WCCTAC

West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee

Minutes

January 25, 2008

The regular meeting of the West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee was called to order at 7:35 A.M. on Friday, January 25, 2008 by Chair Sharon Brown in the City Council Chambers of the City of San Pablo, 13831 San Pablo Avenue, San Pablo, California, 94806.

1. Call to Order/Self Introductions

PRESENT:    Maria Viramontes, Vice Chair (Richmond), Janet Abelson (El Cerrito), Maria Alegria (Pinole), Ed Balico (Hercules), Tom Butt (Richmond), Bob Franklin (BART), John Gioia (Contra Costa County), Leonard McNeil (San Pablo), Tony Thurmond (Richmond)

STAFF:          Lisa Hammon, Executive Director

                        Linda Young, Transportation Project Specialist

                        John Rudolph, Project Manager

                        Nancy Cuneo, Administrative Analyst

                        Hisham Noeimi, CCTA                   

                        Bryan Otake, General Counsel

2. Public Comment

There were no comments from the public

Consent Calendar

On motion by Tom Butt, seconded by Maria Viramontes and carried unanimously the WCCTAC Board voted to adopt the Consent Calendar as follows:

            3.         Approved Minutes, Sign-In Sheet, and Meeting Summary from the December 14, 2007 Meeting.

            4.         Approved Staff Reports.

            5.         Received information about Funding/Grant Opportunities.

            6.         Approved Request for Proposals for Central County Taxi Service for the Guaranteed Ride Home Program and Contract Extension for Yellow Cab of Walnut Creek.                               

            7.         Received report from the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting.    

8. Board Member Comments and Announcements

Janet Abelson stated that she recently attended a meeting of the League of California Cities.  She noted that renewals for AB1234 are currently due.

Tom Butt asked if renewals were necessary on a yearly basis.

Bryan Otake stated that members must renew every two years.

9. Legal Counsel Comments and Announcements

Mr. Otake stated that AB1234, also known as the Local Government Sunshine Act, requires members of the Board to renew their training every two years. Newly appointed Board members are as well required to attend AB1234 training. Training is available through the League of California Cites, SEASAC, and the California Special District Association. He informed members of the Board that training is available online.

John Gioia noted that there are different courses for state and local levels.

Mr. Otake added that AB1234 is aimed at local agencies while state training requires an ethics component and does not require renewal every two years.

10. Election of the Following Officers and Representatives: (a) WCCTAC Chair; (b) WCCTAC Vice Chair; (c) CCTA Representative (even-year term); and (d) CCTA Alternate

Lisa Hammon explained that in the Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement, the term for Chair and Vice Chair is one year. She noted that for the sake of continuity, previous appointees to the position of Chair and Vice Chair have served for a term of two years. She stated that there are two CCTA representative appointments.  One whose term comes up each even-year and one whose term comes up each odd-year. She pointed out that in the JPA, only the cities and county can vote for the CCTA representative. Each of these agencies is allotted one vote with a four-vote majority required to elect a CCTA representative.

The position of Chair and Vice Chair alternate between member agencies and generally require a minimum, one-year tenure with the WCCTAC Board.

Vice Chair Viramontes asked if a term limit applied to the position of CCTA representative.

Mr. Otake stated that there was no language in the JPA or the WCCTAC bylaws that set term limits on the CCTA representative. He stated that he is not aware of any CCTA rules that limit the term of the CCTA representative.

Vice Chair Viramontes stated that she is not opposed to re-appointment of current Board Chair, Sharon Brown; as it is her last year in office, despite her having served two consecutive terms already.

Regarding the issue of rotation, John Gioia stated that having served as an appointee to the CCTA Board of Supervisors for a number of years it has become clear that those regions that keep members on the CCTA Board for a number of years, exhibit greater influence.

Maria Alegria concurred and stated the importance of using alternates to gain experience and build relationships. She suggested that clarification of policy regarding term limits might be an item for future consideration.

Ed Balico agreed and noted the importance of training new people in the event that a representative is not reappointed.

Vice Chair Viramontes added that if it is decided that there will not be term limits, it is important to train potential future representatives. The way to accomplish this is through allowing the alternate to stay for a significant length of time and make sure that the representative is absent from time to time to ensure that the alternate has an opportunity to take part in relevant processes.

On motion by John Gioia, seconded by Tony Thurmond and carried unanimously the WCCTAC Board voted to appoint Sharon Brown as the WCCTAC Board Chair.

On motion by John Gioia, seconded by Tony Thurmond and carried unanimously the WCCTAC Board voted to appoint Maria Viramontes as the WCCTAC Board Vice Chair.

On motion by Tom Butt, seconded by Tony Thurmond and carried unanimously the WCCTAC Board voted to appoint Janet Abelson as Contra Costa Transportation Authority Representative.

On motion by John Gioia, seconded by Ed Balico and carried unanimously the WCCTAC Board voted to appoint Maria Alegria as Contra Costa Transportation Authority Alternate.

11. Twenty-Five Year Program for Contra Costa’s State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) Funds and Relationship to the 2009 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP)

Ms. Hammon thanked Hisham Noeimi for his role in helping to bring the project into the CCTA’s format for the RTP STIP list.

Mr. Gioia, noting that he is on the Joint Policy Committee for MTC, ABAG, Airboard, and PCBC, stated that they had discussed whether MTC should utilize more of its discretionary funding for projects that establish regional goals.

He continued by stating that recently the CCTA had written a letter to MTC taking issue with some of MTC’s policies regarding regional goals. The letter stated that projects, which meet regional goals, would favor Oakland and San Francisco. He informed CCTA that if they develop projects that do not meet the regional guidelines for funding, they are setting themselves up for failure by not creating eligibility for the greatest amount of regional dollars.

Ms. Hammon commented that with the preceding as background, Mr. Noeimi would: speak about how CCTA is developing the overall project list; respond to Mr. Gioia’s comment and discuss what MTC has asked to be done.

Mr. Noeimi noted that projects that are not included in the Constrained List of Prospective Candidate STIP Projects would be ineligible to receive state and federal funding in the future. The major issue for the 2009 RTP is that MTC envisioned a process whereby MTC staff will ultimately select projects from the financially constrained portion of the RTP; these projects will be the only projects eligible for funding.

Looking back to the 2001 and 2005 RTP’s, MTC aggregated all of the funds it considered discretionary and assumed that funding for its regional programs for local streets and roads for transit capital needs came off the top with the balance considered residual. CCTA, although dissatisfied with 35% being taken off the top, still had 65% of discretionary funds to work with of which MTC would accept CCTA’s priorities for that residual.

For the 2009 RTP, MTC staff has implemented a policy whereby all available funds are subject to MTC’s discretion with no county influence over funding priorities. The call for projects released by MTC on December 26 stated that all projects and programs will undergo a project level performance evaluation and/or policy discussion involving investment trade-offs. The outcome of this evaluation will determine which projects will be included in the financially constrained list.

Mr. Noeimi stated that such an approach conflicts with the CCTA’s policies to direct a program whereby all of its priorities share funds. He noted that this is the policy of other CMA’s.  Therefore, in response to MTC’s 2009 RTP call for projects, CCTA is implementing a three-pronged approach as follows:

1. Submit a financially constrained project list for the County’s shared STIP funds and population based share of the RTP or the 25 year STIP list that will illustrate the magnitude of local needs and present Contra Costa’s expectation of what to include in the draft 2009 financially constrained project list.

He noted that CCTA’s concern is that there are a number of Measure J and STMP projects that have funding shortfalls.

2. In the event that MTC throws out CCTA’s proposed list, CCTA is using MTC’s RTP database and working directly with the project sponsors to update all of the existing projects in the current RTP (2030) to ensure that all of the projects that came up through the 25 year STIP process are included in the database.

Projects that can be considered locally funded, as there are a great deal of projects and not enough discretionary funds, must seek other funding sources either state or federal. These projects must be shown in the constrained list to remain eligible for state or federal funds.

3. Since MTC is considering full discretion over funds, CCTA is going to recommend program and policy proposals for Contra Costa’s portion of the STMP and CMAC funds e.g. cutting off some of the regional programs and putting more money into the local streets and roads maintenance or transit capital needs maintenance.

He stated that the goal was to constrain $1B worth of projects to approximately $380M. He stated that WCCTAC is on the right track as the proposed list is within the range for the relevant jurisdictions’ population share.

Vice Chair Viramontes added that urban and suburban areas have opposing priorities with regard to transportation issues. The suburban areas that comprise the majority of WCCTAC jurisdictions are concerned that local determination does not count for the discretionary funds, which were previously used to leverage for all state, and federal funding.

She noted that staff, in the interest of dealing with the decision made by MTC, has determined that they must constrain themselves within their financial limits to put forth projects that are ready to be implemented and that are not over funded. The database will need to be updated so that West County can compete for the state and federal funds and prioritize the list before it is submitted in the hopes that MTC will respect the list with the recognition that they may not.

John Gioia stated that his intent is to enable West County to compete when the proposed list is submitted to MTC.

Vice Chair Viramontes stated that this list would aid in competing for funds while trying to obtain some of what is desired at the local level; something, which MTC never considers. She stated that MTC should not be able to determine what is best for the entire region, however; MTC has the funding and the power therefore to make these determinations.

Mr. Gioia asked if the list would be prioritized.

Mr. Noeimi stated that the projects have already been prioritized noting that those projects that will be funded with STIP funds are given highest priority by WCCTAC.

Ms. Hammon proceeded by outlining the color coding associated with the constrained list of projects noting that WCCTAC asked the various member agencies to conduct internal prioritization of projects before submittal of those projects for inclusion in the constrained list. The color-coding is as follows:

· Green: financially constrained 25 year STIP list

· Blue: constrained list of projects with other funding sources

· Yellow: Vision projects

Mr. Noeimi noted that the Vision projects would not be considered for inclusion in the financially constrained list by MTC. These projects are included in the event that new and/or additional funds are made available in which case it would be easier to move these projects onto the financially constrained list.

Ms. Hammon added that the RTP would be updated in approximately another three years.

Mr. Noeimi stated that the next time Contra Costa will receive any discretionary funding would be 2014, which is one year after updates will be made to the 2009 RTP.

Janet Abelson inquired about the purpose of the Vision list.

Mr. Noeimi replied that being on the Vision list of the RTP puts the project in the position to for example, obtain a federal earmark in the future.

Ms. Abelson asked if the entire list could potentially change in three-to-four years.

Mr. Noeimi replied, stating that every three-to-four years MTC updates the RTP.

Maria Alegria asked for clarification regarding what is meant by “other” funding sources.

Ms. Hammon replied that these sources are not yet known.

Mr. Noeimi stated that when a project is put into MTC’s database, they have a term that states “other/local” hence the inclusion of this language in the proposed list of projects.

Ms. Alegria asked how this money could be pursued.

Mr. Noeimi replied that funds might be reallocated from within an individual agency. He noted that the overall goal is to maintain eligibility for state and federal funds.

Mr. Gioia inquired about the existence of written project descriptions for each project on the proposed list. Regarding the Marina Bay grade separation, Mr. Gioia commented that if the rail expansion project from the Port of Oakland moves forward, all the mitigations are built into the project. One of these mitigations will be grade separation. If the Port of Oakland expansion moves forward, is it possible to “swap out” the Marina Bay grade separation project for another project.

Mr. Noeimi replied that if a project is completed before MTC adopts the RTP another project might be substituted.

Regarding the Marina Bay grade separation, Mr. Gioia suggested including greater detail about the public safety, transit access, and waterfront access components related to the project in the project description.

Tom Butt concurred.

Ms. Hammon thanked Mr. Gioia for his input and agreed to include a more detailed description of these components in the project description.

Vice Chair Viramontes asked for greater clarification regarding the timeline for the STIP cycle so that each member is clear on what needs to be accomplished within their individual jurisdiction. She stated her understanding is that the STIP happens every two years and the funding process is a five-year process.

Mr. Noeimi clarified stating that the next STIP cycle will be the 2010 STIP cycle beginning in FY 2010 until FY 2014. Every two years the CTC adopts a new STIP by which they add two more years. Therefore, the next STIP will be the 2012 STIP, which adds two years to the five-year cycle. The funding usually comes at the end of each five-year cycle.

Vice Chair Viramontes noted, as this relates to the prospective list of candidate STIP projects, every project in green if it had funds indicated under the column that reads STIP is anticipated to be included in the 2009 planning document for the 2010 STIP.

It is hoped that these projects will receive their fair share of STIP funds during the five-year process. Projects on the list that are shaded blue are anticipated to be included in the 2012 planning document.

Mr. Noeimi elaborated by stating that anything on the list that is not in yellow can compete for any future STIP funds. Separating the green from the blue is a means by which to indicate the top priority projects.

Vice Chair Viramontes noted, every project included on the list has a role in the RTP. Vision projects have the option of being moved up or down to first or second level priority as opportunities may arise in the future for STIP funding. She noted that it is important to vote on the list today in order to give the Vision projects an opportunity for earmarks.

Regarding the Bay Trail gap closure, Vice Chair Viramontes stated that the land needed for this project is only going to appreciate in value. It would be better to buy it now while the market is down rather than in the future thus risking an appreciating market or purchase of the land by an outside entity.

Maria Alegria commented that Pinole is very interested in purchasing the aforementioned land for the Bay Trail and noted the need for capital by which to fund engineering and environmental studies is prerequisite to expansion.

Ms. Hammon noted that WCCTAC has been meeting with staff from Pinole and the East Bay Regional Park District to discuss utilizing $1.51M from STMP fees for the purpose of preliminary studies related to the Bay Trail gap closure until Measure J funds are made available. She noted that WCCTAC would work on the land acquisition issue and follow-up with Pinole.

Ms. Alegria inquired about the sidewalk along the bridge linking Hercules and Pinole.

Dean Allison elaborated by stating that the project involves disassembly of the bridge due to issues with structural integrity. He noted that current pedestrian access between Pinole and Hercules is precarious due to inadequate safety measures. He noted that the project is a high priority for the city of Pinole; it is as well significant for the region and therefore should be a considered a “green’” project.

Ms. Hammon asked Mr. Noeimi to clarify the bike and pedestrian projects and some of the other projects in the RTP that do not need to be called out specifically because they cannot be modeled.

Mr. Noeimi stated that bike and pedestrian projects do not need to be listed specifically, because MTC has general categories for these kinds of projects due to an inability to develop models for them in the RTP.

In addition, they do not possess an air quality component. These kinds of projects are eligible for state and federal funds due to their inclusion in the general category of the RTP.

Ms. Hammon commented that this is another bicycle/pedestrian project that should be considered when Measure J begins with the bicycle/pedestrian category.

Regarding the Bay Trail gap closure, Mr. Allison asked if the $1.51M is marked specifically for the closure in Pinole.

Ms. Hammon replied that it is not specifically listed in the developer impact fees as such, however; it has been discussed as a priority in previous meetings of the WCCTAC Board as there is not another project in the list of STMP projects that benefits the City of Pinole directly.

Mr. Allison asked if the $1.51M is in fact available to pursue.

Vice Chair Viramontes stated that the funds are an opportunity earmark for acquisitions all along the Bay Trail up to Hercules available to whichever jurisdiction is most ready to move forward contingent upon what land is available at the time that funds are available.

Ms. Hammon noted that in the list of STMP projects, there are a number of Bay Trail gap closures that WCCTAC has been working to implement in and around Pinole and Hercules.

Ms. Hammon directed the Boards’ attention to the I-80 ICM project, the San Pablo Avenue SMART Corridors Project, and the Student Bus Pass Program, noting that these have been discussed as high priority projects at previous meetings of the WCCTAC Board. She stated that these projects would be discussed with MTC in terms of how to demonstrate operational projects in the RTP.

She commented that WCCTAC wanted to call these projects out specifically in the letter that will be sent CCTA so that they are not overlooked. She noted that while the Student Bus Pass Program has funding through Measure J in West County, the program should be extended throughout the entire nine-county Bay Area. These projects therefore, should be listed as operational projects instead of capital projects.

On motion by John Gioia, seconded by Janet Abelson and carried unanimously the WCCTAC Board voted to approve the Constrained List of Prospective Candidate STIP Projects with the inclusion of the title “Richmond Waterfront Transit Access” instead of “Richmond Waterfront Access” and inclusion of a safety and public health component in the description of relevant projects.

Vice Chair Viramontes inquired about how the match in funds for the Student Bus Pass Program will be obtained, as CCTA will not release the program until it can be shown how the program will be fully funded for a period of twenty years. She noted that the program would receive $14M in increments over a twenty-year period, however; West County has requested the funds up front for the first ten years due to the need for $1M a year.

Mr. Gioia asked if it has been determined that the amount is in fact $1M per year.

Ms. Hammon stated that $14.5M over the life of Measure J will provide less than $1M per year. Currently, it has been estimated based on previous pilot programs that $1.4M per year will be needed for the program. WCCTAC is involved in ongoing discussions with the transit operators and Peter Engel of CCTA regarding the paratransit and student bus pass money. If the money is not moved up into the first ten years of the program, matching funds will be required; the program is not fully funded if it is spread out over the entire life of Measure J.

Vice Chair Viramontes asked for three volunteers to work with Ms. Hammon over the next year to keep this project at the forefront.

Janet Abelson, John Gioia, and Tony Thurmond each volunteered to assist Ms. Hammon.

Regarding the source for cost projections related to the student bus pass program, Mr. Gioia asked if these projections are based upon every low-income middle and high school student in the free and reduced lunch program.

Ms. Hammon stated that this is correct.

Mr. Gioia noted flexibility in the numbers based upon the estimated number of students that will actually utilize the program. Therefore, the cost may be less, as not all students are likely to take advantage of the program. He emphasized the importance of getting this project moving so as not to lose funding.

Ms. Hammon stated that the Youth Transportation Coalition continues to meet and WCCTAC plans to meet with them again soon. She commented that at a recent AC Transit Board meeting there was discussion of increasing the cost of a student monthly pass from $15 to $28. This would have a negative impact on the student bus pass program.

13. Correspondence/Other Information

Ms. Hammon apprised the Board of handouts regarding the Annual Conference for Local Elected Officials at Yosemite and a community forum to be held by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock regarding the budget crisis.

With no further business to come before the WCCTAC Board, Chair Brown adjourned the meeting at 8:41 A.M., until the next meeting to be held on February 29, 2008 at 7:30 A.M. at the San Pablo City Council Chambers, 13831 San Pablo Avenue, San Pablo, California, 94806.