Appendix B Public Involvement This appendix describes the public involvement program for the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project. While public involvement on this project began much earlier, the NEPA public involvement program was formally initiated with publication of a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in the Federal Register on September 27, 2005, and will continue through the public comment period for this Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and selection of the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) in 2008. Over the course of the project, this program is used to educate and involve interested parties and stakeholders in order for them to become active participants in shaping the CRC project. To date, through the public involvement program, CRC staff participated in nearly 350 public events, giving over 10,000 people a face-to-face opportunity to learn about the project and provide meaningful input. A list of all public involvement events held to date is included at the end of this appendix. The program also enabled significant involvement for those who are unable to attend public events. Extensive outreach has been conducted through dissemination of written information in hard copy and electronic form, including dissemination of comment forms, the creation of an interactive project web site, and outreach to local and regional media. The project’s database, used to encourage participation in public events and involve the broader community, has grown to nearly 3,000 e-mail addresses and over 10,000 postal mailing addresses. Through implementation of the public involvement program, over 3,000 public comments have been received so far on a range of topics, including the purpose of and need for the project as well as comments on specific transit, river crossing and highway components, and alternatives. The comments have significantly contributed to the development of the CRC project, including the creation of the project’s purpose and need statement, the addition of new transit and river crossing ideas, and the development of additional full alternatives to be studied in the DEIS process, and will contribute to the development of a recommended LPA. Education and involvement activities will continue to take place during the formal public comment period for the DEIS, and will include at least one public event in Washington and one in Oregon prior to the selection of the LPA by project sponsors. These additional activities will encourage the community to learn about, and comment on, the DEIS. Education and involvement activities will take place after the DEIS formal comment periods are closed, and will be tailored to meet the needs of the public. This appendix includes the program’s goals for public involvement, a description of the public stakeholders targeted for involvement, and the outreach tools being used to communicate with these stakeholders. B-1 COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT y APPENDIX B Goals for Public Involvement The goals for public involvement and measures for assessing progress toward these goals are as follows: • Goal: Provide opportunities for meaningful public engagement in project development. ○ Objective: Keep the interested and affected people, groups, and agencies informed of project developments on an ongoing basis through presentations, attendance at community-based events, open houses, print and electronic communications, and the media. ○ Objective: Encourage public feedback though public outreach activities and tools. ○ Objective: Compile and summarize public feedback on an ongoing basis. Distribute public feedback to project staff on an as-needed basis. ○ Objective: Evaluate and consider all public comments. • Goal: Fully comply with Executive Orders 12898 and 12948 on Environmental Justice. ○ Objective: Hold regular Community and Environmental Justice Group (CEJG) meetings that provide opportunity for feedback on key project decisions. ○ Objective: Specifically target minority, low-income, and limited English-speaking populations within the project area for stakeholder outreach and feedback. ○ Objective: Translate project documents into Spanish, Russian, and Vietnamese and provide interpreter services when needed. Stakeholders The first major public involvement task was to identify who would be interested in, affected by, utilize, or otherwise have a stake in the CRC project; in other words, identifying the public stakeholders. The following people and organizations have been identified as public stakeholders and are the primary focus of outreach: • The people of Clark County and Portland • People who live adjacent to I-5 • People who drive on I-5 • The business and freight community • Transit users • Elected officials • Project sponsors and staff • Media • People identified in the 2005 demographic analysis for the bridge influence area: low- income residents, minorities, and people speaking limited English (specifically those speaking Spanish, Russian, and Vietnamese) • Neighborhood associations B-2 COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT y APPENDIX B Public Involvement Approach The main focus of CRC participation in public events is at the grass-roots community level. The guiding philosophy is to take information and solicit feedback where people are already gathered, rather than expecting them to seek out project information and look for ways to provide input. To that end, CRC staff continue to reach out to neighborhood associations on both sides of the river and seek to connect with other community groups, service clubs, business organizations, and large employers. In Vancouver, targeted outreach is focused on the Esther Short, Arnada, Hudson’s Bay, Shumway, Lincoln, Central Park, and Rosemere/Rose Village neighborhoods. In Portland, targeted outreach is primarily focused on the Hayden Island, Bridgeton, Kenton, and East Columbia neighborhoods, with close coordination through the North Portland Neighborhood Coalition office. These neighborhoods receive frequent visits and face-to-face outreach about issues the neighborhoods may face as a result of being immediately adjacent to I-5 in the Bridge Influence Area (BIA), providing the CRC project team with localized community input. Monthly e-mail updates are sent to these groups through the City of Vancouver Neighborhoods office, the North Portland Neighborhood Coalition office, and the Neighborhood Association Coalition of Clark County. The project team also works with other associations to provide information and project updates, but not with the same frequency. CRC staff have also reached out to individual businesses and business associations. Project staff have met with groups such as the Uptown Village Association and Vancouver’s Downtown Association. In addition, staff are engaged in an ongoing door-to-door outreach campaign to businesses near the proposed high-capacity transit alignments in Vancouver. These efforts have helped identify business-specific concerns and preferences. The CRC project is complying with NEPA requirements for public involvement, including fully complying with Executive Orders 12898 and 12948, which require each federal agency to make achieving environmental justice part of its mission “by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income populations.” The project team has identified minority, low-income, and limited English-speaking populations within the project area for stakeholder engagement and through the formation of the CEJG. Public Involvement Tools Listed below is a summary of the public involvement tools and methods being utilized by the CRC project. Broadcast/Podcast Meetings and Interviews In an effort to reach new populations and provide a new and convenient way for the public to stay updated about the project, the project team created and posted podcasts onto the project web site. B-3 COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT y APPENDIX B Communications Tracking The public can provide the project team with comments through a variety of media, including e- mail, the project web site, voicemail, and public meetings. Comments and questions received through all media are stored in a comment tracking database and are shared individually, or as summarized reports, with project team members and the CRC Task Force (see discussion of the CRC Task Force under Advisory and Working Groups below), as appropriate. When appropriate, the project team provides timely responses to public questions or comments. Communications Working Group The communications team periodically convenes communications staff from the partner agencies to update them on project progress, introduce and review communications strategies and messages, and track the distribution of project materials. Meetings are typically held around major project milestones, or as needed. Fairs, Festivals, and Community Events The project team focuses on reaching people where they are in order to connect with a broader range of people. These efforts include participation in major community events such as Fort Vancouver Days and the Rose Festival, concerts and events on the Portland waterfront, farmers’ markets, and events targeted to reach people who speak Russian, Vietnamese, and Spanish languages. These outreach opportunities provide the general public with an informal opportunity to engage in dialogue