HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommuter Rail Committee-Minutes-8/19/2008
COMMUTER RAIL SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIR Meeting Minutes August 19, 2008
1. Call to Order:
Mr. John Gooding, Chair called the meeting to order at 6:20 p.m.
Present: John Gooding, Fred Mills, James Day, Michael Muhm, John Paul
Burnett, John Leeper, Bartley Butler, Paul Vigiletti,
Absent: David Grimes, Urmesh Shah
2. Review and discuss the results of the City Council presentation
John Gooding opened the discussion asking for sub chair feedback.
Fred Mills began with his summary with two point made by Mayor Kelly. First,
the committee should not to let the finances weigh too much on future
committee activities, and second zero in on projected ridership numbers
(traffic should follow-up on this).
Discussion continued on traffic and ridership issues. Where are cars coming
from and where are they going. COG has indicated that the ridership is
based on demographics.
Discussion occurred regarding the financing of the rail. Paul Vigiletti included
that this is a regional effort and rail is coming.
Fred Mills continued with a summary of Councilmember Tony Licata
comments of don’t be discouraged.
John Gooding continued the thought there will be people for and against and
some issues will need to be worked with and some issues that may be a deal
breaker. Go through and give us the issues that you as a committee are
concerned about and what are your suggestions to mitigate.
John Leeper added that he said a lot of important things, that the committee
will hear little things that people will make big, you will hear big things that
people aren’t concerned with. As a committee we need to look at issues and
determine that these are important and significant to address.
Paul Vigiletti added another point is what is the economic impact to the City.
John Gooding indicated that it boiled down to what the citizens of Colleyville
want.
Bart Butler began the discussion regarding the public meetings and what was
found in those meetings, what are the issues and what are not, and what are
the benefits.
Fred Mills finalized Councilmember Licata’s final two points. First the T’s
tardiness may cause us to go on and may not be done this December. The
second point there may be no definitive answer in December, but you must
do the best job you can base on what you know at that point.
Mike Muhm continued the discussion regarding there is no magic date, base
decisions on the inputs you have.
Fred led discussion regarding Councilmember Mike Taylor’s comments. He
wants a citizen vote. He said he wasn’t comfortable that this was the right
thing for Colleyville but he indicated that we need rail service in the region
and possible sharing a station on the south side of Grapevine.
Discussion continued regarding the second Grapevine station and parking.
John Gooding asked what are we going to do with this information. What
direction did the city council give us?
James Day commented that you don’t need to worry about or focus on
funding.
Also keep in mind that we may have a majority of opinion and a minority
opinion. Would like to see on August 25, what should we do in December.
John Gooding discussed the transportation summit from last Friday and the
changes that will occur regarding 58 trains passing by, 51,000 vehicles. We
can’t stop change, what are they, and what can we do to plan so changes
don’t impact us as much. Once understand change, take the presentation to
HOA, Civic groups, etc. Inform the public; let them make up their own mind.
John Paul Burnett indicated that the ball is in their court, if they want the train
to go through there are going to have to get out here and give us some
information, the EIS is holding us up and questions we asked are holding us
up. The train station affects the portion of the residence that live out in that
area, they need to know quicker than anybody what is going on, it’s going to
happen, what is the least impact to our citizens.
John Gooding discussed the grant from the COG to discuss the impact and
economic issues surrounding the station. The City has a list of consultants to
use on this. Money not available until next May 2009. Doesn’t cost the City
anything to keep our name in the hat.
Bart Butler said the T may want to press for an answer but it is in their best
interest to keep us on the board.
Discussion continued regarding regional funding and grants.
Fred Mills summarized three key areas from tonight: 1. EIS – review and
action items; 2. Information Sharing; 3. Economic Impact Study. Should we
reallocate committee members to help in these other areas? Look at how we
are structured Monday, August 25.
James Day asked for more information/explanation on the study previously
discussed. John Gooding answered with economic development for the area
and residential property values.
John Gooding discussed what he would like to see from the COG a
presentation that the committee could take on the road and inform the public
with the facts, not supporting or opposing.
Discussion continued on ridership with Mike Muhm asking if The T can share
information regarding TRE ridership (i.e. Centre Port) and where are people
traveling to.
3. Citizen Comments
Lisa Bernardo, 7010 Shepherds Glen, spoke regarding need to educate.
Pravin Raj, 7205 Thames Trail, spoke regarding need to discuss train station
and investment.
Keith Staudt, 7208 Belle Meade, spoke regarding positive aspects and
benefits.
Diane Hill, 7209 Thames, spoke regarding presentation and negatives
aspects not addressed appropriately.
4. Adjournment
There being no further business to discuss, John Gooding made a motion to
adjourn. Fred Mills seconded the motion. The motion was approved and the
meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m.
Minutes taken from the tape and prepared by Kelly Cooper.
I certify that this notice was posted on the City Hall Bulletin Board on Friday, August 15, 2008, by 5:00 pm.
Kelly Cooper
Assistant City Manager