9th and Massachusetts

City of Lawrence

Public Transit

TO:	David L. Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Robert A. Nugent, Public Transit Administrator
CC:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager Cynthia Wagner, Assistant City Manager
Date:	April 18, 2013
RE:	Moving the Transit Hub to Vermont and Parking Spaces

In recent weeks there has been some concerns raised about City Commissions approval for a temporary transit hub in the 800 block of Vermont. As part of these concerns a petition has been circulated which asks City Commission to reconsider their decision. The following provides both the history and facts associated with this action:

9^th and Massachusetts

Since the beginning of operation in 2000, and with the support of the community, Lawrence Transit has focused service on Downtown Lawrence. This intentional focus on the Downtown made it necessary to utilize two blocks of curb space in order to accommodate multiple buses and transfers between routes. These locations were centralized in the 9^th Street corridor at the northwest and southeast corners of 9^th and Massachusetts. These two locations adequately provided passengers with ease in transfers, as well as, easy access to all points along Massachusetts and the Downtown for ten years.

In August 2010 Lawrence Transit opted to temporarily move these two primary Downtown transfer locations as the result of an eminent construction of a seven-story multi-use building at 901 New Hampshire. Moving these stops was considered to be necessary due to requirements for construction right-of-way and the subsequent inconveniences passengers would have to encounter in order to continue to use Lawrence Transit. These stops were relocated to the northeast and southeast corners of 9^th and New Hampshire for the duration of the construction.

Kentucky at the Library

In early 2011 staff began efforts to determine the possibility of incorporating the Downtown transit operations as part of the design and development of the Lawrence Library. After some initial evaluation it was determined that incorporating the large space requirements of bus operations and the numerous other activities in the vicinity of the Library and the Outdoor Aquatic Center would not be feasible.

Santa Fe Depot

In November 2011 City Commission directed staff to evaluate the possibility of Lawrence Transit as a secondary use for the Santa Fe Depot. As part of this process, staff was directed to obtain public comments from the neighbors and property owners in the immediate vicinity of the site. In response staff performed both a cursory planning analysis and a preliminary engineering analysis and determined there was adequate, yet limited, space to accommodate both administrative and operational elements of transit service at the depot.

Having established that both transit administrative and operational functions could be accommodated into the existing site an open house was held in February 2012. Although the primary purpose of the open house was to present architectural construction documents associated with the complete rehabilitation of the Depot staff decided to include preliminary drawings depicting the possibility of a secondary use of the depot for public transit operations. The event was well attended and staff received numerous comments both in support of and in opposition to transit as a secondary use.

In the months immediately following the open house staff held several discussions with BNSF pertaining to the potential availability of additional office space in order to fully accommodate transit’s administrative needs. These discussions were not well received and raised serious questions as to the viability of the depot for this purpose. Without additional space the transit administrative functions would not be able to perform in the same manner as they currently operated. The lack of office space would force staff to hold off-site meetings. This would have necessitated closing portions of the depot during the day therefore leaving it unoccupied and unmonitored. Another difficulty that had to be overcome was the lack of storage. This was vitally important to the transit administrative function due to Federal and State regulatory requirements pertaining to continued control and access of both historic and current documents.

Additional issues were raised after the open house in February 2012. In order to address some of the community’s concerns mitigation would have had to be to be considered. In specific, efforts to buffer the immediate residential area from any real or perceived issues associated with a bus staging area. The linear bus operation that was presented in February 2012 was the only viable option for bus operations due to both the orientation and limitation of space contained within the site. Appropriate mitigation was determined not be possible due to this same lack of available space.

For these reasons staff recommended that any further consideration of public transit as a secondary use at the Santa Fe Depot be discontinued.

Return to 9^th and Massachusetts

Prior to staff’s efforts to consider the Santa Fe Depot the construction of the building at 901 New Hampshire had been completed. However, staff delayed an immediate move back to our historic operating locations at the northwest and southeast corners of 9^th and Massachusetts. With the possibility of utilizing the Santa Fe as a transit hub no longer viable staff began efforts to return to 9^th and Massachusetts.

In preparing for the move staff began developing plans to improve passenger amenities for these locations. Included in this process was the acquisition of additional passenger shelters, benches, trash receptacles and passenger information displays. Staff had also begun plans to notify relative businesses of the timeframe of the move. However, prior to the release of this information staff was notified that a decision had been made not to allow operations to return to 9^th and Massachusetts as planned.

With new developments slated to begin in the immediate future at 900 New Hampshire and 100 East 9^th Street, which are the two locations Lawrence Transit has been utilizing since August 2010 as our temporary transfer location, efforts were immediately undertaken to find a temporary location.

Transit Center Location Analysis Study

With no obvious alternative site to Santa Fe Depot staff requested an in-depth study pertaining to the location of a transit hub in Lawrence.

In most small and moderate sized urban areas the level of public transit service that is provided is directly associated with the levels in funding. In Lawrence transit service is provided at either a 30 minute or 60 minute frequency. In order to ease travel and reduce the travel time the current service is designed to provide easy transfer opportunities. Scheduling several routes to be at the same place at the same time (i.e. Downtown) serves this purpose. With service frequencies at 30 and 60 minutes it is imperative that easy transfer opportunities are maintained.

In Lawrence we currently have four locations (Downtown, KU Student Union, 31^st at Iowa, and 6^th at Wakarusa) where we provide these “hard” transfer opportunities. As the system continues to improve transit service at these locations has become increasingly more important to the success of the overall service. Therefore it was imperative that a permanent location be determined for transit that matches the current and future use of the service.

In order to make this determination staff requested a thorough evaluation of alternative sites for a transit hub. Although the Downtown location serves as this hub, staff requested that serious consideration be given to alternative sites within Lawrence that more appropriately matches passenger ridership patterns and demands. The ultimate site should take into consideration space to accommodate amenities such as an indoor waiting area, administrative space, and restrooms.

City Commission authorized the issuance of a Request for Proposal for consulting services to evaluate potential sites and the contract was awarded in February 2013. The project is expected to be competed in June 2013. However, it is expected that transit operations would not be able to be relocated until, at the earliest, August 2014.

Temporary Location at Vermont

In November 2012 City Commission approved staff’s request for a temporary transit hub in the 800 block of Vermont Street. On November 9, 2012 staff mailed a notice of the proposal by mail to the occupants and owners of the properties in the area of the proposed location which included the entire 800 block of both Vermont and Massachusetts streets. Downtown Lawrence, Inc. was also included in this mailing.

Parking Changes with the Move to Vermont

In November of 2012 City Commission approved the 800 block of Vermont Street as a temporary location for a transit hub. This new location was sought in order to accommodate the move of our current transit hub away from the site which is slated for new development. With our previous and long-standing location at 9^th and Massachusetts no longer being available for transit operations we were in desperate need to find a temporary location in the Downtown. The location on Vermont was deemed the most appropriate due to the fact that it could accommodate transit operations without conflicting with surrounding businesses and activities.

In recent weeks there has been concerns raised regarding parking loss as the result of this future move. In specific, the issue appears to be the removal of longer term (5-hour) parking meters, as well as, the overall loss of parking spaces. In response, we have performed a cursory analysis of the parking spaces that will result from this move. Please refer to Attachment 1 for a graphic representation of the following locations:

800 Block of Vermont

In order to perform transit operations in the 800 block of Vermont it will be necessary to remove thirteen (13) parking spaces. These spaces are located on the east side directly between the two driveways which access the city parking lot. These spaces appear to be long-term (5-hour) spaces.

Northwest Corner of 9^th and Massachusetts

This location has been used for bus operations for a considerable amount of time therefore parking has never been permitted. Since we will no longer be using this as our primary Downtown stop we will be vacating this location and allowing meters to be installed. We anticipate four (4) new spaces will be added.

Southeast Corner of 9^th and Massachusetts

This location has also been used for bus operations for a considerable amount of time. Since we will no longer be using this as our primary Downtown stop we will be vacating this location and allowing meters to be installed. Three (3) new spaces have already been added.

Southwest Corner of 9^th and New Hampshire

Northeast Corner of 9^th and New Hampshire

This location, on the east side of New Hampshire just north of 9^th, will be vacated and two (2) spaces will be reinstalled.

Northeast Corner of 9^th and New Hampshire

This location, on the north side of 9^th just east of New Hampshire, will be vacated and three (3) spaces will be reinstalled.

Southeast Corner of 9^th and New Hampshire

Thirteen (13) spaces will be vacated from this location once transit operations are moved. Also one (1) additional “handicapped” space will also be made available. Whether these spaces can be utilized during construction is not clear at this point.

Northwest Corner of 9^th and Rhode Island

This location, on the north side of 9^th just west of Rhode Island, will be vacated and four (4) spaces will be reinstalled.

The following table presents the changes by location and the net change in the number of spaces:

Location	Spaces
800 Block of Vermont	-13
Total Spaces Removed	-13

NW Corner 9th @ Mass	4
SE Corner 9th @ Mass	3
SW Corner 9th @ New Hamp.	3
NE Corner 9th @ New Hamp	2
NE Corner 9th @ New Hamp	3
SE Corner 9th @ New Hamp	13
NW Corner 9th @ Rhode Island	4
Total Spaces Added	32

Net Change in Parking Spaces	19

We also performed a walking distance analysis on relative locations of new and/or reinstalled spaces and the existing spaces on Vermont. Please refer to Attachment 2 for further information regarding these distances.