PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING
Meeting Minutes
Judy Breselor, City of
Rocky Ferraro, Capital District Regional Planning
Commission
Michael Franchini,
Jackie Hakes, City of
George Leveille, Town of
Steve Watts, Town of
STAFF
VISITORS ISSUES
Chairman Franchini opened the meeting at approximately
Action Items
ADMINISTRATION
Approval
of the
Members approved the
2008-10 UNIFIED PLANNING
Schedule
for UPWP
John Poorman noted that the draft UPWP will be completed
and distributed to Planning Committee members by the February 2008 Planning
Committee meeting. Many tasks will be
added, some as an outcome of the New Visions 2030 Plan. Because CDTC’s staff is small, tasks will be
prioritized. Committee members approved
the proposed schedule for the 2008-10 UPWP.
LINKAGE
2008-9
Evaluations
Eight applications for 2008-9 Linkage program funding
were received by CDTC. An evaluation
team composed of representatives from CDTC, CDTA, NYSDOT and CDRPC met and
developed a priority list which was previously distributed. The evaluation team noted that the budgets
for five of the studies were far too low based on sponsor desires and
expectations for the proposed studies. This
has been a problem with previous Linkage Studies and has led to decreased interest
by the consultant community. The
Evaluation Committee put forth two options: (1). Contact local sponsors to
request additional local funds that would be required as match for the more
realistic budget amount or (2). Fill budget shortfalls with Federal funds,
keeping the ranking of the eight projects.
After lively discussion, members voted for Option 1 and approved the
evaluation committee’s rankings of the proposals. Members also concurred with the evaluation
committee’s plan to address these problems in the next round’s solicitation.
TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT
PROGRAM AMENDMENTS (handout)
SA206/A496
I-87 Bridge over the
NYSDOT is experiencing difficulty with an estimate for
this project, but is certain that the amount currently budgeted in the 2007-12
TIP will not cover the cost of the project.
It is expected that the cost will be in the vicinity of $15.7M, not the
$8.6M that currently appears in the TIP. The cables are in very poor
condition. The goal of keeping all three
lanes on the bridge functional during construction is driving the cost up. Letting is expected in February ’08. If the addition of these monies creates a
fiscal constraint issue, it is likely that NYSDOT will defer a project on I-87
in
A495
Route5: Rte 155 to
This amendment is for a request to extend the project
limits from
INTEGRATED COMMUNITY &
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING & DESIGN REPORT
David Jukins prepared a PowerPoint to review this shared
cost study funded by the association of NYS MPOs with the Committee, but in
interest of time, skipped the PowerPoint and distributed the written material
instead. Dave asked members to review
the material at their leisure and suggested that members be prepared to ask
specific questions about the distributed material at the next Planning
committee meeting.
TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT
PROGRAM
Set-asides
A tentative proposed schedule for competitive Set-Asides
was distributed to committee members.
The 2007-12 TIP contains set-asides for Diesel Retrofits (RG102),
Bicycle/Pedestrian Networks (RG103), Intersections, Queue Jumpers and
Roundabouts (RG104) and Safety (RG105). Members
were asked for advice regarding the sequencing of the set-aside
solicitations. Members felt that it
would be advantageous to solicit for all the set-asides at one time, with the
possible exception of diesel retrofits, to afford municipalities a degree of
latitude in determining which program to apply for.
Discussion
of 511 Program
There was limited discussion under this topic since the
request for a meeting with NYSDOT regarding the 511 program has been withdrawn
for the time being.
Three
Projects to be Split between Counties
Three projects appear on the 2007-12 TIP listings under
one county, when in reality they should appear twice, once for each county that
they are located in. The funding split is 50/50 between each pair of
projects. The projects are
A496/SA206—I-87 Bridges over the
TIP
Amendment Procedures Discussion
During the development of the 2007-12 TIP, a lot of TIP
process questions were raised but not sorted out. These issues need to be revisited. Perhaps amendment procedures need to be
tweaked. CDTC staff will identify the
issues and potential solutions and provide a document for members to react to.
STATUS OF PLANNING
CDTC Staff
The solicitation for the New Freedom
Program has been drafted by CDTC staff and endorsed by the Regional
Transportation Coordination Committee.
The solicitation is very similar to the one that was sent out for the
JARC program. The solicitation will be
advertised via Legal Notices, on CDTC’s home page and will be mailed directly
to Human Service Agencies that participated in the survey that was conducted in
the Spring of 2007. Chris O’Neill
reported that the revised Transportation Conformity Determination for the
Albany-Schenectady-Troy ozone non-attainment area was posted for public review
and comment from
CDRPC
The Fiscal Impact Study is complete. The Center for Economic Growth produced a
slick 4-page brochure highlighting the work of the study. The brochure is being printed; copies will be
available for widespread distribution shortly.
CDTA
Ridership on the Saratoga Routes has more than doubled
since the service was revamped this past summer. CDTA staff are working on the 2008/09 Capital
Budget. Work on the Route 5
NYS
Thruway Authority
The NYSTA is completing the roadwork between Exits 24
and 26 in preparation for winter.
City of
A public information meeting regarding the work that
will soon occur on
OTHER
An interim Planning Committee meeting is scheduled for
Wednesday November 28th at
The mailout material indicated that the January Planning
Committee meeting is scheduled for January 7th. This date is in error; the January Planning
Committee is scheduled for Wednesday January 9th at
There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned
at
Respectfully submitted,