HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/18/2001 Adjourned Meeting 286
CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
SEPTEMBER 18, 2001 — 7:30 A.M.
COUNCIL CHAMBERS — CITY HALL
Present:
Council: Mayor Mary Place, presiding, Council Members Clarence
Barnett, Henry Beauchamp, Lynn Buchanan, Larry Mattson,
John Puccinelli, and Bernard Sims
Staff: Dick Zais, City Manager; Kay Adams, City Engineer, Bob
Desgrosellier, Senior Engineer; Shelley Willson, Streets and
Traffic Operations Manager; and Karen Roberts, City Clerk
Consultants: Gary Phillips, Berger ABAM Engineers
Ross Widener, Widener & Associates
1. REVIEW OF RAILROAD GRADE SEPARATION STUDY ANALYSIS STATUS
• Construction alternatives proposed for each crossing
Eight alternatives were originally considered:
• Alternative 1: No action; rail would be maintained at -grade at all seven
crossings — recommended for rejection.
• Alternative 2: Lowering the road under the rail (consists of four sub -
alternatives:
• 2a: Lower road under railroad with railroad at existing grade — deeper
underpasses at "I" Street, "D" Street, Lincoln Avenue, "B" Street and Yakima
Avenue than in alternatives 2b and 2c.
• 2b: Lower road under railroad and raise railroad five feet — applies to "I"
Street, "D" Street, Lincoln Avenue, "B" Street and Yakima Avenue; Front
Street would be cut off at Yakima Avenue, "B" Street, Lincoln Avenue, "D"
Street and "I" Street.
• 2c: Lower road under railroad and raise railroad to maintain at -grade
intersection at Front Street — recommended for rejection.
• 2d: Lower road under railroad and Front Street with rail at current grade —
applies to "I" Street, "D" Street, Lincoln Avenue, "B" Street, and Yakima
Avenue. Front Street would not connect to "I" Street, "D" Street, Lincoln
Avenue, "B" Street, or Yakima Avenue; however, it would be maintained as a
north -south through street.
• Alternative 3: Close road(s) at railroad — one or more of the roads would be
closed where they intersect with the railway crossing.
• Alternative 4: Raise road over railroad — applies to Mead Avenue and
Washington Avenue. The rail would be maintained at its current grade and
the road would be raised over it. This alternative is not considered feasible for
"I" Street, "D" Street, Lincoln Avenue, "B" Street, or Yakima Avenue due to
impact on access to local businesses.
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SEPTEMBER 18, 2001 — ADJOURNED MEETING
• Alternative 5: Lower railroad under road — applies to "1" Street, "D" Street,
Lincoln Avenue, "B" Street, and Yakima Avenue — recommended for
rejection.
• Alternative 6: Raise railroad over road — applies to "1" Street, "D" Street,
Lincoln Avenue, "B" Street, and Yakima Avenue. The rail would be elevated
by building a wall structure between "I" Street and Yakima Avenue —
recommended for rejection.
• Alternative 7 — Reroute railroad around Yakima — the rail would be relocated
out of the City of Yakima — recommended for rejection.
• Alternative 8 — Close railroad in Yakima — the railroad would be closed within
the City of Yakima — recommended for rejection.
Summary of Alternatives Currently Proposed for each Crossing
Road Crossing
D Lincoln B Yakima Mead Washington
Alternatives Street Street Avenue Street Avenue Avenue Avenue
2a) Road under rail —
no rail raise
2b) Road under rail —
raise rail 5' •
2d) Road under rail
&Front St. — no
rail raise
3) Road closure
—
4) Road over rail —no
rail raise
Mayor Place mentioned that she and Council Member Buchanan have been
serving on a sub - committee to determine if railroad grade separations are really
needed. At this point, she stated that they have decided against the elevated
train tracks through town.
• • Consultants review alternatives and seek Council direction
Kay Adams introduced consultants Gary Phillips and Ross Widener. He stated
they started with thirteen options, ranging from elevated to buried rail, to doing
" nothing. The Freight Mobility Board wants a corridor that separates trains from
vehicular traffic in order to maintain the train's speed through the city. If one
intersection were left as it is now, it would require the train to slow down through
• town. The intersections do not have to be changed all at once, but we have to
. have the intent to do that. In exchange, the Freight Mobility Board would fund
50% of the costs. We developed some alternatives, but now need Council's
direction on which alternatives would be acceptable for further study:
Council Member Barnett pointed out that this report lacks cost estimates for
these alternatives and the source for matching funds. Mr. Adams responded that
staff is not expecting Council to make any funding decisions today about any of
the alternatives since we are still exploring options:
•
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SEPTEMBER 18, 2001 — ADJOURNED MEETING
Gary Phillips reviewed the elements in Phase I:
1) Site recommendation and eliminate seven at -grade intersections
2) Environmental review of alternatives
3) Public involvement
4) Pre - design report
5) Project model — 3 -D computer
• The conceptual preferred plan
In the preferred alternative (Alternative 2b), stage 1 consists of underpasses at
Yakima Avenue, "B" Street and Lincoln Avenue and closes "D" Street at the
railroad tracks. The question is how do we keep Front Street open. In order to
keep it open the underpass would have to be dug deeper. An option would be to
turn "A" Street into a two -way street and find another access to Track 29. "D"
Street was closed because of the significant issue of access into and out of the
Fire Station. Any grade separation there would necessitate the relocation of the
Fire Station. The same thing is true with the fruit warehouses on the other side
of the street. By closing "D" Street, the Fire Station can remain at that location
and the warehouses can use "D" Street like they are using it now. In later
stages, there would be an overpass at Washington and Mead, an underpass at
"I" Street or grade separation at "H" Street and close "I" Street at the railroad
tracks. Mayor Place asked if "H" Street would connect to Fruitvale Avenue and
the answer she received was "yes ".
• Council questions and staff's and consultants' responses
Kay Adams clarified that there should be a question mark for road closure for "D"
Street in the Summary of Alternatives Currently Proposed for Each Crossing
table.
Council Member Buchanan pointed out that at certain times of the day and year,
"D" Street is heavily trafficked. He also questioned the limited access for the fire
station if "D" Street is closed. Mr. Adams replied that several representatives
from that business corridor were invited to be on the committee and Washington
Fruit is beginning to believe that closure of "D" Street may be a benefit to the
business. The Fire Chief had told him that if a train blocks access to the west,
they now have to go to Walnut. By closing "D" Street, they would only have to go
to Lincoln Avenue or Yakima Avenue. Council Member Puccinelli asked about
the idea of running the trains below the ground, like in a trench. Mr. Adams said
they found that would not work because the water table level was only five feet.
Council Member Puccinelli expressed concern about the impact this would have
on the businesses along Yakima Avenue. Mr. Adams stated staff has been
diligent in communicating with those businesses that will be affected by this
change. If we don't do the grade separation the traffic will be horrendous in
twenty years. Council member Buchanan expressed concern about 1 Avenue.
There is a lot of truck traffic that utilizes that street. He thinks we will have a
problem if we close off "D" Street. Bob Desgrosellier stated that if we have a
grade separation at "H" or "I" Streets anyone coming from the north would have
good connections. Council Member Puccinelli asked if we couldn't make "D"
Street a one -way street to allow traffic to flow out of that area instead of closing it.
Mayor Place interjected that there will be a five —foot high barrier there.
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SEPTEMBER 18, 2001 — ADJOURNED MEETING
Mr. Phillips provided Council with information resulting from the traffic analysis.
Closing "D" Street would not really affect the level of service . for the surrounding
area. We find we could keep D level of service or better except at Yakima
Avenue and "1" Street. The new access to Terrace Heights proposed by Yakima
County would help if they follow through with the project. He stated that they
found that the air quality and noise would improve with the grade separation.
• What are the costs?
Council Member Beauchamp asked if there was any cost information available
for the tunnel. Mr. Adams stated that they originally estimated it to be over $300
Million for just this little area we are talking about. City Manager Zais stated that
in Reno, they looked at a host of options. Their budget was nearly $300 million
about 5 -6 years ago. The downtown casinos gave them $15 million and they
passed a local sales tax for that region to help pay for it. He thought we would
be looking at $200 -250 million plus pumping costs to keep the ground water out
of it. The funding source would not look at that high cost budget. He stated we
have some cost figures in terms of what underpasses or overpasses could cost.
We know our funding sources' interests are underpasses for grade separation.
Bob Desgrosellier provided estimated costs for "B" Street and Lincoln Avenue at
$14 million, Yakima Avenue at $10 -12 million and "I" Street at 10 -12 million.
Council Member Beauchamp stated that the cheapest solution is not always the
best in the long run. Council Member Mattson asked what other factors will
impact the cost. Mr. Phillips stated that right -of -way acquisition could impact the
costs as well as the cost for a temporary railroad detour.
Council Member Barnett asked how much funding we have? Mr. Adams stated
we have almost $13 million. Mr. Zais stated that further funding information is
available in the package that we took to Washington, DC, except for the $4
million we got a couple of weeks ago.
• Community involvement,
Mr. Phillips spoke about plans for community outreach:
• Citizen Advisory Committee
• Project Guidance team
• Interdisciplinary team
• Newsletter
• Open House
• Media briefing
• Front Street and Fruit Row meeting
He distributed draft copies of the first newsletter that would be sent. City
Manager Zais stated we are at a point that we have a preferred option, but we
need Council's input to know if we should continue with this or look again at other
options. That is why this is a critical report. Council Member Puccinelli stated
that before we go any further we need to talk to the business people to find out
how much this will affect their business and to look at access to their business.
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SEPTEMBER 18, 2001 — ADJOURNED MEETING
Council Member Mattson stated that although some people will be
inconvenienced, grade separation will serve hundreds of people.
A discussion about elevated tracks brought out further information about the
expense, the noise level from the track that would be heard for miles, and the
fact that it would cut a 200' swath through the middle of town. Also, the Freight
Mobility Board did not like the elevated track idea. Mayor Place stated the sub -
committee has been meeting since February looking at the options and this is
what was felt to be the most doable for the future of Yakima and for our
downtown. She invited Council Member Puccinelli to serve on the committee.
• Council requests additional information
Mary Place stated it sounds like Council needs more information on this and
suggested staff meet with those Council members who have concerns to review
this with them using the notebook that was put together for the subcommittee.
Mr. Phillips stated that could be done, and commented that when we reviewed
some of these explanations with the affected businesses they understood the
rationale of the preferred recommendation. Bob Desgrosellier named some of
the businesses that staff has contacted; they have not talked with every business
one -on -one.
City Manager Zais distributed copies of the presentation they submitted to our
congressional delegation last March that included costs known at that time.
2. ADJOURNMENT
SIMS MOVED AND BUCHANAN SECONDED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING
AT 9:11 A.M. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote.
READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE B - (Wove))
C.4 CIL MEMBER DATE
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. . . t i? ANN> /7 5 0
OUNCIL MEMBER 0A E
ATTEST:
L J ,� P ,
CITY CLERK MARY PLACE, MAYOR
Minutes prepared by Karen Roberts. An audio tape of this meeting is available in the City Clerk's Office
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