Official DRAFT Lummi Ferry System Improvement Documents

Links to these current draft (i.e., may be changed) documents are now available to read and comment on, by anyone who wishes to learn more about the *current* (not final!) preliminary information available from the County’s consultants (KPFF). KPFF was hired to analyze ferry level of service, consider options and estimate potential costs, pros and cons, for consideration by the community. Ultimately, the County Council will decide which if any option to pursue further.  Please note that older unofficial, even more preliminary draft version/versions were circulated on a social media site without LIFAC approval. Directing comments to the drafts below will avoid needless confusion.

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From: Nancy Ging <lifac.nancy@gmail.com>
Sent: May 1, 2018 6:33 PM
To: LIFAC Announcements <lifac-announce@googlegroups.com>, ferryproject@googlegroups.com
Subject: [LIFAC Announcements] Ferry Consulting Documents Available

At our work session last Thursday (4/26/18), the Lummi Island Ferry Advisory Committee (LIFAC) voted unanimously to publish preliminary DRAFT consulting documents we have received from KPFF Group to our County website. Council staff finished that today, and you can now download and view the documents from the official LIFAC webpage: http://www.whatcomcounty.us/521/Lummi-Island-Ferry-Advisory-Committee Please note that these are DRAFT documents and are subject to change. Also, these documents are intended to be appendices attached to the final consulting report. For example, several of them contain portions of cost information. The final document (not yet available) will pull all the appendices together into overall option summaries and KPFF’s final recommendations. If you feel anything is missing, in error, or you have an opinion you want to be considered before the documents are finalized, please send feedback as soon as possible in one of the following ways: 1. Send your comments in an email to: lummiferry@googlegroups.com 2. Come to one of LIFAC’s meeting and speak during the public comment time. You can speak for up to three minutes, but you also can submit as much written information as you would like. It makes things a lot easier if you can bring your verbal comments in written form as well so we can attach them to our minutes. Meeting schedules for the next couple of months are available on our website. 3. Give your written comments to any LIFAC member. Current members include: Charles Bailey Rhayma Blake Cris Colburn (Bellingham) Jim Dickinson Pat Dunn Nancy Ging On Tuesday, May 22, 2018, KPFF will make their final presentation at a public meeting at Beach School (Centerview and N. Nugent, Lummi Island). This will be the LAST OPPORTUNITY to directly ask these experts questions about the options they recommend. Public comments, however, will be accepted by LIFAC until JUNE 25, 2018. Additional documents and revisions will be made available as they are received. Watch for public announcements from LIFAC. The website link above is your best source for the most current and accurate versions of the documents as we move forward. Our meeting schedule for the next couple of months is also posted there. Thank you for your interest! We look forward to your continuing participation. Nancy Ging LIFAC Chair

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To contact LIFAC, send message to: lummiferry@googlegroups.com</lifac-announce@googlegroups.com></lifac.nancy@gmail.com>

Update on 2018 Plan to replace Chief, Gooseberry Dock

More on the upcoming recommendations on Whatcom County’s planning to replace the Gooseberry Pt Dock and Whatcom Chief. Important stuff. If you want to have input, the next 3 months are crucial. Stu Rich, President of Protect Lummi Island Community, just sent out this summary.
**********************************************
From:
Date: Sat, Mar 17, 2018 at 12:23 PM
Subject: PLIC – Stuart Rich- President letter on 3/14/18 Ferry Meeting
To: PLICEBlast

PLIC- Stuart Rich-President

The ferry consultant, KPFF Consulting, and Whatcom County Public Works have laid out their options for a ferry replacement boat (20, 28 or 34 car capacity vessel) and the future Gooseberry ferry terminal location (1.the present location, 2. move north to convenience store location, or 3. purchase up to 8 private homes). Now it’s up to us to decide what is in the best interest of Lummi Island and chose a ferry replacement system that will serve our future needs through the year 2060.

Let’s start with a priority decision- location of the Gooseberry terminal. Staying at the present location is not viable. Lummi Nation has served us due notice that there will be no renewal of the present-day lease. The second option of the convenience store location would mean the continuation of expensive upland and tideland leases with the Lummi Nation which would continue to impact operational costs and fares. The third option of purchasing private homes coupled with a tradeoff – changing the county- right-of- way to accommodate the proposed Lummi Nation marina in exchange for the Nation’s support for a federal right-of-way over the tidal water dock area – would forever eliminate the need for lease payments to the Lummi Nation. This option is cost effective and provides a permanent solution
.
Choosing a long-term replacement boat is a complex process which is directly tied to the level of service (LOS), operational costs and fares, as well as the future growth of Lummi Island. How big of a boat do we need? After examining several studies, KPFF has pegged Lummi Island’s annual growth rate for pedestrian/passenger ridership at 1.54% and vehicle ridership at 0.76 percent through the year 2040. After factoring in current peak ferry usage, the consultants have projected a low- middle- and high range for the required boat capacity through the year 2060.

Progress on Updating Lummi Island Ferry System: Level of Service

On Tuesday January 3, 2017, the Lummi Island Ferry Advisory Committee (LIFAC) will review the latest draft of their proposal to update the ferry ‘level of service’ (LOS) definition at their meeting at the Lummi Island Fire Hall (6:30-7:50 PM).  2017-01-03-lifac-agenda-and-draft-los-proposal.  The public is invited to provide input on the draft proposal during the comment period at the start of the meeting (3 minute limit per person), in writing including  email, and at the Protect Lummi Island Community (PLIC) annual meeting on January 17, 2017 at the Beach School auditorium.

After public input, LIFAC will finalize and vote on the LOS proposal. That proposal will then be presented to the County Council for consideration at the earliest possible date. This is the crucial next step in moving forward with plans to update the Lummi Island ferry system, including a new ferry, dock modifications (probably replacement) and ferry terminal improvements (e.g., parking).  The step after that will be to request funding from the Council for the detailed work, including financial estimates, needed to form a feasible action plan.

Lummi Island – Fairhaven Route

UPDATE May 17,2016:  Nancy Ging, LIFAC member, clarified the origins of this draft document on NextDoor Lummi Island (private site). The draft report is not part of LIFAC-County current long-range planning for any future changes to the ferry system. (re-posted with her permission).

“There is NO Fairhaven proposal currently under discussion, or even hinted. This report, initiated at the request of a County Councilmember, is intended only to summarize some of the major obstacles encountered by the County, LIFAC, and other citizen groups in the past when the recurring idea of a Fairhaven route was fully explored and rejected. It is not intended to be comprehensive or complete. The report is in draft form and is being submitted for public input, which will be attached to the report before storing it in the archives at the Library.”

Original post May 14, 2016. The Lummi Island Ferry Advisory Committee (LIFAC) has produced a detailed draft report on the feasibility of docking at Fairhaven (DRAFT–Ferry Service Lummi Island to Fairhaven, April 30, 2016). Chuck Antholt, who researched and authored the report, presented it at the May 3, 2016 meeting. The report makes two key assumptions: 1) use of the Whatcom Chief; and 2) no restrictions on docking at Fairhaven (unlikely, given recent input from the Port of Bellingham).  LIFAC requests citizen input on the report (written preferred) at or before their June 7 meeting (email: lummiferry@googlegroup.com or comment at the meeting).

 

LIFAC on Comprehensive Plan, Route to Fairhaven and Electric Ferry

Quite a bit is happening tomorrow night at the Lummi Island Ferry Advisory Committee meeting (6:30-7:40, District 11 Firehall, Lummi Island). Here’s the agenda:  LIFAC agenda 2016-05-03

LIFAC Draft Report on Ferry Level of Service 12-01-2015

The Lummi Island Ferry Advisory Committee (LIFAC) has made public its draft report on ferry level of service LIFAC LOS Project Part 1 Report – DRAFT 12-01-2015. This report is part of their co-operative planning with Public Works re: replacement of the Whatcom Chief.  Included are definitions, history and more about what ‘ferry level of service’ is and how it is defined by Whatcom County.  This is a substantive document with considerable detail and comparisons to other WA ferry systems.  Public comments on the document and issues are welcome, and can be submitted in writing to lummiferry@googlegroups.com or at the next LIFAC meeting in January (tentatively, January 5).  

What is the Ferry Level of Service?

Why review the ferry Level of Service (LOS) now? LIFAC and Public Works are currently exploring the County’s ferry LOS history and options as part of their brief to advise the County Council on a replacement of the Whatcom Chief at some future time.

What  is a “Level of Service”, anyway? In Washington state, LOS is the legal term for how a county, city or other governmental entity defines what it deems ‘acceptable traffic flow’ on roads, ferries etc. They do this supposedly to help plan for the transportation infrastructure that will ‘accommodate’ projected changes in population and development.  The Washington Growth Management Act (1993) requires transportation infrastructure planning to be part of required comprehensive land use planning to accommodate projected growth. The notion is that transportation infrastructure plans should be ‘concurrent’ with development.

Sometime in the 1990s, Whatcom County assigned our ferry system a ‘ferry LOS’ as part of its the ‘transportation concurrency’ part of its comprehensive plan. The current ferry LOS was defined (I think) as the total # of people and/or vehicles transported annually/# island residents, measured at some past point in time.

Does the ferry or any other LOS matter?  Defining a traffic LOS doesn’t necessarily mean that traffic flow is kept ‘reasonable’ from the drivers’ perspective. That’s because local governments can define ‘acceptable’ a traffic LOS, either overall or at specific times (e.g., commute times) that allows very heavily congested roads etc.  So what if the government entity doesn’t have or want to spend more monies to to increase its transportation infrastructure, and if neither developers nor taxpayers are willing to pay more for improvements that would keep traffic congestion down? Well, they can simply lower the ‘acceptable’ LOS, resulting in more traffic congestion as development and population increase.

Examples of ‘traffic planning’ via LOS (best appreciated by those who’ve been in Whatcom County 10+ years).  Guide Meridian, especially at rush hour is definitely worse now than 10 years ago. Looking ahead, think about traffic at the Bakerview Road/I5 interchange as Costco, more apartments, more stores, and more hotels are built, plus (maybe) more airport traffic. Or, consider how traffic has worsened between Seattle and Marysville as the northward population has grown. Yes, some changes have been made to roads, but traffic is still way more congested than it was.

I’m glad LIFAC and Public Works are exploring ideas about changes in island population and the ferry system that might ‘accommodate’ population projections.  But I’ve no illusions that any LOS they recommend as ‘reasonable’ will result in an increased numbers of runs or a larger ferry with more vehicle capacity that might keep car traffic flowing as well as it does now.

LIFAC Meeting/Worksession Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Below is the notice of the next LIFAC meeting / worksession on the ferry ‘level of service’. On Facebook (or somewhere) I read that that Rich Hudson, the Chief’s new Senior Master, will attend this meeting, at least briefly. Note that, as usual, brief (3 minute) public comments will be taken at the start of the meeting.

—–Forwarded Message—–
From: Stu
Sent: Nov 27, 2015 2:52 PM
To: LIFAC Announcements
Cc: LIFAC Members
Subject: [LIFAC Announcements] LIFAC Meeting Announcement for Dec. 1 , 2015

Lummi Island Ferry Advisory Committee (LIFAC) will hold it’s regular meeting this month on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015, at 6:30 PM. The meeting will be held in the Lummi Island Fire Hall.

This will be a work session largely devoted to reviewing the Level of Service (LOS) Work Plan. As always, there will be an Open Session for receiving public comments.

Thank you for your interest.
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September 1, 2015 LIFAC Meeting

The agenda for tonight’s LIFAC meeting (Sept 1, 2015, 6:30 PM, at Lummi Island Fire Hall) is here. Hit the ‘download’ button for the Sept. 1 line to see the pdf file. Key agenda items:

• Rob Ney (Public Works) will give updates on dry dock, old ferry passes and inspections

 

• LIFAC members will report on their progress on the Level of Service (LOS) work plan (approved at their August 2015 meeting; not yet posted on the LIFAC county website).  The LOS work plan was jointly developed by LIFAC and Public Works. Gathering and analyzing this information is the next essential step toward determining an appropriate replacement for the Whatcom Chief.

Note: When the LOs work plan is up on the county website, I will post the link here.

Audio: Public Works Report to County Council on Ferry Replacement

Here’s the audio of the Public Works (PW) report to the County Council about the Hiyu option, based on the marine engineering consultants’ feasibility and cost reports to the County.