STAFF REPORT
DATE: November 19, 2024
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Patrick Prescott, Community Development Director BY: David Kriske, Assistant Community Development Director, Transportation
SUBJECT: Report Out from City Council Subcommittee on Metropolitan Transportation Authority North Hollywood to Pasadena Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Project
RECOMMENDATION
Receive an update on the matters discussed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) North Hollywood to Pasadena Corridor Bus Rapid Transit (Metro BRT) Project City Council Subcommittee.
BACKGROUND
On March 26, 2024, the City Council (Council) approved a Cooperative Agreement between the City of Burbank and Metro to cooperate in the design and construction of the Metro BRT Project. Metro’s 18-mile project will construct a BRT between the North Hollywood Red Line / Orange Line Station and the Gold Line in Pasadena, passing through the cities of Burbank, Glendale, Los Angeles, and Pasadena. The alignment runs along Olive Avenue between the Media District and Downtown, and along Glenoaks between Downtown and the Glendale border, and consists of six stations. BRT is high - capacity bus transit that offers fewer stops and speed improvements over a traditional bus route. Unlike a traditional transit project operating in Metro right of way, the project uses local city street right of way for operations as well as the location of stations.
The main purpose of the Cooperative Agreement is to define roles and responsibilities, clarify project design parameters and procedures for reviewing plans, establish design standards and guidelines , set up a dispute resolution process, address utility conflicts, and seek reimbursement for City costs.
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
2 Approval of the Cooperative Agreement was contingent on the City and Metro resolving some contractual legal differences, and also highlighted an ongoing disagreement with how the project’s lane configuration for bus lanes would be implemented on a portion of Olive Avenue between Buena Vista Street and Interstate 5. To oversee resolution of these contract language differences, help navigate a resolution to the lane configuration disagreement, and provide input on other project issues, Council designated a Metro BRT Council Subcommittee (Subcommittee). The Subcommittee consists of Council Members Mullins and Takahashi. This report provides an update on the Subcommittee’s discussions with staff and provides an opportunity for the full Council to discuss the project.
DISCUSSION
The Metro BRT Subcommittee met with staff on two occasions since it was established in March 2024. On August 6, 2024, the S ubcommittee met to discuss the status of the Cooperative Agreement legal negotiations and affirmed to staff that the final negotiated agreement language was consistent with Council’s direction from March 2024. The City Manager subsequently approved the agreement language which was approved by Metro in October 2024. In addition, the Subcommittee received information on a staff recommendation to investigate a lane configuration of the Metro BRT project on Olive Avenue in Downtown Burbank that would better support the existing and expected transit ridership volumes at the Downtown BRT station, improve roadway safety along Olive Avenue in Downtown between Glenoaks Boulevard and First Street, and support the land use and transportation goals proposed as part of long- range planning efforts in Downtown. The minutes of the meeting are included (Attachment 1).
On October 8, 2024, the Subcommittee met a second time to continue the Olive Avenue/Downtown Burbank lane reconfiguration discuss ions from the August meeting.
The subcommittee reviewed high- level options for reconfiguring the lanes to widen sidewalks an d transit station stops, narrow Olive pedestrian crossing distances, and preserve on-street parking by changing the proposed bus lane in Downtown Burbank from curb running (converting parking to bus lane) to side running (converting one travel lane to bus lan e). The subcommittee discussed the additional analysis needed, including existing and planned ridership, traffic circulation and volumes, clarity on how the proposed transit station at Olive Avenue and San Fernando Boulevard would be configured, and how Olive Avenue roadway striping would transition along the Olive overpass. A planned discussion of the status of the Olive Avenue Bridge was held over to a future meeting.
The minutes of the meeting are included (Attachment 2).
During last few months, Metro and City staff successfully negotiated the Cooperative Agreement in alignment with Council direction and prepared reimbursement cost estimates for the next fiscal year. Both agencies held monthly project development team meetings to discuss the City’s comments on Metro’s 20% design plans, and discussed 3 detailed design issues related to station designs at Olive Avenue at Hollywood Way, Olive Avenue at Verdugo Avenue / Sparks Street, and Olive Avenue at San Fernando Boulevard. Future issues include preparing to receive 30% plans for review, investigating the potential lane reconfiguration of Olive Avenue in Downtown Burbank, and refining station configurations. Finally, the disagreement over the larger Olive Avenue lane configuration will still need to be addressed, and will require developing a strategy wi th the City Council Subcommittee for how the City can directly engage with Metro staff and, potentially, Metro Board of Directors members to seek a resolution before final design is complete.
The subcommittee has not engaged in further discussions related to the BRT outside of the topics outlined in this report. As requested by Council, this report is intended only for the subcommittee to provide an update on its work to the entire Council body and is not intended to provide general updates or facilitate discussion pertaining to the overall BRT project. Should Council desire to have an additional discussion, the item would need to be placed on a future Council meeting agenda in accordance with B rown Act requirements.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Receiving this report has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, and as such, is not a “project” subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 14 Cal. Code Regs § 15378. Council’s discussion of its Subcommittee review of various elements of the Metro BRT project without acting on the project is not considered a project.
Further, regarding the overall Project, Metro as the lead agency for the Project conducted environmental review pursuant to CEQA and an Environmental Impact Report was prepared pursuant to 14 Cal. Code Regs. § 15080 et seq., which was certified by the Metro Board of Directors on April 28, 2022.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with this report.
CONCLUSION
The Metro BRT Council Subcommittee has met twice since it was established in March 2024 to provide important input on the final legal language of the Cooperative Agreement and has provided initial input and feedback on a potential lane reconfiguration of O live Avenue in Downtown Burbank. The Subcommittee will continue to meet and work with City and Metro staff to advance the Metro BRT project in the design phase in alignment with Council’s policy direction from March 26, 2024. The subcommittee will provide future updates to the full Council accordingly.
4 ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Council Subcommittee Meeting Agenda and Minutes for August 6, 2024 Attachment 2 – Council Subcommittee Meeting Agenda and Minutes for October 8, 2024