WEC Analysis Committee

From Eugene Neighbors

1 Overview
2 Integrated Clusters
3 Senario Backbones
4 References
5 External Links

[edit] Overview

The WEC Analysis Committee is a working group of the West Eugene Collaborative.

[edit] Integrated Clusters

In reviewing and analyzing the results of the "design storming" activity, the Analysis Committee identified the following integrated clusters of design elements and other ideas.

A. Improve efficiency of transportation network

B. Increase public transit

C. Enhance pedestrian and bikeways

D. Intensify development appropriately

E. Relocate some land uses

F. Enhance open space/natural resources

G. Enhance natural watershed

H. Enhance appreciation and connections to natural resources

These eight integrated design issue clusters emerged out of the first-draft issue clusters under development by three "technical subcommittees", and achieved committee consensus as a working framework during our discussion on 16 June, 2008. The clusters have been developed to their current level of content over many hours of weekly meetings through 23 July, 2008.

These eight areas are intended to organize the results of the "design storming" activity, and to provide information to assist the WEC in its deliberations:

Key Parameters and Rules of Thumb
Key Questions
Community Design Implications
Implementation Process Comments
References
External Links

Our intention is to add to these pages between (and perhaps during) meetings to collaboratively provide information and analysis useful to the WEC process.

[edit] Senario Backbones

Following up on the fruitful discussions of the July 2008 WEC main meeting, the Analysis Committee is working to provide materials for the next WEC main meeting which will help the whole group focus on a suite of key issues in developing a common vision for the commercial core of West Eugene, in order to move forward with exploratory development of the community design solution based on this vision.

The key options in terms of senario backbones, in the core area, have been boiled down to:

Multiway Boulevard Scenario - "Multiway Boulevard" - Focused on concentrating activity around a West 11th redeveloped progressively into a dense, high-traffic-capacity Multiway Boulevard, from around Garfield out to around Beltline, tightly coordinated with public transit, bike/ped pathways, adjacent commercial/residential mixed-use, and natural resources. Helps West 11th congestion by handling increased traffic, improving land use, and improving alternative modes, rather than by diverting traffic.
Two-Way Alternative Route Scenario - aka "Bypass" - Intended to relieve traffic pressure from West 11th from around Garfield to somewhere west, by enhancing east-west alternative routes, using existing streets north of W11th with two way traffic both there and on W11th.
One-Way Alternative Route Scenario - aka "Couplet" - Intended to relieve traffic pressure from West 11th from around Garfield to somewhere west, by enhancing east-west alternative routes, using existing streets north of W11th with selected use of one way traffic on the alternative route and on part of W11th.

These three scenario backbones, in and of themselves, intentionally only involve on a subset of issues the WEC is looking at - but the subset they do involve is key. While many of the issues the WEC is looking at are independent of these backbones, in the whole WEC discussion and in our follow-up analysis, these backbones emerged as distinguishing elements.

Our current phase of process is to work together on understanding these core elements in place in community design plans, by means of the charrette groups and whole group discussion on September 16 and 18. Once we feel as a group that the visioning of these core elements is well-underway, it will probably then make sense to widen the area of collective design process to bring in those other contingent elements, as appropriate.