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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 07/16/1997Draft Minutes to be approved by the Transportation Board at the August 20, 1997 Meeting • TRANSPORTATION BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES July 16,1997 FOR REFERENCE: Chair Paul Valentine 493-0100 Vice Chair Paul Perlmutter 229-2549 Council Liaison Mike Byme 493-3255 Staff Liaison Tom Frazier 221-6893 Secretary Micki White 224-6173 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Sara Frazier, Dan Gould, Steve Hanna, Donn Hopkins, Tim Johnson, Paul Perlmutter, Chris Ricord and Paul Valentine BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Alan Beatty, Mark Egeland, Ray Moe STAFF/COUNCIL/GUESTS PRESENT: Natural Resources Board • Craig McGee, Phil Murphy, Bill Miller, Kelly Ohlson, Ed Secor, Randy Fischer, Jan Behunek, Don Rodriguez Natural Resources Staff Tom Shoemaker, Rob Wilkinson Planning and Zoning Board Sally Craig City Manager's Office Darin Atteberry Transportation Services Staff Ron Phillips, Tom Frazier, Susanne Edminster, Randy Hensley, Vicky McLane, Keith Myers, Mark Sears, Micki White Storm Water Staff Marsha Hilmes, Link Mueller Kiewit Western Company Jamie Harvey Doug McMurren Lidstone and Anderson, Inc. - River Analysis Greg Koch Local Legislative Affairs Committee Bob Shuffler 0 Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 Page 2 AGENDA: A. CALL TO ORDER APPROVAL OF MINUTES B. INTRODUCTIONS C. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT E. DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS DISCUSSION ITEMS 1. Board Member Reports 2. Staff Reports 3. Summary/Next Agenda 4. Other Business Paul Valentine called the meeting to order at 5:55 p.m. He then asked for discussion regarding the minutes of the previous meeting. Tim Johnson commented that on page two, section 1, it said that the CSU Transfer Center is nearing completion, which is inaccurate. Mr. Valentine did say those were Mr. Daggett's words, but it would be more accurate to say that the plans are nearing completion. Mr. Johnson also wanted remarks he had made changed to more reflect the meaning he was trying to convey to the Board. On page 8, paragraph 4, what he was trying to ask was, "are we really capturing the cumulative effects of growth". The example he gave was dealing with, for instance, widening intersections such as Shields and Prospect. The sense he got from Gary Diede was that he felt we were dealing with is:• es like that, but dealing with things that are closer to the development, not the cumulative effects )f A, B, and C, forcing a widening of an intersection downstream somewhere. Mr. Johnson said that he wanted these kinds of gaps identified for the public and for the Council. Mr. Johnson said the notion is that, "are we really covering the cumulative effects, and his guess is, "no". Mr. Valentine then asked how Mr. Johnson wanted the minutes amended and Mr. Johnson said "to what extent are we dealing with cumulative effects capital of infrastructure for Transportation? " With these amendments, Mr. Valentine then asked that all in favor of approving the minutes with that amendment say "aye". There was no opposition. The motion carried. Two new Board members, Dan Gould and Chris Ricord, were introduced to the rest of the Board members. E. ACTION/DISCUSSION ITEMS Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 • Page 3 Mr. Valentine felt the timing of this presentation was excellent. He said it takes a while to understand how MPO fits into our Transportation Plan. Vicky McLane then introduced herself to the Board as the Transportation Program Manager for MPO. She told the Board that Ron Phillips is the executive director and Tom Frazier is the deputy director. Ms. McLane started with an outline of the MPO. It is as follows: ORGANIZATION • Formed in 1987 • Membership consists of eleven local governments and two State agencies: — Latimer County Weld County — Fort Collins Greeley — Loveland Windsor — Berthoud Timnath — LaSalle Evans — Garden City — Colorado Transportation Commission • — Colorado Air Quality Control Commission • Acts as MPO (transportation) and Lead Planning Agency (air quality) for Fort Collins and Greeley • Council is composed of one elected official from each member entity. Will Smith is Fort Collins' representative. • Council established the Technical Advisory Committee JAC), which is composed of one staff person from each member entity. STAFFING • ADMINISTRATION AND PI ANNING — Executive Director (pt time) — Deputy Director (pt time) — Transportation Program Manager — Administrative Assistant • TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT. — TDM Manager — TDM Marketing Specialists (2) — Vanpool Coordinator — Secretary 0 Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 Page 4 FY 1998 BUDGET Administration and Planning $ 400,000 TDM (SmartTrips) $ 800,000 Local Projects $30,000,000 (Highways, transit/HOV/rail, mobility strategies, bike/pedestrian MAJOR REGIONAL PROJECTS - FY 1998 2020 Regional Transportation Plan $ 80,000 North Front Range Transportation Alternatives Feasibility Study $ 1,800,000 MAJOR LOCAL PROJECTS - FY 1998 US 34 Bypass $ 9,000,000 US 287 $ 1,600,000 Harmony Road Interchange $10,000,000 Transit $ 6, 000,000 TDM $ 800,000 GUIDING DOCUMENTS • Long Range (20 Year) Regional Transportation Plan ( 2020RTP) • Six Year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), with three year action plan. • One Year Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), for administration & planning • State Implementation Plan (SIP), which contains local air quality plans and state regulations. 2020 REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN • Update of RTP required every 3 years in non -attainment areas • NFRT & AQPC completed 2015 RTP in 12/94 - started on 2020 version in 4/97 • Conformity required to be shown for Plan • Conformity rule changes are about to be signed by EPA MAJOR AIR QUALITY CONSIDERATION • Federal (EPA) Conformity Rule - "Procedures for Conformance of Transportation Plans, Programs and Projects with State Implementation Plans" 0 Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 • Page 5 • MPO must show conformity for RTP, for TIP, and in some cases, for individual projects. Comments and discussion followed: Paul Valentine: Where is Garden City? McLane: Basically, totally surrounded by Greeley, approximately 250 people. Steve Hanna: What is used for models? McLane: EPA tells us what the models are. Paul Valentine: What is TIP? McLane: Transportation Improvement Program* Paul Perlmutter: If there is a capital project, is it State funded? McLane: Yes. The planning and paperwork has to be channeled through MPO. Perlmutter: Does this include maintenance? McLane: No, CDOT handles all the maintenance money. It is attached to our plan, but more for informational purposes. We don't have a say in the spending of those funds. Steve Hanna: If the EPA wants to know something about air quality in the transportation • area, do they come see you? McLane: Yes, they will, in the transportation area. Steve Hanna: Carbon monoxide? McLane: Yes, they will come to us. Ms. McLane told the Board that the bulk of the MPO "budget" is in projects that are managed locally and initiated locally but the money has to come through the MPO agency. She said that any Federal and State. transportation funding must come through this agency. She said there are three major documents that we are responsible for preparing and overseeing: 2020 Plan 6 Year Plan (TIP) 1 Year (UPWP) Also, State Implementation Plan (SIP) Ms. McLane said they look at all the projects and decide which are the highest priority and what kind of funding is available. 2. Level of Service - Tim Wilder, Planning Department Mr. Wilder said he just wanted to do a quick overview for the Board, concerning the growth trends • and performance indicators of the City Plan. Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 Page 6 As a part of City Plan, City Council adopted Principle GM-9, which calls for the development and regular monitoring of various indicators as a means of evaluating the performance of City Plan. Nineteen indicators were chosen as an initial starting point and are listed as an attachment sent out in last month's packet. The indicators are as follows: population, employment, price of raw land, price of housing, land absorption and vacancy rates, densities, distribution of growth, air quality, water quality, conversion of vacant and underutilized land, redevelopment activity, mixed -use activity, infill, mode split, vehicle miles (VMT) traveled, rate of growth of vehicle miles traveled, development of critical lands, and wildlife populations. Mr. Wilder said that currently, they are considering just two indicators for transportation, including VMT and mode split. He said both of these indicators will be based upon the Mobility Report Card prepared regularly by Transportation Department staff. Mr. Wilder said he would like to have suggestions from Board members on what indicators would be most valuable in measuring growth or on specific transportation indicators that you would find valuable. Steve Hanna: How do you measure VMT? Wilder: Through a modeling process. Frazier: The model used was purchased through Comsis, used by most of the agencies throughout the state. Valentine: When were the face-to-face interviews done? Frazier: 1995 Steve Hanna: How many gallons of gasoline are consumed in Fort Collins? Is this information available? Phillips: We know how much is sold, but not how much is consumed. People buy gas other places and come here and consume it. Ricord: What is the current rate of the VMT growth? Answer: 2/3:1 Valentine: Why? Frazier: We are driving more. Johnson: Some indicators should be the number of lane miles versus population and a need for annual maintenance. Johnson: In looking through the hand-out, I noticed a number of multi -lane intersections. As we go from six lanes to say, nine lanes, this is a real good indicator of cumulative effects that sometimes get hidden. Perlmutter: We would like to, somehow, capture the amount of congestion. Mr. Wilder said one of the things to be looked at, also, was trip capture to and from activity centers. Mr. Wilder said his staff would be producing a report in 1998, show the indicators, and use some kind of analysis as far as how the development is occurring and he would like to make sure all the Boards have a copy of that. He said plans are to update the boards every year, if possible, to tell what basic indicators are. Mr. Wilder said the information will be supplied and wants to keep the hoards involved in this process. E Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 • Page 7 Prior to Mr. Frazier's presentation, the Transportation Board was joined by members of the Natural Resources Board. • • 3. Transportation Master Plan - Tom Frazier The following are some of the highlights of the presentation by Tom Frazier, Multi -modal Group Leader, for Transportation Planning: TRANSPORTATION MASTER PLAN August 1997 Purpose • To consolidate the major transportation components into a Summary Document • To define transportation needs/options for funding • To provide the transportation component to the City's Comprehensive Plan Contents • Policy City Plan Community Vision and Goals Principles and Policies Environmental relationships Adequate public facilities • Mobility and Access • Local Transportation Plans P. Pedestrian Plan ► Transit Development Plan ► Bicycle Plan ► Master Street Plan ► Downtown Parking Plan ► Civic Center Master Plan ► Corridor Plans North Front Range Regional Plans: ♦ Transportation ♦ Transit ♦ Bicycle/Pedestrian ♦ Transportation Demand Management Program • Development Review Process Level of Service Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 Page 8 ► Transportation Impact Study Guidelines Financial Plan ► Needs and Costs ► Anticipated Revenues ► Potential Shortfalls ► Alternative Revenue Sources Functions ► Reference Manual ► Planning Guide ► Development Guide ► Policy Document To be used by: ► Transportation Planners ► Developers ► Government Agencies ► Citizens ► Professional Organizations Mr. Frazier told the group the main focus for the Transportation Master Plan (TMP) is to consolidate the adopted plans into one working document. Mr. Frazier said the Transportation Master Plan needs to be officially adopted as part of the City Plan. Mr. Frazier touched on the environmental relationships component since the Transportation Board had been joined by the Natural Resources Board. Mr. Frazier stated this document has not yet been officially adopted as a part of the City Plan. This document was designed specifically to match up the transportation interest along with the environmental interest and community values, and establish a process that would ensure all transportation projects and environmental issues were dealt with up front, and in a manner in which the issues don't arise at the end of a project. In the past, there were examples of transportation projects where environmental issues have come up and have been a problem. There is an entire chapter in the TMP written to alleviate that situation. This document was reviewed by the Natural Resources Board and Natural Resources staff. The document includes all the changes recommended in the Spring of 1996. The piece of the document that echoes this commitment is on page 16 of the draft document. It talks about mitigation techniques. Everyone has agreed the technique that needs to be looked at is avoidance. The mitigation techniques listed in the document are avoiding, minimizing, rectifying, reducing and compensation. E Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 • Page 9 In statements taken from page 17 of the document, it says, environmental issues need to be, and will be, considered throughout the transportation planning process. The earlier in the transportation planning process that environmental concerns are identified, the easier it will be to identify options for mitigating adverse impacts." Another big piece, that is a part of City Plan, is Adequate Public Facilities. This is to ensure that before development begins there are adequate public facilities plans for that area. Adequate public facilities may be in the form of a road or in the form of alternative modes such as bicycle, pedestrian - ways and transit. When we talk about transportation issues, all local transportation and mobility access plans must be included. The Master Street Plan was presented with some administrative changes. These proposed changes were forgotten in the last revision. Timberline Road was an example. On the original Master Street Plan, it shows Timberline Road stopping at Trilby Road. If you drive Timberline Road, you know you can drive all the way to County Road 32, so it needs to be extended on the proposed Master Street map. There were also some issues on County Road 9 that were missed. On this particular piece of the Master Transportation Plan, staff is just going back to clean up the items that were missed on the last version of the plan that should have been included. The changes are non- controversial because they were either existing or had been shown on the previous document and then left off. There are more changes that have a little bit more "spice" to them that need to be discussed in public meetings. Those items would be brought back to all the Boards and Commissions during the public process. Mr. Frazier gave as an example LaPorte Avenue. LaPorte Avenue was changed from a minor arterial to a four -lane in this current plan. Mr. Frazier said this would require some processing, but he added he was not proposing that this evening. In response to a question, Ms. Susanne Edminster responded that staff was talking about the recommendation for doing a grade separation crossing out on Trilby Road. Ms. Edminster said she felt this would be an issue people would want to discuss. Tim Johnson: Is the grade separation on the railroad or another street? Answer: Railroad Kelly Ohlson: Is there going to be a policy about approaching the railroad in more than one spot? Mr. Frazier: You don't necessarily need a policy to do that when we have identified a couple of places where we need to deal with the railroad. One of the bigger areas where we will be dealing with Burlington Northern (BNRR) is the Mason Street corridor, not only to secure the R-O-W along there, but also secure an access. Mr. Ohlson: The topic down there is the underpass on Trilby Road. • Mr. Frazier: This is one of those "spicy" items. Mr. Ohlson: What is the time table of when the "spicy" ones are going to Council? Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 Page 10 Mr. Frazier: After we go through the public process and go through all the Boards and Commissions, probably four -five months out, maybe longer. Mr. Ohlson: Those came about because people just got the chance to catch their breath after City Plan and all of that, to get a look at some more? Mr. Frazier: Or some of the developments that come in and things that have changed. Mr.OhIson: But I thought we were trying to shape our community rather than having development shape our community. Mr. Frazier: I think that is the correct assessment and the direction we are going. On all parts of the Master Street Plan, anything that has any controversy to it, we take it back on a regular basis to have it reviewed. It doesn't mean they are all going to be approved, that is for sure. With the Natural Resources Board, there will be some environment issues. There always are. Going back to the document that we have on environmental relationships, we take the mitigation techniques and apply them to those roadways. In particular with the northeast area, there are several changes that are planned up there that may have an impact on the environmental areas. You will want to see those and see the impacts on those very closely. Mr. Ohlson: Why wouldn't you just wait on these moderate changes and roll them over into bigger ones for Council so that people don't see the Master Street Plan votes by Council in less than a year time period? Mr. Frazier: Good question, and we have asked ourselves the same question. The reason we think we need to do the administratives is that a lot of those changes on this map already exist. When we are dealing with and utilizing this as a legal document, in dealing with the developers, we don't want to misrepresent what the correct state of the events or the entire state of events will be. One revision we don't feel is a controversial issue because we have had two large public meetings, is County Road 11, extending down to Conifer and Vine. When we did all the presentations, we showed that roadway as being extended. It was forgotten. So people from those surrounding neighborhoods came and said, "Keep people out of our neighborhoods, keep them on the main arterials." Mr. Ohlson: What is the thirty second answer to this: when 15 years have been involved in the "train issues" and taking hits when I served on City Council, people always got upset about the trains. Why would the grade separation we have here be the southern -most end? Mr. Frazier: It is not. Mr. Ohlson: Oh, I thought you pointed clear down. Mr. Frazier: No, this is the one that we will bring to you as a controversial issue. It needs more public input. Mr. Ohlson: But what is the thirty second answer of why we want one there? Mr. Frazie-? Why? In particular development of homes close to that area. When you look at the Structure Plan, it shows that traffic is going to be such that an overpass will be better than at grade. Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 • Page 11 Mr. Ohlson: That is approximately $1-2 million dollars? Mr. Frazier: I would say, yes. Mr. Ohlson: That will be "spicy" (controversial). Ed Secor: I am curious to follow up on Mr. Ohlson's first question, is that we just spent a year or more on the City Plan, going through Land Use and Transportation, that coming up with Master Street Plan, why are we trying to change it six months later? Mr. Frazier: It was adopted in August of 1996, so it will be one year. The Master Street Plans in the past have been amended and changed at one to two or three year intervals. Tim Johnson: Overland Trail is shown connected there. Mr. Frazier: That is because this is the August revision and not the April. This was the quickest map we had access to for this evening's presentation. Mr. Hopkins: The Master Street Plan has been in place in the 25 years I have lived here and they get in an uproar every year about changes and Council caves in and lets them change it and it goes against the program. Mr. Frazier: Just a couple of other pieces, not only do we have local plans. but some very important things are happening in the region. We no longer can stop at our City limits. We are an integral part of the North Front Range Transportation and Air Quality Planning Council, which includes part of Weld County, Larimer County, Berthoud, Loveland, Windsor, Fort Collins, Greeley, and Garden City. These are all • part of the North Front Range and we have regional plans in all of these areas. You will be seeing updates brought back to your Board. This Regional Transportation Master Plan, approved in 1994, will be updated from 2015 to 2020. This will be coming back to you in the next four to five months. Transit was just completed, Bicycle Plan is completed, and Land Management is taken care of. These components will all be reconsidered during this update of this 2020 plan. Randy Hensley, Budget and Policy Analyst for Transportation Services, discussed the financial part of the Master Transportation Plan. Mr. Hensley reiterated his presentation from the June Transportation Board Meeting. Those figures are included in the previous minutes. New to that presentation was the following: Operations ♦ Two-year cycle ♦ Base for 1998 - 1999 $39.3 million ♦ Unfunded $2.2 million Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 Page 12 Potential funding sources ♦ CTN proposal (HUTF funds) ♦ Transit funding source ♦ General Fund Maintenance Potential funding sources ♦ CTN proposal (HUTF fund) ♦ General Fund ♦ Transportation Maintenance Fee Maintenance ♦ Funded for 1998 $3.183 million ♦ Unfunded $3.2 - $3.6 million Mr. Hensley told the Boards that these are some of the issues that will be facing them in the next two to four years and how they tie in with the Transportation Master Plan. Under Capital, Street Oversizing is an issue that is currently before the Council. Over the next eight years, street oversizing needs are about $18 million. This is not all funded. There is a capital expansion fee proposal on the table which would fund this program 100%. If this expansion fee does not go through, this program will only be partially funded which would mean the unfunded figure above would actually be larger. Under Operations, Mr. Hensley reminded the Boards that the City would be going, for the first time, to a two-year budget cycle. The base budget submitted for Transportation Services was about $39.3 million. This represents about $19.4 million dollars in 1998 and $19.6 million in 1999. There is a large chunk of unfunded needs. These unfunded needs were submitted to the City Manager in a request for additional funds on May 20. The Transportation Board had seen the list of needs. The • Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 . Page 13 list is available to anyone else that is interested. Paul Valentine: The figure for 1998 and beyond, was this source just from Building Community Choices? Mr. Hensley: Yes, that is correct. Mr. Valentine: There is other Maintenance monies available? Mr. Hensley: There are actually maintenance funds which are part of that operation figure above. Originally, operations, maintenance, and general fund stood alone, but now illustrations show they overlap. Mr. Ohlson: Where does environmental mitigation enter in? Mr. Hensley: It would certainly start out as an operational cost, then depending upon how we were mitigating environmental issues, it may require some capital funding. It could involve all three funding areas. Tim Johnson: Where does the gas tax come into this? Mr. Hensley: It is used in our operating budget, primarily, but is not reflected in these figures at all. Tim Johnson: I was under the impression that it covered about 1/3 of our maintenance costs. Ron Phillips: Some of those things Randy Hensley is calling Operations is why there is overlap in Operations and Maintenance. The money is still there. • Mr. Hensley: I guess, more technically, you could call the Operations budget, an "Operations and Maintenance budget" because it does include those funds. Mr. Ohlson: There is a long history in this community of first class bias in the streets not being built to decent standards and I know that there have been two updates in the 15 years that I have been following it. What does the City have planned? Some of us that have helped the City get lots and lots of money over the years are getting a little tired of the fact that the streets aren't built right to begin with. Does the City have any plans for increasing the specs on the streets? Ron Phillips: The standards were upgraded a year and a half ago. We are presently looking at warranties and extended warranties. There are discussions going on about trash trucks and their impacts on the streets system. The standards have been upgraded, warranties are being examined for possible changes in that policy. Mr. Ohlson: I have learned that the standards were updated, but I have noticed that there are more politics than signs. I was wondering if the technical people and engineers are comfortable that their standards are where they need to be? Ron Phillips: The standards were recommended by the Engineering Department and yes, I think they are very comfortable with them. Politically, they were adopted by Council. Mr. Ohlson: Yes, which raises the question to me that they might be minimal. Mr. Phillips: Well, I don't think they are minimal. • Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 Page 14 To summarize, Mr. Hensley said this refers primarily to the Pavement Management Program. He then referred to his slides for ideas to cover the unfunded needs, as shown above. Craig McGee: It still seems to be an awfully big chunk of money, this unfunded portion. Mr. Hensley: We have no unrealistic expectations that we will get funding for all of this. In fact, we feel this community has voiced its priorities through Building Community Choices and we have a list of projects that will be funded through that and a list of unfunded projects. We want to make sure, that by presenting that big unfunded chunk, that the community doesn't lose sight of the fact that there are projects there that need funding and some day, we will need to address them. Ed Secor: Does the unfunded portion of the Maintenance and Operations budget reflect that total $200 million capital expenditure? In other words, if we were to magically come up with this $160 million to do a bunch more capital projects, is the Operation and Maintenance of those projects included in this? Mr. Hensley: No, it is not, and if we magically got that money, we would have to go back and re -figure our maintenance and operations. Mr. Secor: They would be considerably higher? Mr. Hensley: Yes, they would, no question about it. That is a good observation. Tim Johnson: Is there a plan among the funding team put together by the City Manager, to look at that $160 million and to really ask what part of that is really due to growth or these effects talked about before, the cumulative effects, these downstream effects where you have widen intersections. Is there a plan to look at that and to really address that and to pin it down to certain areas? Mr. Hensley: Actually, the forum where the impacts of growth are taking place is the Street Oversizing Program, which is happening internally within transportation. We also specifically have the Capital Program on the effects of growth on our agenda, although it is something to talk about from time to time, and sometime, we will probably be addressing. In the short term, though, is the Transportation Maintenance Fee and the Transit issue. Ron Phillips: The Street Oversizing Capital Expansion Fee as proposed, does have cost factors and revenue for improving intersections in the older part of the City. It does not have funding for widening streets. It does have factors in there for intersection improvements, so some of that cumulative factor is of increased number of trips. It i:i factored in there for Street Oversizing. Tim Johnson: I think this is helpful, but I also think that we need to really keep sight that we have this huge capital number in front of us and it didn't generate itself with a static population. I think that is clear cut to everyone. It wouldn't have generated itself with a static population, so that I suspect that if we put some efforts into this, we could find a good, much larger portion in that we are now assigning to Street Oversizing, multiplied many fold, to cover these Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 • Page 15 effects of growth, these downstream effects. I think that we are shorting ourselves as a community. I mentioned at the last meeting that I supported this approach to Street Oversizing because it is better than what we are doing, for sure, but we want to let, in the long run in terms of our credibility as a Board and as a Staff , we have to let the Council know that we are or are not dealing with some aspects of growth and just which ones are we dealing with, and which ones are we not dealing with. Ron Phillips: Philosophically, we are in total agreement. The battle is a legal battle and different entities look at this in different ways, but what we are able to convince the City Attorney of is maintaining NEXUS. Other communities may take more liberal approaches, including more projects. It is not who is right or wrong, it is what degree of risk is the City willing to take in pushing Tim Johnson: the amendments. So really, as a Board, we need to discuss where we are with regard to that policy of NEXUS, where other communities are, and ask, should we take another step or two and maybe we could direct that the Council direct the City Attorney to say that we need to take another step. Other communities have done it, we need to do it. Ed Secor: I don't know if this presentation you are giving is what Chapter Four is going • to look like. We haven't seen that, I don't know if it is out, but I think it needs to be pretty clear that these numbers do not reflect the full capital budget. Mr. Hensley: I will make a note of that and will make sure everyone gets that information. Dan Gould: Will there be anything about the big unfunded part, will there be something that this group should know, different categories of that and proportions and what the effects are? Mr. Hensley: Yes, we have that information. We have given it to the Transportation Board before, and I will make sure to get you a copy. After Mr. Frazier summarized to the Boards, Mr. Ohlson complimented Mr. Frazier for the presentation and for the section on environmental issues. He said j i st as Natural Resources Board needs to look at transportation issues, the Transportation Board needs to look at environmental issues. Ed Secor: One thing that came to mind is when will these new directives start showing up on the ground, put into practice? Mr. Frazier: There are quite a few developments that are already incorporating some of these concepts of the City Plan. Mr. Secor: When will it be required? Mr. Frazier: It is now required. • Mr. Secor: Everything that is now applied for? Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 Page 16 Mr. Frazier: Yes, new applications. Mr. Secor: It is a little bit of the chicken or the egg in achieving densities to support Transit. Mr. Frazier: We are go! :g to Council August 19, so if you think of things later on, please give us a call, let us know, we will be more than happy to work on it. The next item is not on the agenda, but staff felt this was an excellent opportunity, with two boards present, to make this presentation. The other agenda items speakers graciously postponed their presentations for another time. Also, I have included in your minutes, a map of the proposed Timberline extension, furnished by Kathleen Tracy in the Graphics Department for your review while going over this portion of the minutes. 4. Timberline Road - Mark Sears (substituted for Parking/Civic Center) Mr. Sears told the boards that the design, etc., is coming together and the start of construction is fast approaching. Mr. Sears introduced some of the members of the team that has been instrumental in bringing this project together: Keith Meyer, project engineer; Link Mueller, Stormwater, project manager for the dry creek portion; Greg Koch, Link's project engineer, with Lidstone & Anderson, River Analysis; Rob Wilkinson, Natural Resources; Jamie Harvey and Doug McMurren with Kiewit Western Co, bridge superintendent and project superintendent. Mr. Sears told the boards that the City has selected Kiewit Western to be the contractor for the project. Mr. Sears said his plan this evening was to update the boards on the status of the projects and go over some items that have changed, either greatly or slightly since their previous review in February. He said the design is probably about 90% complete at this point. The initial phase will be assignment on the Poudre, just north of Lincoln. The Poudre River Bridge will be started as soon as the water drops to its lowest point in August. Also, there will possibly be a detour on the north side of Mulberry, a runway extension. He said that the Timberline Road is closed to the south. They need to extend north, into the runway, about 400' so Timberline can be built as close to the runway as needed. Project Scope: Starting at the north end at International Blvd, where Timberline will intersect out to Summittview Road, they will be cul-de-sacing the existing Summitview Road, just south of Timberline. At that point, the roadway will be three lanes. A right turn lane will be constructed for the trailer park located there, which they will be paying for. The road proceeds south across a very large wetland. A new Donella Court will be built on the south side of the fire station. A fire signal will be installed Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 . Page 17 there at the expense of PFA. The road continues south, crosses another smaller wetland. A slab bridge will be added that will have head room to accommodate bicyclists. Countryside Drive will need to be reconstructed. Bill Miller: In the purchase of an access road, what will this road be access to: Sears: Frontage roads will be cul-de-sac on each side of Mulberry. The closest access to this frontage road will be out to Summitview and about'/2 mile down will be another access, both providing emergency access for fire trucks. Ed Secor: Frontage roads commonly serve as pretty good bike lanes. What will be the accommodation of bicycles getting across Timberline there? Sears: There will be a sidewalk from the edge of the frontage road up to a pedestrian ramp and cross walk, and then connects to the other side of the frontage road. The bicyclists will be able to come down, hit the crosswalk button, then cross. Secor: Is there no frontage road on the north side? Sears: Lincoln serves as the frontage road, but is separated by several hundred feet of land. Secor: There is one at Summitview. Does it stop there? Sears: Valentine: Yes, it does. Building Community Choices contains a substantial amount of money for a truck bypass. One of the routes being considered was running the trucks up Summitview • to Vine Drive, then west on Vine. You are cul-de-sacing Summitview there, so is that being eliminated as a possibility. Sears: No, what we would do is just bring the trucks down Timberline, and then up. Valentine: What will happen to the existing traffic signals at Summitview? Sears: Kelly Ohlsen: They will be left. I would like to see the trails planned dyed to match the surroundings. I have seen that done and it looks reaAy nice and it reasonable. Mark exhibited photos in color to demonstrate how the bridge will look in its finished state, a few years after restoration has had time to take effect. Hanna: How much preparatory work is being done for when the whole thing is potentially six lanes. Sears: It was essentially designed from a grading standpoint, which required all the right-of- ways for the ultimate. An extensive amount of grading won't be done on the western half. Link Mueller then gave a quick update on the Dry Creek channel. He said this was the first stage of a regional channel identified in the Dry Creek Master Plan to provide storm drainage protection from the Poudre River all the way up to College Avenue. 40 Mr. Mueller said their design flow was increased a little more than they initially anticipated and the Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 Page 18 culverts got a little larger, they started to look at putting a bike path under there. They were able to do that. He said the trail is only about 1/10th foot above the invert of the channel. He said there would be about a 3' concrete retaining wall to provide about a five year protection for the actual bike path. He said the bike path, itself, would come up and tie into Timberline. Craig Foreman isn't sure, at this point, where it will continue to from there. Kelly Ohlsen: In watching City Council via television, I did not notice any mention of Natural Resources. Have they been involved? Sears: That is being looked at now. So far, there has been no impact on Natural Resources. If that becomes a possibility, they will be involved. Atteberry: If you will recall, Kelly, when going through the preliminary design, the team was made up of about 20 different individuals. That design team has continued through this process, which includes Natural Resources, Engineering, and many others. Valentine: Mark, are you still going to put bike lanes on the street across Lincoln and East Mulberry? Sears: Yes, this trail will be for southbound cyclists. Northbound cyclists will have a much more difficult time. Sara F: Do you have facilities there for bus stops, so they can get over? Sears: None planned at this time, there is not a bus route planned, not in the near future, on Timberline, but I am sure there will be in the future. Frazier: When the Center starts to develop, there will be a major bus line go in there. Mark Sears said that Link had touched on the wetlands mitigation. A small wetland will be impacted. Largely, the mitigation will be in the bottom of Dry Creek Channel. Eventually, we will be putting back 27% more wetland than is being disturbed. Mark Sears said the City still has to bring traffic down to one lane each direction, cross it over, then actually building a detour along the north side of Mulberry and then bringing it back, once we get past the bridge. Cost effectiveness of this is being looked at. If it is cost effective, the City will go forward with that plan. Craig McGee: What kind of time frame is that going to be? Sears: Anticipating early next spring, possibly March. Question: The length of time that will be tied up? Sears: About three months. Valentine: Any possibility of using Lincoln Avenue for a detour? Sears: This was a first idea, but it didn't look like it would be very convenient. Johnson: Could the frontage road be used for that? No real answer here. There was a lot of discussion regarding the levy that will be installed. Mark Sears had drawings to show the boards what would be submitted to FEMA. Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 • Page 19 Bill Miller: The topical levy changes from 3 %x' to 4'10". Sears: Riprap will replace the existing concrete. Miller: Has that decision already been made? Sears: No. Kiewit is working on some costs for us now. Sears: What we can do, if we end up with riprap, is bury it under 6 - 12 inches of topsoil and then vegetate over the top. Miller: If there were a significant event, located on the outside of a bend in the river, even the riprap could get washed out. Concrete would be more substantial. Mr. Sears said he thought bridge construction would be starting in late August/early September and hopefully completed some time in March. This is being done to take advantage of the low flows in the river. Staff is working with Kiewit Western on a couple of options on how to actually build the bridge. Staff is proposing a box girder bridge cast in place. The reason this particular type was chosen was because it had several advantages. The underneath side of bridge is leveled all the way across. Ascetically, it looks nice. The manner in which it is constructed should deflect a lot of noise from the bridge to beneath the bridge. Ed Secor: Originally, it was thought an 18-24' wall along the curb would be constructed. The photo shown looks like an open rail. • Sears: There is a wall between the travel lane and the pedestrian lane. Secor: Sears: Oh, I see. We have done an extensive study to determine what kind of lighting to use, not just on the bridge, but on Timberline Road. We have decided to go with the standard overhead light fixture shown in the photos. There will be a lot less light than is usually used, just enough to provide safety to bicyclists and automobiles. Jan Behunek: Will there be lighting all along the road, there? Sears: Yes, there will be that type of lighting the entire length of Timberline on the east Ohlsen: side, for now. How much additional monies do the two FEMA requirements add to the project? Sears: It was a trade-off in construction culverts in this location here. The money would have been spent one way or another. Ohlsen: I think you have all done a great job. Secor: Will creating a skinny linear wetland is going to function, or how the function of that wetland is going to compare to what we are losing as a bigger, more pond -type. Wilkinson: It will be a different character than the wetlands being disturbed. Link and I have talked and will be looking at ways to enhance the habitat in these wetlands. Perlmutter: Will the signals between Mulberry and Summitview be synchronized? Sears: I believe so. The traffic engineer and staff have done an extensive signal progression analysis to show the state that the signal could be place and progressed accordingly. • Sears: This bridge was also designed to eliminate noise. There are no joints, which tend to Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 Page 20 cause tire noise. Atteberry: I think it is important to mention to both boards that when we went through the process of selecting a designer and hopefully, an eventual contractor, their sensitivity to environmental issues and sensitivity to the kinds of local issues that we are facing was an important criteria in selection. I just think it is important to share that. With this, Mark Sears concluded his presentation. Paul Valentine said that he, for one, learned a lot about issues that hasn't really been thought about. F. DISCUSSION ITEMS 1. Board Member Reports Sara Frazier reported that she had attended two very interesting meetings the previous week. She wanted to invite the Board to the July breakfast of the Clean Cities Program, which will be talking about alternative fuel vehicles. She said it was July 2911 at the Holiday Inn from 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and was free of charge. The title is Fleet Managers Breakfast. Ms. Frazier reported that vehicles would be there for viewing, new, electric, and alternative fuel vehicles. This meeting will include representatives from Latimer County, Weld County, and Rocky Mountain. Ms. Frazier also passed out samples of biodiesel fuel and essential scented oil. The second meeting Sara Frazier attended was an Air Quality Advisors meeting. Discussed at the meeting was issues pertaining to both air quality and transportation. Ms. Frazier said they came up with three things that she found exciting: ► Joint meeting to coordinate with the Transportation Board regarding travel, growth and congestion. ► Also with the Transportation Board, discuss the need for it, perhaps make a recommendation to Council regarding establishment of a comprehensive, public accessible data base and a think tank. ► Discuss feasibility and then perhaps make a recommendation to Council regarding shared rail lines using the existing freight rails and cross -city passenger rail service. Paul Perlmutter felt the Board should talk about goals for this board. For instance, he mentioned that the Air Quality Board has a goal in respect tail pipe emissions. Mr. Perlmutter asked to think about, for instance VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled). He said we need better traffic flow, street sweeping. Mr. Perlmutter felt this Board needs goals in terms of transportation. Tim Johnson said at the past meeting, Street Oversizing had been discussed and sent a message to Council to support the program. Mr. Johnson said there was some talk about phasing, and putting it off for a while and wondered if this was something being pursued seriously. Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 • Page 21 Mr. Phillips responded by saying didn't know at this time. Staff has analyzed phasing and what it would cost and that information has been given to Council but there has been no further discussion at this point. The date this goes to Council is August 19. Mr. Johnson said since that was the day before the next meeting and there would be no time to comment, wondered if it would be valuable for staff to take an informal poll of the Board to get their sense of it. Mr. Phillips urged the Board members to come to the Council and express their feelings. Mr. Johnson reminded the Board that a letter was to have been sent to Marybeth Snyder and wondered if that had been done. Mr. Frazier said this would be contained within the Agenda Item Summary for 8-19-97 with the minutes. Mr. Frazier then said, yes, that letter had been sent. Mr. Frazier said that this letter could be sent to the members. Paul Valentine said that he rides the bus periodically and ran into someone he knows. The gentleman remarked that he was glad to see Mr. Valentine on the bus and said he never saw Council members or Transportation Board members on the bus. Mr. Valentine encouraged everyone to ride the bus, that people notice. • 2. Staff Reports - None 3. Summary/Next Agenda Retreat Update (9-13-97) Election of Officers Fossil Creek Planning Parking Plan/Civic Center Budget Tim Johnson asked about the proposal on the Wal-mart and the effects on transportation upstream and downstream of that center. He would like to see that on a future agenda. Mr. Phillips asked if this was an issue the Board as a whole would be interested in. Mr. Phillips said this could take a lot of time. Dan Gould wondered if this would be a chance to test drive some of the new concepts. Mr. Frazier 40 said this was developed under the old concepts. Transportation Board Meeting Minutes July 16, 1997 Page 22 4. Other Business Paul Valentine said he had heard very good comments about the Drake Road/College Avenue intersection. Dan Gould agreed. Ron Phillips added that a ribbon cutting ceremony was being planned. They are waiting for the art work to be complete. There being no further business, Tim Johnson moved the meeting be adjourned, Paul Perlmutter seconded the motion. Motion carried. The meeting adjourned at approximately 10:10 p.m. Micki White, Secretary PROPOSED TIMBERLINE EXTENSION CACHE LA POUDRE RESERVOIR INLET,,, • • DOWNTOWN AIPPAQV