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

Tuesday, August 28^th 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 Tamas Deak of KPB.

Attendance:

Committee Members

Allegra Bukojemsky

Marianne Schlegelmilch - ABSENT

Bill Smith

Christopher Story - ABSENT

Hannah Bradley

Anne Marie Holen

Tina Day

Ethan Martin - ABSENT

Michael McCarthy - ABSENT

Val McLay

Jim Henkelman

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

Tamas Deak, KPB

Meeting Overview

The meeting’s purpose was to:

• review the status of the various draft Homer Comp Plan Chapters and assign tasks to CAC members to help complete the draft Plan,
• finalize edits to several chapters - Public Services & Facilities, Parks, Recreation & Culture, and Transportation
• review the Implementation Chapter and the Land Use Designations draft.

Comp Plan Status and CAC “Assignments”

Teams of two CAC members were assigned to each Comp Plan Chapter. The teams are tasked with writing a summary of the Chapter that will become part of the executive summary of the entire draft Comp Plan. To do the summary teams will thoroughly review the chapter, which will also serve as an opportunity to make any edits or revisions to the Chapter. Following is the list of who’s volunteered to review and summarize each Comp Plan chapter:

• Land Use = Bill & Allegra
• Transportation = Val & Marianne
• Economic Vitality = Anne Marie & Tina
• Public Services & Facilities = Mike & Jim
• Parks, Recreation, & Culture = Barb & Hannah

Deadline for submitting the Chapter Summaries and edits is Wednesday, September 12^th

Public Services and Facilities

Very limited changes were suggested. Agnew::Beck will incorporate the edits and distribute the revised Chapter draft to Mike and Jim who are doing the detailed review and summary.

Parks, Recreation & Culture

Very limited changes were suggested. Agnew::Beck will incorporate the edits and distribute the revised Chapter draft to Barb and Hannah who are doing the detailed review and summary.

Transportation

Very limited changes were suggested. Specific recommendations included: define “bicycle lanes” and “separated pathways”, discuss the environmental impacts of vehicle transportation, and identify that safe crossings may be needed at approximately 500 foot intervals on most roads (except the Sterling Hwy.) Agnew::Beck will incorporate the edits and distribute the revised Chapter draft to Val and Marianne who are doing the detailed review and summary.

There were also some questions regarding changes to the transportation map. Agnew::Beck will work with Tom Brigham of HDR who drafted the Chapter and map to answer the questions.

Implementation

There was general consensus that the approach taken in the Implementation Chapter is good. All of the action items listed in the Implementation Table correlate to the Plan Chapters. A request was made that the Implementation Chapter include a statement such as, for more detailed descriptions of these action items – see Chapter X.

Land Use Designations

Discussion of the land use designations was very brief. It was determined that the Land Use review team of Bill and Allegra would meet with Agnew::Beck and Beth McKibben, Homer Planner to finalize the designations and work to incorporate the Green Infrastructure discussion into the Land Use Chapter.

Wrap-Up

• Agnew::Beck will e-mail to all teams the latest version of their assigned Chapter for review.
• Teams will submit chapter summaries and edits to Agnew::Beck by September 12, 2007.
• Agnew::Beck will provide a complete draft of the Comp Plan to the CAC by September 20, 2007.
• Public Workshop – October 18, 2007

Next Meeting:

Thursday, September 27, 2007, 6-8:30pm in City Council Chambers

Purpose will be to review the full draft Comp Plan and prepare for the Public Workshop.