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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-03-26 adjMarch 20, 1986 (Adjourned Meeting) 469 An adjourned meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia, was held on March 20, 1986, at 1:30 P.M., Room 332, Highway Research Council Building on the Grounds at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. This meeting was adjourned from March 19, 1986. BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Fisher and Peter T. Way. Mr. F. R. Bowie, Mrs. Patricia H. Cooke, Messrs. Gerald E. BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Mr. J. T. Henley, Jr. and Mr. C. Timothy Lindstrom. OFFICERS PRESENT: Mr. Guy B. Agnor, Jr., County Executive. The Board met at this time to talk with Highway Commissioner, Ray Pethtel, about different highway concerns in Albemarle County. The meeting was informal and held for informational purposes only. No action of any kind was taken. ~ ' CH~RMAN March 26, 1986 (Afternoon Meeting) (Page 1) An adjourned meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia, was held on March 26, 1986, at 2:30 P.M., Meeting Rooms 5/6, County Office Building, 401 McIntire Road, Charlottesville, Virginia. BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Mr. F. R. Bowie, Mrs. Patricia H. Cooke, Messrs. Gerald E. Fisher, C. Timothy Lindstrom and Peter T. Way (arrived at 3:03 P.M.). BOARD MEMBER ABSENT: Mr. J. T. Henley, Jr. OFFICERS PRESENT: Mr. Guy B. Agnor, Jr., County Executive (arrived at 3:03 P.M.); Mr. Robert W. Tucker, Jr., Deputy County Executive; and Mr. John T. P. Horne, Director of Plan- ning and Community Development. Agenda Item No. 1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 2:38 P.M. by the Chairman, Mr. Fisher. He said this is sort of a cmmmittee meeting to help get the Board prepared for Agenda Item No. 2. For the next twenty minutes, the Board and staff discussed general highway matters. Agenda Item No. 2. Discussion: Need for a Bond Issue to Finance State Highway Projects: Mr. Cowart Governor's representative to be present. Mr. Cowart arrived at 2:55 P.M. and was introduced to the Board members present. Mr. Fisher said the Board was curious about the Transportation Study Commission and Mr. Cowart's role. Mr. Cowart said Governor Baliles established the commission composed of 30 members to address deficiencies in transportation facilities in Virginia. About one-half of the members are either currently, or recently elected, members of the General Assembly. The other members are citizen representatives. The Governor gave the commission a formal charge on February 17, 1986, and an overview of the State's highway system. The commission met last Saturday and got an overview of the State's financial situation, bonding capacity, various provisions of the State Constitution regarding loans, and began to focus on the substance of the undertaking. It appears that an exceptional effort will be made to raise a large amount of money to address the State's critical highway needs. The aggregate amount of the State's critical needs totals $22.6 billion. Mr. Cowart said that next week, the commission will embark on taking a public record of these needs. Albemarle County has the first hearing at Noon on Monday, March 31, 1986. Over the next ninety days, the commission will address a prioritizing of those needs and financing to address those priorities. Mr. Cowart said he felt he should talk with as many of the Principal constituencies in the geographical area to which he had been assigned; that area from Danville to Northern Virginia, and from Roanoke to Richmond. He sees this as the preemptive move for the next fifteen years, so if there is some substantial project that does not get done at this time, March 26, 1986 (Afternoon Meeting) its likelihood of being done in the foreseeable future is substantially reducedl The one issue that ties the whole area together is the Piedmont Corridor, which is the term used for a series of bypasses, some of which have already been built, some of which are still on the drawing boards, and one which is very controversial in this area. (Note: Mr. Way and Mr. Agnor arrived at 3:03 P.M.) Mr. Cowart said he met with Charlottesville City Council members yesterday and told them that he was under the impression after speaking with the Governor, and attending those meetings in both Danville and Northern Virginia, that the Piedmont Corridor is going to be built. The bypass in Danville, and a bypass in Lynchburg, will both be built. The Warrenton bypass has just been completed, and Culpeper has had a bypass for a long time. Governor Baliles met with Governor Hughes of Maryland last week to begin serious conversations about a bypass into Washington, D.C. It is Governor Baliles contention that part of the Piedmont Corridor would begin at Route 15 in Warrenton and go somewhere in Washington. Northern Virginia is choking with traffic. Even 1-66 is becoming a local highway. Four-laning of Route 28 from 1-66 past Dulles, widening of the Beltway, widening of 1-66, and widening of Route 123 have all been mentioned as possibilities for relief of traffic. In that context, and with that much local traffic generation, an outer beltway has been proposed. That is the most difficult and most expensive part of the Piedmont Corridor notion. Regardless of that, Mr. Cowart said he is under the impression that a substantial amount of the Corridor will be built, and there will be a dramatic increase in traffic on Route 29 between Washington, D.C. and Greensboro, North Carolina. Mr. Cowart said a draft report is due from the commission in June with a final report in August, and a Special Session of the General Assembly has been called for September. This is all going to happen very fast, and will be a completed transaction by the end of September. Mr. Fisher asked if a referendum for a bond issue is contemplated. Mr. Cowart said no; a fair amount of effort has been spent trying to determine if there is a way to raise the money without a referendum, or secondarily, if there is a referendum, does it have to be project specific. Mr. Cowart said there are three committees; a Critical Needs committee, a Finance committee, and a Legal committee. The first charge for the Legal committee was to determine the most expedient way to raise money. While the general gist of the Constitution is that general obligation bonds require a referendum, revenue bonds do not. Mr. Fisher asked if the projects being studied effect not just the locality, but larger areas. Mr. Cowart said this is his impression. Mr. Fisher asked if this study is of both primary and secondary roads. Mr. Cowart said at this stage, it pertains to just anything. Mr. Fisher said there are some roads which have an artificial classification as a secondary road when they actually carry as much traffic as a primary road. Mr. Cowart said that is a moral issue in Southwest Virginia. One of the first decisions is where to draw the line as to classification. Mr. Fisher said there was a public hearing last night on the Meadow Creek Parkway project. He asked if Mr. Cowart had discussed this project with City Council. Mr. Cowart said yes. Mr. Fisher said the County Board of Supervisors and the Charlottesville City Council have different perspectives concerning this project. This is not a new project, it has been discussed for the last fifteen years. It has been the highest secondary road project in the County plan since the completion of Hydraulic Road. The County has tried for years to save enough funds to build its portion of the road. When this building was pur- chased from the City to be the County Office Building, it was done witk the understanding that Meadow Creek Parkway would be built so that the people from the Northern part of the County could get to these offices easily. In the deed from the City, the County guaranteed that all of the right-of-way along McIntire Road would come from this property so that no other properties would be damaged, and that it would be done without any cost to the project. The Board's commitment to this project goes back many years, and the Board still feels that it is an extremely important project. He understands the resistance of local people who live along the right-of-way, but the project has been planned for many years. Mr. Fisher said he intends to work with the Highway Department to build the portion from Rio to Melbourne Road, and if necessary, the road can end at that point. Mr. Fisher said there are also some local problems with east/west traffic on Route 250 East as it crosses the Rivanna River. The bridge is not able to handle the traffic volumes, and there is new employment on the east side of the River. The other concern is with Route 29. He knows there has been concern expressed by other areas of the State about Route 29, but the proposal that has been put forth has been vigor- ously opposed locally. The only source of drinking water in the community is from a small watershed that lies between the Skyline Drive and charlottesville. The plan mentioned was to run approximately 17 miles of interstate-like highway through, and even across, that water- shed, with multiple stream crossings. The Board does not feel the highway would serve any local purpose, and would prefer to work with City Council and other communities to solve the local as well as state problems. Mr. Lindstrom said that several years ago when the CATS study was adopted, the Board voted to eliminate any western route from the study. At that time, the Metropolitan Planning Organization was just being established, and one it its first tasks was to seek an alter- native to building a bypass through the watershed or any established neighborhoods. The MPO has looked at preliminary alignments for such an alternative, and feels that with the inter- change improvements proposed at Hydraulic Road, and at Rio Road, with the construction of the Meadow Creek Parkway, and the upgrading of Route 29 North to six lanes, the Meadow Creek Parkway over to 1-64 would essentially be an eastern bypass, and the pressure would have been taken off of Route 29 North, and an eastern bypass opened up around Charlottesville. One of the primary concerns in finding a solution to the Piedmont Corridor idea is not having construction of a bypass through the watershed areas. Mr. Cowart said he does not think east or west is a political issue as far as anybody else is concerned. He disagrees with the Board members and does not feel the six laning of Route 29 will solve the problem. He thinks it will exacerbate the problem because it will March 26, 1986 (Afternoon Meeting) (Page 3) traffic; that has been the experience in Northern Virginia. When you combine the ever increasing amount of local traffic with more through traffic moving north and south on Route 29, it is just a question of how big a traffic jam there will be with the added traffic lights. He got the impression from City Council that they do not want to have the Meadow Creek Parkway used as a bypass. Mr. Fisher said the Board does not propose that. Mr. Cowart said his reaction to what he has heard is that nobody thinks an eastern bypass raises the kinds of issues that a western bypass does. Rather than waiting for assistance from the state, he thinks the two governing bodies should take an affirmative stand on the issue. The failure to find a way to shed the transient traffic will be a problem for a very long time. Second, this is the time to make a decision. If nothing happens at this time, the chances of getting the necessary money are slim. City Council expressed concerns about the Meadow Creek Parkway, and he urged them to contact the Board of Supervisors since some'consensus needs to be developed now. Mr. Fisher said the Board views the Meadow Creek Parkway as a local road only. Mr. Cowart said City Council feels that if six lanes of traffic are put on Route 29, a lot of traffic will divert itself onto the Meadow Creek Parkway just to have something to do. Mrs. Cooke said that a lot of local traffic is attempting to get to the downtown area, the City has spend millions in upgrading the downtown area in order to attract shoppers back, and they have also spend money to build a hotel to get people into the downtown area, and there is no easy way for people to get to that area. She thought parkways usually prohibited truck traffic, so there will be mostly local traffic using that corridor into the downtown area. Mrs. Cooke said she does not understand City Council's perception that this roadway will be disastrous for the downtown area. Mr. Cowart said they think it will be good, but only if it comes in conjunction with the Piedmont Corridor. Otherwise it will force more transient activity through the City, and the route could be abused. Mr. Lindstrom said he mentioned an eastern connection, he meant that the MPO has been working with the Highway Department to try to find a satisfactory bypass route. Mr. Cowart said he has no basis at this time on which to make a recommendation. But, he does not want either the Board or City Council to come to him a year from now and ask where all of the traffic is coming from. Mr. Lindstrom asked if Mr. Cowart is saying that there will be a substantial reorientation of north-south traffic through the State over this corridor. Mr. Cowart said that is correct. If you give a trucker the opportunity to turn north at Greensboro, North Carolina, rather than going all the way to 1-95 to go north, and use even a semi-decent road, he will take advantage of the opportunity. If bypasses in other parts of the state are built, there will be a substantial increase in the transient traffic moving through this area. It is in Charottesville's interest, if they want to preserve the quality of life, to find a way to funnel that traffic so it does not become a real problem. Expanding Route 29 North in order to have more cars at a traffic light is not the answer. Mr. Lindstrom said the six-laning of Route 29 was just recently funded, and then last week the Board heard that the Highway Department was proposing to expand the road to eight lanes. It sounds as though the ultimate decision has already been made elsewhere. He asked if this is then being considered as the alternate to a bypass. Mr. Cowart said there are a number of overlaps that have not yet been resolved. It is not yet clear to him the roles of his commission, and the existing Highway Commission. His perception at this time is that the current process of adopting six-year plans is creating a gap between need and delivery of services. The pay-as-you-go system will not keep the needs of the Commonwealth current. The Governor's proposal is one way to address critical, catch-up needs for the state's arterial and primary road systems. His committee is also to address the ongoing maintenance needs of an expanded system. This is a one-time catch up effort, and the fact that the Highway Department has already done work and taken positions in no way restricts the determinations of the commission. Mr. Lindstrom said if the issue is a major reorientation of traffic from 1-95 and maybe 1-81 to Route 29, there is no way anything can be done to deal with that except through a major bypass. Mr. Cowart said he thinks that is what the Governor had in mind; remember this is the brainchild of one person. Virginia is one of only eight states with a triple "A" bond rating, and bond indebtedness on general obligation bonds is extremely low. Rates are coming down, and fuel costs are coming down. It is a magic moment to raise some funds at a low cost to build a road system. Mr. Lindstrom asked who the Board would communicate with if it met with City Council and came up with something. Mr. Cowart said to communicate with him. He said the thirty members of the commission will be doing some serious talking and discussion of priorities. The Board members should know that the Speaker of the House of Delegates and the President of Senate are both members of the commission. That was obviously done to help give the report of the commission a lot of horsepower when it is presented to the Special Session in September. Everything seems to militate that the Board and Council form some sort of consensus quickly. Mr. Agnor said in terms of looking for an alternate route for 1-95, it has been men- tioned that it would be better to tie the Route 15 corridor into Route 460 at Lynchburg, and then on to Greensboro. That route is almost in the middle of the state between 1-81 and 1-95. There are trucks on it today even though it is a two-lane road, the grade is better than that on Route 29. Mr. Lindstrom said that idea was generated locally and presented by the MPO, but nothing happened. Mr. Cowart said his reaction to the idea is that it leaves out Danville, and it was not mentioned at any of the meetings he had in Northern Virginia. Mr. Cowart asked if the Board has other road needs which should be considered. Mr. Fisher said this is a growing area, and the County desperately needs money for secondary roads. March 26, 1986 (Afternoon Meeting) (Paqe 4) Mr. Cowart said he told City Council, and he will repeat, that it is his strong feeling that the other bypasses will be built. The Governor was in Danville last week and made a strong commitment to them. He was also in Northern Virginia last week, and made a strong commitment there. The Warrenton bypass is under construction, and a strong commitment has already been made to the City of Lynchburg. Given that reality, there is going to be a lot of additional through traffic on Route 29. Mr. Cowart asked if there were any problems with other forms of mass transportation; airports, buses, etc. Mr. Fisher said the County has a rural, small van transportation system for low-income, elderly or handicapped people that is primarily federally subsidized. Federal funds for this type of operation will be diminishing, and he feels that it is in the interests of the state to keep this type of activity operating. Mr. Lindstrom said one critical need is the bridge over the Rivanna River on Route 250 East (Free Bridge). Mr. Fisher said it may be possible to schedule a meeting with City Council immediately in order to put together some sort of joint presentation for Monday's hearing. Mr. Cowart said it comes down to "speak now~ or forever hold your peace." At 4:15 P.M., the Board took a short recess. When the meeting reconvened, the Board members discussed the type of presentation to made to the commission. Mr. Lindstrom said he thinks the City and County must be able to speak with one voice about a bypass. It appears that some people in the state think there is an imminent threat of a major disaster as far as through traffic is concerned. Mr. Bowie said if the state is going to build a bypass around every town along Route 29 except Charlottesville, he thinks there will be a lot of trouble later on and no money with which to address the problem. He would prefer that the Board not commit itself to anything specific as concerns a bypass. Mr. Lindstrom said the Board can say that a bypass to the west of Charlottesville has been unacceptable to both the City and the County for many years. Mrs. Cooke said she, personally, supports the concept of an eastern bypass. Mr. Lindstrom said he thinks the City will support the idea of an eastern bypass, but trying to negotiate that by Monday is not possible. He said there are a lot of plans for western bypasses, and he thinks the board should make it clear from the outset that they don't support any of them. Mrs. Cooke offered motion to support the concept of an eastern bypass with an option that the Board have input in the planning and design and alignment of the route through the County. Mr. Bowie seconded the motion. There was no further discussion. Roll was called and the motion carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: NAYS: ABSENT: Mr. Bowie, Mrs. Cooke, Messrs. Fisher, Lindstrom and Way. None. Mr. Henley. Mr. Fisher asked if any of the members had suggestions for the procedure to be used in making the presentation. Mr. Lindstrom suggested the Board say something about other primary roads that are of common interest with the City. It was agreed that the bridge over the Rivanna River on Route 250 East and an inter- change on 1-64 at Avon Street would be mentioned. Already in the six-year plan is the six-laning of Route 29 North. Also to be mentioned will be interchange improvements on Route 29 North. Secondary improvements include the Meadow Creek Parkway, Rio Road, and two under- passes on Old Ivy Road. Mr. Fisher asked who could attend the meeting and speak for the Board. Mr. Lindstrom agreed to attend. Mr. Fisher said he will be attending. Mr. Bowie said.he will attend the meeting but does not want to make the presentation. Agenda Item No. 3. Adjourn. With no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 5:02 P.M. ~n