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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/26/2000 Study Session MinutesII. IV. PLACE AND DATE Marana Town Hail, September 26, 2000 CALL TO ORDER By Mayor Sutton at 6:06 P.M. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Mayor Sutton III. ROLL CALL COUNCIL Bobby Sutton, Jr. Ora M. Harn Ed Honea Herb Kai Jim Blake Roxanne Ziegler Mayor Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Present Excused Present Present Present Present STAFF Michael Hein Michael Reuwsaat Jocelyn Entz Jim DeGrood Joel Shapiro Brad DeSpain Town Manager Assistant Town Manager Town Clerk Development Services Administrator Planning and Zoning Director Utilities Director GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS A. COUNCIL ACTION 1. Update of the Northwest Marana General Plan Amendments Process a. Transportation Mr. DeGrood began the session by giving a short overview of three handouts distributed to the Council regarding transportation issues. These informational sheets are a permanent part of this record. A map was included with this material and was a preliminary example of the proposed transportation network. The map depicted the Northwest Marana Area Plan Transportation Network and included arterial and collector roadways plus areas involving roadway issues. 1 A short discussion took place regarding these issues. Of particular interest to the Council was the Sandario/Trico-Marana intersection and associated interchange as well as the Sandario/Tangerine Road Loop. Another issue meriting discussion was the ultimate disposition of the existing frontage roads. Mr. DeGrood pointed out that the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) viewed frontage roads largely as local access roads and tried to divest themselves of these roads at the earliest opportunity. He stated that other facilities parallel to Interstate 10 as illustrated on the map would serve the same function as the frontage roads but in a safer and more efficient manner. He suggested studying the alternative of using the frontage roads more for drainage, landscaping and noise buffering. Mr. DeGrood reported that a number of improvements had been made .around the Marana Northwest Regional Airport and that these ~mprovements were based upon the assumption that Marana would eventually acquire additional surrounding properties. After this expansion, a re-alignment and/or re-location of Avra Valley Road, Sanders Road, and Sandario Road was planned. He commented on the proposed alignment of the Tangerine Road extension and said that Tangerine Road was considered a regional roadway and should be developed with regional funding. Council Member Honea commented on the proposed establishment of standards for public and private roadways. He stated that the provision of curbing and sidewalks in the more dense residential developments was an excellent policy for Marana to adopt. He said that Marana remained quite rural although rapid urbanization was taking place in the Northwest region. He stated that he felt the proposed standard for transit service opportunities and the existing railroad corridor was unrealistic and that the majority of the residents used automobiles as their major mode of transportation. He emphasized that the Town had learned from its past experiences in that respect. However, he added, these alternative modes of transportation should be studied and planned for use in the future. He restated his belief that transportation was the biggest concern for Marana in relation to responsible growth. He said that Silverbell Road had been the saving grace for the Continental Ranch area and compared the proposed Tangerine Road Corridor to it. He labeled the roadway a future lifeline for the northwest region and voiced his opinion that the Tangerine Corridor would eventually bridge the Santa Cruz River, uniting the southern Marana boundaries with the Town Center. He said that he would like to see the construction of this project begun sooner than planned. Council Member Ziegler agreed that Tangerine Road would become the major thoroughfare in the entire community and asked for specific information about the proposed extension of the roadway. Mr. DeGrood replied that interim improvements would be logical improvements for the long term and part of the ultimate and final infrastructure. Mayor Sutton agreed with Mr. DeGrood. He added that the proposed development impact to the parks and the interchanges as well as the entire roadway system were major. However, he commented that he was willing to participate in a fair-share funding of the project with Pima County if necessary. Council Member Honea agreed with the Mayor that the Town might consider bonding for this project and then using the fair-share concept for the various projects such as the Gladden properties and Rancho Marana as they begin development. Mayor Sutton stated that the planning and standards that were in place were such that this type of funding was feasible. Council Member Ziegler said that she did not want to see Marana make the same mistakes as made with the development of Continental Ranch. She said that she was not very optimistic about dealing with ADOT or Pima County on this issue. She stated her preference for an adequate roadway system constructed by the Town at the start of any development of Northwest Marana. Mayor Sutton said that there were several good options available to the Town regarding the transportation system in the Northwest region. Council Member Honea said that he was pleased with the storm sewer system and that he was fairly confident the capacity was adequate for even the most severe storms. He suggested that some of the arterial roads be built lower than others in order to charmel floodwaters toward the 3 Santa Cruz River. He gave an example of this practice by citing Tucson Boulevard and Alvernon Road located within the metropolitan Tucson area. Before an upgrade to the sewer system was performed, these two roadways were used to funnel rainwater away from residential and commercial areas and into the Rillito River. Mr. DeGrood concurred with Council Member Honea and said that he would expect the roadways to serve in that capacity in an extreme event. Council Member Honea said that he considered the highway access road a lifeline to the Marana community and that these roads alleviated a good amount of local traffic from the freeway system. He said that he would have a problem with the elimination of these roads. Mayor Sutton asked Mr. DeGrood to address this issue and asked if ADOT was still considering making the access roads one-way. Mr. DeGrood responded that the Town had deliberately designed roadways that ran parallel to Interstate 10 so that these roadways could serve the same function as the access roads. He stated that, if ADOT considered the access roads as part of their Interstate system, he would then expect them to convert the two roadways into one-way as was done with the Ruthrauff and Sunset area. He agreed with Council Member Honea regarding the high level of importance these access roads held within the transportation network. He added that he also looked at the frontage road alignments as a tremendous opportunity to collect and convey floodwaters as well as shield the community from the Interstate by vegetative buffering. He said it was a perfect situation for noise buffering as well as showing our community pride to travelers along 1-10. Council Member Honea voiced his concern over the projected costs of the Linda Vista Interchange and the fact that the construction of this interchange was not realistic for another 10 to 15 years. He said that he did not feel the Town could depend on this future roadway construction and that because of this he preferred to see the Tangerine Loop built out to capacity from the start. Mayor Sutton agreed that the process was extremely lengthy in time. He pointed out that the Northwest Marana General Plan was developing a mechanism to put all of these plans into action for the future when the need arises from area growth. Council Member Honea added that arterial and collector roadways needed to be planned and constructed as if the Interchange were not going to be built. Mayor Sutton agreed again. He said that the Town's intent was to approach ADOT in the future for fund sharing of roadway improvements but only after substantial development occurred within the Northwest region. Council Member Honea commented that, as part of the Tangerine Loop, the re-alignment of Sandario Road away from the interchange might cause problems in the future. He said that all of the property that this re- alignment was proposed to travel through was private land and the owners had not been contacted. He emphasized the importance of the Loop and said that permission was imperative. Mr. DeGrood said that he appreciated Council Member Honea's comments. He acknowledged that the planners recognized that there would be significant traffic generators west on Trico-Marana Road. He said that he was also aware of the problems with the existing Tangerine interchange. He stated that some painful steps would have to be taken by the Town to bring the roadway system up to par in order to meet the anticipated traffic. He added that all options for roadway improvements should be studied and that this preliminary stage of the planning process was presented to the Council for their review and comments. There was no further discussion at this time. VI. ADJOURNMENT Upon motion by Council Member Blake and seconded by Council Member Kai, adjournment was unanimously approved. The time was 6:52 p.m. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council Study Session held on September 26, 2000. I further certify that a quorum was present. ~ Counoil M eu-,Cin0