I-205 Corridor Study
Citizens' Committee

Combined Open House #1 and
Citizens' Committee Meeting #1

Meeting Summary, October 7, 1999

Citizens' Committee Members Present

Bryan Halbert, CREDC		Gary Thomsen, Evergreen School District
Becky Archibald, Fircrest Neighborhood		Ward Knable, Vancouver Fire Services
Loyda Timmins, East Ridge Business Park		Tim Schauer, Clark County Home Builders
Rick Sant'Angelo, Friends of Clark County		Joe Gianotti, Marrion Neighborhood
Deanna Balam, Ellsworth Neighborhood		Alex Veliko, ENAG
Joe Kunkel, SW Washington Medical		Tim Schiller, Cascade Park Business Assoc.
David Schultz, Burton Ridge Neighborhood		David Bourland, Washington State Patrol

Staff Present

Lynda David, RTC		Dean Lookingbill, RTC
Brian McMullen, WSDOT		Mary Legry, WSDOT
Kevin Wallace, City of Vancouver

Consultants

Jamie Damon, JLA		Sorin Garber, HDR
Roger Johnson, HDR		James Gregory, HDR
Hann Lee, Hann Lee Associates

Others in Attendance

James Etzkorn, ENAG		Alison Mielke, Friends of Clark County
Ken Albrecht, Oakbrook Neighborhood		Kathy Kiwala, North Garrison Neighborhood
Bud VanCleve, NE Hazel Dell Neighborhood		David Glavin, resident
Tom Mielke, State Legislator		Rep. Mark Boldt, State Rep. 17 District
Fran Rutherford, Riveredge Neighborhood		John C. Wilson, Village at Fishers Landing
Ross Montgomery, Airport Green Neighborhood

Agenda

5:30pm		Community Open House
7:00pm	JD	Welcome/Introductions
7:15pm	LD/BM	Study Process Overview
7:30pm	JD	Committee Protocols
8:30pm	SG	Technical Process Overview/Issues
8:50pm	JD	Next Meeting/Agenda
9:00pm		Close

Welcome/Introductions

Jamie asked the group to introduce themselves and tell each other a little background about their involvement with issues in the community. Group members have been very involved in related activities and highlighted the following issues to not lose sight of:

• Cut through traffic in the neighborhoods.
  Concurrency.
• Gridlock on the freeway and side streets at peak travel times.
• Finding solutions that can be implemented sooner than later.
• The group must stay on track, be task oriented - don't want this process going on for much longer than the six - eight month commitment.
• Coordination with other transportation related processes.
• Funding.

Study Process Overview

Lynda and Brian presented a brief background and overview of the process, outlining the key questions this process is designed to address, the schedule, and the committee's role in the process.

Committee Protocols

Jamie led the group through a discussion to finalize operating procedures and protocols. The group reached agreement on the following areas:

Ground Rules

• Read materials in advance
• Possible meeting attendance rule
• Ensure all input heard before moving on
• Time limit for speaking

Expectations of staff

• Boil down points in presentation.
• Get future agenda topics in advance to group.
• Get materials to us in advance of meetings.

Chairperson

• Not now, maybe at some point in the future if the need arises.
• Get to know each other first.
• If one spokesperson, then they need to represent the group-not their own agenda.

Public comment

• Allow for 15 minutes at end of each meeting.
• Keep meetings open to the public.
• Limit speaking time (2 minutes).
• Have speakers focus on topic on agenda if possible.
• Have speakers' sign up in advance.
• Have audience members introduce themselves at the beginning of the meeting.

Media

• Concerned with having "one voice" from the group.
• Concerned about misrepresentation of discussions.
• The group needs to present a unified voice, not speak of individual agendas.
• Use staff as the point of contact for the meeting.
• Use press releases to be more proactive in getting information out to the media.

Meeting Summaries/Minutes

• Meeting summaries format OK.
• Tape-record all meetings.

Information Exchange

• Staff can make presentations to your neighborhoods, business groups, if you would like.
• A Web site has been established http://www.rtc.wa.gov/studies/i205.

Alternates

• Committee member, if absent, will get message to group in writing or through another group member.
• If an alternate is sent, they are "ears only" -- no decision-making.

Decision Making

Range of Consensus", described as follows:

A group member puts an issue forward, and using the "five finger rule" (outlined below) a straw poll is taken to determine how far apart or how close the group is to agreeing. The group sets the amount of time to discuss and who needs to speak, based on the outcome of the "five finger rule". Discussion takes place, the group checks in at the agreed upon end time or sooner, conducts a second "five finger poll", all outcomes are recorded.

The Five Finger Rule

1. Agree 100%
2. Mostly agree – minor reservations
3. Somewhat agree – not crazy about it
4. Can live with it – not happy
5. No

Technical Analysis Overview

Sorin gave a brief overview of the technical analysis approach. More detailed information will be discussed at our next meeting.

Issues

The group will review the stakeholder interview summary for issues and add to the issues by email to Jamie by the end of October. Jamie will compile the issues and begin to categorize them into groupings for the development of community-based evaluation criteria.

Next Meeting

November 18, 1999 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM
SW Washington Medical Center or East Ridge Business Park
Jamie will follow up with Joe and Loyda regarding the location.

The group thought it would be nice to meet at different places in the study area hosted by group members.

The next meeting agenda will focus on the existing conditions and decision making criteria.

Close

Jamie closed the meeting at 9:00pm.

Community Issues from Comment Forms and Map

• Would like to see ITS incorporated into the design of I-205 - Mill Plain - SR 500.
  
• It's too late now, but parallel service roads on Mill Plain would improve traffic, but perhaps other parallel streets could be used.
  
• Looking at the neighborhood cut-through traffic diagrams caused me to believe that further study needs to be given the Ellsworth - McGillivray corridor as a way around the congestion at 205/14 and 164th/14. This results in problems in the neighborhoods.
  
• Need an additional on/off ramp on I-205 between Mill Plain and SR 500. Strongly endorse a split diamond between NE 18th St. and Burton Rd. Widen 18th St. to the east to 138th Ave. and extend 18th west to 87th Ave. Most of the congestion is PM traffic, might consider an additional northbound lane on I-205 from SR14 to SR500 as an HOV lane during peak travel times. My suggestion for the best, short-term immediate remedy would be an exit northbound from I-205 at Burton Rd and an on ramp southbound at Burton to I-205.
  
• I encourage consideration of encouraging alternative modes of transportation and increased funding for such before road expansion or new roads are considered. This would be more conducive to increasing quality of life and healthy and attractive communities. New and/or improved roads are not always the best answer to this difficult question.
  
• Because I-205 is 75 feet from my fence, I am concerned about increasing traffic and traffic stopped (often) due to SR 500 back up and accidents. Day and night traffic is noisy and polluting. A wall needs to be put in place of the chain link fence.