CAPITAL DISTRICT TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes
MEMBERS ATTENDING
Vice-Chair
Steve Feeney,
Michael Franchini,
representing Michael Breslin,
Terry Hurley, Albany Port
District Commission
Airport Authority
Secretary
Joanna King, representing
Mike Stammel, Capital District
Regional Planning Commission
Andrew
Kreshik, representing Mayor Harry Tutunjian, City of
Joe
LaCivita, representing Supervisor Paula Mahan, Town of
Mayor
Tom Richardson,
representing Mayor Anthony Sylvester, City of
Mechanicville
Linda von der Heide,
representing Kathleen Jimino,
County
Tom Werner,
Sree Nampoothiri, Capital District Transportation
Committee
Chris O’Neill, Capital District Transportation Committee
John Poorman, Capital District Transportation Committee
Ken Williams, Interested Citizen
OPENING REMARKS
Chairman McDonald opened the
Capital District Transportation Committee meeting at
Approval of the
The
Administrative & Financial Standing Subcommittee
Report
John Poorman explained that
the A&F Subcommittee meeting was postponed.
The next topic for discussion by the A & F Subcommittee will be the
CDTC annual audit.
PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR
Chairman McDonald indicated that CDTC provides an
opportunity for visitors to address items on the agenda. Ken Williams spoke about the importance of public
investments in transportation given current national discussion about
transportation funding.
HUD SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES REGIONAL PLANNING GRANT
RESOLUTION
Resolution Supporting CDTC as
a Co-Applicant with CDRPC
John Poorman explained
that there will be a second round of the US Department of Housing and Urban
Development Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program, and CDRPC
will be applying again. The application
proposal will be very similar to last year. CDTC will be a co-applicant and additional
consortium members will be participating.
The proposal has been refined and will upgrade the involvement of key
cities. The
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION POLICY
John Poorman explained that the
updated CDTC Public Participation Policy was presented and approved as a draft
by the Policy Board at the June meeting to allow review over the summer
concurrently with the New Visions Plan update.
No comments were received. Members
approved the Public Participation Policy document.
2011
COORDINATED PUBLIC TRANSIT HUMAN SERVICES TRANSPORTATION
New Visions 2035 Plan Update
and Review of Public
Comments on the draft document that was distributed for the June 2011 meeting
Chris O’Neill reviewed comments of the draft Plan
received since the June meeting and staff suggested wording revisions to the
Plan based on the comments. Members
accepted the wording changes and approved the Resolution Adopting the New
Visions 2035 Plan Update.
CDTC’s Input into the Capital Region
Economic Development Council
Chris
O’Neill explained that CDTC staff has been engaged with the recently formed
Capital Region Economic Development Council (CREDC). Chris O’Neill is a member of the Project
Planning Activities Workgroup and Rocky Ferraro is a member of the Strategic
Planning Workgroup. Mayor McDonald sent
a letter on behalf of CDTC to members of the CREDC explaining the importance of
considering the CDTC and CDRPC planning efforts and the CDTC New Visions
Plan. Concerns were raised by members
about understanding the process by which funding for projects will be
recommended by the CREDC and approved at the state level. John Poorman stated that regional projects
such as the Exit 3 / 4 Airport Connector may be competitive for the main pot of
funding, and local projects may be more competitive if they have a regional
dimension.
SECURITY PLANNING
MPO Role in Emergency Planning
John
Poorman explained that this topic was added to the agenda for discussion in
light of recent severe impacts of flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. Are there ways in which CDTC could be a
resource for planning for emergencies?
The CDTC Regional Operations Committee could play a role.
Tom
Werner suggested a good starting point would be to review all existing
emergency plans in the region and evaluate any potential need for coordination
between them, especially coordination of county plans.
2010-15 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE REPORT
John
Poorman explained that discussions are ongoing on the proposed TIP update. Region 1 has taken the lead in looking at the
Capital Program to rationalize and reconcile it to lower funding levels. The Region and CDTC staff will meet with
local sponsors and review state projects and examine schedules and
budgets. NYSDOT Main Office would prefer
to reconcile the TIP, but because we currently have an approved STIP, the Main
Office can not require MPOs to change the TIP.
Staff will focus on the coming year, and explore how urgent it is to
look at later years, especially since we still don’t have a new federal
transportation bill.
FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION
John Poorman explained that it
seems likely that the existing SAFETEA-LU federal transportation bill will be
extended by Congress for six months.
STATUS OF PLANNING
NYSDOT
CDTA
Funding news continues to be a problem.
Terry Hurley reported that Port business is steady
and doing well, although the storm delayed ship calls by up to one week. The
dock project is nearing completion.
Linda von der Hide commended NYSDOT on the work
done on Route 2 in response to storm damage.
ADJOURNMENT
There
being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately
Respectfully
submitted,
Mary
E. Ivey
Secretary