Everett Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)

AMENDED TAC MINUTES May 19, 2016 In attendance: Members Staff Guests Edward Koltonowski Tim Miller, Public Works None T.J. Fournier George Baxter, Transit J.T. Dray Ryan Sass, Public Works William Weber Jeffrey Marks, Public Works Robert Strickland Sabina Popa, Transit Victor Harris John Zeka, Police Ken Dorn, Police Mike Braley, Police Richard Tarry, Public Works 8:20 a.m. Bob Strickland called the meeting to order.  M/S/P approving April minutes. Announcements & Requests to Add Agenda Items  J.T. talked about reading an article in the Tribune regarding taxis and Uber. He would like to address a taxi stand downtown, especially since buses going downtown will be lessened with the scheduled route changes. It was noted there is an existing evening taxi stand on the NW corner Oakes at Hewitt that serves the Event Center. Ryan stated that Legal is preparing a briefing to City Council about services such as Uber, but currently doesn’t have any recommendations. The Traffic division would be the appropriate group to evaluate any taxi stand proposals. This may be a future agenda item. Amendment from the June meeting: J.T. asked that a future agenda item be added to discuss the Uber issue.  Ed Koltonowski asked about downtown parking. Ryan stated there was a briefing with the Council, but that we are not at pay-to-park utilization thresholds. The study did recommend increased enforcement efforts. Sgt. Braley noted EPD is hiring three new parking enforcement officers.  Victor mentioned he had read on the internet where some locations there were modified piano key crosswalks to appearing as a 3D image of a speed bump. He thought it was an interesting concept to slow drivers. He also noted warmer weather may be linked to increases in traffic fatalities.  Edward Koltonowski asked about 36th Street pedestrian street crossing, as well as Grand Avenue. There was some discussion about pedestrian bike improvements.  Bob Strickland mentioned he went to a briefing by the Port. There was discussion about trying to link the riverfront, waterfront, and downtown more effectively, and that perhaps this could be something on a future agenda. Amendment from the June meeting: J.T. asked that some time be set aside to discuss how transit functions would work to connect these areas; that this should be added as a future agenda item.   J.T. said he was putting together a program for a June neighborhood meeting. He mentioned the construction of a new residential development at the POE marina, but heard they may be having trouble with soil conditions.  George Baxter stated that when new neighborhoods in both Riverside and Waterfront develop, transit will consider routes to these locations depending on demand.  Victor talked about Metropolitan Everett Planning process and pedestrian connections to Riverfront. He felt there was a safety concern on Smith Avenue, and that street cleanup would be critical to sell the project. Citizen’s Comments  None Engineering Report  Ryan reported there were a couple safety projects getting ready to start within the next month or so. The 41st to West Marine View Drive corridor project is also scheduled to start construction this spring. .  Ryan stated that the Hawthorne safe routes to school project should begin this summer.  The annual pavement maintenance overlay project is also underway.  Two streetscape projects in the CBD will soon begin final design work; one on Hoyt the other on Rucker.  Tim Miller reported on the Grand Ave business parking concern from last month’s meeting. He stated that the City was proposing a ROW lease “blue zone” that included part of the extra- wide sidewalk, (leaving 8’ of sidewalk) and 14’ of the pavement for a total of 20’ depth along the affected business frontages. He expected positive response from the business owners. The next step will be for the owners to apply for the ROW lease. Police Report  Sergeant Zeka reported that proposed changes to parking on Sievers-Duecy were on schedule for a June 1 implementation. The changes would affect parking times (no parking 10 PM to 4 AM) and will include tow away zones. There was discussion of similar parking issues east of Hwy 2 on Hewitt near the Coop building. William Webber offered to submit photos of the problem area that affects bikes.  J.T. asked if additional parking officers would be working in the evenings. Sergeant Braley stated the new officers were to manage daytime parking and that enforcement doesn’t occur after 6 p.m.  Edward asked when Wall Street would re-open from the hotel construction. Ryan stated it has to be open for the 4th of July, but wasn’t sure when it would be permanently re-opened.  Sergeant Dorn informed the committee that “Click-It or Ticket” emphasis patrols were going to be occurring between May 23rd to June 5th. Anyone caught without wearing their seatbelt could receive a $136 ticket. Transit Report  Sabina Popa addressed the service changes coming in August. She stated that the public comments had been reviewed. With regards to outreach to address the changes, there were  alerts on buses, four public meetings, brochures, rider alerts, interior bus ads, website info, CTR employer letters, and a City Council presentation.  Sabina gave a brief overview of the proposed changes. She stated there were three proposals: o Reconfigure 4, 5, & 17 o Route 7 streamlined downtown to return to Broadway since the bridge was now open. o Modify Silver Lake area route. o Also adding some new trips to Routes 2, 14, 17, 7, & 29.  Some questions were raised about the automatic passenger counters. It was explained that ET was still validating 2015’s numbers. Amendment from the June meeting: J.T. asked for clarification on what data the automatic counters were collecting. Agenda Items: Item 1: North Broadway Transit Improvement Project – George Baxter  George showed a presentation displaying where new bus stops/bus-bulbs were being considered along the North Broadway transit corridor. He stated that the North Broadway Improvement project was a year away from construction. All ideas currently about the project were merely preliminary and subject to change. Public outreach for the project will begin in June. Discussion ensued about the possible traffic delays caused by the in-lane stops. Item 2: 2017-2022 6-Year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) – Richard Tarry.  Richard Tarry presented an overview of the 2017 – 2022 6-Year TIP. He explained that this is not a financially constrained program. This year it totals nearly $5B and authorizes City staff to pursue funding for various projects. It includes a new High Capacity category with three ST3 projects: Light Rail - Lynnwood to Everett Extension, Light Rail Stations, HCT Support Program. In the Transit category there were three projects added. These were: On Board ITS replacement and upgrade, Service Planning & Development Software/Hardware, and Next Generation ORCA Project. Minor Port of Everett project name changes were made at their request. M/S/P to forward the plan to the City Council with a recommendation to approve. Adjourned at 9:50 a.m. Next Scheduled Meeting: June 16, 2016