Land Use and Transportation Subcommittee - October 16, 2006

October 16, 2006

Proposed Recommendations on Accessible Development Patterns

Overarching Recommendations: 

I.          Foster a land use pattern and transportation system that will make it easier for people to shift trips to walking, biking and transit when oil prices stimulate changes in travel behavior.

II.        Prioritize investments in improvements to the city’s network of pedestrian and bicycle facilities, especially in areas of low accessibility.

Specific Recommendations

The city should:

1.     Rate each Portland neighborhood on its degree of  “accessibility”: the degree to which retail, profession and civic services (such as grocery stores, schools, doctors’ offices, libraries, transit stops, day-care centers, cafes and restaurants, dry cleaners, hardware stores, parks, banks) lie within convenient walking and bicycle distance from households within the neighborhoods.

2.     Map those portions of Portland neighborhoods that do NOT lie within ½-mile of a grocery store of neighborhood size (15,000 to 35,000) or larger.

3.     Develop an action plan of measures to improve neighborhood accessibility, such as improved pedestrian and bicycle facilities; more flexible zoning to allow neighborhood-scale retail, professional and civic services, or to allow additional dwelling units to create a market for such uses.  

4.     Implement Metro’s Corridor Study: designate Corridor stretches (portions of 82nd Avenue, e.g.) for revitalization (residential/retail/office), supported by frequent transit service.

5.     Develop “location-efficient mortgage” programs in neighborhoods with a high degree of accessibility.

6.     Encourage Metro to refine its modeling capabilities to enable it to evaluate the effects of combustion engine fuel increases on land use patterns and travel behaviors.

7.     Encourage Metro to minimize expansion of the urban growth boundary (UGB).

8.     Encourage Metro to provide permanent protection to prime farmland close to the UGB.

9.     Place parking meters in well-developed retail districts (Hawthorne; NW 23rd; Gateway);  earmark a portion of parking revenues for pedestrian/bicycle improvements within district.

10.  Enhance “individual marketing” in those neighborhoods with low neighborhood accessibility to determine which measures would be most likely to reduce the number and length of SOV trips in the neighborhood.

            Impacts Addressed

1.     People living in neighborhoods without affordable travel options will spend an increasing portion of their disposable incomes on travel. 

2.     There will be reduced funding for transportation improvements – for transit, pedestrian and bicycle improvements as well as for road capacity for cars - due to reducing travel by gas-powered vehicles.

3.     There will be reduced funding for transit operations.

4.     The cost of housing will rise in more “accessible” neighborhoods.

5.     Lower income households will be forced to the edges of communities, where transit service is  poorer.

6.     There will be fewer car trips. 

7.     There will be a shift of trips to walking, biking and transit.

8.     There will be increased demand for telecommuting and compressed work week.

9.     Mode shift is most likely to occur in discretionary, non-work trips.

10.  There will be a reduced demand for parking.

11.  There will be increased demand for housing and retail services near transit stops, especially near light rail and street car stops.

12.  There will be an increased demand for retail, professional and civic services within walking and biking distance of more households.

13.  There will be increased demand for new housing types, such as accessory dwellings, co-housing and live-work space.

Triple Bottom Line:

These recommendations also help achieve other recommendations from the Peak Oil Task Force and other important city and regional objectives:

• Improve citizens’ health  (residents of compact, pedestrian friendly places suffer fewer chronic ailments than those of sprawling communities; residents of walkable communities are less likely to be overweight; residents of compact communities spend 20 minutes a day less in a car than those in a low-density suburb; Cascade Scorecard, Sightline Institute, 2006)
• Reduce the capital and maintenance cost of services (asphalt up 13 percent since 2004, adding $100 million to highway projects on state’s books; Oregonian, 7/31/06, Mayer)
• Reduce pressure to expand UGB
• Save nearby farmland for food security
• Improve air quality (motor vehicles are the largest source of air pollution; Cascade Scorecard, Sightline Institute, 2006)
• Reinforce city’s carbon dioxide reduction plan.

Other Recommendations:

• Set an ambitious but achievable goal for the people of Portland: reduce the number of gallons of gas consumed by the average Portlander in a week from 8 to 5.3 gallons.

• Protect intermodal freight facilities to facilitate shift in freight modes in response to fuel price increases.

            Impacts Addressed

1.     Higher fuel costs will force companies to consider shifting from trucks to other modes.

2.     Rail and ship freight facilities will become relatively more important f or movement of goods.

Findings:

• Vehicle Miles Traveled/Capita is dropping in region (from approx. 21.7 to 19.8 from 1996 to today). Cotugno class at PSU; PDOT handout. 

• Cycling traffic in Portland has risen 257% in last ten years. BBC News series
• Crossings over four Portland bridges by bicycle commuters increased 15% in 2004 and 18% in 2005.  PDOT

• Transportation consumes 28% of energy in U.S.  U.S. DOE, Energy Information Administration, John Cogan
• If one in ten Americans used transit regularly, U.S. reliance upon foreign oil could be cut by 40%.  APTA
• A doubling of density results in a 25-30% reduction in VMT.  Reid Ewing, “Is Los Angeles-Style Sprawl Desirable?” Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 63, No. 1, Winter, 1997, p. 113.
• Increased density correlates with increased use of transit and walking.  Age-Related Shifts in Housing and Transportation Demand: A Multi-disciplinary Study Conducted for Metro by PSU’s College of Urban and Public Affairs, August 14, 2006.
• An average urban household uses 320 million BTUs/year; an average suburban household uses 440.  Jennifer Henry, U.S. Green Building Council.
• Lower-income households are more likely to change their travel behaviors in response to rising gas prices than average households.  Pew Research Center Survey of 1,182 Americans
• Lower income families are migrating to the suburbs.

• Portland is eliminating over 62 million car trips a year. BBC News series
• Greenhouse emissions have risen 13% over last 10 years in U.S.; down to 1990 levels in Portland. BBC News series
• Trips in downtown area are shifting to bicycle.  Geller PSU slides.

• Work trips comprise only 20% of all trips in Portland.
• Mode use for work trips virtually unchanged from 1997 to 2004-05 (slight increase in drive-alone from 71 to 71.5%).  PDOT citizen survey handout
• Cars and trucks are responsible for 38% of carbon monoxide emissions in city. PDOT “Facts About Portland 2003-04.
• Mode split comparisons with European cities shows that the big difference is pedestrian trips.
• Mode shifts are more likely to go to pedestrian/bicycle than transit (Europe; data: transit costs).
• Walking is the easiest mode shift to make; also the #1 choice of those considering a shift.
• Cost of parking is the most-often cited reason for not driving.
• People who live in walkable, mixed use neighborhoods have a 35% lower risk of obesity.  L.D. Frank, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 27, 87-96 (2004).

Potential Recommendations discussed by Land Use & Transportation Committee at October 5, 2006 meeting

Freight and Fuel

 

1.     Charge taxes based on vehicle miles traveled.

2.     Since each City resident gets a benefit from public rights-of-way (fire trucks, delivery vans, garbage trucks provide services to everyone), charge each resident a City of Portland transportation user fee for system maintenance and improvement.

3.     Restrict types of vehicles allowed on roadways to specific times of day to reduce overall congestion.

4.     Have dedicated freight lanes on roads and highways.

5.     Create central passenger vehicle parking areas and move vehicles off of residential streets.

6.     Create toll lanes that charge single-occupancy vehicles more or charge a toll to enter Portland in a single-occupancy vehicle.

7.     Tax higher-weight passenger vehicles more than lower-weight ones.

8.     Have truck delivery-only streets within the City.

9.     Create short-sea shipping lines along the West Coast to move products between Mexico and Canada by water not by truck.

10.  Ban package delivery by truck to individual addresses.  Create distribution centers within urban areas where individuals can come and pick up their packages.

11.  Build new rail transfer stations that are closer to the product.

12.  Electrify the rail system to save on diesel fuel usage.

13.  Build fuel refineries.

14.  Attract alternative fuel manufacturers and distributors.

 

15.  Tax alternative fuels the same as other fuels to help pay for transportation system maintenance.

16.  Develop citizen-owned co-op fuels.

17.  Take money earmarked for airport expansion and put it into other transportation programs like commuter rail, bridge maintenance, etc.

18.  Continue to protect industrial and manufacturing land to allow for economic diversification if global economy falters.

Public Transportation – Potential Recommendations

19.  Look for the most cost-effective ways to fully utilize the capacity of existing alternative modes of transportation.  This is the short-term solution and is a marketing challenge.

20.  Charge taxes based on vehicle miles traveled in a single-occupancy vehicle.

21.  Since each City user gets a benefit from public rights-of-way and all modes can use streets, charge each resident and city-based employer/employee a City of Portland transportation user fee for system maintenance and improvement.

22.  Have dedicated HOV lanes and bike lanes on roads and highways.  Seattle currently has a more extensive HOV network and more company financial incentives.

23.  At least double the on-street and garage parking fees in the City Center and other major shopping/employment areas like Lloyd Center, Gateway.  This may push drivers into parking in residential areas.  May also need to implement a residential zone parking permit system similar to Chicago’s.

24. Develop viable intra-urban rail systems now.  Could effectively connect Portland to Astoria, McMinnville, the Valley, perhaps even Bend, The Dalles and Pendleton.

25.  Take money earmarked for airport expansion and put it into other transportation programs like commuter rail, bike lanes, sidewalks, etc.

26.  Expand vanpools and carpools to special destinations like Ikea, casinos, coast resorts, ski areas, State Fair, etc.  NYC/NJ does this.

27.  Charge car-sharing companies a nominal on-street parking fee or no fee at all.

28.  Make walking seem like a recognizable mode of transportation.  This is a marketing challenge.

29.  Continue to expand the light rail, streetcar, and bus systems now while there is funding still available.

30.  Provide incentives for employers to change work patterns – compressed work weeks, job sharing, telecommuting, proximate commuting (transfer people to the branch office closest to their house).

31.  Continue to expand the bike lane system, putting bike lanes on the most traveled routes for commuters, including large streets like Sandy Blvd and Foster.  More bikes on even these high traffic routes makes for a better overall environment.

32.  Continue to fund and implement the already existing alternative transportation programs and incentives, and the existing land use policies to encourage the continued reduction of personal trips-per-day.

33.  Create more flexible multi-use zoning designations that will allow for the creation of employment centers around the City.  Find ways to accommodate manufacturing, office, light industrial, service, and residential next to each other.

Potential Solutions to Peak Oil Impacts

34.  Educate other cities within the State to the potential impacts of peak oil and help them develop into sustainable, well-planned communities to lessen the pressure on Portland to be the main economic driver and population growth supporter in the state.

35.  Create a design-advisory team to help push high-quality building design as density increases.

36.  Continue to acquire and retain large land parcels to be developed into public areas and public open space.  Think about holding onto school lands for this reason.

37.  Create even more flexible zoning to allow for live-work, light manufacturing, and urban agriculture within the City.

38.  Focus on developing Regional and Town Centers outside the central city into viable “villages”.  Do not overlook already existing smaller neighborhood centers based on old streetcar suburbs – while these may not be listed in Metro’s development scenario, many of the pieces of a “village” already exist in these areas and they may only need a single development investment to be re-energized.

39.  Continue to fund several affordable housing programs, including those for workforce housing in an effort to have a city of mixed income levels, not just rich and poor.

40.  Continue to educate people about ADU options.

41.  Look at current parking policy and see if the required minimums for schools, and other large land users could be reduced or even dropped.

42.  UGB – look at what really makes good agricultural land, consider it’s economic impacts as well.

43.  UGB – protect agricultural land from development by creating conservation easements.

44.  Develop metrics to measure how effective our land use policies are so we can be proactive in spotting development trends instead of being reactive.

45.  Increase development fees to reflect the true cost of development.  Automobile-dependent development would pay the highest fees, sort of a fuel use charge.

46.  Continue to create pedestrian-friendly, dense neighborhoods with access to employment, retail, social institutions, and public transportation.

Additional recommendations considered by Land Use & Transportation

Expand the “Drive less. Save More” campaign to include Peak Oil awareness.

Encourage businesses to adopt a “car sharing” mentality

Fostering the adoption of “multi-rider” transportation to reduce single occupancy trips

Offer consulting for businesses and citizens looking to prepare and make changes for Peak Oil

This can be paid for by citizens and businesses by passing a reasonable "Peak Oil Preparation" tax or diverting funds from other programs

Create or expand neighborhood introduction programs

Foster programs that help neighbors get to know one another (like City Repair)

Continue to encourage use of public transportation, biking, walking, and carpooling

Cities can learn from other cities leading the charge with success (Portland, San Francisco, etc.)

Foster neighborhood co-op owned fueling stations

Pair Oregon farmers making alcohol in their own micro-refineries / distilleries with neighborhoods that purchase the fuel from their own alcohol fuel co-op. (Fact: Alcohol can be used as a fuel)

Offer free parking for new Scooter riders

Encourages commuters to shift to efficient modes of transport. Exclude scooters that do not meet California air emissions standards.

Peak Oil Kits to hand out at the DMV

The City of Portland can internally create or outsource the creation of a "Peak Oil Intro Kit" to hand out along with all DMV transactions. This allows the city to track who has received this information for measuring awareness and outreach statistics.

The city could create a requirement that all new and renewing licensed drivers be required to watch a video covering the basics of changes people need to consider, and how they can help reduce the problems.