MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL

TRANSPORTATION PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING

Tuesday, September 21, 1999

Council Chamber

CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

Chair Kvistad called the meeting to order at 3:44 PM.

1.  CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE JUNE 8, 1999 AND JULY 20, 1999, METRO COUNCIL TRANSPORTATION PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETINGS.

2.  RESOLUTION NO. 99-2830, FOR THE PURPOSE OF ADOPTING THE FY 00-03 METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PLAN (MTIP)

Andy Cotugno, Transportation Director, explained that this resolution adopted the Federal funding program for the 4 year period from FY 99 - 03. The action taken in May and June that allocated the $75 million through the Priorities 2000 process was a part of that program. He noted the attachments to the resolution, particularly the “FY 99 - 03 Metro Approved Regional Transportation Enhancement, CMAQ and STP Program” which the Metro Council had previously adopted. He said that funding was one lump sum and did not distinguish between which years it was allocated in, nor did it distinguish between categories. He said this resolution divided the projects into both categories and years which was important for the individual jurisdictions to know. He noted the charts which showed specific projects from TEA-21, particularly page 3 (which showed cash flow from the feds) and page 4 (which showed when the jurisdictions planned to spend the money) . He said Council did not have the latitude this time to shift the money to other purposes. He explained other projects that were planned and added that there were 2 remaining west side projects not yet funded. He went on to explain the ODOT information from the packet. (Copies of these can be found in the agenda packet with the permanent record of this meeting.)

Chair Kvistad commented that if AAA managed to get the gas tax issue to the voters, the county would have dedicated funds for bridges. He thought Metro might want to have a discussion with the county about rededicating and reprioritizing some of those dollars if that happened. He noted also that there should be a discussion about trying to complete most of the heavy construction that would get in the way of traffic at the same time on the I-5/Highway 217 interchange which would be approximately another $11,000. He added that if the AAA was successful, it would be tough to do much of anything other than what was already programmed.

Mr. Cotugno noted that the staff report had supplemental information on the Multnomah County owned Willamette River bridges downtown as well as the Transit Program. The “20-Year Capital Improvement Needs of the Willamette River Bridges” showed all the projects that were contemplated on the bridges, both funded and unfunded. He said there would be one more action coming forward regarding the TIP before the projects were finalized. First was a quantitative step wherein Metro had to model the traffic patterns assuming all the projects were funded. There had to be an emissions test of the traffic to see if the level stayed within the federal standard. He said that process was underway and if the emissions did not hold, the Council would have to revisit some of the allocations. He said they could not spend any of the highway money unless they demonstrated that the emissions stayed within the budget.

Councilor Bragdon asked if DEQ certified that.

Mr. Cotugno said they had met with DEQ who okayed the methodology they were using, and they had to approve the study when it was complete.

Councilor Atherton asked Mr. Cotugno about policy issues. He said it seemed to him they had already made this choice last May.

Mr. Cotugno explained that this resolution picked up where that one left off. He added there were 3 fundamental pieces, first was the discretionary money that Metro allocated, second was that ODOT made a policy choice to prioritize their funds on preservation which they made about a year ago, and this resolution picked up the details of that fundamental policy decision.

Councilor Atherton commented that that was consistent with the state plan.

Mr. Cotugno agreed. He continued that this was the third piece. He said they could reasonably expect to get some of the federal bridge funds for the Willamette River bridges and this showed for the first time which bridges were going to be the focus. He said the transportation department was constantly dealing with ODOT and Federal Highway and Transit about whether each project met federal requirements.

Chair Kvistad added that what they were adopting today was basically the attachments, the schedule, and the layouts of which categories and how they were defined so all of the pieces were there.

Councilor Atherton asked if they were allowed to set higher standards than federal law for some of the air quality issues and build a better model.

Mr. Cotugno said the Council was allowed to set standards but could not implement certain control measures without federal approval.

Councilor Atherton asked if the plan for meeting air quality standards made a decent attempt at the land use/ transportation/air quality connection.

Mr. Cotugno said it actually relied on it.

Councilor Atherton was concerned about citizens who had testified that the air quality in their neighborhoods near the freeways was not good regardless of what the studies showed. He asked if those issues would be addressed later.

Mr. Cotugno said the air quality issues were handled on an individual project basis. The EIS process was first, then if there were air quality or noise issues, they had to be taken care of before the project qualified to actually be scheduled for construction..

Chair Kvistad said if they tightened the standards, it would have to be done at the beginning of the process of evaluating the projects because it would be very difficult to do it after the project was started.

Councilor Atherton thought there was precedent for that. He asked how the noise barriers were paid for along the freeways.

Mr. Cotugno said there were 2 ways for noise barriers to get funded. First, a road project had to evaluate noise impacts and mitigate them if they existed, based on the ambient levels forecast for the finished project. The second was adjacent property owners could pay to have one installed if they wanted to.

Chair Kvistad assigned Councilor Bragdon to carry Resolution 99-2830 to the full Council.

3.  RESOLUTION NO. 99-2831, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE TPAC TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT SUBCOMMITTEE

Mr. Cotugno, explained this TPAC subcommittee focused on implementation of demand management programs such as ride share, bicycle, parking, shuttles and other alternative transportation means. He said it had been a working committee of practitioners in the field. This resolution amended the membership to better align with how it had been working. The proposal was to drop the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) who had not been participating, and add the Port of Portland and SMART Transit who had been active participants in the committee and had large constituencies who dealt with demand management programs. The third was to add a position to represent Transportation Management Associations (TMAs). It also acknowledged that there were some citizen representative vacancies to fill.

Chair Kvistad asked for questions. There were none.

Chair Kvistad assigned Councilor Atherton to carry Resolution 99-2831 to the full Council.

4.  COUNCILOR COMMUNICATIONS

Chair Kvistad noted the dates and places for the upcoming RTP and STIP public hearings. He explained that the procedure would be somewhat different as they were being done in conjunction with ODOT. He said a finalized list of dates would be distributed soon. He asked Mr. Cotugno to coordinate any necessary information with Ms. Grant and Ms. Billington for arranging the meetings.

Mr. Cotugno said they had in mind a block of time for an open house, and then have at least 2 break out tables for people to testify. Each table would have at least one Metro councilor, a JPACT member, and an OTC member as well as staff persons from Metro and ODOT and a recorder. If there was more participation by Councilors and JPACT members, they could have more than one at a table or have more than 2 tables.

Chair Kvistad said he would try to attend as many of the open houses as he could, and said the other members of the Transportation Planning committee and Councilor Washington would be the basic four. He wanted at least one committee member at each meeting to report back to the committee.

Councilor Bragdon asked if it would be similar to the one held at Clackamas Community College.

Mr. Cotugno responded that it would.

Chair Kvistad asked Mr. Cotugno to get all the information regarding the open houses to council and ODOT staffs soon so they could coordinate.

Councilor Atherton asked for the dates of the RTP hearings.

Mr. Cotugno said they were open houses to solicit testimony on the RTP and would be on October 20, 21, 26 and 28. He said there was a full formal hearing before Council December 2. The final decision would be made in December.

Councilor Atherton asked when amendments would be accepted.

Mr. Cotugno said they had planned to have a working draft document available October 1 which would be a starting point. He said they would expect changes from TPAC through October also. Then November 1 a final draft would be proposed at this committee and to Council. He said, however, Councilors were welcome to make suggestions at any time during the process.

Chair Kvistad asked for an introduction of the new staff member.

John Houser, Senior Council Analyst, introduced Andy Flinn, a new council assistant, to the members of the committee.

Chair Kvistad welcomed Mr. Flinn to the staff.

Andy Flinn, Council Assistant, thanked the councilors and said he was looking forward to working with them.

ADJOURN

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Kvistad adjourned the meeting at 4:19 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Cheryl Grant

Council Assistant