PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING

Meeting Minutes

February 10, 2010

 

MEMBERS ATTENDING

 

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

Joe LaCivita, Town of Colonie

Kate Maynard, Town of Wilton

Barb McHugh, Town of Clifton Park

Mike Morelli, Town of Bethlehem

Rosemary Nichols, City of Watervliet

John Poorman, Capital District Transportation Committee   (Secretary)

Paul Reuss, Village of Menands

Tom Richardson, City of Mechanicville

Jim Rivers, representing Bill Roehr, City of Troy

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

 

Anne Benware, Capital District Transportation Committee

Frank Bonafide, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1

Jen Ceponis, Capital District Transportation Committee

Rob Cherry, NYS Department of Transportation

Natalie Cook, CDTC Intern

Don Csaposs, Town of Guilderland

Devon Dal Pos, Southwest Saratoga Springs Neighborhood Association

Mayor Jim Gaughan, Village of Altamont

Shelly Johnston, Creighton Manning Association

David P. Jukins, Capital District Transportation Committee

Andrew Kreshik, City of Troy

Maryanne Mariotti, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1

Sandra Misiewicz, Capital District Transportation Committee

Sree Nampoothiri, Capital District Transportation Committee

Christopher O’Neill, Capital District Transportation Committee

Phil Pearson, Interested Citizen

Glenn Posca, Capital District Transportation Committee

Jason Purvis, Capital District Transportation Committee

Deb Stacey, Capital District Transportation Committee

VISITORS ISSUES

 

Chairman Franchini opened the meeting at approximately 9:35 am. 

 

Phil Pearson addressed the Committee.  He asked the Committee to support the Route 85 project in the Town of Rensselaerville.  He stated that this project has been through design about 15 years ago and that it is time for it to move forward.

 

Devon Dal Pos, from the Southwest Saratoga Springs Neighborhood Association, addressed the committee regarding the Geyser Road Trail Project.  Mr. Dal Pos stated that the trail is a much needed component of the existing trail network in the city, and would serve the Geyser Crest neighborhood, SPAC and would connect to the Town of Milton Sidewalk project.  Mr. Dal Pos asked the committee to consider funding this important project.

 

Mayor Gaughan from the Village of Altamont also addressed the Committee.  He voiced concern that projects submitted by the village would not score well against those submitted from larger entities and asked that the scoring criteria for TIP projects be changed to give smaller municipalities a “fair” evaluation.  Mayor Gaughan distributed a letter on the subject.

 

Mr. Franchini thanked today’s visitors for their comments.

 

 

ACTION ITEMS

 

ADMINISTRATION

 

Approval of the February 3, 2010 Meeting Minutes

 

The minutes from the February 3, 2010 meeting were emailed to members and also distributed in hard copy at the meeting. Members approved the February 3rd meeting minutes as written.

 

 

UNIFIED PLANNING WORK PROGRAM

 

ARRA High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Planning Studies

 

Dave Jukins redistributed NYSDOT’s ARRA High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Project table that was previously distributed at the February 3rd meeting.  The new handout was annotated to identify which projects were approved for inclusion in the 2010-15 TIP at the last meeting and which projects also need to be added to the 2010-12 UPWP, because they are planning studies.

 

Members approved addition of the Empire Corridor Program and NY/VT Bi-State Intercity Passenger Rail Program planning studies to CDTC’s 2010-12 UPWP.

 

Bob Hansen was asked for some clarification of the previously approved ARRA rail TIP projects approved for the region.  Bob indicated that the Albany-Schenectady Double Track project does include funds to improve the grade crossings at Morris/Cordell and at Lincoln Avenue; quad gates will be installed at both these locations.  Residual Rail Crossing Section 130 funds will be used to complete the funding gap for the Ballston Spa Double Track project, but will not impact letting targets.

 

 

2007-12 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM AMENDMENTS

 

Background for TIP Amendments RG110, RG111 and RG115

 

NYSDOT provided a table that summarizes programmed and actual figures for TIP projects A512, RG115, A513, S198, RG114, RG110 and RG111.  This table provided the information required for members to consider Items A, B, C and D on the agenda.  After some discussion, members approved the proposed amendments to RG110, RG115 and RG111, since the savings shown in some projects covered the additional cost in project RG111.

 

The TIP amendment described under Item B on the agenda, spurred a discussion among members.  NYSDOT asked committee members to approve a $3.24M funding increase to cover the cost of seven 1R projects.  These 1R projects, by definition, do not have structural needs, and are currently in good condition.  NYSDOT would like to repave sections of the seven roads to avoid costly reconstruction in the near future as their condition declines.  If approved, the life of each of the seven roads will be extended by 10-15 years.  Members voiced concern about setting a precedent of using regular federal program funds for 1R projects.  Members were also concerned that other worthy projects would not get funded by taking money off the table to fund the 1R’s. A discussion regarding the bleak forecast of both state and federal funding for transportation followed.  Members asked John Poorman to draft a letter to the governor and state legislature for Policy Board approval that would identify the long term effects that funding shortfalls will have on the system.  Members approved the TIP amendment with the understanding that the letter would be prepared.  

 

 

2010-11 LINKAGE PROGRAM

 

Sandy Misiewicz briefly reviewed the results of the 2010-11 Linkage Program evaluations.  The evaluation summary was mailed to members as was a recommendation for funding approvals.  Members agreed to add four Linkage Studies that were recommended for funding (Clifton Park, Guilderland, New Scotland, Rotterdam) by the Linkage Study Evaluation Team. The merits of adding a fifth study in the Town of Wilton was discussed at length. Kate Maynard described the Town of Wilton’s application in more detail, but admitted that not all of the Wilton Town Board members are in favor of conducting the study.

 

 

Members requested that CDTC staff work with the town of Wilton to make a final determination regarding the scope and the desirability of conducting that proposed Linkage Study.

 

 

2010-15 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE

 

Summary of Remaining Candidate Projects

 

Before Round 2 discussions began, Jason Purvis reported that the Bicycle/Pedestrian Task Force unanimously requested that CDTC take “leadership in promoting bicycle and pedestrian facility development by proportioning the amount dedicated to specific bike/ped projects and project elements at a considerably higher level than that of past practices and those typical of other MPOs”.  Members asked if the Task Force had a specific funding target in mind; Jason responded that the Task Force considered naming a target, but decided to word their recommendation without a target.

 

Approximately $78M is on the table for Round 2 programming. This leaves a noticeable amount for Round 3 to take care of programming oversights and public input.  John Poorman indicated that because both Round 2 and Round 3 projects will be programmed in the 6th-9th years of the TIP, there is no need to force decisions. The 2010-15 TIP can be approved by the Policy Board for public review in March with new projects parked in the 5th year (and beyond). Members discussed several approaches to Round 2 decisions and decided to start by category.  Members started with the safety category.

 

Safety: Members approved the three safety projects that had B/C ratios of 1.0 or greater.  Referring to project tables included in the Planning Committee materials, TIP project candidates #5, #37 and #47 were approved by this action.

 

Regional Set-Asides: Members approved funding for TIP project candidate #78 (ADA Set-aside) at $5M; TIP Project candidate #81 (Linkage Transition Engineering) at $1.0M and TIP project candidate #84 (CDTC Spot Improvement Program) at $0.75M.    Members discussed funding TIP project candidate #83 (Regional Operations Support Initiative) at a scaled back amount of $4.5M.  The motion to add this project to the draft program did not pass.

 

Further Round 2 and Round 3 programming was tabled until the April 7th meeting.

 

Change to Project Selection Procedures

 

John Poorman discussed the need to change to the Project Selection Procedure, which would allow the flexibility to move projects among all four years of the TIP and to make project selections from the fourth year of the TIP.  The change is necessary so that year four of the current TIP/STIP can be accessed in the event that the approval of the new STIP is delayed beyond October 1, 2010.  Members approved the change.

 

Changes to the Draft 2010-15 Project Listings

 

A handout was distributed at the meeting that identified editorial changes, significant cost increases and decreases for some projects.  SA152 was previously shown as a cost increase but should instead be shown with a cost decrease of $4.3M.  Members approved the changes to the project listings, as identified in the handout, with this correction noted.

 

Summary of Candidate Bridge Projects

 

Bob Hansen distributed a list of bridge projects for possible inclusion in the draft 2010-15 TIP.  He noted that four local bridge projects were submitted for evaluation. Project candidate #45, South Main Street Bridge replacement in Halfmoon is ineligible for HBRR funding because this is a culvert replacement and not a bridge project.  Project candidate #19, Structural Deck Replacement in the Town of New Scotland, proposes deck replacement for three bridges.  Project candidates #29 and #63 are in the Town of Hoosick and Schenectady County, respectively.  Several other local bridge projects have been submitted for consideration after the TIP project solicitation deadline ended.  Mr Hansen noted that project sponsors need to understand that if approved, they must have the means to front the money for the projects.  Members approved project candidates #19, #29 and #63 (5 bridges) with the understanding that CDTC staff will contact project sponsors to get confirmation of funding commitment to the projects.

 

OTHER

 

There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:30 p.m.  The next Planning Committee meeting is scheduled for April 7, 2010.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

 

John P. Poorman

Secretary