Mobility Committee Meeting Transcript – 02/01/2017 Title: ATXN 24/7 Recording Channel: 6 - ATXN Recorded On: 2/1/2017 6:00:00 AM Original Air Date: 2/1/2017 Transcript Generated by SnapStream ================================== [3:02:53 PM] Communication? Good after noon, everybody, let us start with the approval of the minutes. Do I have a motion for the minutes. Moved by Councilmember Flannigan, seconded by Councilmember Garza. All in favor? Minutes are adopted. Do you have any citizens communication? No citizens communication? Well, then we're going to jump right in. Okay. So our first item is item no. 3rd, a briefing with discussion and possible action on the 2016 mobility bond program implementation process and criteria. So let me - - come on up. Before we get started, I wanted to lay out some of the questions that I will be asking. I really appreciate the opportunity to hear from you all today. I know you all have been working very hard as we -- in the original resolution, we included a 90 day-time period for you all to come back and report on a timeline. So I know that you are right in the middle of that. I appreciate you taking time to come and talk to us today about where you are all in the process and give us an update. Then we can give you any feedback that we might have for you at this point. I wanted to call attention particularly to construction program, you can speak to that as it's appropriate in your presentation. And then, of course, we can ask questions. But as you all know, we sent out a process for -- you know, for going through the implementation, I am looking at the resolution right now, the first thing that we said as a council, as you all know, we wanted to get started right away. We didn't want to delay. So we were clear that we wanted the coordination, the design and the engineering [3:04:54 PM] activities to start as soon as possible. But then we also said before any construction funding was actually appropriated construction initiated, you guys would bring us back recommendations, including with identifiable metrics for implementation. We put out criteria both for you guys to look at in terms of putting together, you know, your implementation plan and also for the council to follow in terms of considering what you bring forward. The three key criteria, I'm going over this to remind the public and us, that was a long time ago, before the holidays, but we said that we wanted to prioritize reducing congestion, improving the level of service, and reducing the delay at intersections for all modes of traffic and the third thing is we wanted to improve connectivity. And 7th improve effectiveness of transit operations. We set those out arrest our top three criteria. In that con sect, we would -- context we would also be looking at preserving affordable housing and local businesses, the impact on local businesses is going to be very important as we through this process. We said we wanted to look at geographic dispersion of funding throughout the city and third look at opportunities to facilitate mixed income housing. So those are for the list of criterion I'm curious about how you guys are approaching those. Those are in a construction program with implementation timelines you all will be bringing to us. I wanted to set that stage. I don't know if anyone else wants to say anything before they give us a presentation? Do we have any speakers? All right, go for it, I'm [3:06:55 PM] Mike tremble, the director of the quarter program implementation office, a new title to go along with the new bond program that we're trying to implement. Councilmember I'm glad that you provided some of that context, that's what I will, briefly reacclimate you to what was the bond program, what was in the contract with the voters, then we will start talking about some of the activities that have been going on since the November 8th election, also what will be coming up in the next couple of weeks as well and beyond. Just refresher, November 82017 the voters passed a $720 million mobility bond program. That included three key categories of improvements. And so let me just move on to that. Regional mobility, [indiscernible] -- Includes projects such as along loop 360, Anderson mill and other key pieces of our regional mobility network. Some of you are familiar with that, councilmember Flannigan we have also received feedback from you on that on Anderson mill. 101 for regional. 482 for corridor improvement projects. Really the corridor reports that were done for seven corridors around the city. Then also includes the next set of new corridors to do major work on and get those studies moving forward for those other corridors that we need to look at for transportation improvements. Then we also have $137 million for local mobility. These include a lot of our -- what we call our ongoing capital improvement programs related to transportation mobility, sidewalks, urban trails, bikeways, also safe routes to school program and one of the caveats in the bond program is that the funding for safe routes to schools to be distributed evenly across all the districts, [3:08:56 PM] the council districts. So we definitely are taking that in mind. Also includes fatality reduction strategies, so some of the top crash intersections that we have in the city, then also some substandard streets improvements unrelated to our capital renewal program. So just real quickly, this is in the bond brochure as well. We have a map up here that shows where some of the improvements are located. The dotted lines really indicate more of the preliminary engineering reports that are going to be completed along several of these corridors and roadways. And then the solid lines denote more of the design and construction funding that will be a part of the program. And so one of the things that I do want to mention to you, councilmember again I'm glad that you said this context, is that, you know, staff we've been meeting a lot to try to get ready to do all of this implementation, trying to move fast. There's a couple of documents that get broken out at every meeting. And one is the ordinance, one the contract with the voters. Also the bond brochure. So I just want to reassure you and the public that we are using those documents, we know there is a very clear contract with the voters and we are -- we are doing our best to adhere that and use that as guidelines talking about how do we best implement what is included specifically in that ordinance and in that contract with the voters. Speaking of, council passed a resolution declaring its intent to enter into a contract with the voters. Councilmember, you've already mentioned some of the key components of that. One with regards to the corridor program was the developments of a corridor construction program. So council indicated before construction funding would be approved for the corridor funding that staff was supposed to bring back a proposal for a corridor construction program. That is for some of the corridors that are slated for design and construction funding. So we are definitely gearing up to do that. One of the main ways is hiring a corridor consultant to help us with that prioritization and analysis. We anticipate -- we will be [3:10:58 PM] coming back to council February 9th with the proposed award, recommendation for award and we hope to have them on board by March, so we can begin that work in earnest. I will talk a little bit more about that process in a minute, but we are getting underway as quickly as we can to do that analysis. We are also working on moving forward with some of the other corridors and preliminary engineering reports. Namely some of the early [indiscernible] William cannon, slaughter, we know that we need to include those in the corridor construction program. Again I will talk about those in just a second. Councilmember you also mentioned some of the outcomes that we are trying to achieve with the improvements in the corridor construction program. You mentioned some of the key ones. Traffic congestion, supportive improvements, but also looking at how we can best support affordability, affordable housing, supporting local businesses, geographic dispersion, also making sure that we review are coordinated with imagine Austin, campo plans, some of the other local and regional plans that we have that are related to mobility. Again we are keeping that list in front of us and taking that all into account as we are doing some of our implementation planning. So speaking of ... Here's some of the things that have happened since November 8th. As I mentioned we have already put out on the street and are coming back a recommendation on an award for the corridor consultant. That was put out on the street two days after the election. So again we are -- our indication was to movie, very fast to try to get -- movie, very fast to get them on board. Informational session on for vendors, talked about the bond program, some of the things that are coming up. We know that it's going to be important to get information out timely to the community in general, but also our vendor community the folks that we will be looking to help us to get a lot of this work done over the next eight years. We anticipate doing probably several different vendor sessions, both with our vendor community in general, our consultants, our contractors, but also with our small minority-owned women owned businesses as well. [3:12:58 PM] So on December 15th we came to you with our first budget appropriation for the bond program. And that was $28 million of initial funding, one of the things that we communicated to council at that point, though, was that we were going to move forward with doing our implementation planning but we would come back to you with more information about the prioritization processes and those projects that we would be looking to do, particularly in that first year, but then talking about some of the implementation strategy over the next eight years. We anticipate bringing that back to council to brief you on that at your February 28th council work session. So we are working fast and furious to get all of that information together for you over the next couple of weeks. And so we are also already out talking to the community, just about the bond program in general. We've had several requests from different neighborhood organizations, [indiscernible] Organizations so we've been trying to provide some general information about where we're at and what's going on in the bond program and we definitely have been telling folks there's more to follow. There will be a lot of opportunities for public engagement, public input, as we go forward in the implementation phases of the mobility program. We also have out on the street right now, January 12th, two solicitations for rotation lists. So these are these master agreements where we have multiple consultants on that we can get multiple projects assigned. At any given time, based on where they ranked. That's out on the street. Two rotation lists, one for the new set of corridors in the corridor program and the preliminary [indiscernible] Reports that's one set then the next set is for preliminary engineering reports for those capital renewal substandard streets, those are out on the street right now, we anticipate those coming back for award for council consideration in may. Next steps we have already touched on, William cannon, [3:14:59 PM] Brodie lane and slaughter lane prelet Mary engineering reports. We hope to have those finalized over the next couple of weeks and then start moving forward with those in earnest. We anticipate going out for public engagement as part of the phases of work for those, probably in April and we will be coordinating with your council offices that the -- the district offices that are impacted by those areas, we will come back to you with a little more information about what we're anticipating as far as the public engagement, public outreach piece of that. As I mentioned also, on February 9th, we will be bringing back a recommendation for award on the corridor consultant, February 28th we anticipate coming back to do council briefing, more on the implementation for the prioritization processes for each of these programs that are in the $720 million bond program. We will provide information about the prioritization processes that are associated with these, what was used to actually get to some of these initial prioritized projects. Some of the priority projects for year 1st and one thing obviously to note about the implementation planning is, you know, things that are done in the near term are going to be a lot clearer than things that are going to be three or four or five years out. We will have a better idea of what we are doing in year one, we will bring information to you, but we will also talk about what that implementation strategy is over the next eight years. We will talk about some of the nuances, what we can move faster on. We will provide that information at the February 28th briefing. We will also at that time bring the council communications and oversight plan that was part of the resolution, the contract with the voters. And we will -- we will describe the processes and mechanisms that we are proposing for council bond oversight commission, mobility committee and other key components to stay plugged into and be inform and engaged in the bond implementation as we move forward. So provide that on the 28th as well. And so as I mentioned, we hope to have the corridor consultant on in March and move forward again as quickly as we can, there will be a lot of things in play by the time we hit [3:16:59 PM] spring. Some of those are noted up there as well. Also to note, we are about to launch on Anderson mill, per as well, that will little be moving forward. Also be doing a little more in-depth community outreach for some of the programs, namely safe routes to schools and our bicycles program. So you will see more of that type of activity out there in the community. We also know it's important for us to coordinate as a city with some of the other public engagement efforts that are going on. We know that there are other initiatives that are taking place outside of this bond program, although that's definitely what we're focused on, but we're working with the other departments to make sure that we're staying coordinated. We know that often we hear from the community as you do that, you know, they're going to get a lot of meetings and getting involved in a lot of things and sometimes there can be some fatigue out there as being part of the public engagement. So we will do our best to stay coordinated with the other departments to see how best we can leverage some of that, but also meanwhile meeting our public engagement and input objectives for the bond program. Then as I mentioned, the rotation lists for those other set of corridor studies, Pers, will be coming back to you in the may time frame. So that's basically what I have right now. Again, a lot more to follow, particularly on February 28th as we really start delving more into the specific programs and the priority projects that we will be doing. With that I will entertain any questions that you may have. >> Kitchen: Okay. Does anybody have questions that they would like to ask? Okay. I'll start off then. So can you back up? On the timeline? >> Sure. >> Kitchen: Okay. So I want to understand the timeline a little bit better. Let me drill down for a minute, on the safe routes to schools, I want to talk about the last bucket of the projects first and safe routes to schools is in that. That bucket included some opportunity to work with the councilmembers. Because there's a certain dollar amount, I think, that's -- that's allocated for -- for geographically across the city. [3:19:00 PM] So what is the -- can you tell me, help me understand the timeline for implementation of that program. >> Yeah, so I will look behind me to see if there's anybody here from safe routes or somebody works who can speak to that. I will just mention our new public works director rich Mendoza is here. I will mention that part of the outreach and communication strategy is also to coordinate with the council office as well as working with the school districts and some of the different teams that are associated with that. >> Kitchen: If you can just give us an idea of the steps in the process. You may not know the exact time frame. >> Certainly, Richard Mendoza director of public works. We are taking a two-phased approach to the safe routes to school. As you recall, the overall program is $27.5 million and has to be evenly distributed amongst the 10 council districts. In that this program has never had a capital program before. The program has basically been education, school crossing guards. We're going to put together an rfq to develop a capital program. We believe there's at least about $4 million worth of safe routes to school work that we can get in a first starts program and over the months of the tail end of February, in March, we're going to be meeting individually 1st with the vertical teams of the school and our goal is to have that $1 million started this summer as -- $4 million started after we have gotten all of the engaged process and input and simultaneously be moved forward with that rfq to do the long term plan. >> Kitchen: When we're talking about safe routes to school, it's sidewalks, could be bike routes, too. >> It could be. Could be sidewalks, into be intersection enhancements. If there are any signalized improvements, like [3:21:01 PM] pedestrian hybrid beacons, we're going to work together with the transportation department to move forward in that program. >> Kitchen: Okay. I was thinking that the program is broad enough, that the basic concept behind is getting the kids to school in a safe way. >> Yes. >> Kitchen: Whether they're being dropped off or riding a bike or whether they're walking. >> Right, we're very excited about this program. We believe this is the highest funded safe routes to school program in the nation and we are setting the stage for this. >> Kitchen: Okay. Then I had one last question related to that. So the public engagement aspect of it, so -- so you talked about talking with the councilmembers and talking with the vertical teams. Then I'm sorry, was there a public engagement beyond that or what was what you were thinking of. >> We'll be working closely with the corporate office to make sure this is incorporated into the overall education plan. I believe that is being developed now as well. >> Kitchen: Okay. All right. I have a few other questions. Does anybody else have any questions? >> Okay. I want to talk about the metrics, to help us understand what you all are looking at now in terms of the metrics for the corridor program. I'm particularly interested in the affordable housing aspect of it. So preservation of affordable housing, looking at, you know, the other aspects. It says preservation of existing affordable housing, opportunities for development of new affordable housing, along the corridors, the use of community land trust, tax increment financed zone, smart housing, et cetera. The homestead preservation Zones tools, all of those tools. So I know that you are not final yet, but we're getting close to the end of February and so I'm just curious about what you guys are thinking in terms of attaching metrics to this -- to those -- to the [3:23:01 PM] affordable housing aspect of this. >> Yeah, absolutely. Well the answer is yes we will be attaching metrics to those, we're actually starting to think through those right now. The work will also hit another gear when we start bringing on the corridor consultant. One of the first phases they will do is working through the prioritization criteria, looking at what metrics would we use, how would we use such information to then kind of prioritize what improvements, what projects that we would look at. So we are starting those conversations with various departments, for example, we've had some initial meetings within acd to talk about, what metrics might make sense, we are also talking with departments like economic development, also in that regard. And so we are starting that initial work. And then we are hoping to have as much information as possible to kind of hit that next phase with the corridor consultant to work with us on putting that together to kind of setting a baseline of information of metrics and then how would we kind of measure that over time and then actually see what would occur, what would those look like after all of the improvements are done. At the end of the day, what do we get? That's the question, then what are the appropriate metrics to use to say did we achieve some of those outcomes that we are trying to achieve with the bond program. We are working through that right now. Definitely we've got a ways to go, but I think also bringing the corridor consultant as well we will work through that a little bit more. I anticipate we will come to the council and brief you on some of the prioritization criteria. We also have an opportunity at that point to talk to you a little bit more about the metrics kind of what is shaking up for the data that we are seeing using the metrics, baseline, a lot of this stuff that we will be doing with the corridor program. >> Kitchen: So am I I understanding correctly that, I think the thinking was that y'all are going to put this whole package together and it will include the metrics before we start any kind of construction. Is that right? >> That's right. Yeah. So we are anticipating putting together the metrics, putting kind of the whole package together where you would have the metrics, you would have the prioritization criteria, opportunities for input from the community about what's important, what are priorities and then pull that altogether, including looking at the realities of [3:25:03 PM] just getting work done, you know, with a lot of these types of improvements, you have to work at -- look at work sequencing, you don't want to negatively impact businesses or traffic or anything like that at the same time across all of these corridors, we have to look at how we're going to sequence work, looking at utilities. Realities just getting capital improvements done will factor in that as well. That will all be a part of the analysis that goes into the proposed corridor construction program. >> Kitchen: Okay. All right and -- okay. Let's see. Talk to me some about the local businesses. What's -- what kind of conversations are you all having about the impact on local businesses? That. >> That's a good question. We know that was already kind of a key area of concern is the impacts on local businesses: So we definitely have taken that to heart. We are already looking at with our communication strategy and when we're going to be working with the corridor consultant who will also be helping us with that having dedicated resources to do outreach in a lot of these key corridors as we move forward. Particularly doing outreach with businesses and neighborhood who are going to be impacted by a lot of this work, but hopefully will benefit from a lot of these improvement. So we are looking at having focused outreach and engagement. Honestly just regular interaction and communication about what's going on. I think that's one of the biggest things that we're thinking about with the communication strategy, just keeping everybody updated, apprised where we're at, what's going on, getting honest feedback about what are concerns, issues, how can we best deal with those, best mitigate those as we move forward with the work. >> Kitchen: Okay, go ahead. No, no, you go ahead. >> Hi, I was wondering if you could speak a little bit to the council oversight mechanisms a little bit more, I'm curious to learn more about where your thinking is headed with that so we can be most helpful. >> Sure. And we'll bring back again a robust plan February 28th so we will be able to give you more insight into the plan, obviously you will probably have more questions [3:27:05 PM] and feedback on it. We definitely know that council needs to be regularly engaged and plugged into the implementation aspect of this. I think in addition to having regular points where we would come back and brief you either as the mobility committee or full council, also provide reports, information, data on what's going on. We anticipate developing robust reporting mechanisms for the community in general, but then also providing robust information for council and your offices, too, so you can know what's going on in your districts, for example, at any given point in time there's going to be a big mix of things going on. We definitely know that. We know you are going to want to know what's going on. Where things are at. You are going to get questions from your constituents. Keeping that in mind as we are trying to figure out how best to develop the communications aspect. Making sure that we are keeping you informed and briefed up on where we're at, then also providing robust information to you and your constituents as well. >> Alter: Will there be any votes -- >> I would anticipate with the program as stipulated in the resolution contract with the voters, that was one of the stipulations we were supposed to bring back a proposed corridor construction program. As me and the councilmember were talking about, as we are developing, we knew that there's not enough funding to do all of the improvements in all of those corridor studies that were done. We're going to come back with a prioritized list based on the funding that we have, metrics that we're supposed to achieve, priorities, this is what we're proposing as the mix of improvements to do as part of the corridor construction program. That will be brought back to council for approval so we can move forward to the next phase, more the design and construction of those projects and actually getting those done. >> I'm curious if any of my colleagues had thoughts about things that would be good additions to the oversight process that might be good to put on the table now as well. >> Kitchen: Anybody want to add anything? Yeah, that was a good [3:29:08 PM] question. One aspect of it is, as you said, the concept was that you would bring forward the basically the implementation plan which includes which roads with which improvements on which dates, you know, and that those were all supported by the metrics, you know, that we identified to help set priorities, because it's really all about how to set the priorities because as you said we can't do it all at once, you know. It's also going to be challenging to do it within that years. That's a key approval point. I think what is going to be important, at least from my perspective, what's going to be important is to really understand those metrics because obviously these criteria they're not black and white. Were asking you guys to do a tough job, to figure out how to put metric on some of these criteria. It's going to be a balancing act. From with my perspective, the oversight process I think will involve coming back to us with the implementation plan for the council to approve, but then I think as much as we try to get that in black and white, there's going to be gray areas, you know, in terms of how it's rolled out. So I think that we're going to need to set a regular review process. As you said. And also a regular input process so that we can be helpful. Along the way. You know, I think about the small businesses for example. A lot of the small businesses, at least the ones along south Lamar, I'm sure other ones also are very concerned. They have questions about how construction will be rolled out in a way that doesn't kill their business. Also how things like curb cuts will be dealt with because there's lots of concerns about what that will mean for their [3:31:09 PM] business. These are all -- there's a lot of -- when you get down to the specifics of the actual corridor plans and what might happen along a corridor and how that impacts people along that corridor, I think that it's going to be -- I think it will be helpful for the council to be really hand in hand with you guys as it's rolled. I know that you are very adept at that, I really appreciate the work that you did before we even got to the bond your team, you know. To answer your question, I think that we need -- a regular way of engaging on a regular basis for the full council as well as the councilmembers when things are going on in their district, it's going to be critical. Did you want to say something? >> Mayor Adler: No, I think that's real important, too. I think -- we talked about that during the process and assured the public. That will also give the public the opportunity to be able to be kept informed as well. To see those reportings coming back to us, but I'm also anxious to see the implementation plan, which I think is intended to speak to this and include things like dash boards that would be up so at any time point in time people could see the progress, not only what we said we were going to do in the period of time, is it costing what we thought it would cost when we budgeted it so people could keep track of where we are in the expenditure of funds. That's going to be part of the presentation we get on the 28th, those kinds of things. >> We're going to type about those types of things that we're going to be doing. We have been talking about exactly those types of things, how can we best put out robust information about the work that's being done, projects, phases, where they're at, what are some of those next things that are going to be happening, dashboards that people can access. That is going to be a part of our robust communication strategy in general for the bond program. Even particularly for the corridors, I think we're going to have each program has its own nuances, but [3:33:15 PM] here what's going on in this corridor at this time, having ways that people can engage and having points of contact, people that can really be on the ground to work with businesses, neighborhoods, other folks around the community that are being impacted by the work. >> Mayor Adler: Sounds good. While I have that, I think it's real important to come back with the metrics, when you lay out that plan. As you go through those characteristics, these are all real important things to do, but as you presented in your presentation, you know, there were three that were listed as priorities. The other ones were additional allowances but they were subject to those three priorities, that's how we explained it to the upon, I think that's real important to be mindful of. Then the last question that I have is at this point in time, we recognize getting all of this work done in eight years will require different operations or procedures or staffing or consultant work or whatever. Do you all still remain committed to getting this done in eight years? >> That's another thing. So in addition to breaking out the ordinance in the contract with the voters pretty much every meeting, every meeting we ask ourselves how can we do this differently, how can we do it in an accelerated expedited manner. I can assure you from the staff side we have been really focused on that. We got that slittation out two days after the election, turning it out in three or four weeks that's accelerated. We are trying to accelerate already, we are going to be looking for more opportunities as we move forward. One of the things that I do want to mention, too, particularly in services for the corridor consultant that we're going to be hiring, is to look at opportunities and best practices way to accelerate delivery, good ways to package projects that we're going to be doing. We are going to be looking at that, we will be talking to you about that briefing you on that as well as [3:35:17 PM] what's coming out of that as far as here's some things that we learned, recommendations, things that we feel like we can make a part of this expedited process to try to meet that goal. >> Mayor Adler: The answer to [indiscernible] I think it was implied in your answer, but your answer to still getting this done in eight years from you would be the same -- >> That's our goal. >> Mayor Adler: Answer that I got from Mr. Good and rob spiller as well as the new public works director that we're going to get this done in eight years. >> Absolutely, that's our goal, we're working towards that. >> Mayor Adler: Thank you. >> Kitchen: Okay. >> Renteria: Yes. I am wondering if you could give me some feedback. Doesn't have to be today. I put in I believe it was $400,000 of my quarter cents capital metro for Riverside on the bike trail to make it safe. I don't know where -- how you are handling that. Do you still need the 400,000 or are you going to delay the whole project of that $400,000 study or whatever you were going to do with that? And is that the bond, are you going to wait until the bond -- until you get the schedule to spend that money at that time? I just wanted to find out. >> That's a good question, councilmember, because I mean it's not just some of the quarter cent projects, but also other things that are happening in the corridors that we have to take into account that are not part of the bond program. So if we can come back and talk to you more specifically about that project that's on Riverside, I'm aware of it and we are looking at how that kind of factors in so we can talk to you more about that, but that is something that we are doing now as well is looking at what are some of the other projects, improvements, that are already slated for these corridors and also making sure that we are coordinated, also, in working with your offices but also talking to the community about some of that as well. For example we had 2012 bond funding for north Lamar and [3:37:17 PM] burnet, we've been working with the community on maybe doing near term, immediate safety improvement, but we have to factor some of those improvements into the corridor construction program. We may have to coordinate some of the other projects as well, we are looking at what we can move forward on, also making sure that we hold the contract with the voters of trying to come back with a more robust program. What we will bring back to you, though, other things that are happening, things that need to be coordinated with that set of improvements are going to be happening in each corridor. The other thing that we don't want to do is go out and make improvements in the corridor and have to tear those things out because we came back with a proposal for a complete street segment and some other improvement that might impact that improvement that we are making in the near term. Again that's why we want to be coordinated with how we're doing these recommendations, developing this program. That will be a part of those considerations as well. >> Renteria: Also, when are you -- do you have the money for the trails? I mean I know there was a -- part of the bond money was for trails. Have you identified that? I have a couple of trails I'm going to try to see if we can study them if there's enough money to complete them. We have trails out there that are not connected. They are just by themselves out there. It wouldn't take very much to connect it with the rest of the major trails that we have already on the books. So how can I get that information? >> So we're going to be bringing that information back to you on February 28th. So we're going to be bringing some pretty robust information about each of the programs in the bond program and then those priority projects that are anticipated moving forward, particularly in the year one, but also looking beyond that. You will receive more information at that briefing and as backup we'll also have a report basically that will provide some of that information as well. >> Renteria: Thank you. >> I was hoping that you could speak a little bit to the time table for 360 in [3:39:18 PM] addition to what you've noted here in terms of successes, I understand there's been a lot of movement in that regard. And I'm particularly interested in seeing that process moved forward as quickly as possible. >> That's a good question, I'm going to see if anybody from transportation or my regional program can answer. Rob, do you want to take that one? >> My name is Robert spiller, Austin transportation department. The 360 project, councilmember, is part of our regional cooperation dollars. So we are already working with txdot. As part of our presentation we will be presenting a schedule for those investments. Since we have another partner there, they need the money, at specific times. So you will see that in our future presentation. I will tell you that -- that txdot is going to the mpo, metropolitan planning organization is bringing another $200 million to the 360 corridor to make improvements throughout that corridor. Largely because the city stepped up and made our first $46 million pledge. I think that's correct. Yes, I think that's correct. The numbers are off the top of my head. So I think that shows how we can leverage projects overall. But what you should expect to see when we present that regional investments the way, especially with 360, the way the city is seeing it, we are an investor that we are in a sense going to write a check to txdot as part of funding for a larger project. Those projects need to go through design, environmental and then obviously construction. So it may be a couple of years before you see some of that construction, but [3:41:18 PM] that's still very quick compared to the previous 15 or 20 year timeline. >> So to the extent that my office can help facilitate some of those meetings with neighbors around 360, please call on us. I know people are very excited to have some relief over at 360 and do have certain concerns and questions that sooner that we can begin to answer some of them, the more at least I think they'll be about -- about where we're headed. >> We will certainly, councilmember, pass that on to txdot since they will be doing the majority of the public involvement with regards to 360. But I believe you are correct. I believe a lot of citizens are very excited about finally some improvements. >> Alter: Thank you. >> Kitchen: Okay. Let's see, I have just a few more questions. On the -- just to make sure that I'm understanding. So the consultant that -- is the scope of work of the consultant -- I think that I heard you say this, I just want to confirm. The scope of work of the consultant includes providing information or feedback or analysis or something related to the metrics, is that right? Will that be advising you on the metrics? >> Right, so that is a part of the -- really kind of the phase one work that's in the scope of services, this whole development of the prioritization and including the prioritization model, which includes looking at the outcomes, which include looking at metrics, gathering information that we have, having discussion with departments, that will all kind of go into that first phase of work that they are doing. So their job one as they come on board is really to kind of focus on developing those corridor construction program, but they will also, this is important to note, too, they will also be helping us to develop small minority business outreach plan and they are helping us to implement that, communication plan as well for the corridor program, then again with the opportunities for accelerated capital delivery on projects during that analysis as well. >> Kitchen: Okay. Y'all are working very fast, so I'm not trying to push [3:43:19 PM] you faster. I'm just trying to understand. You know? So -- so at the end of February when you come back and brief the full council, you will be providing us a construction implementation plan. And in which order, right? You will apply the metrics to that, is that right or am I ready of the game there? >> Not really. So [laughter] Let me talk about -- let me separate a few things out so I'm not confusing you, let's take the corridor program. Council resolution, need to bring back a corridor construction program. The corridor consultant is going to come on, we hope in March. We anticipate coming back to you, about nine or 10 months, we would anticipate coming back to you with that program probably around this time next year. I mean realistically. >> Kitchen: Okay. I the thought it was too fast. >> We can't move that fast. >> Kitchen: That's fine. >> Whew! >> Kitchen: Didn't want to give you a heart attack there. >> I should have said yes we're bringing it back in February [laughter]. >> Kitchen: I just want to be clear so everybody understands what to expect. Go ahead. >> What we will be bringing back to you February 28th again it's really going to be the -- for some of the local mobility programs we'll really get more into those ongoing programs, we'll talk about more kind of those projects in the first year, sidewalk program. >> Kitchen: Okay. >> Trails program, bike program. We'll be talking about some of those immediate priorities because some of those things, again these are ongoing programs, so we know we can move a little bit faster on some of these, but providing you information on that as well as the implementation strategy overall for all of the programs. So I'll come back and talk to you about the corridor program and I'll lay out more of those milestones for corridor consultant, doing the analysis, development, I will lay all of that out for you on February 28th. >> Kitchen: Okay. When you come back, when you talk about the ongoing programs, those are the ones that fall in that third bucket. So that includes the not only safe routes to schools, [3:45:20 PM] but also the substandard streets and capital renewal? >> Right. >> Kitchen: That bucket, that third bucket because that's an ongoing program you will be able to -- do you think that you will be able to give us the prioritization for those streets? At that time? >> Yeah, we're going to come back and talk to you about the prioritization processes for both of those processes, what we went through to get to those top priority projects, we will talk to you about those priority projects for like we have like I said for year one we put together at this point in time. What I would anticipate is doing some periodic update to council as we have that next traunche of projects to move on. Do a periodic update on here's the next set, here's the next set, do that kind of regular update for council as well as we move forward in the program. >> Kitchen: I'm going to repeat back. At the end of February you will be coming back to us with the oversight program, which we talked about a few minutes ago that's, you know, what's that process, oversight process. You will be coming back to us with an implementation plan related to that third bucket, which is our ongoing projects related to safe routes to schools, the urban trails, bikeways, the substandard roads. So you come back with that. Then in terms of the corridor bucket, which was the second bucket, that will be more of letting us know where you are in the process, letting us know what your thinking is at that time on the metrics, although you don't necessarily expect to have the metrics nailed down by then. >> Right, we won't have them nailed down but we can talk to you more about how that process will unfold over the next several months. >> Kitchen: Okay. Then with regard to the first bucket, which is the regional ones -- >> We will give you an update on where those are as well. A lot of those are standalone projects, each are at different phases, rob just spoke to where the 360 is, Anderson mill is a different point. Again launching on the plumbing engineering report for that one. We will talk to you where [3:47:20 PM] each of those are at as well and the process for each of those. >> Kitchen: Okay. In terms of what we'll be voting on, we'll be voting on the council oversight process at that time, also the prioritization around the third bucket, because you will be bringing us implementation plan and prioritization, safe routes to schools, trails, bikes, in terms of the corridor construction program, we won't be timely yet to vote on the order of that because that will still be under development. >> Right. We'll be really just starting development on that. >> Kitchen: All right. Last question that I have then, I just want to understand the timing on the corridor planning process because what we had said was that you would go ahead with the preliminary engineering and design as the construction, it's before construction starts that you will be coming back to us with the construction plan. So what is the timing for all of those? Are those -- everything started? When is everything going to be started for each one of those I forget the number of them, because we had to do updates, you have to do updates on the ones that already have plans. And then you've got the new ones. Where you have to do the corridor planning. So when -- I'll get more specific from my perspective. When does the corridor planning start on William cannon and slaughter? >> So the planning, those are a couple of preliminary engineering reports that were actually doing what we call early out. We're working on those right now. We went to an existing rotation list, actually getting assignments for consultants to help us to move forward on those. That's why I mentioned we anticipate those launching sometime in February. So we're just finalizing, you know, kind of the scope to get them moving. So those will be moving forward because we know those need to be factored into the development of the program. Those next set, that's what's on the street right [3:49:21 PM] now -- >> Okay. >> We are going to be be looking, some of them done in 2011, different times, to help us with the current information, other information to make sure that we have all of the updated information to do that analysis for the corridor construction. >> Kitchen: The reason that I wanted to nail that down is because the corridor planning process is an intensive public input process. As you all know. And so -- so for those of us that -- that have William cannon and slaughter in our districts, I think that we'll want to stay on top of that. You know, planning process, so that at the point that you launch it to the public, you know, we've already had our conversations with you and we understand how that's going to happen and we can help you with it. >> Sure. >> Kitchen: Okay, all right. I didn't have any further questions to -- does anyone else have -- okay. Thank you very much. I know that, you know, I don't know if you -- when you started, I don't know if you explained to people what your role is. So maybe you should tell people. >> Yeah, sure. So I'm now the head of this new office, the corridor program implementation office. Job one for me is to get the corridor program completed as articulated by council and the resolution of the contract with the voters and the ordinance and then also what was approved by the voters. So that's really my job one. I'm also helping to do the coordination along and I'm supporting Robert good really in that for the implementation of the full 720 million-dollar bond program. We have an executive team that kind of meets weekly, so we are staying very plugged into this, but folks from public works and transportation and Robert good is on that as well. So that's kind of a group of us that are working on kind of overseeing the implementation of it. But we're trying to stay as coordinated as we can across all of the programs. >> Kitchen: Thank you for taking that on. Thank you to your whole team. >> I have to give kudos, there's been a lot of work done by a lot of amazing people at the city across [3:51:22 PM] all of the departments. They definitely deserve a lot of kudos moving forward. >> Kitchen: Okay. So we will move on to the next item. The next item is the briefing from atd -- [multiple voices] >> [Indiscernible]. >> Alter: With so much moving around of staff because of this mobility bond, I've heard - - I don't know if -- if it's been harder for transportation to be as responsive and public works because there's so much working committed to this. I'm wondering if there's a plan in place -- many of our roads are not included in the mobility bond, people still have concerns about those, still want their questions answered. [Garza]. What is the best way for councilmembers to get responses from staff that if it's a road that's not part of the mobility bond? >> Yeah. I will see if transportation or public works wants to respond to that as well. I will tell you right now, we understand it's a lot of work, we definitely are cognizant of that, we talked about that quite a bit. One of the things that we communicated to council as well we may need to come back to you for additional resources. We anticipate coming back to council with the next budget amendment in April, that may include staffing resources that might be required to get this work done but also make sure that we are addressing the other projects and programs that the departments have. Also, I will note that it's part of the corridor consultant's scope to provide staff augmentation where it might be needed. As we move forward in the implementation. So we are looking at those needs and more to follow. But begin -- >> [Indiscernible] >> Garza: I know you all are going to speak. I want to point out one of my biggest concerns, I abstained from putting this on the November ballot. There did seem a certain group of stakeholders that brought this forward and it's kind of a situation where I now feel like there's still roads that aren't, you know, in the condition that they should be in and they're not in the mobility bond and now we're in almost in a situation where they're going to get [3:53:22 PM] pushed further down the priority list because there is so much priority in getting this project implemented so quickly. I just want the public to have -- feel comfortable that, you know, while your road might not be on this, it still matters, we want to hear your concerns, of course safety should be number one regardless of whether it was included in this bond package or not. >> Yes, councilmember. Robert spiller, I can speak for transportation and Richard here can speak for public works. You're right, we've been charged with keeping the lights on as well as deploying this new bond. So at least from transportation, as I dedicate experienced staff to do these very focused bond programs, I will be coming back in April as part of our discussion to backfill those positions sooner than later. We are also looking at innovative contracting methods to add staff, consultant staff to help us keep our primary focus on safety and mobility going. I would encourage citizens to continue to pursue my staff and through 311 and certainly we would be responsive to councilmembers but we are slammed right now. Sort of the perfect storm between development activities and the bond and keeping the signals running. We are challenged right now. >> Thank you, councilmember. Excellent question. And I've been here a whole two and a half weeks. But I can reassure you that public works is intent on maintaining current service levels. Our operations roads and bridges crew that responds to 311 calls for pothole requests and any other issues within the roadway, are still fully resourced within our operating budget and look forward to continuing their responsiveness and service. We have a service plan for our pavement management [3:55:23 PM] system of which we go out and apply various treatments to our roadways to ensure that we preserve this added investment that we're making. And those programs will continue. Aggressively, as they have in the past. I'm looking take murder to working with all of you as we move forward not only with executing on the bond, but also our day-to-day operations as well. And also working with my partner departments. [Multiple voices] >> Councilmember, if you have road projects, I know some of those road projects that you're talking about, we are always in a planning mode for the next funding opportunity and so it is never too soon to start having those conversations. With our staff. >> Garza: Okay. Just, you know, we've heard projections that this budget will be harder than previous two and so I guess that I would ask to come up with a contingency plan if for some reason we aren't able to fund additional positions, it's still important that we prioritize safety in all of our streets, regardless of their, you know, involvement in this bond. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you for mentioning safety, too. You know when I was talking about that third bucket of funds that you are going to bring us back information about implementing, there is a -- there is a section of those funds, the 15 million related to fatality reduction and the top crash locations. So it will be important to prioritize those, too, I don't have the list in front of me but that will be important. >> Absolutely. >> Kitchen: Okay. All right. Let's move on to the next item, which is the asmp, Austin strategic mobility plan. You're going to give us an update. >> Thank you, good afternoon, councilmembers, my name is unique bodet, over systems development and transportation. We oversee transportation and project planning development. I'm here today to give you a [3:57:24 PM] briefing on the Austin strategic mobility plan with a focus to, one, recommending councilmember Flannigan and councilmember alter to the mobility committee and introducing you to this plan, that's the main focus, the second part is just touting planning and having the opportunity at any chance that I can get in a public setting to talk about this planning process that is really exciting and as we move through the timeline, which is about a year, I will go into that, we're going to have touch points with the community. So any opportunity to have, to talk publicly about those touch points I appreciate. So thank you for having me. Why do we need a new mobility plan? First and foremost, really two reasons. First and foremost, we have a new comprehensive plan, imagine Austin, that has set a new transportation vision in 2012 when it was adopted for the city. That is for Austin to be mobile and interconnected. The second reason is because our current plan is outdated. It hasn't been updated since 1995, there's been a few minor updates, but not a major update, so now is the time because we do have a new comprehensive plan and a vision for what our transportation network should be. So the strategic mobility plan will replace the Austin metropolitan area transportation plan, known as the amatp and it will cover a 10 plus year time frame. It will update and define our transportation needs. And I'm going to talk a little bit in more detail about how we're going to do that. That will allow us to take advantage of funding opportunities as they arise. Most importantly, it will pull multiple mobility programs into an integrated approach to planning. So many cities across the country, from la to Seattle to DC, and Tucson, oops, advancing on its own, I apologize, I need to talk faster. Have all just recently completed transportation plans or have plans in the works. And one main theme is that they are integrated complete [3:59:24 PM] streets, multi-modal. They are balancing modes so you have complementary systems not competing systems. That's really we will develop programs and metrics needed to create a safe and efficient transportation network. We'll talk a little bit in detail about how we're going to do. So, where will this plan live? This plan will live in a suite of master plans that exist in the city that are attached to the ordinance. So imagine Austin is the 100,000 foot view. The water shed master plan, the housing master plan, the urban forest master plan are all deep dives into those infrastructure needs that help guide the department in their work and programming projects and metrics, etc. So this will be living with those other plans. So how are we going to approach creating this plan? We're going to look at three transportation needs, which are moving through Austin, long trips in and around Austin, in and out of the core, and that's the 360-183 core, but also looking at the ring of congestion in the downtown. And then circulation within activity centers, as per imagine Austin, and neighborhoods. So we'll be modelling three scenarios with our consultant, and then taking the best of how to achieve those and prioritizing and creating a preferred scenario. As we look at the preferred scenario, we'll be looking through the lens of multiple considerations, so not unlike what you all laid out with the bond, right? We want to continue to look at transportation as not just getting from a to B as fast as you can, but considering what happens in between. Things like health and safety. Economic prosperity, travel choice, and place making. [4:01:29 PM] The final plan will have policies, program recommendations and future capital projects that help us get towards our scenario. So our city will be here for a long time. We need to keep planning in the vision of imagine Austin for what our next round of transportation investments should be. So as I said before, the plan will be presented to city council for adoption and it will contain a coordinated strategy. So, examples of policies that will be addressed, so things like transit policy. The plans that I just mentioned, cities that I just mentioned who have just updated their transportation plan, L.A. Is a good example. They have separate transit authorities and city transportation departments similar to our model, and they coordinated to integrate the policies adopted in their transit plans into the city plan. So where it makes sense, there's got to be a conversation, and so that's one example of where our current transportation plan doesn't include transit policy. It says something like transit is good for the city. It's very broad. So we're going to deep dive and look at connections 2025, which is capital metro's plan, and not sure if it's adopted yet. Perhaps. Parking the downtown Austin alliance is looking at curbside use and being more efficient with curbside use and how parking strategy also definitely is a transportation demand management tool, and can help with congestion, if you do parking, so we'll be looking to that plan to help us with tools to help us support our preferred scenario that has been vetted through that process. [4:03:31 PM] What other policies can be put on the books with regards to employees. We talked a lot about in the last presentation the supply side and what we need to do to our roads, but what else can we do on the demand side, which has been shown to be the cheapest and probably most effective way to manage traffic in the long run. And then setting a mode share goal for the city. For example, San Francisco. We're not San Francisco, but in their recent transportation plan, they set a 50/50 goal for their transportation network, which is 50% drive-alone vehicles and 50% all other, so lots of choices there. They have more robust transit in San Francisco, but just to give you an idea, when you start combining the use of transit and bicycles and walking and a that type of thing, you can get a larger number. For San Francisco, they felt like 50/50 was ambitious, yet realistic. Don't know what the number will be for Austin, but we don't have that right now as something to strive for when we think about our decision- making. So those are just some examples of some policies. It's important to note that along with the policies and strategies in the text, that the current transportation plan has a roadway table that sets future right of way widths, and that is a very important tool that we need to have that relates to codenext. I'm going to speak to that in a second. Our current table needs to be modernized. And our current table doesn't include every street in Austin. It's just what we call offer thoroughfares or our arterial roadways. So with the strategic mobility plan, we are updating our table to have right of way widths and priorities to include all streets, so again going back to that having complementary mode priorities and not competing mode priorities, and in some cases, the right of way requirements may get bigger, and in some cases, they may get smaller. It just depends. We know more now than we did in 1995 when our plan was adopted with regards to wide streets and safety and what are our needs for protective bike lanes versus painted bike lanes. They all have different [4:05:31 PM] dimension requirements, and so we're looking at it very technically at those and to update the right of way table. So what does this mean? Currently, in the code, right of way dedication in the development process is done through development services and relies on that table. And so with codenext, that is carrying over in codenext. That requirement is still there. Our department did extensive review on the transportation chapter, and that requirement is still there and it's a tool we definitely rely on for implementation strategies for our transportation plans. So the street network table will be part of the Austin strategic mobility plan, will be presented to you all for adoption. It will be referenced in codenext, so when that transition happens to codenext, you know, the timing, it will rely on the older network table until such time as the mobility plan is adopted or if the mobility plan is adopted, vice versa. And then, we are also working on a street impact fee program right now, the technical work that's required by the local government code in order to bring a street impact policy to council for consideration. And it relies on a capital plan based on roadway capacity improvements. Only capacity-related improvements. And so the street network table is going to help us identify those capacity improvements that will then go into a separate capital plan related only to the street and taxi program. So lots of moving parts that are all related and start with the strategic mobility plan. So we're not starting from the top with regards to understanding what our needs are. We're building on where we've been. We're building on imagine Austin and the public processes and the input and all the input points that we had with imagine Austin. We're looking at the public input and the adopted plans that just happen, the bicycle master plan was just updated recently, 2014, as was the sidewalk master plan, new urban trails plan was adopted in 2014. We now have a vision zero action plan. I mentioned cap metro's service [4:07:33 PM] plan is just updated. So we're not starting from the top. We want to just synthesize all this information and validate it with the community and get to work with our scenarios. We just really want to go straight to scenarios which then we will present to the public and let them look at it and say where should we tweak, how can we further refine? So we started with mobility talks, and when that resolution was passed in -- looks like February of last year, we did present it as being the first launch of input to also updating the transportation plan. It certainly informed the bond development, but it was also a precursor to our strategic mobility plan development. What you see around that effort are traditional and non-traditional ways that we will engage the community. We want to focus on historically underrepresented communities with regards to where we might need some additional information. So one thing I'm really excited about is engaging with our quality of life initiatives, and really understanding how we can reach historically underserved and underengaged, quite frankly, communities in transportation planning. Town hall meetings, we'll be reaching out to you all shortly on how you all might help us reach our community with specific input points, and we want to have specific asks for your community. We don't want to just say what is it. There could be questions, what is it that you want or need, but we're going to try to get more pointed to make it easy for your constituents to give us feedback. One thing that's really exciting in the survey area is that the health planning is going on right now, the health department is doing an update to their five-year health assessment, and they're focused also on the same communities, and so we are cross-coordinating to get questions, and they have some very specific household survey techniques that they're doing that are tried and true through health planning, and so we're really excited about coordinating with them. So, work sessions. [4:09:33 PM] We have a big kickoff on March 4th. We have a project website. We have an advisory committee that we're sharing with project connect, and we'll talk about that in a second. It's a robust committee of about 60 people. So, let's talk about our integration with project connect. Capital metro is also embarking right now on a huge planning project related to high capacity transit, which is one system in the entire network. We have our bike system, we have pedestrian system, our motor vehicle system, and high capacity transit is just one. And so it's very important that this plan and that plan be coordinated, first and foremost because we don't want to fatigue the community, which is why we decided to share the advisory committee, because these are all the same thought leaders in the community that need to advise on both plans, and we don't want them having to go to two meetings every month, because we're on the same timeline. It's fantastic that we're on the same timeline, because I see it as the strategic mobility plan is creating a puzzle of all of our systems, and project connect is a puzzle piece that needs to fit in, and if we do it together, we can best fit it in so that we're balanced, so that there's something for everybody in the plan. So that process is going on, and it will be on the same timeline to finish in about a year or so. So everything's in about a year. We are aware the Orange star is, so we're very early in the process, and we have our advisory meetings strewn throughout the year. We'll have our public launch, which I'm going to talk about, March 4th. And other outreach options throughout the year. We are working on a draft public engagement plan right now, and after our departmental review, we hope to be able to share it with you all for input before we finalize it. And with that, I'll stop, and answer any questions, and keep [4:11:34 PM] this on the screen, which is a kickoff of project connect and the Austin strategic mobility plan on March 4th. That is a Saturday. And we'll have lots of activities. It's a mobility fair of sorts, but we'll have activities. It will be child-friendly, and activities meant to also gain information on some specifics we need for the planning process. But generally, also giving information to the public about transportation. Thank you. >> Kitchen: Thank you. That was a great presentation. Very clear to help us understand. So, thank you. I think we probably also have some questions. >> Flannigan: I am also concerned about public fatigue. It seems like this is another public engagement for this year on top of a very robust codenext public engagement process the community is about to begin. So what is it that you're hoping to learn from the community in this process that we haven't already learned? >> Good question. We are hoping to focus on those underrepresented communities, and looking at how transportation can fulfill those other needs, such as public health, such as affordability, to really focus on access. So what does it mean to provide access to the community? So really looking at questions we can ask, and any holes in the data that we have. But you're right, we're not going to go out to the community and ask what is needed or what they want, because we've done that. In the last two years -- I would argue in the last ten years, we've done a lot of that, and a lot of it is still valid. So we'll be validating themes and validating core values that should be driving this plan. That's really what we're asking. It won't be -- I hate to say this, it won't be robust. It will be where we need to validate and with the certain [4:13:35 PM] communities that we feel haven't had a voice in creating those themes. Does that make sense? >> Flannigan: Yeah. I think I'm a little concerned about the combination of the two things you just said, that the intent of this public input process is to reach out to communities that haven't had a voice, but that all you're doing is validating. If they haven't had a voice, then maybe we need to be listening. >> Well, sure -- >> Flannigan: And I don't want to parse your words. I get that. >> No, it's confusing. >> Flannigan: Because that was a concern during the mobility bond, that there were projects that this suite of projects represented an incomplete public input process, and then that on top of concerns that we're already having about, if we're a year out before corridor plans, then when do we get to the rest of the plans. I have found that the community is suspect of many public input processes, because it does feel like just validating an existing objective, as opposed to proactively asking the community, which I think we did a lot of on mobility. I think we did a lot of good public input on mobility with some exceptions, but it just seems very confusing to me, and I think it will be confusing to the community to go through a whole other round of public input when we just passed a bond. They're looking for implementation. They're not looking to talk about this anymore, I'm assuming. >> Right. And so from a technical perspective, we definitely need to update our plans so that eight years from now, we know where we need to go, and we're not scratching our head, right? So that's more -- that's harder for the public to understand than it is for the professionals to understand, but you're exactly right. Let me try to say it another way. We're going to focus our public engagement on historically underrepresented communities using questions and methods that are already happening through other processes, through health planning is the key coordination that we're going to be doing. They're doing focus groups, they're doing interviews, they're doing surveys. [4:15:36 PM] And so we'll be hitting -- being able to speak with those communities through a process that's already happening, because there's such a strong link between public health and transportation. We will use that information to inform our themes and our core values and the things that we're looking at as we do our scenario planning, so we are allowing ourselves the room to pivot and not just validate what we heard from the last two years or the last ten years. There's both going on. >> Kitchen: I would suggest also that the drilldown that you're talking about is things that we didn't cover in the mobility talks in any great level of detail. Affordability in particular. And particularly for underserved communities is that -- well, let me just -- that whole idea of having a range of options and having affordable options, and drilling down to the communities that can really give us some good feedback on that would be very helpful, I think. Because we didn't get to that level of conversation in mobility talks. First off, mobility talks was a short time period. It was a pretty confined time period. And we got some really good information, but I didn't feel like we -- you know, we didn't reach the whole community, which is difficult to do. We didn't reach the whole community, but we also didn't drill down on some of those key things. So I think we -- I think you're right, council member Flannigan, in terms that we've got to be careful that the public understands what we're doing here. So that it's not just, oh, now they're asking me again? For what purpose? What's an asmp anyway? That kind of stuff. So there needs some clarity. But I personally would really like to have a better understanding of the community's thinking about what would be [4:17:36 PM] affordable for them, and then that's all overlaid by the concept of having choices for people in how they get around is really one of the routes to get us to affordability. So anyway, I hear what you're saying, but I would just also say that I still think there's a need for input as long as we do it in a smart way, in a way that's not confusing to people. Does that make sense to you? Do you see what I'm saying? >> Flannigan: Yeah, I understand. >> Kitchen: It may be that the people you're talking with really feel like they've already -- and I'm sure some of the people in my district also feel like they've already -- they want action. So the challenge is to show them action at the same time we're getting information for the next step of planning. >> Flannigan: Yeah. I think I often struggle with the level of public input that we put on our residents, and the more we ask from them, the less likely underserved communities can show up. >> Kitchen: Yeah. >> Flannigan: Because it is a huge burden to show up to meetings. And we just did all this in mobility and we're about to put them all through this for codenext. >> Kitchen: Yeah. >> Flannigan: And for corridor implementation after that. So I'm still struggling with really understanding the point of this, and then the other half of that is, you know, as a city, we do a lot of public engagement, which is a really wonderful process, but I think there are times when the public input was in the election, and they're saying, you know, I think we should have a finger on the pulse of our community, especially in huge themes about how do you get transportation choice to reach affordability. I think that's a conversation for the dais to talk about how we prioritize projects and funding, and then in broad strokes, I think it's straight forward in more small areas I find there to be more value on the public input process around specific projects should, should the bus stop go to the left, to the right, how much curb stops, do you understand that a curb stop does X, Y, Z. [4:19:38 PM] That seems more manageable in these more microtargeted engagement processes, as opposed to another citywide, or maybe not citywide input process. So when you say underserved communities, are you talking about targeting certain geographies? >> Geographies or communities, yes. Could be either. >> Flannigan: Okay. I guess I just want more input on what that is. And I'm not saying that my district needs to be on that list, because I'm doing a bunch of my own public input on transportation in parallel to all these initiatives, but I'm really curious to make sure that we're spending our limited staff resources in the best possible way when we're also concerned about too much staff resource going to corridor plans and then other roads that aren't on the plans. I mean, there's a lot of stuff moving here and I want to make sure I really understand it. >> I would respond that going back to the more technical part of the need for this plan, which is related to identifying right of way widths, which is a key component to implementation, and it's not something that you see, so it's hard to explain to constituents, but if we don't have right of way, we're not -- it's harder to do transportation improvements, and so without the proper planning, we don't know what the future width of our roads should be. And that's the big part of this, updating that table that I talked about, and a proper planning process has to be in place to update that table. Otherwise, it's too ambiguous, and then there's legal issues with proportionalty that come with when we ask for that roadway. So a proper planning process has to be in place to adopt this plan. This plan is needed because it's related to right of way dedication that we get through the development process. >> Flannigan: And this is -- let me just say one more thing. Thank you. This isn't about we don't need to plan. That's not what I'm saying. In many ways, I feel like the mayor talks about year of affordability. I think this is the year of planning. A lot of plans all over each other all the time. But to your point about the right of way, if we are -- if you are in parallel with project [4:21:39 PM] connect, would not right of way be in parallel with codenext? >> It is in parallel with codenext with regards to form-based code, do you mean? >> Flannigan: In terms of the public engagement. So when we go out to the community for maps, which will start in April, would that not be the time to talk about right of way and roadways? >> It could be. That could be part of the conversation. >> Kitchen: So basically, you're asking about the -- we've talked about coordination with project connect, but you're asking about coordination with codenext. Good question. >> So there is quite a bit of coordination with codenext -- >> Kitchen: Well, I mean the public input part. >> Right. So we'll be trying to coordinate with -- obviously, we're doing it with project connect and it's going really well with regards to keeping meetings and touch points at a minimum, and same thing with codenext as we go into the mapping exercise. So the input that we can get from those meetings and the coordination with land use is one, but really thinking about the network as a whole is another I guess focused -- I think it would be too much to do in one meeting. But we can certainly coordinate with them to see where those touch points might be. >> Flannigan: I acknowledge that it would be a lot to do in one meeting. I had this separate conversation with the codenext folks about when we're doing these mapping meetings, are we just talking about that one neighborhood and that's what we're showing at that one meeting? Or as I said in work session the other day, are we looking at housing as a system like we look at transportation as a system? And it just seems very difficult to pull those two things apart, and at the same time, the challenge is can you do everything in one meeting? Well, this is the thing. And my concern about too many meetings is -- we talk about too many meetings for us. I mean, we get paid to do this. The community doesn't get paid to come to our meetings. So I would really love to see [4:23:40 PM] more thought process around streamlining the public input process and coordinating with other entities of the city that are doing major public input over the next 12 months. >> Kitchen: Okay, thank you. Did anyone want to -- go ahead. >> Alter: I had wanted to ask for more clarity about the connection with codenext. If you have more to add, I'd love to hear more. But if you don't, that's okay. You kind of answered it to some degree in that regard to council member Flannigan. I just want to sort of say that I'm excited for this to be happening at the same time as codenext, because I think that one of our challenges is that we haven't integrated our land use and our transportation policy, and, you know, if the idea of codenext is thinking of a broader system, having that absent of knowing where we're going with the mobility I think is a challenge, and we do have a whole bunch of plans, you know, with vision zero and complete streets and all of these things that are kind of in these little boxes, and so I think having those all integrated so we can see that and plan with that will be helpful. Would have been lovely if this had been in place when we did the bond, and that's part of the concerns that people had going into that bond process. But the reality is, it's not going to be an only bond that we need to fix our policy, so I think having this in place is important, and will provide that systemwide view across the modes in hopefully a slower way, taking into consideration the bond, but allowing those connections to cross policy areas. Feel free to add more on codenext if you have more to add right now. >> I don't right now, but I -- you know, certainly, when we come forward with our public engagement plan, I'll think through that a little bit more. But we are coordinated, and land use and what happens on the corridors is going to be really important planning for transportation. [4:25:41 PM] I keep saying that we're going to be the envy of the country that we're doing land use planning and transportation together, because they're so connected and most cities do it at different times. And so we are doing it together. It makes it a challenge for public engagement, but it's also the benefit. Jimmy cliff song is coming to mind. But, yeah. >> Garza: I just wanted to say I really appreciate the focus on underserved communities. I don't want to rehash the mobility bond, and I know everyone was trying to get the best that we could, but, you know, if you look at the mobility bond map, it's once again a map that district 2 is left out of mostly, and so I really appreciate the effort to reach these underserved communities, and I would ask that -- I know y'all are going to think outside of the box, but the traditional ways have not worked. Social media is not working. I could see where members of the quality of life could offer a good perspective, but I often feel it's a boots on the ground kind of engagement, and bike Austin actually has done a great job of boots on the ground and knocking on doors, and so I hope that something that -- I don't know if it's an internship program, because I know that would take a lot of staff time, because, you know, all of us running a campaign, it takes volunteers. And also, any kind of meetings need to hopefully have some kind of childcare component, because that's a big issue for people getting involved, and I don't know if there's large employers around that would maybe offer -- if people could get involved during their workday. You know, if their work could give them 45 minutes to hear this program, that's something that they would be part of, because it's not something that they have to do outside of work. So maybe part of the process is [4:27:41 PM] finding employers that employ some of the big -- a big population of folks in those underserved areas, and that could be an opportunity as well. Kitchen >> Fantastic ideas and timely, because we're drafting our engagement plan, so appreciate those ideas. >> Kitchen: Okay. Other thoughts? Can you just take a minute and tell us about them -- I'm familiar with the multi-modal working group, that that's a working group that's shared, but with project connect. So -- and I think on the timeline, you had about five meetings for them. What are they doing for you? I mean, how are you engaged in them? Can you help me? >> Yes. So they meet quarterly, and they have had -- like I said, there's about 60 members, but I like to say -- what is the old adage, when you throw a party, expect a 10% no-show. When the government throws a party, expect a 50% no-show. But we're going to do better on that. The advisory group is about 60 folks, and they seem to come, which is getting to your question of what are they doing, right? So I think that the makeup is good because, depending on what we're asking at the meeting, we'll attract the different expertise that's on the advisory committee. So they've met twice. The first meeting was an introductory of what is project connect, what is the strategic mobility plan, what is your commitment to this process, what are the key milestones in the planning process that we will be working on in each quarterly meeting. So we told them that their commitment would be about a three-hour meeting every quarter. So they had their second one in January, and they'll be meeting again in April. So for each project, for example, the last meeting, project connect needed impact -- needed input, and they did a clicker exercise with the advisory members on trying to [4:29:46 PM] dwindle down options for corridors to meet the different needs that they're focused on, which is circulators, connecters, and commuters with regards to honing in at the end of the process on a locally preferred alternative, which is their lingo for what they need to go to the fta for funding. And so they got input from the community on that. It went really well. It was engaging. The consultants did it very well for the strategic mobility plan, so this is just an example. And there will be other activities on the road as the processes progress. But for us, we went through a tradeoff exercise of looking at affordability, versus all those considerations that I showed you in the presentation. Commuter delay versus commuter choices versus affordability, health and safety, and, you know, have an exercise so that off the top of their head, these thought leaders who are experts in housing and/or, you know, bicycle transportation, environmental issues, all could give us their input on how those -- how the community -- you know, how that meeting in particular looked at the tradeoffs. So there will be exercises along the way, depending on where we are in the planning process. So one meeting for us will be, like I mentioned before, when we are developing those scenarios to bring the scenarios and how the policies and programs and projects are shaping up, and maybe do a clicker exercise with them. Obviously, show them the report card grade of the preferred scenario and have them give us feedback on that. And same with project connect, as they start doing their technical analysis, as they have dwindled down their corridors for each of those three needs, they'll be giving information to the advisory committee and asking for feedback before they make decisions on the next step. So it's, you know, a lot of steps in the planning process, and we'll be going to them before we make any final decisions. >> Kitchen: Thank you. I also just wanted to comment on -- when you were explaining some of the policies, that was very helpful. One of the things you mentioned like a mode share metric. [4:31:47 PM] I just wanted to highlight that, because at some point in this process, you know, we -- with our council retreat, we identified -- we identified outcomes, and then indicators under those outcomes, and then we talked about the fact that we would at some point have metrics. All of that to align our budget as well as align our priority programs to achieving the metrics under those indicators, under those outcomes. So the mode share concept was interesting to me as a potential metric. So I just wanted to comment on that. And also, I think -- I know that you know -- I don't know if the public knows -- but the - - we identified, I think it was five outcomes, five or six outcomes, and mobility was one of those buckets. And then we identified I think five or six indicators under those. So anyway, I look forward to, as we go through that process, having more of a conversation with all of you and with the public on what are those metrics, because I think that's going to boil down to what we talked to the community about, is what is success, you know, in terms of mobility? So anyway, I just wanted to make that comment. Any other questions? Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. Thank you for your time. >> Kitchen: Our last item I think was an announcement. You wanted to make an announcement, right? Related to the hazardous materials designation. >> Thank you for allowing me to announce this. We are having -- we are in the process of creating a non-radioactive hazardous materials route designation plan, which is a state requirement. When cities reach 850,000 in population, that they designate their non-radioactive hazardous materials route, so we are about a quarter and a half way through the process of doing a risk [4:33:49 PM] analysis on our roadways, and on February 21st from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. At the terazos branch library, we will have an open house where we will have preliminary information on the results of that risk analysis focused to our major highways and roadways, on what that scoring is looking like with regards to the federal planning guidance that we have to adhere to to meet the state requirements, so this is very spelled out, as you can imagine, because it's very important. And so we would like as many people as possible to get out to that meeting. We sent all of council an e-mail about two weeks ago announcing this as well, hoping that you could get it out to your constituents. Those who might be interested, those who might work in the trucking industry, those who just might have an interest, because they live by maybe a roadway or what have you, so if you look in your e-mail box with my name, you'll see information there that would make it easy for you to send out to your constituents. So that's that. >> Kitchen: All right. Thank you very much. >> Yep. >> Kitchen: That is all of our agenda items for today. I have one question for folks. Do y'all -- would y'all prefer to meet in the work session room, or do you have a preference? I see some -- I will work with staff for our next time. Just because, you know, my thought was -- and I think you guys may be thinking it. It makes it more of a conversation. So, is that going to work? Does that work for you? >> I'm indifferent. >> Kitchen: You're indifferent. Okay. All right. Anybody have anything else they want to -- our next meeting is, and I don't know the date. When is the next meeting? Donna, do you have the next meeting date? March 1st. Yes. And I'll circulate -- you know, we've had some conversations [4:35:49 PM] about a charter, and a charter would be a list of the items that we'll be addressing throughout the year. I'm going to get that draft to y'all. I know I keep saying that, but it's, like, right here. So anyway, as part of that process, we can talk about what all -- I think we have something like six meetings over the next year. All right. Thank you, all. I think we're adjourned.