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NW Oregon Area Commission on Transportation November 10, 2016

Port of Astoria Astoria, OR

The meeting was called to order by Henry Heimuller, Chair. The following members and guests attended

Craig Allison—Port of St Helens Representative Boone—Oregon Legislature Mike Borresen—Washington Co Citizen-at-Large Stevie Burden—City of Wheeler Bill Carpenter—Clatsop Co Citizen-at-Large Mark Ellsworth—Governor’s Regional Solutions Team Brett Estes—City of Astoria Jeff Harrington—City of Astoria Jeff Hazen—Sunset Empire Transit District Henry Heimuller—Columbia County Commission Diane Jette—Elsie Vinemaple Rural Fire District Senator Johnson—Oregon Legislature Marsha Kirk—City of Banks Kathy Kleczek—Sunset Empire Transit District Jim Knight—Port of Astoria Mark Labhart—Tillamook County Matt Lawyer—Oregon Dept of Aviation Rosemary Lohrke—Columbia Co Citizen-at-Large

Bob Mushen—Port of Astoria Tim Potter—ODOT Region 2 Jae Pudewell—ODOT/Regional Solutions Team Michael Ray—CC Rider Nohemi Ramos—Oregon Dept of Aviation Christie Schreckengost—ODOT Mike Schroeder—ODOT Area 1 John Serra—Congressman Schrader’s Office Ken Shonkwiler—ODOT Gary Stockoff—Washington County Jerry Taylor—City of Manzanita Bob Terry—Washington County Lianne Thompson—Clatsop County Mike Wammack—Elsie Vinemaple Rural Fire Dist Lonny Welter—Columbia County Road Department Andrew Midwood—OTAK David Yamamoto—Tillamook Co Citizen-at-Large Jim Young—Port of Tillamook Bay

Excused: Michele Bradley, Michelle Jenck, Paula Miranda, Russ Warr 1. Welcome and Introductions—Chair Heimuller opened the meeting. Members and stakeholders introduced

themselves.

2. NWACT Minutes and Updates • Approval of September 8, 2016 Minutes—Approved unanimously. (ML/KK) • Public Comment—Mike Wammack and Diane Jette from the Elsie Vinemaple Rural Fire District spoke

regarding the safety issues on Hwy 26 near MP 22. The community is requesting ODOT post signs to slow down vehicle traffic. Have already met with ODOT, but to date, traffic hasn’t warranted a traffic study. Tim Potter agreed to look at what has been done to date, and to work with the Elsie Vinemaple representatives. Double yellow lines help to keep people from passing, and Wheeler would also like to see more double lines due to the increased visitor traffic and accidents. Perhaps ODOT could take a larger look at the whole state system, particularly in view of the increased visitor travel.

• Legislative Update—Senator Johnson reported that there will be one more meeting of the interim committee on transportation during December legislative days. Need to start defining what “go big” means, drafting straw proposals. A white paper has been drafted by the two committee chairs including the Governor’s vision and a summary of the visits throughout the state. Still looking for doable, feasible projects that could be included in a transportation package. Legislature gets organized in January, with the session starting in February. Issues coming up include transit, preparing for serious disaster resilience including use of Hwy 97, jurisdictional transfers, Connec tOregon funding, and addressing all modes of transportation. Suggest looking at Oregon Legislative Information Systems website for real time information on what is happening during the session. Transportation funding challenge: At 3.5% state gas tax, only $250,000 comes to Tillamook County which doesn’t pay for much. League of Cities is also having town halls on transportation. Priority is adequate maintenance funds. Meetings are being held in Astoria and Scappoose.

• ODOT Update—Still doing painting on Megler Bridge until weather changes. Hwy 101/6 intersection work has started, but has been difficult to stripe because of the wet weather. A couple of new projects that will start next Spring: Sidewalks in Rockaway Beach, Farmer Creek culvert on Hwy 53. Prepping for legislative session.

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• OTC—Visited by 2 members of the Transportation sub-committee, overview of all 14 meetings. NWACT Chairs participated in the discussion on transportation recommendations. Would like to see OTC more involved in driving the legislative discussion.

• Clatsop County Update—Mike Summers was on vacation and unable to attend the meeting.

3. Department of Aviation—HB 2075 Fuel Tax Revenue Grant Program Matt Lawyer and Nohemi Ramos presented an overview of the grant program for Oregon’s airports. Project categories include:

Assistance with a FAA Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant Emergency preparedness and infrastructure projects in accordance with the Oregon Resilience Plan Critical/Essential services or equipment Aviation-related business development on an airport Airport development for local economic development

Oregon’s Area Commissions on Transportation (ACTs) are required to review and recommend applications received through the Aviation System Action Program (ASAP) Fund. Those recommendations then go to the Aviation Review Committee which is comprised of one aviation representative from each Oregon ACT. ACTs must take into consideration the following Statutory Considerations: a) Whether the proposed project reduces transportation costs for Oregon businesses or improves access to

jobs and sources of labor b) Whether the proposed project results in economic benefit to the state c) Whether the proposed project is a critical link connecting elements of Oregon’s transportation system that

will measurably improve utilization and efficiency of the system. d) How much of the cost of the proposed project can be borne by the applicant from sources other than

Connect Oregon. e) Whether the proposed project is ready for construction. f) Whether the proposed project has a useful life expectancy that offers maximum benefit to the state.

Important for NWACT make very specific comments as part of their recommendations.

At NWACT’s September meeting, members appointed Michele Bradley (Port of Tillamook Bay), Jim Knight (Port of Astoria), Paula Miranda (Port of St Helens) to review the applications submitted from NW Oregon. Although each port manages an airport, ODOT confirmed that there was no personal conflict of interest having port representatives review the applications. Jim Knight provided copies of the five applications to the full NWACT, along with the reviews by all three of the port representatives. NWACT members asked Mary, for each application, to summarize/average the three review forms into one form (attached) and appointed Jim Knight as NWACT’s representative to the Aviation Review Committee which will meet in January. Port representatives were also thanked for their service.

4. Public Transit Funding in Oregon Jeff Hazen presented. ODOT transit principles include: • Access • Availability • Mobility of transportation long term Highest priority projects have strategic and tactical benefits/outcomes. Impact on the local economy and livability are also important. Transit is the front line, for the safety of local communities, and on the Coast, for safety of the large visiting population. Creative funding solutions are often required and best thought of at local level. The inequity between urban/rural transit is well documented. If Oregon keeps sending people to the Coast for vacations, need to support infrastructure. Additionally, second home owners, a significant portion of NW Oregon’s coastal residents, don’t spend as much time here, aren’t as knowledgeable of the transportation issues faced by transit providers.

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5. Member Updates • Wheeler—FEMA moving slowly. Worry about Hwy 101 flooding going into the winter. ODOT and County

have been great partners. Botts Marsh going into conservatorship. Got a special city allotment grant to pave.

• Banks—ODOT finished paving Hwy 6 and 47. Negotiation with ODOT for more parking along Hwy 47/Main St. Help with bicyclists using Banks/Vernonia trail. Working with Port of Tillamook Bay at old Banks lumber for more parking, and to connect the Salmonberry and Banks Vernonia Trails.

• POSH—Clatskanie/Pt Westward area. Finished ConnectOregon-funded dock rebuilt project. Had to wait for bat season to close. Hermo Rd finished for now. Annexation request for UGB area around airport has been submitted to the City of Scappoose. Seeing an excellerated rate of interest at the airport.

• CCR—Keeping the buses running. Thanks to ODOT for allowing use of right-of-way in front of Transit Center in Rainier.

• Tillamook—Thanks to ODOT for Hwy 101 repaving project. Hwy 101/6 project is going very well, everyone is communicating and working well together. Thanks for help with fixing Wilson River Loop. 233 people showed up for Manzanita tornado response, including ODOT.

• Sunset Empire—19% increase in ridership. Also involved in emergency response at Manzanaita. Coordinated a new stop with the NW Pointe for their service into the Sunset Transit Center.

• Clatsop County—Grateful for all volunteer emergency response firefighters and EMTs. Concern about maintenance on local access roads.

• Manzanita—One of major challenges was keeping people away while cleaned up from tornado. Starting a major waste water project on Carmel St, major north/south street.

• Washington County—Major project is completion of the roundabout at Hwy 47. Bridge replacement west of Gaston. Upgraded intersections in Banks (Seller Rd) and Forest Grove (Hwy 47). Started widening of Hwy 26 between Corneilus Pass and 185th.

• Representative Boone—Thanks to Tim/ODOT for all the work done this Summer. Evened out a lot of rough road.

• Washington County—Thanks for improvements to Hwy 47. • Senator Johnson—ODOT has been very responsive working on tough transportation problems, eg, access

to OMIC and moving traffic through Scappoose. • Seaside—Just had ribbon cutting on new bridge. • Tillamook—Just finishing up 2016 work on Southern Corridor. • Columbia County—Experienced 44 areas of damage, with 19 projects, which have already gone through

FEMA. Did well on homeland security audit. • Astoria—6 waterfront projects are in design, should save the City a lot of maintenance money. Updated

Capital Improvement Projects plan, working on Hwy 202 sidewalks near the high school, adding new pedestrian crossing lights. Finished performance reporting on Connect Oregon grant, not only retained all jobs, but a lot more activity, including Coast Guard and use of Riverwalk by visitors.

• ODOT—Ken Shonkwiler, new to area, new to Oregon. Happy to be here. Started work on Transit STIP grant, need to get information back to Doug on pedestrian access stops.

Recorded: Mary McArthur, Staff Henry Heimuller, Chair

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