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MEETING MINUTES PALMDALE HSR SAP I 1 MEETING MINUTES TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP (TWG) MEETING #3 Phone and WebEx I 08-04-2016 – 2:30 to 4:00 PM 1 Multimodal Access, Circulation and Connectivity Analysis Bob Scales presented an update on the current efforts regarding the development of the project’s multi- modal connectivity analysis. The major takeaways from that progress are: - The circulation elements need to support near term developments surrounding the station area. - The revised timing for HSR in Souther California presents some implementation challenges since Xpress West might be serving the Palmdale Station Area first. - The efforts of the circulation planning in the SAP is focused on assuring that the infrastructure will be ready one HSR arrives - The key feature of the proposed circulation plan is a grid that allows for arterial streets on 0.5 mile intervals which distributes the expected traffic volumes on multiple roads. Implementing such a balanced grid systems avoids the need for singular roads to be widened (i.e Palmdale Blvd to 8 lanes) - In adition to vehicular traffic the multi-modal access analysis includes a transit circulator as one of it’s main features Michelle Boehm and Melissa Dumond pointed out that nothing in the Authority’s Business Plan has changed and the City of Palmdale is still expected to be served by 2029 CAHSR Authority encouraged a careful review of the current Business Plan and status of the environmental document to assure that the Palmdale HSR SAP is fully coordinated Bob indicated that recent responses to comments received on CAHSR environmental documents indicate that the SAP is envisioned to be a resolving mechanism for the various planning efforts currently ongoing. 2 Vertical and Horizontal HSR Alignment Roland Genick and Bob Scales reiterated that the ability to cross the HSR alignment is vital to a successful implementation of the goals of the HSR Station Area Plan. Particularly grade seperations at Palmdale, Avenue Q, and Sierra Highway are identified as very important to maintain the connectivity of the study area for future development. The consultant team presented conceptual engineering efforts illustrating how such grade seperations can be implemented. Melissa Dumond and Rick Simon both pointed out that in their opinion there were significant technical hurdles with the implementation of an elevated alignment through the City of Palmdale. Seismic difficluties were mentioned as part of the more prominent concerns, but the group did not engage in a detailed technical discussion The TWG and the consultant team agreed that connectivity across the HSR alignment is critically important in order to be able to meet the project goals and that collectively the project would seek ways to achieve that connectivity. 3 Urban Rail Alignment Roland Genick briefly updated the TWG on a set of proposed transit circulator alignments. The goal of these alignments is to provide additional alternative modes of transportation and connect a series of major destinations within the study area Michael Dieden inquired as to when a potential connection to the airport could be implemented, indication that this would be a major benefit for the City. Roland responded that this was likely a more long term goal and that an initial alignment was more likely to be along Avenue Q between I-14 and the HSR station. 4 Economic Case Studies Judith Taylor presented a summary overview of the Economic Case Studies that have been formally submitted to the City. The case studies have been organized into national and international studies. Key ATTENDEES Mike Behen Michael Dieden Mark Oyler City of Palmdale Roland Genick Judith Taylor Aida Banihashemi * Bob Scales Matt Burris Celeste Milam * Parsons Team Ben Lichty Rick Simon Melissa Dumond Michelle Boehm * Karl Fielding * CAHSR Dietter Aragon AVTA Ron Matthieu SCRRA Andrew Mack * Xpress West Steve Fox * SCAG * participation by phone ---PAGE BREAK--- MEETING MINUTES PALMDALE HSR - AREA PLAN I 2 takeaways from the international case studies include the following lessons learned: - The importance of public-private-partnerships - Multi-jurisdictional cooperation - Consistency of Vision - Mixed use at Station Areas - Improvements to the public realm - Intermoda connections Similarly the national case studies found the following lessons learned to consistently occur: - Flexibility in the zoning is key - Multiple funding sources - There is a premium for dense mixed-use - Street retail requires critical mass - A permeable grid supports success - Parking needs to be done right Judith pointed out that one joint finding across the national and international case studies was that good placemaking was a key component in all of the successful station area plans. Without going into any detail Judith pointed out that the consultant team has completed a detailed market demand analysis and that the results from that demand analysis are included in the PPT distributed prior to the meeting. 5 Land Use Development Scenarios Roland Genick provided a brief overview of the City’s existing land-use plan, the land-use scenarios proposed by the Avenue Q and TOD 3 studies and pointed out that while Avenue Q and TOD 3 propose consistent land uses, they both envision changes from the City’s existing land-use plan. Roland also re-iterated the size of the study area and illustrated that the current market demand supports only a fraction of the overall area at a reasonable density. Matt Burris presented three initial land-use scenarios that rely on the previous planning efforts to varying degrees: - Alternative 1 “Building on Existing Plans” respects the established land-uses developed under the Avenue Q and TOD3 studies - Alternative 2 “Integrated and Managed TOD3” implements minor modifications to previous studies and develops a strategy to phase developments envisioned in them - Alternative 3 “Optimized Connectivity and Circulation” assumes that land-use designations from the Avenue Q and TOD 3 studies can be modified in order to generate maximum opportunity for development in the study area All three alternatives rely on a “form-based” approach to regulating land uses which will be a departure from the current land-use regulatory framework the city employs 6 Station Development Roland Genick presented the current station area siteplan, which utilizes and integrates the Authority’s layout for station acces, parking allocation and circulation. Roland pointed out that, contrary to the Authority’s circulation plan, both the Avenue Q and TOD 3 studies as well as the current SAP circulation scenarios rely on Avenue Q to continue to cross the HSR alignment. As a final image Roland shared a 3-dimensional simulation of the land-use scenario represented in Alternative 3 and the integration of a proposed HSR station into that scenario.