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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 08/18/1993Draft Minutes to be Approved by the Board at the September 15, 1993 Meeting. TRANSPORTATION BOARD MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 18, 1993 5:40 - 7:10 P.M. BOARD LIAISONS: Council Liaison -- Gina Janett Staff Liaison - Rick Ensdorff BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Mark Egeland, Colin Gerety, Elizabeth Hudetz, Dave Lemesany, and Paul Valentine. BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Sara Frazier, Sharone Mekelburg, Michael Poppenwimer, and James Reidhead. STAFF PRESENT: Eric Bracke, John Daggett, and Susan McWay. STAFF ABSENT: Rick Ensdorff. GUESTS PRESENT: Melanie Heins, Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce; Gina Janett, City Council. AGENDA: 1) Call to Order 2) Approval of Minutes 3) Regional Transportation Plan a) Overview of Current and Future Work - Eric Bracke b) Individual Board Member Reports on Focus Group Activities 4) Other Business DISCUSSION TOPIC: 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Gerety called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the July 21, 1993 Transportation Board meeting were unanimously approved and seconded. REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL - PARA-TRANSIT SERVICE John Daggett stated that Transfort is currently working on the 1994 RFP for para-transit services which will result in a serious paradigm shift from the way business is done today to what they are proposing as the City of Fort Collins. The Commission on Disability and Senior Advisory Boards have formally appointed members to serve on the RFP team to review the proposals when they come in and to make recommendations. He stated that the service will be split into two pieces: 1) Central Dispatch. This will provide a function of receiving calls from customers, scheduling rides, compiling data, doing certifications, etc.; and 2) Road Operators. This will be split into two pieces - one piece is accessible transportation requiring a lift, and the second piece is ambulatory transportation. He noted that they are trying to encourage diversification of service delivery. John stated that there will be one bid with two scopes of work - one for central dispatch and the other for the road operator piece. They can bid on all of it or pieces of it. He noted that the general philosophy they received from the Senior Board and the Commission on Disability is that the central dispatch function - and here is where the real paradigm shift takes place - will be challenged with the philosophy that it is the most appropriate ride for the rider is what they want to schedule. John noted that in terms of cost, Transfort is about $2.00 per trip, Saints is about $3.00, the ambulatory is about $5.00 or $6.00, and the accessible will probably be between $10.00 and $15.00. He stated that their schedule is to get the RFP on the 30th of August, have it back in by September 20, reviewed by the 27th, and in time for the 1994 budget. In response to a query, John stated that they intend to write a contract that states the City will provide what they are asking for regardless of whether the cost goes up or down - that the ADA will be met. Colin noted that Care -A -Van has several funding sources. John stated that they want a discrete contract with a discrete set of services for a discrete price. He noted that they just throw money into a pot - they cannot control the outcome. In response to a query, John stated that there is a chance that Care -A -Van will not win the proposal, and if that happens, it could get heated politically. He added that according to the T Board's and City Council's recommendations, they are neither to do Care - A -Van in nor to prop them up, but to provide high -quality service at the lowest possible price. -2- 0 Paul Valentine noted a potential situation with Care -A -Van - if one of the cab companies happens to get Central Dispatch and bids on the ambulatory portion with someone else doing the accessible, then the Central Dispatch person could direct more business toward the cab company. John responded that if Care -A -Van had Central Dispatch, and ambulatory and accessible, and they subcontracted the ambulatory to a taxi company, their philosophy is to put as many riders into the blue buses as possible - that is the most expensive way to go. That's why the policy statement is that they will go to Transfort first, Saint second, then the ambulatory service, and then the accessible service when it is needed. John added that they have tried to build some controls into the RFP, and eventually, it will leap over into contract to control that very issue. He stated that it was a Council requirement that the City bid on this also. He noted that they probably would put in a proposal for Central Dispatch and the accessible part and not the ambulatory. If say, Shamrock bids on the ambulatory piece of it, they will put that cost together with the City's cost for Central Dispatch and accessible services. In response to a query, John stated that it will be a one-year contract with two one-year renewals based on performance. He added that they will buy back five of the vehicles at current value that were purchased through an FTA grant with a Care -A -Van local match. To have a level playing field for bidders, if the City is providing those accessible vehicles, then it is who is the most economical in terms of providing the staff. The other thing that they will do in Central Dispatch is that they want it in the Transfort facility to have first-hand control over it. John stated that what they have struggled with is that Care -A -Van has not been willing to pump the program up. They think they can achieve a 50 percent increase in ridership through the same program by increasing staff time just a little bit in promoting the program. Eric asked about the philosophy a true level playing field - if the City purchased vehicles under an FTA Section 3 - aren't these vehicles already titled to the City of Fort Collins? John responded that they are, but in the lease agreement, 25 percent of the interest in the vehicles is owned by Care -A -Van. They are going to buy those back out. They used to contract with FTA dollars (which required a local match), and that condition has been eliminated altogether. This will be done with all local dollars. John requested a volunteer and noted that there will be three short meetings. One is tentatively scheduled for September 24 at 11:00 a.m. for proposals to be rated. On September 29 and 30, they plan to do the interviews. Dave Lemesany volunteered. Mark Egeland noted a concern that was brought up at the last T Board meeting that there had been an exodus of drivers from Care -A -Van to Transfort. Whoever gets the contract - one of the costs that they will try to hold down would be salaries. John responded that this issue troubles Care -A -Van, but the way they look at hiring drivers from Transfort's side - 30 to 35 for coaches now and not minibuses or minivans -3- - they say that out of this population of 100,000, they could train half the population to drive one of those large vehicles. When Transfort has openings, they do have Care -A -Van drivers that apply for them. Transfort has a better wage scale and benefit package associated with it, but in one sense there is more responsibility - having 70 people on board a bus in rush-hour traffic is different than picking up a senior citizen at their home. There is a reason for the difference. REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN Eric Bracke went over the material that had been sent to each board member on the NFRRTP process (North Front Range Regional Transportation Plan) and the eight groups involved. He stated that the Technical Advisory Committee's purpose is to review and do most of the technical work involved in the Regional Transportation Plan. It is also their responsibility to make a recommendation to the Council. He added that it is likely that there will be a citizen recommendation along with a technical recommendation or something in between. This group meets once a month and is composed of all the technical people from all the jurisdictions of Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Larimer and Weld Counties, Windsor, Evans, LaSalle, and Berthoud. He noted that the MPO voted last week to include Berthoud. The Combined Task Force group's purpose is to integrate the work of all the focus groups and to recommend a final plan to the TAC and to the MPO. Eric noted that the other groups are the Roadway/Transit, Regional Bikeway, Aviation, Environmental/Quality of Life, Loveland Transportation Plan, and Congestion Management/Fort Collins. Eric stated that the Roadway Transit Group is presently at a standstill. They are waiting for the computer model to be recalibrated to 1990. There have been a number of problems associated with this model dealing primarily with census data. An urban transportation planning package was expected last October; then it was supposed to arrive in the spring. It has not yet been received, and there are a minimum of eighty cities ahead of Fort Collins - cities that are non -attainment for ozone - that is the priority. Los Angeles and New York were completed this week. Eric added that they have been in the process of making the data up as they go. They have taken the census data by census tract and tried to convert that into traffic zones and recalibrated the model. The model should be recalibrated by Monday. In response to a query, Eric stated that they will do screen line counts, look at movement in between the cities - there are probably forty-five different screen lines that they are checked against. He stated that once they do get the census data, they will have to go back and do a "reality check." The transit portion of this project is that when the census bureau did the census in 1990, they did a journey -to -work survey. It asked people where they lived and worked and converted that information into traffic zones. What they are trying to find out if there were opportunities for shared ride alternatives within the region. Eric noted -4- that the number of people who live in Fort Collins and work in Denver, for example, is still an unknown. Mark Egeland asked about the citizen component to the plan - does it mean that there will be input from people who are not a part of the current focus groups? Eric responded that there would be additional input. Each . of the focus groups is primarily composed of citizens from all the different areas, and that is one component of the citizen participation aspect. He added that they also need to go through a more extensive citizen participation process - they don't want to work in a vacuum. Colin stated that he had been contacted by Peggy Catlin who stated that they are starting to float the idea of having the Transportation Board, the Air Quality Board, or some combination of them hold a public meeting to disseminate this information. Peggy indicated that they don't have a lot of time that they can spend to actually set up the material to run it. Eric added that when the contract was set up, it was determined that it was an inappropriate use of time to have the consultants run the open house. They are fairly expensive, and an open house is something that should be done at a local level. Eric added that the Congestion Management Plan will probably be fairly controversial. The Transportation Board and the Air Quality Task Force - once you have bought off on alternatives and are comfortable with it - you should be able to host that. Eric stated that at the next T Board meeting they could review the Regional Bikeway Plan. This group has gathered a lot of data and has come up with some goals and objectives. Their next meeting is scheduled for September 13. Each of the members has volunteered to go out and ride the region. They have a checklist of items for evaluation of preliminary alternatives. This information will then be put into a database and matrix to help develop the alternatives. Their schedule now is to have a vision plan by the end of September, to go through a process in October with more citizen participation, and come down with not only a vision plan but a list of projects and which ones should be funded first. Mark Egeland noted that there are still some items that have not yet been discussed in terms how this is meshed with City plans - there is still the issue of how much can you do with the regional plan when you cannot even get out to the regional areas - especially areas like Greeley. Eric noted that Greeley developed a comprehensive bike plan several years ago, but they haven't built anything. They don't want to look at regional issues until they take care of local. Eric noted that the MPO Council will meet on September 2, and that Mark Egeland has volunteered to present the objectives, policies, and criteria that will be used in the evaluation of the Regional Bikeway Group to them. He added that they have been allocated $306,000 in enhancement funds through the MPO, which equates to about $380,000 worth of projects. The Technical Advisory Committee recommended that this money be used for bicycle projects, but there is no agreement as to whether it should be used for local or regional projects. The decision was sent back to the -5- regional bikeway group for them to look at projects that could be funded under this funding category. The only constraints that were put on them was that the projects should be regional or local in nature, that they should promote bicycling in some form, and that they could be constructed in FY 1994. The money has to be allocated, and the plans have to be ready by July 1. Paul Valentine noted that the "Checklist for Evaluation of Preliminary Alternatives" is designed to give them some data on which to base that decision. Eric stated that the Aviation Group is almost finished. Their role was to look at the impacts of the opening of the Denver International Airport; to look at the opportunities and constraints of the Fort Collins/Loveland Airport and the Greeley/Weld County Airport. They determined that the Weld County Airport doesn't have much opportunity - that this airport is probably going to remain the type of airport they are (private, no tower, etc.). However, there are a number of opportunities for the Fort Collins/Loveland Airport. Eric noted that they also took a look at trying to figure out how many people from Northern Colorado currently use Stapleton Airport and what the impact will be of the Denver International Airport moving out further east. They have determined that there are approximately 225,000 people in Northern Colorado (from Longmont north) that actually use Stapleton at some time during the year. They arrived at this number by using some of the data from the aviation planning that has been going on and from surveys of ticket agents. Their next step is to determine what that impact is going to be in terms of vehicle miles travelled, time, air pollution, etc. Eric stated that they are working with the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) in doing some modelling work and trying to determine where the congestion will be. Eric went over the handout that described trip characteristics to Stapleton. He stated that there will be approximately 40,000 people that will use the air shuttle this year. By 1998, almost 99,000 people are projected to use this shuttle. By the year 2012, projections are that 210,000 people will use it. This will require a lot of work at the Fort Collins/Loveland Airport. Presently, there are 205 parking spaces at the airport. By 1998, they will need 530 to accommodate that. They also need to look at what type of road improvements will be necessary to get to the airport - right now you get there through the frontage road. HNTB is presently in the process of assessing exactly what those impacts will be. Colin asked if the lack of planning in roadway improvements on the way to the Denver Airport would push people onto the air shuttle. Eric acknowledged that the additional time and/or aggravation that people will have to tolerate to get to the new Denver International Airport - in the long term five years or so - will definitely force some people to that. He added that from a professional standpoint, it will probably not be much of an issue in the first couple of years. However, as the land use around the airport changes, it will become more congested. The airport itself will not be causing the problems - the secondary growth will be causing the problems. Colin brought up the issue of high-speed trains, and that in Europe, they need 1,000,000 passengers per year to break even. Eric noted that HNTB has stated that you would have to take approximately 15,000 people per day from Fort Collins to Denver, on a train, to break even. He stated this group has not dismissed rail service as an alternative but has recognized that it is probably a very long-term solution. Eric stated that the regional plan that is presently in place, adopted in May of 1990, shows I-25 being six-laned from State Highway 7 (Lafayette exit) to Fort Collins. A study was just done to see what it would take to six -lane it from SH 7 to 119 (Longmont). Within that estimate, they looked at rail right-of-way preservation, HOV lanes, etc., and it came to $165 million. This was something that CDOT (Colorado Department of Transportation) really wanted to do. Eric stated that the Environmental/Quality of Life Group has been trying to develop criteria to evaluate transportation plans from an environmental perspective. This criteria will then be used by the other focus groups. They are trying to evaluate, for example, a bike project against a roadway project against a transit project against a safety project. Colin noted that his impression of this group is that they have been easily sidetracked - the charter was to get criteria to use to apply to projects to figure out which ones to fund. There has been a tendency for this group to wander around and ask how they can get people out of their cars and use alternative modes of transportation. Elizabeth Hudetz stated that they did work on some prioritizing and did come up with a list. Colin noted that Melanie Heins had some concerns about the process and ensuring that voices in the community were heard in this process. Eric noted that there have been a lot of problems with the Loveland Transportation Plan in deciding what comes first. They have wanted to do a transportation plan for at least five years and have never gotten to it. First, they had to do their agenda for the 1990s; then, they wanted to do a comprehensive land use plan first. Finally, they asked the MPO to help them out to do a transportation plan because they were• growing too quickly. Halfway through the transportation plan, they said they needed to do their land use plan. Now they are in negotiations with HNTB to do their land use plan in conjunction with the transportation plan in going through the MPO. When that is finalized, it will become an element of the Regional Transportation Plan. Eric stated that the Congestion Management Plan Group has been working hard the past several months, and many of the items that are going to be covered under the Congestion Management Plan are part of the Fort Collins Area Transportation Plan. Colin noted that Jim Charlier of HNTB has done a good job of keeping this group on track and fairly focus. Jim has also distributed scientific papers to the members of the group showing what does and does not work in various areas. Colin stated that the Air -7- Quality Group had a set of materials of all their strategies from their meetings. Jim organized this information so that it is categorized by where the money is spent and the various tactics within each area. At the last meeting, they voted on where they felt the community should be placing its emphasis. They also looked at the notion of the political feasibility - how difficult it would be to do. There were lots of votes for a land -use planning emphasis. Gina Janett noted that land use and the various plans that the City of Fort Collins is working on now was discussed at the last work session - the transportation plan, the bikeway plan, and affordable housing. She stated that part of the focus was that there are two ways to do plans. One way is to do a big, comprehensive plan and figure it all out and then implement it. But it takes years to get it to fit all together. By that time, there have probably been changes, and it is not quite up to speed anymore. The other general approach is an incremental approach where you start out with say, a bikeway plan, a transportation plan, and then modify the land use plan. Gina stated that there was a strong feeling that they need to get neighborhoods involved in what goes on. They are currently having a battle with higher density multi -family housing. They have a "community goal" that they are going to have multi -family housing so that they can facilitate transportation. But then you can't put it in any neighborhood because they come unglued. They make a very valid point that if you put all these housing units - and a good example is the preserve project proposed behind "Pulse" at Shields and Drake - the neighborhood says that they will have a lot more traffic, and it is undesirable. The Council concurred but said that it is their plan to get enough density to support a bus stop and the bus system. It's got access to the bus routes and access to bikes. This is good planning. But, if they don't use what they have access to, then a real mess is created in terms of the traffic level. Gina noted that the community good is fostered if there is high -density in all neighborhoods, if there is affordable housing in all neighborhoods, if there is commercial near their homes, and if there is this "mixed -use" thing, so then they will have these, but they need to figure out where they want them. But it isn't always somewhere else - it will be in their neighborhoods. If they take that as a given, then it is just a question of where in the neighborhood it will be. Gina stated that the big -stress neighborhood is Prospect and Shields because the development is near the university. Colin noted that at the last Congestion Management meeting, there was discussion of the City of Seattle that just recently went through transportation planning. They produced a brochure showing their planning to scale development so that they will have regional centers, more local centers, and even smaller centers which are largely built along rail lines. He noted a book he is currently reading that is excellent for a discussion of cities, neighborhoods, and what makes a healthy place to raise kids called "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" by Jane Jacobs. In Gina Janett stated that as Council liaison, her role is not to participate in the T Board meetings. She also pointed out that if any Board Member has information or questions that they want the Council to respond to, or if they need some guidance or direction, or if they want to know what the Council is doing, she is the person to get in touch with. Gina added that the Council is really action oriented. Dave Lemesany asked about the preserve - when a project has density, is close to jobs, is close to shopping, parks, and can support mass transit, at what point does the Council say that this is everything that they want? When do they tell the neighborhood it's going to happen? Gina responded that the preserve is a real frustrating one, and it is perfect in most ways. It is very responsive to most of the City's planning goals. It has one glaring problem, and that is the bulk and height of it. It is on top of a hill, is three stories high with high roofs, and the neighborhood is down below. The neighborhood appealed on the height, the Council went along with the neighborhood that it was too tall, and it was sent back. Where it stands now is that the density was approved in the preliminary plan and use, so basically they have a project that gets that many units on that location. They have to somehow modify it. Gina added that it was a hard decision to make - it has xeriscape landscaping and is a really good project. Plus, they are going to build a bus stop. This is where the sensitivity to the neighborhood compatibility comes in - when they met with the neighborhood, they told them it was going to be two-story townhomes. But when they came to the preliminary, it was three-story apartments. The neighborhood was concerned about height because it would be on top of a hill. When they came to the final, they asked for a variance to go even higher. The developers were not listening - they figured they could do whatever they wanted. Gina noted that she took a bike tour from Edora Park to Spring Creek and over to Rolland Moore. She stated that almost all of the apartments in Fort Collins are two and one-half stories (built into the ground). These developers refuse to do that because they say they can't rent them. And these apartments are high -end - $900 for a one -bedroom apartment. Gina stated that part of what is going on is that all the high -end housing has to be on hills so everyone can see it. The architects stated that they need these high roofs with multiple gables to make the apartments look expensive. So, here is a 95 percent -approved project with a neighborhood sensitivity issue. Gina stated that she is hopeful that they will come back with some more sensitive rooflines. She added that out-of-town developers haven't figured out that they need to be responsive to neighborhoods, and that neighborhoods have power in Fort Collins. The other problem is the site at Shields and Prospect - Topango is the latest name - it's College Park just south on Shields on the east side. It's college housing where they rent it out by the bedroom. Elizabeth asked whether or not the city could focus on a vision plan. If there is input from the city on these town meetings, then they could give this to all new residents - something that indicated the city does care about the environment, open space, and how it looks - and this could be sent to out-of-state developers. Colin noted that the city has a booklet of ten or fifteen pages which includes excerpts from the transportation plan. Gina noted that there will be a land use and development public forum in September, and the date will be announced. This concept of a community vision brief that sums up what they are trying to do might not be a bad idea. Gina added that some of the newcomers are used to driving ten miles in an hour and a half, and now they can drive to Denver in an hour so they can have a job that's sixty miles away. This is only compounding our transportation and air quality problems. Gina stated that when people in a neighborhood hear the phrase "12 units per acre," they don't know what to visualize, and they think it is horrible. They don't have a clue as to how many houses per acre their own neighborhood has. Some video presentations should be done where they go out, find neighborhoods that have high density or different ranges of density, and get some videos. Then when these battles come up with neighborhoods, they can show them how nice other neighborhoods look with the same proposed density. Eric noted that the Planning Department has done a good job in informing neighborhoods of similar density projects. He stated that if we look at the Preserve - which is eighteen or twenty units per acre - in relative terms that is not a high density project. It may be for fort Collins, but it is not eighty or one hundred dwelling units. He stated that if they are going to talk about high -density development that will support alternative modes of transportation, then they may have to go "up" and not just "out.". Dave Lemesany stated that with federal-, state-, and possibly city -housing requirements, they have to provide a certain percentage for wheelchair, handicapped, and accessible apartments, which means that if you come in at ground level, you don't want to go downstairs or upstairs. 4. OTHER BUSINESS Eric noted that on September 15 through 17, the City of Boulder will be holding the 14th International Pedestrian Conference, and the Transportation Department would like to send one of the T Board members. The overall theme of this conference is transportation planning and land use connection. Colin stated that at next month's T Board meeting, they need to discuss what to do about public forums. He noted that Rick Ensdorff received a letter from the CSU Transportation people asking him if they could come talk to the Transportation Board members about what CSU is doing. Paul stated that he would like Rita Davis to come and talk to them about when Mountain and Remington will be restriped. Mark requested if there could be a quick round -table update of the various focus groups at the next -10- • • meeting. Paul asked if there was anyone who would like to ride some of the bicycle routes between cities - such as Fort Collins to Loveland - and complete the form. There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan A. Mc ay Recording Secretary -11-