Homer Comprehensive Plan Update Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) Meeting #6

Monday, August 6th  6:00-8:30 pm.

Cowles Council Chambers

Meeting Notes

 

Eight of the thirteen committee members were present at the meeting held at the Cowles City Council Chambers.  The meeting was facilitated by Chris Beck and Tanya Iden of Agnew::Beck Consulting and Tom Brigham of HDR. 

 

Attendance:

Committee Members


Allegra Bukojemsky - ABSENT

Marianne Schlegelmilch

Bill Smith

Christopher Story - ABSENT

Hannah Bradley

Anne Marie Holen

Tina Day

Ethan Martin - ABSENT

Michael McCarthy

Val McLay

Jim Henkelman - ABSENT

Bob Howard - ABSENT

Barb Seaman


 

Interested Community Members

n/a

 

Staff 


Beth McKibben, Homer Planning Dept.

Tanya Iden, Agnew::Beck Consulting

Chris Beck, Agnew::Beck

Tom Brigham, HDR

 

 

Meeting Overview

The meeting’s purpose was to review the draft Homer Comp Plan Parks, Recration & Culture Chapter and the Transportation Chapter. 

 

Parks, Recreation & Culture

As the CAC provided input, revisions were made to the document.  The CAC’s feedback will be reflected in the revised document.  A summary of key suggestions follows:

  • Several edits to wording were suggested.
  • Focus on the recreational needs of the community as a whole – at times too much focus on youth recreation.  Homer’s population is aging.
  • Clarify/expand on the park dedication example.
  • Incorporate more than just the “plaza” from the Town Center Plan – it has provision for a large green space and pocket parks.
  • Youth Center – Rather folks would prefer a Community Rec. Center w/ youth, senior, and adult programs….this needs to be fleshed out better.
  • Multi-Purpose Arts/Culture Facility – reference was made to the conference center feasibility study… consensus of the group was that this objective could continue to be investigated/kept open for future possibility…in the meantime the community can use a collaborative approach to hosting events and use existing facilities like Islands/Oceans and Mariner Theater that can host performing arts events, etc.  
  • Talk with Homer Council on the Arts as to whether an Arts & Culture assessment/plan needs to be done.
  • Suggestion was made to add an objective to investigate merging Parks and Recreation with Community Schools Program.

 

Transportation

Tom Brigham facilitated this portion of the discussion.  Key discussion topics covered include:

  • Add note as to whether the goals are in priority order.
  • Desire for a more detailed discussion regarding bike paths, bike lanes, how to accommodate biking on busy streets.
  • Document will include illustrations for traffic calming and parking cross sections.
  • Add metered parking to the parking discussion.
  • Fold in the road upgrades that will be a part of the new City Hall facility.
  • Concern about the provision of pedestrian/bike facilities within traffic circles.  Better describe this in the Chapter.
  • The list of non-motorized transportation improvements has been updated.

 

Wrap-Up

Changes will be made to the draft Parks and Recreation Chapter and Transportation Chapter and they will be distributed to the CAC.

 

It was requested that at the next meeting (August 28th) the Land Use Map and Classifications are reviewed again.

 

Agnew::Beck requested that the Public Workshop tentatively schedule for October 10th be moved to the following week.  A::B will explore the availability of community facilities and recommend a new date – likely Tuesday, October 16 or Thursday, October 18th.

 

Next Meeting:

Tuesday, August 28, 2007, 6-8:30pm in City Council Chambers

Purpose will be to review the draft Implementation Table and Strategies and the Land Use Map.