Mayor Announces Main Street/21st Light Rail Alignment Workshops for July 18th and 26th

July 5, 2007 

To: Community Members, Commissioners and City Council 
From: Mayor Jim Bernard 
Re: Downtown Light Rail Alignment Options 

The question before the South Corridor Policy Steering Committee that I must answer is: Should the City of Milwaukie request that an additional light rail alignment option be added to Metro's Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) analysis? 

Based on recommendations from the Milwaukie Planning Commission and Riverfront Board, and input at the Planning Commission forums and meetings with the Downtown and North Industrial businesses, City Council voted on July 3 to remove a McLoughlin light rail alignment from consideration and instead focus on determining whether there is an alignment along Main Street or Main St. and 21st Avenue that merits further consideration. To include such an alternative in the analysis, we need to fully define an alternative alignment. In doing so, we must honor previous processes, such as the 2004 Milwaukie Working Group, as well as our many regional partners, by considering this question in a timely manner and with honest intentions. 

We are one partner among many and must do our part to meet the deadlines that ensure completion of this segment of the system. In order to submit a timely application for federal funding, Metro must complete conceptual design of all the alternatives that it will study during the SDEIS process by September 15, 2007. Any additional alternative submitted by the City of Milwaukie must therefore be well defined by August 2007. 

This timeline and our commitment to our regional partners drive our next steps but limited time doesn't mean that we cannot conduct a good process to determine whether or not we can define a downtown alignment that makes sense. We also need to address the question of whether or not that additional alignment would justify an additional expenditure of more than $300,000 for analysis in the SDEIS. 

I propose two workshops to be held in July to assist us in finding these answers. To be clear, this is our opportunity to define a Main St. or Main St. and 21st Ave. alignment. At this stage of the game a couple of general ideas will not work. Except for the recently discussed design options to Park Avenue, the alignments already on the table have been thoroughly studied and have buy-in from the City, the region, and the citizen groups that helped develop them. 

Now is the time for those who have requested an additional alignment to participate and commit to the development of an alternative. Specifically, I ask the coalition that includes the Waldorf School, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and the Historic Milwaukie and Lake Road Neighborhoods, to do two things: first, I ask that they participate in the July workshops with open minds and bring all of their creative ideas and second, I ask that they fully consider all alignments evaluated in the SDEIS over the next year and work with the City, Metro and TriMet to address any concerns that arise in order to reach the best solution for the City of Milwaukie. 

I'm not sure what we'll find during the July workshops but it is imperative that those who are interested in an additional alignment participate in the process. Within the deadlines we face in order to secure federal funding, this is an opportunity to have final input on the alternatives to be considered in the SDEIS. 

The first workshop will be held on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 from 6-9 p.m. at Milwaukie High School (11300 SE 23rd) in the commons area. At that session the participants will learn design parameters and develop design ideas with the help of staff from Metro, TriMet and the City of Milwaukie. 

The process will conclude with a second workshop on Thursday, July 26, 2007 from 6-9 p.m. at Milwaukie High School (11300 SE 23rd) in the commons area. At that meeting concepts generated from the first meeting will be presented, discussed, and evaluated. 

The City Council will discuss the workshop outcomes at its August 7 Work Session. The question will be whether I, as the City's designated representative to the South Corridor Policy Steering Committee, will recommend a Downtown alignment to be added to the SDEIS. Once again, it is important to point out that any additional option included in the SDEIS will add more than $300,000 to the cost of the study. 

As I said before, we owe it to ourselves and to future Milwaukians to invest our very best efforts in defining a light rail alignment that's best for our City. I believe that the full participation from community stakeholders who approach these workshops in an honest and positive way will get us there.