CAPITAL DISTRICT TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes
March 8, 2007
MEMBERS ATTENDING
Mary Brizzell, Town of Colonie
Terri Egan, Town of Bethlehem
Steve Feeney, representing
Susan Savage, Schenectady County
Michael Franchini,
representing Michael Breslin, Albany County
Kent Gray, Schenectady County
Charles Houghtaling, Albany County
Terry Hurley, Albany Port
District Commission
Mayor Valerie Keehn, City of Saratoga Springs
Mayor John McDonald, City of Cohoes, Chairman
Ray Melleady, Capital
District Transportation Authority
Marybeth Pettit,
representing Mayor Daniel Dwyer, City of
Rensselaer
David Rettig, NYS
Department of Transportation Region 1,
representing Commissioner Astrid Glynn
Beth Secor, Town of Schodack
Phil Serafino, representing
Bill Rinaldi, NYS Thruway Authority
Bernard Sisson,
representing Mayor Brian Stratton, City of
Schenectady
Mike Stammel, Capital District Regional Planning Commission
Mayor Harry Tutunjian, City of Troy
Linda von der Heide, representing Kathleen Jimino, Rensselaer
County
STAFF AND OTHERS
Anne Benware, Capital District Transportation Committee
Judy Breselor, City of Troy
David Jukins, Capital District Transportation Committee
Tom Kearney, Federal Highway Administration
Sandy Misiewicz, Capital District Transportation
Committee
Jim Moore, Town of East Greenbush
John Poorman, Capital District Transportation Committee
Glenn Posca, Capital District Transportation Committee
Jason Purvis, Capital District Transportation Committee
Jim Rivers, City of Troy
Deborah Stacey, Capital District Transportation
Committee
John Stangle, Town of Colonie
Steve Szantos, Creighton Manning Engineering
Cliff Thomas, NYS Department of Transportation
Kristina Younger, Capital District Transportation
Authority
OPENING REMARKS
Chairman McDonald opened the Capital District Transportation Committee
meeting at approximately 3:05 p.m. and welcomed those in
attendance to the CDTC offices. Members and attendees then introduced
themselves.
ADMINISTRATION
December
7, 2006 Meeting Minutes
The
minutes of the December 7, 2006 CDTC meeting were approved
as written.
Administrative & Financial Standing
Subcommittee Report
Chairman McDonald noted that it is CDTC’s practice for the
Chairman to annually appoint the Administrative & Financial Standing
Subcommittee for the coming year.
For the 2007-08 fiscal
year, he named the following individuals to serve with him: Ray Melleady, CDTA; Charles Houghtaling, Albany County; Bob
Phillips, Saratoga County, Tom Werner’s successor, NYSDOT.
The
Administrative and Financial Standing Subcommittee will meet in April.
Nominating Subcommittee
Report
John Poorman presented the report from
the Nominating Subcommittee. The
Nominating Subcommittee met on March 6.
Members present included Mary Brizzell, Ray Melleady, Kent Gray and John Poorman.
There
are three groups of nominations. The
first group of nominations pertains to CDTC's officers for 2007-08. The
Nominating Subcommittee enthusiastically recommends re-election of John McDonald as CDTC's Chairman and Bob Phillips as Vice-Chairman. Tom Werner, DOT Regional Director,
would continue the tradition of serving as CDTC's Secretary. However, Mr. Werner has recently retired; his
successor will serve as CDTC’s Secretary. John Poorman will be acting secretary
until that time. There being no other nominations, members elected these
individuals for another term and expressed appreciation for their service.
The
second group of nominations pertains to CDTC's two at-large positions set aside
for towns and villages. The Nominating
Subcommittee nominates Phil Barrett, supervisor of the Town of
Clifton Park and Frank Quinn, supervisor of the town of Glenville to serve as members for the
coming year. They have served as
alternates over the past year. Ellen McNulty-Ryan, Mayor of the Village of Green
Island and Mark Evers, supervisor of the town of North Greenbush, are nominated to serve as
alternates for the coming year. It is
expected that they would be nominated as members for the following year.
Should
Ms. McNulty-Ryan or Mr. Evers decline the invitation, James Gaughan, Mayor of the Village of Altamont and Richard McCabe, supervisor of the town of East Greenbush would be asked to serve as
alternates.
Some
discussion followed regarding Phil Barrett’s position. John Poorman was notified subsequent to the
Nominating Subcommittee meeting that Phil Barrett is now the chair of the
Saratoga Board of Supervisors. The
person in this position is automatically on CDTC’s board. Responsibilities of the Board of Supervisors
position, along with Mr. Barrett’s responsibilities as Town
Supervisor, might make it difficult for him to be an active CDTC Board
member. If Phil plans to be an active member,
then Mindy Warmouth, supervisor of the Town of Halfmoon, would likely take Phil’s place as an at large
member. If Phil cannot be active, then Ms. Warmouth will likely become the Saratoga County representative of CDTC’s
Board. In that event, another Town
representative will have to be named; perhaps Paul Sausville, supervisor of the town of Malta or Steve Tommasone, supervisor of the Town of Rotterdam. John Poorman will speak with Phil Barrett to determine the county and
town representation. The membership will be resolved by the next Policy Board
meeting.
Members
approved these nominations, with the caveats noted above.
The
third group of nominations pertains to a single at-large position on CDTC's
Planning Committee reserved for towns and villages. The Nominating Subcommittee nominates Barbara McHugh from the Town of Clifton
Park to continue to serve as member for the coming year. In the interest of full participation in the
process, alternate member status is proposed for Kevin Corcoran of Glenville,
Kathy Matern of Niskayuna, Steve Watts of Halfmoon, George Leveille of Bethlehem, Heather Mallozzi
of Malta, Peter Comenzo of Rotterdam, Keith Manz of Wilton and Jim Moore of
East Greenbush.
Members
approved these nominations.
PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR
Chairman McDonald indicated that CDTC provides an opportunity for visitors to address
items on the agenda. There was no request to speak to the Committee.
UNIFIED PLANNING WORK PROGRAM
Mr. Poorman noted that the Planning
Committee approved a two-year UPWP last year.
The UPWP material in the mailout package only addresses technical
corrections to the UPWP. Additions to
the 2006-08 UPWP include six new Community and Transportation Linkage studies
and the Hudson River Crossing task. Members approved the proposed corrections/amendments.
2007-12 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
Batchellerville Bridge
John Poorman noted that this has been a long standing project,
but that construction has been dependent upon resolution of ownership, match
and finding funding. This project was
inadvertently omitted from the Planning Committee’s TIP discussions. Dave Rettig reported that NYSDOT has put together an “unusual”
set of funds to pay for the project, without impacting the rest of CDTC’s or
Region 1’s HBRR program. The project
should remain in the 2007-12 TIP Listings, with these fund sources identified.
NYSDOT/AMTRAK Rail Initiative
Mr. Poorman reported that the NYSDOT/AMTRAK Rail Initiative,
including projects A394 (Livingston Avenue Bridge Rehabilitation and A395/S150 (Rensselaer-Schenectady
Double Track) have previously been listed in the TIP with no dollars allocated
in the TIP. At this time there are no
federal funds allocated to intercity rail projects. Consequently, these projects have been
dropped from the TIP Listing.
Discussions
followed regarding this change. Marybeth
Pettit suggested that the bicycle/pedestrian issue on the Livingston Avenue Bridge is a concern of both the city of Albany and the City of Rensselaer and needs to be addressed even if the TIP project
is dropped. John Poorman responded that
the Hudson River Crossing project is looking at all Hudson River Crossings (not
just the Patroon island Bridge) and that this issue regarding the Livingston
Avenue Bridge will likely be addressed.
Mike Stammel indicated that there are Air Quality concerns with
the idling trains that can’t proceed without the double track. Delays also occur because of the single track
between Albany and Rensselaer.
CMAQ Programming in the 2007-12
TIP
Mr. Poorman noted that the CDTC Planning Committee revised its
estimate of the available CMAQ commitments at its February 21st
meeting. The funding available for the new “bundle” of commitments is
approximately $4M less than previously estimated. However, the Planning Committee agreed to
recommend that the draft 2007-12 TIP show the full bundle, noting that a slight
overprogramming outside the four-year STIP period is acceptable and also noting
that CMAQ projects tend to be completed at a slower rate than other
projects. The Planning Committee also
recommends that CDTA be provided the latitude to apply for diesel-electric bus
purchases with the $8M that was initially restricted solely to the incremental
cost of the diesel-electric technology.
Approval for Release for Public
Review
Mr. Poorman reported on progress of the 2007-12 TIP Update. In September, the Planning Committee released
a bundle of CMAQ projects for public review.
The status and schedule for all existing projects has been updated.
Once
released by the Policy Board, CDTC staff will conduct the Air Quality conformity
analysis that is required. A public
review period would then begin concluding in May with final action by the
Planning Committee and Policy Board in June. The CDTC TIP would then be
assembled with others to form the statewide TIP (STIP) which is the formal
document that receives federal acceptance by October 1st.
During
the public review period, the Planning Committee will continue to refine
project details.
Mayor
Keehn noted that the City of Saratoga Springs was disheartened to see the
construction phase of TIP Project SA88 (NY 50, North of Saratoga Springs
Reconstruction) move from the 2009-10 column in the 2005-10 TIP to the Post
2012 column of the 2007-12 TIP.
Members
agreed to release the draft program for public review and comment, incorporating
the three changes noted previously (Batchellerville Bridge, Intercity Rail Projects and CMAQ).
SAFETEA-LU COMPLIANCE/PUBLIC
PARTICIPATION POLICY
SAFETEA-LU
regulations require that CDTC have a public participation policy in place. CDTC staff will work with the Planning
Committee on a Public Participation plan if the Policy Board concurs with this
approach. Members agreed with this approach.
STATUS OF PLANNING AND
IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES
Capital District Transportation
Authority
Ray Melleady reported that CDTA recently released a regional transit
map which covers all four counties. The
Transit Development Plan effort was recently completed and can be viewed on
CDTA’s website. He also noted that CDTA
staff is working on the BRT Plan and Queue Jumpers. The first of the BRT hybrid-electric vehicles will be arriving this June; these will be deployed on Route 5. CDTA also submitted several
appropriations requests that would fund a bus facility in Saratoga County, a Park and Ride Lot at Exit 16 and an innovative hydrogen
demonstration project in partnership with GE.
Capital District Regional Planning
Commission
Mike Stammel reported on CDRPC’s involvement in the successful
ECOS conference at Union College that was held in February. CDRPC is also finalizing employment growth
scenarios for New Visions work. CDRPC
will publish a report that summarizes the property owner and trail user survey data
that was collected this past summer.
New York State Department of
Transportation
Dave Rettig reported that Tom Werner has retired; no replacement has been named. Mr. Rettig further noted that the TIP update
has been a difficult process because of the lack of sufficient funding to
progress projects other than maintenance projects; he noted that that is the case
with the Route 50 project in Saratoga Springs. Mr. Rettig reported that a public meeting for the I-87 exit 6
reconstruction project is scheduled for April 8th. A single point interchange will likely be
recommended for this exit. Mr. Rettig also noted that the Round Lake ByPass will be let
on March 29th.
Capital District Transportation
Committee
John Poorman touched upon the major activities that staff is
progressing. Pieces of the New Visions
workgroup reports are being synthesized.
The financial task force has been meeting to identify future funding
needs and opportunities. The New Visions
2030 Plan will assume that funding streams will be identified within the 30
year planning horizon to address infrastructure maintenance needs and modest
infrastructure improvements.
ADJOURNMENT
The
next meeting was tentatively scheduled for 3:00 pm, Thursday
June 7, 2007 at the CDTC offices. There being no other business, the meeting
was adjourned at approximately 4:05 pm.
Respectfully
submitted,
John Poorman
Acting
Secretary