PLANNING
COMMITTEE MEETING
Meeting Minutes
May 5, 2010
Bradley Birge, City of Saratoga Springs
Paul Cassillo, City of Schenectady
Peter Comenzo, Town of Rotterdam
Frank
Commisso, Albany Port District Commission
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
Andrew Kreshik, City of Troy
Kate Maynard, Town of Wilton
Barb McHugh, Town of Clifton Park
Jim Moore, Town of East Greenbush
Mike Morelli, Town of Bethlehem
Rosemary Nichols, City of Watervliet
Marybeth Pettit, City of Rensselaer
John Poorman, Capital District Transportation Committee
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
Jennifer Ceponis, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1
Rob Cherry, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1
Tom Johnson, Barton & Loguidice
Shelly Johnston, Creighton Manning Engineering
David P. Jukins, Capital District Transportation
Committee
Tammy Kirkwood, GMB Engineering
Mary McNeill, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1
Sandy Misiewicz, Capital District Transportation Committee
Chris O’Neill, Capital District Transportation Committee
Glenn Posca, Capital District Transportation Committee
Jason Purvis, Capital District Transportation Committee
Deb
Stacey, Capital District
Transportation Committee
Tanya Thorne, NYS Department
of Transportation Region 1
VISITORS ISSUES
Chairman Franchini opened the meeting at approximately 9:35 am. There were no
visitor’s issues.
ACTION ITEMS
ADMINISTRATION
Approval
of the April 7,
2010 Meeting Minutes
The minutes from the April 7, 2010 meeting were approved as written.
Prospectus
Update
John
Poorman noted that the first two
sections of the Prospectus were previously distributed for comment. No substantive comments have been
received. It is time to either submit
remaining comments or move on and approve the first two sections. Section 3 is still under revision and will
require further discussion. Members
approved the first two sections of the Prospectus for consideration by the
Policy Board in June.
Self
Certification of CDTC’s Planning Process
CDTC must annually certify that the MPO is
conducting an open, responsive, comprehensive process and is complying with
SAFETEA-LU requirements. A formal
federal certification is conducted every fourth year; in other years, CDTC must
complete self certification material.
The 2010 Certification details are included in member’s packets. The self certification is required prior to
the adoption of the Transportation Improvement Program. Members approved the Self Certification
material.
UNIFIED PLANNING WORK PROGRAM`
Year End
Budget Revisions
The proposed year end budget
revisions are necessary to close out grants and reconcile the difference
between estimated and verified fringe and indirect rates. The required revisions were distributed in
the mailout material. Members approved
the revisions, noting one typo in the material.
Progress
Report April 1-September
30, 2009 and October
1, 2009-March 31, 2010
CDTC staff fell a little behind in
distributing the bi-annual progress reports.
Both the April 1-September 30, 2009 and the October 1, 2009-March 31, 2010 were presented to members. Members approved both reports.
John Poorman noted that two federal
planning initiatives are coming up that CDTC might want to participate in. General guidelines for TIGER 2 and a HUD/DOT
Sustainability Program have just been released.
Staff is seeking Planning Committee authorization to submit letters of
interest or other documentation required to compete for these funds. Members approved this request.
2010-15 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE
Public Comment
A few additional comments were received since the last
meeting. CDTC staff will respond to all
comments once the TIP is approved. Members
accepted the comments as part of the TIP Public Participation process.
Proposed Changes to Project Selection Guidelines
The proposed changes to project selection guidelines
deal with the ability to change from one fund source to another. Currently, NYSDOT has great latitude in
changing Title 1 fund sources for any TIP project. CDTC staff is proposing that
NYSDOT still be afforded this latitude when switching any fund source to IM or
changing any STP fund source to any other STP fund source. Staff proposes requiring Planning Committee approval for changes between any other Title 1 fund
sources. Table 6 in the mailout material
summarizes the proposed responsibilities for TIP changes. After some discussion and with the assurance
that these changes can be “undone” if they do not result in expected
consequences, members approved the proposed changes for incorporation into the 2010-15 TIP.
Fiscal Constraint and the 2010-15
TIP
When an adopted TIP is submitted to NYSDOT, it is
incorporated without change into the STIP.
NYSDOT is reviewing fiscal constraint and using very tight
guidelines. NYSDOT’s goal is to have
fiscal constraint by row and column (and cell if possible); consequently CDTC’s
2010-15 TIP must be fiscally constrained in this manner. Table 4 in the draft TIP shows the result of
staff attempting to fiscally contain the rows and columns of the TIP, while
making sure that each cell is reasonably within the target for the cell. Members approved the list identified in the fiscal
constraint write-up included in the mailout material and approved Table 4 in
the draft TIP.
CMAQ Programming and the 2015-15 TIP
The CMAQ program is approximately
$24.6M over-programmed in the 2010-15
TIP. There are three basic ways to approach the
problem—“unprogram” some projects, defer the schedule of some of the CMAQ
commitments, or backfill some or all of the CMAQ gap with the available STP
balance in lieu of accelerating STP projects.
Un-programming and backfilling would conflict with CDTC operating principles. A hybrid option was crafted by CDTC and
NYSDOT staffs. The hybrid option would
essentially shift most CMAQ projects out two years and would backfill the
remaining four year CMAQ gap of ~$10M with STP funds. Project listings would be adjusted to reflect
recent acceleration of some CDTA projects.
CDTA’s second phase bus replacement project for the NX would be the only
CMAQ project that would be moved out of the four-year STIP period. The write-up of these options (in member’s
packets) lists the specific projects that would be impacted by the hybrid
option. Brad Birge noted that SA247 is
underway and should not be on this list, but should be moved to the committed
column. Jason Purvis noted that TIP Project #A422 (Voorheesville Spot
Improvement from 02-03) should be removed from the list, as the project sponsor
no longer wants to advance the project. Barbara
McHugh noted that TIP project SA217 has moved forward and the town is waiting
for an executed contract. Jim Moore
noted that TIP project R279 has moved forward and is awaiting federal
authorization. Members approved the
changes to the CMAQ projects as outlined in the write-up, moving project SA247
off the list to the committed column of the TIP and deleting project XXX. The few other projects awaiting final
approval will be left as noted in the list so an amendment to the STIP will not
be required. Barbara McHugh abstained.
Change to Draft Project Listings (including TIP A461)
Mike Franchini reported that with the support of the College
of Nanoscale Science and Engineering ($10M) and increased funding from
NYSDOT, the funding package for the construction of the $22M roundabout at the
intersection of Fuller
Road and
Washington Avenue Extension is now complete.
The preliminary design for this project would grade separate the
intersection, placing WAE on a bridge over a 2 lane roundabout. The entire intersection would be moved to the
north, which would accommodate the College
of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s desire to expand their complex by
adding three buildings. Albany Nanotech
owns the land surrounding this intersection.
The College of Nanoscale
Science and
Engineering (CNSE) expansion will have to go through NEPA and SEQRA review, as
would the roundabout project. Public
meetings are being scheduled. Once the
design is finalized, Albany County and or NYSDOT will prepare a presentation for the Planning Committee. Kristina Younger stated concern about the potential effect the CNSE
expansion and the realigned roundabout would have on the WAE/Western Ave BRT
project. She also noted that CDTA has
not been invited by CNSE or the County to work with the design engineers for
transit accommodation. Members approved
the change to the draft 2010-15 TIP listing that changes the scope of the project and also
adds the $10M private share (from CNSE).
Draft
2010-15 TIP Document
The Planning
Committee must approve the draft 2010-15 TIP before it can be submitted to the Policy Board at the June 3rd meeting. The
draft TIP is almost a complete document, with the inclusion of a Transit
Amendment (see TIP Appendix A—Transit Project Details handout); it is still
without the final Air Quality Conformity Determination. Chris O’Neill distributed a summary of the
Air Quality Conformity Analysis requirements.
The Conformity Analysis is coordinated with the Air Quality Interagency
Consultation Group (ICG). It is expected
to be completed in time for the mail out for the Policy Board meeting of June 3. A 30 day review period is required once the conformity is complete and the Policy Board approves the document.
Paul Cassillo noted that project listing S184 is incorrect, as it
does not reflect the change that was made to that listing at the February Planning Committee meeting. This
will be corrected (from $100,000 to $251,583) in the committed column of the
TIP. John
Poorman reminded project sponsors
that they need to review their project listings and verify their accuracy. The Planning Committee approved the 2010-15 Draft TIP with the correction to
project S184 noted.
Options
for the Remainder of the TIP Round 2 Programming
At the April 7th meeting, the Planning Committee discussed possible approaches to selecting projects for
the balance of “Round 2” anticipatory funding.
The committee requested the staff to flesh out several options to be
used as a starting point at the May meeting. Staff developed a decision tree
approach. First a decision must be made
regarding additional funding in the highway and bridge categories, since these
categories received the majority of Round 1 funding. Second, once an amount is decided, members
must either assign funds to the remaining categories or use category budgets as
a very loose guide, choosing compelling projects with an eye toward categorical
balance. Members discussed each of the
decision tree points in depth. Members
differed greatly in the desired approach in handling the highway and bridge
category. A straw poll was taken,
resulting in a hybrid between decision point 1a and 1b.
Members agreed to continue discussions in July, Members approved
a motion to place a minimum of $20M in the pavement and bridge category leaving
a maximum of $37M for the remainder of the funding categories. NYSDOT abstained.
STIP Handout (not on agenda—see
handout)
Bob Hansen distributed a handout describing options for
submission of the NYS MPO TIP’s to the STIP.
Basically, NYMTC cannot complete their TIP process in time to allow NYS
to incorporate the NYMTC TIP in the STIP.
The STIP must be completed and submitted to FTA/FHWA prior to October
1, 2010. In discussions with Federal Highway and FTA
several options have been outlined—approve a partial STIP (the partial STIP
would include the TIPs from all the MPO’s with
the exception of NYMTC), delay the STIP by one year, using the 4th
year of the current STIP for all MPO’s in NYS, or delay the submission of the STIP until
December 2010, in anticipation of NYMTC approving their TIP by then.
2007-12 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT
PROGRAM AMENDMENTS
NY 2 11th
Street to Pawling
Avenue Reconstruction (R155)
NYSDOT described the schedule change and $145,000 ROW
cost increase for this project. Members approved the proposed amendment.
Saratoga National
Park Amendments (NYSDOT PINS 180869, 180870, 180871)
The Emergency Slide Repairs and Pavement Management
Projects are funded by Federal Lands Highway Program monies, a non-competitive
fund source. However, these projects
must be added to the 2015-10 TIP to move forward. Members approved the addition
of these projects to the 2015-10 TIP.
OTHER
There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned
at 12:25
p.m.
The next Planning Committee meeting is scheduled for July 6, 2010.
Respectfully submitted,
John P. Poorman
Secretary