PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING

 

Meeting Minutes

April 4, 2007

 

MEMBERS ATTENDING

 

Geoff Bornemann, City of Saratoga Springs (Vice-Chairman)

Peter Comenzo, Town of Rotterdam

Frank Commisso, Albany Port Commission

Todd Fabozzi, representing Rocky Ferraro, Capital District
  Regional Planning Commission

Steve Feeney, Schenectady County

Michael Franchini, Albany County (Chairman)

Bruce Hidley, City of Watervliet

Fred Howard, Rensselaer County

Steve Iachetta, Albany County Airport Authority

Barb McHugh, Town of Clifton Park

Marybeth Pettit, City of Rensselaer

John Poorman, Capital District Transportation Committee (Secretary)

Dave Rettig, NYSDOT Region 1

Jim Rivers, representing Judy Breselor, City of Troy

Phil Serafino, New York State Thruway Authority

Denise Sheehan, Town of Colonie

Bernard Sisson, City of Schenectady

Erin Thomas, City of Cohoes

Mike Valentine, Saratoga County

Steve Watts, Town of Halfmoon

Kristina Younger, Capital District Transportation Authority

 

STAFF AND OTHERS

 

Michael Alba, Capital District Transportation Committee

Anne Benware, Capital District Transportation Committee

Frank Bonefide, NYSDOT Region 1

Ron Hayes, NYSDOT

Sandra Misiewicz, Capital District Transportation Committee

Michael Morris, Capital District Transportation Committee (

Christine Neumann, Capital District Transportation Committee

Michael Novakowski, NYSDOT

Chris O’Neill, Capital District Transportation Committee

Philip Parella, Jr., Capital District Transportation Authority

Glenn Posca, Capital District Transportation Committee

Jason Purvis, Capital District Transportation Committee

Paul Reuss, Village of Menands

Don Rhodes, Village of Menands

John Stangle, Town of Colonie

Steve Szanto, Creighton Manning

Cliff Thomas, NYSDOT

 

INTRODUCTION AND VISITORS ISSUES

 

Chairman Franchini opened the meeting at approximately 9:35 am.  He welcomed members and guests who introduced themselves.  There were no requests from visitors to speak to the Committee. 

 

Action Items

 

ADMINISTRATION

 

Approval of the February 21, 2007 Meeting Minutes

 

The minutes of the February 21, 2007 meeting were approved as written. 

 

2005-2010 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM REVISIONS

 

It was noted that changes made to the current TIP apply to the draft TIP as well.

 

SA213: South Street Sidewalk Replacement & Handrail Repair

 

The City of Mechanicville requested that this Spot Improvement Project be dropped from the TIP as the bids for the project came out higher than expected.  This change was approved. 

PIN 1051.67 South Mall Access Ramp to/from I-787 Bearings Replace Part 2; PIN 1806.49 Dunn Memorial Bridge Overhead Signs; S126 (PIN 1096.21) Route 50/Indiankill, Glenville

 

These three requested TIP changes from NYSDOT are related to the state moving projects from State Dedicated Funds (SDF) to federal fund sources.  Dave Rettig introduced Mike Novakowski from the NYSDOT Main office to explain why these changes are being requested.  Mr. Novakowski explained that as SAFETEA-LU was being prepared, New York State made a conservative estimate of their obligating authority for the state’s transportation financial plan.  When the law was passed, the state took a second look at their obligating authority and discovered that they had more obligating authority available than originally thought.  New York State then opted to increase its use of advanced construction as a way to further stretch their obligating authority.  The net effect of this choice is that New York has more federal dollars available to it over the life of the state’s financial plan.  This does not change the federal apportionments which are still more than the obligating authority of the state. 

 

As a result of the discovery of these additional federal resources and the fact that there is a significant gap in SDF resources to complete the existing program of projects, NYSDOT is requesting that some SDF projects be moved to federal fund sources.  This does not impact the overall program in that the amendments being requested are not really adding new projects but instead represent changes in fund sources.  These changes will allow NYSDOT’s program to keep moving forward while at the same time keep the CDTC TIP whole.  Even with these changes, and possibly more to come, there is still a significant funding shortfall in the current NYSDOT program.  Approving these changes will put the program in a better position in the future. 

 

Mr. Poorman noted that the issue regarding the requested TIP action is whether CDTC focuses on the larger program (state and federal) which is kept whole through the shift or the TIP (federal) which is impacted by the shift.

 

Although there is a schedule impact to the shift from SDF to federal funds, the alternative is not doing these projects at all.  The motion was approved.

 

SA231: Physically-Challenged Fishing Access

 

The Town of Halfmoon attempted to make an argument that this project, a Spot Improvement Program project, would positively impact air quality in the region.  That argument failed which makes the project ineligible for the use of CMAQ funds which is the fund source the Spot Improvement Program uses.  The Town is asking that a new fund source be applied to the project.  Although CDTC has been cautious in the past on fund source changes on projects that were awarded competitively, a motion was made to approve the use of STP funds for this small scale project.  The motion was approved.

 

SAFETEA-LU COMPLIANCE/NEW VISIONS 2030

 

The New Visions 2030 update has been going on for several years and the basic policy thrust of the plan remains unchanged.  Much of the new material being developed in the New Visions 2030 effort is being put forth as things CDTC will continue investigating, not new policy.  SAFETEA-LU requires that our long range plan be compliant by July 1, 2007.   FHWA wants to acknowledge good faith efforts in meeting this requirement but there could be a high risk that if CDTC’s plan is not compliant with SAFETEA-LU then things will be shut down.  Therefore, CDTC is rushing to minimize this risk by doing a complete update of New Visions to create New Visions 2030.  The practical deadline for meeting the SAFETEA-LU requirement is October 1st when the new TIP/STIP is in place.  So, staff looked at what pieces need to be incorporated into the plan in order to make it SAFETEA-LU compliant.  A spreadsheet containing the various pieces that will be folded in the plan was reviewed. 

 

In order to digest all the information, the Planning Committee requests that summaries be sent to the members via email as the technical reports become available for review.  The technical reports will be posted on the CDTC website for those interested in reviewing the complete text of the document.  In addition, the individual working group reports (working groups A through E) will be edited to resolved CDTC’s policy stance on their recommendations so that they will have official status in the plan.  These need to be refined because the recommendations will become part of our plan when it is approved.  The key piece to be updated is the plan’s budget.  The Planning Committee approved the proposed timeframe and process for the New Visions update as outlined in the mailout material.

 

Draft Public Participation Plan

 

One of the SAFETEA-LU requirements is the update to CDTC’s public participation plan.  The draft plan was included in the mailout material and CDTC’s Policy Board authorized CDTC’s Planning Committee to put an approved version of the plan out for public review (a 45 day review requirement).  The Planning Committee made this approval.  Comments on the plan should be received by CDTC no later than Friday May 25th.   

 

Draft Updated Bicycle and Pedestrian Game Plan and Toolbox and Draft Goods Movement Technical Document

 

The Committee began to review these reports and several questions were raised, specifically regarding the internal consistency of the reports.  The Committee deferred action on these reports until May. 

 

2007-12 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM

 

Corrections to Project Listings

 

Corrections to the project listings were presented by Glenn Posca.  A243: Slingerlands Bypass Phase 3 was discussed regarding the project description and whether or not it should be clarified to specifically note the inclusion of a bike path.  This item was deferred by the committee for now but the overarching issue on scope expectations will need to be revisited.  SA104: Batchellerville Bridge was inadvertently omitted from the Planning Committee’s TIP discussions.  A handout was provided to the committee on the status of this project.  NYSDOT worked out an agreement with Saratoga County which states that the bridge replacement will be funded through HBRR funds, including a Sweeney earmark and a variety of state fund sources to provide matching funds for this $35 million dollar project.  The project is not eligible for SDF funds.  Once the project is complete, the owner of the bridge will be Saratoga County.  Region 1’s allocation of HBRR funds is being increased to fund this project but this will not impact the rest of the Regions’ HBRR program.  NYSDOT and CDTC will confirm the fund sources to be used in the TIP listing.  The bundle of Luther Forest projects was also discussed, particularly the Cold Spring Road project.  It was noted by NYSDOT that federal funds are not going to be used on Cold Spring Road and that the listing should be removed. 

 

A motion was made to approve all corrections to the TIP except A243: Slingerlands Bypass Phase 3.  This was approved.     

 

A second handout was provided to the committee regarding additional TIP corrections.  This included a final note regarding projects that will be rolling off the TIP.  Change orders and incidentals can be captured in other discussions and they do not need to be shown in the TIP.  Publication of obligations must show these, however.  The schedule for S157: Maple Avenue re-alignment was proposed to be moved to design in 2007-08 with all other phases in 2008-09.  The committee decided to leave the project in the 2nd and 3rd years of the program for now but the whole program will need to be re-evaluated as there are concerns that the program is undeliverable in the first two years due to heavy over programming on the off-state system.  Finally, the section in the TIP on civil rights and environmental justice was updated.  These corrections were also approved. 

 

Status of Planning Activities

 

This discussion item was skipped in the interest of time.

 

Other/Upcoming Meetings

 

As there were no other discussion items on the agenda, Chairman Franchini reviewed the list of upcoming meetings and noted the April 17th Linkage Planning Forum meeting. 

 

There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:20 pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

 

John P. Poorman

Secretary