The North Bend City Council has taken a step toward one day having a park-and-ride lot in the city.
At the council’s meeting on Jan. 3, council members approved the allocation of $150,000 to URS Corp. for predesign and environmental permitting work for the proposed park and ride.
The site that is currently proposed for the lot is at the intersection of West North Bend Way and Sydney Avenue North.
The $150,000 comes from federal appropriations the city secured for the development of the lot. The predesign and environmental work must be completed by April 15 to ensure that the city will receive the rest of the 2006 appropriations.
The resolution the council approved for the funds was amended from an original amount of $302,000 after several council members expressed concerns that the amount was too much to spend at this early stage.
Councilmember Karen Tavenner said, “I don’t feel comfortable authorizing up to $300,000. I can’t believe it’s going to cost that much.”
The $302,000 was a maximum amount and some of that money would have rolled over into the next phase of the project, according to Ron Garrow, the city’s public works director. Tavenner proposed that $150,000 be approved for the first phase.
“I don’t anticipate using it [all $302,000] and I don’t think they do either,” Garrow said. He said $150,000 would be sufficient for the work that needs to begin immediately to meet the April deadline.
The resolution passed unanimously after the amount was changed.
After the April deadline, the Federal Transit Administration will review the preliminary design layouts and environmental permitting submissions. URS will then complete the final design before the project goes to bid for construction. While there is already a site selected, it is only preliminary and could change after URS does its initial work. The proposal will go to the public for feedback and must be approved by the City Council before it will be finalized.
As it is proposed, the lot would include between 75 and 100 parking stalls. Bus stops for the lot would be located along West North Bend Way, and current bus routes in the area could be rerouted to improve accessibility to the lot. Garrow said the city hopes ridership will increase to support a future Express bus route for the lot.
Garrow said there is no specific completion date for the project.
