Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 04/15/1998-1 CITY OF FORT COLLINS TRANSPORTATION BOARD Meeting Minutes April 15, 1998 The meeting of the Transportation Board was called to order at 5:53 p.m. in the CIC Room of City Hall West. Board members present included: Chris Ricord, Heather Trantham, Dan Gould, Tim Johnson, Steve Hannah, Sarah Frazier, Alan Beatty, Ray Moe, Paul Perlmutter, and Donn Hopkins. Others in attendance included Sally Craig and Gerry Gavaldon of the P & Z Board, Ron Phillips, Tom Frazier, Randy Hensley, Tim Wilder, Susie Gordon, and Rick Richter. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Dan made a motion to approve the minutes of the March 25th meeting, seconded by Chris. Motion carried. A. Randy stated that John Daggett is heading up the effort on the Northeast Truck Route Study. He has a Citizens Advisory Group and he has requested that the Transportation Board also be represented in that group and asks for the appointment of a volunteer to work with the Citizens Advisory Group. It was stated that the first meeting would be held on April 29th, 6:30 to 8:30 -- the meetings are to be held on the 4th Wednesday of each month. Heather volunteered to serve on this committee, although she cannot attend the first meeting. Chris will also serve. Tim Wilder, City Planner, gave a general overview of this project andstated that th( actual name of the plan was: Downtown River Corridor Implementation Plan. H stated it was given this name because of the numerous projects being undertaken b the City in the Downtown River stretch of the Poudre River and it was the intent beginning in this program that there would not be a repeat of the plan. The purpo: of this plan is to gather information from the various plans that are already out the and from public input, to develop a list of strategies that can begin to be implements This "plan" is geared more toward "doing" rather than writing and analyzing. Tim went over a map (developed by staff) with the Board members, stating that Downtown River Corridor extends from Lyons Street down to Mulberry (North South), First (Lincoln Avenue) and Lemay to Riverside/Jefferson and a little bey, College (East and West). A list of ideas (strategies) was gathered from all the plr TRANSPORTATION BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES APRIL 15, 1998 PAGE2 that have been developed. Tim stated that these strategies are currently in the "brainstorming" stage. Some Transportation -related ideas include: Beautification of Riverside; Linden Street Improvements; Lincoln/Vine Street; as well as some specific intersection improvements; and LaPorte/College GID Improvements. Some long-term improvements include: College/Jefferson Improvements; Vine/Lemay Improvements; etc. The process for the plan includes meeting with an in-house technical team which includes staff from Parks & Recreation, Transportation, Natural Resources, Planning, as well as a working group that was organized by Will Smith which includes members of the Transportation Board, Natural Resources Board, and some "outside" folks. The "working groups" goal was to identify additional strategies and to develop a more comprehensive listing of various strategies that could be implemented for that area. The hope is to "filter down" the list to a list of tangible strategies that are implementable. It was asked whether the intent of the City was to have the corridor be a natural area. Tim stated that it was part of the intent, that there were actually "many intents", but the intent is the protection of the natural areas within this area. A question was asked on how much of this area is in the 100 year flood plain. Tim went over the areas of concern (shown on the map). It was asked what was included in the Vine/Lemay Improvements shown on the listing. Did this include an overpass? Tim turned this over to Tom Frazier to answer. Tom stated that Vine was suppose to be a 4 lane arterial and Lemay is the same thing with an overpass. Tom also stated that neither was funded at this time. He stated that depending on what happens with the Truck Study, there may be some limited amount of money available to do some things. A brief discussion was had regarding the "rails" and that at some point some of the rails would be removed (no one is sure about the exact timing) and what tracks would be remaining. It was stated that two tracks would be retained within this area. It was stated that this area (Riverside) is poor for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. It was asked what would be done with Riverside if a new truck route was devised. It was stated that pedestrian traffic and accessibility would be one of the main things looked at in redesigning Riverside. It was also stated that there has been talk about extending the Trolley into this area, but this is still under discussion. It was stated that perhaps in considering this Corridor Plan, we need to think about what connections there need to be at the District level, since there are such important districts associated with this area (i.e., the Hospital District, etc.). Also questions on regional connections and the urban connections they would connect to (Mason Street; Harmony Road). It was stated that part of the "vision" was to extend the activities of Old Town in this area, to make it a higher activity area than it is now. It was stated that perhaps the City should get input from the folks that live in the area TRANSPORTATION BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES APRIL 15, 1998 PAGE 3 (Buckingham, those that live on Linden, Alta Vista, etc.), and that could be a very important aspect of this project. It was stated that the City does plan to meet with these folks, probably within the next month or two. It was also stated that perhaps the City should get the "long-term" plans of some of the older businesses in the area (Ranch Way Feeds, Kiefer Concrete, lumber yards, etc.) Susie Gordon from Natural Resources gave a presentation on Trash Districting. A brief history was given on this project: that in 1995 Natural Resources was asked to investigate trash collection in Fort Collins; that there are 6 different haulers in town and that they each had "free run" of the town; and that we learned at that time that it was feasible and legal to have trash districting. Susie stated that after 2 studies were completed on this subject, they took the information to Council and that Council asked for more refinement on this issue. A third report was prepared by Hilton Frankopf & Hobson of Fremont, California (who had a lot of experience in trash districting in California). Susie stated that this is going to Council on May 12th to discuss these findings. She stated that the report is available for anyone who would like to see it. It was asked whether or not there is information in the report concerning the type of vehicles which may be optional for the service providers? It was stated that it shows the "traditional" type utility collection vehicle. It was stated that the only community within the Fort Collins region that has actually gone through a districting process is the City of Greenwood Village. They went through it about one year ago. Many smaller cities may only have one hauler locally so that one hauler is "appointed" and they may/may not even pay their trash service charges with their utility bills. It was stated that Fort Collins could be as few as one district or as many as six. It was asked who would determine how many districts there were going to be. It was stated that it would probably have to be a policy decision. It was asked who came up with the idea to look at trash districting. It was stated that in 1994, Transportation began an internal investigation into this issue. It was found that some neighborhoods had as many as 6 different trash trucks going on their streets in a week, and from a Transportation standpoint, these residential streets were not built to standup to that kind of truck traffic. It was stated that through the studies conducted, a conservative estimate of savings for maintenance of the streets by reducing the truck traffic from 6 to 2 would be $320,000 per year. It was stated that with the estimated shortfall in capital in street maintenance, this could prove to be a very important issue to look at. It was suggested that if the districting is approved, that perhaps the districts should overlap since competition is so important. It was stated that the City can legally force a person to pay a bill within a certain district (i.e., trash hauling included on utility bill), but if that person wants to also pay a second bill, the City cannot stop them from TRANSPORTATION BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES APRIL 15, 1998 PAGE 4 picking someone else, as well. This is currently happening in Loveland. Susie stated that some of the local companies fear that they would not be able to be as competitive within the bidding process as the larger conglomerates. It was stated that there are different methods to handle the billing of districts: the City could assume responsibility (after an upgrade of Utility Billing system), or in some cities one trash hauler takes on the responsibility for billing of all districts. It was asked what would happen on private streets. It was stated that some homeowners associations already use kind of a "districting" policy for the trash service for their neighborhoods. A "what if" question was raised regarding: what if the service providers became organized unions and decided to go on strike? Also, when the County Landfill reaches its life expectancy, where will the next landfill be? This second question could change the routing and the travel on the streets required by the trash trucks. There was also some discussion about the response rate on the survey of residences. It was stated that homeowners take their "trash" very seriously. The response rate received was much higher than hoped for or anticipated. There was a motion by Paul to draft a letter to Council supporting trash districting and recommending that the Council pursue this issue, seconded by Chris. Further discussion on this issue for items that should be included were: air pollution, safety, traffic congestion, wear and tear on streets, etc. The motion carried 8-1. Rick will draft a letter. III. BUILDING COMMUNITY CHOICES -- STREET MAINTENANCE: The was a general overview of items in the packet including the "tentative project schedule" which shows the ordinances, dollar amounts, and beginning & completion project dates and that some projects "cross" departmental lines and more than one department may be involved in a particular project. It was stated that under Ordinance#30, Street Maintenance and Overlay, there is no inflation factor built into this project. It was felt that this was something that should be made as a reminder to Council that we are looking for money for Street Maintenance and perhaps the contribution from the General Fund should be greater. Ron stated that up to the end of 1997, there was a full quarter cent both for the Natural Areas and a quarter cent for Street Maintenance. Both of these programs now receive less than the quarter cent, with part of the quarter cent going to other projects. Ron stated that the Natural Areas/Parks discussion is going to a Study Session of Council on the 28th. Ron stated that if the Natural Areas Board is raising the issue of inflation on natural areas then, perhaps, the issue could be raised again about Street Maintenance. Ron said that perhaps it would be good to let Council know that both Street Maintenance and Natural Areas are in the same boat. It would be an opportunity to just reinforce the importance of the Street Maintenance TRANSPORTATION BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES APRIL 15, 1998 PAGE 5 issue and the backing of the Board, and when we went back to Council requesting a greater contribution from the General Fund, perhaps there would be a little more understanding of why the request is being made. It was stated that the Ordinance stipulates that if there is an excess of Sales Tax revenue after the other three projects within Ordinance #30 have been funded, then the excess shall go towards street maintenance (over the eight year period). It was stated that the funded amount for Pavement Management from 1997 to 1998 has actually decreased, from $3.6 million to $3.1 million. It was stated that Transportation experiences approximately a 6%:% growth every year in pavement management, a combination of adding new streets from new development, and the inflation costs of doing the actual work. Some discussion was had on the "Tabor amendment" and overages in funds in the City and that many of these were "restricted" and could not be used elsewhere. There was some discussion on why an inflationary factor was built into some projects and why just a "lump sum" was given to Natural Areas and Street Maintenance. -�- There was a comment made about the bus area on campus being a real "quagmire" of mud; could we possibly just put some gravel or something in there? The Chairman from the Air Quality Board is proposing that a joint committee from Transportation and Air Quality be put together to form an advisory for Council regarding funding of Mass Transit. The Student Referendum for night service (yet to be approved by State); the students have agreed to pay an additional $2.75/student/semester for night service. -*- Restructuring of Transportation Services: The restructuring of Transportation Services was shared with the Board. It was revealed that Transfort Services needed much more management services. It was stated that Tom's responsibilities have changed somewhat, and his title now will be General Manager of Transfort. Transportation Planning and Parking will now report to Gary Diede and MPO will now report to Randy. TRANSPORTATION BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES APRIL 15, 1998 PAGE 6 Transportation. Fundina AdyisQry Committees The emphasis of the committee meeting (held on Friday) was on a presentation of Operations information (existing funding and operational deficit). The bulk of this presentation was Tom speaking about the Transit Development Plan, and the cost to implement that plan (approximately $6 million/year). The question for the committee was whether or not they wanted to consider the deficits in maintenance funding and operations funding separately or together. They decided they wanted to consider those together and they wanted staff to develop funding alternatives so they could. mix and match funding sources into a package and begin to develop a recommendation about how to meet the funding gaps. The next meeting of the Advisory Committee is on May 1 St. There was some general discussion about the ridership of Transfort and the relationship between Transfort and Poudre R-1. There was additional discussion regarding the School Crossing Guard program and why the City currently pays the entire cost of this program. Do same presentation as was done for the Advisory Committee. The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m.