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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLUTC MINS 01-05-2009G:\LUTC\LUTC Agendas and Summaries 2009\01-05-09 Minutes.doc City of Federal Way City Council Land Use/Transportation Committee January 5, 2009 City Hall 5:30 PM City Council Chambers MEETING MINUTES In attendance: Committee Chair Linda Kochmar, Committee Member Dini Duclos, Committee Member Jim Ferrell, Assistant City Manager/C.O.O. Cary Roe, Assistant City Attorney Peter Beckwith, Acting Deputy Public Works Director Marwan Salloum, Deputy Public Works Director Ken Miller, City Building Official Lee Bailey, City Traffic Engineer Rick Perez, Senior Traffic Engineer Jesse Hannahs, Senior Traffic Engineer Maryanne Zukowski and Administrative Assistant II Darlene LeMaster. 1. CALL TO ORDER Committee Chair Kochmar called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM. All members were present. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The November 17, 2008 LUTC meeting minutes were approved. Moved: Duclos Seconded: Ferrell Passed: 2-0, 1 Recusal Committee Chair Kochmar recused herself as she had not been present at the previous LUTC meeting. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment was received: 4. BUSINESS ITEMS A. 2008 Electrical Code Adoption – Code Text Amendment Lee Bailey provided background information on the item. There was no discussion. Moved: Duclos Seconded: Ferrell Passed: Unanimously, 3-0 Committee forwarded Option 1 to the January 20, 2009 City Council Ordinance Agenda for approval. B. BPA Trail at SW 356th Street Pedestrian Crosswalk Contract Rick Perez provided background information on this item. Committee Chair Kochmar asked if the signal is pedestrian activated and how this type of signal is performing nationwide as far as safety? Mr. Perez explained that the signal will stay dark until pedestrian pushes the controller. Also, nationally, this type of pedestrian signal has done remarkably well. This signal has been in operation in a few locations in St. Petersburg, Florida and has been accepted by the feds as a safe and reliable. The City has requested to be able to install this type of pedestrian signal citywide and has been given federal approval provided staff follows all federal guidelines. Chair Kochmar asked how long the signal would be for the pedestrian to get across the street. Mr. Perez explained that the signal will start out a little longer that what would be considered normal (approx. 40 seconds in duration) and would then be adjusted over time as necessary. Chair Kochmar asked how the cost of this signal compares to the cost of a four-way signal. Mr. Perez answered that at approximately $28K, the pedestrian signal is considerably less than the $250K cost of a four-way traffic signal. Moved: Duclos Seconded: Ferrell Passed: Unanimously, 3-0 Committee forwarded Option 1 to the January 20, 2009 City Council Consent Agenda for approval. C. Community Center Emergency Generator Installation Contract – Bid Award Ken Miller provided background information on this item. Committee Member Duclos inquired as to what all the generator could supply. Mr. Miller commented that this is a 1,000 AMP generator and based on usage records, is capable of supplying power to the entire Community Center. The generator will supply approximately 700 AMPs to power the Community Center, running at about 70% capacity. The pools are Land Use/Transportation Committee Page 2 January 5, 2009 G:\LUTC\LUTC Agendas and Summaries 2009\01-05-09 Minutes.doc heated with natural gas and therefore would not use the generator power to heat them. Committee Member Ferrell asked what would be the benefit to keeping the pools heated if the Center was being powered by generator. Wouldn’t we want to conserve energy? Mr. Miller explained that because it takes a few days to heat the pools once they have cooled down, it would most likely expend more energy to reheat the pools versus maintaining their temperature over the course of a power outage. Committee Member Ferrell asked what type of fuel the generator runs on and does the City have locations or vendors set up to obtain fuel in an emergency. Mr. Miller stated the generator runs on diesel, has a 3,000 gallon tank (72-hours supply) and is activated by an automatic transfer switch. The City has vendors to supply fuel to City Hall and the evidence building during an emergency. Committee Member Ferrell would like to consider a one-week supply of water and diesel available on-site in the event of an emergency. Staff will look into options for fueling and storage. Moved: Ferrell Seconded: Duclos Passed: Unanimously, 3-0 Committee forwarded Option 1 to the January 6, 2009 City Council Consent Agenda for approval. D. City Center Access Project (CCAP) Maryanne Zukowski along with Joh Perlic of Parametrix provided background information on this item. One public comment was received: H. David Kaplan, Federal Way resident and member of Public Stakeholder Team for Ph. 1 and 2 of CCAP – Mr. Kaplan believes that mitigation is a huge part of what will make this project succeed. In his opinion, Mr. Kaplan feels that the project with adequate mitigation could benefit Steel Lake Park as well as improve traffic congestion within the city core. Committee Member Ferrell asked how Alternative 1 would affect the viability and usability of Steel Lake Park. Ms. Zukowski explained that currently with two alternatives being evaluated, the preliminary designs look at the broadest effects of each alternative. Once Council chooses an alternative, impacts to the alternative area will be looked at to see where the design can be revised to affect the least amount of area, residents, environment, etc. while making the most positive impact to the traffic congestion. The intent is to avoid or minimize all environmental impacts to Steel Lake Park and there are ways to mitigate in order to save the park. Some benefits to mitigation include walkways, bike paths/lanes, sidewalks, water quality, etc. Committee Member Duclos commented on being a public stakeholder during Phase 1 of the project and gave some personal opinion on the process. Are there other options to S 312th or S 324th St? Committee Member Duclos shared that other options had been suggested but not looked into…possibly good alternatives. Ms. Zukowski explained the alternative selection process, the roles of both the Core team and the Public Stakeholder teams, and described examples of “fatal flaws” in some of the alternatives. The Core team used a non-discriminatory method to evaluate each alternative as a way of rule out alternatives. The public team was made aware of the process and it was reasonable that the public team came into the process with 15 alternatives remaining as they did not have the knowledge needed to adequately evaluate all of the original alternatives (note: all 47 original alternatives were originally presented to the public stakeholder team for comment; those comments were presented to City Council and then dismissed). Committee Member Ferrell asked if there was a close third alternative to either Alt. 1 or Alt 2. between S 272nd St and S 320th St. Ms. Zukowski stated that S 288th St, S 296th St, S 304th St and S 312th St were all considered. Unfortunately, most of these local options wouldn’t suffice the city’s traffic demands for the next 30 years. Committee Member Ferrell also noted that any of the alternatives north of S 312th St would have affected even more residential communities than S 312th St (Alt. 1). Chair Kochmar asked if the Obama Stimulus Package would be an option for funding for any of the elements of the project. Ms. Zukowski said that yes, the southbound ramps at S 320th St will be eligible for funding from the stimulus package. Chair Kochmar asked how many residents may be affected east of I-5. Mz. Zukowski answered the right now, it is not certain as we have forecasted the broadest number of impacts. Once an alternative is selected, design will be done to work around as many obstacles as possible. Right now it is estimated that four to seven residences may be affected by either alternative. Land Use/Transportation Committee Page 3 January 5, 2009 G:\LUTC\LUTC Agendas and Summaries 2009\01-05-09 Minutes.doc Committee Member Duclos said that these residents are stuck. Being affected by the future project, they can’t sell. What can the City do as far as mitigation? ACM Roe explained that there will be a conversation about the early purchases of right of way well in advance of the project. Staff will evaluate and present their recommendations to Council for approval. Since the Environmental Assessment (EA) is anticipated to be finished in December 2009, Chair Kochmar asked when staff would want to discuss mitigation costs. Mitigation costs will be discussed during the 2009/2010 mid-biennium budget cycle. Ms. Zukowski and staff are working with area residents. Committee Member Duclos would like to be kept in the loop of all communication efforts between staff and residents. Committee Chair Kochmar asked about upcoming presentations on the CCAP. Ms. Zukowski responded that there are two presentations in March, one for information only and one action item. Chair Kochmar acknowledged all of the work that has gone into this project thus far and complimented staff on a job well done. ACM Roe assured the committee that staff will give ample opportunity for the project’s alternatives to be presented with enough time for Council to ask questions in order to make an informed decision on an alternative. There was no action taken on this item as it was for “information only.” 5. FUTURE MEETING The next regular LUTC meeting falls on a holiday (January 19) and will therefore be cancelled; therefore, the next regularly scheduled LUTC meeting will be February 2, 2009 at 5:30 PM. 6. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 6:40 PM.