All items on the consent agenda are considered to be routine and non-controversial by COG staff and will be approved by one motion if no member of the Committee or public wishes to comment or ask questions.  If comment or discussion is desired by anyone, the item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered in the listed sequence with an opportunity for any member of the public to address the Committee concerning the item before action is taken.

Summary: John Wright is currently under contract to provide planning related services for the Fresno Council of Governments.  Given his substantial role throughout the Blueprint, Greenprint and Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS) processes, staff recommends extending the service contract in the amount of $15,000 for another year to continue assisting in these various project areas.  Mr. Wright will be utilized to ensure that new COG staff obtains the institutional knowledge of past practices, projects and connections to on-going/upcoming planning activities; in particular, throughout the RTP/SCS process.  Funding for the contract is available within the Fiscal Year 2017/18 budget.

Action: Staff recommends authorizing Fresno COG’s Executive Director to extend the contract with John Wright for the 2017/18 fiscal year for an amount not to exceed $15,000.

Summary: In September 2016, the Fresno COG Policy Board approved the Measure "C" New Technology Multidisciplinary Advisory Group funding recommendations below.  In December 2016, the Fresno County Transportation Authority also approved the funding recommendations.  Only Fresno COG and its member agencies are eligible to receive New Technology funding; therefore, resolutions are needed to authorize Fresno COG to partner with California State University, Fresno Foundation and Fresno County Rural Transit Agency for their New Technology projects.   

Action:  Staff, TTC and PAC recommend approval of Resolution 2017-03 awarding California State University, Fresno an amount not to exceed $2,977,889 and Resolution 2017-04 awarding Fresno County Rural Transit Agency for an amount not to exceed $2,536,321 as sub grantees of the New Technology Grant;  and, authorize the Executive Director to enter into contracts with each sub grantee.

Summary: The San Joaquin Valley (SJV) Gateway, the interactive mapping portal hosted by Data Basin, has been set up.  It now houses the Greenprint data collected in Phase I, organized by topic.  The Gateway includes a series of illustrative maps showcasing the data. The site can be accessed at: https://sjvp.databasin.org.  

The three Demonstration Projects funded through the Greenprint are underway and will be finalized over the next month as the Greenprint grant deadline approaches.  The Demonstration Projects are all addressing issues related to water and will illustrate how data can be used to address major resource challenges in the San Joaquin Valley. Once completed, the Demonstration Projects will be uploaded to the SJV Gateway for future users to explore the data and maps. 

A preliminary draft report was published and introduced on March 9, 2017 at the San Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Conference summarizing the results of Phase II of the Greenprint. The preliminary draft Report describes the outreach efforts conducted in Phase II, the SJV Gateway, and the Demonstration Projects.  The report includes a summary of observations and lessons learned during Phase II and recommendations for future phases of the SJV Greenprint.  The report also includes a detailed user guide for the SJV Gateway and is available online at http://www.fresnocog.org/greenprint-full-report.

Following the March 9, 2017 Regional Policy Conference, the Project Team will incorporate comments received and all demonstration projects will be completed and included in the final Greenprint report to be published on March 31, 2017, before the grant deadline.

Action: Information only. Direction may be provided at the discretion of the Policy Board. 

Summary: The California Natural Resources Agency has released a solicitation for the Urban Greening Grant Program. A technical workshop was held at Manchester Center in Fresno on March 14th.

Eligible urban greening projects should reduce GHG emissions and provide multiple additional benefits, including, but not limited to, a decrease in air and water pollution or a reduction in the consumption of natural resources and energy. 

Examples of eligible urban greening projects include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Establishment, enhancement, and expansion of neighborhood parks and community spaces;
• Greening of public lands and structures, including schoolyards, and which may include incorporation of riparian habitat for water capture and provide for other public and wildlife benefits;
• Green streets and alleyways;
• Non-motorized urban trails that provide safe routes for travel between residences, workplaces, commercial centers, and schools;
• Urban heat island mitigation and energy conservation efforts.

Guidelines and application are available for download here: http://resources.ca.gov/grants/urban-greening/. ONLINE APPLICATIONS ARE DUE BY: MAY 1, 2017, 5 p.m.

Action:  Information only, direction may be provided at the discretion of the Policy Board.

Summary:  On February 8, 2017, the Fresno Council of Governments (Fresno COG) was notified that the Active Transportation Program (ATP) Fund Estimate adopted by the California Transportation Commission (CTC) in October of 2016 indicated an apportionment of $2,872,000 for Fresno COG’s Regional ATP Cycle 3.  At their January 2017 meeting, the Fresno COG board approved and awarded 5 projects based on the estimated ATP Cycle 3 apportionment of $2,676,000.  The additional programming capacity allowed for the awarding of $196,000 in new project programming. 

Due to the time constraints involved in providing a finalized list of Regional ATP Cycle 3 projects to the CTC for approval at their March 2017 meeting, Fresno COG staff utilized the guidelines set forth in the most recently adopted 2017 Regional ATP Guidelines that provide Fresno COG the authority to promote projects from a contingency list of projects.  These projects were ranked in priority order based on the project’s competitive evaluation score to ensure that the regional competitive ATP utilizes any and all ATP funds that may become available throughout the programming cycle. As such, Fresno COG staff identified Fresno PARCS’ “Fresno Pedestrian and Bike Safety Education Program” as the 1st project on the contingency list and recommended to the CTC that this project be considered as part of the proposed program of projects. As the funding request for the Fresno PARCS project is $250,000, the City of Fresno agreed to reduce the funding on their awarded “Midtown Fresno Trail: Shields Ave Gap Closure” project by $54,000 in order to fully fund the Fresno PARCS projects at $250,000.

The Fresno Council of Governments’ (FCOG) Executive Director completed review of staff’s revised ATP proposed program of projects and found that the proposed revisions are consistent with Fresno COG’s Regional ATP guidelines, as adopted by the Fresno COG Policy Board and the CTC; and therefore, approved the revisions for consideration and approval by the CTC.  The CTC approved the attached revised list of Fresno County ATP Regional projects at their March 15, 2017 meeting.

Action:  Information only, direction may be provided at the discretion of the Policy Board.

Summary: The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act was signed into law on December 4, 2015 and established a new formula freight fund program under the National Highway Freight Program for a five-year period.   In addition to the National Highway Freight Program funding, California Assembly Bill 133 (Weber, 2016) provided an $11 million Traffic Congestion Relief Fund loan repayment to be used for trade corridor improvements which will be added to this new formula freight program.  On June 27, 2016 Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 826 (Leno, 2016), which directs the California Transportation Commission (CTC) to allocate federal National Highway Freight Program (NHFP) formula funds to corridor-based projects selected by local agencies and the state through a coordinated effort.  Since the CTC is responsible for programming, allocating, and administering these state and federal funds, a series of public workshops to solicit input on key issues has been taking place since late fall of 2016. Based on this input and the criteria set forth in the FAST Act, CTC staff developed guidelines and released the draft guidelines on February 28, 2017 for the distribution of the formula funding.  The program developed by the CTC is called the California Freight Investment Program (CFIP).   Efforts to develop guidelines began in November 2016 and final guidelines are anticipated to be brought forward for CTC adoption in May 2017.  The objective of the CFIP is to fund projects which improve the efficient movement of freight on designated corridors throughout the state and to support the goals outlined in the NHFP, the California Freight Mobility Plan (CFMP), and the California Sustainable Freight Action Plan.

The goals of the CFIP Guidelines include, but are not limited to:

• Fund projects which improve the efficient movement of freight on designated corridors throughout the state.
• Support the goals of the National Highway Freight Program and CFMP.
• Adopt a multi-year program of projects covering Fiscal Year(FY) 17/18 through FY 19/20 totaling an estimated $556.2M of federal and state funds.
• $545.2M from FNHF Program over 5 years beginning with 15/16 Federal FY through Federal FY 19/20.
• $11M of state funds appropriated in the Budget Act of 2015 as amended by Assembly Bill 133.
• Solicit projects, through a competitive process, from the following corridors: Bay Area, Central Valley, Central Coast, Los Angeles, and San Diego/Border. 
• Establish Programming Targets.
• Caltrans - $222,480,000.
• Bay Area/Central Valley – Low $63,000,000/High $90,000,000.

Eligible applicants include local, regional, and public agencies such as cities, counties, Metropolitan Planning Organizations/Regional Transportation Planning Agencies, port authorities and Caltrans. **Public proposals from private entities should be submitted by a public agency sponsor.

Eligible projects must significantly contribute the following to the freight system:  economic activity or vitality; relieve congestion; improve safety, security, resilience; improve or preserve the infrastructure; implement technology or innovation to improve the system or reduce or avoid its negative impacts; or reduce or avoid adverse community and/or environmental impacts of the system.  Projects must also support the objectives of the program, and meet the set screening and evaluation criteria.  All projects must be located on the Primary Highway Freight System or a designated Critical Rural Freight Corridor or Critical Urban Freight Corridor.  

• See the attached proposed DRAFT guidelines for a list of eligible projects
• See the attached FAST Act Freight Funding Flowchart

Proposed Timeline

March 16-17, 2017:       Present Draft Guidelines to CTC

April 24, 2017:              CFIP Public Workshop at Fresno COG.  Time TBD

May 17-18, 2017:          CTC Adopt Final Guidelines and issue call for projects

June 30, 2017:              Project applications due to CTC

August 16-17, 2017:      CTC adopts program of projects

For detailed information on the California Freight Investment Program, please visit the CTC’s website at http://www.catc.ca.gov/programs/CFIP.html or contact Fresno COG staff member, Jennifer Soliz at jsoliz@fresnocog.org or 559- 233-4148 Ext. 223 for assistance.

Action: Information only, direction may be provided at the discretion of the Policy Board.

1.

Roundtable Scenario Development Activity Results (Seth Scott) [INFORMATION]

2.

Regional Transportation Plan Mini Grant Funding Recommendations (Brenda Veenendaal) [APPROVE]

Summary: Fresno COG released an RFP on January 24, 2017 that was seeking proposals from qualified consultants to provide planning services and prepare a Regional Active Transportation Plan (ATPlan) covering Fresno County.  The ATPlan will provide for more transportation options and a balanced regional transportation system to support smart growth and a more sustainable region as part of the implementation process of the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). The RTP calls for a multimodal regional transportation network that includes a regional active transportation network.  Furthermore, the purpose of the plan is to equip Fresno COG’s member agencies with the tools to better compete for all funding sources that support Active Transportation Programs and Projects.  Attached is the scope of the project from the Request for Projects.  The budget for this project is $220,000 ($150,000 from a State ATP grant and $70,000 from Fresno COG’s Local Transportation Funds.)

Five proposals were received by February 21, 2017.  A selection committee made up of representatives from the County of Fresno, an east-side city, a west-side city, the bicycling community, Caltrans District 6, and Fresno COG narrowed the field to 3 firms based on the consultant’s written proposals.  Interviews were held on Friday, March 3^rd.

Based on the strength of their team, presentation, their offer to do outreach in all of our member agencies that do not have a recent ATP, and their extensive active transportation experience in Fresno County, Fehr & Peers was unanimously recommended by the selection committee.  The Fehr & Peers team also includes VRPA (Outreach & Data Collection), Crawford & Bowen (Environmental Documentation), and Mark Thomas & Company (Cost Estimates).   

Action:  Staff, TTC and PAC recommend that the Policy Board approve the selection committee’s recommendation of the Fehr & Peers team as the consultant for the Fresno County Regional Active Transportation Plan and authorize Fresno COG’s Executive Director to enter into a contract with Fehr & Peers in the amount of $219,934.37.

Summary: In late 2015 Fresno COG applied to the Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant Program for a grant to develop the very first regional long range transit plan in Fresno County, which will provide guidance for future investment in the public transportation system in the Fresno region. The regional long range transit plan will identify a long-range vision for the public transit system in Fresno County, develop a preferred transit system scenario through the year 2050, and provide input for the transit investment strategies for the subsequent Regional Transportation Plan (RTP)/Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) development. The study will also serve as an update to the Public Transportation Infrastructure Study (PTIS). The study will take into consideration of the new population/employment forecast, updated general plans and specific plans, the adopted RTP/SCS, any existing short-term transit plans and any other multi-modal plans such as the  Active Transportation Plans (ATP) adopted by the cities and the regional ATP that is currently under development.

Fresno COG received $327,561 from Caltrans planning grant to conduct the study.  This grant was combined with Fresno COG local match of $32,439 to provide a total of $360,000 for the project.  Attached with the staff report is the scope of work for the study.  An RFP for the study was issued in January of 2017.

Just one proposal was received from VRPA Technologies with support from CDM Smith, Mobility Planners and Nelson Nygaard. This team of consultants brings strong transit planning experience both locally and nationwide. Their local project experience includes the PTIS, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Master Plan, the Fresno County Public Transportation Gap Analysis, the Visalia Long Range Transit Plan etc.  The prime consultant, VRPA Technologies, has rich experience in transportation planning, traffic engineering and public outreach.

After consultation with the Project Development Team (PDT), which consists of staff representatives from Fresno COG, Fresno Area Express (FAX), Fresno County Rural Transit Agency (FCRTA), Clovis Transit, and Caltrans District 6, it was unanimously recommended that the VRPA team be selected to conduct the Fresno County regional long range transit plan study.

TTC recommended approval of the VRPA team to develop the long range transit plan. PAC had concerns about the horizon year of the plan being 2050, which is beyond City of Fresno's general plan out year 2035, and recommended approval of the consultant selection with the condition that the horizon year of the plan being revised to 2035. 

Since this is a Caltrans' grant, revision of the horizon year constitutes a change in the scope and requires approval from Caltrans. Fresno COG will need to provide justification that change of horizon year from 2050 to 2035 will result in the same products as committed in the application. The process will take several months, which will make the timeline of the project even tighter, and does not guarantee approval from Caltrans.

In addition, 2050 was chosen as the horizon year for the regional long range transit plan so that the plan can help the region address and respond to regional and state planning development. The state's climate change planning efforts are through 2050; the Department of Finance just release population forecast through 2050; Fresno COG's 2018 Regional Transportation Plan will have a horizon year of 2042; the California Transportation Plan (CTP) is 2040, and will start update process soon with a horizon year beyond 2040. In addition, the PTIS, which started in 2008 and was completed in 2011, had a horizon year of 2035 when City of Fresno's general plan at that time was still 2020.

Action: Staff recommends that the Policy Board approve the PDT's recommendation that the VRPA team be selected to develop the Fresno County regional long range transit plan and authorize Fresno COG's Executive Director to enter a contract with VRPA Technologies Inc. for an amount not to exceed $358,463.

Summary:  California’s transportation system currently faces several challenges such as aging highways, aging local roads and transit systems, increased traffic congestion, increased demand for transportation alternatives, and increased goods movement. There continues to be a widespread concern that current funding levels for transportation programs are insufficient to fully address these challenges.  The Governor's 2017-18 budget includes a transportation funding package that is estimated to generate an annual average increase in transportation funding of $4.2 billion over the next ten years. This funding would come from a mix of revenue sources including a new $65 vehicle registration tax, increases to gasoline and diesel excise taxes, cap-and-trade auction revenues, and the early repayment of certain transportation loans. The revenues generated under the proposal would be distributed through a complex series of formulas in a manner that partially addresses a mix of transportation challenges.  Also, on December 5, 2016, under SB 1 and AB 1, Senator Beall and Assembly Member Frazier introduced two similar transportation funding proposals that include $2.2 Billion for Local Streets and Roads and $600 million per year to mass transportation. Upon full implementation, each proposal will generate approximately $6 billion annually. These proposals include a mix of gas tax increases, raising the vehicle registration fee, and imposing other charges, which would require a two-thirds vote in each legislative chamber.  As of March 8^th,  the Senate Governance and Finance Committee passed SB 1 and re-referred it to Appropriations.    

Speaker Anthony Rendon and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León have set an April 6 deadline to vote on the $6.8 billion a year transportation package. They have the numbers to pass a tax and fee hike without Republican support due to the super-majorities in both houses. However, on behalf of Assembly Republicans, Assemblyman Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, a freshman who is vice-chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee, introduced AB 496, a $5.6 billion transportation plan, with an additional $2.2 billion in one-time funding as a counter offer to the Democratic proposals.  This proposal contains no new taxes but relies on $4.6 billion from the general fund. The $5.6 billion package would receive most of its revenue from the estimated $3 billion in sales tax collected on vehicle purchases – funding that currently flows into the general fund. In addition, the plan would redirect $1.1 billion in truck weight fee revenue that now goes toward paying off past transportation borrowing and also redirects $550 million in vehicle insurance fee revenue from the general fund. AB 496 would establish an inspector general for Caltrans, limit environmental review for certain road projects, and increase reliance on private companies to carry out the work.  The expressed concern with this counter proposal is that diverting $5.6 billion for roads would deny money to other general fund programs, such as for public schools, universities, parks, prisons and health care for poor people.

Attached is a summary of all 4 transportation proposals for your review.

Action:  Information only, direction may be provided at the discretion of the Policy Board.

Summary:  Caltrans will provide a verbal update.

Mile Marker (March 2017)

Action:  Information only, direction may be provided at the discretion of the Policy Board.

All items on the consent agenda are considered to be routine and non-controversial by COG staff and will be approved by one motion if no member of the Committee or public wishes to comment or ask questions.  If comment or discussion is desired by anyone, the item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered in the listed sequence with an opportunity for any member of the public to address the Committee concerning the item before action is taken.

To locate current and past year state bill information go to the Official California Legislative Information webpage at: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/

To locate current and past year federal bill information go to THOMAS, The Library of Congress’s bill information website (in the spirit of Thomas Jefferson) at: http://thomas.loc.gov/

Please contact staff person, Melissa Garza, if you have any questions or comments.

Action:  Information only, direction may be provided at the discretion of the Policy Board.

Summary:  Your agenda package includes this month’s Clearinghouse Calendar containing “Project Notification and Review Reports” for grant proposal.

1. Federal - $32,400, Other Funds - $26,578, Total - $58,978.

Action:  Per Board procedure, unless an item is pulled from the Consent Calendar, tacit authorization is given for staff to forward any comment(s) received, or any Committee/Board comment(s) generated as a result of this informational item, to the appropriate agency. It is understood that if in the event this item should be pulled from the consent calendar, discussion and comment by the board members and the public will be taken.

Summary: The Annual Fresno COG One Voice trip to Washington D.C. for elected officials, business leaders, and community partners is scheduled for April 29 - May 4, 2017.  To date we have eight delegates registered to attend the trip, with many more expected.  The hotel block is available through March 30, 2017.

Staff gave a verbal report at the February TTC, PAC and Policy Board meetings on the projects and priorities received, reviewed and recommended by the One Voice Steering Committee.  The general direction from the COG Policy Board was to “trim down” the list of 9 candidate projects/priorities to a smaller number.  Staff then held a meeting with the One Voice Steering Committee on Monday, March 6^th to discuss how we may trim the candidate project list, consistent with the Policy Board’s direction.  In order to facilitate the process and help trim the list, Fresno COG agreed to remove its policy request (Change the RTP from a 4 year to8 yearcycle), which then left us with eight candidate projects to consider.  After much discussion amongst the Steering Committee members, there was general consensus and agreement that we could condense and repackage several of the workforce/employment requests into one, possibly two requests.  The draft list of candidate projects would be consolidated as follows:

1. Transportation Infrastructure/Policies

    A. Veterans Blvd Interchange
    B. State Route (SR) 269 Bridge
    C. US Department of Transportation-Uniform and Consistent Policies for Workforce Training Funds/Targeted Hiring Programs 

2. Regional Workforce/Employment Opportunities

    A. High Speed Rail Training Facility/Community Services Block Grant-Workforce Development
    B. Sustainable Aviation Project Implementation
    C. Establishment of a Central Valley Forestry Corp

Updated whitepapers for each project/priority are being drafted by the project sponsors, and will be added to the annotated agendas as attachments, and to the One Voice DC webpage when available.

Fresno COG would like to thank the Fresno COG member agencies and the following businesses for their sponsorship of the 2017 One Voice Advocacy Trip to D.C.:

Participating Partners ($3,000 Sponsorship)

• Precision Civil Engineering
• Community Medical Centers

Supporting Partners ($1,000 Sponsorship)

• Townsend Public Affairs, Inc.
• LSA
• Omni-Means, Ltd.
• Placeworks
• VSCE
• Sigala Inc.
• VRPA Technologies
• Fehr & Peers
• Economic Opportunities Commission

Action: Staff, TTC and PAC recommend that the Policy Board approve the Steering Committee’s recommended list of One Voice D.C. Regional projects and priorities as the platform for meetings and discussions during the 2017 One Voice D.C. Advocacy Trip.

Summary:  The San Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Council (SJVRPC) traveled to Sacramento on March 1^st to participate in the 7^th Annual Valley Voice Trip.  This year’s trip consisted of 30 participants and was an all-day event featuring meetings with key transportation officials, staff and Central Valley legislative delegation members.  Attached is the final Valley Voice agenda and a summary of the meetings and information exchanged between the delegation and transportation leaders.  Khouri Consulting has coordinated the Valley Voice Sacramento trip for the past four years, and has been working with the group for the past seven years.  An assessment of the trip and recommendations for next year have been included as an enclosure for your review.

Action: Information only. Direction may be provided at the discretion of the Policy Board.

1.

Public Listening Session Fresno COG Federal Planning Certification Review - April 4, 2017 (Melissa Garza)