Planning & Zoning Commission Working Session

Southeast Regional Library
775 N. Greenfield Rd

April 18, 2001

COMMISSION PRESENT:

Chairman Karl Kohlhoff, Vice Chairman Joan Krueger, Commissioner Susan Preiss, Commissioner Stan Strom, Commissioner Dan Dodge, Alternate Commissioner Michael Monroe

STAFF PRESENT:

Planning Manager Maria Cadavid, Planning Manager Linda Edwards, Senior Planner Dan Fairbanks, Senior Planner Geir Sverdrup, Planner Dennis Newcombe, Planner Aruna Vasudev

ALSO PRESENT:

Town Attorney Kelly Schwab, Council Member Les Presmyk, Assistant Town Manager Pettit, Tammy Ryal, Town Traffic Engineer Bruce Ward, Recorder Trasie Johns

CALL TO ORDER:

Chairman Karl Kohlhoff called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m.

Brief Commission on draft Transit/Pedestrian stops

Planner Dennis Newcombe showed a visual aid of the proposed transit system and pedestrian stops. He discussed an article that described how Glendale and Chandler were proposing to raise the sales tax to help with their transit costs, allowing people an option for transportation that was not available at that time. He thanked the Commission for allowing him to present this draft. He described that it came about with a lot of discussion of what was occurring in the valley as well as what was happening with Gilbertâ??s growth. He explained that there were major planned area developments occurring further south and they needed to look at how they would provide alternative modes of transportation. These could include transit to pedestrian walkways.

Mr. Newcombe gave some examples of the terms that were included in the draft. He explained that the ordinance was one piece and the next step would be the design guidelines and how it would look. He said the Gateway Area Plan was looking at this extensively and at a grander scale. They were also working with the bus shelter companies to come up with a typical design that would have an agrarian look, which would be in tune with the development they are proposing.

Mr. Newcombe explained how development could occur or how existing development could use this system. He stated that on the front page of the packet there was an example of a commercial development on the corner and how the stops and pedestrian connections would look like and the opportunities to connect to the commercial centers. He explained that they wanted to look at how people could both live and work in Gilbert using this system.

Mr. Newcombe introduced Ken Driggs, the Executive Director of RPTA and stated that Ken would be explaining the overall benefits of transit.

Ken Driggs, the Executive Director of RPTA came forward. He explained that in the valley there were some issues that preceded others. In some cases, he stated they had to go back and retrofit a major transportation system because the freeways got here to late and in some cases neighborhoods have been affected when the freeways had to be established. He stated that they had the opportunity, as the community developed to look at the future. He said that he had seen numbers that were shocking with the population growth of the valley. Pinal County developing 60,000-70,000 units south of the Maricopa County line in Queen Creek maked them realize that there will be people on the streets of Gilbert that wonâ??t be generated by activities within Gilbert. There are a lot of things that need to be looked at and they need to get ahead with the Pedestrian Transit Guidelines. They are tried and true and they have seen their success in other cities. In some cases, Mr. Driggs explained, Cities like GoodYear have adopted them even though their city was only in the infant stage. Right now it is just going city by city, but in the long range there will be major systems in Arizona. He informed the Commission that in Mesa, the Transportation Committee was looking at their overall future plans and people were very surprised that they were looking at traffic calming downtown on Center Street. He stated that he was recommending that they utilize these types of guidelines and they will have an opportunity to see their full fruition in years to come. He concluded by asking for questions.

Chairman Karl Kohlhoff asked if Mr. Driggs represented Mesa in their Transportation Department.

Mr. Driggs stated that he was involved in Mesa just as a citizen. He added that his role in Gilbert was with the Regional Transportation Unit.

Chairman Karl Kohlhoff asked if the Commission had any questions for Mr. Driggs.

The Commission did not have any questions to ask Mr. Driggs.

Chairman Karl Kohlhoff stated that he wanted to say something. He said that in Mesa, automobiles werenâ??t very happy with buses because they stopped in the lane of traffic. He added that he would like buses in Gilbert to be out of the lane of traffic and have pullouts so traffic was not stopped by each bus stop.

Planner Dennis Newcombe informed the Commission that pullouts were a part of the plan.

Commissioner Dan Dodge stated that he had a couple of comments. Under Performance Standards,
“all transit pedestrian stops shall be located on arterial right of ways”, he felt that it was a rather emphatic statement. He said that there might be a hospital or major community center, like Power Ranch, where there might run a bus line off of an arterial. To make a statement that they shall be on arterial roads may not be appropriate. Perhaps it should say “should” or another word.

Planner Dennis Newcombe explained that the reason arterials came up was that it was what the transit system would run on, the major arterials.

Commissioner Dan Dodge agreed that arterial streets were where the transit system needed to be, but that the statement sounded like an exclusive statement, not allowing it in other places.

Chairman Karl Kohlhoff asked what would happen if people wanted to go to the Town Mall in Gilbert. He asked if they would have to get off at the arterial street and walk a half a mile.

Planner Dennis Newcombe explained that they were trying to encourage pedestrians to walk.

Commissioner Dan Dodge asked what it meant under the Commercial section where it stated, “for all commercial developments a parking reduction of five percent would be given to the design to utilize fueling powers or utilize local artists of the design of pedestrian shelters.” He asked about the relationship between using a local artist and how much parking they would need.

Planner Dennis Newcombe explained that this was to encourage them to utilize people that will bring community arts.

Commissioner Dan Dodge stated that he liked community art, but that he didnâ??t see a relationship between that and public parking.

Planner Dennis Newcombe stated that the cost that would be put into parking would be utilized to get the art.

Commissioner Dan Dodge stated that the parking numbers were calculated based on feet, so if they were reducing five percent on the large facilities that would be a lot of parking spots. A smaller facility wouldnâ??t reduce as many spots.

Planner Dennis Newcombe stated that they were looking at these sites as needing to lose parking spaces anyway for the transit station. It is also an incentive to bring in local art. They would be getting transit, so they would be losing some of those cars that would have potentially utilize that space.

Commissioner Dan Dodge stated that in a large mall that supported one pedestrian shelter would lose 150 parking spots, which is 5%. If Safeway did one, they would lose five to ten parking spots. He stated that this would not be equitable and needed to be considered.

Commissioner Dan Dodge stated that under Office Industrial, the last sentence of the first bullet, which stated that “a developer may waive up to 10% of the parking requirement”, he felt should be located under the second bullet, not the first.

Commissioner Dan Dodge asked about the section under the Municipal Institutional, and wanted clarification on whether they intended to get a 25% reduction in parking, instead of the 5%.

Planner Dennis Newcombe stated that this was correct; they were trying to encourage people to ride busses and ride bikes, etc. In addition, there are certain institutions, like the Boys and Girls Clubs that donâ??t need the necessary number of parking spaces that have been required of them. At the Boys and Girls Club, they have had a hard time meeting the parking capitalization.

Commissioner Dan Dodge stated that the parking capitalization per square foot was based on the use.

Planner Dennis Newcombe stated that was correct and that they didnâ??t need the additional parking.

Commissioner Dan Dodge stated that under Residential, the third bullet, which stated “residential shelter every eight of a mile” he had not seen this happen anywhere.

Planner Dennis Newcombe stated that this was only in areas of high density, like the Gateway Area.

Commissioner Dan Dodge stated that this was a bit extreme and that the way it was written sounded like there had to be a shelter every eighth of a mile. He added that he had never seen this, including in his travel in Europe where everyone uses public transportation. Perhaps there would be a bus stop that close together, but not a parking shelter

Planner Dennis Newcombe explained that a lot of the research came from documentation he had received from all across the country, so maybe there were some things that werenâ??t as applicable here. But when you start looking at the densities that they were calling out in the Gateway Area or downtown Tempe and downtown Mesa, Mr. Newcombe explained, there would be areas where this is necessary. So he concluded, the word “shall” was what was making it sound unusual.

Chairman Karl Kohlhoff recommended that they take the word “shall” out.

Commissioner Dan Dodge agreed and added that it should state something that includes some discretion in it.

Planner Dennis Newcombe agreed to do this.

Commissioner Dan Dodge asked when this documentation would move forward.

Planner Dennis Newcombe explained that this first meeting with the Commission was to find out what their overall opinion was about it and get some general input. Then, he stated that it should be addressed again at a meeting on May 18th.

Commissioner Dan Dodge stated that he thought it was a great idea; he just had some specific comments that he felt needed to be addressed.

Planner Dennis Newcombe stated that he appreciated his comments. The other thing he clarified was that this was the ordinance part of it, which is the legal binding issue. The next step would be for design guidelines, which would address some of the issues that they had talked about.

Chairman Karl Kohlhoff asked the Commission to think about having paid advertisement on the stops, since the Town was revenue short. Therefore, they would have the revenue and the Staff could control the advertising.

Update on issues/changes for items on the regular agenda.

Chairman Karl Kohlhoff asked the Staff if there were any issues or changes for the regular agenda. There were none given.

ADJOURN STUDY SESSION

Chairman Karl Kohlhoff adjourned the study session at 5:58 p.m.

ATTEST:

Recorder Trasie Johns