PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING
Meeting Minutes
July 7, 2010
Melissa Ashline-Heil, City of Cohoes
Susan Barden, City of Saratoga Springs
Wayne Bonesteel, Rensselaer County
Peter Comenzo, Town of
Rotterdam
Rocky
Ferraro, Capital District Regional Planning Commission
Michael Franchini, Albany County (Chairman)
Andrew Kreshik, City of Troy
Paul Reuss, Village of Menands
Deidre Rudolph, City of Albany
Steve Watts, Town of Halfmoon
STAFF
Eric Alexopoulos, Erdman Anthony
Joe Cimino, Clough Harbour and Associoates
Devin DalPos, Southwest Neighborhood Association
Saratoga Springs
Shelley Johnston, Creighton Manning
David Jukins, Capital District Transportation Committee
Tammy Kirkwood, GMB Engineers & Planners
Mary Anne Mariotti, NYS Department of Transportation
Sandra Misiewicz, Capital
District Transportation Committee
Sree Nampoothiri, Capital
District Transportation Committee
Jason Penge, NYS Office of
parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
Omar Peters, Capital District
Transportation Committee
Gary Zeh, Town of
Rensselaerville
VISITORS ISSUES
Chairman Franchini opened the meeting at approximately
Mr. Penge from the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and
Historical Preservation also advocated for the Geyser Road Trail project. Mr. Penge is involved in the Route 50
Southern Corridor Study and stated that the Geyser Road Trail project is a
recommendation of this study.
Gary Zeh from the town of Rensselaerville requested
funding consideration of the Route 85 project in the hamlet of Rensselaerville.
ACTION ITEMS
ADMINISTRATION
Approval
of the May 5, 2010 Meeting Minutes
Wayne Bonesteel noted that the comment on page 4 of the
May 5th meeting notes was erroneously attributed to him (Wayne was
not present at the May meeting). The minutes from the May 5, 2010 will be
amended to reflect this error. Members
approved the May 5th meeting notes with the understanding that this discrepancy
will be fixed.
UNIFIED PLANNING
NYSMPO
Staff Support for Shared Cost Initiative (
The proposed amendment to the
2010-2011 UPWP would add $2,475 in FTA Section 5303 funds to the NYS MPOs
Shared Cost Initiative to support NYSMPO staff costs. This amount is the difference from what was
shown in CDTC’s 2010/2011 UPWP and the actual FTA allocation. Members approved this amendment.
Addition of Town of Wilton to the 2010-11 Linkage
Program
At the February 10, 2010 meeting, members
reserved a portion of the 2010-11 Linkage Program funds for the town of Wilton
project, but asked staff to follow-up with the town to determine their
commitment to the study. The Town signed
a resolution stating that they want to pursue the study, and acknowledged that
this commitment will continue even after Kate Maynard, their Town Planner, leaves
the town to pursue other career paths. Project oversight will be CDTC staff
responsibility. Members approved this study
as an addition to the 2010-11 Linkage Program.
Sustainable
Communities Regional Planning Grant Application
HUD released the funding opportunity
for Sustainable Communities. CDRPC and
CDTC staffs are working on the application.
The grant would augment CDTC’s New Visions work to include housing,
social equity and economic development. The minimum grant allocation is $500,000 and
the maximum is $5,000,000. The Capital
Region will be competing with large urban areas, such as Chicago, since the Capital
Region falls into the >500,000 population category. Grant applications are due August 23rd. A resolution of support will be required as
part of the application; the resolution will be drafted by the August 4th
Planning Committee meeting.
TIGER II Grant Application
CDTA resubmitted
2010-15 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE
Approval of Air Quality Conformity Analysis
Chris O’Neill completed the Air Quality Conformity Analysis
for the
Completion of Round 2 Programming for the
Table 1 contained in members’ mailout material provides
a concise summary of the projects that have been funded through Round 1 and the
preliminary phase of Round 2 programming.
At the May Planning Committee meeting, members discussed programming
targets for Round 2. It was decided that
a minimum of $20M of Round 2 funding would be programmed for Pavement and
Bridges.
Secretary’s Note: the whole
approach, magnitude, timing of the TIP solicitation and programming was
authorized by the Policy Board.
Consequently, suspension requires Policy Board concurrence.
2010-15 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM AMENDMENTS
Changes to the TIP Project Listings Not Requiring
Planning Committee Approval
NYSDOT and CDTC staffs met to discuss project detail for
TIP listings that is now required by FHWA for the STIP submission. The first page of the handout (replacing the
same titled page in the mailout) identifies text and other minor changes to the
TIP listings that require no action by the Planning Committee. A question
remains regarding the accuracy of the Erie Blvd project (S177), but does not
require Planning Committee action.
Changes to the TIP Project Listings Requiring Planning
Committee Approval
The second page of the handout (replacing the same
titled page in the mailout) identifies changes to the TIP listings that require
Planning Committee action. CDTA noted that TIP project T83 should be listed in
the committed column of the
Discussion of Other Issues Regarding Submission of TIP
data for Inclusion in the STIP
The NYSDOT Main Office has developed
a new mechanism for electronic submission of the TIP to the STIP. The Program Support System (
STATUS OF PLANNING ACTIVITIES
CDTC
CDTC has been honored as an award winner of the Federal
Highway Administration’s (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) 2010
Transportation Planning Excellence Awards (TPEA) Program, which is co-sponsored
by the American Planning Association. CDTC’s entry “Implementing the Regional
Plan: The Community and Transportation Linkage Planning Program” was selected
from among more than 90 nominations. CDTC will receive the award at the
Transportation Research Board’s Joint Summer Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota
on Sunday, July 11, 2010.
CDRPC
CDRPC participated in the 2010 Census outreach
efforts. The response rate from two
thirds of the Capital District Communities matched or exceeded the response
rate achieved during the 2000 Census. Fifty
percent of the communities in the region had a response rate of 80% or greater. The Town of Charlton had the highest response
rate (89%).
CDTA
NYSDOT
The NYS Early Retirement incentive is likely to have a
huge impact on NYSDOT staffing. Over
1100 employees have submitted paperwork for early retirement. The NYS Legislature passed a one year budget
for NYSDOT so that construction projects can continue. To deal with budget cutbacks,
the department must adjust the 1R projects by August 24th. NYSDOT distributed a list of recent state let
projects; bids are coming in lower than TIP Cost Estimates for the majority of
projects.
NYSTA
NYSTA will let two projects later this month—one for
repaving and construction work on the Thruway between Coxsackie and Exit 23 and
the second for the reconstruction of the Thruway between Exits 23 and 24.
Albany County
Airport Authority
The Airport just received a bid on a runway paving job;
the bid is higher than expected. The Latham
Water tank project is rolling forward; the tank will be removed in October.
OTHER
There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned
at 11:50 a.m. The next Planning
Committee meeting is scheduled for August 4, 2010.
Respectfully submitted,