Planning Commission

SUMMARY MINUTES Regular Meeting Eugene Planning Commission Sloat Room—The Atrium—99 West 10th Avenue December 11, 2006 11:30 a.m. PRESENT: Rick Duncan, Vice President; Phillip Carroll, Randy Hledik, Ann Kneeland, Anthony McCown, members; Lisa Gardner, Allen Lowe, Steven Nystrom, Kurt Yeiter, Planning and Development Department; Chris Henry, Gary McNeel, Emily Proudfoot, Public Works Department; John Huberd, Central Services; Anita Yap, Tom Schwetz, Stefano Viggiano, Graham Carey, Lane Transit District; Tom Adams, Charles Biggs, Bill Goetz, guests. ABSENT: Jon Belcher, John Lawless, Mike Sullivan, ex officio. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES—October 24, 2006 Approval of October 24, 2006 minutes deferred to a future meeting, due to lack of a quorum. II. STUDY SESSION TO REVIEW AGENDA OF DECEMBER 12, 2006 Capital Improvement Plan Staff: John Huberd, 682-5386 III. PLANNING COMMISSION DISCUSSION: FRANKLIN BOULEVARD EMX Staff: Allen Lowe, 682-5113 IV. ITEMS FROM COMMISSION AND STAFF A. Other Items from Staff B. Other Items from Commission MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission December 11, 2006 Page 1  MINUTES Regular Meeting Eugene Planning Commission Sloat Room—The Atrium—99 West 10th Avenue December 11, 2006 11:30 a.m. PRESENT: Rick Duncan, Vice President; Phillip Carroll, Randy Hledik, Ann Kneeland, Anthony McCown, members; Lisa Gardner, Allen Lowe, Steven Nystrom, Kurt Yeiter, Planning and Development Department; Chris Henry, Gary McNeel, Emily Proudfoot, Public Works Department; John Huberd, Central Services; Anita Yap, Tom Schwetz, Stefano Viggiano, Graham Carey, Lane Transit District; Tom Adams, Charles Biggs, Bill Goetz, guests. ABSENT: Jon Belcher, John Lawless, Mike Sullivan, ex officio. Mr. Duncan convened the meeting of the Planning Commission. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS Charles Biggs, 540 Antelope Way, commended the Planning Commission for conducting due diligence on community design issues. He cautioned the Planning Commission from rubber stamping the proposed Capital Improvement Plan. Ilona Koejzar, 871 West Eleventh Avenue, expressed concern about the third leg of the EmX corridor, as a great concern to her neighbors. They have formed a organization Residents for Responsible for Rapid Transit to involve neighborhood organizations in planning the third leg of the project. The organization was concerned that only one corridor option was being studied. She said the goal of the organization was to assess potential impacts of any EmX route through residential areas, and to identify and evaluate alternative routes. I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES—October 24, 2006 Approval of October 24, 2006 minutes deferred to a future meeting, due to lack of a quorum. II. STUDY SESSION TO REVIEW AGENDA OF DECEMBER 12, 2006 Mr. Huberd provided the staff report. He said the City updated its Capital Improvement Program (CIP) every two years. The purpose of the work session was to provide an opportunity to review the Draft CIP and asked questions of staff prior to the scheduled public hearing on December 12, 2006 and action on December 18, 2006. The Planning Commission would forward its recommendation, along with comments and suggested changes to the Draft to the Budget Committee and City Council. The CIP for fiscal years (FY) 2008-2013 (08-13) had been updated in accordance with the Budget MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission December 11, 2006 Page 1 Committee recommendations on reformatting the document. The Executive Summary represented an overview of the CIP. The Reader’s Guide detailed the document structure, changes to the document, and outlined the CIP process and public input opportunities. The Financial Summary section had been added to provide a view of the funding. The Airport through Wastewater sections contained individual project pages providing detailed narrative and funding information. Mr. Huberd distributed two documents: • Replacement Transportation section index and map of Transportation projects, pages 185 and 186; • Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Planning Process diagram. Mr. Huberd explained the CIP had been reviewed by the Neighborhood Leaders’ Council (NLC), and neighborhood specific articles had been provided to each of the neighborhood newsletter editors for publication in early 2007. He stated most of the proposed projects had been through other review processes. He added staff were available to attend neighborhood meetings to discuss the CIP. Mr. Huberd stated in response to two recommendations from the Planning Commission to the Budget Committee two years ago, citizen involvement efforts had been expanded and traffic calming, neighborhood tree stocking, and street lighting projects were included in both the FY06- 11 and FY08-13 CIP as funded projects. In response to Mr. Carroll, Mr. Nystrom said the history of Mixed Use Centers (MUCs) was not extensive. However, the Royal Node was an integral part of the master plan efforts for the CIP. In response to Mr. Hledik, Mr. Huberd confirmed that all projects in the transportation section were included in Transplan. Mr. Huberd added that the Delta Ponds overpass project was funded primarily with federal monies. In response to Ms. Kneeland, Mr. Huberd stated historically there had not been a very high level of citizen involvement in the CIP process. During the current process, staff had met with the NLC, and suggested that projects be included by neighborhoods. Additionally, the CIP and projects by neighborhood were included on the City of Eugene webpages. Responding to Mr. Hledik, Mr. Huberd stated the reformat process for the CIP had not included maps identifying city-funded and other-funded projects as suggested by the Planning Commission two years ago. Mr. Hledik encouraged staff to include a diagram that identified city, county, state and Lane Transit District funded projects. Mr. Carroll said the CIP document was very readable document. In response to a question from Mr. Carroll, Mr. Huberd said smaller, generic projects that had not yet been identified, were grouped together for funding. Mr. Nystrom reminded the Planning Commission the CIP public hearing was scheduled for December 12, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. in the Sloat Room. The Commission would deliberate on December 12, and a second meeting was scheduled for December 18, if needed. He said it was appropriate to submit comments, suggestions and questions with the CIP recommendation to the Budget Committee and City Council. MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission December 11, 2006 Page 2 III. PLANNING COMMISSION DISCUSSION: FRANKLIN BOULEVARD EMX Mr. Lowe introduced Lane Transit District (LTD) staff Stefano Viggiano. Mr. Lowe offered the staff report. Mr. Lowe said the opening of Franklin Corridor EmX was scheduled for January 14, 2007. The purpose of today’s presentation was for LTD staff to provide an update on the opening of the Franklin EmX corridor, discuss the Walnut Station area planning related to Franklin Boulevard and the EmX lanes, and provide preliminary information regarding the third EmX corridor in Eugene. Mr. Viggiano explained that LTD had completed a light rail study as a way to enhance transportation in the Eugene-Springfield area that demonstrated there was insufficient population density to successfully support light rail. As a part of Transplan, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) was determined to be the best option. The BRT system had many features in common with light rail. Mr. Viggiano said the first corridor, Franklin EmX, connecting downtown Eugene with downtown Springfield was virtually complete, and was scheduled for service startup on January 14, 2007. Completion of the environmental planning stages for the second corridor, Pioneer Parkway EmX, was expected by the end of 2006. Construction was expected to begin in 2008 with service starting 2009 or 2010. Mr. Viggiano said LTD staff were participating in the Walnut Station area planning and process for selecting a concept to guide the future reconstruction of Franklin Boulevard to better serve this potential mixed use area. EmX was an integral element in the future Franklin Boulevard design. Mr. Viggiano stated LTD was beginning preliminary discussions with the City of Eugene staff for the third EmX corridor in the West Eleventh Avenue area. The decision would be a Eugene City Council one with LTD endorsement, with the City of Eugene taking lead on the corridor study. In response to Mr. Hledik, Mr. Viggiano said the Pioneer Parkway corridor would connect the two Peace Health hospital sites. Mr. Viggiano added Martin Luther King (MLK) was used for a short distance. River Bend Drive was under construction in private ownership that would eventually transferred to the City of Springfield. Responding to Mr. Carroll, Mr. Viggiano clarified that the EmX vehicle lane with signal priority would not be used as a car pool lane. Mr. Viggiano added that the LTD Board direction had been to improve corridors for all users, and not limit improvements to EmX system needs. In response to Mr. Hledik, Mr. Viggiano explained extensive involvement had been part of identification of the corridors, including workshops and public meetings. He added that discussions would occur for development and identification of location in the west Eugene area Mr. Duncan expressed hoped that the City of Eugene and LTD would look at the west Eugene industrial area for future EmX expansion, adding that there would be continued development in the area. Responding to Ms. Kneeland, Mr. Lowe stated the Walnut Station planning project was responding to decisions already made about the EmX corridor and facility. He said because the Walnut Station was a long term redevelopment project, there may be some opportunities to make MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission December 11, 2006 Page 3 adjustments to the EmX line to make it work better as development increased in the corridor. Ms. Gardner stated West Eleventh provided greater opportunity to dictate sequencing and planning that included land use, transportation and transit. In response to Mr. McCown, Mr. Viggiano said the City Council had decided to look at the West Eleventh area before looking at Coburg Road again. Mr. Viggiano said right-of-way (r-o-w) acquisition had not been a big issue with the first two corridors, because purchase had not been necessary. Future r-o-w acquisition would be costly. He said Highway 99 would be a good choice if the goal was to lead development. However, currently there were large sections that generated little ridership. He added that West Eleventh Avenue and Coburg Road were better choices in terms serving existing ridership. In response to Mr. Hledik, Mr. Viggiano said although the River Road/Beltline Road area had not been closely studied, and River Road flowed well, Beltline Road experienced a significant amount of congestion. He added the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) had looked at a variety of innovative solutions, none of which met ODOT standards for improvement. Mr. Viggiano said the downtown Eugene/downtown Springfield piece was selected as the first corridor because it served as a backbone to the LTD system, linking those two biggest hubs, and would support future corridors. Mr. Lowe noted although development of a second lane was many years out, it was necessary as part of the long decision making for Franklin Boulevard to address the policy question now to provide certainly for LTD, the City and adjacent property owners about how much r-o-w would be needed and how it would be achieved. Mr. Viggiano said LTD hoped to add automated guidance for the first and subsequent corridors, that would provide precision docking and control acceleration. He said LTD had submitted a request to be a demonstration project for the automated guidance system. He added vehicles would continue to get better, running on both battery and internal combustion engine, with lower emissions and was quieter. Mr. Viggiano noted LTD would have automated arrival information at the stops within the next year. Responding to Mr. McCown, Mr. Viggiano said the EmX project was part of Transplan. Mr. Duncan encouraged staff to look at a connection to Veneta. Mr. Lowe said the Franklin Boulevard redesign discussion had been rescheduled for three meetings commencing in late January 2007. IV. ITEMS FROM COMMISSION AND STAFF A. Other Items from Staff Ms. Gardner said the Planning Commission retreat had been scheduled for January 26, 2007 at Lamb Cottage. She said if the Commission made a decision on the CIP on December 12, a December 18 meeting would be unnecessary. Agenda topics for the retreat were discussed. MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission December 11, 2006 Page 4  B. Other Items from Commission Mr. Hledik said he had agreed to serve on the Airport Master Plan Advisory Committee. The purpose of the 18 member committee was to evaluate facility needs, develop a capital improvement program, re-evaluate approach requirements, protection areas, and noise zones, to determine what the airport might need in terms of protection from incompatible adjacent uses, and develop plan amendment requests. The project was expected to last 18 months. Mr. Duncan adjourned the Planning Commission meeting at 1:12 p.m. (Recorded by Linda Henry) m:\2006\planning and development department\planning division\planning commission\pc061211.doc MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission December 11, 2006 Page 5