Special Project Oversight Committee (SPOC) Report #1

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Summary Report ~ „,. ., „ Courthouse Square Transit Facility ~~ ~ ~ Purpose: The follo~ving is a summaxy of the Transit portion of the Courihouse Square project. Background: For the past two decades, even before the Transit District e:dsted, there ~ as discussion of the need for a downtown transit faality, with emphasis on t~e centralized Senator block. In fact, in the past, a bus terminal had been adjacent to the Senator Hotel and supported by a cafe in the hotel. In 1985, ~he first plans for the use of the Senator block for transit faciiities were drawn a.nd proposed by a consultant team including former city manager Bob lYloore. At about that time, the city authorized the use of the High Street location, in front of the Courthouse, as a temporary transit facility, while the District firmed up its plans and financing for a permanent site. In August 1995, after considering many sites, a citizen site selection committee settled on four primary sites, including the Senator block. The committee did not recommend the site, however, because of their belief that the politics involved (the site was County owned) would be insurmountable. The technical advisory committee (composed of transit, city, county, and COG sta.~ recommended the site as their top priority because of its superior functionality. Subsequently, city sta.ff recommended to the City Council thai the Senator block be supported because of serious technical drawbacks on the other primary sites. In November 199~, Transit and Marion County determined that a public partnership was in both parties best interest and the best interest of 11~Iarion County/Transii taxpayers. And Courthouse Square was born. Site Benefits: The primary benefits of the site were, and are: • Site is publicly owned and does not require condemnation. • Site provides ingress a.nd egress at mid-block, as dictated by the city, and utilizes two major one-way streets to move buses to and from the site without major tra.~c interruption. ~ • Site is centrally located to the downtown and particularly to the largest employee/commuter base - the Capitol Mall, other government o~ces, Salem Centre, and the business core. • Site provided for ma~;m7Trg site potential with a willing partner. Facilities: Not only has there been a long-term need to remove the temporary bus facility from its current High Street location, as directed by the City Council in I993, but there has been substa.ntial public discussion, as well, over the need to make the District's administrative and policy functions more accessible to the public. In addition, the growth of tra.nsit services and the 1