SUBJECT/RECOMMENDATION:
Title
Approve the Complete Streets for Clearwater Implementation Plan for the city of Clearwater and adopt Resolution 19-08.
Body
SUMMARY:
The provision of adequate transportation facilities and infrastructure for all modes of travel is one of the most important components needed to support future redevelopment in the city. Providing safe, multimodal choices is necessary to accommodate future growth without sacrificing roadway efficiency. Complete Streets are important for several reasons. They provide people of all ages and abilities with safe and comfortable travel by balancing the needs of people using different transportation modes within the overall system. Complete Streets provide people with accessibility helping them get to their destinations using a variety of methods, and create a more equitable transportation system, as not all residents own vehicles or are able to drive. Complete Streets also address safety issues and locations where there is a perceived lack of safety, and Complete Streets support the economy by providing local businesses, employees, and our significant number of tourists with more attractive multimodal choices and active streetscapes.
The Planning and Development Department presented the City Council on May 15, 2017, with a roadmap to develop a citywide Complete Streets Implementation Plan that would set the foundation for a transportation system and street network that encourages mobility using a variety of travel modes. Understanding the importance of Complete Streets, the City Council authorized a work order with Kimley-Horn and Associates on December 7, 2017, to prepare the Complete Streets Implementation Plan which kicked off in early 2018.
With assistance from the consultant team and internal departments, the Planning and Development Department worked with stakeholders from throughout the city to identify mobility and infrastructure concerns and desires to be addressed by the plan. Public outreach included:
• three Complete Streets Advisory Committee meetings held on May 1, July 10, and December 4, 2018;
• three community workshops held on October 23, October 24, 2018, and February 12, 2019;
• public outreach at special events, and
• online messaging through the city’s list serve, Next Door forums, and a MetroQuest survey which was taken by 921 people and generated 190 comments.
The Complete Streets for Clearwater Implementation Plan (Plan) was created to establish a framework for the city and its departments to coordinate and achieve Complete Streets designs and implementation. Streets include the entire right-of-way, not just curb to curb, and it is important to plan, design, and build streets with all users in mind, while also being flexible enough to address changes to the transportation and land use contexts.
1. Section 1, the Introduction (pages 8-17), justifies the need for Complete Streets and the goals of the city and community. It explains why Complete Streets are necessary, establishes Guiding Principles, and summarizes existing conditions and future considerations within the city of Clearwater. A common theme that emerged from public outreach was that streets need to serve people first and foremost.
2. Section 2, Flexible Street Design (pages 18-53), provides a framework for changing how streets are designed - from primarily serving a single mode, automobile travel, into a modern street design process that considers how all people and modes use the transportation network. The Plan discusses the importance of understanding existing infrastructure and plans, including the right-of-way available, characteristics of the street, or other corridor studies/plans as part of the design process, and acknowledges that design adjustments may be required. The flexible street design framework section includes:
• A toolkit of design details for streets to be added to planning and engineering guidelines
• Modifications of the conventional decision-making process to refocus on three main characteristics during the design process:
o Street type - thoroughfare, community connector, local collector, or local street, based on the function of the road, safety, and modal options.
o Existing infrastructure and plans - what are the opportunities and limitations in applying the Complete Streets design criteria.
o Land use context - Suburban, Urban Residential, Urban General, Urban Edge, or Urban Core, and two special districts (US 19 and Industrial).
• A series of matrices and maps showing the different context zones and street types and a series of context design matrices. The matrices provide planning-level guidance that address different parts of a street: the Pedestrian Realm, Curb and Gutter, and the Traveled Way. Guidance is provided for preferred sidewalk widths, bicycle recommendations, transit recommendations, desired operating speeds, and other street characteristics, such as street lane widths and crossings is calibrated to the land use context and street type.
3. Section 3, Actions for Implementation (pages 54-69), identifies actions to ensure that Complete Streets principles are a foundational part of infrastructure projects in the city. The twenty-five recommended actions are grouped by timeframe (short-term, mid-term, long-term, and on-going), and are divided into four themes:
• Policy and Regulatory Improvements: Adopting a Complete Streets policy and amending regulations for consistency with the Complete Street designs in Section 2 is an important step for the transportation planning, design, and maintenance processes provided for in the Plan.
• Project Delivery and Process Improvements: Projects that impact streets may come from one of several city departments, outside agencies, or private developers. Creating a multi-department review process is important to success and a project review flow chart is provided.
• Capital Improvements Projects: These typically higher-cost projects result in the construction of the physical improvements needed to create a well-designed and interconnected multimodal transportation network. Planning and Development will coordinate design recommendations and concepts with other departments, particularly Engineering and Parks and Recreation, to ensure that they are feasible, constructible, and address maintenance, drainage, and utilities.
• Performance Measures: Recognizing the importance of measuring and evaluating performance of projects to determine effectiveness, this section establishes performance measures for each Guiding Principle identified in Section 1.
By adopting Resolution 19-08, City Council is approving the Complete Streets for Clearwater Implementation Plan (Exhibit A) and the information contained within.