Steptoe Street Extension Planning Schedule
Public Involvement Activities/Date - Completed
- Initial Letter - January 11, 2006
- Project Phone - January 11, 2006
- Website - January 31, 2006
- Stakeholders Workshop - February 7, 2006
- News Release 1 - February 14, 2006
- Second Letter - February 14, 2006
- Third Letter - February 21, 2006
- Neighborhood Meeting "A" - February 19 and February 27, 2006
- News Release 2 – April 17, 2006
- Fourth Letter – May 8, 2006
- Neighborhood Meeting "B" - May 17 and 18, 2006
- News Release 3 – August 8, 2006
- News Release 2 - September 5, 2006
- Public Meeting 1 - September 21, 2006
A brief description of each Task listed in the Steptoe Street Extension Planning Schedule, with the original scheduled date of completion for activities within each Task follows:
Task 1: Project Management
Project Management activities for the project including:
- Project Chartering Meeting with City of Kennewick and City of Richland staff to confirm project goals, expectations, and objectives; confirm project workplan and tentative schedule; identify and confirm stakeholders; list potential stakeholder issues, critical success factors, fatal flaws/roadblocks, and benefits; present and confirm the public involvement process; and identify the content and administration of the website. (meeting completed January 26, 2006).
- Project Coordination Meetings with the City of Kennewick and City of Richland staff to discuss the project. A series of 4 coordination meetings are anticipated. The first meeting will be to discuss issues and concerns identified by the public participation process (meeting completed February 27, 2006); the second meeting will be to review the initial evaluation of mitigation measures and environmental impacts (scheduled for mid-April 2006); the third meeting will be to discuss comments received from the public on the mitigation measures proposed for the road design (scheduled for late July, 2006); the fourth meeting will be to review the mitigation measures to be incorporated into the preferred road design (scheduled for early August, 2006).
- CH2M HILL Project Management such as monthly progress reports; internal staff coordination; and quality control of the project deliverables.
Task 2: Conduct Public Involvement Process
The Public Involvement Process activities include an extensive community awareness program to encourage citizens to present their issues and concerns. Further, the Public Involvement Process is designed to listen carefully to what is being said, and to respond in a timely, factual, and accurate manner. Activities included in this task include:
- Initial letters were mailed to over 3,100 property owners in the West Kennewick and South Richland area to notify them that the City of Kennewick survey crew would be in the area, provide notice of the February 19, 2006 Neighborhood Meeting "A", and identify the Website and Information Phone Line for the project (completed January 11, 2006). A second Initial letter was mailed to 215 property owners in the West Kennewick and South Richland area (adjacent to the Steptoe Street Extension corridor) to notify them of the location, date, and time of the first Neighborhood Meetings (completed February 14, 2006). A third Initial letter was again mailed to the 215 property owners adjacent to the Steptoe Street Extension corridor to notify them of the February 27, 2006 Neighborhood Meeting (completed February 21, 2006).
- Website set-up and maintenance during the project from late January 2006 through August 2006. (Setup was completed by January 31, 2006. The website will be updated approximately six times during the planning period). The Steptoe Street website will be maintained by the City of Kennewick after completion of the planning study (after August 2006).
- Project Phone set-up and maintenance during the project from late January 2006 through August 2006. (Setup was completed by January 11, 2006).
- News Release 1 was prepared for distribution to local news agencies (newspaper, TV, and radio) to announce that the City of Kennewick and City of Richland would be planning the Steptoe Street Extension project over the next 8 months. The public was encouraged to participate in the process through Neighborhood Meetings. The Website address and Project Phone were listed in the News Release for citizens to use in contacting the City of Kennewick and City of Richland planning team (completed February 14, 2006). The Tri-City Herald elected not to publish the News Release No. 1.
- Stakeholders Workshop to encourage agencies and special interest groups, that may be affected by the Steptoe Street Extension project, to present their issues and concerns (meeting completed February 7, 2006). A total of 36 agencies and special interest groups were invited to the Stakeholder Workshop.
- Neighborhood Meeting "A" was planned to encourage the public to present their issues and concerns regarding the Steptoe Street Extension project. A portion of the Neighborhood Meeting "A" was designed to obtain public comments on what features the Steptoe Street Extension might include to mitigate the issues and concerns identified (completed February 19 and February 27, 2006).
- Newsletter 1 will be published and distributed to the public. This Newsletter will summarize the issues and concerns developed from the Neighborhood Meeting "A" and Stakeholders Workshop; update the project schedule; describe any actions that have been taken by the City of Kennewick and City of Richland; and reference the Website and Project Phone (scheduled for mid-April 2006).
- Neighborhood Meeting "B" is planned to follow the initial technical evaluations being performed by the project planning team on mitigation measures and environmental issues. A 10% design plan will be presented along with alternatives for how specific issues and concerns of the public may be addressed. Not all the answers will be known. The public will be asked to provide their thoughts and ideas on how the issues and concerns have been addressed; how they view the alternates proposed; identify what additional planning will be completed by the project planning team; and identify what the activities will be from this meeting to completion (scheduled for early May 2006).
- Public Meeting No. 1 will discuss the technical findings of the project planning team to date, based on the information received from the Neighborhood Meeting "B", the Stakeholders, and from the technical studies (scheduled for early June 2006).
- Newsletter 2 will be published and distributed to the public. This Newsletter will describe the preferred alternatives; community issues and how they were addressed; update the project schedule; describe any actions that have been taken by the City of Kennewick and City of Richland; and reference the Website and Project Phone (scheduled for late June 2006).
- Public Meeting No. 2 will describe the preferred alternate; mitigation incorporated into the Steptoe Street Extension project to specifically address the public issues and concerns; and describe the environmental evaluation for the project (scheduled for early August 2006). A 30% design plan will be completed and presented at Public Meeting No. 2.
Task 3: Data Collection
Date Collection is simply the collection of historical information that may be available regarding the Steptoe Street Extension project, and the development of information that may be used during the technical evaluation of the project. The City of Kennewick and City of Richland have asked the Benton Franklin Council of Governments (BFCG) to prepare a Regional Traffic Model of the project area. The Regional Traffic Model will forecast traffic circulation on roadways throughout the project area, with and without the Steptoe Street Extension, for the year 2025 (schedule completion end of April 2006).
Task 4: Establish Steptoe Street Extension Parameters
Extension Parameters include the base considerations for the Steptoe Street Extension including the analysis limits; analysis years; concurrency and level of service (LOS) standards; baseline improvements; and methods for developing forecasts and conducting the analysis (scheduled for completion by mid-April 2006).
The Extension Parameters also include an initial screening of mitigation measures to determine how each measure meets the project purpose and need, addresses the issues and concerns, and meets the evaluation criteria of transportation benefits and impacts to the environment (scheduled for completion by early July 2006).
Task 5: Purpose and Need Statement
The Purpose and Need Statement will address the following after completion of the data collection:
- Project Status
- System Linkage
- Capacity
- Transportation Demand
- Legislation
- Social Demand and Economic Development
- Modal Interrelationships
- Safety
- Roadway Deficiencies
- Economic Development
(scheduled for completion mid-May 2006).
Task 6: Deficiencies and Alternatives
Deficiencies and Alternatives will be identified and evaluated including safety; congestion; community cohesion; linkage; economic development; and modal choices. Impact issues will be listed and an initial evaluation will be conducted. Recommendations for impact mitigation measures to be incorporated into the Steptoe Street Extension project will be prepared (scheduled for completion mid-June 2006).
Task 7: Preferred Alternative
The Preferred Alternative will be based on mitigation measures incorporated into the Steptoe Street Extension project from the technical evaluations performed by the planning team; input from Neighborhood Meetings and Public Meetings; and environmental evaluations (scheduled for completion first of August 2006).
Task 8: Transportation Discipline Report
A Transportation Discipline Report will be prepared consistent with the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) guidance. The Transportation Discipline Report documents how the project meets the purpose and need for the project. Generally, this report addresses affected environment; alternatives considered; impacts during construction; and impacts during operations, and it will be completed together with the environmental documents (scheduled for completion mid-August 2006).
Task 9: Environmental Evaluation
The Environmental Evaluation consists of a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Documented Categorical Exclusion consisting of the following elements:
- Biological Assessment (BA)
- Noise analysis
- Air quality analysis and conformity determination
- Visual/aesthetics analysis
- Cultural Resources analysis
- Economic and business analysis
- Wetlands analysis
- Transportation/traffic analysis
The Environmental Evaluation documents the existing conditions and the effects (direct, indirect, interrelated, interdependent, or cumulative) of the construction or operation of the project. Mitigation measures to minimize the effects are described in the Environmental Evaluation (The Environmental Evaluation will begin in April 2006 and is scheduled for completion in late July 2006).
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