PLANNING
COMMITTEE MEETING
Meeting Minutes
January 21, 2009
Bradley Birge, City of Saratoga Springs
Wayne Bonesteel, representing Fred Howard, Rensselaer County
Peter Comenzo, Town of Rotterdam
Frank Commisso, Albany Port Commission
Todd Fabozzi, representing Rocky Ferraro, Capital District Regional
Planning Commission
Stephen Feeney, Schenectady County
Michael Franchini, Albany County (Chairman)
Robert Hansen, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1
Steve Iachetta, Albany Airport Authority
Barbara McHugh, Town of Clifton Park
Mike Morelli, Town of Bethlehem
Rosemary Nichols, City of Watervliet
Marybeth Pettit, City of Rensselaer
Paul Reuss, Village
of Menands
Bill Roehr, City of Troy
Dede Rudolph, City of Albany
Bernie Sisson, City of Schenectady
Mike Valentine, Saratoga County
Steve Watts, Town of Halfmoon
Kristina Younger, Capital District Transportation Authority (Vice-Chair)
STAFF AND OTHERS
Anne Benware, Capital District Transportation Committee
Frank Bonafide, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1
Jennifer Ceponis, Capital District Transportation Committee
Christina Douglas, Clough Harbour and Associates
Shelly Johnston, Creighton Manning Engineering
David Jukins, Capital District Transportation Committee
Sandra Misiewicz, Capital District Transportation Committee
Larry Mulvaney, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1
Chris O’Neill, Capital District Transportation Committee
Glenn Posca, Capital District Transportation Committee
Jason Purvis, Capital District Transportation Committee
Ron Shaffer, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1
Deborah Stacey, Capital District Transportation Committee
VISITORS ISSUES
Chairman Franchini opened the meeting at approximately 9:35 am. There were no
visitor’s issues. However, Bob Hansen provided a response to a visitor’s inquiry from the
January 14th meeting, regarding NYSDOT’s response to a shooting
incident that closed I-90 in Albany. Bob reported
that the NYS Police had the lead on handling this incident, including the
closing of roads. However, there was an
issue with the variable message signs (VMS) on I-90. Verizon’s
connection had been interrupted prior to the incident, which made NYSDOT’s
modems inoperable. The VMS’s were not up
and
running
during the incident. NYSDOT is working
on installing their own fiber optic cable which would
take care of this type of issue in the future.
Action Items
ADMINISTRATION
Approval
of the January 14,
2008 Meeting Minutes
The meeting notes from the January 14th meeting were approved with one correction—Mike Morelli is affiliated with the Town of Bethlehem, not the city of Albany.
2007-12 TRANSPORTATION
IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM AMENDMENTS
Economic
Stimulus Package
David Jukins reminded members that the proposed list of Stimulus Projects
(previously distributed) reflects the agreement that was made by members to
accelerate projects currently on the TIP (that can be obligated in 180 days). Although a firm figure has not been released,
NYSDOT is assuming that there will be around $100M in Stimulus Funds available
for Region 1 road and bridge projects; additional monies will be available for
transit, airport and port projects. Buy America, Minority and DBE rules will also be a requirement for
the use of stimulus funds, rather than a guideline. Any approved stimulus funds will be available
as reimbursement, so localities will have to front the money for projects. Stimulus projects cannot have unresolved ROW or
utility components.
The distributed list of projects is a fairly robust list
heavily tilted toward local efforts.
When the money is programmed, it must be used or the region will lose
it. Those regions that spend monies
initially programmed will be in a better position to receive more dollars if a
round two funding package goes forward.
Air Quality Conformity: Five
projects on the draft list of projects are “non-exempt” projects. Chris O’Neill explained that non-exempt projects trigger Air Quality
Conformity Analysis requirements, which is a lengthy process and could
jeopardize funding of all of the region’s stimulus projects. Based on this, it is recommended that these
five projects be dropped from the draft list of projects that will likely be
submitted for the stimulus package. It
was also noted that a subset of these five projects has ROW
and environmental issues, so it would be unlikely that they could be obligated
in the 180 day time frame required under the Stimulus guidelines.
Members approved the draft list of candidate Federal
Stimulus package projects, excluding the five non-exempt projects that Chris O’Neill identified in a handout, for release for public review. This list will be distributed, with any
modifications
resulting
from the public review, to the Policy Board in March. Members also approved the amendment to the
2009 Economic Stimulus Program (ESP) Amendment that states that “if ESP
funding is not approved, or if certain projects are deemed ineligible for the
new funding, then projects shown in CDTC’s 2007-12 TIP should revert to their
previous status on the TIP and projects that are currently not shown on the
2007-12 TIP should not gain TIP status in the absence of Economic Stimulus
Program funding”.
Public Participation Guidelines: Jason Purvis reported that CDTC’s adopted Public Participation Guidelines
require a 60 day public review period for the draft TIP. It was questioned if the draft list of
stimulus projects triggered the 60 day review requirement or a 30 day review period,
required for TIP Amendments. Jason
noted that a 60 day public review period would not fit well with the deadlines
for submitting a final list of stimulus projects to the Policy Board and Federal
Government. After some discussion, the
Planning Committee agreed that a 30-day public review period would be
appropriate, which is consistent with other MPO areas around the nation and
CDTC’s guidelines for TIP amendments. The draft list of candidate projects to
be funded by the anticipated Federal Economic Stimulus Package and accompanying
documentation will be posted on CDTC’s website by 3:00PM on
Friday January
23, 2009.
Other TIP
Amendments
NYSDOT distributed information regarding an amendment to
TIP Project R241—CR 49 (East Union) over the Wynantskill Creek. The cost of this project
is reduced by $30,000. In addition, the
listing in the current TIP reads “… over Unnamed Creek” and the listing will
now read “… over Wynantskill Creek”. No
formal action is necessary.
TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT
PROGRAM UPDATE
Material on salmon colored paper was distributed to
replace tables that were previously mailed to members. This new handout displays TIP allocations
proposed by NYSDOT, which were derived using new allocation formulas. The new formulas essentially move money from
STP Flex into HBRR (bridges). Table A
compares the allocations based on the old formulas and the new formula, and
also shows a comparison with the existing TIP.
CDTA noted that the table does not include FTA allocations to CDTA. Total dollars are less than what is shown in
the current TIP mainly due to rescissions. It was noted that these funding
formulas could change during the next TIP update. It was also mentioned that one of the
recommendations resulting from CDTC’s certification review identified a need to
cooperatively develop and share information related to financial
plans in the
TIP development process. Members approved the new allocation formulas
represented by Column 2 in Table A.
Discussions moved to Table 3, Products of Community
Planning Studies, in the previously distributed material. Each of the 10 projects
identified in Table 3 was discussed in turn:
Project A240—I87 Exit
3: NYSDOT recommends splitting the job into ROW
and bridge work ($28.7M) using IM and DEMO funds and agreed to program the
second phase in the post TIP using NHS.
Project A242—Slingerlands
ByPass: this project should drop off the TIP since it
is considered complete.
Project A290—Selkirk
Bypass: The town of Bethlehem is completing a
feasibility assessment for the interchange portion of this
project and requests that this project be kept on the 2009-14 TIP until a
determination is made as to whether the interchange is feasible or not.
Project A295—New Karner Road: This project continues to be deferred and the
figures in both the existing and 2009-14 TIP should remain unchanged.
Project A296—Maxwell Road: It is proposed to increase the amount in the committed
column of this project by $1.436M. This
project is a Stimulus Candidate.
Project A372—Watervliet Shaker Road Phase 2: This project was recently
completed. The dollars remaining are for
incidentals.
Project A453-Watervliet
Shaker Road Phase 3: This is a “post-TIP” project. This project is a Stimulus Candidate.
Project SA108/S96—Balltown Road: An additional $16.755M has been added to this project,
with $15.89M in the Post TIP. Project
parameters are still uncertain.
Project SA109/S120—Glenridge Road: The funding for this project decreased by $0.236M
between the 2007-12 and the 2009-14 TIPs. This
project is starting to move forward and is being submitted as a stimulus
candidate.
Project S97—Route 50:
The retention of this project with no funding amounts establishes a commitment
to the project. Improvements to this
corridor have been recommended in two subsequent linkage studies.
Members voted to approve Table 3 as shown.
The timetable for adoption of the 2009-14 TIP was
discussed. A mid-month meeting in
February will be necessary, if material is to be sent to the Policy Board in
time for their action on March 5th.
The UPWP also needs Planning Committee review and action by February 4th,
which will provide a 30 day review period prior to Policy Board Action. The next Planning Committee meeting is
scheduled for Wednesday February 4th. The mid-month February Planning Committee
meeting is scheduled for Wednesday February 18th at 9:30am.
There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned
at 12:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
John P. Poorman
Secretary