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MEETING MINUTES PALMDALE HSR SAP I 1 MEETING MINUTES TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP (TWG) MEETING #1 Phone and WebEx I 05-26-2016 – 1:00 to 2:30 PM 1 Update on Project Progress Roland Genick presented an update on community outreach activities conducted to date. These include: - A community visioning workshop for which Roland shared a number of highlights including the notification strategy, material that was shared during the meeting, the results of an anonymously conducted preference survey. - A series of interviews of two dozen key civic leaders. Roland shared key repeat messages from those interviews that were Importance of connectivity, A need to address the jobs housing balance for the city, Importance of a variety in available housing products, Need to have the station area feel welcoming, Need for a phased approach, Desire to see mixed-use districts. Mike Behen and Jim Purtee both commented that #3 and #6 are a shift from the norm for Palmdale but that residents have begun to embrace them more. Any level of increased density is perceived to generate more parking and traffic. As long as that is addressed, it will be welcome Roland also gave an overview of the student engagement that was completed. The team met over the course of a full day with three classes at the Palmdale Aerospace Academy and engaged students in an interactive scenario that developed conceptual land-use alternatives for the project study area A detailed summary report of that activity has been submitted to the City. 2 Station Area Vision Roland Genick reported progress on the Station Area Vision separated into four distinct areas 1. Case Studies are currently being conducted with a focus on both the financial and the city building aspect of a HSR station. Roland shared examples of a number of HSR stations from around the world and illustrated the importance of train stations for city building the the significant civic character that tranin stations have had historically 2. Basis of Design; the team shared an exercise that was conducted with the public which attempted to establish where the current downtown is in Palmdale. That exercise found no conclusive answer to that question and the project team established the thesis that, going forward, downtown Palmdale would be the new HSR station. Roland then shared a number of program elements that will all be integrated into the overall Basis of Design for the station area itself, including an agreed upon program for the HSR station and an agreement on required ROW. Tony Mendoza pointed out that the current programming for the HSR station is still at the beginning and that it will evolve as the project moves forward Andrew Mack indicated that Xpress West is currently engaged in developing a ridership forecast model that includes the assumption for both HSR alignments to be completed 3. Circulation; the project team established the importance of connectivity for the success of the plan. Roland introduced an alternate HSR alignment that would make it easier for surface streets to remain connected acros the alignment. Tony Mendoza and Rick Simon both cautioned that it was risky to base the success of the SAP solely on a raised alignment since it might not happen. It would also require UPRR tracks to be elevated to the same level Both Roland and Bob Scales agreed and indicated that the alternate alignment would indeed elevate all railroad tracks through Palmdale. Roland also indicated that elevating the tracks would be at the basis of only one of the three SAP scenarios. 4. Zoning vs. Transect; Matt Burris presented two principal approaches to regulating ATTENDEES Mike Behen James Purtee Sindre Fredsvik Mark Oyler City of Palmdale Roland Genick Chester Britt Aida Banihashemi * Bob Scales Matt Burris * Parsons Team Nick Pergakes David Van Dyken Tony Mendoza Melissa Dumond * CAHSR Norm Hickling Dietter Aragon Erika Monroe AVTA Ron Matthieu SCRRA * participation by phone ---PAGE BREAK--- MEETING MINUTES PALMDALE HSR - AREA PLAN I 2 development in the City. He explained that the traditional way of regulating zoning was to prescribe specific uses for specific parcels within the city that would allow and disallow for specific uses. Matt than highlighted that for the SAP, which is significantly dominated by a specific use in the center of it, a zoning approach that was more focused on the urban form and the density of uses within specific areas was more appropriate. Matt presented an approach to zoning that is based on the utilization of 5 transects in lieu of the land-uses that are currently included in the City’s land-use plan. During open discussion, it was agreed that this approach was more likely to be successful in creating the character desired for the station area. The consultant team will therefore continue to explore this approach as part of the development of the alternat scenarios 3 Open Discussion / Next Steps Roland Genick highlighted that the next steps would be - Completion of the Economic Case Studies - Development of 3 initial Vision Concepts - A planned community workshop for the month of August - A tour of City officials to the selected international case study cities. Ron Mathieu indicated that in addition to the case studies the team should be looking at some of the recent Caruso developments in LA County (Grove, Americana at Brand) which might be good case studies for an initial catalyst project.