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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 8675 City of Palo Alto (ID # 8675) City Council Staff Report Report Type: Consent Calendar Meeting Date: 12/4/2017 City of Palo Alto Page 1 Summary Title: Addendum to the Rail Committee Charter Title: Adoption of an Addendum to the Rail Committee Charter From: City Manager Lead Department: Planning and Community Environment Recommendation Staff recommends that the City Council accept the Rail Committee’s recommendation and adopt the following addendum to the Rail Committee’s current charter (attached): The City Council is committed to robust community engagement regarding grade separations along the Caltrain corridor and has requested that the Rail Committee conduct meetings to engage directly with community stakeholders to support the decision-making process. These meetings will be formatted to allow for and encourage dialog and to supplement other regular meetings of the Committee as well as larger community workshops, focus group meetings, and other forms of engagement utilized to develop a Context Sensitive Solution for the rail corridor. The Rail Committee will ultimately formulate recommendations to the City Council. The stakeholder input that the Committee receives will help shape and inform those recommendations and the Council’s decisions. Executive Summary On April 11, 2017, the City Council adopted an updated charter for the Rail Committee (Attachment A) and on September 11, 2017, the City Council requested an addendum to the Rail Committee’s charter, reflecting its desire for the Rail Committee to play an expanded role in community engagement. The Rail Committee considered a draft of the addendum on November 8, 2017 and recommended its adoption. The goal of the City of Palo Alto Page 2 addendum is to explain the Committee’s role in the community engagement process. The ongoing planning effort envisions robust community engagement during a four phase planning and decision making process, as shown below: The Rail Committee will provide a recommendation to the City Council at each decision point based on community input as well as data and analysis developed by a team of staff and consultants. To use the Rail Committee as a venue for community engagement, staff has suggested and the Rail Committee has agreed to schedule “town hall” style Rail Committee meetings in the evening one or two days before the day time Rail Committee meetings where decision points are discussed. The three remaining decision points are shown in the diagram above: identify alternatives for evaluation; evaluate & refine alternatives; and select preferred alternative. For example, after staff has brought forward a draft circulation study, a white paper on trenching and tunneling options, a white paper on local financing options, and a summary of input from community round table meetings and Questionnaire #2, we will be requesting the Committee’s recommendations on alternatives that should be evaluated further. The Committee would hold an evening town hall style meeting one or two days before the regular meeting of the Committee, possibly at a venue other than City Hall. The meeting would be structured to permit comments and questions from the community, as well as staff/consultant and Committee responses, and could be streamed live on Facebook. 1 At its regular morning meeting a couple of days later, The Committee would have an opportunity to discuss the community input received and responses to outstanding questions/concerns. The meeting could end with a Rail Committee motion to recommend a short list of alternatives for further evaluation and/or request additional staff work. The advantages of this two-step process would be to let the Committee hear directly from the public and engage in dialog before being called to make a recommendation to the City Council. Note that the traditional and “town hall” style Rail Committee meetings described above are one of several ways community members can engage on this issue. Staff also plans to schedule community meetings, focus groups, and use other means to gather and analyze community input to assist the Council as it moves through the decision making 1 Under the Brown Act, members of the Council who are not on the Rail Committee may attend traditional and “town hall” Rail Committee meetings in person or via Facebook streaming, but only as observers (meaning that they cannot speak or otherwise participate in the meeting). This rule applies to all city council subcommittees. City of Palo Alto Page 3 process. Attachments: Attachment A: Rail Committee Charter April 11, 2017 (DOCX) April 11, 2017 Rail Committee Charter Page 1 of 2 Rail Committee Charter [Adopted April 11, 2017] Preamble The City of Palo Alto supports transportation and urban design solutions for the Caltrain corridor that are compatible with community values and that complement the goals and policies of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. The Caltrain corridor has long been a physical constraint to east-west movement in Palo Alto, and the current grade crossings create traffic congestion and pose safety and noise challenges that will get worse as the frequency of train service increases. As a result, the City actively participates in planning for the rail corridor, and supports changes that improve and do not exacerbate impacts to the Palo Alto community. Purpose of the Committee The City Council’s Rail Committee was re-established in 2015 to analyze and advance grade separated crossings for all modes of travel (bicycles, motor vehicles, transit, and pedestrians). While the Committee in the past has focused on High Speed Rail, Caltrain grade separations and electrification will be the essential focus of the Committee for 2017-2018. Guiding Principles 1. Palo Alto seeks to improve east-west connectivity, traffic circulation, pedestrian and bicycle movements, safety, and the noise environment along the Caltrain corridor. 2. Palo Alto strongly supports Caltrain and the improved commuter rail service that will come as a result of modernization (including electrification). 3. Palo Alto will continue to work with Caltrain to ensure that all potential impacts of modernization are addressed and adopted mitigation measures are implemented. 4. Palo Alto supports Caltrain as the lead agency for all system improvements in the Caltrain corridor. 5. Palo Alto has long had concerns about the potential impacts of High Speed Rail and believes that the project should be terminated. If the project proceeds, CHSRA should provide funding for affected cities to analyze potential impacts. 6. Palo Alto believes that CAHSRA should fund grade separations and should not commence service until they are complete. April 11, 2017 Rail Committee Charter Page 2 of 2 7. Palo Alto will advocate strenuously for its fair share of County Measure B funding for grade separations and actively seek additional funding from Caltrain, CAHSRA, Santa Clara County, and other external funding sources. 8. Palo Alto supports the use of the Context Sensitive Solutions process for High Speed Rail and grade separations and will structure a CSS process to engage the community in selection of a preferred grade separation alternative for the corridor. 9. Palo Alto seeks modernization of freight operations in the corridor and will seek flexibility from the UPRR to pursue desired improvements in the Caltrain corridor. 10. Palo Alto will work cooperatively with neighboring communities with respect to HSR and Caltrain issues of mutual concern, including grade separations.