Highway 2 Safety Coalition

HIGHWAY 2 SAFETY COALITION

Notes on Jan. 13, 2005 Special Mayors' Meeting in Monroe

(authored by Highway 2 Safety Coalition Chairman Fred Walser)

1. Introductions

2. Mayor Donnetta Walser gave a brief overview and explanation of the purpose of the meeting.

3. King Cushman, PRSC's Regional Strategy Advisor, explained the following:

That the PRSC grant applications for the Rural Town Centers and Corridor Project would be available late January. Completion of the application would require a collaborative effort of all interested groups county-wide. The Snohomish County I.C.C. will look at all proposals and Snohomish County Tomorrow should recommend two projects. Funds are limited; there is not a large pot of funds available, as the total amount is relatively small, considering it must be spread over three counties: King, Pierce and Snohomish.
Deadlines for submitting the completed applications will be April.
The East County group, under the auspices of the Highway 2 Safety Coalition, will need to be uniform agreement on the content of the submitted application, i.e., what type(s) or project(s) are being recommended and for which area(s).

4. Kamuron D. Gurol, Corridor Planning Manager, WSDOT Urban Planning Office, provided a summary of WSDOT's urban planing in King County, explaining that Route Development projects must identify the best solutions, taking into consideration all issues, i.e., safety, congestion, environment, etc. He suggested small working groups to provide vision and identify specific issues.

5. King Cushman indicated the PRSC is looking to compliment the land use side also with the Towns Transition and Gateway zones for each town. They are looking for something more than moving traffic flow.

6. Tina Rogers, Snohomish County Public Works said this process can be used to grease the skids for implementation of the Plan. Ideally, this will eliminate opposition to the project.

7. King Cushman advised to take The Big Picture, and then break it down into what it is, and what are the highest-priority short-range issues, in order to achieve the final goal. This will make it clear to all towns and residents so there are no, or few, problems later on; i.e., a more effective process is achieved by gaining agreement on the objectives up front relative to access issues, key intersections, etc. He said it's necessary to define the nature of the problem area to be served, what are the differences between the towns and the magnitude of the problems in each.

8. Tina Rogers explained that a "working group" needed to be established first (i.e., the H2SC), and that the group needed to justify more than the $500,000 (Tea-21 grant) already in hand. She urged specificity in recommended projects -- what, exactly, are we trying to do to improve cross-state traffic? -- capacity, safety improvements, or other goals; what, and where, are the priorities of the project?

9. Rogers also said the I.C.C. will require a project definition by the February meeting in order to move the project onto SCT (Snohomish County Tomorrow).

10. This PRSC program will be continuing every couple of years.

11. Working Group is as follows:

a) Monroe's Hiller West will take the lead.

b) WSDOT - Kamuron Gurol

c) Sultan's Public Works Director, Connie Dunn

d) Henry Sledek, Skykomish

e) City of Gold Bar

12. Hiller West will schedule a work meeting with all working group participants.

13. Important to make a statement to the state and PRSC on the interconnectivity of the area (speaker not recorded).