AGENDA REPORT To: From: By: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members Warren Hutmacher, City Manager Sharon Ebert, Director Community Development Date: April 10, 2017 Agenda: City Council Work Session April 24, 2017: Status Report on the Comprehensive Plan Update and Transportation Master Plan Issue: The Mayor and City Council members have currently placed on hold advancing the design and construction of the City s TSPLOST projects until they can review the Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Committee s (CAC) transportation improvement recommendations. Background/Progress Update: The City s Comprehensive Plan and Transportation Master Plan were originally adopted in November 2008. The Mayor and City Council amended certain sections of the Comprehensive Plan in September 2014 and both plans Short Term Work Programs are updated on an annual basis. The City has been following the Comprehensive Plan and the Master Transportation Plan as it prepares its short- and long-term plans for City projects each year. In 2016, to assist with the City s Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) ten-year plan update and Transportation Master Plan (TMP) update, the City engaged TSW and POND & Associates as planning and transportation consultants. The Mayor and City Council appointed a 26-member CAC in September 2016. The CAC members were vetted and selected to ensure a representative cross-section of the community in many regards including geographically and occupationally. The update process officially started on October 8 th with a CAC tour to a couple of Metro-Atlanta s traditionallydesigned neighborhoods and villages of Glenwood Park and Downtown Woodstock. The first Planning Workshop and Public Hearing were held on October 27, 2017. Since that time the CAC members have been meeting monthly and two additional planning workshops have also been held. The first public workshop helped identify major goals and the second public workshop focused on defining and prioritizing the goals, reviewing the City s existing Characters Areas for any desired changes and identifying current land use and transportation issues of concern. The third public workshop was a 3-day event held in January 2017 and focused specifically on possible redevelopment scenarios for three major commercial centers in the city: Newtown, Medlock Bridge at State Bridge, and Technology Park. A fourth commercial area at State Bridge and Jones Bridge was later added. A 1
fourth public workshop will be held in May to review and discuss the draft of the updated Comprehensive Plan and new MTP. With a draft anticipated at the end of April, staff will dedicate the entire month of May to gathering public input on the draft and bring the draft, improved with public input, to the first June City Council Meeting. A final draft, including Council adjustment, could be brought before the City Council for a Public Hearing at the last June City Council meeting or first meeting in July. Following City Council approval, the draft documents are sent to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) for a 90-day review. Once the ARC finalizes its review and send us their comments the updated Comp Plan and new TMP will come before the Mayor and City Council this fall for a final review and adoption. In advance of the draft plan, to facilitate the Council s efforts to prioritize and strategize for the implementation of TSPLOST projects, staff has teased out the most salient goals, policy recommendations, and preferences from the CAC. Goals: The CAC, with public input, created five Comprehensive Plan and Transportation Master Plan goals: 1. Create a city-wide multi-modal transportation system: Create a balanced and sustainable transportation network system that reduces traffic congestion, increases intra-city mobility, and includes complete streets, cart, bike and pedestrian pathways that connect neighborhoods to schools, parks, shopping centers, and institutional destinations; 2. Create an identity for the City: Create an identity that will guide future development, preserve the quality and character of our existing residential neighborhoods, and sustain an exceptional quality of life; 3. Expand the City s Economic Base: Expand the city s economic base by nurturing an environment that will retain and attract industries that create high paying jobs; 4. Provide superior recreational and cultural activities throughout the City: Create recreational areas/facilities throughout the city that regularly offer cultural activities that positively engage our diverse population; and 5. Develop tools required to implement the goals: Revise the City s zoning ordinance and development regulations to align with the Comprehensive Plan. Several discussions were held with the public and CAC members to identify policy recommendations that would support the five goals and provide greater direction in formulating the Comp Plan and TMP updates. The most important and overarching goal coming out of these discussions was the desire of the public and CAC members to preserve the quality and character of our existing residential neighborhoods and sustain an exceptional quality of life here in Johns Creek. Policy Recommendations: Additionally, staff has been working with the CAC to distill major policy recommendations that will shape in-fill and future redevelopment in the city. The transportation policy recommendations (see Attachment A CAC 2
Policy Survey Results) listed below had a majority of sixty percent (60%) or greater support from the CAC members: Create a city-wide multi-modal transportation system 1. Improve traffic signal timing and coordination along major corridors; 2. Redevelop SR-141/Medlock Bridge Road into a 4-lane parkway with greenway trails along both sides and a landscape median; 3. Develop State Bridge Road into a 4-lane parkway with greenway trails on both sides and a landscaped median; 4. Develop a complete street grid system via a master street plan to create additional ways to travel around major intersections; 5. Develop ways to separate pedestrian/bike/personal transportation vehicle (PTV) traffic movements from vehicular traffic movements at the City s main intersections; 6. Where feasible, based on existing/projected traffic volumes and available ROW, remove existing traffic signals and replace with roundabouts to improve safety and reduce wait times at lights; 7. At major subdivisions, where traffic signals do not exist and where feasible, provide roundabouts to allow easier access to collector and minor arterial roadways; 8. Support PTV use on local streets (designated 25 mph or less) and along designated pathways to provide flexibility for residents making local trips; 9. Provide a system of paved multi-use trails located along collector and arterial roadways to connect residential subdivisions to neighborhood schools, libraries, shopping, parks and religious institutions; 10. Reduce personal vehicle trips to/from schools by improving alternative, non-motorized transportation options near public schools; 11. Improve pedestrian and cyclist safety along SR 141/Medlock Bridge Road by enhancing pedestrian crossings, by providing pedestrian under/overpasses and lowering the speed limit from 55 mph to 45 mph; 12. Encourage residential subdivisions to identify locations where multi-use pathway connections can be made to encourage bicycle and pedestrian use; 13. Where supported by residential subdivisions, connect subdivisions to a local street, collector or arterial roadway via a new street developed by the City to increase the number of ways in and out of residential subdivisions; 14. Where supported by residential subdivisions, connect subdivisions to each other via new streets developed by the City to increase the number of ways in and out of residential subdivisions; 15. Preserve existing public rights of way to ensure development of future streets; 16. Create streetscape design standards for all public roads, alleys and trails; and 17. Support infrastructure improvements to accommodate future use of autonomous vehicles. In general the transportation recommendations coming from the CAC members are to improve signal synchronization, keep roadways as they currently are, or enhance roadways with landscaped medians, sidewalks and/or trailways where they do not exist and to provide alternative means by which to travel to/from residential neighborhoods, schools, and shopping. POND also summarized [KG1]the results from 21 of 23 CAC members as to their recommendations on transportation road widening improvements. The results of the survey are provided below: 3
As indicated by the CAC roadway capacity improvements survey results, the CAC does not support the widening of roadways in Johns Creek to 6-lanes. Shown below is the City of Johns Creek s approved TSPLOST List. 4
Recommendations: Taken together, the public input and CAC goals and policy recommendations outline a clear path forward for the implementation of the TSPLOST projects. There is support for several of the City s 2-lane arterial roadways to be widened from 2-lanes to 4-lanes, so long as they are widened as parkways with sidewalks or trailways. Listed below are the TSPLOST road widening projects with a CAC majority support: McGinnis [KG2]Ferry Road; 5
Jones Bridge Road; Haynes Bridge Road; and Old Alabama Road. In addition, there does not appear to be CAC opposition to extending Findley Road eastward through Technology Park to Technology Circle. To recast in the format of the TSPLOST list, the following highlighted projects would be the Comp Plan and Transportation Master Plan suggestion for initial efforts: 6
With regards to the Medlock Bridge Road widening project listed in the City s TSPLOST it is recommended that the capacity Improvements be developed with a focus group of citizens that live along the Medlock Bridge Road corridor in conjunction with the development of an area study to reposition the Medlock Bridge Corridor from a suburban commercial corridor to the City s premier parkway. The results of this study should also include a street grid system within the shopping centers at State Bridge and Medlock Bridge roads with the goal to greatly improve local traffic movements around and thru this congested intersection. As such these top two TSPLOST projects (Capacity Improvements to Medlock Bridge Road and State Bridge and Medlock Bridge Intersection Improvements) should be moved to the bottom of the TSPLOST Tier I list while area residents and businesses work with city staff to create a well thought out plan. Attachments: Attachment A CAC Policy Survey Results 7