TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Steve Powers, City Manager
FROM: Kristin Retherford, Urban Development Director
SUBJECT:
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Proposed Minor Amendment to the West Salem Urban Renewal Plan
Ward(s): Wards 1, 8
Councilor(s): Councilors Bennett, Lewis
Neighborhood(s): WSNA
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ISSUE:
Shall the City Council adopt Resolution 2016-50 approving a minor amendment to the West Salem Urban Renewal Plan (URA Plan) Sections 703, 705, and 706 to include a new crossing of Wallace Road at 2nd Street, as recommended by the West Salem Business District Action Plan (Action Plan)?
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt Resolution 2016-50 approving a minor amendment to the URA Plan Sections 703, 705, and 706 to include a new crossing of Wallace Road at 2nd Street, as recommended by the Action Plan.
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SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND:
The URA Plan was established in August 2001 to eliminate blight caused by unused and underused properties, promote private development, rehabilitate building appearance and safety, improve streets and connections to adjacent areas and open spaces, construct and repair public utilities, develop convenient and attractive parking options, provide a wide range of housing types for various income levels, and protect environmental resources.
Since 2001 urban renewal resources have been utilized to convert the Union Street Railroad Bridge into a pedestrian and bicycle path, construct the Willamette River access trail, improve pedestrian safety along Edgewater Street, install wayfinding signs similar to downtown Salem, and construct a portion of 2nd Street from Rosemont Avenue to Gerth Street. Urban renewal area bonds for these projects will be satisfied in 2018, allowing additional funding for future West Salem URA projects.
To plan for additional bonding capacity in 2018, the City of Salem Urban Renewal Agency (Agency) initiated the Action Plan in January 2014. The intent of this effort was to prioritize future urban renewal projects by evaluating market conditions, barriers, and trends, to ensure urban renewal funding was targeted to projects that would catalyze development in the area, including several large, vacant industrial properties.
The Action Plan involved multiple consultants, City departments, advisory committees, and public meetings over a two year period. Action Plan recommendations included the extension of 2nd Street, grade separated crossing of Wallace Road at 2nd Street, local street connections east and west of Wallace Road, zoning code clean up, and increased flexibility to allow craft-industrial uses, mixed-use development, and commercial development.
The Agency advanced the Action Plan in December 2015 and directed staff to determine the feasibility of the grade separated crossing of Wallace Road at 2nd Street and possible connections from 2nd Street to Marine Drive and Musgrave Lane into Wallace Marine Park. Because of the uncertainty regarding development patterns in the area and the potential impacts to the Railroad Bridge, the final alignment for local connection from a grade separated crossing to Glen Creek Road is not be recommended at this time. Additional design and analysis and public input will be needed to determine the final alignment of local connections on the east side of Wallace Road.
FACTS AND FINDINGS:
The proposed amendments add a new crossing of Wallace Road at Second Street, and improvements to Second Street from Patterson to the east side of Wallace Road and related street, bicycle and pedestrian connections, as recommended by the West Salem Business District Action Plan.
The Action Plan and subsequent Transportation Feasibility Study confirmed that redevelopment of vacant industrial properties on the west side of Wallace Road are not likely without a new road connection that diverts traffic off of Wallace Road. Blight is predominantly present on the west side of Wallace Road where vacant and underused buildings formerly housed various industrial uses (Attachment 1). Additional property is expected to be vacated as some existing manufacturing users, including Oregon Fruit, have expressed interest in relocating to new facilities in Salem.
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is unlikely to allow additional traffic onto Wallace Road without major improvements if future land uses generate more traffic than previous uses. Left-turn movements onto Wallace Road (on the west side) are likely to be prohibited for uses generating additional traffic. The grade separated crossing addresses this problem by permitting future traffic associated with redevelopment to move without intersecting Wallace Road.
The Action Plan included traffic analysis and evaluation of six transportation improvement options as well as variations of those options. Of the options, a grade separated crossing of Wallace Road at 2nd Street was determined to most effectively facilitate existing and future local traffic movement and address transportation challenges associated with redevelopment of the blighted area on the west side of Wallace Road (Attachment 2).
The URA Plan specifies local street construction projects east and west of Wallace Road but does not include details on its crossing. A minor amendment to the URA Plan is recommended to include a crossing of Wallace Road at 2nd Street in support of the Action Plan recommendations and allow urban renewal funds to help remedy this redevelopment challenge.
If City Council adopts Resolution No. 2016-50 (Attachment 3) to amend the URA Plan, the crossing will need to be included in the City of Salem Transportation System Plan (TSP) and the Regional Transportation System Plan (RTSP) to be eligible for state and federal grant funding. If all funding is secured, construction is not likely to occur until 2026 at the earliest. Significant public outreach will continue, including with the West Salem Redevelopment Advisory Board, West Salem Business Association, Salem Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, West Salem Neighborhood Association, and other pedestrian and park advocate groups. These groups, as well as property owners in the vicinity of 2nd Street NW, will be engaged in future analysis to determine the appropriate local street connection from the Wallace Road crossing to Glen Creek Road. Additional public outreach will occur for the TSP and RTSP amendments and grant applications for future funding of the project.
Tory Banford
Management Analyst II
Attachments:
1. Site Photos
2. Site Map and Crossing Location
3. Resolution No. 2016-50 West Salem Urban Renewal Plan Minor Amendment
11/28/2016