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02-15-2019 Transit Way AgreementPowerPoint Presentation SOUND TRANSITFEDERAL WAY LINK EXTENSIONGranting a Transit Way Agreement February 5, 2019 City Council Meeting Policy Question: Should the City Council grant the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) a Transit Way Agreement for the Federal Way Link Extension Project to construct, maintain and operate a Light Rail Transit System within and through the City of Federal Way? Background – FWLE Agreements with Sound Transit: City Services Agreement: Existing agreement with Sound Transit providing the framework for collaboration with City staff and cost reimbursement for staff time. Development Agreement: Outlines roles, responsibilities, code requirements, code deviations, permitting framework, design review approach and design standards for the project. Transit Way Agreement: Granting the non-exclusive use of Public Rights-of-Way for Light Rail Transit Way (the topic before you tonight). Background: Sound Transit has requested a Light Rail Transit Way Agreement with the City for the Federal Way Link Extension Project allowing construction, operation, and maintenance of a Light Rail Transit System. The Transit Way Agreement is essentially a franchise agreement and the City is negotiating a separate Development Agreement for the project that addresses land use, development requirements and improvements. The Transit Way Agreement will grant the non-exclusive use of Public Rights-of-Way for a Light Rail Transit Way. Background - Project Overview: Background – Military Rd S Crossing (north): Background – S 288th St Crossing: Background – Military Rd S Crossing (south): Background – City Center: Background - Development Agreement Key Details: Reconstructing 23rd Ave S from S 317th St to S 320th St as a concrete roadway. Reconstructing S 317th St from 28th Ave S to 23rd Ave S as a concrete roadway. Constructing a new roundabout intersection at 23rd Ave S and S 317th St. Constructing pedestrian improvements between the proposed Federal Way Transit Center Station and the existing Park and Ride at the intersection of 23rd Ave S and S 324th St. Construct improvements to the City Fiber System. Provide an interconnection to the City’s Safe City Camera program. Requirement to work jointly with the Federal Way Police Department on an ongoing basis. Background - Development Agreement Key Details: Background – Transit Way Agreement Details: The Transit Way Agreement provides non-exclusive use of Public Rights-of-Way. All light rail vehicle crossings will be grade separated from City Rights-of-Way. The Transit Way Agreement will remain in effect for as long as the Light Rail Transit Way is used for public transportation purposes. The Transit Way Agreement terms are consistent with the Cities of SeaTac, Des Moines, and Kent, the three other municipal jurisdictions along the FWLE corridor. The Options Before Council Are: Approve the Ordinance and hold the first reading at the February 5, 2019 City Council Meeting. Modify the Ordinance and hold the first reading at the February 5, 2019 City Council Meeting. Reject the Ordinance and provide direction to staff. Mayor’s Recommendation: The Mayor recommends Option 1 to approve the Ordinance and conduct the first reading at the February 5, 2019 City Council Meeting. Questions? Good evening Mayor Ferrell, Deputy Mayor Honda and Council members. My name is Tony Doucette, and I am the City’s Sound Transit Liaison. I will be presenting on a Transit Way Agreement between the City and Sound Transit for the Federal Way Link Extension Project. Our Sound Transit Partner staff are also in attendance, Federal Way Link Extension Executive Project Director Dan Abernathy, and Project Managers Soraya Lowry and Zac Eskenazi. The Policy Question is: Should the City Council grant the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) a Transit Way Agreement for the Federal Way Link Extension Project to construct, maintain, and operate a Light Rail Transit System within and through the City of Federal Way? Please note that the Transit Way Agreement is specific to the Federal Way Link Extension and does not include the Tacoma Dome Link Extension and South Operations and Maintenance Facility. Before going into further details, it is worth taking a big picture look at the City’s coordination efforts with Sound Transit. The Federal Way Link Extension project has three agreements coordinating partnership with Sound Transit: We have one existing agreement with Sound Transit, have one pending approval by Council and ST’s Board, and one still under negotiation. The City Services Agreement was executed in 2017 and provides the framework for collaboration with City staff and cost reimbursement for staff time. The Development Agreement is in the final stages of development and discusses the details of the project, including design standards and approved deviations, design review, construction inspection, etc. Sound Transit cannot build the project within the City without this agreement in place. The Transit Way Agreement is pending approval and is the agreement that authorizes Sound Transit to construct, operate and maintain the Light Rail System where it crosses Public Rights-of-Way, similar to a franchise agreement. To provide a little more background: Sound Transit requested the Light Rail Transit Way Agreement to grant non-exclusive rights to construct, operate and maintain the Light Rail System within public rights-of-way. The Transit Way Agreement is essentially a franchise agreement and the City is negotiating a separate Development agreement for land use approvals, development requirements and infrastructure improvements. The Development Agreement will likely be presented to Council in late spring or early summer, and I will speak briefly to some of the key components in a later slide. The Council has likely seen this graphic before, showing the full Federal Way Link Extension project alignment, beginning at the existing Angle Lake Station and travelling south along I-5 and stopping at the Kent/Des Moines Road Station and S 272nd St Station before entering the City. The alignment within the City parallels I-5 mostly within WSDOT ROW until S 317th St, where it curves toward the Federal Way Transit Center before heading south to the project terminus south of S 320th St. Much of the Light Rail Transit Way is within WSDOT right-of-way until S 317th St, with the exception of roadway crossings at Military Rd S (both crossings) and S 288th St. The next four slides are screenshots from a video Sound Transit produced and illustrate where the Transit Way crosses public rights-of-way. Again, to reiterate, the Transit Way Agreement is just for the Federal Way Link Extension Project and is does not include the Tacoma Dome Link Extension and South Operations and Maintenance Facility. You can see the north arrow at the bottom right of this slide, with south at the top left of the slide. The slide shows where Military Rd S crosses under the proposed Transit Way and I-5 near Star Lake Rd. This slide continues south along the Transit Way and shows where S 288th St crosses under the proposed Transit Way and I-5. Continuing farther south along the alignment, this slide shows where Military Rd S crosses under the proposed Transit Way and I-5 near S 304th St and Steel Lake. This slide is looking directly south and shows where the Transit Way enters downtown Federal Way. The proposed Transit Way leaves WSDOT right-of-way after crossing the S 317th St HOV direct access to I-5 and continues to the proposed Federal Way Transit Center station. The proposed Transit Way crosses both 23rd Ave S south of S 317th St and S 320th St west of 23rd Ave S. The previous four slides, especially the last slide, graphically show the proposed impact of the Light Rail Transit System in the City. Before I continue with the Transit Way Agreement, it is worth mentioning a few key elements that the City has negotiated as part of the Development Agreement: The project will reconstruct 23rd Ave S between S 317th St and S 320th St as a concrete roadway. This improvement is important as we already know 23rd Ave S is failing as the City recently constructed dig-out repairs as part of our Overlay and Pavement Preservation Program and we know that the existing roadway section is insufficient for the proposed bus and vehicle access to the station. S 317th St between 28th Ave S and 23rd Ave S will be rebuilt as a concrete roadway. The project will construct a new roundabout at the intersection of 23rd Ave S and S 317th St Pedestrian enhancements between the Federal Way Park and Ride and the Transit Center Station will increase parking capacity and improve pedestrian access to the station. The last three bullet highlight public safety and technology improvements, including improvements to the City’s Fiber Optic system, interconnection with the City’s Safe City camera program and a partnership between Sound Transit security efforts and the Federal Way Police Department. To help visualize the street infrastructure improvements bulleted on the previous slide: S 317th will be reconstructed along the full length parallel to the track to mitigate for increased bus traffic (shown in red) 23rd Ave S will be reconstructed from S 317th St to S 320th St (we already know this street is failing and completed dig out repairs in the summer of 2018) shown in orange The intersection of S 317th St and 23rd Ave S will be re-built as a roundabout instead of a signalized intersection New parking at the station area will be limited to 400 spaces so the project will include pedestrian connection improvements between the Federal Way Park and Ride and the station (shown in yellow) I highlighted some items from the Development agreement, which includes significantly more specific Project details. In contrast, the Transit Way is more broad and Grants the use of Public Rights-of-Way. Returning to the Transit Way Agreement, details to highlight include: The Transit Way Agreement authorizes Sound Transit to construct, operate and maintain the Light Rail Transit System in public rights-of-way. All light rail system crossings will be grade separated from City rights-of-way. The primary facilities that will reside in public rights of way are columns and foundations supporting the guideway structure, and they will be outside of the travel lanes. The Transit Way Agreement will remain in effect for as long as the Light Rail Transit Way is used for public transportation purposes. The Transit Way Agreement terms are consistent with the Cities of SeaTac, Des Moines, and Kent, the three other municipal jurisdictions along the Federal Way Link Extension corridor. The options before Council are: Approve the Ordinance and hold the first reading tonight at the February 5, 2019 City Council Meeting. Modify the Ordinance and hold the first reading at the February 5, 2019 City Council Meeting. Reject the Ordinance and provide direction to staff. The Mayor recommends Option 1, approving the Ordinance and conducting the first reading tonight at the February 5, 2019 City Council Meeting. This concludes my presentation and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.