PLANNING COMMITTEE
MEETING
Meeting Minutes
Bradley
Birge, City of
Wayne Bonesteel, representing
Fred Howard,
Rocky Ferraro, Capital
District Regional Planning Commission
Michael
Franchini,
Robert
Hansen, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1
Steve
Iachetta,
Barbara
McHugh, Town of
Michael Morelli, Town of
Rosemary
Nichols, City of
Marybeth
Pettit, City of
Bill
Roehr, City of
STAFF AND OTHERS
Joe
Cimino,
Jim
Digioia, NYS Office of General Services
Jim
Gaughan, Mayor,
David
Jukins, Capital District Transportation Committee
Larry Mulvaney, NYS
Department of Transportation Region 1
Chris O’Neill, Capital
District Transportation Committee
Paul Reuss,
Nelson Ronsvalle, Town of
Mike Wieszchowski, Laberge
Group
Karen Williams, NYS
Department of Transportation Region 1
Cathy Woodruff, Times
INTRODUCTION
Chairman
Franchini opened the meeting at approximately
VISITORS ISSUES
Jim
Digioia addressed the Committee with a follow up to previous comments he had
made regarding the recent emergency on I-90 in
Action Items
ADMINISTRATION
Approval of the
The
minutes were approved without any modifications.
ECONOMIC STIMULUS PROGRAM
Bob Hansen
reviewed various aspects of the Stimulus bill signed by the President. Of note is that 50% of the stimulus funds
must be obligated within 120 days. He reported that there are sub-allocations
within the stimulus funds for transportation enhancements (TEP), small and
large urban, and rural, etc. Stringent reporting/auditing
requirements will be required for each project receiving stimulus funds, with
emphasis on number of jobs created by each. Furthermore, maintenance of effort,
for both state and federal funds will need to be demonstrated.
Dave Jukins
continued the discussion by drawing the group’s attention to Tables 1, 2 and 3
previously e-mailed to the Committee. He
pointed out that back in
December, it was expected that the eight counties in Region 1, including the
CDTC and AGFTC areas, would receive roughly $127 million (about $100 million
for the CDTC area). Dave reported that the current allocation target is much
less, estimated at $87 million for Region 1 ($70-75 million for the CDTC area).
An additional $14 million is expected for transit. Additional funds will be
made available for airport and port projects.
Bob Hansen indicated that these estimates are subject to change.
Dave reminded the group of previous discussion on the 11”
x 17” table entitled Draft List of CDTC
Candidate Stimulus Projects dated 1/21/09 and that the committee had agreed
to a process that: (1) focused on current TIP projects that could be ready to
go (which would allow us, at a later date to back-fill the void left by
soliciting for new projects potentially); (2) looked at “upscoping” projects
that have previously been pulled back on due to funding constraints; and (3)
look to potential “ready-to-go” new projects if funds remain unspent.
Since development of that "candidate" table, NYSDOT
Region 1 staff has worked to identify “deliverability”, now within the 120 day
timeframe contained in the stimulus legislation. In addition, comments from the public and
agencies have been considered. As a result, CDTC staff, in collaboration with
NYSDOT Region 1 staff, produced “Table A, Revisions to CDTC’s Draft Stimulus
List Based on Information Provided by NYSDOT Region 1 at a Meeting Held at CDTC
on
Overall Project
Selection Process
The Committee reviewed Table A line by line. The Table’s listing of projects for proposed
removal from Table 1 (Draft List of CDTC
Candidate Stimulus Projects) reflects: deliverability issues; the fact that
some projects were tagged as “1R” projects (i.e. pavement resurfacing) on
roadways requiring more extensive repairs, or are otherwise ineligible for
federal funds.
As part of this discussion, several projects were added back
into Table 1. These include TIP projects
S190/S176 Rehab of Existing Canalway Trail/Mohawk Hudson Bike-Hike
Trail/Canalway Trail-Schenectady Segment and SA195 Zim Smith Trail Contract
2. These enhancement projects were
initially pulled off Table 1 to be applied against the TEP (Transportation
Enhancements) set-aside in the stimulus legislation. The group indicated it makes sense to have
one list from which the appropriate stimulus funds can be tapped, while
providing flexibility to account for the likelihood that some projects will be
able to be delivered as envisioned and others may not be.
Some discussion followed about S170, Schenectady
Intermodal (Western Gateway) where Kristina indicated the cost should read
$4.5M versus the $2.5M shown. Apparently
the $2.5M amount relates to stabilization of the rail platform only while $4.5M
is the estimate of the amount needed to complete the project. It was agreed to
keep the project cost at $2.5 million for now until the cost issue can be
resolved.
Mayor Gaughan of
Dave Jukins indicated that staff would eventually
respond to each of the public/agency comments received.
Highway Programming
Action
Dave
Jukins then referred to the narrative in the Planning Committee mail-out dated
Dave
reminded members that one element of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
requires that “economic distress” of an area, as defined by the Public Works
Act of 1965, be used to help prioritize projects. Projects located within an area of low per
capita income and/or unemployment rates above the national average are defined
as economically distressed. CDTC and
CDRPC identified and mapped economically distressed census tracts within the
CDTC area as well as stimulus projects located within economically distressed
census tracts (previously distributed).
NYSDOT is working to develop a better understanding of the Congressional
intent of this requirement.
The Planning Committee recommended the following
programming action:
A discussion ensued regarding how the Planning
Committee would have oversight with respect to the progress of stimulus funded
projects. This would allow the Committee
to have a handle on the amount of funds that would then become available for
future TIP programming on potential new TIP candidates.
Transit Programming
Action
The Planning Committee considered the transit projects
contained in Table 1.
The
Planning Committee approved the CDTA staff recommendation to add the four transit
projects in Table 1 to the stimulus list, contingent on the CDTA Board’s
approval. This would add $15M in
stimulus funds with $9M of Section 5307 funds being moved from T17 to T57. Also, $4.5M of contingent discretionary
stimulus funds would be added to T69, $10M to T70, and $22.5M to T17.
TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT
PROGRAM AMENDMENTS
A395 & S150
This
proposed project was discussed at the February 4, 2009 Planning Committee
meeting and is a NYSDOT/Amtrak Rail Initiative requiring Planning Committee and
Policy Board approval to be added to the TIP.
This project was previously on the TIP and was removed due to lack of
funding. The project involves providing
a double-track between the Rensselaer Rail station and
SA104
The
state did not accept the bids for this project as the lowest came in greater
than $20M more than the amount currently funded on the
Stimulus Project List Action
The
Planning Committee considered and approved a motion to send the stimulus project
list as approved and noted above to the Governor’s office and to incorporate
the appropriate language and stimulus funding amounts into the TIP pending
Policy Board consideration and approval at its March 2009 meeting.
2009–14 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE
Dave Jukins reported on
the TIP Update Schedule. At the last
NYSMPO Directors/NYSDOT RPPM meeting it was decided that TIP/STIP updates will
be delayed for 3 to 6 months. This will
provide time to work out available funds for update programming as the stimulus
projects work through the process and a determination is made regarding what
will be available for future project candidates. The update discussion will be revisited at
the April Planning Committee meeting.
Discussion Items
STATUS OF PLANNING
Due
to the hour, the status of planning activities was not reported.
There
being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at
Respectfully
submitted,
Secretary