Workshop 1 Meeting Summary
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Vision Around the Mountain – Workshop 1 Meeting Summary Thursday, October 29, 2020 Stakeholders Present Name Affiliation Andrea Breault Cascades East Transit Jay Higgins City of Gresham Andi Howell City of Sandy Jordan Wheeler City of Sandy Brett Setterfield Clackamas County Karen Buehrig Clackamas County Ken Humberston Clackamas County Paul Savas Clackamas County Lizzie Keenan Clackamas County Tourism and Cultural Affairs Patricia Fink Columbia Area Transit Emily Reed Columbia Gorge Tourism Alliance David Duncan Grey Line of Portland, Big Pink Sightseeing Kathy Fitzpatrick Mid-Columbia Economic Development District Kristina Babcock Mount Hood Express Teresa Christopherson Mount Hood Express Greg Pack Mount Hood Meadows Samara Phelps Mt. Hood Territory Nathan Clark Multnomah County Valerie Egon Multnomah Falls Shuttle Maria Sipin Oregon Department of Transportation Rian Windsheimer Oregon Department of Transportation Terra Lingley Oregon Department of Transportation Theresa Conley Oregon Department of Transportation Olga Kaganova Port of Cascade Locks Megan Ramey Region 1 Area Commission on Transportation John Whitman Ride Connection Greg Leo The Leo Company Jon Tullis Timberline Lodge Eve Nilenders TriMet Seth English-Young United States Department of Transportation Bill Westbrook United States Forest Service Claire Fernandes United States Forest Service Kristin Austin United States Forest Service Scott Kaden United States Forest Service 1 Ashley Huckaby May Visit Hood River Project Team Present Name Affiliation Jason Kelly Oregon Department of Transportation Kristen Stallman Oregon Department of Transportation Scott Bricker Travel Oregon Stephanie Wright Nelson\Nygaard Kyle Taniguchi Nelson\Nygaard Layne Wyse Nelson\Nygaard Bryan Blanc Nelson\Nygaard Penny Mabie EnviroIssues Cristina Arias EnviroIssues Max Farbman EnviroIssues Susan Hayman EnviroIssues Kristin Dahl Crosscurrent Collective Meeting Opening Facilitator Penny Mabie (EnviroIssues) welcomed participants and asked them to take a poll on the following question: What is your favorite Mt. Hood activity? Responses included: Skiing Nordic skiing after work with my wife Scenic driving Carving fresh tracks after a snowstorm at Swimming in Trillium Lake Mt. Hood Meadows or Timberline Fly fishing Hiking the Timberline trail! Snowshoeing Skiing downhill or cross-country at one of Sitting in Adirondack chairs at Timberline the many resorts or trails on/near the Hunting for mushrooms mountain Full moon winter cross-country skiing Chilling at the lakes missions with husband and friends Hiking with family Enjoying a beer at The Gorge White Shredding the pow House Camping at Trillium Lake / having a Cabin retreat with friends bourbon at Timberline Lodge and A beer at the Mazot on a sunny ski day at watching skiers fall down Mt. Hood Meadows! Hiking Mushroom hunting by the Salmon, Tubing Sandy, or Zig Zag rivers Visiting Wildwood Recreation Site A sunny day of downhill skiing at Mt. Climbing the Hogsback Hood Meadows, followed by dinner at Cabin retreats, skiing, and snowmobiling Cooper Spur! 2 Jason Kelly (Oregon Department of Transportation, ODOT) also welcomed participants and introduced himself as the project leader for Vision Around the Mountain (VAM). He explained that the meeting would focus on idea generation about what a regional transit vision around Mt. Hood should look like. He then walked participants through the following agenda: Introductions Overview of Vision Around the Mountain Preliminary feedback from stakeholders Inspirational case studies Breakout sessions o Transit operations o Policy, governance and funding o Visitor engagement and marketing Summary of breakout room conversations Next steps and wrap up Kelly then thanked project partners, noting that the Federal Highway Administration’s Western Federal Lands Highway Division provided grant funding for the project, that Clackamas County, the City of Sandy, and Columbia Area Transit are co-sponsors of the project, and that Travel Oregon is a strategic partner in the project. He also explained that the project has a technical advisory committee that provides technical review of information and project activities. He noted that this committee is composed of the aforementioned partners along with the United States Forest Service. Kelly then laid out guiding principles for the day’s workshop: Be creative & ambitious – Be architects of the future. Practice outcomes-oriented thinking – Focus on the end goal, not the incremental steps it will take to get there. Collaboration – Work as a team that is planning regionally but acting locally. Celebrate past successes – Honor past efforts and commitments by refining them for a prosperous future. Introductions Participants were split up into breakout rooms and given the chance to introduce themselves to other workshop participants. Overview of Vision Around the Mountain Chronology of Transit Jason Kelly (ODOT) provided an overview of the VAM project. He started by providing a quick chronology of what has happened with public transit in the Mt. Hood area over the last decade: 2013: The Mountain Express begins providing service from Portland through Sandy to Rhododendron. 3 2014: Clackamas County Social Services renames the Mountain Express to the Mt. Hood Express and expands service to Timberline Lodge. This provides the first multimodal connection from the Portland metro area to Mt. Hood. 2016: The Oregon Department of Transportation partners with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, the U.S. Forest Service and others to pilot a seasonal bus service from Portland to Multnomah Falls called the Columbia Gorge Express. 2018: The Columbia Gorge Express extends service year-round and adds Cascade Locks and Hood River to the route. Mt. Hood Meadows also implements a seasonal shuttle on Highway 35 from Hood River to Mt. Hood Meadows. Timberline Lodge implements a shuttle from Government Camp to Timberline Lodge. 2019: Columbia Area Transit assumes operational control of Columbia Gorge Express intercity service and adds the Gorge to Mountain line – a seasonal service from Hood River to Mt. Hood. 2020 and beyond: Cascades East Transit is collaborating with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to provide a shuttle from Warm Springs to Government Camp. Kelly noted that in addition to the public programs listed in this chronology, there are also other private operators providing connections from the Portland metro area and Central Oregon to Mt. Hood. What’s Going to Happen in the Future? Kelly explained that transit around Mt. Hood has come to a critical moment where stakeholders need to work together to create a unified vision and a regional strategy. He noted that this is the goal of the VAM project. He then laid out the primary project outcomes: 1. A long-term regional transit vision that partners can use to guide future operations. 2. Priorities, strategies, and projects that support this vision and can be categorized into short, medium, or long-term groupings. 3. A framework for action focused on: a. Operations b. Policy, governance and funding c. Visitor engagement and marketing 4. Implementation sponsors who are positioned to work towards achieving the vision and task teams who will carry the work forward after this project is finished. 5. A list of strategies and projects listed in the Mt. Hood Multimodal Transportation Plan. How Will We Get There? Kelly noted that for the vision to be implemented, it needs broad regional support. For that reason, the project team wanted to bring together all the stakeholders for this series of four workshops to shape the vision. He then laid out the topics and timeline for the four workshops: Workshop 1 “Visioning” (October 2020): Generate ideas of what the vision should look like. Workshop 2 “Towards a Vision” (December 2020): Look at the vision defined in the first workshop along with the existing and planned resources available. Determine what additional resources will be needed to achieve the vision and how those resources can be obtained. Workshop 3 “Framework for Action” (February 2021): Identify action areas, strategies and projects to achieve the vision and categorize them as short-, medium-, or long-term. 4 Workshop 4 “Bringing it All Together” (April 2021): Bring all the conversations together to create a framework for implementation. Preliminary Feedback from Stakeholders Stephanie Wright (Nelson\Nygaard) summarized some of the results of a survey that was open to stakeholders in late summer 2020 and asked for their opinions on the existing conditions of the transit system in the region. Wright first explained that the most popular words that came to mind for stakeholders when asked to describe the current transit system were “incomplete” and “confusing.” She also presented the results from the question: What markets should the 2030 network focus on serving? She explained that “Tourists and recreational users” and “Employees” were the top markets while survey respondents considered “People with limited access to a vehicle” and “Local and regional trips for residents” as less important markets. Wright noted that there will be a tension between providing service to local and regional trips compared to longer haul trips from the Portland metro area. Wright also showed respondents’ ranking of priorities for transit, which was as follows: 1. Roadway and Parking Congestion Reduction 2. Access to Key Destinations 3. Supports Economic Development and Community Vitality 4. Improved