced. Noting that information would be part of the Central Lane MPO's documentation and response to how we addressed the targets. Councilor VanGordon asked if the target for vehicle miles traveled was indexed for population. Mr. Boyatt said it was per capita. Councilor VanGordon said the 4% appeared to be personal decisions, which could be the hardest thing to affect. Although scenario planning was an exercise at this time, he felt it would be wise to consider how to coach the State because eventually there would be a requirement. He had a lot of questions regarding behavior modeling. He would like to see a list of what the State was expecting of how the reductions could be done. It was important for the local jurisdictions to be part of the technology and other aspects of total reductions. The consumer behavior could be addressed after those other things were addressed. It was unlikely that citizens would change their transportation habits without some incentives. Practical solutions needed to be considered. Ms. Riner said there were different transportation sectors for different types of travel. They had excellent data from transportation staff that identified people's behaviors and choices. She agreed that we couldn't guarantee people would change their behavior even with good planning. Councilor VanGordon noted a similar study at the University of Iowa. There were still a lot of questions on the scenario planning that needed to be addressed. He wanted it to be clear what they were measuring and how it would be measured. Councilor Wylie said the cost of gas was an interesting factor, and often caused people to drive less when it reached a certain cost. Twenty-five years was a long time for technological growth. Councilor. Ralston asked about the. 4% figure. Discussion was held regarding the basis for the percentage City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 9, 2011 Page 5 Mr. Boyatt said this was just the beginning. There would be a lot to learn and a lot to discuss. Staff was recommending that Council direct them to participate and find the funding from the State. As things developed, staff could bring additional information to the Council in work sessions. Councilor Ralston discussed the information that was to be compared from 2005 to 2035. He felt those figures could not be accurately calculated. The best they could do was estimate. The easiest way to do it would be to determine how much gas was used for large geographic areas, but not for our local area. He felt this was an exercise in futility. Mayor Lundberg said there were many questions on this issue. It was, a State mandate and Springfield would participate. Springfield did a lot of transportation planning based on modeling, so we could move forward with the intention of looking at our habits and behaviors. People could change behaviors under certain circumstances. She thanked staff for their work on this. Councilor Moore said she would like to know about the statewide policy committee and who could be the representative from our area. Staff would look into that. 2. Springfield Transportation System Plan Update - Draft Goals and Policies. Senior Transportation Planner David Reesor presented the staff report on this item. He presented a power point presentation which was also included in the agenda packet. The first slide outlined the project schedule for the Transportation System Plan (TSP).. The existing conditions were completed, and staff was now refining the goals and policies. Staff was also working with Lane County of Governments (LCOG) staff on updating our regional transportation model. There had been a diversity of input to date and that would continue throughout this process. Various committees, Planning Commission and public. input were all included. Staff started by looking at all existing goals and policies from relevant State, Regional and Local Plans and other regulations. They had received input from MPC's Regional Policy Subcommittee, Planning Commission, Council, advisory committees and the public. In October, Council met in a work session and discussed a list of regional issues that the subcommittee from the WC formed. Council provided input during that meeting which helped to form the draft goals and policies. Mr. Reesor said the initial input from the Planning Commission on the TransPlan included prioritizing existing goals, objectives and policies into three categories: Keep as is; Modify; and Eliminate. The Planning Commission generally supported existing TransPlan goals, objectives and policies, but did feel many existing policies needed to be updated and modified. Mr. Reesor said during the work sessions with Council in October, they identified the following overall categories: Neighborhood Planning; Access & Street Standards; Jurisdictional Issues/Challenges; Existing Plans and Ideas; Multi-modal Transportation; and Implementation. Those were used as the starting point. The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) met and provided comments on the draft goals and policies: ¦ Consolidate / reduce overall number of policies ¦ Change some "policies" to "action items" ¦ Need some parking management policies. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 9, 2011 Page 6 ¦ Include Downtown Plan implementation specifics ¦ Consider being less specific about high speed passenger rail terminus ¦ Include mention of "bypass traffic" in policies under Goal 3, System Design ¦ Consider a "bike bridge" policy ¦ Balance needs of emergency responders w/ traffic calming measures ¦ Broaden street lighting policies ¦ Clarify "at-grade crossing" policies ¦ Specifically mention "ADA" in applicable policies ¦ Better define some words / phrases in policies ¦ Consider expanding "LOS" policies ¦ Include / incorporate a "transit stop location" policy ¦ Consider adding language related to "motorized bikes" ¦ Include language related to all types of land use development ¦ Consider the land use connection to transportation policies ¦ Greenhouse gas policies may need further discussion The Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) met and provided comments on the draft goals and policies: ¦ Consider consolidating policies and including action items ¦ Consider land use and transportation connection ¦ Broaden specific policies when possible ¦ Refine access management policies to include strategies to allow for creativity and flexibility ¦ Give additional focus to pedestrian safety ¦ Consider transportation affects / impacts on historic sites ¦ Address the need for City support to successfully implement EmX ¦ Broaden high speed rail policy A public workshop was held in which the four draft goals were discussed. Responses included: ¦ Goal 1: Community Development - was considered moderately important, with most forms rating this 2 (on a 1-4 scale) ¦ Goal 2: System Management - was considered moderately important with most forms rating this 2 (on a 1-4 scale) ¦ Goal 3: System Design - was considered moderately important with half of the forms rating this 2 and the other half rating this 4. ¦ Goal 4: Plan Implementation - was considered most important with most forms rating this 1 (on a 1-4 scale) With the input provided from those groups, a draft was created which was presented to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission provided the following feedback: ¦ Policy 3.10 regarding roundabouts - consider multi-modal issues for pedestrians and bicyclists in roundabout designs. ¦ General comment - Consider multi-use path needs in policies related to Willamalane and . recreation planning ¦ Policy 3.2 and related Action Items - Overall, very supportive of these. Also should think about changing bike needs such as electric bikes - where do they belong in the system? ¦ Policy 2.5 / 1St Action Item - One Planning Commissioner had concern of favoring one mode (i.e. transit) over other modes (i.e. cars). Other Planning Commissioners seemed to be okay with the policy / action item as written. ¦ Policy 2.1 & related action items - expressed strong support City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 9, 2011 Page 7 ¦ Overall, supported moving forward-with draft goals and policies Mr. Reesor said next staff would incorporate edits received from the Planning Commission and City Council into draft Goals and Policies. Using that, they would then finalize the evaluation criteria which would be used for future conditions and analysis of the plan. Staff would then update the regional travel demand model, and develop and evaluate system alternatives. Councilor Pishioneri referred to some of the comments from the TAC regarding `motorized bikes' and the Planning Commission regarding `electric bikes'. There was State statute regarding both motorized and electric bikes and who could ride them and where. Mr. Reesor said staff could follow up on that information. Councilor Pishioneri further explained. He referred to input during the public workshop and asked about the amount of participation. Mr. Reesor said it was fairly low. There were about 18 participants, a few of which were from the advisory committees. In addition to the public workshop, they had a survey on their website. A few hundred responded to that survey. Another workshop would be coming in the future. When focusing on the existing conditions, it was not uncommon to have little input. Councilor Wylie said under the local values and issues, park-n-rides should be included in multi- modal transportation (on page 2 of Attachment 2 of the agenda packet). That was a key building block to multi-modals. The automobile was the partner in multi-modal. Mr. Reesor said they could add that. Staff was working closely with Lane Transit District (LTD) as they developed this plan. Councilor Wylie said there has been an increase in the use of the park-n-ride at the Springfield LTD Station. Planners needed to take into account to plan for park-n-rides. Mr. Reesor said there were four overarching goals: Goal 1: Community Development; Goal 2: System Management; Goal 3: System Design; and Goal 4: System Financing. He reviewed each of the goals. He asked for input from Council on each of the policies under each goal. Councilor Ralston said they needed to know how they would implement the plan. The next step was. determining how it would be paid for. Councilor VanGordon said when talking about neighborhoods, it would be nice to include a tool kit on how to plan walking, riding, biking, etc. in neighborhoods. As an example, the tool kit could include information about riding a bike in the neighborhood, safety requirements, storage of their bikes, etc. Councilor Wylie asked about nodes. Mr. Reesor said staff was evaluating nodes as part of the performance measures. Mr. Boyatt said a nodal designation was a land use designation, and was best done in the planning division, rather than transportation. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 9, 2011 Page 8 Councilor Wylie said it seemed nodal development was not occurring as originally planned. Councilor Ralston made a good point about people being able to actually work in a business in their node, which was one of the purposes of nodal development. Job development needed to be encouraged in the land use planning and transportation planning. She felt they had moved away from those concepts in their transportation plan. Mr. Reesor said there were five or six adopted nodes, and there were more that were potential. Many of the nodes may or may not work as expected, so it was being looked at citywide by planning. Mr. Boyatt said if the Comp Plan designations allowed a certain type of development, but the requirement for nodes were in the Transportation Plan, it made it difficult to apply the nodes in the land use planning. Councilor Wylie said communication between the two did need to take place. Mr. Boyatt agreed. Councilor Wylie said before the recession hit, there was a vision of Glenwood developing with transportation a part of it. She wanted to see in the Transportation Plan how we were planning for conceptual growth. Mr. Boyatt said it would be a policy to support and incentivize job development in nodal areas from the transportation side. Councilor Wylie said she was not being critical of all the good job staff was doing on planning everything they could. The other concepts had to be there if they ever wanted to achieve the outcome. Councilor VanGordon said he would like to see an action item geared towards the commercial end of things. Most things were pedestrian or residential area driven. It could be retail or manufacturing that might be a potential for additional freight trips as businesses started to grow. There were a lot of people that lived in Thurston, but not many potential employers in Thurston. He was concerned about narrowing streets from a safety perspective for commercial. traffic. Councilor Moore said she was surprised to see so many action items related to bicyclists and pedestrian traffic. That looked good to her. Mayor Lundberg said she worked in an area where there were a lot of trucks due to the major roadways nearby. How truck traffic was handled needed to be evaluated to make it as efficient as possible in terms of getting in and out of areas. She spoke regarding the redevelopment piece of community development to determine what went where and how people got around. We already had neighborhoods and some opportunities in redevelopment to put the transportation pieces into that planning. Councilor VanGordon referred to the truck traffic. He suggested partnerships to make plans to get commercial vehicles smoothly onto the highway and onto arterial streets without a lot of congestion. Timing was a key. Councilor Ralston noted a cut around that was already being used by vehicles to avoid the traffic on 42nd Street. That cutout could be paved, and it wouldn't cost much and would help to relieve traffic. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 9, 2011 Page 9 He noted the Highway 126 Study plan and that the State was setting up rules that would prohibit certain things that created infrastructure problems. The State wouldn't let a lot of development in the Jasper area that would require immediate work at 52nd Street. He asked if that project fit into this plan at all. Mr. Reesor discussed the intersection project Councilor Ralston was referring to, and the importance of connectivity. Councilor Ralston asked if connectivity could be part of the system design. Mr. Boyatt said staff could work on a major projects policy to look at what to focus on before getting to a major project. Councilor Ralston said it could be called congestion mitigation. Councilor Pishioneri said that was addressed under Policy 2. 1, second subsection of the draft plan (attachment 1 of the agenda packet). Councilor Ralston said that related only to signal timing, but he was referring to other things that could be done. Mr. Reesor asked what Council thought about the major project policy suggested by Mr. Boyatt. Discussion was held regarding projects done by ODOT. Mr. Boyatt said Springfield requested, and was successful in getting both future interchange projects at Highway 126 and Main, and Highway 126 and 52nd Street on the Financially Constrained list. When the West Eugene Parkway project was taken off the list, it provided an opportunity for the funds for these two intersections. Being on that list counted as a planned project to make findings, zone changes and plan amendments to implement land use plans. It wouldn't affect congestion, but also wouldn't be an appealable issue when developing Jasper Natron. Councilor Pishioneri referred to Policy 2.1 of the Draft TSP, "Action: Monitor and adjust signal timing along key corridors as needed to improve traffic flow and safety and reduce congestion." He said it seemed redundant, and `improve traffic flow' would be sufficient. Mr. Boyatt said there were differences. There were ways to improve traffic flow outside of congestion, such as driveways and turning movements. He explained other traffic flow issues. Councilor Pishioneri referred to the third section of Policy 2.1: "Action: Evaluate and adjust traffic control systems to optimize bicycle travel along strategic bicycle routes." He asked if that could be done concurrently with traffic control systems for vehicles and which would be the priority. Mr. Reesor said they would need to consider the type of street, and there could be different priorities based on the street type and location. Councilor Pishioneri said there seemed to be more emphasis on bicycle and pedestrian traffic, rather than vehicle. In order to decrease the greenhouse gas effects, we needed to create more efficiency for cars. There needed to be a balance. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 9, 2011 Page 10 Mr. Boyatt said if the policy was broad enough, it allowed flexibility. Councilor Pishioneri referred to Policy 2.5, coordinating with Lane Transit District (LTD). He referred to the EmX line stopping at all stops whether there was someone there or not. That seemed contrary to what the City was trying to do with helping traffic flow. Discussion was held regarding the schedule of the buses. Mr. Reesor said they would talk with LTD. Councilor Pishioneri referred to Policy 3.2 of the draft plan and said he supported bullets 4 and 6. He also felt action items 3 and 4 of Policy 3.3 were well written. Councilor Ralston said it was very thorough. Mr. Reesor said this would come back to Council again with the latest input included. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:20 p.m. Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa Christine L. Lundberg Mayor Attest: a4u.44 jrw?L,- Amy So City Recorder