Everett Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)

TAC MINUTES June 16, 2016 In attendance: Members Staff Guests Shawn Smith Tim Miller, Public Works Joe Kunzler 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 Paul Kaftanski, Parks 8:17 a.m. Shawn Smith called the meeting to order.  May minutes would be approved upon amendments requested by J.T. Announcements & Requests to Add Agenda Items  There was considerable discussion about the lack of time to discuss certain agenda item topics and how this might be remedied.  J.T. requested that the committee be given more than 24 hours to review Transit Development Plan materials, and that it should be discussed in conjunction with the APTA peer review report. Citizen’s Comments  Joe Kunzler introduced himself as belonging to a similar committee in Skagit County. He wished to attend the meeting to see how peers operate and take home his observations. He praised the work of Sabina Popa and Everett Transit. He also expressed the challenges of transit surrounding Paine Field with its lack of proper transit service and sidewalks. Engineering Report  Pavement maintenance projects are underway, backed by solid funding.  Contract for the 41st Street Freight Mobility project has been awarded. Work is expected to begin next week. The majority of the work will be focused on three intersections: 41 st & Rucker, Pacific & Rucker, Pacific & West Marine View.  Hawthorne safe routes to school project is on track for construction this summer. Hawthorne has the highest proportion of students walking to school.  The sewer replacement project in the north end is nearly complete.  Ryan asked the committee to consider a 2-hour meeting agenda for future meetings, as it appears the committee’s work frequently runs up against the clock. Some discussion ensued about this. Police Report  Sergeant Zeka reported that the parking time restrictions on Sievers-Duecy have been working well. Sandwich signs are up with permanent signs being placed next week. Cemex has agreed to do litter patrol along their frontage.  Sergeant Zeka remarked that the issues with Uber were still being examined. He stated that right now it is a fact-finding situation, therefore not ready for discussion. J.T. requested that citizens who use the service should be in the mix, to which the sergeant agreed. The discussion on Uber carried over into the AirBnB businesses cropping up. Considerable discussion ensued on these business practices/ordinances for such services.  EPD is in the process of hiring 3 parking enforcement officers. Transit Report  George announced that there have been two outreach meetings with property owners and tenants regarding the North Broadway project. Overall comments have been positive. One concern was if driveways were going to be closed during construction. George stated there wasn’t any intent to change or modify driveways. The project will next move into the design stage.  ET is on target for August service changes. Schedules will be available August 8; will be online on August 1st.  Pre-delivery inspection of three paratransit vans is underway, with delivery in July.  RFQ for Long Range Strategic Plan has been issued. Time frame for delivery to be negotiated, but is expected to be by the end of 2016. A public involvement process will be included. Agenda Items: Item 1: ET Transit Development Plan Presentation – George Baxter  The Transit Development Plan (TDP) is a required annual submission to the State. This is not a constrained plan. It is the best guess as what ET thinks is coming in the future. The plan is filed with WSDOT, who summarizes all transit agency plans and presents a report to the legislature. The TDP is different from the long range strategic plan. The long range strategic plan will help guide this annual state report.  Comments on the TDP can be forwarded to Tim Miller. Types of comments being solicited are where ET is going in the future, not necessarily retrospective points. In particular, comments are being sought for Sections 5 and 6 of the report, as well as other comments that members feel are important.  The TDP covers the agency as a whole: staff, organization, service, connections to other agencies, proposed action plans, and more. Some of the questions the report answers are mandated by the state.  Some discussion ensued about how this development plan is similar to the TDP 6-year plan. Some comparisons were also made with the strategic plan as well as the Comprehensive Plan developed by the Planning Department.  J.T. requested more information on how Community Transit and ET collaborate, and would like more specifics to back up various generalized statements listed in the document. There was  some discussion on trying to influence Sound Transit to cooperate with ET considering the bus bulb project. The committee voted to hold meetings in both July and August, even with the possibility of not having enough members in attendance to produce a quorum. Continued discussion of changing length of meetings and/or start time ensued. No final decision was made. Paul Kaftanski noted the Mayor prefers there be enough time scheduled to allow boards to fully discuss business and that most boards have a 2-hour time slot scheduled. Ryan stated staff can prepare several schedule options for consideration and email them to TAC members for their input. Members were encouraged to send option ideas to Tim Miller. Adjourned at 9:22 a.m. Next Scheduled Meeting: July 21, 2016