Everett Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)

TAC MINUTES February 20, 2014 In attendance: Members Staff Guests Victor Harris Tim Miller, Public Works Keri Moore, Snohomish Health Dist. Robert Strickland George Baxter, Everett Transit Edward Koltonowski Jeffrey Marks, Public Works William Weber Ryan Sass, Public Works Kris Hausmann Ken Dorn, Everett Police Shawn Smith 8:15 a.m. Victor Harris called the meeting to order.  M/S/P approving the January 2014 meeting minutes. Announcements & Requests to Add Agenda Items  Victor announced a meeting next Tuesday, 2/25, in the city of Mukilteo regarding their multi- modal shoreline project, starting at 6 p.m.  Victor announced that he had attended a diversity board meeting with Allen Giffen and the traffic portion of the Comp Plan was discussed. He said that 250 people had responded to a survey on traffic, but more information was needed from the south end region. He also said there was some discussion at the meeting surrounding the topic of light rail coming to Everett.  Bob Strickland announced that there is some construction happening at California and Oakes. This construction has to do with building student housing for Trinity Lutheran; however, some of this housing is being built on top of a parking lot. The new housing will effectively eliminate 13 of 33 parking spaces. This may affect additional parking downtown.  Keri Moore, Snohomish Health District, stated that she has a tool kit for incorporating health into Comp Plans and can put us in touch with those in Pierce County who helped put it together, if we would like to add a health portion into our designs.  Victor would like to add to upcoming agendas: 10 minutes to discuss the first section of the transportation plan and offer opinions. Then, in the following months, look at each section and come up with the committee’s recommendations. Citizen’s Comments  None Engineering Report  Ryan mentioned the city-wide guard rail project. Currently, guard rails are being replaced in Valley View/Mukilteo Blvd. This project is meant to replace almost of the guard rails in the city, and is being funded by safety grant money. Peterson Brothers Construction is doing the replacements. Some guard rails are being raised in height to meet current standards.   Ryan mentioned the Safe Routes to Schools project for Hawthorne Elementary. An advertisement for bids for this project should be going out in April.  Ryan updated the committee on the Broadway Bridge project, stating that there’s still some hoops to jump through with WSDOT, but plans and specification are ready to send it out to bid.  Ryan talked about a meeting that he had with Sound Transit staff regarding light rail. He again reiterated the City’s stance that light rail along I-5 north of Everett Mall does not benefit the City. He said the City will continue to push for light rail being brought into the City, which is conducive to urban growth and development.  Victor expressed concern that the funding for light rail by Sound Transit was already in place for King County, but not Snohomish County. He feared that when it comes to building light rail in the City of Everett, the funding will not be in place and those in King County will not care, since their region will be covered. Police Report  Sgt. Dorn reported a fatality from a person jay-walking being hit by a car. Some discussion ensued about the dangers of jay-walking.  Bob Strickland inquired about a bicyclist that was knocked off his bike while riding on 41st Street. Sgt. Dorn reported that the victim did not request medical help, though he fell approximately 30 feet into shrubs.  Victor asked if the police department had any issues surrounding the upcoming street closures related to the Broadway Bridge project. Sgt. Dorn stated that currently there isn’t any concern over the projected traffic conditions. Transit Report  George Baxter reported that Transit has moved forward into beta testing its NextBus Info System. This new system would report ETA’s for Everett Transit arrivals at bus stops. He reported that the feedback so far has been very good; however, there are not that many people using it. He stated that Transit will be opening it up to members of the general public for more beta testing, so they can determine what the “load point” of the system is. Victor asked if using the system required a certain kind of smartphone. George said a smartphone wasn’t required; the system works by calling a phone number, so any phone can do. There is an option of text messaging, which would require a smartphone. George stated that when the system goes “live” with the public, they can call the standard 425-257-7777 number. Right now, the beta testing has a different number. He stated that people need to email in order to sign up for beta testing. Ryan requested that TAC board members be solicited. Victor asked if NextBus included paratransit. George said “No,” but paratransit already has a pre-pickup call system in use.  George mentioned that Wall Street will be closed due to construction, so Transit is looking for alternate routes.  Some discussion ensued about providing bus service for the new Walmart going in at the Everett Mall area where Top Foods used to be. He stated that it’s not an easy location to serve. Ed wondered how Walmart traffic would impact the traffic already coming to and from the mall, which currently gets congested at times. Tim Miller responded that a study hasn’t  yet been conducted. George stated that Walmart is willing to work with City to help create a solution to transit issues. Agenda Item: Item 1: Boeing Direct Count Program – Tim Miller  The presentation outlined a new approach to monitoring Boeing’s impact on traffic. Tim outlined historically that Boeing’s 1991 agreement with the City, along with addendums, stated that Boeing could not hire over 35,000 employees or create more than 12,315 peak hour trips. Right now, the Boeing peak traffic hour is between 2:30 – 3:30 p.m., and averaging about 9,700 peak hour trip, 75% of the earlier mitigated traffic agreements.  Based on current stats, Boeing cannot add employees since they are at the previously determined employee cap, however they can generate more traffic since they are below the 12,315 peak hour trips that were previously mitigated. The new Direct Count Program will allow the City to no longer cap Boeing. The new proposal would place 9 radar counters at driveways around the Boeing complex to make an actual count of how many vehicles are coming and going, what types of vehicles, etc., and what the peak total traffic hours are and the average of the peaks. A new agreement would state that Boeing could hire as many employees as they want and increase traffic; however, they would pay the City additional traffic mitigation fees for every peak hour trip beyond the agreed-upon peak number hours.  Tim stated that Boeing is favorable to this approach, as it will give them data they currently lack which could help structure their internal traffic and shift issues. Meeting adjourned at 9:23 am The Next Scheduled Meeting is Thursday March 20, 2014.