September 29, 1999
Attended by: Bill Tanner
Transportation System Planning Commission
Laurie Nicholson, A City employee and member of the Transportation System Planning Commission, gave a short talk about the Commissions purpose. She explained that this Commission does theoretical traffic studies without regard to rights-of-way. The Commission tries to achieve the objectives of Metro's Vision 2040. (The 2040 map shows all surrounding cities tightly coupled neighborhoods to The Peoples Republic of Portland.) The County and State require all cities to have a master transportation plan. The Planning Commission refines the Traffic Commission's traffic plan. The City's engineering department, in particular Gus Duenas and his consultants, provide the final details. An executive summary of the Traffic System Commission 's plan is available from Nicholson.
The Commission will have a workshop on October 18th at 6pm.
Mark Padgett
Road Bond Task Force member Mark Padgett is also a member of Transportation System Planning Commission and the Planning Commission. Mark commended Gus Duenas for doing such an outstanding job of implementing the Planning Commissions traffic plan. (Three cheers for Gus)
Mark Padgett disclosed that the City is trying to increase traffic flow by using neighborhood streets. Hence, the need for minor collectors. A task force member asked "Do the neighborhoods know about this?" Padgett just shrugged his sholders.
Padgett said that Hall Boulevard will be expanded to three lanes and then to five lanes. It will eventually cross the Tualatin river and connect to 85th Avenue.
Road Bond
The high priority projects, including 79th Avenue, will cost $29M. Paul Owen and Beverly Froude questioned the likelihood that voters would pass such a large bond. Mark Padgett said the last road bond of $15M resulted in property tax assessments of $.50 per $1000 of assessed value. A $30M bond would result in $1/$1000.
A task force member mentioned that the school district's bond might be as high as $60M. There might also be a bond for park development.
Paul Owen and one other member asked if the public would accept a $29M road bond plus a $60M school bond plus a parks bond.
Local Improvement District
Diane Jelderks, the task force secretary and former planning commission member, said that LID's are recommended by the Planning Commission and not by the City Council.
Joyce Patton announced that the road bond measure would include language guaranteeing funding for 79th Avenue. One member said he hoped our group would support the bond because of this generous concession. Joyce Patton said "This is more than fair." Other members agreed that this was a big concession. I said to Joyce "Don't underestimate the importance of design issues. They are important to our group." Joyce said she realized they are important.
Joyce will draft a letter to our group formally stating the Council's LID position. She wants the following from our group:
Wants her letter attached to our neighborhood poll
Wants us to poll the entire neighborhood, not just the LID neighbors.
Wants a quick reply of the poll results
My questions to the task force
To Mark Padgett: "Are there plans to extend 79th Avenue across Durham Road?"
Mark Padgett reply: "No, Hall Boulevard will be extended across the Tualatin river and be connected to 85th Avenue"
To Gus Duenas: "Does the $2.8M cost of the 79th Avenue project include a new sewer system and underground utilities?"
Duenas' reply:" It includes the utilities. We thought we would handle the sewers with a reimbursement district." See the attached report about this topic.Reimbursement Districts
The next task force meeting will be held on October 6th.
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