CAPITAL DISTRICT TRANSPORTATION
COMMITTEE
Meeting
Minutes
March 1,
2012
MEMBERS ATTENDING
Carm Basile, Capital
District Transportation Authority
James Gaughan,
Mayor of Altamont
Steve Feeney, representing
Judith Dagostino, Schenectady County
Terry Hurley, Albany Port
District Commission
Steve Iachetta,
representing John O’Donnell, Albany County
Airport Authority
Mary Ivey, NYS Department
of Transportation Region 1, Secretary
Andrew
Kreshik, representing Mayor Lou Rosamilia,
City of Troy
Joe LaCivita,
representing Paula Mahan, Town of Colonie
Joe
Landry, Town of Niskayuna
Mayor
Rosemary Nichols,
representing Mayor Michael Manning, City of
Watervliet
Ann Shaughnessy,
representing Martin Reid, Rensselaer County
Mike Stammel,
Capital District Regional Planning Commission
Steve Strichman,
representing Mayor Gary McCarthy, City of
Schenectady
Linda von der Heide, representing Kathleen Jimino,
Rensselaer
County
STAFF AND OTHERS
Anne Benware, Capital District Transportation Committee
Frank Bonafide, NYS
Department of Transportation Region 1
Chris Franklin, Capital District Transportation Committee
David Jukins, Capital District Transportation Committee
Sandy Misiewicz, Capital District Transportation Committee
Sree Nampoothiri, Capital
District Transportation Committee
Chris O’Neill, Capital District Transportation Committee
John Poorman, Capital District Transportation Committee
OPENING
REMARKS
Chairman
McDonald opened the Capital District Transportation Committee meeting at 3:12 PM
and welcomed those in attendance.
Members and attendees introduced themselves.
PRIVILEGE OF THE
FLOOR
Chairman McDonald indicated that
CDTC provides an opportunity for visitors to address items on the agenda. There were no comments from the floor.
ADMINISTRATION
Administrative & Financial
Standing Subcommittee Report
John Poorman
reported on the last two A&F Standing Subcommittee meetings of February 9th
and January 18th. The Subcommittee reviewed salaries, new staff and
staff operations. CDTC is seeking to
fill one or two of the following positions: Transportation Planner and
Transportation Modeler. John Poorman has plans for full retirement in mid-May
after serving for five years as part time Staff Director. Mayor McDonald
explained that the A&F Standing Subcommittee has responsibility for
managing the process for selecting an executive director for CDTC. This is the first time in over thirty years
that a new director has been selected. The
position is being advertised.
Appointment of the 2012 A & F
It is CDTC’s practice for the
Chairman to appoint members to the Administrative and Financial Standing
Subcommittee on an annual basis. The A
& F Standing Subcommittee met on February 9th and Mayor McDonald
appointed the following to serve on the A & F Standing Subcommittee:
Carm Basile, CDTA
Mary Ivey, NYSDOT Region 1
Joe Landry, Schenectady County
Tom Richardson, Mechanicville
Tom Werner, Saratoga County
Proposed New York
Works Program
John Poorman presented
a summary of the proposed New York Works Program. The proposed program would use advanced
construction to use federal funds to invest in pavement resurfacing, bridge
projects and other projects in the coming year.
Advanced construction is an option to borrow money under the guarantee
of future federal transportation funding.
The option is widely used nationally, and New York State has been
conservative in using this option. Mary
Ivey explained that the proposed program is now part of the budget negotiation,
and a list of projects has not been defined.
More information will be provided as soon as possible when it is
available.
Report on the
Development of a New Transportation Bill
John Poorman referred to the memo in the mail-out which
explained the key features in the US Senate and the House of Representatives
bills. Common features include support
for the planning process. The House
would set a higher population threshold for MPOs but would grandfather existing
MPOs. The Senate proposal creates a
two-tier classification for MPOs. Tier I
would be for MPOs with more than one million population. CDTC would be an early candidate to be
qualified as a Tier I MPO.
Approval of the December 1, 2011
Meeting Minutes
The December
1, 2011 meeting minutes were approved by the members.
Nominating Committee Report
The
nominating committee met February 9th. The nominating subcommittee nominated Mayor
John McDonald of Cohoes to continue as Chairman of the Policy Board. Carm Basile was nominated to continue as
Vice-chairman and Mary Ivey was nominated to continue as CDTC’s Secretary. Members approved the nominations for the
respective positions as proposed.
The
Nominating subcommittee also nominated town and village at-large members for
representation on the Policy Board.
Dennis
Dowds (Supervisor of the Town of Schodack) and Jim Gaughan (Mayor of the Village of Altamont) were proposed as
members. Phil Barrett (Supervisor of the
Town of Clifton Park) and Harry Buffardi (Supervisor
of the Town of Rotterdam) were proposed as alternates. Individuals nominated as CDTC members will
serve until March 2013. As in past
practice, alternates are likely to be appointed as members for the 2013-14
fiscal year. Members approved the nominations
for the respective positions as proposed.
The
Nominating subcommittee nominated town and village at-large members to serve on
the Planning Committee. Proposed
nominations were:
Member: Barbara McHugh, Clifton Park
Alternate: Kevin Corcoran, Glenville
Kathy Matern,
Niskayuna
Steve Watts, Halfmoon
Mike Morelli, Bethlehem
Tony Tozzi, Malta
Peter Comenzo,
Rotterdam
Paul Reuss, Menands
Nadine
Fuda, Schodack
Members
approved the nominations for the respective positions as proposed.
Host Agency Agreement
Resolution
John
Poorman explained that CDTA has graciously served as legal host for CDTC since
1982. The host agency agreement between
NYSDOT and CDTA needs to be renewed.
NYSDOT is replacing all agreements statewide with up to date language. The CDTC Policy Board is required to give
authority by resolution to NYSDOT and CDTA to execute agreements. Members approved the resolution acknowledging
and supporting the execution of a new MPO Host Agency Agreement between CDTA
and NYSDOT.
UNIFIED PLANNING WORK PROGRAM
Dave
Jukins presented an overview of the draft 2012-14 UPWP. The UPWP describes CDTC
planning efforts over the two year period.
It is funded with federal funds, matching funds, and funding from the
City of Albany, Albany County, the Town of Colonie, and NYSERDA. The accomplishments described in the UPWP
have been substantial, including the New Visions 2035 update; TDM and
environmental planning; assisting CDTA with Route 5
Transit
Concept Design Study, CDTA’s Park and Ride Study; safety management planning,
and infrastructure planning.
The
new UPWP will reactivate the Regional Operations Committee, treating it in a
way similar to the Linkage Forum. The
Northway corridor Integrated Corridor Management Study will be completed. The Alternatives Analysis for the Washington
Western BRT will be completed, including the development of a transit mode
choice model. Further development of
CDTC freight planning efforts will be undertaken. It is anticipated that a new emphasis on
performance based planning will be required by the new federal transportation
bill.
Public
comments received include a comment from East Greenbush Police Chief Chris
Lavin requesting more emphasis on traffic signals and intersection
management. Staff responded to comments.
Members
approved the resolution approving the 2010-12 UPWP.
TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM AMENDMENT
US4/Mannix Road Roundabout
John
Poorman explained that the Planning Committee grappled with this amendment for
a long time. To the Region’s credit,
this project was initiated by East Greenbush, and Region 1 supported the
project approval. The project resulted
from a CDTC Linkage Study analysis and recommendation. The project was funded with CMAQ funds; the
NYSDOT Main Office subsequently lowered the amount of CMAQ funds available to
CDTC. Costs increased for the
project. The municipality added more
local funds to the project. The Planning
Committee recommended reprogramming safety funds from the signal set aside project,
recognizing that the Mannix Road roundabout is expected to have significant
safety benefits. Any further cost
increases will be covered by the Town of East Greenbush.
Members
approved the amendment.
STATUS OF PLANNING
AND IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES
CDTA
Carm Basile reported that
ridership is up for the whole CDTA system, and ridership for all service on
Route 5 is up 20 to 25 percent. CDTA is
dealing with a budget gap. CDTA is
moving forward on the Washington Western BRT Alternatives Analysis.
CDRPC
Mike Stammel
reported that CDRPC has been working to complete the population projections for
the cities, towns, and villages in the four counties to the Year 2050. A
preliminary set of projections has been prepared and we are now preparing the
age cohort projections before we finalize the numbers for public distribution. CDRPC is in the process of updating the
individual community fact sheets incorporating the data from the 2010 census
and the 2006-10 data sets from the American Community Survey.
GIS activities include processing,
analyzing and mapping regional crash data for CDTC to identify areas of
concern. Also staff is participating as a member of the NYS GIS Coordinating
Body on issues related to the future of the State's Orthophoto
program.
Consultant interviews have taken
place regarding the Cleaner Greener initiative and the City of Albany expects
to make a decision very shortly about the contract. It will be an 8 month
effort that will be quite an extensive undertaking once the scope of work and
contracts have been finalized and signed. Although CDRPC has had meetings with
the utilities to discuss their data management systems with respect to energy
consumption, CDRPC still has no final contract with NYSERDA on the Climate
Smart Communities Grant Program.
NYSDOT
Frank Bonafide reported that the
Region’s capital program update is nearly complete. The Washington Avenue/Fuller Road project was
recently let with a $3 M savings. The
project should be completed in 2012.
Preservation projects are underway for I-787, I-87, and I-890.
Albany Airport Authority
Steve Iachetta reported that a new
four-year Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization bill was
approved. The legislation decreases
federal share from 95% to 90%, meaning that state and local shares will have to
increase. The Albany County Airport
Authority has authorized over $15 million in construction projects and
improvements at Albany International Airport during 2012. The largest project
is a $4.2 M hangar rehabilitation project.
Albany Port Authority
Terry Hurley reported that
maritime activity is picking up.
CDTC
Dave Jukins reported that there
will be a Northway Route 9 Integrated Corridor Management Study public meeting
next Tuesday (March 6). Certification
review is due at the end of the month.
Staff will get a letter out to members asking for comments. Bicycle and pedestrian enforcement training
is scheduled for April, and so far there has been a great response from the law
enforcement community.
City of Troy
Andrew Kreshik
asked if anyone had experience dealing with tribal nations issues in
transportation projects.
City of Cohoes
Mayor McDonald reported that
progress on the Black Bridge in Cohoes is moving forward.
Mayor McDonald expressed
appreciation for John Poorman’s many years of service
to CDTC. Other members also expressed
appreciation to John.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned
at approximately 4:20 pm. The next
meeting is scheduled for 3:00 pm, Thursday June 7, 2012.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary E. Ivey
Secretary