BURBANKCA.GOV
[email protected]
275 EAST OLIVE AVENUE
BURBANK, CA 91502
.
AGENDA
Ci
ty Council Bus Rapid Transit Project Subcommittee Meeting A
ugust 6, 2024
1. St
atus of Cooperative Agreement
2. P
roposed Change to Downtown Olive Avenue Bus Lane Configuration a. C
urrent Metro Configuration
b. Possible Lane Reconfiguration
c. Benefits and Tradeoffs
3. C
ity Policy Strategy and Communication with Metro
ATTACHMENT 1-1
BURBANKCA.GOV
[email protected]
275 EAST OLIVE AVENUE
BURBANK, CA 91502
MINUTES
City Council Bus Rapid Transit Project Subcommittee Meeting
August 6, 2024, 3:00 PM
Meeting Attendees
Councilmember Mullins, Subcommittee Member
Councilmember Takahashi, Subcommittee Member
Justin Hess, City Manager
Joseph McDougall, City Attorney
Courtney Padgett, Assistant City Manager
Patrick Prescott, Community Development Director
David Kriske, Assistant Community Development Director
Lisa Kurihara, Senior Assistant City Attorney
Meeting Location
Virtual Meeting hosted via Zoom
1. Status of Cooperative Agreement
• CDD Staff, City Attorney Staff, and the Subcommittee discussed the status of the Cooperative Agreement, including Metro’s disagreement with removing the section for expired service life, which would require that infrastructure modified or replaced by Metro to be subject to the City paying Metro a monetary credit for the remaining value that modified infrastructure had. Credits for expired service life would mean the City could be essentially financially responsible for some of the project costs. • Removal of the expired service life section from the agreement was requested by the City Council when it approved the Cooperative Agreement with Metro on March 26, 2024, but only if certain modifications to the agreement were agreed to by Metro.
• In subsequent discussions with Metro staff, Metro indicated they were not able to consent to removing the expired service life section altogether but did agree to add a list of several exceptions to the section for types of infrastructure that would not be subject to expired service life credits if reconstructed as part of the project. • Staff explained that they believe the extent of the exceptions proposed by Metro covered all conceivable infrastructure items that would be affected by the project.
This means that while the expired service l ife section would still be in the agreement, the list of exceptions means that it would never apply to any infrastructure items affected by the project.
• Staff also reviewed with the subcommittee all the benefits to the City for approving the Cooperative Agreement, including Metro’s agreement to abide by the City’s permitting authority for the project, reimbursement of project costs, improved ATTACHMENT 1-2
indem
nity and liability protection, and Metro’s agreement to abide by the City’s local objective standards and engineering requirements. • Staff’s belief is that the exceptions to expired service life added by Metro meet City Council’s intent to remove expired service life from the agreement, and that the City Attorney believes that the City Manager would be able to exercise the administrative authority granted by the City Council to execute the agreement with Metro’s revisions included.
• Staff also reviewed additional legal language changes requested by Metro after the draft agreement was approved by the City Council on March 26, 2024, and showed that these legal language changes did not conflict with the version of the agreement approved by the City Council.
• The Subcommittee members affirmed that they agreed that the City Manager was able to execute the agreement with the modifications made by Metro.
2. Proposed Change to Downtown Olive Avenue Bus Lane Configuration
• CDD staff and the Subcommittee discussed the current bus lane configuration planned for the project in Downtown Burbank between First Street and Glenoaks Boulevard. The current planned configuration is to provide a bus lane along this part of the corridor by converting the existing street parking lanes to a bus lanes. • Staff presented to the Subcommittee an alternative configuration developed by staff that would provide a bus lane by converting one travel lane in each direction instead of a parking lane. This would allow the on-street parking to remain, would maintain a single traffic lane plus turn lane for vehicles, would provide more space to implement wider transit stations with more room for walking, would slow and calm traffic, and would allow the City to implement complete streets improvements.
Staff provided a slide deck presentation on the possible configuration (attached). • Staff discussed tradeoffs of the proposed configuration including slower vehicle speeds, less vehicle throughput, increased congestion at peak times, traffic diversion, and uncertainties with Metro’s ability to change the project description on this portion of the alignment. Staff indicated that other City Departments have not yet reviewed and provided input on the proposal.
• Staff concluded the presentation by requesting high- level feedback from the Subcommittee on whether this alternative should be explored further. • Staff and the subcommittee briefly discussed the material and agreed to defer further discussion to a future Subcommittee meeting.
3. City Policy Strategy and Communication with Metro
• This item was agendized for the meeting, but staff and the Subcommittee did not discuss it. It will be added to a future Subcommittee meeting.
Attachments:
1. Slide Deck: Proposed BRT Configuration in Downtown Burbank ATTACHMENT 1-3
CITY OF
BURBANK
Proposed Bus Rapid Transit
(BRT) Configuration in
Downtown Burbank
City Council BRT Subcommittee
August 6, 2024
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
ATTACHMENT 1-4
Why We Are Here
2 • Staff seeks feedback to change the Metro Bus Rapid
Transit (BRT) bus-only lane configuration through
Downtown from First Street to Glenoaks Boulevard:
1. Convert travel lane (not parking lane) to bus-only lane
2. Maintain parking lane along curb
3. Allow full width BRT station platforms
ATTACHMENT 1-5
Benefits of Change
3 • Improve bus stop amenities and space to wait
• Slow vehicle speeds on Olive
• Shorten the distance to cross the street
• Maintain on-street parking
• Keep right turn capacity
• Reduce conflicts between pedestrians and bus riders
• Reduce turn conflicts at intersections and driveways
• Integrate with San Fernando Boulevard
• Buffer pedestrians from buses
• Avoid underlying sidewalk issues
ATTACHMENT 1-6
Current Roadway Configuration
4 ATTACHMENT 1-7
Metro Proposed Design
5 ATTACHMENT 1-8
City Proposed Design
6 ATTACHMENT 1-9
City Proposed Design
7 ATTACHMENT 1-10
Olive Transportation Context
8 • 1 in 5 daily Burbank
Metro riders stops on
the corridor
• Configuration feasible
given vehicle volumes
of 12,000 to 23,000 per
day
• Corridor located on the
Safer Streets Burbank’s
Focus Network
ATTACHMENT 1-11
Trade-offs
9 • Slower vehicle speeds
• Less vehicle throughput
• Likely to produce congestion at peak times
• May divert existing traffic to adjacent streets
• Uncertainties:
o PW and
Fire need to review
o Metro needs to agree to change
o Funding
ATTACHMENT 1-12
BRT Subcommittee Policy Feedback
10 • Staff seeks feedback to change the Metro Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) bus-only lane configuration through
Downtown from First Street to Glenoaks Boulevard
1. Convert travel lane (not parking lane) to bus-only lane
2. Maintain parking lane along curb
3. Allow full width BRT station platforms
ATTACHMENT 1-13
Questions/Discussion
11 David Kriske
Asst. Community Development Director-
Transportation & Planning
ATTACHMENT 1-14