City Council - Public Works and Natural Resources Committee

[Music] good morning welcome to the Bellingham city council committee meetings we're starting this morning with public works and natural resources um Hannah Stone as a chair I'm joined this morning by council members Anderson and Lil Quist we have two items before us this morning um the first is agenda bill 24099 so this is a contract award for wurn Street site maintenance and operation facility improvements project this is EF 171 so the wurn street site maintenance and operation facilities Improvement project will construct a shared operations facility for the parks and Public Works departments this shared site will host two new Secure Storage facilities a shared bulk materials storage area winter brine Center and a larger more functional area for Parks Nursery program the construction includes enhanced pedestrian Crossings a raised crosswalk on Old wurn Street and enhanced flashing crosswalk on wurn street and Ada sidewalk ramp improvements along wurn Street and Old wurn Street the city publicly opened five bids on April 10th 2024 favor construction is the responsible bidder who submitted the lowest responsive bid of 6,876 22875 including app applicable sales tax the engineers estimate for this project um for this Construction contract was 5,328 71569 despite the low bid being higher than the engineer estimate staff recommends Award of the contract just wanted to note that this project includes a 15% apprenticeship requirement for the code and for this item we have Public

Works director Eric Johnston thank you missone Eric Johnston public works so in the audience today we have both Mr Chris J Cox and Carol rothar who've been much of our project facilities project staff who've been working to get this project moving forward and Mr Micha linger is going to work us through the specifics of the project I thought I might just share some context and history about the need for this project so this is on the side of the old Parks operations facility that's been there for many many many years this is another and a series of projects that the city is undertaking to help the parks and Public Works departments uh not consolidate but really share resources and so a couple years ago we moved forward with some pretty substantial improvements of Pacific Street that started with storm water retrofits and then resurfacing of the yard that uh is leading to the culmination of the admin building that was built a couple years ago and will soon lead to the construction of a new admin facility there we'll talk about that in a couple of weeks uh but that also allowed for the parks department to relocate from the wber facility to Pacific Street and allows for the use as the of the wurn site as a shared resource for both Public Works and parks to operate and largely store some of our seasonal equipment so uh lawnmowers get stored in the winter time and uh snowplows get snowed in stored in the summertime so just in terms of context this is one of a series of projects

over the last uh nearly 15 years now to improve operations facilities for both parks and Public Works and with that I'll turn to Mr Olinger for talk about specifics of the project thanks Eric good morning Council Mike Olinger assistant director of Public Works operations uh project overview so WN Street Operation Center which we're calling Bok continues the combination the combination of parks operations and Public Works operations shared facilities for efficiency project will include two storage buildings one bulk materials building and the winter operation salt brine uh manufacturing facility will be located at this this space as well um this project will also Pro provide for a larger Parks Nursery program and this project will also be doing some Street overlays and Ada improvements to both wurn and old wurn for those of you that aren't familiar this is the site it's located at the the little point where old wurn and wurn Street me meet this is the old Parks operations facility and and since them moving to Pacific Street has allowed us to use this site to do more of our not day-to-day operations but intermittent and seasonal operations out of this location this is a 3D rendering of what the project will be uh there'll be two vehicle storage buildings one will house MERS one will house all of the salt brine um sanding and icing and snow plow equipment the third is a bulk storage material and this is where we'll store all of the sand and salt um some of our playground

material for doing uh wood chips and the rubberize stuff that we don't use every day but we do have to keep it on on hand and use it as needed you also see at the bottom left there that will be the new um salt brine farm for producing salt brine um if you look at this this view here you can see looking from the north towards the South that this site has a lot of um grade challenges to say the least and and when we look at what the engineers estimate for this project was and and why cost came in a lot higher we're thinking that a lot of that relies in this civil area the Civil improvements to this site are going to be a little bit challenging for a contractor in addition to that there's there's some um rideway improvements that we're going to do as part of this to to improve Ada access and to provide for pedestrian Crossings so on on Old wber Street we'll be upgrading two different streets Sweet Bay Drive and Wildflower Court we'll be upgrading those Ada ramps to meet ADA compliance we'll also be installing a raised crosswalk on Old warburn at Wildflower and then the third Crossing will be on wurn itself and that will be an RFB um flashing Beacon for that Crossing of wurn Street and with that we're happy to answer any questions thank you very much I'll turn to the committee first um council member list uh thank you Mike good presentation good project uh love the Ada and pedestrian improvements uh I'm glad to see that we're now as a routine Indica getting the 15 the apprenti

ship requirement um what about the 1% for the Arts does this qualify for that and if so you have a large retaining wall which is rather blank and ugly and you also have a very high visibility corner there where wurn and old wbor split has there anybody talk about the 1% for the Arts for this project yes so the 1% for the Arts does apply to this project it's currently with the Arts commission and they are using probably that big ugly wall so whether it's the the north facing wall for the west facing wall that's that abuts the neighborhood on Old wurn so they're looking at those two walls as their their art area and we have not come to a decision on what the art will be yet nice to hear thank you council member Anderson thank you um I I guess I just want some clarity on process cuz from the um estimate to the final bid it's about a 30% increase and in here it's it states that the change in design is an enhanced crosswalk Ada some of the things you had mentioned there not necessarily the the grading aspect does the estimator look at it without the Ada and all that and then came up with the estimate did we then put it out to bid and then made a change and that increased it the one and a half million or did the changes happen and then it goes out to bid um I'm just kind of wondering timeline because I I do support this project and I I'm glad Ada is going in there but I'm just trying to understand like what the process is and when that change was made within the bid process itself

from the estimate to fin great question so so what happened on this case was that our consultant who is an architect did the building design and the the improvements to the site work and they did not include in their estimate the RightWay improvements so when we had made the decision to add these raised Crossings and to Overlay all of old wurn they did not include those costs in their cost estimating and we were not aware that they had not included those costs when we received the engineer's estimate so then does it after did you make the change before it goes out to bid or is it considered a change order and then the it got added by the contractor who may have won the bid we we did not catch that they had not included those costs until after the bid was done so and in terms of process here so so the engineers estimate what we like to publish that estimate we publish that when the when the project is advertised and that gives a sense to the potential contractors the scale of the project and it helps them say me looking at a $100,000 project a $10 million project $100 million project say how big of a project would this attract potential biders so the engineer's estimate provides value to that perspective um we'd like to publish that number when the project is advertised for bidding what what contractors submit their bids on uh and what comes and what comes to council there's no change order in that process so change orders occur after a contract is awarded and executed by the

city so nothing there's no change order during the bidding process we will occasionally add things by addendums amend amendments or addendums to to bidding documents that may have an effect on the price of the contract in this case a couple of things happened so as Mike alludes to the or stated when the engineer estimate was published the engineers estimate as we accepted it we did not understand or see that they had not included into the price some Street improvements um that's okay so that just gets reflected later on uh the so that that's one element of that so more things needed to be added to the estimate after but we don't change the engineer estimate during the bidding period what we like to do with the council is have the same number that we published originally with the bid posting so we don't have discrepancies between the number that we that we publish on day one and the number comes to Council on week six contractors don't care really what the engineer's estimate is they don't bid the price based on what we think it's going to cost they bid the the job as they see it as in the plans and specs and what the risk associated with that particular project is so in this case the the cost of the project was slightly higher than what the architect had thought it was going to be and the architect was missing some numbers in the original estimate for that can I follow up can I just add one clarification so um just clarify so the bids though that were received right it said

it were five bids received those bids were all based on a project that included all those everything okay Council Anderson that's what I wanted to clarify because I wasn't clear on that is when these additions were made was it before the initial bid process or was it done after and then added on so that's what I wanted clarification on thank youc um Eric on page 116 of the packet where the the successful bitter rights it includes addenda acknowledgement cor one two and three those are the agenda we're referring correct correct so so we we may choose to add something after we send that out to bid and that might be the case where we want to get it out we have some changes we need to make we know that's the case We'll add them later on but we don't revise the engineers estimate based on the agenda that just comes through this process we like to have things within that 10% right and that gives us a sense that we are budgeting correctly and that we're on sense and that that the uh that we're getting value out of that of equal value is making sure that the contractors who are submitting bids that their prices are comparable to each other so so is are are we seeing that the contractors are giving us reasonable prices and that shown in in the bid in the bid opening report which is in the packet in my version on page five and it shows the 1 two 3 four five biders the low bidder at 6.8 the high bidder at 7.5 so the spread between the low and the height is about $800,000 uh with biders

in between there with with 7.1 7.2 7.5 so that 6.8 is is the low uh but the other bers are reasonably close to that within a reasonable range our ours is way too low it's because things were missing and we had some things added by adenda after the fact so we have some assurity that the contractor is not giving us a an out of scope price um in this case we have some a couple things to justify that one some numbers we've checked after the fact that we have not provided to the council but two that the that the multiple biders help give us assur of that where this becomes challenging is when we have one bidder and we have that occasionally right and so that's that becomes a different different problem but that's not the problem in this case so I just had one question regarding the um the crossings and so those Ada ramps and having the raised Crossing um on the other side so I just wasn't clear on when we're yeah so when we're crossing over I'm thinking about pedestrians using those Crossings is there a clear pedestrian path through that property if someone was trying to cut all the way over Andor are there actually sidewalks on the side that you'd be Crossing to right on the city property in the middle so so with this project we will be adding sidewalks on the old wurn old wurn side of the the project so there will be cross there will be sidewalks going up to the enhanced Crossing on wurn street and that will be the defined pedestrian route or sorry thank you wurn um there will

not be pedestrian access through this site this will be a secured facility okay that's what was unclear to me was we providing Crossings over but I wasn't sure where they were going to so and that's actually a code requirement of the city so in order to develop the property as we're proposing to do the city codes requires to install the sidewalks along the street frontages they already exist on wurn street they do not exist on Old wurn in addition to those minimum requirements we're adding the uh the uh Ada the enhanced Crossing on wurn the Ada race Crossing and the and retrofitting the existing Ada Rams so we're going beyond what the code would require for those improvements but the code requires the minimum sidewalks to be installed on o wber okay thanks for the clarification anything further from the committee other council members no council member Anderson move approval thank you very much so we have a motion to award the contract to favor construction um any further discussion okay seeing none I'll call the question all in favor we say I I I any opposed or exstension seeing none that passes 30 and I'll bring forward that recommendation this evening thank you very much so the next item before our committee is agenda Bill 2410 so this is regarding The Pedestrian master plan and the bicycle master plan updates the Bellingham pedestrian master plan was adopted by city council it says in August of 2012 and the bicycle master plan was adopted in October of 2014 the city is

updating both of these plans to ensure ongoing implementation in order to make the city's multimodal Transportation Network more safe Equitable and connected which will encourage more people to walk bike and roll for their daily Transportation needs the plans each include information about policy recommendations facility design and maintenance Network recommendations programmatic actions and implementation the Transportation Commission endorsed the plans at their April 9th 2024 meeting the plans are available on the city web website at cob.org Pro slbp PB m2022 staff will present a brief summary of the community engagement process that informed the plans as well as key plan elements council's consideration for approval of the plans will be at our next meeting on May 20th 2024 um and for this item I'm first going to turn to Public Works director Eric Johnston thank you Miss St Eric Johnston Public Works to to my left I have Mr Tim Wilder who is the vice chair of the city of Bellingham Transportation Commission he's also a staff member at WTA we've been with them for a couple years and and Mr jool font will go through most of the presentation uh as we start this presentation I I just want to put things into history context a little bit um Bellingham voters approved the first Transportation Fund in 2010 uh and renewed that Transportation Fund in 2020 by by I think just a little over 80% passage so that's pretty sub substantial uh we started revisions or updates to The Pedestrian

and bicycle Master plans shortly thereafter in 2021 2022 time frame um and we have had 100% turnover in the staff since we started this particular project the think as Joel pointed out the other day is we're coming to conclusion here that the only person who's still with the city involved directly with the project is me which is interesting and and uh and and to observe so I but I want to take a minute to just acknowledge that uh there's been a history on this project and we took a little bit extra time largely to to allow for an expanded development of the community engagement process and so I want to just first of all say thanks to Joel fun and to Natalie Monroe who are here today Natalie's in the back there there she is uh whove really done a lot of work to help connect with the Transportation Commission and the community i' also like to introduce Mr Dylan Casper I think Dylan is here today there he is Dylan is our new Transportation planner so Dylan fir hired with us this last couple of weeks started the 1st of May joining us from uh buckham County North Carolina so he arrived last week and unpacked his bicycle and is happy to join us here in the city of bam uh replacing longtime Transportation planner Chris KL uh so we're I just want to just awareness of the of the turnover that we've had both in the city involved with this project uh on the Consulting side of thing we've actually had 100% turnover on the Consulting team as well so uh it's been a it's been a long time

coming I think but the fruition of this is is uh beneficial and Joel will go through some of the process uh we have uh had a lot of public comment on this process and recently had some concessions concerns from uh the folks at Walk and Roll who are bicycle advocacy group asking for some specific changes to that uh and we agree that it's particular they're asking for some very specific goals to be added to the to to the document at this point in time our recommendation to the planning Transportation Commission and Joel and Tim can talk about this is to wait and add those later in 2025 as part of the transportation element of the comprehensive plan update and not include them specifically within these particular documents uh we very much agree that SM smart goals are appropriate but we would like to move forward with the adoption of these plans now based on the vast majority of the public comment which is geared around the development of the network uh so with that and Joel will speak more to that as we go through um I'm not sure who's going to go first Tim or Joel but we'll turn first over to Tim and and and we wanted to make sure that the Transportation Commission was here to represent their particular perspective on on the plan uh they've been heavily involved in the development and scoping of this and so Tim is going to walk us through a little bit of those yes good morning council members again uh Tim Wilder Vice chair of the Transportation Commission I'm not here on

behalf of WTA just to be very clear uh but I am uh here to speak on behalf of the Transportation Commission and give you a sense of where the Transportation Commission landed on this particular topic um so first off I wanted to thank the hard work for staff um and the Consultants on this project a lot of turnover but uh they push through we had uh monthly updates by staff and by the consultants and we had plenty of opportunity to provide comment and review so uh Kudos Kudos there um also I just wanted to mention there was extensive Community engagement um that was shared with the commission um we had the online site as well as various meetings and things and uh and a lot of that information I think we heard from the public was included in the plan and the commission felt good about the level of Engagement in this process uh as far as uh where the TC ended up we did endorse uh recommendation of approval of the plan um we felt that uh primarily it needed to move forward and not wait any further given the urgency with uh imp to move on to implementation we felt that the projects that were identified the prioritization and the criteria used and the level of Engagement meant that we needed to move forward on the plan and not wait um at the same time time uh the commission did have a specific recommendation to the staff that more work be done around the performance measures and include Targets on those performance measures um we felt that there was unfinished work there that we

needed to ensure that the community understood uh the goals that we're trying to achieve and how we're making progress to those goals and to that end um performance measures and targets would enable us to do that and speak more clearly to that particular um that particular area um also um i' I'd say um I think in the end we felt that the plan again uh provides a good level of goals provided the project prioritization and had led to um to a complete um understanding of where we're headed in terms of of The Pedestrian and bicycle environment um I would say you'd probably characterize this as not necess necessarily aspirational or inspirational but it's very pragmatic so we are getting the things identified the projects identified and then uh enabling us to work towards uh completing those projects so in that sense I think it's been a success um yeah and I'd say uh again this is a progress again uh for the city's Improvement plan I think we're continuing to make progress the city has made a lot of progress and this will continue that effort to have a complete network of pedestrian and bicycle improvements and so with that I'd be answer answering any questions you might have uh on behalf of the Transportation Commission any questions from Council at this point wait there may be additional questions at the end for you thank you very much Mr Wilder Mr fun morning um Joel fun assistant Transportation assistant Public Works director Transportation um good morning Council uh so I am

going to walk through um a brief presentation as um as the chair mentioned about kind of what's in the The Pedestrian master plan and the bicycle master plan for convenience sake I'm just going to refer to them as the P plan and the bike plan because PMP and BMP is really hard to say so um I'll be talking a little bit about the type timeline that we went through for these plans the engagement uh walking through briefly the plan elements uh uh Vice chair Wilder kind of touch on the Transportation Commission and then uh next steps and try to leave plenty of time for questions and discussion so um the timeline we've been working on these projects the city has been working on these projects since um early 2022 uh there was a focus on the PED plan in 2022 and then a lot of effort on the bike plan plan in 2023 and uh since the like the beginning of 2024 we've been pulling all this information together to actually create the plans and um bring them before you here uh towards the middle of 2024 um there was a lot of Engagement with both plans um we used surveys web Maps uh in-person and virtual Outreach efforts to the community and then we also had a series of technical review committees uh which were we called the meeting with particular groups that were interested in in this particular topic uh throughout the community and we also made an effort to go where uh the community was um and engage with them kind of where where they are instead of always having to make them come to us uh

that engagement process was really interspersed with some technical analysis that was done by our um our consultant tool Design Group where they evaluated level of um level of traffic stress uh which is um kind of percolated throughout the plans uh they looked at uh network access and connectivity and then as part of the PED plan also um evaluated unimproved right of way um and potential to utilize that those unimproved rways to uh improve connectivity and um improve uh level of traffic stress so um we did have a lot of Engagement um this just outlines the different uh different levels of Engagement that we had for the different um the different plans and what we heard is uh time and again from the community is that they uh they really want a walking and biking environment that is not only sa like is safe but actually feels safe um and that that that idea of feeling safe and comfortable is really what's going to make us um more people want to get out and walk and bike and uh uh for transportation and I think a like a a good kind of object example of that is like a 5 foot sidewalk on an arterial um Technically when you're out there walking you you do feel safe but um I mean you you are safe but um you may not necessarily feel safe and comfortable it's something where you're not going to necessarily choose to walk there certainly not someplace where you'd like walk with a child and not hold on to their hand or something like that so you know we want to raise that level of

comfort and that's what we heard a lot from the community we also heard um that they want us to build more facilities faster um and they want us to close gaps uh in the system and those gaps on some cases are a non-existent facility and in other cases there are facilities where we have um you know high level of stress and um and people don't don't want to create you know get through those barriers um and that's another reason why people choose not to walk and bike and there was also Al a strong interest in us making the system um uh the transportation system be built for all ages and abilities um and with a particular interest on uh School AED children we heard a lot about that so um the plan has four goals and a number of supporting policies and they were created in close collaboration with the Transportation Commission um our consultants and based on what we heard from the community and really those are that people want a a safer a more Equitable a more connected transportation system and that that will lead to an increased um level of walking trips and biking trips and use of micromobility um and by extension a uh an increased use of Transit because a Transit trip is basically a walking or biking trip with a ride in the middle right so um we had strong community support for these goals uh we had uh during the for example during the uh bike plan Phase 2 engagement we had 80% of the community either agree or strongly agree that the updated goals and policies are what the

city should be focused on to improve bicycling for people all ages and abilities both of the uh projects include uh a facility design and maintenance chapter and that really is um critical because you know those details matter as we actually go out and implement M these projects um and that uh that that design and design facility design and maintenance chapter focuses on creating a system that's for all ages and abilities uh designing for more Comfort coming up with alternative designs that might be more cost effective and easier to implement and uh taking into account access considerations for so we can provide a transportation system for everyone uses a safe system approach that has the key um principles that people do make mistakes when they're out traveling um people are vulnerable and uh we need to be proactive when we're thinking about safety not just reactive and then finally uh it it talks a lot about maintenance of these facilities uh I think um when we're adding new things we need to be thinking about the implications of that you know historically you go back 10 years the city didn't have maybe many or any rapid flashing beacons and now we have a lot of them and they're the responsibility of us to maintain and make sure they're operational and so we'll be you know running into the same thing with uh separated bike facilities and things like that we need to make sure that they're they're useful and operational so that people can use them uh so the both chapters have

a network we developed those networks based on that technical analysis uh what we heard from the community and um and then we prioritize that network based on a priority ization uh process that we worked very closely with the Transportation Commission to develop and um and that provides us provides us with a prioritized Network and then throughout that once again we that Network what we heard from the community again and that's what's reflected is that higher standard of comfort wider side sidewalks separated bike facilities alternate alternate walkway treatments and then also we worked with the um Parks Department to more uh integrate in the multi-use trail Network particularly on the the north side of the city where we have we can't rely as much on a connected grid and and um the past investment in that and then also a focus on intersections and crossings which can be um hazardous and also uh higher stress places for interaction so the plans also include a lot of um programmatic actions some that are listed here and we're actually you know kind of getting going on these um and we have an a request for proposals out right now for some consultant help to update our speed limit policy we're working with the Transportation Commission on the neighborhood uh traffic safety program um we're supporting the school district as they update their school walk routes and then we'll be using the design toolbox I referenced earlier to update our engineering standards and uh finally uh both

CH both of them have a implementation tra chapter with a prioritized complete network but they also identify particular Catalyst projects that were prioritized high but also were evaluated from the perspective of complexity cost and um Grant potential and so that's a more of a bite-sized specific set of uh projects that uh the city will be going to work on here in the next 10 years and um and then also a series of performance measures and those performance measures were intended to be both more output based or kind of end end goal result type things and then also more input based like how much are we building how how much are we lowering the traffic stress and things like that so um uh Vice chair Wilder mentioned that the commission endorsed the plan in uh in April and we'll be uh working with them more on um measurement and targets and then finally uh we'll be returning to the Council on May 20th for Council action and then we'll be turning right around and starting uh to work with the Transportation Commission on integrating this information into um on and on implementation adding these projects directly into the six-year tip which will be coming to council with uh very shortly uh integrating this efforts these efforts into the comprehensive plan as well as many of those programmatic actions I mentioned and um and just getting to work on building projects and uh and that type of thing so with that I will be we're happy to answer any questions thank you very much counc

requist um first of all thank you for this work you talked about uh turnover at the city and staff and and on the Consultants group um I've been here since the previous versions so I've got some perspective and I'm gratified they're continuing the Legacy and I'm remembering where we were when we adopted these um and we were really unsure whether or not we could get the results we wanted um I was very optimistic I thought our 20-year plan should have been a 10year plan and in retrospect I think I was more or less right it turns out that we can make substantial progress which is why we saw the need to update well before the 20 years were up um so that's really good um what I really appreciate is uh I look to the I didn't read the bike plan and I haven't read the pedest sorry um but I certainly look through most of the pages and I see a really good list of projects and maps and I appreciate that once again like the last time they're prioritized into three levels they're called high medium and low um I think that's a good way of organizing things recognizing that we don't always do all the ones the high priorities where we get to the media priorities that they they move around a bit based on opportunity nonetheless I'm glad we're prioritizing them and showing exactly where they are on the map I also noticed like last time we have uh areas to be studied kind of difficult spots where it's not obvious what the solution will be I appreciate that about the plan too I also appreciate

Joel what you said about the fact that people not only want to be safe in a technical sense but they want to feel safe because that's really what drives use is whether or not it feels like you're safe and the focus on children and people of all abilities I think those go hand inand if you build something that's safe for someone pushing a child in a stroller it's probably feeling safe so if you've met all the goals with that one um that's really good I do have a policy question then some more specific stuff uh later when I get another chance to talk um goal one safety policy 1.1 says um separated bikeways multi-use trails and bike boulevards are preferred for all new and upgrad at bicycle facilities um what's left out what is not preferred because I mean like those are all different you can't prefer all three at the same time for the same project um that's so I can I get some clarity on that because what I wanted to see what I thought I was going to see is separated bike ways were the preferred way on what I would call kind of our main routes I mean uh the bike boulevards are like serve a whole different function inside neighborhoods and low traffic areas they're like a different solution for a different problem all together I think the main main thing in getting a useful network is the long runs from location to location those are the ones where in the past we have a run right along I Boulevard is the one I always take going into into town and right where I live that's the

one I looked at the most on the maps what do you do with Boulevard um and we put in a bike plane and it's gravity over here and there's cars going 35 or more over here um it's it feels a little bit risky and I really wanted to see a more clear prioritization of of protection and separation and physical buffering and so when I read that statement I think it says that but I'm not sure it says that because it's a big long list and says they're all preferred um so maybe we need to clarify that a little bit better because I can't say exactly what that says and therefore maybe many readers can't understand exactly what that says um is the fact that like Lanes is left off of there is that the thing I'm supposed to do am I supposed to read into what's left off um so could could help with that Joel the the intent is really that we are um we are starting with the idea of separated facilities and those come in kind of different forms and um and it is to your to your point that what's left off is is there are cases where um we are trying to balance um getting uh getting connectivity with creating a more comfortable Network and there are certain places where um because of because of impacts because of cost because of right of way the only way the only way to create a connection would be to um would be to do something that is less than what's outlined in that list and that's where we would go to kind of the next level um next level down but the idea is is where we start with the entire

network is the pedest the SE created and low stress separated facilities that are separated from vehicles with by some method or another m m if I might add also there's a second sentence in that policy 1.1 that's as as equally valued to clarify in the question so the first sentence says separated bikeways multi-use trails and bicycle boulevards are the preferred bikeways for all new and upgraded bikeways the second sentence says the city will document justifications for installing other Bikeway types in cases where a separated Bikeway is deemed infeasible so I think those two sentences go together which to to our thought process is that that sets the standard right so it doesn't unequivocally say this or nothing it says we're going to set this as the preferred standard and if you can't do that you need to justify through the Engineering Process why you cannot build that separated bike way so to my our at least my way of thinking that provides that Clarity that it is clear that we're looking to do those separated bikeways first what is unclear is is when is it unfeasible infeasible right and it pro provides some clarification says IE costs outweigh the potential benefit well what are those costs uh those costs could be Financial they could be impactful to a a a parking question they might be impactful to the traffic uh impacts of a particular change we see the change that we made on that the city made on Holly Street last week uh that has had huge uh public Compound on that

and and there are costs that are both real and and and and and uh uh uh difficult to quantify from various people's perspectives so when we say we want to document why a separated bike fa bike way is deemed infeasible that might be a hard engineering cost but it might also be a softer societal cost that might be uh impractical for us to to pay for uh without the benefits being truly realized so I think there's there's a little bit of cushion there a little bit of space to provide the community the opportunity to not be fixed into All or Nothing approach but certainly setting that that standard that the separated bike we facilities are the preferred option they are the standard if it's infeasible for various reasons we need to go through process at least internally at staff level to determine why that would not be practical so thanks for that clarification I'm pretty sure I know what a separate bike way is and what a bike Boulevard is I I didn't read the document close enough to understand how the uh term multi-use Trails is being defined I I think our Park I'm thinking of the 8ot wide gravel where you can walk and bike together what do we mean in this case by multi-use trails and the reason why it's important is because that's now one of the preferred uh Solutions so can you describe what a multi-use trail looks like again in terms of this the the the um experience of safety yes so um multi-use trail from the perspective of um a public works Transportation project um is

typically would be a 12 foot wide 10 to 12 foot wide 10 foot minimum paved uh facility that is if it's adjacent to a roadway it would be separated by a minimum of like a 4 foot buffer of some kind or some sort of barrier and um that is the type of facility it would be used by um by both pedestrians and cyclists and so that additional width and it and is intended so that could be a combined facility um so you'll see those on certain places on the plan typically we try to do those where we don't have a lot of conflicting driveways because the two-way traffic can be confusing for people but that is specifically what we mean by a multi-use um do we have any of those uh in Bellingham I'm thinking like Burke Gilman but that's probably even less more limited access um you know the the Burke Gilman samamish River Trail would be an example of a multi-use trail um uh I think in you in in Bellingham we have trails that do function that way um you know you know the railroad Trail or something like that is functionally that way and I think that that is something that we're engaging in a discussion with parks department as we're looking at some of the newer trails that are specifically highlighted in the plan as um as this is likely going to be something that people are going to use for transportation and we need to think about how we design those projects to minimize those conflicts that we you know we hear about on the on the railroad Trail and those types of things it's designed them in

a way that they can work for everybody and everybody once again can feel safe when they're out there you know sharing that space together um whether they're Rec you know it's it's one of those I won't wax a poetically too much but you know it's you know where does a recreation trip end and a transportation trip again like if I'm going to the movies on a bike am I is that a recreation trip or is it so anyway but um but I think that that's what we're what we're trying to get out there and there are specific cases where it's it's much easier um and the best way to create that low stress facility is with that separated facility on one side um Jame the James Street multimodal cdor study um Eric's thinking he finally got there no um uh is a great example of that type of facility which we haven't built yet but we're in design for Dr Johnson did you have anything else no got there okay Council Mary Anderson thank you um great start I'm going to agree with uh the chair of the transportation that um we really do need uh work performance measures and here um an example without some specific measurable um targets it's really hard to know if what we're doing and implementing is actually reaching these goals an example would be on um page 81 within the plan um under Equity um it's goal number two so for those who don't have it up in front of them the performance me measure is areas of historic historical underinvestment um or greatest need and then the performance goal increase investment

in areas of historic underinvestment in the city the metric percent of all projects completed and percent of dollars invested identified areas of the city so how do we measure that how is Staff going to be accountable that we're reaching this specific goal if we're not specifying something specific like 10% of all Transportation budget going towards bike infrastructure needs to be spent in underserved areas um we may not necessarily reach it we might exceed it but if we aren't being more specific with some of our goals it's going to be hard to know do we uptain it so how do we keep our process accountable that we're reaching these things and I did spend a lot of time with the goals and as I went through all of them I kept asking the question how are we going to measure this because there's no specific targets really listed and I can take you guys through pages of that but I think this is one example and if needed I can I don't want to monopolize the time by scrolling through the pages and giving specific examples but there are a lot within this plan so I don't feel um it would be great uh philosophical to reach a lot of these but how do we know we are if we don't have more specifics and then it's also um the question is because I do agree without some kind of um Matrix of how are we measuring this how do we know we're actually achieving so I'm wondering since um the the commission also sees that um the work is unfinished because we need performance measures when will that

come back to us um we've I know there's a lot of Staffing there's been a lot of delays because of that I don't know if this is a priority to bring It Forward is it currently being worked on and then it'll be because this is slated to come back to us and I kind of feel like it's unfinished um so I'm going to have difficulty even though I think it's an incredible plan it's much needed but without some of that specific content and then knowing how we're going to measure it I would have a hard time approving it unless I am very clear when it's going to come as an addendum and be married to this plan and not necessarily years out Joel can you go back up a couple of slides there we go so so the recommendation that staff gave to the Transportation Commission was to move forward in adopting and or to recommend to to the council to adopt the plans and that that's our recommendation here well we'll be in two weeks when we come back with two specific resolutions to adopt the plans as they are currently drafted along with that is the Transportation Commission and and and Tim can speak more of this and I mention here to side note that Tim's here because Addie who is the chair was not able to be here to schedule conflict so Tim's here to represent Addie but um the but the TC wants to come back to that and and address those very specific those ideas for very specific measurable dashboard targets if you will that then we can say how will we measure those what are those targets what areas do

they line into uh and and and and to the extent where it's appropriate roll those into the overall City comprehensive plan so not amend or change the bicycle pedestrian plans as they are being presented today or next week but come back and amend uh at a later point in time and if there's an interest to put those into a a document of the city do that as part of the comprehensive plan process there's nothing preventing the administration or the council by setting a goal independent of the plans uh we can do that at any point in time but the recommendation to the TC was to move forward and have that work be contemplated in 2025 my Anderson follow yeah um comprehensive plan is multiple years out and I personally don't think that's the appropriate place for specific goals and measurement comprehensive plan in my opinion and having worked on one before really is like the large umbrella of um goals and aspiration that we can as we have a very specific plan which is this plan we go and we look at the comprehensive plan to make sure that it's in alignment with those goals so the comprehensive plan is not the meat it's more of the framework so to say let's wait and put the specific content in the comprehensive plan I think is is I would not um see that as a solution the specifics need to be in this plan itself um whether it comes forward as a change so that we have very specific measurable goals or it is an addendum to it but it needs to be part of this plan not the comprehensive in my

opinion council member liquis I completely agree with that the the comp plan is the umbrella has a transportation chapter which is also kind of a large umbrella this specific plan is more focused it's more specific it's more actionable this really is where the the performance measures need to be um I do think they should already be in there um I agree the bicycle plan and again I'm sorry I didn't read The Pedestrian plan like I did the b u um pedestrian plan like I did the bicycle plan but there are goals and there are metrics but never are the goals you know uh expressed in terms of those metrics so here's what you measure to achieve this goal but what are you looking for um Lisa referred to the the equity measure I want to make a distinction between what I call effort measures and outcome measures they're both good but one's in a sense better an effort measure is how hard I try and an outcome measure is what did I actually achieve and that one is uh an effort measure we're going to try to spend a lot of money in areas where there's low Equity doesn't mean you actually improved the equity you didn't actually say you going to improve the equity you said you're going to try and it's how much effort you're going to put into it so you could rewrite that in terms of um an outcome measure the differences in equity scores between the measured regions will be less than 10% or some number like that that's an outcome measure I don't think we have to wait two three years to create

those um performance measures or targets because so much of the groundwork is already laid I mean I just created one pretty quickly um because I had read the plan because the plan had educated me already on those ideas it wasn't hard to imagine what those outcomes would be so I think they should have been in the plan to begin with I think they should be an addendum to it and no I don't want to wait 2 years and I don't want to put it on the 2025 work plan I want to put on the 2024 work plan um we're sort of in no hurry here if the administration wants to know whether or not we like the plan my answer is yeah I love the plan don't hesitate to start implementing everything in here so I'm not saying like hold off on the plan I'm saying hold off on the document um the uh climate action plan was brought forward to the city council in 2017 it's pretty darn good plan council did not approve it not for 6 months why because we wanted something else something more something better so it wasn't a criticism of the plan so much as the fact that it was sort of incomplete it didn't go where we needed it to go I think it's the same thing here but even less so we do not need 18-month task force to come up with those performance targets so I really do think we need performance targets and we need them sooner than 2025 uh in summary the bike plan it's got I'm going to give it a grade A but for the course it's an incomplete M so I so this is this is very similar to the conversation we had with

the Transportation Commission uh and there are two things that the council tasked the staff and Transportation Commission to address the first was the uh speed limits so in the 2324 budget there was dollars and Staffing set aside to address speed limits across the city uh so we are under as Joel mentioned we're underway with that right now it's the same people working on speed limit studies that would be working on the trans on the bike and ped plan including the Transportation Commission we're we're about six to eight months behind on that in large part because of the Staffing turnover that I mentioned we started the other element is the neighborhood traffic safety program that the council in in August of 2022 referred to the Transportation Commission to develop a program that we could come back with the 2025 budget to potentially adopt and the Transportation Commission is working on that so when this this very same conversation we much agree that there needs there can be and there should be some more specific goals to add to not just the bicycle plan but also The Pedestrian plan so there's some public comment out there with some very specific goals that are in the bike plan but is silent on The Pedestrian plan so there there could be some additions to that we're recommending that we do that in 2025 in large part so that we we can complete the work that is previously signed by the Council on speed limits and the neighborhood tra safety program so our recommendation to the

Transportation Commission and to the council is the same that we adopt by resolution and move forward the plans uh and then in 2025 either by the comp plan or through amendments to the existing plans amend them with some specific measures that have vetted through the community vetted through the Transportation Commission uh that will take some time to develop that are ways that we can put them together and have support for the community to make those things happen uh but I do need to move forward with the speed limit work and the neighborhood traffic safety program or direction from the council to delay those and move forward with this one at the same time because it's the same people it's the same staff it's the same resources it's the same engagement it's the same Transportation Commission uh it's the same people doing that work so the 2025 frame time frame allows for we think time to move through the traffic speed limit studies which will involve some substantial work uh including the potential for uh camera enforcement in school zones of speed limits that's not a thing to take lightly at least we're not think it will take lightly but and the neighborhood traffic safety program which is a substantial effort as well so we would like to to move forward with those things complete those things then come back to this but our recommendation is to move forward with the adoptions of the plans in two weeks Mr liquis is correcto that we have existing plans we do not need to adopt

these plans there's no need to to accelerate that the time frame is to our own there's nothing driving that they're not a required element of the comprehensive plan process what is a required am of the of the comprehensive Pro Plan process is a transportation chapter Bellingham adopts it a multimod multimodal transportation plan uh that is a required ailment that process is underway uh that's not that's might be a couple years out for adoption but the process to develop those plans is starting now these plans are part or sub chapters or sub elements that once they are adopted by resolution become part of the trure comprehensive plan so whether the whether the goals are nested in the actual documents as addendums or as a higher level they can be part of that comprehensive plan process the city has been reporting on the goals in our trans Transportation or multimodal Transportation element through the transportation the tram document and I forget what that acronis is but but that's the annual reporting process where we come back and say here's our goals as a community that connect our bicycle plan to our pedestrian plan to our Transit plan to our Ada plan that roll up into our transportation PL so I we as staff see a connection between the sub elements of these technical elements into the overall Transportation plan but but at a staffing resource level uh we feel that it would be best to address those after completing those other two elements speed limits and neighbor traffic

safety program and come back to the specific goals in the 2025 window here did you have anything to add no I asked the question to staff about the distinction between having it in a comprehensive plan versus these plans and I don't know if Joel if you want to share your answer and to answer some of the concerns from Council Members Anderson well one one thing that um I think the the tram or Transportation report on annual Mobility um is a is a is an interesting example of this type of thing um uh it's a 30 plus page document that reports in detail on a number of items annually related to um to trans a and implementation um and uh and it comes out every year and from our perspective um sometimes those things are they're a lot of fun to put together and people are very interested but annually um energy kind of dissipates around them and so um so one of the things that we were trying to focus on with this plan was um was more on the actual implementation and based on the feedback we got from the community um based on the resources that we had um what we heard from the community was we really like the plan and we really like the goals and policies and then they also said they really liked the network but they like the network less and so what we have spent and that's what we heard from Council too when we were here after the phase 2 Outreach for um for the bike plan was separate you know you're not getting it with the separated facilities and so what we've really focused our time

and effort on is refining that Network and making that Network more um more changing it significantly from that um Outreach to the community and so um that is kind of part of the plan is a bias towards action and um and out you know trying to implement all of these different elements so that's the way the plan is um is set up I think um you know that there was a really good conversation with the transportation commission about how does this you know actually like how is this measurable um and I think we can um have a really good conversation about that um and uh um the Eric has mentioned a couple of the different projects that we're working on um that need to come back to the commission but um I won't you th those are Holly Street We Have a Holly Street Bike Lane out there right now is there's a pilot and we will be spending a lot of time measuring that and defining that based on the feedback we're getting from the community uh we're working on standing up a whole new program around bike lockers um and uh and many of these items uh which are things we want to get done and we're committed to getting done are to Eric's Point uh the same you know same few people that are working on those items so what we felt like what what would be most effective now especially since we went to roll these things into the tip and into the comp plan at those higher levels is to move forward with adoption with the you know guidance that we would come back to the commission and the community in 25

and um and our stakeholders and our you know our community members uh and talk about that further did you have anything you wanted to share yeah I was just I I was just going to mention uh just to follow up on uh there was robust discussion by the Transportation Commission around this issue and U I think the commission felt that they wanted to put a pin at this stage in the process and that was the main reason for us recommending now that we move forward with approval um I think we were under the impression that it was going to take quite a bit of time to get to those targets right that recognizing there were performance measures and those are good but there's a bit more work that's needed and I think there's I think the commission doesn't have a great understanding of what that effort's going to take but again there was a lot on the docket for the Transportation Commission with the neighborhood safety program as being one of those things and we felt that yeah it was really important to recognize that there were some really good work over a long period of time we didn't want to lose sight of that and lose I guess momentum um on that work and and the need was to move forward um I think uh you know if the commission had um had foresight as far as you know this could be a more immediate uh follow up then I think there may have been a different decision but under the information we had we felt that no we don't we don't want wait for the plan to be adopted in a year or two we want

to move forward now it's important to to put that pin in in the plan and and uh make sure we put that in forward with the council so I share to some degree you know the perspective of council members Anderson and liquis with respect to the role of the comprehensive plan versus right our individual more specific plans it makes sense to me that the comprehensive plan is more overarching I think as we review the comprehensive plan plan though you know addressing smart goals right that are specific measurable achievable relevant and time bound is something that I believe the city would agree right is something we would like to prioritize across the board in all of the work right that we do and so at the comprehensive plan level articulating that and then having that right trickle down into our individual plans which is where you would get more more specific makes sense um I recognize what you're highlighting as far as the you know the the staff time and resources that it takes I know when Advocates are saying to us this shouldn't be that difficult right we have other examples I've been able to come up with a few right you say now sitting here like it shouldn't be that that hard but we want to ensure right that the process is true to to the standards that we have to make sure that right we've we've met those burdens and especially when you're thinking about the um the stewardship of public funds and how we're um spending those so I can appreciate the concern about the delay but

this conversation is going to come up time and time again I think with more frequency as we look towards the budget and other things when we prioritize one thing we're probably going to have to be saying no to something else at the same time not to say it's not a priority but it can't all move forward at once so when we've heard about speed limits right that's been a recuring concern as well as the neighborhood safety program and other things right saying that if you want this to be a priority than the other is going to have to wait I think that's something that the council needs to yeah to sit with and give give thought to one of my questions I guess as regard to one of council member liquis comments of well I like the plan and the plan should go forward it's the document that I want to wait on to to me that might be semantics maybe not but um I guess my my question is you know when we think about things like the tip and the tram and and tip projects that are in Q that we want to to move forward in my mind they're um their collaborative efforts and sort of depend on on each other to some degree or look to each other for guidance and so would those other right hypothetically if you're saying no I want to put a pin in and just wait and I don't want to move forward with the transportation plan until we have um those other goals specified what would happen in the interim to me if this was a 10 year you know if we're have the updates and and a plan to propose and we don't see any

faults with the plan itself we just want to add to it to make it more robust in the future my concern is you know what would happen in the interim and wanting to make sure that those projects that are already in the queue are moving forward so as a policy document if the revised plans are not adopted we would use the existing policy documents that that we have so the plans from 202 and 2014 would be the existing policy documents on which we would base actions and development of the your tip and the two-year budgets and pursuing grants and and and how we build projects would be based on these existing policy documents um the approval of these new documents would be adoption of a new policy I.E the preferred preferred as one example uh preferred option for bikeways would be separated facilities that becomes a new policy document that guides how staff uh develops things uh and we we agree that there needs to be some more specific goals where they end up and how they end up what those goals are that's has yet to be discussed uh and might suggest that that when we come back next week with the resolutions to approve the plans that if that's the council's in interest uh that we include in that resolution direction to come back and and at appropriate time identify those goals or as the council direction to just wait and develop those plans and come back at that report time either way that's kind of the reading the tea leaves which direction we go do we come back with a resolution to

adopt the plans as they are with direction to amend them or change them or adjust them at some point in the future with some smart goals or do we press hold and use existing policy documents for an inter intervening period of time and direction from the staff to amend the plans to include this the smart goals when those plans are adopted uh I do have a concern that we would not get to those those revisions until 2025 given the staff and we mention two in particular speed limits and and and uh ntsp program but there's a half a dozen the things that we need to be working on bike lockers uh parking minimum parking regulations is one thing that the council has brought up this year that will involve the same level of Staff Joel and the transportation planners and the Transportation Commission we'll weigh into that conversation at some point this year so there's another one uh we can go through a whole bunch of other things that are on the list for the Transportation Commission this year uh we could press those things on hold and we could focus on this one in the short term that would also be a council's uh interest interest and request of the mayor's office so just in response to that briefly I think the um there's been enough change right over the last 10 years when you think about right the prior plans and now and the improvements and updates that are articulated in the plans that right in the interim I'd like for the city to be looking towards the right the current plans the

most up-to-date information and policy priorities and um interests that we have have seen here um I'll go back to council member I don't know whose hand went up first you want to arm wrestle Council um I'd like to make a request to Administration with regard to the resolution that's being written it'll say recital recital recital recital now therefore we adopt the plan may I ask that you actually have two parts now we adopt the plan and then a second one that refers to the work to adopt the the performance measures and smart goals that are relevant to it you can leave that a little bit blank and depending on how the discussion turns out but it would make it better in my mind if if that part was a flagged in the resolution um as as necessary future action is that is that any reason to go further with that request or is that amen are you amendable yes great thank you council member Anderson similar thought but a little more content um I would like to know that if we put a pen in it and we decided to shuffle priorities and we wanted this done how much time Staffing time are we talking about to be able to do the work that we've Vindicated and bring it back because we talk about how we have all these other projects we would start this in 2025 maybe um I'd like to know is to refine this are we talking about staff time for a month five months 6 months what would be kind of a fair estimate of being able to do that work so at least we're informed when we go forward for the decision so

that's one part the other part is is that if we do kind of the split resolution um I do request um in the therefore or various measures kind of a time line of when this will be coming back um so that it's a little more codified instead of sometime in the future I would like even though it could be adjusted but I'd like to keep accountable that this is going to get done um because to me it's a priority um there's a lot of different priorities um but I would hope if something is 95 or 90% done we will kind of make a shift versus a new project that that's going to take a year or two if this would be just a few months we can do that we'll come back with that at the next next meeting one thing I would like to mention is part of the complexity is we can Envision what those measures would be but we also want those you know um the r and the smart is realistic and so we need to if we make a commitment um to do 10% of something or five segments per year or something like that we want that to be um aspirational yet um yet realistic and so that's part of the work that would um especially with the number of different elements um that would expand this work Beyond just you know just a few you know a few days or something like that and then we would of course want to in include the Transportation Commission um and there's a process with that you know a meeting or two so I think it would certainly I mean I a deadline you know that's that's great to have a Target to set you know it's a Target

right there so um I think part of part part of the wild card on time frame would be to what degree in public engagement there is for that because no matter what measure you pick that will be of harm to someone so if if the decision is we want to put a separated bike lane that requires the removal of on street parking that will have an impact to benefit one particular group and a negative impact to another and we want to make sure that the real estate goals if if we include an engagement proc public engagement process have enough vetting to make sure that you have information to make those decisions so I'm not sure we can address time frame because it's it's easy to write a goal it's very difficult to understand what the impacts of setting that goal might be uh yeah and so along those then I'll come back to you Council um along those lines one of my other questions which I know we're short on time would take us down another discussion is when you talk about something being right aspirational in my mind versus achievable or something that we are committing to do so when we set goals to me that are clearly outlined to me that's not just aspirational I understand that it's a goal that we may meet or we may exceed or we may not but to me that's still our Target and that's what we're working towards and when something is purely aspirational and on a policy level we're saying yes we support this to me that's very different so when um Mr fr when you outlining you know everybody wants

to actually feel safe not just have the right the infrastructure in place that makes you safe with that feeling um when you're utilizing those different options as well as the increase in projects and wanting to have more projects and then coming forward faster and Bridging the gaps and right completing all those Network pieces and having accessible for all ages and abilities it's like yes clearly we all want to say yes but when I'm looking at you know on page 127 where it's saying the estimated cost to implement all the recommended projects is 214 m50000 and the city's annual funding dedicated to pedestrian and bicycle projects over a 10year period is far less than this estimate it doesn't even say how much less but is is less that's for The Pedestrian master plan and separate from that the bike master plan right is $520 million we're talking about coming up against a a deficit and figuring out the budget and how to prioritize things yes I'm in support of these as you know as a policy matter but how we're actually going to pencil this out is is beyond me at right at this stage and so there's multiple layers right to the discussion about how how we move forward but council member lqu uh with regard to that second section of the resolution um I'm going to have to kind of Define some terms I we keep calling those things we want developed we you keep using the word goal and I think we should stop using it because we already have goals in the plan um and I think smart goals is a

great term but it confuses it in this case I'm going to call them targets um and so we're not asking for staff or the public or the Planning Commission Transportation Commission to invent new goals or to invent new metrics I think we simply need targets that show how to achieve those goals using those metrics right so it's less work than you think and we're not asking to go back and reexamine the metrics or reexamine the goals just let's just Express the the progress towards we let establish targets towards those goals in terms of those metrics so if we could express it that way it kind of makes the project really clear and it's not a new project it really is a continuation of a project that's already there so I don't know if you want to AC my language of targets but I do think it's important that we don't need to go back and revisit the other the other important work on the goals or the metrics I know that we're up on time for our committee um robust discussion thank you very much fellow council members um if there's nothing further at this time I think we have some direction this item is coming back at our next meeting on May 20th um just want to thank um Vice chair Wilder thank you for joining us this afternoon um as well as Public Works assistant director um for transportation Joel fun thank you very much for the presentation um if there's nothing further from staff we will um conclude this agenda item and with that we conclude the public works and natural resources

committee I will turn it to I believe President Hamil is with us remotely and we will need a brief break until we move forward with the next committee this morning um which I believe is planning and Community Development community and economic development now that planning and all of those have divided up um next will be community and economic development but there'll be a brief break we'll be right back thank you