PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING
Meeting Minutes
MEMBERS
ATTENDING
Bradley Birge, City of
Frank Bonefide, NYS Department of Transportation Region
1
Robert Cherry, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1
Peter Comenzo, Town of
Todd Fabozzi, representing Rocky Ferraro, Capital District
Regional Planning Commission
Steve Feeney,
Michael Franchini,
Steve Iachetta,
David Jukins, Capital District Transportation Committee
(Secretary)
Andrew Kreshik, City of
Joseph LaCivita, Town of
Patrick McCarroll, NYS Thruway Authority
Barbara McHugh, Town of
Michael Morelli, Town of
Rosemary Nichols, City of
Paul Reuss,
Dede Rudolph, City of
Joseph Teliska.
Ed Tremblay representing Melissa Ashline-Heil, City of
Michael Valentine,
Steve Watts, Town of
Kristina Younger, Capital District Transportation
Authority (Vice-
Chair)
STAFF AND
OTHERS
Patrick Bolton, NYSERDA
John Coluccio, City of
Christine Douglas, CHA
Ross Farrell, Capital District Transportation Authority
Shelly Johnston, Creighton Manning
Dick Lenseth, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1
Leah Mosall, Capital District Transportation Committee
Larry Mulvaney, NYS Department of Transportation Region
1
Sree Nampoothiri, Capital District Transportation
Committee
Chris O’Neill, Capital District Transportation Committee
Chuck Rappazzo, NYS Department of Transportation Region
1
Steven Stella, The
Jennifer Thorne, Capital District Transportation
Authority
Michael Wieszchowski, Laberge Group
VISITORS ISSUES
Chairman Franchini opened the meeting at approximately
PRESENTATATION USDOE/NYSERDA
FUNDING
Patrick Bolton from NYSERDA provided a brief overview of
the US Department of Energy (USDOE) funding program that is structured to
accelerate the deployment of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure and
charging stations. USDOE is making $5.0M
available for community-based efforts. Ten to fifteen awards will be made
nationally, with minimum award amounts of $250,000 and maximum award amounts of
$500,000. The USDOE monies are to be
used for planning and policy implementation for plug-in electric vehicles and
charging infrastructure. Plans must
address infrastructure deployment plans for light, medium and/or heavy duty
plug-in electric vehicles. NYSERDA is considering submitting one application
for the entire state, identifying local partners in each region. NYSERDA would provide match which would make
the application stronger since match is not a requirement. Patrick mentioned that NYSERDA will also be
announcing one or two Project Opportunity Notices in the near future for demo
projects ($8.0M) and for an electric vehicle support contractor ($1.0M). NYSERDA intends to submit a letter of intent
to USDOE by the May 16th deadline and will work with area
municipalities on a final application which is due June 13th. Members asked Patrick to provide
PRESENTATION ON THE
WASHINGTON-WESTERN BUS RAPID TRANSIT STUDY
Ross Farrell from CDTA prepared a presentation summarizing the findings of the recently
completed Washington/Western BRT Conceptual Design Study. CDTA through previous
work has identified three corridors, based on ridership that could benefit from
Bus Rapid Transit. CDTA just launched BusPlus
along the Route 5 corridor; annual ridership on the pre-BusPlus Route 5 buses
was near 3.5 million. The two other
corridors identified for potential BRT service were the Route 32/Broadway
corridor with over 2 million annual riders and the Washington/Western corridors
with over 2.5 million riders.
The Conceptual Design Study for the Washington/Western
BRT looked at feasibility, economic opportunities, solutions
to existing road network inefficiencies, stakeholder buy-in and funding
opportunities. Several route alternatives
were developed with these criteria in mind.
Ridership forecasts were also developed.
Overall the study indicates that BRT in the Washington and Western
Corridor will provide a number of benefits including improved transit service
and travel options, support for urban revitalization and increased transit
ridership with a limited increase in operating cost. Alternative B2, providing a short busway and a
new regional transit hub at Crossgates Mall would provide a level of
connectivity that is not possible using the current configuration of the road
system in the area. This alternative
would require the most investment (compared to the other alternatives) in
capital costs, but would increase service and lower operating costs due to
improved efficiencies. The Resolution
distributed to members is required for CDTA to move forward with developing a
package to FTA on the Alternatives Analysis portion of the Federal Small Starts
or Very Small Starts program to further advance the feasibility study of the Washington/Western
BRT project. Members approved the
Resolution.
ACTION ITEMS
ADMINISTRATION
Approval
of the
Frank Bonafide requested that the first sentence under NYSDOT
(under Status of Planning Activities) be stricken from the notes. Chris O’Neill
noted that the first sentence of the second paragraph under New Visions 2035 Maintenance
Plan (page 4) referenced the wrong handout. Members approved the meeting notes
with these corrections noted.
Year-End Budget Revisions
CDTC staff annually takes steps
necessary to close out the fiscal year on March 31st, subject to
Planning Committee approval and a subsequent annual audit. Requested grant close-out revisions involve grant
NY-80-X018 and NY-80-X019. Specific
detail is included in member’s mailout material. Members approved the budget revisions.
2011 Coordinated Public-Transit Human Services Transit
Plan
NEW VISIONS
Public Participation Policy
New Visions 2035 Maintenance Plan Update
Chris O’Neill distributed a summary
of the initial findings of the Air Quality Conformity Determination for 2035. Chris is waiting for data from NYSDOT for
Montgomery, Greene and Schoharie counties.
A final version of the air quality statement will be presented to the
Policy Board at the June meeting.
Members approved the release of the Air Quality Conformity Statement to
the Policy Board.
Chris O’Neill distributed a two page
handout highlighting some text changes that were made to previously distributed
status briefs on the individual topic areas of the New Visions 2035 Plan
Update. Chris noted that the Status Brief on Infrastructure was re-drafted at
the request of NYSDOT to include a discussion on bridge deck area deficiencies.
An executive summary addressing each of
the individual topic areas was included in members’ mailout material. The summary highlights accomplishments and
the proposed focus for future work.
Staff plans to add graphics and will present the summary document and
individual topic papers to the Policy Board in June. Some additional tweaks will be required, such
as adding information on CDTA’s Small Starts initiative (discussed today) and a
few other minor accomplishments that have occurred since the Topic papers were
drafted in January. Members approved the
material for Policy Board review.
2010-15 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM AMENDMENTS
Project RG96 Recreational Trails Project
NYSDOT explained that this project
includes several trail improvement projects funded by FHWA recreational trail
grants funneled through the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The actual grants awarded to Capital Region
recipients exceeded the amount originally programmed on the TIP. This amendment adjusts that TIP amount to the
correct allocation. Members approved the
amendment.
Review of
the Bike/Ped Project Cost Cap
CDTC members previously voted to cap the cost of
bike/ped projects. This cap, unlike
other projects in the TIP is a firm amount, and affords no adjustments for cost
increases. At the May Planning Committee
meeting, members requested that CDTC staff identify several options to serve as
a starting point for discussion about this topic. Staff developed a few alternatives. These alternatives were discussed at length
by members, and a few modified alternatives were proposed and discussed. Most members gravitated toward Option 2 –
remove the firm cap on existing and future bike-ped projects on the TIP and
consider cost and scope changes on a case by case basis, similar to how other
non-bike/ped projects are currently treated in the TIP. This opened up a broader discussion regarding
scope and budget changes for all TIP projects. Members approved option 2 with one abstention,
but requested a broader investigation of policies regarding requests for scope
and budget revisions for all projects.
Project
A437—Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail
The City of
STATUS OF PLANNING ACTIVITIES
Due to time constraints, this section of the Agenda was
skipped.
There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned
at
Respectfully submitted,
John P. Poorman