Plan Commission Meeting

June 26, 2014 MINUTES OF A SPECIAL JOINT MEETING URBANA PLAN COMMISSION APPROVED URBANA BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMISSION URBANA SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY COMMISSION DATE: June 26, 2014 TIME: 7:00 P.M. PLACE: City Council Chambers Urbana City Building 400 South Vine Street Urbana, IL 61801 MEMBER PRESENT: (Urbana Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Commission) Brandon Bowersox-Johnson, Karie Brown-Tess, Cynthia Hoyle, Audrey Ishii and Craig Shonkwiler; (Urbana Plan Commission) Tyler Fitch and Lew Hopkins; (Urbana Sustainability Advisory Commission) Marya Ryan, Bart Bartles, Andrew Stumpf, and Stephen Wald STAFF PRESENT: Kevin Garcia, Planner II; Maximillian Mahalek, Planning Intern; Teri Andel, Planning Secretary; Scott Tess, Environmental Sustainability Manager OTHERS PRESENT: Susan Tappan-Flickinger, Susan Taylor 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Fitch called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. The roll was called for each commission. 2. COMMUNICATIONS There were none. 3. STUDY SESSION Presentation by the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission staff on the Draft 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) Rita Black (Transportation Planning Manager) and Ashlee McLaughlin (CUUATS Planner), of the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, presented this topic to the members of the Urbana Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission, the Urbana Plan Commission and to Page 1  June 26, 2014 the Urbana Sustainability Advisory Commission. In their presentation they talked about the following: Sustainable Choices 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan  Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area  Urbanized Area & Metro Planning Area  Population and Employment Trends  Current Trends vs. LRTP Vision for Infrastructure & Employment  Demographics  Ethnicity  Urbana-Rural Population Ratio  Commuting Mode for Workers 16 Years and Over in the Region (2010)  Land Use  Environment  Air Quality  8-Hour Ozone Readings  1-Hour Ozone Readings  Water Quality for Streams and Rivers in C-U Metro Area  Quality of Life  Obesity  Diabetes  Quality of Life Variables  Livability Index  Health Index  Neighborhood Level Assessment  Transportation  Community Conversation Bus  Mode Use by Age  Strengths and Weaknesses by Mode  950 Total Survey Responses  4 Visioning Meetings  Public  Business Developers  Youth  Social Service Employees  6 Themes Summarizing Public Input  Safety and Security  Balanced Development  Multimodal Connectivity  Accessibility and Affordability  Healthy Neighborhoods  Resilient Economy  Specific Modes – Existing Conditions  Pedestrian  Few Workers Walk to Work  Safety is an Issue  Related Goals and Objectives  Bicycle  Few Workers Bike to Work Page 2  June 26, 2014  Related Goals and Objectives  Transit Ridership (Buses)  Transit Ridership is Up in the Region  Service Area Does Not Match Urbanized Area  Related Goals and Objectives  Automobiles  Complete Streets, Access Management and Roundabouts  Crashes per 100M VMT below state targets  Related Goals & Objectives  Rail Use  Rail Use is Growing  Freight Plan Necessary to Identify Rail and Truck Needs  Related Goals & Objectives  Air Travel  Air Travel at Willard has Decreased Since 2006  Percent of Delayed Flights Down 50% Since 2003  Related Goals & Objectives  Goals, Objectives and Performance Measures  CUUATS Statistical Models  TAZ Population + Employment Projections  LEAM: Land Use Change and Impact  TDM: Travel Demand Model  MOVES: Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator  SCALDS: Social Cost of Land Development  LALI: Local Affordability and Livability  HIA: Health Impact Assessment  Projected Growth Areas  Project Voting Board  Next Steps: Project Funding Projections They stated that they would answer questions that the commission members may have. Mr. Hopkins asked if the members would get to see the tentative project list. Ms. Black replied that they would not see it at this time. The members need to visit the Community Conversation Bus. Mr. Hopkins stated that the project list is what matters in the end. He wanted to know how the project list was being worked on. Ms. Black replied that they have looked projects that were proposed in the previous plans and doing an evaluation of which projects have been completed and which projects have not been completed. They also communicated with the agencies of CUUATS and asked which projects they want or are planning to complete in the future. They compiled these lists and chose the most important ones to present on the bus for people to pick their priorities. Then, the CUUATS staff will setup priorities for the projects and work it out with the different agencies. They will also be looking at how those projects address the goals and objectives of the Long Range Transportation Plan. They will enter this into the models that they have to see what kind of projects provide better results in terms of the goals and objectives that are in place. Page 3  June 26, 2014 Mr. Hopkins mentioned there is at least one project on North Prospect Avenue, south of Anthony Drive, in Champaign. It is potentially an example of how we can think about the complexity of the goals in relation to projects. An implied goal is congestion reduction. In order to achieve many of the other goals, one could argue that the most appropriate strategy is to leave or allow an increase in congestion on North Prospect so that the advantages of walking and using public transit, downtown intensity of development, etc. actually gain in comparative advantage. With the way this is framed, he is concerned that the ability to have that kind of discussion may be difficult. Ms. Black stated that they do not have a goal for reduction in congestion. They feel that they can reduce congestion on North Prospect by changing the way North Prospect operates in terms of using other modes of transportation. They have been talking to MTD about the possibility of a future hub for a transit center on North Prospect. They also plan to approach the City of Champaign to install sidewalks along North Prospect. Mr. Hopkins stated that if they want development in the downtown areas and at the University of Illinois and they want vehicle and transit miles travelled to decrease, then having realignments of land use is one way to do this rather than enabling less desirable land use patterns by correcting the transportation patterns. Ms. Hoyle wondered in terms of planned projects in the communities and resource allocation how did CUUATS staff balance the public requests with current spending priorities. Ms. Black stated that this is something that they will have to negotiate with the cities. This is why they are using more information to develop the models that they have, such as the Local Affordability and Livability and Health Impact Assessment models. Both models consider safety as one of the factors. With the values and the results that the models provide, CUUATS staff can talk with the cities using numbers to show them a better way to use funding to get people to walk or bike in the communities. Ms. Hoyle asked how the City would get this information. When something is proposed, the public really wants the information that the model would provide, but someone has to pay to run the model. So, there is disconnect in terms of public desire and funding for doing some of the work. Ms. Black understood which is why they are doing something different. They intend to do an analysis of each neighborhood based on the input that they receive from the public and use the two models to give that information to the cities. Mr. Bowersox-Johnson asked CUUATS staff to describe the model, “Social Cost of Land Development” and how they could include a map or indication in the proposed plan to help others in the future. Ms. Black explained that the model takes into consideration the population and employment projections and the costs associated to the development of land with regards to water, sewer, green areas, roadways, lights, etc. Based on this, they get what the impact would be. One of the limitations is that some of the models are difficult to use at the level they would want to use them in terms of how a single project would be impacted because these models were basically created for big metropolitan areas. This is one reason why they are moving away from using the models and going into the neighborhoods and doing analysis of quality of life. Ms. Ishii inquired how the models are separate silos and does CUUATS staff optimize all the models at once for a proposed development. Ms. Black replied that the TAZ Population and Employment Projections, LEAM, TDM, MOVES and SCALDS are inter-connected. The output of one model is the input for the next model. These models are not able to predict in detail at a small scale what the impact would be. So, the LALI and HIA models are used at the neighborhood level. Page 4  June 26, 2014 Mr. Hopkins commented that Mahomet and Tolono are involved in the planning process; however, they are not members of CUUATS. He asked why St. Joseph is not included and wondered how this process would work. Ms. Black stated that the urbanized area is defined by the US Census Bureau. In 2010, it was defined to include Tolono, Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, and Bondville. During the first committee group to discuss the Long Range Transportation Plan, the first task was to define the expected growth of the community of this area. The group decided to include Mahomet because it is the closest community and believe it will be joined together with Champaign within the next 20 years. Tolono and Bondville were invited to join CUUATS, but they have not come to the table. Mahomet is not a formal member of CUUATS but they are invited to participate. This is because of the federal allocation of funding. The funding is only for communities that are part of the organized area. Ms. Ishii asked what impact went into deciding the goals. Ms. Black explained that they took many of the goals from the previous Long Range Transportation Plan. They look at the data from the report cards they produce every year and see how the trends are. Based on this they set a percentage of increase or decrease of each objective, which becomes the goal for the future. Mr. Shonkwiler wondered how far back CUUATS has been creating Long Range Transportation Plans. Ms. Black said since 1964. Mr. Shonkwiler asked if CUUATS staff ever goes back and re-evaluates a previous plan. Ms. Black said yes, that is part of the existing conditions. We are always connected to the previous plan. In addition, every year they produce a report card showing how well the plan is going, what projects have been done, and whether they want to change anything. Mr. Bowersox-Johnson referred to the map of projects that had different development areas in parts of town. The one that jumped out at him as a critical area that is not represented is the High Cross Road Corridor. High Cross Road Corridor already has investment in road infrastructure and sewer, so we would rather target growth in this area than to leap frog and go further out of town. He wondered what other areas are important for development that did not make it on the map. Ms. McLaughlin stated that this particular map is a summary map and if he felt that the High Cross Road area was important enough, then they could add it on the map. It is included in the Population and Employment projections. Ms. Black added that there is growth and employment projected for the High Cross Road Corridor but not at the level of increase that they have for the downtown area, which is why it did not make it on the map. Mr. Bartles asked what criteria CUUATS staff used to determine the health assessment of neighborhoods. Ms. McLaughlin started with a map of occurrences of obesity in the community. They attempted to control for different socio-economic variables in each of the assessments. Ms. Black said that they just finished the model and got the report drafted in the last three weeks or so and hopes to have it available soon. Ms. Brown-Tess questioned if they were making sure to get information from what the population actually projects. Ms. McLaughlin stated that there is voluntary information on the survey form with regards to age, gender, location, race and ethnicity. CUUATS staff tracked this information across the community. They discovered that there was a slight under representation in college-aged students and in people over 70. This allows them to target areas and populations that are under-represented. Page 5  June 26, 2014 Ms. Brown-Tess asked if they have targeted any kids as well. Ms. Black said yes. They have a kids table on the bus. They have safety photos, markers, etc. for the kids to look at and provide drawings. They ask questions of the kids and get their input as well. Ms. McLaughlin mentioned that they also have a wish tree for kids to provide transportation wishes. Some kids even take the survey. Ms. Hoyle stated that there is a health plan being done in the community also. C-U Public Health District is organizing the plan. CUUATS staff has participated in developing some of the goals because many of the goals in the Long Range Transportation Plan directly impact some of the health concerns. Mr. Wald referred to one of the tables listing vehicle miles travelled by mode. What does CUUATS staff predict VMT per capita? Ms. Black stated that based on what she has seen, it is steady. She does not see a decrease. Mr. Fitch asked about the next steps of the process. Will the proposed plan come back to each commission for acceptance? Ms. Black explained that the plan will come back before each commission separately for a recommendation to the City Council. Then, the City Council will make a determination of whether to approve it or not. CUUATS requires approval of each of the agencies that are part of CUUATS. Mr. Bowersox-Johnson stated that one of the key pieces is the project list. He wondered if it was focusing on road building projects or will some of the implementation steps include other types of policy things such as recommendations to boost car sharing/Zip Car fleet or to work on bike sharing for the core of the community. Ms. Black replied that these are already part of the strategies that they are recommending to put in place. There will a chapter that includes projects that are not related to roadway projects. Because federal law does not allow them to recommend projects if there is not funding for those projects, so they include these projects as visions. Ms. Hoyle commented that we have a sophisticated staff, process and modelling system that many other areas do not have. 7. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:08 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ____________________________ Elizabeth H. Tyler, FAICP, Secretary Urbana Plan Commission Page 6