PUBLIC HEARING STAFF REPORT STAFF ANALYSIS OF THE PUBLIC HEARING AND STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS PROPOSED CHANGES TO WMATA FACILITIES AT KING ST-OLD TOWN METRO STATION ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA Hearing No. 609 Docket No. R16-02 October 5, 2016 WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY (WMATA) TABLE OF CONTENTS Subject Page I. Background ......................................................................................................... 1 II. Summary of the Public Hearing ......................................................................... 2 III. Summary of the Staff Presentation ..................................................................... 2 IV. Supplemental Correspondence Submitted for the Record .................................. 3 V. Compact Article VI, Section 15 Other Agency Review and Comments ............... 3 Vl. Responses to Comments Received for the Record ............................................ 4 A. Issue: Loss of Parking B. Issue: Multiple Construction Projects C. Issue: Pedestrian-Oriented Improvements D. Issue: Construction Worker Parking E. Issue: Traffic Congestion F. Issue: Coordination with Amtrak G. Issue: Project Need H. Issue: Passenger Pick-up Facilities I. Issue: Construction Impacts J. Issue: Support Project VII Comments Overview and Staff Recommendations ............................................. 11 Appendix A - WMATA Metrorail Public Hearing Notice Attachment 1 - Public Hearing Notices in Washington Post Attachment 2 - Public Hearing Notice to Public Agencies Appendix B - Comments [Available on Request] Attachment 1 - Public Hearing Transcript Attachment 2 - Correspondence ii WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY PUBLIC HEARING STAFF REPORT REVIEW OF PUBLIC HEARING TESTIMONY AND STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS PROPOSED CHANGES TO WMATA FACILITIES AT KING ST-OLD TOWN METRO STATION ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA HEARING NO. 609 DOCKET NO. R16-02 This report presents a review of the public hearing held on October 5, 2016, including material submitted for the public hearing record. Included in this report are recommendations from various WMATA staff concerning proposed changes to WMATA facilities at King St-Old Town Metrorail Station. This report contains the following sections: I. Background II. Summary of the Public Hearing III. Summary of the Staff Presentation IV. Supplemental Correspondence Submitted for the Record V. Compact Article VI Section 15 - Other Agency Review and Comments Vl. Responses to Comments Received for the Record VIl. Comments Overview and Staff Recommendations Appendix A - WMATA Metrorail Public Hearing Notice Attachment 1 -- Public Hearing Notice in Washington Post Attachment 2 -- Public Hearing Notice in El Tiempo Latino Attachment 3 -- Public Hearing Notice to Public Agencies Appendix B - Comments Attachment 1 -- Public Hearing Transcript Attachment 2 -- Correspondence iii I. BACKGROUND At the request of the City of Alexandria, WMATA is considering reconfiguration of the parking area/Kiss-and-Ride area at the King St-Old Town Metrorail station. In order to create better connections for all modes of transit and accommodate additional ridership demand, WMATA and the City of Alexandria have developed a reconfiguration of the King St-Old Town bus bay area next to the King St-Old Town Metrorail station. This reconfiguration includes an increase in the number of bus bays from 6 to 10, and creates a separate area for private shuttles, Kiss & Ride, and taxi stands. The project would provide critical infrastructure upgrades that would reduce vehicle and pedestrian conflicts. Thirty short-term metered parking spots currently located in the Kiss & Ride lot would be permanently eliminated in order to implement the proposed reconfiguration plan. Additionally, the use of the Kiss & Ride lot for drop-off would be closed during the 2-year period of construction, and would re-open upon completion of the project. The project is expected to be funded from several sources, including City of Alexandria funds and Federal funds. Details of the proposal are shown in the General Plans; this document was available online at: http://www.wmata.com/community_outreach/R16-02_landing/R16-02_landing.cfm? Also, these documents were available for inspection during normal business hours at the following locations, commencing September 3, 2016. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority 600 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 202.962.2511 Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library 717 Queen Street Alexandria, VA 22314 703-746-1703 1 II. SUMMARY OF THE PUBLIC HEARING The Public Hearing was held on Wednesday, October 5, 2016, in the Durant Arts Center, 1605 Cameron Street, Alexandria, Virginia. The hearing was chaired by WMATA Board of Directors Member Paul Smedberg, and was convened at 6:30 P.M. Approximately 15 people attended the meeting. Following an opening statement by Mr. Smedberg, WMATA staff described the proposed facility. The staff presentation is summarized in Section III of this report. The background and supporting documentation included the following: $ Copies of the Public Hearing notice, $ General Plans, and $ A brochure describing the project. The following individuals testified at the hearing: $ Mr. Vernon Grandgeorge $ Ms. Bea Porter $ Mr. Jim Melton The public hearing closed at 6:56 P.M. III. SUMMARY OF THE STAFF PRESENTATION Mr. Smedberg opened the hearing, and explained that the hearing had been advertised in the Washington Post and El Tiempo Latino. He explained the purpose of the public hearing was to receive comments, suggestions and alternatives on the proposed reconfiguration of the parking area at the King St-Old Town Metrorail station. Mr. Smedberg then explained the hearing procedures, and explained that changes to the options presented may be proposed in response to testimony received and subsequent staff analysis. Mr. John Thomas, WMATA Acting Chief Engineer, delivered the staff presentation. Mr. Thomas explained that the project will increase the number of bus bays at the station from six to ten, and would eliminate the metered parking. All construction would take place at the King St-Old Town Metrorail station, which is WMATA- owned property. Mr. Thomas explained that the project would take 24 months to complete. PROPERTY REQUIREMENTS No private property would be required for this project. 2 IV. SUPPLEMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD The Public Hearing record remained open until October 17, 2016. Correspondence was received from the following individuals: $ CAPT Stephen Milone $ Ms. Beatrice A. Porter-Gruel $ Ms. Barbara Hermanson $ Ms. Linda Jensen $ Mr. Townsend A. Van Fleet $ Mr. Tom McGiven $ Mr. Vernon Grandgeorge $ Mr. Jeff Dausch $ Mr. Tim Lloyd $ Ms. Stacey MacFarlane $ Ms. Laura Emerick Kripel $ Mr. Ross B. Simons $ Ms. Tamra Dicus V. COMPACT ARTICLE Vl, SECTION 15 - OTHER AGENCY REVIEW AND COMMENTS Copies of the Public Hearing notice were sent to federal, state, regional and local agencies. No correspondence was received for the Public Hearing record. 3 VI.RESPONSES TO COMMENTS RECEIVED FOR THE RECORD A. Issue: Loss of Parking V. Grandgeorge [The concern is the other side of Diagonal Road losing that parking. The parking is filled every day, seven days a week, along with the Metro spots inside, which I realize are gone. But I'm concerned about the spaces on Diagonal Road. Businesses need a variety of avenues to get to them. Public transportation is of course great, but some people come by car. And I am worried that losing those spaces is going to impact all our businesses in that area. It's surprising to me how many people we just started talking to customers about this and informed our server staff about it and how many people are unaware that this is in place. And I know that you have done, gone through the normal procedures, but they're kind of horrified. And I think that people down King Street and in the adjacent residential neighborhoods don’t really realize that, oh, it's the Metro lot's going to be improved, that's great. But when traffic and cars start parking in their neighborhoods, you're going to hear it then and that's going to be too late because the project has already started. The former director of transportation, I believe, Richard Bare, and Rishard Young met with me and told me that, a couple of things. One, that they were going to find some alternative parking for those businesses somewhere in the neighborhood. They put staff on there. To my knowledge, that hasn't happened. Additionally they told me that there was no reason they couldn't move the Zipcars to the inside. And based on this plan,that has not happened. They also said that they would do a study of the utilization of the spots six months after the project is completed. Of course that hasn't taken place yet, but I hope that at least that will be done if the taxi stands are not being utilized for some reason, putting back a few token parking spaces would make us very happy. I've been in, talking to businesses in my building and they say, oh my gosh, somebody wants to drop off a document to me, they're going to have to now park in the garage? They're going to have to get a ticket and come up in the elevator. I think it's going to impact people severely. That's my worry. I was about to open another location in that car, car property and I have put it on hold 'cause I don’t know what this will involve. Is that my timer? So anyway, just, I'm worried about Diagonal Road. I just wanted to tell you I think that Metro has lots of things on their plate right now. I'm, they're going to be handling a lot more in terms of complaints I think.] B. Porter [You're taking away a lot of parking. You just said you're going to take out 30 spaces. Well, even if that's even temporary parking, where are these people going to go to? Front of my house. I don’t want them there. I can't control that. Point is, you're not making accommodations for these people that are going to be two years affected for these two projects. And at least the one project 'cause I know that the developer has yet to go before city council about the hotel they want to develop at the corner of Harvard and King.] B. Porter [Our streets are already over populated with parked vehicles, most of them don't live in the City. Most of them do not realize there is timed parking so they come and park all day long for free. Do you really think all these vehicles are going to circle around to look for parking lots? If you have not noticed, if there is residential parking without meters, that is where they will park first even if the whole other side of the street is empty but with meters? You probably have not even noticed how many cars pull up at the stop sign or light at the end of Cameron Street to drop off people planning to use the metro. Have you polled the people that use the King Street Metro on a daily basis as to where they are coming from or going to?] B. Hermanson [I am sorry to see the proposal to eliminate parking at the King St station. I would prefer that some parking be available for rail riders, especially in the evening. I live a few miles west of the station, and when I have meetings that will not end until late evening, I prefer not to take the bus from the King St station, because it’s a 5-block walk in the dark from the bus stop to my home. Having to drive South to Van Dorn or Huntington to park when I’m heading North to downtown DC adds a lot of time to my commute, and those stations are so deserted at night that they don’t feel safe. I don’t expect my feedback to change your plans, but I do want you to know that the lack of parking at King St creates both an inconvenience and security issues for riders.] 4 T. Van Fleet [I am writing to address the redevelopment that is proposed to do away with King Street Metro parking lot. The proposal is to do away with the 44 parking spaces within the oval parking lot and the 22 spaces on the west side of Diagonal Road, a development that is not in the best interests of we Alexandria citizens. Every day I look down on that parking lot from my office on the 6th floor of 1800 Diagonal Road. Rarely do I see any problem with the current bus cuing operation that takes place in the lot throughout the day. The current operation is not broke and doesn’t need fixing. The parking spaces in that lot and on the west side of Diagonal Road are key to those who take the metro, to those who meet passengers arriving on metro, to visitors to the many offices in 1800 Diagonal Road and lastly to the numerous patrons who eat at Theismanns Restaurant. This city cannot continue to give up parking spaces without providing replacements. The suggestion of the Planning Commission for everyone to use the parking lot inside 1800 Diagonal Road ups the parking rate fee significantly thus presenting an affordability problem for some residents. The 22 parking spaces on the west side of Diagonal Road are programmed to be occupied by the cabs currently in the main parking lot. If you are an outside diner at Theismanns Restaurant you will be faced with trying to eat your meal while simultaneously ingesting toxic fumes from the cabs idling across the street. Yes, idling is against the law, however it is never enforced. This scenario presents a very unhealthy environment at best; one that needs to be addressed by Alexandria’s Health Department. I would like to recommend that the King Street Metro parking facilities remain as currently configured.] S. MacFarlane [Please do not get rid of 30 short term parking spaces at the King Street metro. If anything, you need to add a small parking deck with a credit card parking kiosk. I suffer from arthritis, do not qualify for a handicapped parking hang-tag, and routinely need to park at King Street to take the metro into DC for doctors appointments on the Blue line. The parking lot is always almost full. There is no other nearby available parking for people who simply cannot walk blocks and blocks.] R. Simons [I strongly suggest you rethink eliminating parking at King Street. You have already made it difficult for riders with cutbacks to the Blue Line and are now forcing those of us who access Metro to drive further to park. Between poor service and this measure, you will lose even more riders. Can Metro not come up with a more sensible plan to improve circulation without eliminating parking? I want to support Metro but this is a proposal to make it more difficult.] T. Dicus [I would like to keep parking. Please do not eliminate short term parking as it serves the adjacent offices.] Summary Seven commenters opposed the elimination of short-term parking. Reasons cited included the lack of other parking facilities in the area, convenience for patrons, passenger needs, and customer demand. Response Staff believes that to accomplish the project goal of increasing the number of bus bays and providing additional public amenities (dedicated kiss-and-ride area, dedicated taxi stand, and private charter bus bays), short-term parking must be eliminated. To improve performance of transit bus services, these dedicated amenities will be separated from bus transit service areas. B. Issue: Multiple Construction Projects B. Porter [So the project is really going to impact me quite a bit. My main concern is that, as you just showed, not only are you going to take the buses and everybody out of the King Street Metro area, but you're going to have your shuttles and your taxis running along Diagonal Street, which means even more parking is going to be impacted. There's a project which you may or may not be aware of yet because I said something to City Council, with Harvard and King Street for a new hotel. It also will be a two year project. It'll be 5 running during the same time as your project, which means we'll have traffic impacted. Not only at the King Street Metro, along King Street. Already on Cameron Street during the day the parking is filled. And I've got a lot of issues with a lot of those people that don’t want to use the meters because they're parking in front of my house. They don't want to move. They get angry. I'm angry. I'm sick of this. You all are overlapping projects. This is, this is nuts. Nobody even took into consideration that there may be a two year project also at the corner of Harvard and King Street? This is going to impact a lot of people. It's going to impact all your businesses comes in from the Metro direction of King Street into the city. It's going to be very difficult. You're going to have to run several detours because they're not going to be able to come down King Street, at least not until they get past Harbor or even Peyton or west streets. It's affecting all your residents in this area. As this gentleman just said, it's going to affect his businesses. Already we're effected by the businesses as there's not accommodation for all the parking that needs to happen. . . . But it's going to make a big impact and will affect all your businesses, and I know it's going to upset a lot of residents. So I just wanted to bring that to your attention, that you will have two projects going on same time, at the same on King Street. You want revenue in this city? Don’t block the parking. Don’t take from residents. Keep something available because, you know, these parkers out here, these vehicles, they don’t go around looking for parking lots to park in. And I don’t know if there are main parking lots down here by King Street 'cause I don’t try to go on the other side of King Street. So I'm not really sure what's available. But these people, they're going to whatever's open and immediately available and they don't want to pay for it. So please, take that into consideration.] J. Melton [We have a project that has been submitted to planning and zoning to build a 104 room hotel, seven stories tall, at Harvard and King Street. We have petitions signed to oppose this, but now we have been informed that there's going to be major construction going on at the Metro. I would like to know when you propose to begin this project so that we can then find out what the hotel is going to do. We're assuming that it's going to take place around the same time and we think that it's going to be a big, big disaster. I think I made my point. But I want to know when the Metro project will begin. Our hotel proposal, as Mr. Smith already knows, has already been submitted to the planning and zoning and they haven't responded. We're waiting on an issue (inaudible) come through, but when the date is to be for the hotel. We have been told it's going to be a two year project. And we think it's going to be about the same time that the Metro project is going to go. And that is going to be, that's going to cause untold, untold problems for the upper King Street area.] B. Porter [ . . there is also expected to be a hotel development project also going on for a two year period beginning in the spring of 2017 at the corner of King & Harvard Streets. To have two major projects going on at the same time at the same end of King Street is really going to cause havoc for the people that live in this vicinity and for the people that work here.] B. Porter [Not sure if anyone has thought about this, but for a two year project this will certainly disrupt a lot of residents at this end of Olde Towne, not to mention people that come to our City to work or visit. Where do you plan to put all the vehicular traffic? On the residential streets? Did you even realize there will soon be construction at the corner of Harvard and King Streets with a newly proposed hotel? This also is planned to be a two year project, two years at the same time of construction. Did anyone consider our residents along Harvard, Cameron, and King? Not to mention the streets below King. . . . There are a number of people that commute to the King Street Metro so they can take the shuttle to the Mark Center to work. Will the shuttle change to the Braddock Station? Will there be more shuttles during this two year period?] 6 Summary Three commenters expressed concern about the impacts caused by the construction of this project in combination with another major construction project in the same area at the same time. Response WMATA staff understand that the hotel project has not been approved under the City of Alexandria’s planning and approval process. In contrast, this parking area reconfiguration project has been approved under the City’s process; the WMATA planning process will conclude with the completion of this comment process. Consequently, staff believes that construction of the King Street reconfiguration project will occur before the hotel project construction. We have shared these concerns with City staff. C. Issue: Pedestrian-Oriented Improvements S. Milone [Please ensure that all vehicles drive entrances are constructed with a continuous level, uninterrupted sidewalk that includes even the same paving pattern, with a four foot or so wide apron, in order to accommodate pedestrians and offer them more protection then is provided by a typical suburban depressed entrance that is constructed more like a street. Add crosswalks across Diagonal on the south side of King. I spoke with John Thomas before the public hearing, and am assured that the engineered drawings include these items, but want to emphasize the importance of these details in the reconstruction.] L. Jensen [I walk from the King Street Station towards the Duke Street underpass every work day and the sidewalk heading up the hill is not wide enough for the number of pedestrians using the sidewalk. In addition, there are individuals in electric powered wheelchairs and scooters who use the sidewalk and others have to step off the sidewalk to make way for these individuals. Sometimes you have to step into the street where the buses park. If there is any way possible, please include widening the sidewalk to accommodate more people in the renovation plan.] Summary Two commenters requested assurances that the improvements to the site would be pedestrian-friendly. Response Comments noted. The proposed design will improve safety and pedestrian access to and from the Metrorail station and within the bus loop area, by installing wider sidewalks, installing traffic control signals in the bus drop-off area, and constructing more and safer crosswalks. D. Issue: Construction Worker Parking B. Porter [ . . where do you plan to have your construction workers park? I sure hope not in front of my house because with 30+ parking spaces being removed from the metro station there will be 30+ more cars that want to park in front of my house.] B. Porter [I attended the public hearing at the Durant Center the other evening and nobody even mentioned where the construction workers will be parking during this 2 year period. When the Jefferson Houston School 7