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Minutes - 06/07/2004 Wrk Sessio COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES JUNE 7, 2004 TAPE READING Tape 1 - Side A Jli. DATE. COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, CITY OF WOODBURN, COUNTY OF MARION, STATE OF OREGON, JUNE 7, 2004 CONVENED. Mayor Figley convened the work session at 6:30 p.m. for the purpose of meeting with the Planning Commission for a presentation on the Draft Transportation System Plan. ROLL CALL. Mayor Councilor Councilor Councilor Councilor Councilor Councilor Figley Bjelland Cox Lonergan McCallum Nichols Sifuentez Present Present (approx. 7:00 pm) Present Present Present Present Present Planning Commission Members Present: David Vancil, Ellen Bandelow Staff Present: City Administrator Brown, City Attorney Shields, Community Development Director Mulder, Asst. City Attorney Won, Senior Planner Zwerdling, Associate Planner Richling, Public Works Director Tiwari, Senior C.E. Technician Scott, City Recorder Tennant Consultants: Steve Perone, CH2M Hill; Julia Kuhn, Kittleson & Associates Also present: Dan Frickey, ODOT Mayor Figley stated that this work session has been called to informally ask questions, raise concerns, and talk about issues relating the to draft Transportation System Plan. In an effort to maximize input without being in a public hearing setting, she stated that members of the audience would be allowed to ask questions and comment on the draft document provisions. 3.0 Community Development Director Mulder stated that the purpose of the meeting was to introduce to the Council and Planning Commission the draft Transportation System Plan and he introduced the consultants in attendance who will be making the presentation and answering questions regarding the draft document. Director Mulder stated that the document is an update of the City's current Transportation System Plan (TSP) which was adopted in 1996. Updating this document is one of the City's Periodic Review Tasks and it is developed in conjunction with the land use plan for the City. The proposed land use plan included 3 alternatives that were modeled in the Page 1 - Council Work Session Minutes, June 7, 2004 T , COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES JUNE 7, 2004 TAPE READING TSP to determine whether the transportation system would function over the next 20 years based on the land use alternatives. A prior Council! Planning Commission work session provided staff with some direction on the type ofland uses to plan for and potential expansion of the urban growth boundary. The draft TSP provides a transportation system that will function within an acceptable manner over the 20-year planning period based on those land use plans. 11.3 Steve Perone, CH2M Hill, stated that the plan will form the foundation for developing the City's actual capital improvement program. Within his presentation, he provided an overview of the TSP which is an element of the City's Comprehensive Plan and it covers all types of transportation modal plans such as street system, pedestrians, bicyclists, rail, and transit user. The study area is generally encompassed by the current urban growth boundary however this document also looks at the proposed expansion areas of the urban growth boundary so that it will be consistent with the end result of the City's land use plan assumptions. He briefly reviewed the content of each chapter within the document and stated that Section 7 (modal plans) and Section 8 (funding issues) provide information on the preferred transportation system over the next 20 years. The 1-5 interchange and associated improvements along Highway 214 are a large part of the transportation system plan and projected costs for the interchange improvement is $50 million. The overall package of preferred improvement costs outlined in the draft document is approximately $115 million. An arterial roadway along the south city limits will create an urban fringe around the proposed expanded urban growth boundary and provide collector connections to service local street infrastructure in those areas of development. As the boundary expands to include Butteville Road and Crosby Road, there will be a need to upgrade the standards or modernizing those facilities to urban standards. He reviewed the status of this process and stated that there have been open houses to solicit public comments in addition to comments received from City staff and associated agencies. Comments from this work session will be incorporated into the development of a final document and there will need to be some final synchronization of this plan with the rest of the land use planning. Before final adoption, additional public hearings will be held on a final draft document and the Council will ultimately adopt a new TSP. Director Mulder stated that there are multiple tasks being done by staff and it is staff s intention to try and bring all of these tasks forward at the same time. The land use plan is getting close but it is currently being held up by population projections from Marion County. To date, all of the planning is based on the preliminary population allocation of 35,000 as agreed to by LCDC and Marion County. Once the population projection is finalized, staff will move forward with an entire package for public hearing. In the meantime, the public involvement process is taking place which includes Planning Page 2 - Council Work Session Minutes, June 7, 2004 I COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES JUNE 7, 2004 TAPE READING Commission hearings and review since the Commission is designated as the Advisory Committee for periodic review. The purpose of this work session is to determine if staff is moving in the right direction so that areas of concern can be addressed early in this process. Side B Director Mulder stated that this draft plan is not significantly different from the current plan but it does change some alignments due to the urban growth boundary expansion. Discussion was held regarding designation of a minor arterial (Evergreen Rd) through a residential area to the south by-pass rather than re-routing the traffic around a potential industrial area which is in close proximity to the Frontage Road area. Dan Frickey, ODOT, stated that there is a need to get the first traffic signal as far away from 1-5 as possible in order to reduce traffic congestion and Evergreen Road is the minimum distance for placement of a traffic signal. Administrator Brown stated that the draft TSP is a very technical document and he felt that it would be helpful to the staff if the Council and Planning Commission could provide staff with general directions on policy that the consultants could then go back and apply towards the rules and regulations to determine if those policies could be included in the TSP. Councilor Cox stated that the report indicates that all but one of intersections in the City are operating within appropriate levels and he questioned this finding when some intersections are experiencing a high level of traffic congestion. Mr. Perone stated that one of the policies set in developing the draft document was to consider what level of service at intersection performance that the City is willing to tolerate. Those thresholds can be changed and associated impacts will trickle through the draft document as a result of those types of policy decisions. Councilor Bjelland stated that the City is operating with limited City resources for infrastructure improvements and funding assistance from outside sources is also limited since other jurisdictions are also competing for available dollars. He also felt that the standards from the technical side may not be acceptable from a public standpoint since the public is the one using the transportation system. The standards may need to be redefined but it will not change the current traffic situation unless the infrastructure is improved. Director Mulder stated that developers are required to construct streets as development occurs rather than the City paying for the improvements which will serve the City for many years. Tape 2 Discussion was also held regarding the draft document showing that Fifth Street would be connected to Highway 214. Public Works Director Tiwari stated that the right-of-way is available but the current plan does not show Fifth Street as a connection. It was noted Page 3 - Council Work Session Minutes, June 7, 2004 ~ -. COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES JUNE 7, 2004 TAPE READING that this will be a controversial issue if the City elects to proceed with the connection. 6.5 Mayor Figley stated that she did not see any plan for improving Ogle Street. Director Mulder stated that Ogle Street is considered as a local street and the TSP only addresses streets that are of a higher level than local streets. The Mayor expressed concern regarding potential widening of minor arterial streets within an existing residential area to current city standards and questioned if other alternatives are available. Councilor Bjelland questioned if a two-tier structure could be incorporated into the plan so that new streets would have one street design standard whereas for existing streets there would be a lesser standard acknowledging the fact that you do not have the right-of- way. Director Mulder stated that he had considered the different standards but it may not be feasible to set those standards. He stated that the draft TSP projects a certain volume of traffic that would be carried by a specific street and to carry that amount of traffic it requires certain improvements. A minor arterial street, such as Settlemier Avenue, would be two lanes of traffic with a center turn lane. Based on the modeling, the draft plan outlines the type of system that is needed to be able to accommodate and maintain an acceptable level of service whether the street is an existing street or yet to be constructed. Councilor Bjelland questioned the minimum width of right-of-way to accomplish the two travel lanes and turn lane and still provide the flow of traffic on that roadway rather than requiring 74 foot of right-of-way on all minor arterials. He reiterated that he felt that the plan would set a standard for the City but it would also designate certain areas in which there would be an allowable amendment to what is normally a standard for an arterial. Any new area developed would need to follow the standards adopted within the plan. Councilor Cox stated that the same philosophy would also apply to sidewalks since there are existing areas within the City that currently do not have sidewalks or might have sidewalks on one side of the street. There is a need for the plan to distinguish between areas that were built 40 or 50 years ago without the sidewalks compared to newly developed areas and future development. Brief discussion was also held on the possibility of installing traffic lights on certain minor arterials for the purpose of breaking up the traffic flow along the main street to allow traffic on side streets to gain access or cross the arterial. 20.5 Director Mulder stated that he would like to look more closely at the collector street standards but felt that Settlemier A venue may need some improvement upgrades over the next 20 years, however, those upgrades might not be to the same standard as a newly developed minor arterial. Administrator Brown stated that his reading of the draft document was that new developments would be required to construct the full city standard approved for sidewalks on both sides of the streets whereas the older already developed areas of the City might have a type of program that provides for a one-side only sidewalk where it is Page 4 - Council Work Session Minutes, June 7, 2004 .. COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES JUNE 7, 2004 TAPE READING intended that the sidewalk would connect to a greenway development for creation of pedestrian / bicycle corridors. He would like to see some flexibility in that area so that the Council can determine, with the neighborhoods, the location of these one-side only sidewalks and when the improvement is accomplished. Side B Keith Woolen, 950 Cascade Dr., stated that the draft plan does include some of the concepts that he has been advocating for over the last several years. 3.2 Director Mulder stated that the next step in this process is to review the comments from this work session and revise the draft document to address the concerns expressed by the Council and Planning Commission. It was the consensus of the group to hold another joint workshop before the plan is submitted to the Planning Commission for a public hearing. Councilor Bjelland suggested that information be provided on streets under consideration within this plan that would include existing right-of-way and the incrementals needed to bring them up to city standards so that the Council and Commission can see how difficult it might be to meet the proposed standards. 15.3 The work session concluded at 8: 13 p.m.. .--r-- ATTEST fY!~ ~- Mary Tenn t, Recorder City of Woodburn, Oregon Page 5 - Council Work Session Minutes, June 7, 2004 1