| Puget Sound Regional Council psrc.org | |
| Regional Coordination at work | |
| Transportation Policy Board and Growth Management Policy Board | |
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January 12, 2006
Transportation Policy Board members recommended that the Executive Board adopt the Puget Sound Regional Council recommendations to the 2006 state Legislature and directed staff to communicate the recommendations in partnership with other transportation interests. Last year, PSRC's Executive Board approved recommendations to the state Legislature developed by the Transportation Policy Board, and successfully advocated for increased state funding for transportation, including additional funding for local governments. The 2006 recommendations include sustaining the state transportation funding provided by the Legislature in 2003 and 2005 and seeking additional local and regional transportation funding options. The full text of the 2006 PSRC legislative recommendations, which were approved by the Executive Board, is available at: http://www.psrc.org/datapubs/pubs/atwork/eb/ebjan06.htm. For more information, contact Charlie Howard at 206-464-7122, choward@psrc.org.
The Transportation Policy Board directed staff to proceed with incorporating the transportation issue paper into the VISION 2020+20 update, and to use the issue paper as guidance in updating Destination 2030. The transportation issue paper was one of 10 papers that investigated topics raised during the scoping process for the VISION 2020 update. The paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the current transportation system and helps define transportation improvements that are needed to support the VISION 2020 growth strategy and a prosperous economy. For a copy of the paper, contact the Information Center, 206-464-7532, infoctr@psrc.org. For more information, contact Rocky Piro at 206-464-6360 or rpiro@psrc.org or Mike Cummings at 206-464-6360 or mcummings@psrc.org.
Transportation Policy Board members were notified that the Federal Highway Administration awarded $600,000 in additional funding to PSRC's Traffic Choices Study. This project is using 300 volunteer drivers to study how charging tolls to drive on some regional roadways will affect their travel choices. WSDOT also received $880,000 from FHWA to implement a High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lane on SR 167. For more information, contact Charlie Howard at 206-464-7122, choward@psrc.org.
In Other Business, the Transportation Policy Board:
The Growth Management Policy Board took action on the 2006-2007 Public Involvement Plan for the VISION 2020+20 Update. The Growth Management Policy Board approved a public involvement plan outlining the steps PSRC will take to solicit, gather and analyze meaningful input from a wide cross-section of the public, agencies, public officials, jurisdictions, and Tribal Governments. Outreach will provide opportunities for broad public participation and comment throughout the VISION 2020+20 Update. It will include public meetings, workshops, publications, and presentations. For more information, contact Ben Bakkenta at 206-464-5372 or bbakkenta@psrc.org.
The Growth Management Policy Board welcomed Joe Tovar for an additional briefing on the information paper on appropriate urban densities. The board continued its discussion of relevant statutory provisions established by the Growth Management Hearings Board and potential assistance PSRC could provide local jurisdictions on this issue within the VISION 2020 update. For more information, contact Norman Abbott at 206-464-7134 or nabbott@psrc.org.
The Growth Management Policy Board examined criteria for evaluating preferred growth alternatives. In the fall of 2005, the Growth Management Policy Board took "action to proceed" on a general framework for evaluating alternatives and selecting a preferred growth alternative. At the January meeting, the board reviewed what the staff developed to add objective standards to the framework to create measurable criteria that can be used to document differences between the alternatives and provide useful information to the board when selecting a preferred growth alternative. The key measures for evaluating alternatives are: environmental quality, health, economic prosperity (the objectives of the Regional Economic Strategy), land use, transportation (the objectives of Destination 2030), social justice and human potential, maintaining rural character, protecting resource lands, efficiencies in the provision and use of infrastructure, and public facilities and services. The measured will be scored by the Regional Council staff and reviewed by the Growth Management Policy Board after the DEIS is issued and the board is beginning to discuss the preferred growth alternative. For more information, contact Norman Abbott at (206) 464-7134, nabbott@psrc.org.
The Growth Management Policy Board reviewed the transportation issue paper. The Transportation Issue Paper examines regional trends, the current transportation vision, public input from the scoping process, the baseline transportation information the Transportation Policy Board has developed for the Destination 2030 Update, and policy considerations for the VISION 2020+20 Update. For more information, contact Rocky Piro at 206-464-6360 or rpiro@psrc.org or Mike Cummings at 206-464-6360 or mcummings@psrc.org.
The Growth Management Policy Board was briefed on two additional informational papers, one covering pre-GMA vested development in the rural areas of the region and the second on compact growth and adverse health impacts. The information gathered in these two papers will help inform the update of VISION 2020. The first paper covers the status of vested development in the rural areas of the region. In Washington, development vests on the date when the permit is submitted. Based on the available data, about 90 percent of the building permits in the rural areas of Kitsap and Snohomish County are on vested subdivision applications. The second paper covers research on the adverse health impacts at the mircoscale, meaning smaller, more specific areas, such as adjacent to highways or in urban canyons, to see what is happening in the environment on a smaller scale. Based on the information available, the paper recommends examining research on compatible and incompatible land uses, looking more closely at opportunities created by technical advances, monitoring at the microscale, and further education of policy makers and planners. For more information, contact Ivan Miller at 206-464-7549 or imiller@psrc.org.
In other business, the Growth Management Policy Board: |
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