November 13, 2003

(Updated) Just When Is Public Comment On New Alternatives For Transit Mall Revitalization Project?

Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.

Early this week, I once again wondered where the mysterious new alternatives for the transit mall revitalization project were, given that public comment leading up to consideration of the so-called Locally-Preferred Alternative is due to end on November 17.

Yesterday, I received email from Stephen Iwata of the Portland Office of Transportation, which I reproduce here:

PDOT and TriMet staff are working on the new options. There several technical issues that are being worked on.
Because of these ideas borrow from European concepts, they require more technical review in terms of addressing many of our traffic and pedestrian safety requirements, ADA requirements, and traffic and transit operational issues.
Project team hope to have the new version on the TriMet web site in a soon. Met with the Citizens Advisory Committee yesterday, and their comments will require further refinements.
Also, working with the Project Team to define the public process for these new options. Tentatively, we are target a community meeting in mid to late January. All of this will be in the TriMet web page once finalized.

In a comment to the previously-mentioned entry on this, a reader asked, "None of the stated approval and process deadlines have been pushed back, so when do we see our plans and when do we get our hearing?"

But there's a problem here. I'm not so sure that the timeline hasn't been pushed back. Either I've missed something (possible) or there's confusion over different timelines (also possible), because the TriMet website claims that Metro adoption of the locally-preferred alternative is scheduled for November.

However, according to Metro, the only thing scheduled for this month regarding the LPA is a November 18 work session, while Metro Council consideration doesn't appear to be until January 8.

Follow-up to come, since I'm awaiting some clarification on these points from the Portland Office of Transportation.

November 14, 2003

Update

And, indeed, I now have clarification from the Portland Office of Transportation on all of this process confusion:

The November 17th deadline is for the Amended Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Amended SDEIS).� The public hearing on October 21st was for the Amended SDEIS and the Draft Conceptual Design Report that was release this past June.
For the November 17th deadline, the key issues for the Amended SDEIS were:
Should a Portland Mall light rail extension be built on 5th and 6th Avenues?
Should light rail extend on the mall from Union Station to Portland State University?
Are the seven pairs of proposed station locations sited in the right places to serve the needs of downtown?
he results of the public comments and the technical analysis will be incorporated in a Locally Preferred Alternative Report (LPA).� The LPA will recommend the alignment, terminus, and approximate station locations.� The Portland City Council will have a public hearing on the LPA on December 4, 2003, 3:30 pm.� The Metro Council is scheduled to take action on the LPA on January 8, 2004.� The station design options will be subjected to additional public review.
The tentative schedule is for a Revised Draft of the Conceptual Design Report�to be available by Mid-January 2004, which would include the new station design options.� Public meetings would be schedule for late January.�Once the schedule is finalize it will be on TriMet web site on this project.� A� recommendation on the station design options should occur�by February or March 2004.

So we do appear to be working with two entirely different timeframes for two entirely different sets of design information.

Posted at 11:58 PM | PermalinkComments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
More In Design & Development, Metro-Area Politics

« Previous Next »

Comments (4)

  1. Cat on 14 Nov 2003

    I caught a bit of a hearing on some aspect of this on Sunday. I didn't see the beginning of it, so it may well have been only the question of whether there should be islands or left-side boarding of the MAX on 5th & 6th. It was definitely a public comment session on the revitalization of the mall, though.

  2. The One True b!X on 14 Nov 2003

    I have the skinny on this now, but it will have to wait until I get home this afternoon.

  3. Bob Richardson on 14 Nov 2003

    I also received a reply from Mr. Iwata, similar to yours but with some different wording. Here's the main part:

    "Since the release of the Discussion Draft:Conceptual Design Report for the
    Portland Mall Revitalization Project, City of Portland and TriMet staff have
    received many comments regarding the three stations options. The results
    have been efforts to refine these options. The results include three new
    options that Mayor mentioned. These options are new ideas that required
    further technical evaluations in terms of safety for pedestrian and traffic
    and safe and efficient transit operations. The work is still in process.
    These options should be available on TriMet's web site in a few weeks."

    "Community member will have a chance to comment on these new options. A
    specific date for a public meeting has not been established."

    (end of excerpt)

    Regarding the October 21st meeting... at that time, the following dates were given out. I was taking notes on a number of things, so can't give the specifics that were said about each deadline, but here they are:

    November 26th - TriMet makes recommendation
    December 4th - City council vote
    December 11th - Metro council vote

    So, my main question is exactly what is it that TriMet is approving/recommending on the 26th? If it is inded just the very basics (what streets, station locations, etc.) that is one thing, but if station configurations are part of the mix, the public needs to see those before the 26th.

    Mr. Iwata extended an invitation for me to contact him about meeting to see these new design alternatives. I may take him up on that. (This is the point where I have to decide if I'm going to go beyond being a semi-interested, noisy citizen and devoting real time to hopefully do something constructive.)

    - Bob Richardson

  4. The One True b!X on 14 Nov 2003

    I also received an invitation to meet with him about the new options. Maybe we should save him some time and schedule a meeting all together.