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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRedmond TSP Waiver RequestCommunity Development Department Planning Division Building Salety Division Environmental Soils Division P.O. Box 6005 117 NW Lafayette Avenue Bend, Oregon 97708-6005 (541)388-6575 FAX (541)385-1764 http://www.co.deschutes.or.us/cdd/ MEMORANDUM To: Board of County Commissioners From: Peter Russell, Senior Transportation Planner Date: June 1, 2012 Re: City of Redmond request for fee waiver Background During the County's update of the Transportation System Plan (TSP) the City of Redmond approached the County about including 19th Street from southeast Redmond to the US 97/Quarry intersection as part of the update. The City would provide the necessary findings; however, due to staffing changes in Redmond the City was not able to meet the County's timeline. The City of Redmond will now make a separate land use application to amend the County's TSP map to add 19th Street. The road would be designated a collector and stop at Quarry, unlike the County's earlier efforts to add 19th Street to the map as an arterial all the way from Redmond to Deschutes Junction. The City would again provide all the findings. Issue The fee for a plan amendment that does not need an exception from a Statewide Planning Goal is $5,000. As Redmond is proposing to add 19th Street as a collector that will remove local traffic from a state highway, under Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 660-012-0065 a goal exception is not needed. Under the fee waiver policy, the Board has the discretion to waive the fee. Enclosed is a letter from the City of Redmond saying why the City feels this public benefit has been met. Proposed actions The Board can choose to invoke the public benefit clause of fee waiver policy and waive the $5,000 fee or the Board can choose to require the fee. Attachment: May 28, 2012 letter from City of Redmond Quality Services I>erfonned with Pride CITY OF REDMOND 716 SW Evergreen Avenue Community Development Department Redmond, OR 97756 (541) 923-7721 Fax: (541) 548-0706 www.ci.redmond.or.us May 28, 2012 Deschutes County Board of Commissioners Honorable Tony DeBone, Chair Honorable Tammy Baney, Commissioner Honorable Alan Unger, Commissioner 1300 NW Wall St., Suite 200 Bend, OR 97701 RE: Requested Waiver to Application Fees for Deschutes County Transportation System Plan Update – Quarry Road extension from U.S 97 to 19th Street at Redmond City Limits. Dear Commissioners: In recent correspondence to you, we have outlined the coordinated work that the City of Redmond and Deschutes County staff have done to address interrelated transportation issues that benefit both Deschutes County and the City of Redmond. Specifically, our respective staffs have been discussing an amendment to the Deschutes County TSP to add a new road alignment between the planned Quarry Avenue Interchange at US Highway 97 and the southern Redmond City limit at 19th Street (Quarry Avenue extension to 19th Street). Such discussions and coordination began during the recent County TSP update process, with this project originally discussed as being included as part of the overall County legislative process. However, as the City engaged in the work to complete the analysis and develop findings to support the proposal, the County legislative process to complete the TSP update continued. We understood the rationale for the County to continue with and complete the TSP update, with the knowledge that this proposal would run a separate course. As part of this understanding, it was acknowledged by all that the City would be responsible for the work to support the proposal (staff and consultants), while the County staff would continue to coordinate the overall amendment to the TSP as originally contemplated. Nonetheless, because this will be a separate land use action from the legislative TSP amendment, the proposal requires a formal application, public notice, public hearing and associated fees. However, in this regard the City is respectfully requesting a waiver of the fees associated with this action. It is our understanding that the Board of Commissioners has the ability to waive fees in cases where a public benefit is served. In such consideration, we believe that the public benefit will be served by the addition of the proposed road alignment to a County planning document, and by making the County TSP consistent with other adopted federal, state and local plans which all reference this project. Further, as was coordinated with the County Planning staff, the City has taken on the responsibility of preparing the required findings which address the applicable State and County criteria, and have retained traffic consultants to prepare a traffic impact analysis to support the proposal. Thus, all efforts have been made to minimize the County planning staff time dedicated to this project. For these reasons, we believe the proposal provides a public benefit and takes into consideration the fiscal impacts to the County Community Development Department thereby providing justification for the fee waiver. Thank you for your consideration of this request. Respectfully submitted, Heather Richards Community Development Director Department of Transportation Region 4 Planning James R. Bryant Interim Planning Manager 63085 N Highway 97 Bend, OR 97701 Phone: (541)388-6437 Fax: (541 )388-6361 Email: james.r.bryant@odot.state.or.us April 20, 2012 Mr. Peter Russell Senior Transportation Planner Deschutes County 117 NW Lafayette Ave., Bend, OR 97701 SUBJECT: Draft Deschutes County TSP Dear Mr. Russell: The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) appreciates the opportunity to again comment on the draft Deschutes County Transportation System Plan (TSP). This letter is intended to supplement our letter of December 15, 20 II, and to respond to questions that have arisen in the interim as expressed at the Board of Commissioners' hearing on April 16, 2012. There were four areas of the TSP pertinent to ODOT that generated some discussion during the TSP process and were raised at the Board of Commissioners' hearing. These areas are west of Sisters, Tumalo, Deschutes Junction and Quarry Road. • US 20 west of Sisters OooT appreciates the input from members of the Sisters' community who have expressed their concerns about four-Ianing US 20 between Black Butte Ranch and Sisters. In light of their concerns, ODOT collaborated with the County to identify certain triggers that OooT would utilize to determine the need to add lanes to that portion of the highway. It should be noted that although the deficiency identified in the TSP extends for 10 miles between Black Butte Ranch and Sisters and has an estimated cost of $20 million, the improvement would be phased in over time as passing lanes of a mile in length or so. Regardless, OooT has committed to use these triggers to ensure that the addition of travel lanes would be employed only when it is established that they would be a cost effective counter measure to reduce or eliminate crashes in the corridor. Further, given the uncertainty of predicting traffic volumes 20 years into the future and, again, in response to the expressed concerns of the Sisters community, we have reduced the priority from high to medium and would rely on the triggers to indicate the need for the improvement. • Tumalo OooT is nearing completion of a three-year effort to identify the long term solution in Tumalo consistent with the current Deschutes County TSP which identifies an interchange as the solution and for which Deschutes County has been collecting SDCs. A TSP is required to identify and address the long term transportation needs with a future horizon of at least at least 20 years. The preferred long term solution is an interchange alternative which provides a grade separation at the US 20 and Cook/OB Riley intersection. OooT has looked a number ofalternatives including, specifically, the use of traffic control devices (Le. a traffic signal or roundabout) to modulate at-grade intersections at US 20/Cook/OB Riley and at US 20 @ 7ililBailey. The at-grade alternatives were not selected because they did not meet the project objectives for a long-term solution (Le. out to the year 2030). Once a long term solution is I 1 1 f ,I l 1 I ! t 1 I I established, then mid-tenn solutions, if needed, can be developed that would satisfy the mid-tenn need and work towards the long tenn solution. • Deschutes Junction ReC"mement Plan The existing Deschutes Junction interchange and US 97 are projected to operate acceptable to the 2030 horizon year and no improvements are needed or identified except for a safety improvement of a median barrier between Deschutes Junction and Giftl61 st to eliminate cross-over crashes. (We have included a drawing in the draft TSP for the frontage road concepts that would provide access to properties adjacent to US 97 whose access would be affected by the median safety improvement.) !fa refinement plan looks at intensifying the land uses at Deschutes Junction, it would, of course, need to assess the affect of the land use changes on the safe operation of the interchange and connecting state and county roads. We would again suggest that the frontage road language be flexible enough to allow OOOT to employ other measures to safely provide access to properties whose access might be affected by a median barrier. While a frontage road system is the preferred solution, there are on-system improvements that have been implemented in other areas that provide for the safe ingress and egress of properties that front highways with non-traversable medians. One example is a J-turn which allows out-of-direction traffic to safely perfonn a turning movement to head back in the opposite direction such as is currently be used on US 101 outside of Warrenton. The tum is initiated from a channelized left-turn lane and is completed on a modified, widened shoulder to accommodate the needed turning radius. J-turns could provide a timely, lower cost solution, perhaps as in interim until a frontage road system can be implemented. • Quarry Road Interchange/19th Street ODOT has previously suggested that the Quarry Road interchange be moved to the illustrative list as there is no demonstrated state or county need for the facility within the TSP planning period. The city of Redmond, however, has indicated that this interchange will be needed to accommodate future city traffic from Helmholtz on the west and 19th on the east and have assumed the cost of the interchange in their funding program. Accordingly, OOOT would support keeping the interchange in the plan and amending the TSP cost allocation table to reflect Redmond's financial commitment for the improvement. The city of Redmond has also proposed policy language to support their future land use actions to implement their TSP with respect to extending city streets to the Quarry interchange. It should be clear that any such roadway extension is to be predicated on the understanding that the connection to US 97 will be at a grade-separated facility not an at-grade intersection. The primary management objective of US 97 between Bend and Redmond is to eliminate, where possible, direct access and at-grade connections. To wit, we partnered with Deschutes County to close Pleasant Ridge Road due to number of crashes at that intersection. Earlier, of course, Deschutes County partnered with ODOT to build the Deschutes Junction interchange in response to the number of crashes that were occurring there as an at­ grade intersection. Thank you and again, if you have any questions or require additional infonnation, please contact me at (541) 388-6437. Sincerely, James R. Bryant Cc: Bob Bryant, OOOT Region 4 Manager Page 2