Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 11/15/2000Services :�. It, 41 City of Fort Collins ran orta ion DRAFT MINUTES November 15, 2000 oar Our Mission Statement: The goal of the Transportation Board is to promote the implementation of a balanced transportation system that provides choice, mobility, access, congestion mitigation and safetyfor all people while achieving: 1) A reduction in the rate of VMT growth to equal the rate of population growth; and 2) A modal shift of 14% by 2015. OFFICERS: CHAIR Tim Johnson - 416-0821 VICE CHAIR Chris Ricord - 472-8769 COUNCIL LIAISON: Kurt Kastein STAFF SUPPORT: LIAISON Randy Hensley — 416-2058 ADMIN SUPPORT Cynthia Scott — 224-60S8 210 E. Olive • P.O. Box 580 • Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 • (970) 221-6608 • FAX (970) 221-6239 TRANSPORTATION BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES November IS, 2000 5:45 p.m. City of Fort Collins — City Hall West — CIC Room 300 LaPorte Avenue BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Bruce Henderson Tim Johnson Tom Kramer Ray Moe Chris Ricord Brent Thordarson Heather Trantham Mary Warring Steve Yeldell CITY STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: John Daggett Gary Diede Matt Baker Randy Hensley Cam McNair Cynthia Scott Tom Frazier GayLene Rossiter Mark Jackson Mike Herzig Chair Johnson called the meeting to order at 5: 50 p.m. ABSENT: Dan Gould Brad Miller GUESTS IN ATTENDANCE: Rusty McDaniel — Larimer County Greg Mahonen — City of Loveland Joe Rowan — Chamber of Commerce Transportation Board Minutes November 15, 2000 PUBLIC COMMENT None Page 2 APPROVAL OF MINUTES There was a motion to approve the November 15, 2000 regular meeting minutes of the Transportation Board as presented. However, Chair Johnson noted that the minutes should record the number of votes for/against the motion on page 4 regarding the Street Oversizing Fee recommendations. Scott will add "(6-2)"after the last sentence in the bolded paragraph. There was a second and the motion carried unanimously with the above amendment COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT None. SPECIAL NOTE: Before getting to the agenda as scheduled, Hensley announced that he has accepted a new position in Transportation Services as the new Transportation Planning & Parking Services Manager. He will soon begin transitioning into this position and looks forward to working with the Board in a new capacity. In light of a heavy agenda, Hensley suggested that he report on his agenda item, 6.b. TRANSPORTATION FUNDING UPDATE, as it will be very brief. Hensley stated that at this point there is nothing new to report. He distributed the complete list of Capital projects that were submitted to the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the 2025 Regional Transportation Plan. He said that staff will eventually want to discuss this topic with the Board, but at this point, this is staff information only. This will also be presented for public comment in the future. Chair Johnson suggested that if the table of contents sheet were to be revised, he would change the way the numbers are presented by adding the appropriate zeros. Chair Johnson asked the Board and the Transportation Board Finance Sub -Committee to consider sending a short list of the Capital projects that are especially important to the board to Council that details things such as the signal system, street maintenance funding shortfall, and perhaps funding the Downtown Transit Center to name a few. We should come up with this short list of priorities so that when there are surpluses from the Sales Tax, etc, Council will know what the Board's sense is in terms of where some of that money should be directed. He asked the Board to give feedback to the T-Board Finance Sub -committee as they move forward. He stressed the importance of being proactive. Page 3 Transportation Board Minutes* November 15, 2000 4. STREET OVERSIZING FEE PROGRAM (SOFP) - Baker Baker was present with information to answer Questions from the Board at their October meeting. He distributed a handout. He stated that he wanted to clarify a few things that were brought up. There was confusion on the graph showing inflation factors. He has since calculated the inflation from 1998 to 2000 for the actual cost of the SOFP, the Engineering construction cost index and the CPI inflation. He went over the numbers and process with the Board. Warring stated that she still has the same concerns as she did at the last meeting regarding VMT and the higher trip generators. A large majority of people/trips might be coming across town, affecting many more miles of infrastructure. Baker stated that the VMT is a nice calculation, but whenyou actually calculate VMT, andyou calculate for an area like the city of Fort Collins, it is really hard to calculate for a particular development. It would be hard to factor that in. Baker stated that his biggest concern is that VMT is more of an automobile capacity trip generation. With the SOFP, we are trying to build a transportation infrastructure that includes all modes of transportation and the needs base, the way we calculate the fee based on trip generation, gives the city a better chance at building a transportation system that will work versus using a VMT calculation which would give the city greater auto capacity. Chair Johnson stated that calculating trip generation is a step forward in the SOFP and that what Warring is saying is that VMT should be figured into the eouation. He explained that many realize that it (VMT calculation) is indeed a gap that should be addressed at some point. He said that adding VMT would be a policy decision that would have to come from Council to direct staff, but that doesn't mean that the Board can't play a part and suggest to Council that it is something that should looked at in the future. Baker cannot take off and do that on his own. It is a place where the Board can play a role in pointing out that this is one area that is being neglected and figure out how we can factor this in. Chair Johnson asked if Baker is aware of any other communities that use trip generation and perhaps do an additional factor for the distance traveled to make that kind of a trip and are they working out as far asyou can tell? Baker said that he is aware of a couple of communities that use a distance calculation in their impact fee calculation. However, those are cities that are .S — I M in size and already have a base infrastructure. What they look at are new areas opening that they hadn't anticipated. 5. a) STREET DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS — M. Herzig Herzig introduced Rusty McDaniel with Larimer County and Greg Mahonen with the City of Loveland. They have been working for threeyears on this project with Herzig. Transportation Board Minutes November 15, 2000 Page 4 A memo was sent out in the Board packets outlining the adoption process and letting the members know that staff is hoping for a recommendation to do so. The plan is to have a final document by the end of the month. He briefly explained the key items that Fort Collins proposed in the new standards (listed in memo). Chair Johnson requested that Board Member Trantham speak to the Board as she was a member of the 18-member Public Advisory Committee. Herzig added that Trantham put in a lot of time and energy into this as there were 10 meetings that were a half -day long and sometimes a full day. Trantham stated that in general, the City of Fort Collins, City of Loveland and Larimer County did a really good job of trying to keep some uniformity among the street standards and as different parts of the Urban Growth Area are annexed into the two cities, the benefits will be seen. There are some standards that are for Fort Collins only that the other two entities had their own reasons for not adopting. But, in general, and from an engineering standpoint, the standards are very good. She added that she would like to see the two cities and the county adopt these standards as soon as possible so they can start being used. There were some Questions relating to how this fits in with City Plan, landscaping, bike lane width, and the warranty process. Trantham and staff responded to. There being no more Questions, Chair Johnson requested a motion. Trantham made a motion recommending adoption of the new Lorimer County Urban Area Street Standards. There was a second by Moe. Chair Johnson called the vote. The motion passed unanimously. Herzig thanked the Board for their time, interest, and recommendation. b) TRANSFORT STRATEGIC PLAN — Daggett Daggett stated that his purpose here tonight is to present the Draft Service Plan for the Transfort Strategic Plan. The service plan is a specific, yet conceptual description of proposed service changes to the Transfort fixed -route bus system. These proposed changes can be seen in the scenarios described beginning on page 14 of the Draft. Daggett further stated that the purpose of the document is to provide the board with information on the direction City Council has set for this strategic planning effort as well as the most current thinking in bus system design to enable Transfort to achieve a higher level of productivity. He asked that members keep in mind that the Draft Service Plan is a work in progress. Daggett then gave a very detailed presentation in PowerPoint that lasted approximately 45 minutes. Transportation Board Minutes. November 15, 2000 I Page 5 Upon conclusion of the presentation, Daggett asked for Board comments/Questions. With regard to one of the scenarios, Warring stated that it would be disappointing to take away service on Harmony Road with so many employment/activity centers there. Henderson agreed with Warring. Yeldell commented that in looking at the scenarios, the whole Harmony corridor is largely ignored until 2010 and even then, it is a 30-minute scenario. He asked what studies have been done with regard to Mason Street and its future use by pedestrians. Then what happens with the time freQuency? It seemsyou would have to go from 30 minutes to 7 minutes. Daggett agreed that the Mason Street Corridor will be pedestrian friendly and that it will be something staff will have to work toward. He added that the Mason Street Corridor factor could be included in further tests. Thordarson reQuested a density map of the city. Daggett said one has in fact been done. There was a discussion regarding a couple of the later scenarios that show service to Fort Collins High School cut off. It was reQuested that staff consider peak service, because when the school day is out, there is a lot of ridership stacked up. Daggett thanked the Board for their time and said that he will visit the Board again to present updates. c) 2001 TRANSPORTATION BOARD WORK PLAN —All Chair Johnson stated that Scott did an excellent job in capturing all the suggestions made at the retreat. Ricord agreed and said that all the comments were verbatim with the notes he made. Thordarson reQuested that on the first page, item II B. the word "paying" be replaced by "paid." There was a motion and a second to approve the 2001 Transportation Board Work Plan with Thordarson's minor revision. Chair Johnson called the vote. The motion passed by a unanimous vote. Scott will submit the Work Plan to the City Clerk's office as required by November 30. 6. a) SH 14 TRUCK ROUTE RELOCATION UPDATE —All Jackson said he would give a brief overview, saying that not a lot has happened since he was here last. Jackson reminded the Board what the ballot initiative said specifically. He said that study area is approximately 2 miles north of the Fort Collins Urban Growth Boundary (County Road 58) to 1-80. The Study approach was explained to the Board. Transportation Board Minutes November 15, 2000 Page 6 Staff is being very upfront, letting people know that this is a fair and open process and there are no preconceived outcomes. Staff is trying to determine and address regional truck mobility issues. There will be a comprehensive stakeholder involvement process and staff has set a 12-14 month schedule. He reported on when the public open houses are and when the stakeholders committee will meet. Information will be made available on a project specific website, the Colomoban and North Forty News and general public outreach meetings to update people. Chair Johnson asked if there were any volunteers to be liaisons between the stakeholders group/public meetings and the Board. It was agreed that Trantham and Ricord will serve as liaisons and that Kramer will be an alternate. Chair Johnson stated that in regard to the northern route, the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District is no longer looking at the canyon to build dams. They are now looking outside the canyon, which means between Ted's Place and Owl Canyon. That would be the encompassing reservoir for their biggest iteration. That has implications for this study. This group recently did a presentation for the Larimer County Environmental Board. Jackson asked for a contact name, Johnson said it is Eric Wilkerson. Chair Johnson asked if with regard to the study plan and to develop strategies to encourage truck traffic to use 1-25, are we looking at designating and signing an official truck route through Fort Collins using the present SH 14? Diede commented that the funds could not be spent on anything within the city. It must be outside the UCLA and 2 miles north of Douglas Road. Johnson added that it would be sensible to use truck check stations for safety, etc. Jackson said that the funds can be spent on looking at things as far as enforcement, weigh stations, etc. Kramer suggested putting a station on SH 14 just off the interstate. It would be a deterrent and would keep trucks on the Interstate. 7. a) BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Ricord: Roundabouts. Witnessed first hand that roundabouts do work while he was in Europe recently. 1 had the opportunity to drive and ride a bicycle through hundreds of them. The largest one was in Paris. I witnessed semis going through them, even through the smaller roundabouts and didn't see any problems. Another impressive transportation system was the Metro in Paris whereyou can catch a train every 2 minutes. Warring: Parking, Task Force is wrapped up. Final recommendation is a compromise. Transportation Board Minutes Page 7 November IS. 2000 Henderson: Pedestrian Safety. I was in Atlanta last month where there was a big campaign on pedestrian safety. By their own admission, Atlanta is the second most risky city in the United States to walk. I will distribute two handouts that I picked up related to their campaign. More handouts on interesting information from some Philadelphia web pages were shared. Thordarson: 1) Survey Results. Earlier, I distributed results of the transportation survey that was done for the HP and Agilent site in Loveland. It speaks of the regional nature of the transportation challenges we're facing given that less than half of the people that work there actually live in Loveland. 2) Telecommutin. Passed out some information that indicates it is currently falling out of favor. Found it interesting. b) STAFF REPORTS Diede: LED Bulbs. The traffic signal system will soon have a new look and will enjoy substantial savings. Beginning in February, all red and green bulbs in the traffic system will be replaced with energy saving LED bulbs. These bulbs are significantly lower in wattage and the City will save about $9,000 per month in electricity. The City is doing a lease/purchase for all these bulbs over a 5-year period. The bulbs should last anywhere from S to I I years and are guaranteed up to S years. Scott: Next Agenda (December 20) - S. College/Harmony Access Control Plan by Reavis - N. College Corridor Improvement Plan Update by Reavis - Transit Standards Update by Rossiter Other items that were requested: Updates on the Roundabout, the Mason Street Transportation Corridor, Funding and CMAQ. 8. OTHER BUSINESS There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 9 p.m. 4(JC� Cynthia L. Scott Executive Administrative Assistant