At Friday's
MPO Board meeting, a dozen people spoke in support of Scenario C, focusing on
the benefits of scenario C in terms of consistency with the community's support
for a balanced multi-modal transportation, efficient transportation plans that
reduce costs, the need to lower vehicle miles traveled, the desire for more
walking and biking choices, more transit and transit-oriented development, its
consistency with quality of life goals, protection of natural resources, and
long-term economic viability of community.
Public comments also focused equally on the importance of the process
that had developed these land use scenarios, with many compliments for the
excellent way the staff and consultant team had engaged the many stakeholders,
the public, the MPO Board and committees throughout the process.
The
process, which married technical analysis with citizen input, was hailed as a
model for future efforts by the MPO and other agencies and initiatives
countywide. As BikeWalkLee pointed out,
this effort represents the successful culmination of nearly four years of
planned and focused work in enacting resolutions adopted by the Board in
December 2010, which set out
stated goals to significantly reduce VMTs, support a balanced multi-modal
transportation system, and use our limited transportation resources in most cost
efficient and effective way.
Organizations
speaking in support of Scenario C included BikeWalkLee, the Conservancy of
SWFL, Lee Public Voice (LPV), Estero Council of Community Leaders (ECCL),
Responsible Growth Management Coalition (RGMC), Bayshore Community Concerned
Citizens Assoc., the SWFL Council of the Blind, and individual members of the
Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC).
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| Lee MPO listens to public comments |
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| Mary Ann Alexander (SWFL Assoc. of Blind) with FDOT's Carmen Monroy |
During MPO
Board discussions, Fort Myers Councilman Flanders heralded the process as a
breath of fresh air and said he hopes that the Lee MPO and others in the county
will continue doing business this way.
Cape Coral Councilman Burch spoke about Scenario C as about quality of
life. He said that our current
transportation funding situation is unsustainable and we have to shift to a
multi-modal mindset. He said this
excellent land use scenario process sets up a model for the remainder of the
2040 LRTP development, and is the kind of thinking that should be rewarded.
BikeWalkLee
extends its thanks to the MPO Board for endorsing Scenario C, to the MPO staff
Director, Don Scott, and the Jacobs consultant team of Ned Baier and Bill
Spikowski, the MPO Committees (TAC and CAC), the planning and transportation
staffs of all the local jurisdictions who participated in the development of
the proposals, the dozens of organizations and individuals who spoke or wrote
in support of the proposal, and to the almost 1,300 individuals who
participated in the online survey. it
was truly a model process of collaboration and public participation--one we
hope to see replicated in the future--and one that yielded a result that will
move our county in a positive direction going forward.
What's the next step? This long range growth scenario will now be
incorporated into the transportation planning model, which will be used for
determining our future transportation needs and their costs, and will result in
a prioritization of the transportation projects that we can do within our
projected future resources. This process
culminates in the Board's adoption of the 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan
(LRTP) in December 2015. Between now and
then, there is a great deal of work to do and we will keep you posted along the
way as to ongoing opportunities for public participation and input.
For additional background see:
The Land Use Scenarios report, along with the consultant's recommendation
On June 12th, BikeWalkLee sent a letter to
the Lee MPO
Board urging them to support land use scenario C.
See BWL's earlier action alert on this issue.
See SW Spotlight Magazine's July 1, 2014 article, "MPO Opts for Future Infill, Not Sprawl"
