PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING

Meeting Minutes

April 7, 2010

 

MEMBERS ATTENDING

 

Melissa Ashline-Heil, City of Cohoes

Bradley Birge, City of Saratoga Springs

Wayne Bonesteel, Rensselaer County

Paul Cassillo, City of Schenectady

Peter Comenzo, Town of Rotterdam

Frank Commisso, Albany Port District Commission

Kevin Corcoran, Town of Glenville

Steve Feeney, Schenectady County

Rocky Ferraro, Capital District Regional Planning Commission

Michael Franchini, Albany County (Chairman)

Robert Hansen, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1

Steve Iachetta, Albany County Airport Authority

David P. Jukins, Capital District Transportation Committee

Andrew Kreshik, City of Troy

Joe LaCivita, Town of Colonie

Kathy Matern, Town of Niskayuna

Barb McHugh, Town of Clifton Park

Mike Morelli, Town of Bethlehem

Rosemary Nichols, City of Watervliet

Paul Reuss, Village of Menands

Tom Richardson, City of Mechanicville

Deidre Rudolph, City of Albany

Phil Serafino, representing Bill Rinaldi, NYS Thruway Authority

Michael Valentine, Saratoga County

Steve Watts, Town of Halfmoon

Kristina Younger, Capital District Transportation Authority (Vice-Chair)

 

STAFF AND OTHERS

 

Frank Bonafide, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1

Jen Ceponis, Capital District Transportation Committee

Rob Cherry, NYS Department of Transportation

Tom Dolin, Town of New Scotland

Shelly Johnston, Creighton Manning Association

Tammy Kirkwood, GMB Engineers and Planners

Colleen Smith Lemmar, NYS Department of Transportation

Maryanne Mariotti, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1

Fred Mastroianni, Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.

Sandra Misiewicz, Capital District Transportation Committee

Christopher O’Neill, Capital District Transportation Committee

Glenn Posca, Capital District Transportation Committee

Jason Purvis, Capital District Transportation Committee

Don Rhodes, Village of Colonie

Bruce Secor, Stantac Consulting

Deb Stacey, Capital District Transportation Committee

Mila Vega, Capital District Transportation Authority

 

 

VISITORS ISSUES

 

Chairman Franchini opened the meeting at approximately 9:35 am.  There were no visitors wishing to speak.

 

 

ACTION ITEMS

 

ADMINISTRATION

 

Approval of the February 10, 2010 Meeting Minutes

 

The minutes from the February 10, 2010 meeting were approved as written.

 

CDTC STAFF PRESENTATION`

 

Capital CoExist

 

Jason Purvis provided an overview of the work that has been completed to date to launch the “Capital CoExist” campaign in the region.  The campaign was rolled out on April 1st.  A new website was created (www.capitalcoexist.org), along with posters and palm cards.  The website has seen over 10,000 hits since April 1st.  Four messages are part of the campaign—“Ride Right”, “Be Seen”, “Share the Road” and “Eyes on the Road”. Thirty four of CDTA’s buses display one of the four messages.  This project was developed in response to the recently completed Albany Bicycle Master Plan and public requests for bicycle education and safety information.  It is expected that the Capital Coexist website will become the clearinghouse for bicycle education material in the Capital Region; a one-stop location for bicycle educational material, safety tips, current bicycle projects and events.

 

CDTA’s Bike Rack Program

 

The Capital Region Bike Rack Program is a new addition to the set of Travel Demand Management (TDM) activities that are administered cooperatively by CDTA and CDTC.  The program provides free bike racks (up to $1000) to the public sector and non-profits and provides a 50/50 cost sharing arrangement for bike racks for the private sector.  Eighty-two organizations submitted applications for bike racks under the 2010 solicitation, for a total of $54,500.  Seventy-seven applications were approved for 335 bike racks (totaling $50,000).  About 900 bicycle parking spaces will be created as a result of this program.  Project sponsors must sign an MOU and commit to installation within a two month time frame.  The first delivery of racks will be available for pickup by project sponsors on April 19th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNIFIED PLANNING WORK PROGRAM

 

Revision to the 2008-10 UPWP PL Budget

 

The UPWP PL budget needs to be revised due to greater than expected staff time spent on the TIP update.  To balance the PL budget, staff recommended moving monies out of tens code 30 and reallocating to tens codes 10 and 40.  Members approved the UPWP revision.

 

CDRPC also submitted (distributed at the meeting) a request to amend the 2009-10 approved UPWP budget, moving $8500 out of Provision of Services and moving $8500 into Socio-Economic Information.  Members approved this amendment.

 

2007-12 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM AMENDMENTS

 

Broadway over AMTRAK Service Road (R243)

 

The City of Rensselaer is requesting an increase of $492,000 in construction funding for the Rehabilitation of the Broadway Bridge over Amtrak (TIP Project R243).  The bridge requires immediate repair as it has numerous safety flags.  The project also requires an increase of $141,000 in design funds due to coordination issues with Amtrak.  Members approved the proposed amendment.

 

Diesel Retrofit Discussion

 

Deb Stacey briefly reviewed CDTC’s diesel retrofit program.  The Planning Committee, at is December 2006 meeting, created a $2M set-aside for diesel retrofits of non-CDTA fleets (RG102).  In 2008, CDTC solicited for Diesel Retrofit Projects and programmed one quarter of the set-aside ($500,000).

 

CDTC initially received and approved four project proposals—

    The City of Watervliet -- $50,400

    The City of Schenectady -- $100,000

    Schenectady County -- $30,000

    The Town of Niskayuna -- $27,125

 

Subsequent to the city of Schenectady’s CMAQ award, several fleet vehicles were retired and a few others were purchased.  The city now has 17 vehicles that would benefit from diesel retrofit technology.  However, the technology has improved greatly, as has the cost.  Federal law requires that CMAQ be used to fund retrofits using Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART).  In the city’s case, this is Level 3 technology that will reduce Particulate Matter (PM) emissions by 85% (as compared to 20% that the 2008 technology would have achieved) at a cost of $14,799 per vehicle (total cost $251,583).  The city is asking the Planning Committee to approve the increase in cost to retrofit the 17 vehicles.  Members approved the cost increase.

 

 

 

2010-15 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE CONTINUATION OF ROUND 2 PROGRAMMING

 

Summary of Actions Previously Completed

 

During Round one programming, $71M was programmed, mostly for highway projects.  Top ranked projects were selected for funding under Round 1.  During Round 2, three safety projects were programmed and members approved funding for several set-asides (ADA, Spot Improvement, Linkage Transition Engineering and Bridges).  With a $150M programming target, about $64M is left to program in Round 2 and Round 3.  Approximately $56M should be programmed under Round 2, leaving $8M for Round three.

 

New Scotland Project Candidate (Candidate #18)

 

Tom Dolin, Town of New Scotland Supervisor, reported that the scope of the candidate project submitted by the Town, Rehabilitation/ Reconstruction of Krumkill Road listed under candidate pavement projects in Table 7 of members packets, has substantially changed. A engineering study suggests that the road can be realigned for $3M, with the same benefit of the former $9M project (that was submitted for consideration for the 2010-15 TIP).

 

Watervliet Hudson Mohawk Bike Trail Completion Candidate (Candidate #25)

 

Rosemary Nichols distributed a memo describing the proposed change in scope to the TIP Candidate Project #25.  Meetings subsequent to the TIP submittal deadline revealed that the less expensive ($2M vs. $6M) option for the placement of the bike path was the “better” alternative.  The city submitted both alternatives (the River Side of 787 vs. the City side of 787) for review.  As customary, the more expensive (River Side option) was evaluated for the TIP candidate list.  The completion of this project would greatly influence safety on the Bike Path—currently persons using the bike path must travel on Route 32 in Watervliet.

 

Public Comment Received as of March 30, 2010

 

The Draft 2010-15 Transportation Improvement Program was released for public review on March 4, 2010.  As of March 30, twenty-one written comments were received.  Most comments voiced support or had questions about specific projects on the candidate list.  Additional comments received by May 4, 2010 will be considered at the May 5th Planning Committee meeting.

 

Discussion on the Village of Altamont Letter

 

Mayor Gaughan submitted a letter that further articulates his concern regarding how TIP project candidates are evaluated.  The Mayor attended the February 3rd Planning Committee meeting and introduced his concerns at that meeting.  Basically, the Mayor feels that small projects from rural communities, are not given an “equitable” evaluation, with larger urban needs taking precedence.  Dave Jukins reminded members that Round 2 and 3 considers criteria other than rank for project selection.

 

Additional Round 2 Programming

 

Members were reminded that Round 2 programming is not on the critical path to adopting the 2010-15 TIP.  Projects programmed under Rounds 2 and 3 will be placed in the post 2015 column of the TIP, and should not be projects that have an urgent need.  TIP project candidates were sorted into 9 funding categories; three categories were addressed at the February meeting leaving the Bicycle and Pedestrian; Community Compatibility; Congestion, ITS, Transit and Pavement categories for funding proposals.  It was suggested that funding targets be established for each category.  The merit of programming additional pavement projects was discussed given that Round 1 was almost entirely programmed for Pavement projects.

 

As a starting point for discussion, Kristina Younger proposed funding targets for all six categories--$8M for Bicycle/ Pedestrian, $16.5M for Community Compatibility, $2M for Congestion Management, $3M for ITS, $2M for Transit and $25M for Pavement.  Members attempted to select bicycle/pedestrian projects totaling $8M.  Several “groups” of projects were identified.  Additional funding targets by each category were also put on the table.

 

After a spirited discussion, Committee members requested CDTC staff to identify three to four options for funding allocations with attendant lists of candidate projects. Members will use these lists a starting point for discussions at the May meeting.

 

NYSDOT ARRA REPORT

 

Bob Hansen reported on the progression of the ARRA projects. The Asphalt Index has been rising, which is affecting budgets for ARRA Pavement projects.  Early on, there were some savings in completed ARRA projects, theses savings can be passed on to other ARRA projects in the pipeline, on a first come first served basis. 

 

OTHER

 

There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:25 p.m.  The next Planning Committee meeting is scheduled for May 5, 2010.

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

 

John P. Poorman

Secretary