The meeting of the City of Homer Road Standards Committee was called to order on November 25, 2003, at 5:07 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers by Mike Yourkowski.
Present:
Committee Member Steve Smith
Planning Commissioner Lane Chesley
Deputy City Clerk Deena Benson
City Planner Beth McKibben
Public Works Director Carey Meyer
Absent:
Committee Chair Kurt Marquardt
AGENDA APPROVAL
There was an addition to the agenda. Review and Discussion of a Proposal to
Vacate an Alleyway between Ocean Drive and Bay Avenue was added as New Business
Item D.
SYNOPSIS APPROVAL
A. Synopsis of November 10, 2003
The synopsis was approved by consensus of the committee.
NEW BUSINESS
A. 1999
Traffic Study and 2001 Homer Area Transportation Plan
1. Presentation by Public Works Director
2. Scope of Work for Consultant
Public Works Director Meyer handed out copies of the final draft of the Transportation Plan to the committee members asking that they return them. He went over the plan with the committee members giving a history and explanation of the contents of the document.
There was a brief discussion on the definition of an arterial, how they are used in Anchorage, how the word is used in this document and concluded that arterials are meant to move traffic.
Problems along the Sterling Highway (formerly known as the Bypass) were discussed at length. Some issues were -
City Planner McKibben gave a report on the question of changing to a slower speed limit on the Sterling Highway. She referred to a study being done by Department of Transportation.
In discussion of the transportation plan Mr. Meyer pointed out that East hill and West Hill, Kachemak Drive, Lake Street and Skyline Drive are collector streets. A comment was made that if the Department of Transportation is not willing to slow the traffic, signals are the only option.
Mr. Meyer described what a transportation plan is and what would go into it.
A solution of developing multiple ways of getting from point A to Point B was discussed. The committee looked at making Soundview and Fairview through-streets eliminating the need to take Pioneer Avenue as the only access from one side of town to the other, especially between the schools.
Mr. Meyer discussed problems with Jenny Way. He noted that Public Works and the Planning Commission did not agree and that they could not go against public testimony. He commented that there is less traffic when there are multiple ways to access an area.
The committee discussed the public input involved in a transportation plan. They talked about the future need for access to the airport through the critical habitat area.
The committee made a request for staff to obtain information from the Department of Transportation. They want the traffic counts for the local intersections over the last few years from 1998 to current so they can compare them and come up with a percentage of growth or increase in traffic. Mr. Meyer noted that summer and winter numbers would be very different. The committee discussed the flaws in the models and the assumptions that do not apply to Homer specifically. They noted that the growth in Homer is not the only factor; that the number of tourists impacts the numbers greatly. Mr. Smith stated that if he took the 2% used in the model as a per year growth for Homer it would take 36 years to double the population of Homer which he felt was not realistic.
The committee asked staff what it is that the city council may not be accepting in the transportation plan and what they want from the committee. They wanted to know if they should start over or present what they recommend with some public input through the Planning Commission. Commissioner Chesley offered that his understanding was that the mayor wanted a review of the plan, eliminate the bad; keep the good; offer alternatives and send it back.
The committee again discussed at further length the traffic models used in the transportation plan. They talked about the average daily traffic counts, the summer traffic models, the peak traffic models, holiday models and the 2% per year growth model. They included the impact of the dock and summer construction/truck traffic, snow removal and the pedestrian trails plan on the transportation plan.
Staff informed the committee of a current Request for Proposal now out by the City of Homer for a Non-motorized Transportation Plan with a budget of $75,000. The committee noted that the water/sewer plan, drainage plan, and roads and trails plan would all need to tie into the transportation plan. They questioned whether they should put the trails and transportation plan together. The committee talked about breaking the plan up into increments to work on.
Mr. Smith expressed his opinion that Homer is a unique hillside community and that topography needs to be part of the picture. He cautioned recommending roads that are not doable in Homer.
Public Works Director Meyer thought he could have the overlays for the maps in the transportation plan in about 30 days for the committee to work with.
The committee agreed that the topographical maps were the most important to have right now and asked staff to have those available for the next meeting.
The committee discussed hiring a consultant and concluded that they would forego the consultant for now and see how it goes. They felt they could depend on the professional support of the staff at this time.
Public Works Director Meyer stated that he plans to take the trails out, attend to the roads, look at the maps and fine-tune those.
The committee discussed providing for pedestrian traffic. They addressed the downtown district, the town square and east/west corridors, the Sterling Highway and CBD, Ocean Drive to the Spit.
It was noted that differently defined roads/streets can provide differently for pedestrians-- An arterial can have a separated bike path or sidewalk, a collector street would have a sidewalk on both sides, local streets might have a sidewalk on one side and a business district would have sidewalks on both sides. Mr. Meyer suggested defining statements regarding what arterial, collector and local streets are.
B. HARP (Homer Accelerated Roads Program)
1. Harp Road Repaving
2. Recommended Fee per Front Foot for Repaving Projects
The committee did not make any conclusions on this issue. Public Works Director Meyer hadn’t been able to get the numbers for the committee to consider. They agreed to keep this on the agenda for future consideration.
C. Input for City Manager on Using HARP Funds as the 10% Match
For Federal Dollars for Roads and/or Trails to Replace State Matching
Funds No Longer Available.
The committee concluded that the city attorney advised that the HARP funds cannot be used for this purpose without going back to the voters. They asked that this item be removed from future agendas.
D. Review and Discussion of the Proposed Vacation of the Alleyway between Ocean
Drive and Bay Avenue. - Added under Agenda Approval
Commissioner Chesley presented information regarding a
proposal to vacate an alley easement that runs between the lots fronting Ocean
Drive and Bay Avenue. The platted alley easement is 20’ wide. The Planning
Commission asked that the Road Standards Committee weigh in on whether on not
to allow the vacation. After lengthy
discussion, the committee concluded that the Planning Commission should take a
long hard look at this vacation before granting it. The committee asked that the commission be cautious about
surrendering that which could help mitigate the impacts of traffic in
neighborhoods and the road network. They
did not think giving it up was a great idea and felt it could be a potential corridor
for pedestrian or vehicular access as part of the master plan.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
There were no public comments.
There being no further business to come before the committee the meeting was adjourned at 7:24 p.m. The next meeting is on December 16, 2003, at 6 p.m. in the Conference Room.
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DEENA BENSON, DEPUTY
CITY CLERK
Approved:
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