METRO wants your opinion
Metro is working on the High Capacity Transit portion of the SW Corridor Plan and wants to know what people think of their concept maps for transit station locations. A "transit station" is the same thing as a Transit Oriented Community, or TOD. Perhaps they have given up using the "community" portion of the designation since none of their TODs has come anywhere close to being one. Simply put, these "transit stations" are places to warehouse people in densely packed apartments close to planned light rail stations and "multi-modal" transportation options (bicycle and pedestrian paths).
The original theory is that people would want to live near where they work, and these densely populated communities would be located within or next to (20-minute walking or biking distance) their place of employment. Commercial areas are being relabeled, "Employment Districts," and mixed-use housing and retail is being worked into development codes to re-make the areas into "vibrant" communities - though the concepts of community and quality of life for the occupants is debatable. The real test will be if large numbers of planners and their families start to move into the station communities they plan for others. Or are these just gilded cages they will avoid?
Lake Oswego is not on the map for proposed station communities because we have no current plans for HCT or linkages to the SW Corridor HCT plans - yet. Lake Oswego is one of the listed "strategic partners" (I think that has something to do with wanting us to adopt their plans and then help pay for it), and both of our Employment Districts - one on Kruse Way, plus the re-designated industrial area at the southern end of Boones Ferry Rd. are adjacent to the SW Corridor transit lines on the other side of I-5.
Should LO have station communities on Kruse Way or Boones Ferry Rd.? Should LO become the newest experiment for New Urbanism community-building in the region? Do the locations on the map make sense for dense housing, mixed use (employment/retail/housing) development opportunities? What would you think if you lived in Durham, Tigard or Tualatin? Would you shop at SW Corridor stores if the area became a string of transit stations? Where should density really go?
It's your chance to tell Metro what you really think. Go for it!
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Take our online survey today!
An online survey for the Southwest Corridor Plan is available right now. It asks for you to select your top choices for high capacity transit station areas and multimodal projects (bicycle, pedestrian and roadway improvements). Click here to review potential station area and multimodal project materials and provide your feedback! The materials necessary to answer the questions are linked directly in the survey itself. The feedback duration has been extended and will now be open until Friday, April 25 at 5 p.m. Your feedback will help inform which multimodal projects will be included for further study as part of the Plan’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
Purpose and need statement update
The following is an update regarding public involvement for the Southwest Corridor Plan’s purpose and need statement. A statement of purpose and need is important because it forms a foundation for planning. It explains why a plan is needed and what it will do. The Southwest Corridor Plan’s purpose and need statement lists the needs that a high capacity transit project in the Southwest corridor would address and what the project sets out to accomplish During the present refinement stage, the statement was updated based on public feedback. A report on the public feedback can be found on the project website under “Project Library” (see Public comment report: Draft purpose and need statement for the refinement phase, January 2014).
The draft purpose and need statement for the refinement phase of the Southwest Corridor Plan opened to public feedback on Nov. 7, 2014 and closed 17 days later on Nov. 24. Feedback was gathered through an online survey that was posted to the project website, emailed twice to the interested parties list, and advertised through the project’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. The survey consisted of ten questions on the statement, plus five additional Title VI questions (for required demographic information tracking). Survey results are not meant to be statistically significant. Participants answered a general question to evaluate current support for the contents of the draft statement, submitted comments about what they saw as missing, submitted their own questions about the statement, and provided general feedback and improvement ideas.
The updated purpose and need statement can be found on the project website under “Project Library” (see Refinement phase: Adopted purpose and need statement for a high capacity transit project in the Southwest Corridor). Notes from the Steering Committee meeting discussion preceding approval of the purpose and need statement can also be found on the project website under “Decision-Making” (see Agenda and materials for Jan. 13, 2014).
Will there be another opportunity to comment on the purpose and need statement?
Yes. Public feedback on the purpose and need statement was gathered in November 2013 as part of the project refinement phase before a formal robust planning process begins as part of National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) requirements. The NEPA process includes preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The purpose and need will be reviewed and potentially revised based on new information from the refinement process for the DEIS, and the public will have an opportunity to comment on the updated version. The comment period will likely take place during the summer of 2014.
More answers to frequently asked questions may be found in the latest project fact sheet on the project website under “Project Library” (see Southwest Corridor Plan fact sheet, spring 2014: Refinement phase activities and next steps).
Contact
Juan Carlos Ocaña-Chíu, Metro
503-797-1921
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