Building_development + Cross_cutting + Wildlife_habitat

1:02:31 And I think that's an important anchoring point for this conversation because we all know that all of our jurisdictions are increasingly under significant revenue pressure. We are not keeping up with our expenditures. You had some data on that, but there's a lot more data that can be used to illustrate that point. We are in a budget year. When we get to the end of this budget year, inevitably there will have to be compromises made. And sadly, although we know that folks move here and stay here because of the natural beauty and the parks, parks often is, as Council Member Harless mentioned, one of the things that is easy to make cuts in. And so sadly, it's one of the things that often is cut in challenging fiscal times. And for the foreseeable future, we're looking at challenging fiscal times. And so one of the things that I'm really excited about with this conversation is that it provides some additional revenue in the system to help buffer some of that.

1:03:30 And I do think that the real trick here is going to be that interlocal agreement because we have different jurisdictions with different philosophies, different autonomous systems that they want to run their own way. We have different philosophies about who should get what. Some people feel that they should get exactly out of the system what they put into it. Others are a little bit more of a we're in this together. Sometimes it's, what is the time frame that we're talking about? And whenever we have these interjurisdictional agencies, those are the kinds of conversations that we wind up in. We've been having those similar conversations around transit, for example. And so we've got communities that are emerging in vastly different ways, too. Vancouver is becoming increasingly urban. And you've heard some comments from some of my colleagues about the ways in which that manifests and how that affects our park standard. It's an urban park standard versus a suburban park standard

1:04:29 versus a rural park standard. What are the needs financially and otherwise in the system? And then how can you then compare an urban park system to a non-urban park system and come up with an interlocal agreement that's equitable, that meets everybody's needs, understanding that everybody's needs are slightly different within this system. And so that's going to be a real trick. I'm optimistic that we can find a way to do that. Other jurisdictions have. We're not unique. And having an urban area within a broader county that's not as urban-- King County is the same way. And so it can be done. I hope we can do it. It's going to take leadership. But ultimately, when we get through this conversation and we get to a solution that everybody can agree with, we're all going to be better off. Because as has been mentioned before and we mentioned at the outset, folks don't know where the city limits are when they go to a park. Wildlife doesn't know where the city limits are when they look for a place to build their nest or what have you.

1:05:27 And so while it's good to remind folks that we have a system and there are different jurisdictions providing different services, in the end, what we want to have is a system where everybody has access to recreation and to parks and to green space that they can enjoy regardless of where they happen to live within the county. So thank you for the good work that's been done so far. And look forward to the ongoing conversation. Councilor Stover. Thank you, Mayor, Councilman Ty Stover. Again, the other thing I was thinking is many times we look at these national benchmarks. And they're helpful, but they're not always practical. And so I would add to this list of things-- and maybe it's part of one of these three already-- but what is that target level that we're going to really shoot for, realistically,

1:06:25 at least in the next 20 years? And so we can still push ourselves, but not feel overwhelmed that we're never going to achieve this national average, which I'd love to. And maybe we will, but I think that conversation needs to happen. Thank you. One last comment. You've heard a lot about finance. I need more specific information on governance. As we look at governance of C-TRAN, governance of the library system, governance across the county, as was pointed out by Councilor Paulson, we have different ideas of what things should look like. I'll need some more information about governance, representation and governance. Thank you so very much.

1:07:24 All right. We have less than an hour, but we're going to bring in Kate and Ryan LaPosa and jump into our transportation improvement program. Thank you so much.

1:07:45 Thank you. I know. Sunglasses next week. All right. Who's kicking this off? Kate or Ryan? Ryan, you each pointed to each other. OK. Go ahead, Kate. Hello, and thank you for having us today. I'm Kate Drennan, transportation planning manager and community development. And Ryan LaPosa, transportation manager with Public Works. And we are here today to begin the process of our annual update to the transportation improvement program. So today we'll do a brief reminder on the basics of the transportation improvement program, including what elements make up the plan. Then we'll get into the changes to the work program, including some project highlights. We'll touch on the inputs into the prioritization process,

1:08:44 transportation finances, and then next steps for council adoption. So I'll get us started with the first few elements, and then I will hand it off to Ryan. So the transportation improvement program is an annual program required by law. It really acts as kind of a six-year work plan for all of our transportation projects and investments. It includes the capital projects that we plan and build, programs that fund activities, and ongoing work, such as pavement maintenance. The plan includes an overview of our finances, including project costs and sources, both internal and external, such as federal and state grants. And each year, we update the plan to remove the projects that have been built or are under construction and will be completed within the year, and projects that have changed

1:09:43 or been amended, and of course, projects that have been added. And so projects will move between an unfunded to partially funded to a fully funded list. The TIP, or Transportation Improvement Program, is really vital for coordinated planning within our regional transportation council and the State Department of Transportation. Often when we apply for grants, we need to ensure that these projects are on these lists so that everyone knows they've kind of gone through a process. And we do this program update annually, as I said, and council approval is required by July 1. So this graphic on the screen is really meant to depict that there are various mechanisms for a project to reach the Transportation Improvement Program, as well as many touch points of community input. So this top row includes plans that speak to a comprehensive and long-term vision of the transportation system.

1:10:42 The transportation system plan, the strategic plan, various sub-area or corridor plans all identify needed project investments that take both near-term and long-term vision. However, I'll note that projects can also come about from private development. When we have development that generates substantial new trips on the system, it triggers the need for transportation investments and projects to accommodate those new trips. So now we're in that bottom line. So we have private development, of course. We hear about projects from the public, from council and other staff input, and via planning projects that come through our Transportation and Mobility Commission. So outreach really happens throughout the entire project lifecycle, including in the project identification within these larger plans, in the design elements, in construction notifications, and more.

1:11:41 And we also solicit feedback on the Transportation Improvement Program itself, although we don't typically receive as much engagement on this plan, since it's really a list of projects and priorities of which the community has already advocated for and engaged with us on them. So what's new in this year's 2027 to 2032 Transportation Improvement Program? We will note that this is the final year of this plan that has projects beyond the six-year horizon. We call it a six-year work plan, but we've typically had projects that are longer than that. Once we adopt the comprehensive plan, which is nigh, those long-term projects will be moved off because they'll now reside on the capital facilities plan, which is the 20-year plan within the comprehensive plan. So that will be a change in the TIP for next year.

1:12:40 So we have updated project scoring and prioritization. That happens whenever we add new projects to the list. As mentioned before, projects get added and removed, so those changes are clearly outlined. We have arterial map classification changes. This is where we identify what those changes are. In this case, all roadway changes this year were just to match the federal functional classification to make sure that ours match what the federal functional classification is. And so we just want those to be aligned. And then we have public comments that are included in full within the Transportation Improvement Program. They were primarily about speeding on arterials and collectors, a desire for safer crossings for pedestrians, quite a bit about pothole repair. And we received some comments in support of the Evergreen Highway Path.

1:13:39 I just want to note, again, that the Transportation Improvement Program has been shared out. It's online. We've collected most of our public comments via that online dashboard. But we've also shared out information about this through Neighborhood Association newsletters, social media, Be Heard, and via three different meetings with the Transportation and Mobility Commission. And with that, I'm going to move you to some of the project highlights. Thanks, Kate. So a few key project highlights that you'll see in this year's tip update. We obviously are underway with the Heights, the Mill Play MacArthur intersection. We had a nice groundbreaking ceremony there last week, which my apologies for missing that. I was home nursing a very severe illness. But it sounds like it went well. So first of the Heights projects that are getting underway. So that's highlighted in the tip.

1:14:38 Another Heights project that's an even bigger project is our Grand Loop project. And that's the project that's funded with our RAISE grant. So that one is also highlighted in the tip. And again, that project will get underway later this fall.