MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
1
·1· ·IN RE:
·2
·3· · · · · · SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & SKYWAY ADVISORY GROUP
·4· · · · · · · · · · · · · ·MEETING #3
·5
·6
·7
·8· ·_______________________________________/
·9
10· · · · · · · · · · TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
11
12
13· · · · · · ·DATE TAKEN:· · · · Monday, October 26th, 2015
14· · · · · · ·TIME:· · · · · · · 4:13 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
15·
· ·
16·
· ·
17
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·PLACE:· · · · · · ·Jacksonville Public Library
· · · · · · · · · · 303 North Laura Street
· · · · · · · · · · MultiPurpose Room 1
· · · · · · · · · · Jacksonville, Florida 32202
18
19
20
21
22· · · · · · · · · · ·Proceedings reported by:
23·
· ·
24·
· ·
25·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
· · · · · Matthew McKinney,
· · · · · · Court Reporter
· · ·Esquire Deposition Solutions
·1301 Riverplace Boulevard, Suite 1609
· · · Jacksonville, Florida 32207
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
2
·1· · · · · · · · · · · · · ·APPEARANCES
·2· · · · ISAIAH RUMLIN - JTA Board of Directors, Vice Chairman
·3· · · · KEVIN HOLZENDORF - JTA Board of Directors, Secretary
·4· · · · ·ARI JOLLY, ESQUIRE - JTA Board of Directors, Member
·5·
· ·
·6
· ·
·7
· ·
·8
· ·
·9
· ·
10·
· MICHELLE BARTH - Feeding Northeast Florida, Chief Strategy &
· · · · · · · · · · ·Development Officer
· · · · · · DEBBIE BUCKLAND - BB&T, Market President
· · ·ALEX COLEY - Hallmark Partners, Principal and Co-Founder
· · ·STEVE CROSBY - CSX Real Property, Inc., Vice President
·NATHANIEL P. FORD, SR. - Jacksonville Transportation Authority,
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · CEO
11· ·DR. MARIE FOSTER GNAGE - FSCJ Downtown Campus, Campus President
12· · · ·DANE GREY - Elite Parking Services of America, President
13·
· ·
14
· ·
15·
· · THE HONORABLE TOMMY HAZOURI - Jacksonville City Council,
· · · · · · · · Councilmember At Large, Group 3
· · RICHARD N. MILIAN, ESQUIRE - Jacksonville Transportation
· · · · · · · · · Authority, General Counsel
16· · JEANNE MILLER - Jacksonville Civic Council, Executive Director
17· · · · ·ALAN MOSLEY, P.E. - JAX Chamber, Vice President of
· · · · · · · · · Transportation, Energy and Logistics
18
· · · · · AUNDRA WALLACE - Downtown Investment Authority, CEO
19
20· · · · · · · · · · · ·PUBLIC COMMENTATORS:
21·
· ·
22·
· ·
23·
· ·
24·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·WILLIE HUGGINS, JR.
· ·ROLANDO HACKLEY
· JOSHEA RICHARDSON
· · BRUCE D. TERRY
· · ·JUNE BURLEY
· · ASHLEY PORTER
· · HOWARD TAYLOR
25
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
3
·1· · · · · · · · · · · P R O C E E D I N G S
·2· ·October 26, 2015· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·4:13 p.m.
·3· · · · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· I'm Isaiah Rumlin, and I'm serving as
·4· · · ·chair of the Skyway Advisory Group, and we would like to
·5· · · ·thank you for coming today.· This is our third meeting of
·6· · · ·the Skyway Subcommittee and the Skyway Advisory Group.· We
·7· · · ·continue to work through our factfinding efforts through
·8· · · ·our staff today, and our focus is going to be on vision.
·9· · · ·There are two parts of that discussion.
10· · · · · ·The first vision is for downtown, and Mr. Aundra
11· · · ·Wallace will present, then we will hear from JTA regarding
12· · · ·the transit vision for the Authority.· This should
13· · · ·hopefully generate some discussion and feedback.· We have
14· · · ·an hour for this meeting.· And after that, we will take a
15· · · ·short break and then we will go into our public forum at
16· · · ·5:30.· One plan update and before we hear from Mr. Wallace
17· · · ·and Mr. Thoburn, we will have a short review of the work
18· · · ·plan and recap of our meeting two weeks ago.
19· · · · · ·Brad, will you start us off, please?
20· · · · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· Mr. Chairman, do you want to call the
21· · · ·rolls so everyone's on the record?
22· · · · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· We will have another introduction before
23· · · ·Brad.
24· · · · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· I just meant who's here.· I meant the
25· · · ·roll call, so you have it for your record.· Never mind.
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
4
·1· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· We have a record right here.
·2· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· Okay.· Sorry.
·3· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· Thanks.
·4· · · ·MR. THOBURN:· Thank you, Mr. Chairman.· I'm just going
·5· ·to quickly review what we talked about at the second
·6· ·meeting, just as a reminder.· We did spend a good bit of
·7· ·time kind of going through -- at least Darnel gave us an
·8· ·assessment in greater detail in terms of the system and the
·9· ·condition and the needs of the Skyway going forward, from
10· ·the vehicles, the operating system, and the infrastructure.
11· ·We talked a little bit about the different options and the
12· ·comparison of the different modes, and then we reviewed
13· ·some information about our peer cities and different types
14· ·of downtown circulators.
15· · · ·We've got a good deal of feedback from the group, and
16· ·it really focused on interests as it relates to the
17· ·financial and capital plan.· And those are items that we'll
18· ·take up at the next meeting.· But the other area of focus
19· ·was a desire to really understand more about the downtown
20· ·vision and the JTA transit vision, so that will be the
21· ·focus of our meeting today.· So that's just kind of a recap
22· ·of where we were.
23· · · ·Now, as it relates to the work plan, if you look, we
24· ·handed out an updated work plan.· And you'll notice, we had
25· ·previously planned to do the life-cycle cost analysis
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
5
·1· ·today, but we pushed that back.· So at the next meeting on
·2· ·November 9th, we're going to go over the life-cycle cost
·3· ·analysis, the capital plan and funding and financing.
·4· ·There was a lot of interest on those items.· So that
·5· ·meeting's going to be very important.· It will be a very
·6· ·important conversation.
·7· · · ·But the other thing that we need to look at, at the
·8· ·next meeting, is to start talking about where we want to go
·9· ·with the recommendations.· So hopefully the conversation
10· ·today, the input from the public and then that conversation
11· ·as it relates to the financing, the capital and life-cycle
12· ·cost analysis will help drive some of our conversation
13· ·towards making some recommendations.
14· · · ·With that, I would note that you have a copy of the
15· ·minutes and transcript.· We had an issue getting them in a
16· ·timely manner, and I apologize for that.· Instead of
17· ·adopting them since we just gave them to you, we'd like to
18· ·have you take them.· If you have any changes or comments,
19· ·we can take those up at the next meeting.· There were no
20· ·action items.· We don't necessarily have to adopt the
21· ·minutes, and I think it's probably better if you have a
22· ·chance to review them.· With that, that kind of covers the
23· ·recap and the work plan.
24· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· Thank you, Mr. Thoburn.· The next item is
25· ·one that many of us and many of you wanted to get
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
6
·1· ·information on; and that is the vision of downtown and how
·2· ·the decisions on the Skyway might affect that particular
·3· ·vision.· Mr. Wallace is the executive director of the
·4· ·Downtown Investment Authority.· And as many of you know,
·5· ·he's a member of the Skyway Advisory Group as well.· He not
·6· ·only has a very important perspective from his current
·7· ·role, but has lived in the other two cities that have had
·8· ·people movers.· We are very much looking forward to hearing
·9· ·from Mr. Wallace.
10· · · ·And just a little housekeeping:· In order to generate a
11· ·good discussion on both visions, the JTA and downtown,
12· ·we're going to hold our questions and comments until both
13· ·visions have been presented.
14· · · ·Mr. Wallace?
15· · · ·MR. WALLACE:· Good afternoon, everyone.· Do I need to
16· ·stand up, Mr. Rumlin?
17· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· No.
18· · · ·MR. WALLACE:· Okay.· Great.· As you indicated, I am
19· ·probably one of the few people in this particular room that
20· ·has had the pleasure of living in Miami with an actual
21· ·people mover and Detroit, as well as down here in
22· ·Jacksonville itself, but in addition living in Atlanta as
23· ·well as in Denver.· Almost all of these particular cities
24· ·have a transportation center nucleus that works from the
25· ·inside out, from the urban core out into the actual suburbs
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
7
·1· ·itself.
·2· · · ·South Florida has a very good system that links from
·3· ·West Palm Beach all the way down to Miami with a tri-rail
·4· ·system that interconnects into its Metro-Dade
·5· ·transportation system, that takes you into its people
·6· ·mover, as well as moving into Detroit, when it's zero
·7· ·degrees and you do not need to be walking downtown.· You
·8· ·need to be taking that people mover that moves you in and
·9· ·around the downtown itself.
10· · · ·But also noting that a lot of these cities have
11· ·different systems, whether it's bus, whether it's rail,
12· ·whether it's light rail.· Some of them are publicly
13· ·financed and then there's a combination of publicly and
14· ·privately financed systems.· But it's all geared towards
15· ·moving around its inner core.· So for me, trying to make
16· ·sure that in this four square mile area of downtown which
17· ·is vastly large, how we move people in and around downtown
18· ·is critical.· And particularly in the summer months, when
19· ·it gets extremely warm for us and we are geared towards our
20· ·vehicles, how we move people around is very important.
21· · · ·One of the things we embarked upon, we had to
22· ·understand what our market was and recognize that on the
23· ·west side, which we call Brooklyn, and going into the
24· ·Riverside area, this particular neighborhood was already
25· ·under a lot of ongoing development once I arrived.· So it
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
8
·1· ·was critical for us in the market feasibility study to
·2· ·really understand what were our opportunities there.· And
·3· ·the greatest asset that we have is the St. Johns River that
·4· ·sets both sides of the north bank and the south bank.
·5· · · ·So we had to quickly determine -- connect, captivate
·6· ·and celebrate -- from a downtown aspect, connect all of the
·7· ·neighborhoods to the actual St. Johns River, was there a
·8· ·clear understanding of a vision for downtown.· You can very
·9· ·well see the efforts are started on the western side, move
10· ·that particular development from the Brooklyn/Riverside
11· ·area into the La Villa area where you will have your
12· ·regional transportation center, and then begin to turn that
13· ·due east, coming in to the Brown area, which is much more
14· ·of our true urban core area where we are, and on to the
15· ·shipyards and on to the sports complex.· That's where we
16· ·have to take the market demand that is there and begin to
17· ·move in that direction.· Also on the south bank side,
18· ·you'll begin to see in another slide some great development
19· ·opportunities that are taking place equally as well there.
20· · · ·But connect, captivate and celebrate were some of the
21· ·things we came up with in developing this vision for
22· ·downtown.· This was done over 43 public meetings, from 2013
23· ·to the time I arrived, all the way to the early part of
24· ·this particular year.· So there's not very many people that
25· ·can actually say, in Jacksonville, that they didn't have an
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
9
·1· ·opportunity to participate in what the vision for downtown
·2· ·would be.· I know Debbie was there.· Brad and others have
·3· ·participated in these particular discussions before.
·4· · · ·Let's look at this particular downtown action plan
·5· ·concept through 2025.· All the actual purple-colored
·6· ·properties that you see are publically controlled assets.
·7· ·To the far left, that is the La Villa neighborhood.· That
·8· ·is about 40 acres of property that's controlled between the
·9· ·City, FDOT and JTA itself.· And that is also in close
10· ·proximity to the area where your regional transportation
11· ·center will be located.· 40 acres of property being
12· ·controlled by the public sector really needs to move its
13· ·hands.· That property needs to be in to the private sector
14· ·for development.
15· · · ·That La Villa neighborhood is an area we want to
16· ·consider a very urban and dense transit-oriented
17· ·development neighborhood.· We're undergoing a master plan.
18· ·It will be released in that RFP hopefully by the end of the
19· ·year, if not first quarter next year, to plan that
20· ·particular neighborhood, primarily for the reason there's
21· ·great market demand for residential housing in that area,
22· ·and we're seeing a lot of that housing being focused on low
23· ·income housing, tax credit projects.· While those
24· ·affordable housing projects are needed because that takes
25· ·care of a lot of our work force, we also need to make sure
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
10
·1· ·that we drive market rate development in there equally as
·2· ·well.
·3· · · ·We've got great market rate development taking place in
·4· ·the Brooklyn neighborhood, but we need to take the Brooklyn
·5· ·neighborhood market development that's going on and bring
·6· ·it to a very weak market, which is La Villa, and begin to
·7· ·tie those markets together.· La Villa lends itself to great
·8· ·mixed income residential, loft apartments, walk-up space,
·9· ·retail office.· Again, it's connecting in the regional
10· ·transportation hub.· It was also known as the Harlem of the
11· ·south at one particular point in time.
12· · · ·So we really want to play off those particular themes
13· ·and bring back La Villa.· With the master plan itself,
14· ·we're not interested in another particular study.· We are
15· ·doing this from a block-to-block aspect of determining what
16· ·real estate parcels are there that can be put into a
17· ·development RFP that will lend itself to the private sector
18· ·coming in and taking on development opportunity in that
19· ·particular neighborhood.· We're trying to keep it also
20· ·themed around the culture of arts, because I do believe a
21· ·lot of people do not recognize that the arts community,
22· ·they don't make a lot of money.· But they are one of the
23· ·great ways to turn around neighborhoods.· I've seen it done
24· ·when we planned Miami.· We've done it in Detroit.· They've
25· ·done it equally as well in Atlanta and Denver and other
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
11
·1· ·areas.
·2· · · ·So the arts community plays a great role when you're
·3· ·trying to redevelop neighborhoods itself.· We also can't
·4· ·forget that in parts of La Villa you have the Florida State
·5· ·College of Jacksonville that's located in that neighborhood
·6· ·equally as well, so we have to play off of all of that.
·7· · · ·When you begin to look at the red area, that is truly
·8· ·our urban core area, Hemming Park and Hemming Plaza itself.
·9· ·That purple area there, we cannot forget that the
10· ·Jacksonville Landing is pretty much an asset that the City
11· ·owns the property.· However, the vertical structures are
12· ·controlled by the developer itself.· But we do have some
13· ·development plans for that particular project that we can
14· ·come out with hopefully towards the end of this particular
15· ·year.
16· · · ·Other purple areas that you begin to see as you
17· ·continue to go east, that purple site just east of the
18· ·Jacksonville Landing, is the parking lot as well as the old
19· ·city hall and the courthouse site.· Those are publically
20· ·controlled assets equally as well.· Then you get into the
21· ·actual shipyards.· When you look to the south bank, there's
22· ·a large parcel there that's controlled by Peter Rumlin and
23· ·Mike Bolangy (phonetic).· That particular project, some of
24· ·us know it as Healthy Town, which is a mixed use
25· ·development from residential, office space as well as
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
12
·1· ·hotels in that particular area.
·2· · · ·When you begin to look at these particular purple
·3· ·controlled public assets and get them into private hands,
·4· ·we have a great opportunity to change the landscape of
·5· ·Downtown Jacksonville over the next 10 years by moving
·6· ·these particular projects forward.· What's most important
·7· ·to connectivity is all of the orange circles that you see
·8· ·on this particular slide.· Those are what we propose as
·9· ·stops for transportation.· And we can have a conversation
10· ·with regards to what type of transportation it should be,
11· ·whether it's trolley, whether it's the Skyway, light rail,
12· ·whatever it is that you want to talk about.· These
13· ·particular stops are critical to making sure that you move
14· ·people in and around downtown from the west all the way to
15· ·the east on this particular downtown landscape map.
16· · · ·As long as you see the little clovers that are out on
17· ·the water, we have a water taxi system that some say is an
18· ·amenity.· I say that over time, as we develop from a city
19· ·asset, that water taxi system can be critical to
20· ·transportation as well and moving people in and around
21· ·downtown as our city continues to grow.· Assets, again
22· ·Florida State College of Jacksonville, St. Johns River
23· ·north bank, south bank, river walk.· You can visit any
24· ·particular cities, but I tell you our river walk is one of
25· ·the best that we've got.· Great sports complex.· The
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
13
·1· ·difficulty is the sports complex happens to be not directly
·2· ·connected to downtown, to the urban core itself.· So
·3· ·therefore the transportation link from the urban core to
·4· ·the sports complex is very important.
·5· · · ·We've got great theaters, a performing arts center,
·6· ·Hemming Plaza as we already talked about.· We've got more
·7· ·reemerging interests within downtown.· We've got a definite
·8· ·nightlife emerging, new developments taking place.· And so,
·9· ·you know, from a hospital aspect, from a medical
10· ·standpoint, when you have Baptist Hospital which is
11· ·directly near downtown -- but in close proximity to Baptist
12· ·you have two other hospitals, whether it's UF Shands or
13· ·St. Vincent's, you begin to play off your downtown core but
14· ·also look at your inner-ring neighborhoods as well that can
15· ·play equally well in terms of helping you begin to develop
16· ·your downtown.
17· · · ·The goals for us, very simple.· We have to reinforce
18· ·downtown.· That's a unique epicenter for business, history,
19· ·culture, entertainment itself.· One of the critical things
20· ·that we know, we've got to increase more residential
21· ·housing downtown.· In another slide, you'll see there's
22· ·less than 4,000 people that live in Downtown Jacksonville.
23· ·There's always that conversation with regards to our
24· ·transit population.· Transit population on any particular
25· ·day can be a large number, and then people begin to say
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
14
·1· ·that's the only individuals that we have living downtown.
·2· ·So we know we need to increase the residential downtown
·3· ·living.
·4· · · ·We know that's taking place in Brooklyn.· But we need
·5· ·to begin to move that more toward the urban core on
·6· ·residential development as well.· Some developers in the
·7· ·room will say that one of the impediments for us has been a
·8· ·lengthy development approval process.· We're working on
·9· ·streamlining that.· One of the things that needs to set us
10· ·apart is the ability for a walkability, bike-ability, being
11· ·able to connect Brooklyn to La Villa, to the urban core, to
12· ·the sports complex, but also being able to connect Brooklyn
13· ·on into Historic Five Points, Riverside and Avondale.· You
14· ·can begin to do that if you begin to look at Park Street,
15· ·which turns into Lee Street in the La Villa area.· So we
16· ·need to take a look at that equally as well.
17· · · ·Having a great waterfront design, that leads us into
18· ·having a good 24/7 downtown and using economic development
19· ·to promote a healthy living lifestyle, which is -- that
20· ·Goal No. 7 is one of the main concepts behind the whole
21· ·Healthy Town Development Project that will take place on
22· ·the south bank.· Benchmarking.· Currently today's
23· ·employment base with regards to downtown is just under
24· ·49,000.· We certainly would hope to grow that by 2025
25· ·upwards to over 57,000.· That requires us to retain the
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
15
·1· ·businesses that we have as well as attract and grow new
·2· ·businesses into downtown.
·3· · · ·I told you there were less than 4,000 residents living
·4· ·in downtown.· It's actually 3700 that live in downtown.· So
·5· ·by 2025 we really need to double that, if not more.· To get
·6· ·there, that means we have to produce more residential units
·7· ·than we have now, which is less than 1900.· So we've got to
·8· ·get to over 5300 residential units to try and accommodate
·9· ·an 8,000 population, and with the business establishments
10· ·continue to grow those particular businesses -- a lot of
11· ·these are smaller businesses itself -- and increase the tax
12· ·value.· Because once we increase the tax value, that's
13· ·going to allow us to have additional capital and revenue to
14· ·invest.· And that also helps us to drive more annual
15· ·visitors into downtown itself.
16· · · ·We have some catalytic projects.· Some have been in the
17· ·pipeline.· People say, "Why do things not move nearly as
18· ·fast as they possibly can?"· One can be approval process.
19· ·One can be access to capital, and the other one could be
20· ·market timing.· It's critical to anything that we're going
21· ·to be able to move forward in downtown.· But we know there
22· ·are some eyesores and things of that nature that we have to
23· ·deal with, whether it's Berkman Plaza, whether it's dealing
24· ·with the Trio.· Again, all these projects are market-based
25· ·driven, and it does take time and investment to move these
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
16
·1· ·particular projects.· We have great successes that are
·2· ·going on in the Brooklyn neighborhood area that we have to
·3· ·celebrate.
·4· · · ·Alex is on my left.· Congratulate him on his 220
·5· ·Riverside project that was acknowledged last week, the
·6· ·Riverside project where Fresh Market is located.· Those
·7· ·projects need to be successful for us to do other
·8· ·development in downtown, because they provide the financial
·9· ·comparables and the marketplace to provide lenders an
10· ·opportunity to say, "Hey, look, you can invest in Downtown
11· ·Jacksonville and have success."· You see some of the
12· ·projects that we've got undergoing, we will be working with
13· ·Culture Council to do more urban art, bike racks,
14· ·streetscapes.
15· · · ·We're already undertaking on the south bank, Riverplace
16· ·Boulevard, calming that roadway from a four-lane highway
17· ·down to hopefully three and just basically having one as a
18· ·turn lane.· We need to calm that particular traffic in
19· ·there, which would allow for additional retail to take
20· ·place and provide additional parking, so we make that more
21· ·of a true neighborhood over on the south bank.
22· · · ·We've done other things in downtown, in terms of
23· ·Hemming Plaza.· We've come up with a new wi-fi system that
24· ·we're going to get approved this upcoming Wednesday that
25· ·would have for downtown, down the spine and Laura Street,
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
17
·1· ·all the way into the actual elbow.· We're going to have
·2· ·free downtown wi-fi that if you're outside dining, you'll
·3· ·be able to connect with your laptop, telephone, notebook or
·4· ·whatever.· We have to do that to be competitive with other
·5· ·particular cities itself.· You're beginning to see signs up
·6· ·in some places like the elbow.· We didn't talk about it.
·7· ·We just put the signs up, and we'll be doing that
·8· ·throughout the other particular districts equally as well.
·9· · · ·This is all towards giving downtown the feel that you
10· ·have to have to be competitive with other particular
11· ·cities.· In the heart of what we're talking about, we've
12· ·been working with Alan Mosley over at the Chamber, that
13· ·includes DVI, Invest Jax and other stakeholders, to talk
14· ·about a mobility strategy and kind of define some of the
15· ·projects that we need to get off the ground and try and
16· ·gain some input and try to incorporate feedback to them and
17· ·basically implement those particular projects as we're
18· ·moving forward.
19· · · ·DVI, we asked them to do an extra survey.· Here's the
20· ·highlights from the survey.· The trolley circulator needs
21· ·to be reliable, frequent, short headways, connecting
22· ·activity centers.· Parking improvements, visibility,
23· ·availability and convenience.· I think that last comment,
24· ·convenience is the one that would certainly help us a great
25· ·deal.· Better pedestrian experience leads to better
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
18
·1· ·lighting, signage, clean and safe.· DVI does a darn good
·2· ·job on the clean and safe.· But again I think the lighting
·3· ·concepts for downtown -- if we could make it well lit, I
·4· ·think women would feel a whole lot safer.· If they feel
·5· ·safe, I think we could have an improved downtown
·6· ·experience.
·7· · · ·Transit options, transit bike and walkability.· Some of
·8· ·the recommendations that come from our Downtown Investment
·9· ·Authority is maybe expand the Riverside Trolley service
10· ·Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings into the core of
11· ·downtown, as well as Bay Street corridor activation.
12· ·That's a key catalyst corridor.· And emphasize walkability
13· ·and bike-ability in those particular areas.· One of the
14· ·things we noticed is inefficient public transportation as a
15· ·weakness for our downtown.· So that's one of the things we
16· ·want to improve upon.· That lends itself to aggressively
17· ·market downtown to the millennials and those that want an
18· ·urban lifestyle.
19· · · ·One of the things that we do have in Jacksonville, that
20· ·we do very well, is we get you into concerts, sport venues,
21· ·things of that nature.· We get you in and get you out very
22· ·good, because we have very great one-way streets.· However,
23· ·if you want to have a real good urban market, you have to
24· ·have two-way streets.· The two-way streets are going to
25· ·allow your retail to grow.· That's one of the primary
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
19
·1· ·reasons our retail is not growing, is because we've got
·2· ·more one-way streets than we actually need for a city of
·3· ·our size.
·4· · · ·I'm not going to get into the planning concept that
·5· ·took place before my arrival.· However, I can talk about
·6· ·where we need to go.· The Bay Street and Pearl Street
·7· ·improvements are important.· Park once.· What do I mean by
·8· ·that?· I don't care where I come into downtown, if I come
·9· ·from the east, west, north or south, whether it's a valet
10· ·system or whatever it is -- I'm not the parking guru, but I
11· ·do know the following:· I need to be able to park once, and
12· ·I need to be able to get to my destination within downtown
13· ·and I need to come back and get my car.· I don't need to be
14· ·traveling around one-way streets and getting lost and
15· ·saying, "You know what?· I'm just going to go back to St.
16· ·Augustine or Ponte Vedra and just wait it out."
17· · · ·That park once concept is very important for us to
18· ·grow.· Because you know what?· When you go to Town Center,
19· ·you park once.· I don't care if you park over by Nordstrom
20· ·Rack, you find your way over to DSW some kind of way during
21· ·Christmas.· Some people are laughing, but I think they know
22· ·what I'm talking about.· But also at north bank, east-west
23· ·circulator is equally as important for us.· That's one of
24· ·those things I talked about, those orange circles earlier
25· ·in this presentation.
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
20
·1· · · ·And all of this, the circulator, lends itself to
·2· ·focusing on more mixed income workforce housing, because
·3· ·those are the people that are going to be less inclined to
·4· ·have disposable income for a car.· So if we had a darn good
·5· ·transportation system, we could do more with the type of
·6· ·housing that we need, not have to worry about all the extra
·7· ·parking.· But that transportation system takes people where
·8· ·they want to go.
·9· · · ·This is something that came out of the conversation
10· ·with Alan Mosley and others with the Jax Chamber.· From the
11· ·trolley system, this talks about where we think the
12· ·downtown trolley system could work, a downtown loop along
13· ·with the Riverside/Avondale trolley as well.· And we can
14· ·come back to this later on.
15· · · ·Well, that's pretty much, Mr. Chairman, my
16· ·presentation.· I tried to give you a broad overview of what
17· ·we're doing from the Downtown Investment Authority's
18· ·perspective.· This is a critical transportation system,
19· ·whatever it is.· The Skyway right now is a critical
20· ·component to where we're trying to go.· If we're going to
21· ·replace it or expand it, it's going to help us be able to
22· ·grow downtown, when the decision comes out from this
23· ·particular committee, with regards to where we go with this
24· ·particular system and other systems as well.· I will pass
25· ·around the conceptual 25 redevelopment master plan map so
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
21
·1· ·you can all have it for yourself, so you can see the actual
·2· ·projects that I was talking about.
·3· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· Thank you very much, Mr. Wallace.· At this
·4· ·time Mr. Thoburn is going to present the JTA plan and
·5· ·vision.
·6· · · ·MR. THOBURN:· Thank you, Mr. Chairman.· Knowing that
·7· ·you all want to get to the conversation quickly, I'm going
·8· ·to do this really quick.· Basically, I wanted to kind of
·9· ·give you an overview of the transit system and then where
10· ·we're heading as an organization.· There's a lot of
11· ·different elements to a public transportation system.· When
12· ·you think about the road network, there's local streets.
13· ·There's arterials.· There's your limited access roads.· And
14· ·you've got all of them working together and none of them
15· ·work individually without the others.
16· · · ·So it's the same way with public transportation.· We
17· ·have a mix of different services, whether it's local,
18· ·routes, premium services, regional services, maybe the
19· ·express routes and commuter rail that provide peak hour
20· ·regional service.· We have circulators and we have niche
21· ·services like the trolley services that you see.· And then
22· ·also it's all connected with the hubs and transfer
23· ·facilities or your intersections and interchanges of the
24· ·system.
25· · · ·So our system is -- we carry about 42,000 passengers a
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
22
·1· ·day.· We have a mix of local and express community
·2· ·shuttles.· We have the Riverside and Beaches Trolley.· The
·3· ·Beaches is seasonal and the Riverside is the first Friday
·4· ·and Saturday of every month.· Our connection provides ADA
·5· ·accessibility to the system.
·6· · · ·The Skyway serves as our downtown circulator.· We have
·7· ·over 160 buses, three hubs.· I'm saying we have seven
·8· ·Park-n-Ride facilities.· I think we kind of lumped the
·9· ·north bank/south bank parking facilities in together.· So
10· ·there's a total of 13 if you add them all together.· But
11· ·we're saying, for the purposes of simplicity, seven.· So
12· ·the path for us going forward to develop a world-class
13· ·system is to improve our local service first.· We're doing
14· ·that through our on-time transit operations, route
15· ·optimization, conversion to CNG to make our system run more
16· ·efficiently and cost effective, adding amenities to the
17· ·system like shelters, more ADA accessible stops, realtime
18· ·passenger information, et cetera.
19· · · ·We're developing the First Coast Flyer, BRT, which is
20· ·our premium service.· We're determining the future of the
21· ·Skyway right here, so it's all part of this conversation.
22· ·And then we're having a broader conversation with the
23· ·regional transportation commission about the regional
24· ·system, and we're exploring the potential for commuter
25· ·rail.· So the route optimization which was recently
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
23
·1· ·completed is sort of that base of making your core local
·2· ·system work better.· We greatly enhanced the frequency and
·3· ·directness of service.· I want to highlight a couple
·4· ·things.
·5· · · ·We before did not have any routes that were running in
·6· ·15 minute frequency.· We only had two that were 30 minute,
·7· ·and then we went to 10 and 20 routes.· We did all this
·8· ·without increasing our annual operating costs.· We expanded
·9· ·evening service.· We doubled our service after
10· ·11:00 o'clock and more than five times the number of routes
11· ·running after midnight.· And we did similar enhancements on
12· ·the weekends.· So we've done that part of fixing the
13· ·system.· If I showed you this map before that showed the 30
14· ·and 15 minute frequency, it would be pretty sparse.· What
15· ·we've tried to do is take a system that was sort of spread
16· ·out and focus on developing more of those mainline routes
17· ·and not just a system of local routes.
18· · · ·This is what it looks like downtown.· On the left is
19· ·before ROI.· It was a bit of a jumbled mess.· It was hard
20· ·to figure out where the routes were going.· We streamlined
21· ·downtown, and we focused on key corridors.· Then of course
22· ·you've got the Skyway running down the middle.· Basically
23· ·you can get a bus every five minutes on any one of these
24· ·corridors and the Skyway.· So you are within two blocks of
25· ·service anywhere within that core area.
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
24
·1· · · ·The next thing we're looking at and what we're doing
·2· ·right now is implementing our first BRT service, the First
·3· ·Coast Flyer.· It will be a limited stop service covering 57
·4· ·miles.· It has downtown dedicated peak hour bus lanes on
·5· ·Broad and Jefferson, Bay and Forsyth, as transit signal
·6· ·priority.· So the signals will anticipate the bus coming
·7· ·and hold the light green for them.· We will have CNG buses,
·8· ·wi-fi, and ticket vending machines at select locations.
·9· ·This is the map of the overall system.· So this will sort
10· ·of be the spine all connecting into downtown of course.
11· · · ·Where we stand right now is that we have the downtown
12· ·and the north and the southeast are fully funded.· The
13· ·north and downtown are under construction.· We'll start
14· ·service on the north December 7 and then next December, the
15· ·southeast.· Our plan is to do one every year so that it
16· ·will go to the east, and then the southwest.· East and the
17· ·southwest, we're going through the process of seeking
18· ·federal funding.· Some of it's tied to that, but we believe
19· ·we'll be able to continue that timeline.
20· · · ·The other thing that we mentioned before was that we're
21· ·looking at developing a regional transportation center in
22· ·the La Villa area that Aundra mentioned.· This will connect
23· ·to the convention center Skyway.· It will connect local
24· ·bus, First Coast Flyer.· We're looking at incorporating
25· ·things like bike and car sharing as part of it.· But it
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
25
·1· ·will also connect those regional services, whether it's
·2· ·regional bus, express bus or future commuter rail and then
·3· ·inner city services like Greyhound, Megabus, Amtrak and All
·4· ·Aboard Florida.
·5· · · ·The rail piece on the bottom is sort of the next phase
·6· ·we're trying to work through.· But all the other items on
·7· ·the top are funded, and we're moving forward with those as
·8· ·we speak.· This just kind of shows you a pictorial of the
·9· ·layout, the conceptual plan.· We're actually in the process
10· ·of hiring a design firm and construction manager.· We'll
11· ·have a design competition and fully develop this design in
12· ·coordination with the folks at DIA.
13· · · ·Commuter rail.· Commuter rail uses existing freight
14· ·rail right of way.· This is very different from light rail.
15· ·Light rail requires its own right of way.· Or if it's a
16· ·streetcar, it can operate in mixed traffic.· But generally
17· ·light rail is shorter, more frequent stops than commuter
18· ·rail, which tends to run with stops one to three miles
19· ·apart.· You'll see a lot of the systems with peak hour
20· ·service, morning, evening and a midday service.· We did a
21· ·system plan.· We identified potential corridors and
22· ·prioritized them.· The first corridor would be the
23· ·southeast to St. Augustine from Downtown Jacksonville; the
24· ·southwest along the CSX line.· The green line is the FEC
25· ·line and the north line to Yulee in that order from the
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
26
·1· ·southeast to the southwest to the north was the
·2· ·prioritization.
·3· · · ·We are working to position the southeast to compete for
·4· ·federal funding at this point.· So if you kind of put it
·5· ·all together, this is the overall vision, commuter rail,
·6· ·BRT, local bus connecting downtown.· I kind of mention it
·7· ·because the downtown is really critical to the overall
·8· ·system.· It's the piece that connects.· And if you have
·9· ·commuter rail, if you have BRT and you're trying to drive
10· ·people into downtown, you have to move them around downtown
11· ·once they get there.· This map shows you sort of the
12· ·services.
13· · · ·I know that's a lot to go through real quickly.· We
14· ·have the existing system and what the system would look
15· ·like based on the feedback.· When we hear from the public,
16· ·some people are in the camp of tear it down and stop it.
17· ·And some people say, "No.· You just need to expand it, and
18· ·this is where you need to go."· So these are the places we
19· ·hear most frequently they'd like to see it go.· This isn't
20· ·a recommendation.· It's just showing you what the system
21· ·would look like if you were to extend the Skyway to the
22· ·sports complex and to Riverside and to San Marco and
23· ·Healthy Town.· It would be a very different circulator
24· ·system than we have today.
25· · · ·This is all in your packet.· To conclude, the Skyway is
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
27
·1· ·not a standalone system.· It is part of a bigger transit
·2· ·system.· It's part of a bigger vision for our regional
·3· ·transit system.· Our public transportation does not do well
·4· ·without a strong downtown.· And downtowns don't do
·5· ·well without strong public transportation.· There is a
·6· ·strong tie between them.· So that's very important.· The
·7· ·cities are the engines, economic engines of the future.
·8· ·And today we're in an area that's growing.· We've seen
·9· ·steady growth.
10· · · ·We're reaching that point where that cars only solution
11· ·is really going to constrain us.· We know that moving into
12· ·the future we have to develop mobility options.· Aundra
13· ·talked about the millennials.· They want to be in cool,
14· ·urban, active areas and they like to have public
15· ·transportation.· It's part of an economic development
16· ·future for us.· And so the Skyway discussion is part of the
17· ·downtown discussion, but it's also part of the vision for
18· ·our regional transit system.· And with that, we can move to
19· ·the conversation.
20· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· Thank you very much, Brad.· Now the floor
21· ·is open for comments and questions from the group.
22· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· Aundra , do you have that information on
23· ·the statistics that you had about housing and all available
24· ·to us?
25· · · ·MR. WALLACE:· Yes.· I will e-mail this to the point
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
28
·1· ·person that services this committee, and he or she can
·2· ·distribute it to you.
·3· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· And those were updated this year or
·4· ·whenever, the residential and potential for 2025?
·5· · · ·MR. WALLACE:· Yes.
·6· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· Also in La Villa, tell us a little bit
·7· ·more about what you want to have in La Villa.
·8· · · ·MR. WALLACE:· La Villa right now is the one
·9· ·neighborhood that I feel can connect the Brooklyn
10· ·neighborhood to our urban core as well as all the way into
11· ·Springfield.· What took place prior with regards to urban
12· ·renewal, whether you agree or disagree, provided you with
13· ·an opportunity today to begin to build anew.· So with that,
14· ·by having a clear master plan with regards to we want to
15· ·see this type of housing, a mix of affordable as well as
16· ·market rate -- and it doesn't always have to be
17· ·multi-family.· It can be row houses, town houses and some
18· ·small single family lots equally as well, which plays back
19· ·into what you were once, the Harlem of the south, which
20· ·were traditional smaller family neighborhoods, is what it
21· ·was.
22· · · ·So you can do equally that same thing in and around La
23· ·Villa.· And you can play off of the assets you have there
24· ·because you're coming with a transportation system in that
25· ·particular neighborhood.· Those are the things we're going
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
29
·1· ·to be looking for when we release this request or proposal
·2· ·to hire someone to help us on that block.· What I don't
·3· ·want to do professionally, which I know will hurt us in the
·4· ·long run, is to allow nothing but La Villa to become the
·5· ·place where all of our affordable housing and low income
·6· ·housing tax credit projects go.
·7· · · ·That type of planning and concept has already taken
·8· ·place in America, and it didn't work.· So we know it
·9· ·doesn't work.· So we don't need to repeat that for La Villa
10· ·once again.· Because then it would never become a
11· ·sustaining, thriving neighborhood.· That's what we're
12· ·trying to do, is connect the fabric of La Villa to the
13· ·market that is emerging in Brooklyn and then bring that
14· ·market into La Villa itself.
15· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· You envision it as being similar to what
16· ·Brooklyn may look like or Five Points, a mixed use of -17· ·also retail you mentioned earlier, I think.· And that's
18· ·separate from downtown, but a part of downtown.· That's
19· ·their neighborhood and their shopping district and the
20· ·smaller things.
21· · · ·MR. WALLACE:· It connects, Councilman, because here's
22· ·the thing:· You still have some of the warehouse areas
23· ·there.· Warehouses make great conversions.· I've seen it
24· ·done in other particular cities, whether they become lofts
25· ·or an opportunity for a particular artist to live and work
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
30
·1· ·in that same location.· And you know what?· On the weekends
·2· ·they turn into very good art gallery shows and then
·3· ·everybody comes in.
·4· · · ·As a youngster in my early thirties, we planned a
·5· ·neighborhood in Miami called Windwood.· Now when you go
·6· ·down there, that is one of the places to be on the
·7· ·weekends.· And this is the place to be in December because
·8· ·it leads into the design district.· But 15 years ago, it
·9· ·looked a lot like La Villa does today.
10· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· You know, there's a smattering of those
11· ·kinds of warehouses downtown other than the Riverside and
12· ·downtown, that was concentrated to where people can go down
13· ·there.· My parents grew up in La Villa in the early 1900s.
14· ·So I remember them telling me how it was.· A lot of the
15· ·residents today from the Jewish community, Arabic
16· ·community, all of them lived in that downtown area.· I grew
17· ·up downtown, and that's what makes me have a keen interest
18· ·in what happens.· I was mentioning earlier that living
19· ·above our grocery store was like living above the loft
20· ·we're talking about today.· It was very meaningful.
21· · · ·Have you-all talked about the Skyway at all in the DI
22· ·over there?
23· · · ·MR. WALLACE:· Sure.
24· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· I mean not taking positions, but having
25· ·their vision as well.· And I hope they participate in our
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
31
·1· ·public -·2· · · ·MR. WALLACE:· We've not taken the position of taking
·3· ·down, keeping things the same, things of that nature.· What
·4· ·we have taken a position on is that a transportation system
·5· ·is critical to the mobility of downtown.· And you have an
·6· ·existing system.· So the question is:· If you're not going
·7· ·to have this system, what are you going to have?· Because
·8· ·we just got through approving and supporting about one or
·9· ·two more different affordable housing tax credit projects
10· ·that are going to be going on the Florida Housing Finance
11· ·Corporation.· Each one of those particular projects had a
12· ·conversation with regards to being very close to the Skyway
13· ·system.· And we actually have put up an investment of over
14· ·$270,000 that in the event that particular project comes to
15· ·fruition, it brings 120 new units there.· But that main
16· ·application component was it's close to the Skyway.
17· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· I'll finish with this.· What's intriguing
18· ·is what Brad was talking about in the multiple facilities
19· ·or transportation mobility that we would have here.· Plus
20· ·with what you're talking about -- and the interesting part
21· ·of that -- and this is not taking a position yet.· But
22· ·going back to -- you were talking about I guess the healthy
23· ·environment, bicycling, pedestrian walkways, what we had
24· ·talked about earlier and then connecting it -- this is just
25· ·me envisioning something like this -- with what Brad was
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
32
·1· ·talking about, whether it's trolleys or whatever it might
·2· ·be, to get everybody connected.
·3· · · ·They come over, and then they have whatever
·4· ·transportation network with the railroads.· When you said
·5· ·they used the railroad tracks, Brad, how do they do the
·6· ·freight?· Do you do it on different times, that you would
·7· ·use that?· And that's my last question.· I don't know how
·8· ·you would combine that with what activity goes on right
·9· ·now.· You-all just take times when the train to Yulee comes
10· ·in at 3:21 and then you change it to something else?
11· · · ·MR. THOBURN:· It's the freight rail line, and you have
12· ·to work with them to make sure that you don't impact their
13· ·capacity and their schedule.· Sometimes you have to put
14· ·sidings in.· But you use the right of way.· So sometimes
15· ·you may double or triple a track.· You may put a siding in.
16· ·Or if there's capacity, you can use it.· It's something you
17· ·have to work through with the freight rail lines for sure.
18· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· I just didn't know how that would work.
19· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· Ms. Miller?
20· · · ·MS. MILLER:· Thank you.· Through the chair to
21· ·Mr. Wallace, thank you for your presentation.· I was
22· ·wondering if you could comment a little further on -- you
23· ·mentioned that you're applying for housing finance and that
24· ·the Skyway was built into the application.· It sounds like
25· ·you're relying on the Skyway in the application.· So my
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
33
·1· ·question has been:· What if the Skyway went away?· If the
·2· ·Skyway went away, what impact will that have on the DIA and
·3· ·the City's ability to develop?
·4· · · ·MR. WALLACE:· Good question.· We're not the applicant,
·5· ·but we're being asked to provide a loan to a particular
·6· ·project known as the Lofts of La Villa.· The developer is
·7· ·Vestcor.· One of the key things in their project is that
·8· ·it's right on the Skyway.· It's almost at your Jefferson
·9· ·Street station itself.· And so when Florida Housing Finance
10· ·does this analysis, it tends to score very favorably when
11· ·your projects are located near transit hubs itself.· It
12· ·does better than those projects that are not, when they're
13· ·in urban settings.
14· · · ·So while I don't want to speak from a factual
15· ·standpoint because I'd have to look at their particular
16· ·guidelines itself -- but from what I do know about the
17· ·industry from my time, whether it was either in Miami or
18· ·here, you tend to get scored very good when you're next to
19· ·transportation hubs.· I would hate to see us miss out on
20· ·those particular opportunities when we don't have a
21· ·transportation system that allows the developers to take
22· ·advantage of that and not score nearly as high as other
23· ·particular developers across the state.
24· · · ·Remember, Vestcor is the developer.· They are competing
25· ·with other urban developers throughout other urban markets
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
34
·1· ·throughout the state for these particular tax credits.· So
·2· ·it's incumbent upon us to put them in the best position to
·3· ·score well, to bring those particular tax credit dollars
·4· ·back to our particular city and produce the units of
·5· ·residential housing that we need for our affordable housing
·6· ·class.
·7· · · ·MS. MILLER:· Thank you as to the housing tax credits.
·8· ·But my larger question is really about like the
·9· ·transportation concurrency exceptionary.· That was what it
10· ·was called way back when.· But the bottom line is:· If you
11· ·don't have the Skyway, then something else has to replace
12· ·that.· Because in order to have the density we want
13· ·downtown, we have to build more bridges or we have to build
14· ·something else that will transport people in and out of
15· ·downtown that will account for the trips and the burden on
16· ·the infrastructure.
17· · · ·So if you don't have the Skyway, what is the larger -18· ·I mean, there are developments right now that are in a
19· ·place, that relied on the Skyway in development.· So my
20· ·question really is:· If it just goes away, what happens to
21· ·current development?· What happens to future development
22· ·overall?
23· · · ·MR. WALLACE:· We're having that conversation with
24· ·regards to transportation concurrency.· We've not delved
25· ·into it deeply.· I can't tell you what that impact is going
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
35
·1· ·to be just yet.· I'd rather have more conversation with the
·2· ·board.· That's something that we know we've got to take on.
·3· ·But we know professionally there's going to be an impact.
·4· ·I can't tell you what exactly that impact's going to be
·5· ·just yet.
·6· · · ·MR. CROSBY:· Looking at the map, Aundra's map -- and
·7· ·Brad, I was reflecting on your map of, I guess, an earlier
·8· ·thought of how the Skyway might be extended, and they're
·9· ·almost the same map.· But Aundra in your map, you highlight
10· ·the east-west movement, and you said that was critically
11· ·important.· I know working on the mobility study with Alan
12· ·and others, we recognize the same thing.
13· · · ·You don't show a north-south, but I'm assuming that's
14· ·because that's what the Skyway already provides, is that
15· ·north-south.· That was certainly in our conversations at
16· ·the mobility group, that north-south was equally important.
17· ·But because of the river crossing, the Skyway really
18· ·provided that already.· I just wanted to clarify that I'm
19· ·interpreting your thinking correctly.
20· · · ·MR. WALLACE:· For me, that's correct.· But also I want
21· ·to recognize that one of the key things on the mobility
22· ·transportation piece is we've got a great economic engine
23· ·just on the other side of that railroad track at Baptist,
24· ·Aetna, et cetera.· So being able to make sure we connect
25· ·very well to make sure that they stay there is equally
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
36
·1· ·important in terms of a retention aspect from an economic
·2· ·development standpoint.
·3· · · ·As Brad has done with his design here, I think that's a
·4· ·great mobility plan for downtown as well as the inner ring
·5· ·neighborhoods of downtown.· Because it gets into where it's
·6· ·proposing into San Marco.· And then one day he may very
·7· ·well propose that it moves into Springfield.
·8· · · ·MR. CROSBY:· If I interpreted you correctly, you said
·9· ·your board had not either assessed or determined one way or
10· ·the other about the Skyway itself.· But using this map
11· ·maybe as the guide, it is safe to say that both the DIA and
12· ·Brad through your transportation planning, you've arrived
13· ·at the same place, that very strong east-west and very
14· ·strong north-south connectors between those mile and a
15· ·half, two mile segments from the downtown are important.
16· · · ·MR. WALLACE:· I'll speak for DIA.· Yes.· When we were
17· ·doing this, this conversation about the Skyway becoming
18· ·obsolete or being taken down, this wasn't there first
19· ·quarter of 2015.· So we didn't have to address this
20· ·particular question at that particular point in time.
21· · · ·MR. THOBURN:· I mean, this map was intended to kind of
22· ·reflect what we hear from people in terms of what they
23· ·would like to see.· But you're right.· In fact, when we
24· ·were talking about the Brooklyn extension, that's when you
25· ·start thinking about operationally, how would this work.
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
37
·1· ·And operationally it makes a lot more sense if you do have
·2· ·a line doing this and then you have another line coming
·3· ·north-south with maybe a branch on either end.
·4· · · ·You're starting to think of how it would function, and
·5· ·it really is that north, south, east, west.· It makes a lot
·6· ·of sense, as opposed to just kind of going off in one
·7· ·direction.· As we were thinking from a planning
·8· ·perspective, that really is sort of one functioning line.
·9· ·And frankly you could do it -- we show it as an extension
10· ·of the Skyway.· You may decide it's a solution that
11· ·connects with central station or something like that.· So
12· ·you have different options to do that.· But from a planning
13· ·standpoint it really makes a lot of sense.
14· · · ·MR. CROSBY:· Thanks.
15· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· Are there any other questions or comments
16· ·from the advisory group?· If not, thank you again for
17· ·everyone's participation.· We're going to take a break and
18· ·then allow the public a chance to engage in this process.
19· ·For our next meeting, we will dig into the financial and
20· ·economic issues as well as the capital plan.· We will also
21· ·start the conversation about recommendations.· This will be
22· ·a very important meeting, and we hope to have very strong
23· ·participation on November 9th.
24· · · ·We will meet at the JTA boardroom at 2:00 o'clock to
25· ·4:00 o'clock.· So if there's no other comments or
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
38
·1· ·questions -- oh, Alan?
·2· · · ·MR. MOSLEY:· Mr. Chairman, this has been a lot of great
·3· ·data, and there's going to be more great data to come.
I
·4· ·would like to entertain a motion that we contemplate -- can
·5· ·we extend the time period we have to look at this?· I kind
·6· ·of find myself in the need to roll up my sleeves -- it may
·7· ·be the engineer in me.
·8· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· Extend what out?
·9· · · ·MR. MOSLEY:· Right now we're scheduled to make a final
10· ·recommendation by December 10th.
11· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· So beyond December 10?
12· · · ·MR. MOSLEY:· I'd like to at least have a discussion
13· ·about that.· Because I am going to have a conflict -- for
14· ·me personally, I'm going to have some conflicts in upcoming
15· ·meetings that are unavoidable.· I'll certainly stay
16· ·engaged.· But this is really obviously a big topic for our
17· ·city, and I just would like to at least talk about that a
18· ·little bit.
19· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· Are there any comments?
20· · · ·MR. MILIAN:· Chairman, the Skyway committee is a
21· ·committee of three board members, and the advisory group is
22· ·a group giving advice to the subcommittee.· So the
23· ·committee could entertain a motion, but one of you would
24· ·have to make it and second it and then proceed in that
25· ·manner.· The advisory committee is simply giving advice.
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
39
·1· ·So my thought is that they can't make a motion.· It would
·2· ·have to come from the committee itself.
·3· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· Mr. Holzendorf, Ms. Jolly, do you have any
·4· ·comments concerning extending the advisory group?
·5· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· Mr. Chairman, how many more meetings do
·6· ·we have before the December 10th meeting?· Because there
·7· ·may be more conflicts.· In all due respect to Alan, any
·8· ·information he has, he gets two more before the December
·9· ·10th meeting or including?
10· · · ·MR. THOBURN:· Two more.
11· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· I think it's a little bit too early to
12· ·decide that until we see how we progress in the next two
13· ·meetings.· Because it is very important.· You've got the
14· ·economic development issue just tagging along with that.
I
15· ·don't want to delay anything, not that it would, but I just
16· ·would like to see how we progress in the next meeting or
17· ·two before we extend.· Because we've only had three
18· ·meetings and you don't know what we'll accomplish in the
19· ·next meeting or two.
20· · · ·Hopefully, Alan will have some of his engineering
21· ·questions ready and maybe answered by then working with
22· ·Brad.· That's just a suggestion.· While we're on the
23· ·discussion, I just want to ask too -- well, let's just do
24· ·the vote on -- if you want to do a vote if there's a
25· ·second.
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
40
·1· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· There's no motion.· But -·2· · · ·MR. MOSLEY:· He said it wasn't -·3· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· -- I tend to agree with Councilman
·4· ·Hazouri, with his comments.· And let's just see what
·5· ·happens over the next three weeks.· And if there's a need
·6· ·to extend, then certainly we can entertain that and there
·7· ·won't be any problem.
·8· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· Brad, I thought what you had was very,
·9· ·very good about the other transportation, the routes that
10· ·we need.· And I know you're not pushing to necessarily
11· ·extend what we have.· But I guess going to Ms. Miller's
12· ·question awhile ago, I think at our next meeting maybe that
13· ·we could look at what Aundra was talking about with, you
14· ·know, any economic development they're going to be looking
15· ·at what our downtown plan is going to be about, which we
16· ·aren't sure whether it's a chicken or egg deal first.
17· · · ·The important thing I think we need to be looking at is
18· ·if we don't extend the Skyway as it is, overhead or however
19· ·you call it, then you have other plans on what we'll be
20· ·doing at ground level in addition to this.· If we didn't
21· ·have this or if we did have it in some other use and we
22· ·didn't take it down, what other kind of system, the
23· ·trolleys, the light rail or whatever?· Because that's a
24· ·pretty big chunk to chew when you want to extend what we
25· ·have at the top right now.
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
41
·1· · · ·Because I'm assuming you're going to have to come down
·2· ·to ground level at some point.· Maybe you can just offer
·3· ·up the other solutions that will go along with the DIA's
·4· ·concerns about what we're going to be doing about moving
·5· ·people downtown and around town, including the Skyway the
·6· ·way it is, if it came down, what other plans do we have in
·7· ·place.· Because we're going to have to start sooner than
·8· ·later.· And I'm just concerned about how many deals that
·9· ·may be out on the table now.· Well, there's going to be a
10· ·lot more coming in the future, and we need to have a master
11· ·plan.
12· · · ·I know I'm not probably making a lot of sense.· I did
13· ·when I was looking at the thing awhile ago.· But right now
14· ·I just want to see the whole picture with or without the
15· ·Skyway as it is and then what else we have in place, the
16· ·trolleys, all the things that you've listed earlier, what
17· ·we can look at to go along with it.· This comes down -- we
18· ·still don't want to do anything to harm economic
19· ·development, and what other choices do we have that can
20· ·just step right in with the Skyway or without it.
21· · · ·MR. THOBURN:· Yeah.· We're doing a life cycle cost
22· ·analysis on it.· We're covering that.· Essentially, we're
23· ·not talking about extensions so much, but if you took the
24· ·existing structure down and replaced it with a trolley with
25· ·a dedicated lane BRT or with streetcars, and replicating
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
42
·1· ·what's there and showing what the cost is.· It doesn't get
·2· ·into the extension conversation though.
·3· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· I think what's going to happen, part of
·4· ·what you just talked about, councilman, will come up within
·5· ·the next meeting.
·6· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· You understood what I was saying?
·7· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· Yeah, we understood.
·8· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· Thank you.
·9· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· I got exactly what you're saying.
10· · · ·MR. HAZOURI:· When you're waiting so long to ask the
11· ·question, you kind of forget how you want to ask it.
12· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· Any other comments?· Questions?· If not,
13· ·we're going to adjourn and get ready for the public forum.
14· ·(Brief recess.)
15· · · ·MR. THOBURN:· We are going to start the public forum at
16· ·5:30.· I know a number of you, especially the advisory
17· ·group members, were curious to know how this would work.
18· · · ·Can I get everybody's attention real quick?· We're
19· ·going to start the public forum in about 10 minutes.
I
20· ·wanted to explain to everybody how the forum is going to
21· ·work because it's not a traditional format.· It's not going
22· ·to be a format where people get up and speak for a few
23· ·minutes and say their peace and we move on.· What we tried
24· ·to do is set it up so it's more of an open house format, so
25· ·that people can interact with staff and have multiple
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
43
·1· ·opportunities to get information and get feedback for us.
·2· · · ·For the members of the advisory group, you can stay and
·3· ·participate.· But it's not going to be you-all sitting here
·4· ·and listening to people.· We actually have video in the
·5· ·back that people can listen to and watch.· We have comment
·6· ·tables.· We have tables and places where people can sit and
·7· ·talk to staff.· There's a board they can put their
·8· ·preference on.· We have comment cards.· We have an online
·9· ·survey.· We also have the court reporter who will be
10· ·available for anyone who wants to make a comment as if they
11· ·were speaking to the committee.
12· · · ·And then the staff will prepare a report for the next
13· ·meeting, sort of synthesizing all of that feedback, not
14· ·filtering it, but making sure that everybody's specific
15· ·comments are heard and presented to the committee.· So it's
16· ·a little bit different, and I wanted to make sure
17· ·everybody's clear about that.· You are welcome to stay and
18· ·interact with members of the public, but you're not going
19· ·to be sitting here, listening to people talk to you in a
20· ·traditional format.· We'll start in a few minutes.· I just
21· ·wanted to make sure everybody knew how we were handling
22· ·this particular format.
23· · · ·MR. RUMLIN:· Good evening again.· Welcome to the public
24· ·forum to discuss the future of the Skyway.· This is a
25· ·really important issue that we are dealing with in these
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
44
·1· ·discussions, not just for the JTA but for downtown and the
·2· ·entire Jacksonville community.· It's a big part of finding
·3· ·the future of transportation in this area.· This gives us
·4· ·the opportunity for us to get public input.· This forum may
·5· ·seem a little bit different, as it is geared for maximizing
·6· ·the opportunities for you to give input.· This will be more
·7· ·of an open house format.
·8· · · ·JTA staff will give a brief overview of the current
·9· ·state of the Skyway and give a summary of the options.· We
10· ·will have staff set up throughout the room so that you can
11· ·speak to each one of them.· There are questionnaires and
12· ·comment cards that you can fill out.· There's also a court
13· ·reporter available for you who want to provide a verbal
14· ·comment for the record.· Members of the Skyway subcommittee
15· ·and the Skyway advisory group can join the table or talk to
16· ·the attendees.· There's a lot of people that joined after
17· ·the presentation.· We will break at about 6:15 so staff can
18· ·do the overview again for those who wish to join later.
19· · · ·We think this is a better format to get the most public
20· ·input possible.· Staff will prepare a report on the
21· ·feedback received and share it with the subcommittee at the
22· ·next meeting.· Again, thank you for the comments.· We look
23· ·forward to continuing to see you throughout December.
24· · · ·MR. THOBURN:· Thank you, Chairman Rumlin.· My name is
25· ·Brad Thoburn.· I'm the vice president of planning and
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
45
·1· ·development at JTA, and I'm going to take a little bit of
·2· ·time just to walk through our process, the condition and
·3· ·the situation with the Skyway and talk about the options if
·4· ·you go to the different stations or want to offer your
·5· ·feedback, that you have the value of that background.
·6· · · ·So our process will run through December.· We will have
·7· ·a recommendation to the full board December 10th.· We have
·8· ·done significant work already in terms of assessing the
·9· ·condition of the infrastructure, the operating system and
10· ·getting feedback from the industry.· We are doing work now
11· ·with the Skyway advisory group and Skyway subcommittee in
12· ·terms of analyzing the system and the options.· Today's an
13· ·important part of that process in terms of getting input
14· ·from the public.
15· · · ·So a little bit about the history of the Skyway.· As
16· ·many of you know, it was developed based on some work in
17· ·the early '70s by the Florida DOT and a mayor's task force
18· ·on a downtown people mover.· They produced a report in 1973
19· ·suggesting people mover as an option to address traffic
20· ·congestion, parking and air quality downtown.· JTA actually
21· ·took over the project in 1977.· We completed the technical
22· ·studies and actually secured funding and built the system
23· ·as one of three systems that were built with funding from
24· ·the Urban Mass Transit Administration and the downtown
25· ·people mover program.
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
46
·1· · · ·And so the system in Jacksonville is similar but not
·2· ·the same exactly as the one in Miami and the other in
·3· ·Detroit.· I'm going to walk you through pictorially the
·4· ·development of the system.· In 1985, we received a grant
·5· ·for $23,000,000 to build the starter line from the
·6· ·convention center to the central station.· It included
·7· ·Jefferson station as well.· In 1989, the starter line began
·8· ·operations using what we call a Matra vehicle, which is the
·9· ·same vehicle that's used in Miami for their metro mover.
10· · · ·In 1997, the extension from central to Rosa Parks was
11· ·completed.· At the time a decision was made for a variety
12· ·of reasons to -- basically because of the procurement
13· ·process we had to bid out the remaining extensions and the
14· ·vehicles.· Bombardier was awarded a contract that involved
15· ·retrofitting the system to put on a monorail and using
16· ·their monorail vehicles, which at the time were considered
17· ·to be the vehicle of the future.· As it turned out, that
18· ·was not the case.· In fact, we are the only one using those
19· ·vehicles today.· So it's one of the major challenges we
20· ·face.
21· · · ·In 1997, the O&M center was constructed.· The south
22· ·bank was completed in 1998, San Marco station.· In 2000 the
23· ·River Place and Kings Avenue stations were open.· The
24· ·system was a total cost of 182 million, not including the
25· ·planning study, but just for the design, construction,
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
47
·1· ·vehicles and equipment.· It's two and a half miles,
·2· ·bidirectional.· So if you count up the track miles, it's
·3· ·five miles actually.· It runs from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
·4· ·and we operate for special events.
·5· · · ·One of the key elements is it is an automated system.
·6· ·It has all the associated equipment to operate without a
·7· ·driver.· Some of the reasons that the system was chosen is
·8· ·that the elevation provides a higher degree of reliability.
·9· ·It has the ability to utilize and connect with bus routes
10· ·and Park-n-Ride facilities in the perimeter of downtown,
11· ·and it does span the river.· It has 10 two-car trains which
12· ·can carry up to 56 passengers and travels at a speed of up
13· ·to 30 miles an hour.
14· · · ·Today our ridership is at about 5,000 a day.· It's up
15· ·600 a day since a year ago.· Largely that's because of the
16· ·changes we made to our route structure to better coordinate
17· ·with the Skyway.· During special events, we've seen some
18· ·significant ridership, including One Spark rider ship,
19· ·75,000 in 2014 and 82,000 last year.· We are going to hit a
20· ·record this year of 1.37 million riders on the Skyway.· You
21· ·can see that the ridership has steadily increased.· We did
22· ·take off the fares between 2011 and 2012.· But even beyond
23· ·that we continue to see strong growth.
24· · · ·This study is intended to make sure that we do our due
25· ·diligence in evaluating a major infrastructure investment
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
48
·1· ·by the taxpayers.· We have vehicles that are past their
·2· ·useful life, that need to be either overhauled or replaced.
·3· ·We are facing significant challenges with the technology
·4· ·that we put in place.· It's proprietary equipment.· Parts
·5· ·are difficult to find, and they're very difficult to
·6· ·service.· So we have some challenges.· At the same time, a
·7· ·lot of folks will from time to time ask that we either tear
·8· ·down the Skyway or we expand it.· So this study will help
·9· ·us evaluate and respond to those costs.
10· · · ·The condition of the Skyway:· It is structurally sound
11· ·but there are areas that need attention.· It's at its
12· ·midlife.· The infrastructure is 25 years old.· As you can
13· ·imagine, there are things that need to be done.· We
14· ·estimate that over the next 15 years, we will require about
15· ·$24,000,000 in state of good repair infrastructure
16· ·investments.
17· · · ·The operating system has significant issues with
18· ·obsolescence.· We estimate that we'd have to spend 15 to 19
19· ·million over the next 15 years to address those issues.
20· ·The biggest issue for us is the vehicles are no longer
21· ·produced, and 4 out of 10 of those vehicles are actually
22· ·out of service because of challenges with the permissive
23· ·movement authority of the system.
24· · · ·We estimate that the cost of overhauling the vehicles
25· ·will be 18 million, and replacing the vehicles will be 35
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
49
·1· ·million.· We have concerns that overhauling the vehicles
·2· ·may not be an option because of some of the challenges the
·3· ·industry sees in actually accomplishing that overhaul.· We
·4· ·did look at different systems out there.· I'm not going to
·5· ·go into too much detail on this, just to say that at the
·6· ·end of the day what we determined was a lot of the things
·7· ·like a streetcar and other options are not feasible to put
·8· ·on this system.· But they could be extensions or solutions
·9· ·to replace the system.
10· · · ·The key findings to this point are that the system can
11· ·last 50 years if we maintain it, the actual structures, but
12· ·the vehicles need to be replaced or overhauled.· And there
13· ·are significant risks associated with the cost and ability
14· ·to actually complete the overhaul.· There's a couple
15· ·options.· We can overhaul the vehicles.· We can put new
16· ·vehicles on the system.· We can actually decommission or
17· ·shut it down and replace it with something else.· It could
18· ·be a streetcar, a BRT system, a trolley, or what's referred
19· ·to as personal rapid transit or pod cars.· We could
20· ·decommission and repurpose the infrastructure, which would
21· ·entail the same as the decommission, but that the existing
22· ·structure would be converted into an elevated bike and
23· ·pedestrian walkway.
24· · · ·So this just pictorially shows you the options we have.
25· ·It's of note that the two options on the right involve
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
50
·1· ·replacing the system.· Because the expectation is that you
·2· ·do need a downtown circulator, and you have to put
·3· ·something in the place of the Skyway if you choose to
·4· ·remove it.· And they have various costs and effectiveness
·5· ·and considerations related to each one of those options.
·6· · · ·So the overhaul -- I'm just going to quickly run
·7· ·through these.· The good thing on the overhaul is that you
·8· ·use the existing infrastructure.· It has about 15 years.
·9· ·We have a grant with the Federal Transit Administration.
10· ·One of the issues is if we don't use the structure to its
11· ·useful life, we have to pay back a portion of it.· By
12· ·overhauling the vehicles, you wouldn't have to deal with
13· ·that.· And we have a system in place today.· It does have
14· ·some challenges because you would still have the same
15· ·unique proprietary system, and there's a high risk of cost
16· ·escalation because of the uncertainties on our ability to
17· ·actually do the overhaul.
18· · · ·The new vehicle option is one that is a little more
19· ·costly than replacing the vehicles.· It would extend the
20· ·life longer, but it would entail an overhaul of the
21· ·vehicles at its midlife as well.· So at least 20 to 25
22· ·years but up to 40 years with new vehicles.· If you
23· ·overhaul the vehicles, you would not be able to overhaul
24· ·them again.· It would entail lower O&M costs than we
25· ·experience today simply because we could get the parts.· We
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
51
·1· ·can do it without major disruptions to our existing
·2· ·passengers.
·3· · · ·On the flip side, it is a little bit higher cost.· It
·4· ·would still be a unique vehicle, and we'd have some of the
·5· ·challenges from a procurement, proprietary system
·6· ·standpoint that we have today.· The decommissioning option,
·7· ·its biggest value is the lower cost.· You would have a
·8· ·payback to the FTA, FDOT and potentially the City.· There's
·9· ·costs associated with demolishing the structure of up to 20
10· ·to 25 million.· And it would impact our relationship with
11· ·the FTA, one of our primary funders, in securing future
12· ·funds.· Of note also is we are in the process of building a
13· ·regional transportation center that is connected with the
14· ·Skyway, and then it would be inconsistent with those plans.
15· · · ·If we did have a decommission, we'd have to replace it
16· ·with another system that would entail a cost.· Even the
17· ·cheapest one involves purchasing new buses and a $3.4
18· ·million operation of those buses.· The repurpose options,
19· ·similar advantages to the decommission in terms of your
20· ·operating costs over the long term for the transit side.
21· ·But you'd have an operation and maintenance tale on
22· ·maintaining the infrastructure that you were using for an
23· ·elevated walkway.· It would have some challenges in terms
24· ·of actually modifying that structure to do that.
25· · · ·While some other places have done this, it is not clear
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
52
·1· ·that we can actually do it in a manner that's cost
·2· ·effective with our existing infrastructure.· I noted that
·3· ·we do have an existing grant, that this structure was built
·4· ·with federal and state assistance and local support from
·5· ·the City.· Each one of those comes with a requirement that
·6· ·if we don't use it for the useful life, we have to pay back
·7· ·a portion of that grant.· It can be a straight line
·8· ·depreciation or however the FTA chooses.· But we have
·9· ·estimated over current, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years and 20
10· ·years the pay back associated with the grants that we have.
11· · · ·This is hard to read, but online you can get a copy of
12· ·this.· And it kind of highlights the options and the pros
13· ·and cons.· If you go online, you can get additional
14· ·information on our website with the meeting information
15· ·that we're providing to all of our Skyway Advisory Group
16· ·committee members.· We do have a survey that we're
17· ·providing online, so you can always go back and fill that
18· ·out if you're uncomfortable giving us your opinion today.
19· ·So with that, we're going to open it up so that you can
20· ·talk with staff.· Again, we have a video in the back.
21· · · ·We have a place where you can tell us which option you
22· ·prefer.· Of course, we've got boards up and maps so you can
23· ·talk to us about it.· And if you would like to make a
24· ·comment to the court reporter, that is an option as well.
25· ·So with that, we will move on to the open house portion of
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
53
·1· ·the public forum.· Thank you.
·2· · · ·MR. HUGGINS:· All right.· I've been listening to the
·3· ·guy on the thing here.· I've been living here in
·4· ·Jacksonville for 20 years.· There's a lot of pros for the
·5· ·Skyway.· You need to think bold.· You need to think big.
·6· ·You've got three major colleges within Jacksonville, Duval
·7· ·County.· We need to have hubs going to these schools.
·8· ·We've got a labor pool down here.· You've got a labor base
·9· ·down here.· You've got people out of work.· That would put
10· ·a lot of people in Duval County back to work.
11· · · ·For events like going to the Gator Bowl, it will
12· ·eliminate the clutter inside town.· When we have hubs, we
13· ·can go and catch the rapid transit going down to like the
14· ·civic center, going down to the flea market, going to
15· ·Hemming Plaza, going to the Gator Bowl, going to the
16· ·baseball field, going to the arena.
17· · · ·I mean, people like the Skyway, but they feel that it's
18· ·just too short.· Expand it.· Think bold.· Think bold, and
19· ·you'll have a lot of people coming.· That's all.· Thank
20· ·you.
21· · · ·MR. HACKLEY:· I'd like to start off by saying I really
22· ·enjoy riding the Skyway.· I think it's very beneficial that
23· ·you-all are trying to get from point A to point B.· I think
24· ·it will be a little bit better if, you know, it came every
25· ·couple of minutes instead of every seven minutes and stuff.
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
54
·1· ·A lot of the times it breaks.· It breaks down.· You end up
·2· ·standing there and then the Skyway never comes or it stops
·3· ·on the tracks.· So that's something that should be
·4· ·addressed.
·5· · · ·Other than that, it's been a great experience.· It
·6· ·really saved me a lot of time, just going back and forth.
·7· ·But the reason why I say it should run faster is by the
·8· ·time it comes, you can walk to your next destination
·9· ·sometimes.· So you know, that's why I think it should come
10· ·faster.· That was all.
11· · · ·MS. RICHARDSON:· I'd like to start off saying that the
12· ·Skyway is convenient in a lot of ways, but I feel like they
13· ·can change by extending the hours a little bit longer.
I
14· ·believe like on Saturdays and Sundays the Skyway is not
15· ·open.· So I feel like they should have the Skyway open on
16· ·the weekends a little longer and have extended hours
17· ·through the week, like Monday through Friday.
18· · · ·Actually, I was riding the Skyway one day and got
19· ·stuck.· It didn't move for 30 minutes.· I didn't find it
20· ·funny.· It's very convenient, like I said, in a lot of
21· ·ways, but it's definitely got changes that do need to be
22· ·made.· Like I say, the extending of the hours.· It should
23· ·be running like seven days a week, Monday through Sunday.
24· · · ·The time, the time changes.· It says it sometimes runs
25· ·like every seven minutes.· I think it should run like maybe
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
55
·1· ·every three to five minutes.· Because when it's on one
·2· ·side, it goes from Rosa Parks to maybe Kings Avenue.· They
·3· ·can have like the timing that it comes a little more faster
·4· ·than what they do.· That's all I can pretty much think of
·5· ·for right now.
·6· · · ·MR. TERRY:· Jacksonville has fought and begged and
·7· ·pleaded for years and years to finally update the Skyway
·8· ·that we have now.· It is now just beginning to be used
·9· ·fully.· And the idea of tearing it down now or trying to
10· ·replace it with something else is just incredibly insane.
11· ·That's about it.· It just doesn't make any sense to tear it
12· ·down when it's finally beginning to reach its success.
13· · · ·MS. BURLEY:· I wanted to say that I think to tear it
14· ·down is a waste of taxpayer money.· And then if you tear it
15· ·down, what would you replace it with?· And to replace it
16· ·with buses, it just adds a lot more congestion.· It's a
17· ·city and I hate traffic.· Most people do.· So that's not an
18· ·option.· Tearing it down is not an option.· So I guess the
19· ·only option would be to expand it, fix the cars, repair
20· ·them and make it a better system.
21· · · ·I love the Skyway.· I love it because I can get around
22· ·downtown without having to drive.· A lot of people don't
23· ·like to drive.· I think it's great for tourists.· And it's
24· ·great for the elderly, students, anybody who wants to get
25· ·in and around downtown.· When I have people that come in
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
56
·1· ·from out of town, that's one of my landmarks that I take
·2· ·them to, along with the stadium and this library.
·3· · · ·I guess that's it.· Keep the Skyway.· I don't even know
·4· ·why we're discussing tearing it down.· Now, I think it's
·5· ·going to be hard to expand it into neighborhoods because
·6· ·this is not built like the city of New York.
·7· ·Jacksonville's not built like that.· Jacksonville's built
·8· ·more residential because nobody wants these big
·9· ·monstrosities in the neighborhood.· So like the gentleman
10· ·over there say, you're probably going to have to go as
11· ·close to the neighborhood without going into the
12· ·neighborhoods.· I heard people talking about Arlington, and
13· ·I don't think it needs to be expanded that far.
14· · · ·Because like I said, this is not like a big city.· But,
15· ·you know, Brooklyn and Riverside, right down the river,
16· ·expanding it in the downtown area I think is good.· As far
17· ·as way out there, Arlington or whatever, they can just take
18· ·a bus or trolley.
19· · · ·MS. PORTER:· My name is Ashley Porter.· I've been
20· ·riding JTA since I was 10 years old.· I am now 29 going on
21· ·30 in February.· I worked for the Veteran's Memorial Arena.
22· ·I have come to some of your board meetings in the past and
23· ·I love how you-all changed a lot of stuff and upgraded a
24· ·lot of things, like the voice command on the Android phone.
25· ·I appreciate that you-all got the Skyway free.· I think
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
57
·1· ·you-all need to upgrade on you-all's security as far as
·2· ·people messing with the escalators.· Some people can fall
·3· ·down.· But I think something needs to be done about that as
·4· ·far as that go.· But any improvements that you-all need -·5· ·later buses for the events around town like the football
·6· ·games, the concerts, the shows at Everbank Field, the
·7· ·Monster Jam, I would love to see that be improved.
·8· · · ·As far as the Skyway go, that is a wonderful idea, to
·9· ·stretch it around the City area as far as the Riverside
10· ·area.· And I think it will be best to just make it into a
11· ·circle around and back and then to be going one way this
12· ·way and coming back.· You-all are doing great in my eyes
13· ·due to the fact that you-all have improved a lot on the
14· ·buses.· Personally, you-all actually changed the Sunday
15· ·schedule.· I now have to really get off work early.· I'll
16· ·be not able to get home at night sometimes.· I would like
17· ·to improve that.
18· · · ·I believe a lot of money will come to the city if
19· ·people that have to ride the bus can be able to get to
20· ·events.· I mean, I see your improvements and you have
21· ·changed a lot of things and upgraded, like the bus signs
22· ·got times if a person don't have an Android phone.· But I
23· ·know me and a lot more riders need their rides home from
24· ·Everbank field or the Veteran's Memorial Arena at night.
25· ·It's dangerous having to work there.
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
58
·1· · · ·I pray that you-all could change the Sunday schedule to
·2· ·a later time frame.· Everything else as far as the
·3· ·11:00 o'clock schedule -- I'm talking about the Orange Park
·4· ·bus or even the 103rd bus.· I live in Orange Park.· I ride
·5· ·the 58.· I really have called about that situation.· I got
·6· ·a range from like 8.05 to $11 an hour.· I'm a manager.· But
·7· ·if you-all could make the Sunday bus back later, I'd still
·8· ·be able to get home.· Thank you.
·9· · · ·MR. TAYLOR:· I am a concerned citizen.· I live on
10· ·Riverplace on the south bank, recently moved to Downtown
11· ·Jacksonville from TPC Sawgrass.· I'm really interested in
12· ·the progress that's happening in Downtown Jacksonville,
13· ·particularly the traffic and how to move people from one
14· ·side of the river to another and to unite the river.· As
15· ·the new mayor says, "One Jacksonville, one city."· I take
16· ·the river boat, the river taxi over to the games on Sunday.
17· ·I'm a season ticket holder since day one.
18· · · ·I used to live on the north bank, and I used to walk to
19· ·the games.· But that's a real interest in me being
20· ·downtown.· As far as the trolley, I took the trolley
21· ·over -- or the people mover as they call it -- to this
22· ·meeting.· I'm taking the people mover back home.· It's a
23· ·valuable asset instead of driving, paying for a parking
24· ·meter and leaving your cars for who knows what.· I like the
25· ·ideas I've seen tonight as far as expansion possibilities.
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
YVer1f
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
59
·1· ·You know, the funding's an issue, which I have no concern
·2· ·over.
·3· · · ·But I like the fact that it's being talked about.
·4· ·There's a vision in place, and there may be some mobility
·5· ·that hasn't been in Jacksonville for 25 years.· I can see
·6· ·that there's a lot of talk and not a lot of delivery.
I
·7· ·lived in St. Louis where they have a people mover that runs
·8· ·from the airport to downtown and across the river.· And
·9· ·that's what I can envision Jacksonville doing as expansion.
10· ·How they do that -- you know, I pay taxes but I can
11· ·understand.· I'm behind them in expanding.· Whatever they
12· ·do, I will buy.· And I love living downtown and being able
13· ·to access meetings such as this, public meetings, to
14· ·discuss what's happening around the city.
15· · · · · (The proceedings concluded at 7:00 p.m.)
16· · · · · · · · · · · · ·- - 17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com
MEETING NO. 3
SKYWAY SUBCOMMITTEE & ADVISORY GROUP
October 26, 2015
60
·1· · · · · · · · · · ·CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
·2
·3· ·STATE OF FLORIDA )
·4· ·COUNTY OF DUVAL· )
·5
·6· · · · I, MATTHEW MCKINNEY, do hereby certify that I was
·7· ·authorized to and did stenographically report the foregoing
·8· ·proceedings; and that the transcript, pages 1 through 59, is a
·9· ·true record of my stenographic notes.
10
11· · · · I FURTHER CERTIFY that I am not a relative, employee, or
12· ·attorney, or counsel of any of the parties, nor am I a relative
13· ·or employee of any of the parties' attorney or counsel connected
14· ·with the action, nor am I financially interested in the action.
15
16· · · · · · · ·DATED this 28th day of October, 2015.
17
18
19
20
· · · · · · · ·__________________________________________
21· · · · · · · · · · · · ·Matthew McKinney
22
23
24
25
800.211.DEPO (3376)
EsquireSolutions.com