Milwaukie planning commission unanimously recommends new multimodal Transportation System Plan to council

The Milwaukie Planning Commission on unanimous vote recommended that city council adopt a new Transportation System Plan (TSP) and accompanying amendments to Milwaukie Municipal Code Title 19.

The decision follows a multi-year planning process of advisory and technical committee meetings, public workshops, targeted outreach to underserved communities and repeated review by staff and consultants. Chair Edge said the commission will forward the recommendation to council following the public hearing and staff follow-up on minor clarifications.

Consultants and staff stressed the plan’s multimodal focus. "The vast majority of the projects that we came up with are focused on the pedestrian scale," Matt Hugart of consulting firm Kittleson told the commission, summarizing the financially constrained and aspirational project lists. He said bicycle projects make up roughly 15% of the project mix and that remaining projects address roadway and intersection needs.

Staff and the consultant team described a new multimodal functional classification — treating walking, biking, transit and freight with the same planning emphasis previously applied to the roadway network — and new performance measures. The plan adopts bicycle and pedestrian Levels of Traffic Stress and a "system completeness" metric the city will use to track progress; presenters said current baseline completeness ranges roughly from 27% to 53% on major and neighborhood walkways and could rise to roughly 50%–83% when aspirational projects are added.

The commission discussed several technical and map/text clarifications raised during review (for example, a discrepancy calling out the 29th Avenue Greenway). Staff acknowledged the inconsistencies and committed to follow up before council review. Staff also noted two additional projects that were discussed but not formally numbered in the packet (P126 and R33), and told the commission those would be added to the aspirational list (tier 3).

The motion to recommend adoption was made and seconded during deliberations and carried on a roll-call vote with all commissioners present voting aye. The planning commission’s recommendation will be docketed for a subsequent city council public hearing, where council will make the final decision.

Implementation and reporting: staff explained that Milwaukie will use the new local performance standards to measure progress internally, while Metro will report regional measures (Metro will aggregate Milwaukie’s components in its regional reporting to the state). The commission and presenters emphasized that funding and delivery of projects will depend on redevelopment opportunities, grant applications, and regional coordination.

Next steps: the recommendation will be transmitted to city council for its public hearing and final action; staff asked commissioners to report any last edits so the packet to council is accurate and consistent.