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City of Flagstaff opens 60-day review of draft regional plan transportation chapter; plan removes explicit “level of service” metric
Summary
City planning manager Sarah Dector briefed the Transportation Commission on the draft regional plan’s transportation chapter, highlighting structural changes to the plan, policy maps, a 60-day public comment period and a deliberate omission of the traditional “level of service” roadway metric.
Sarah Dector, comprehensive and neighborhood planning manager for the City of Flagstaff, briefed the Transportation Commission on the draft regional plan and encouraged commissioners to submit comments during the 60-day public review.
Dector said the draft separates policy goals from staff-facing implementation guidance, uses a revised “planning pyramid” to clarify which material will be applied in discretionary development review and includes multiple policy maps for the road network, urban trail system and bikeways. Commissioners were told the public review platform already contains hundreds of comments and allows up- and down-voting on suggestions.
“I'm Sarah Dector. I'm the comprehensive and neighborhood planning manager for the city of Flagstaff,” Dector said when she opened her presentation. She summarized organization and maps in the transportation chapter and asked commissioners to review the draft before the close of the comment period.
Dector told commissioners how the plan reframes evaluation measures for transportation projects. On the long-debated traffic metric known as level of service, she said, “we never say the words level of service anywhere in the plan. It's absolutely silent on that, and that is purposeful to let the transportation community have a conversation about what purpose does level of service as a measure serve.” Staff presented alternatives including safety measures, vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and evaluation matrices used in recent projects.
The planning team reported an early turnout of nearly 80 people producing roughly 462 comments in the first half of the review; the commission was reminded that the review period closes on December 19. Dector described an accelerated schedule if the plan remains on track: "The goal is to get this on the November 2025 ballot. And if my fallback is March 2026, like, if we can't make that because we just can't get all these awesome group discussions together, that's probably the critical path right now." She said the county could begin hearings immediately if the city adopts the plan.
Staff also said Metro-plan consultants conducted transportation modeling for scenario planning, and Mountain Line staff have been involved in route and stop reviews. Commissioners discussed whether a permanent transit network map should be included and were asked whether they wanted to submit comments as individuals or pursue a joint commission comment; commissioners opted for individual comments because of timing constraints.
The draft plan contains policy maps described as binding (road network, bikeways by type and enhanced/grade-separated crossings) and informational maps for items such as current transit routes. Dector encouraged commissioners to review comments already posted online, including the Bicycle Advisory Committee’s group comment minutes, and attend additional public office hours and a closing webinar on the plan.
