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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommuter Rail Committee-Minutes-6/30/2008i»' ur r L,~ ti COMMUTER RAIL COMMITTEE Minutes for Monday, June 30, 2008 1. Call to Order Mr. Fred Mills, Vice-Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. Present: Fred Mills, Urmesh Shah, Linda Baker, John Paul Burnett, Bartley Butler, James Day, David Grimes, Joyce Hammill, Keath Hance, John Leeper, Michael Muhm, Kristen O'Regan, and Paul Vigiletti. Absent: John Gooding, Clif Davis, Rich Hendler, Roger Nelson Staff: Kelly Cooper, Ron Ruthven 2. Approval of June 2, 2008 minutes John Leeper made the motion to approve the minutes for June 2, 2008. James Day seconded the motion. Motion approved. 3. Updates from subcommittees. a. Public Information: Urmesh Shah reported that 115 citizens attended the three public meetings held June 19, June 24 and June 25. The comments are attached to the June 30 packet and have been organized by subcommittee. The general consensus was that citizens still do not know about the commuter rail and information must continue through a variety of avenues. Paul Vigiletti spoke to the importance of the silent generation in the public meetings. Fred Mills spoke to subcommittees providing responses to the questions and comments from the public meetings with one of three responses, first provide an answer, second list it as a misconception or rumor and last as something that is still being researched. b. Station Impact: Fred Mills provided an update of this subcommittee's work including their visit to CenterPort Saturday June, 28, 2008. Paul Vigiletti passed around copies of photos taken for everyone to view. John Paul Burnett indicated that noise of trains was very minimal Fred Mills also updated the committee regarding the subcommittee's investigation into the McCain site as a possible drilling site for Chesapeake or XTO. The committee is still evaluating this and the effects this has on a train station at this location. John Leeper brought up the land development code requirement for drilling to be 1,000 feet from residential, confirmed by Ron Ruthven. Commuter Rail Committee Minutes 6.30.08 /Page 2 of 3 Based on his work over the last 4 months, Mike Muhm indicated he too thought the land to have been purchased by Chesapeake. Ron Ruthven shared information requested by the committee regarding the site and presented a packet of information to each of the subcommittee chairs (to be attached) specifically: The site under consideration is 13.2 acres, 30% is in floodplain and will require significant engineering. There are 80 trees on the property over 3 caliper inches and within a one mile radius of the site there are approximately 2,000 housing units, 6,000 in population. The Timarron homes are the closest to the site location. c. Traffic -Chair David Grimes provided an update of this subcommittee's work. The committee has received good information from staff and is continuing to study the following items: traffic volume, traffic flow, side street issues, ancillary destinations, and feeder system. The committee members asked several questions related to the SH26 project, how much time it takes to load and unload the train and how that would affect traffic, if the platform is approximately 150 feet from the crossing will the gates be down while the train is loading and unloading. Joyce Hammill indicated she thought the SH26 construction included dual left turn lanes at John McCain which would alleviate some traffic congestion, but she would verify. Bart Butler questioned who has the authority to determine train speed through Colleyville, can the City have some input. John Leeper indicated the Federal Railroad Commission sets the speed. These tracks are going to be designated a Class 4, for track safety which will allow up to 79 mph. The railroad will decide, based on scheduling, the train speeds. John Gooding submitted the following question for the committee to respond to: How much property does the City have that abuts up to the 3.5 mile stretch of Railroad Right of Way (ROW) and how much property is privately owned. The committee agreed that Ron Ruthven or Steve Chutchian could assist with this. d. Safety and Security: John Leeper provided an update of this subcommittee's work. This subcommittee is continuing to study six areas: Railroad operations which include equipment and track structure, trespasser safety, grade crossing safety, train derailment response, environmental impact and station operation. The subcommittee is waiting on information from The T. The committee discussed ridership, crime, questions regarding major incidents. Urmesh Shah suggested that the committee look for train statistics from other stations. John Gooding submitted the following question for the committee to respond to: How long are the crossing arms going to be down and block traffic. After discussion, the traffic subcommittee will take this question. e. Finance: Mike Muhm provided an update of this subcommittee's work. The committee is researching estimated costs and available funding. Mike reported the City is at the maximum capacity on sales tax with '/2 cent going to CEDC, '/z cent to CCCPD and 1 cent to general fund. It wasn't promising the legislature would raise the maximum. Mike also presented the cost to fund a station at approximately one million could not come from a property tax increase as it would create a roll back Commuter Rail Committee Minutes 6.30.08 /Page 3 of 3 situation similar to what Bedford experienced a couple of years ago. Another option would be to consider some other avenue in the current budget, such as reducing services to absorb the cost for the train station. The committee discussed the option of receiving money from the gas companies such as mineral rights. Mike indicated this was not a good source of income as after 2-4 years it drops off substantially. Mike Muhm also discussed costs of equipment for local transportation options, transporting citizens to other stations. For example a 40 passenger shuttle is approximately $100,000 with a life of 10-12 years. Urmesh Shah asked about property value research and that The T had some information regarding this on their website. Linda Baker questioned when the committee would be receiving the subcommittee minutes and was concerned that information was being presented from those minutes during the public meetings. Staff responded that the minutes must first be approved by the subcommittee prior to being released and would be part of the next packet. The information being released in the public meetings is the information approved by the committee at the June 2, 2008 meeting. Fred Mills asked if he could send, via email to the subcommittee, the minutes he prepared for their review. Staff replied that would be a violation, according to the City Attorney, of the Open Meetings Act and that all items should be submitted to the subcommittees via staff. 4. Discuss next meeting dates Vice Chair Fred Mills stated the next committee meeting is July 14, 2008, 7:00 p.m. and would include a breakout for the subcommittees. Meetings are also scheduled for July 28, and August 1, 2008. August 19, 2008 the Committee Chair plans to provide an update to City Council. Everyone able should plan to attend, subcommittee chairs if at all possible. This update will be placed on the Pre Council Agenda which begins at 5:30 p.m. City Hall, third floor in the Executive Conference room. 5. Discuss project timeline for completion of research, analysis of information and report to Council. Fred Mills provided everyone with a copy of the timeline and highlighted the changes as listed according to the dates mentioned above. 6. Introduction of the straw-man presentation format Fred Mills provided copies and introduced everyone to the straw-man presentation format. Fred Mills stated this is a draft and open to change but that all the reports from the subcommittee should be in the same format. The committee should review and discuss changes at the next meeting. 7. Adjournment There being no further business to discuss, David Grimes made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Paul Vigelitti. The motion was approved and the meeting adjourned at 9:06 p.m. Minutes taken and prepared by Kelly Cooper.