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.

Action: Approve Resolution 2017-26 adopting the fiscal year 2016-17 Transportation Development Act Claims for the City of Huron in the amount of $643,499.

Action: Approve Resolution 2017-27 adopting the fiscal year 2017-18 Transportation Development Act Claims for the City of Huron in the amount of $486,880.

Action: Approve Resolution 2017-28 adopting the fiscal year 2017-18 Transportation Development Act Claims for the City of Kerman in the amount of $566,069.

Action:  Approve Resolution 2017-29 adopting the fiscal year 2017-18 Transportation Development Act Claims for the City of Parlier in the amount of $600,661.

Action: Approve Resolution 2017-30 adopting the fiscal year 2017-18 Transportation Development Act Claims for the City of Reedley in the amount of $1,013,454.

Action:  Approve Resolution 2017-31 adopting the fiscal year 2017-18 Transportation Development Act Claims for the City of San Joaquin in the amount of $157,729.

Action:  Approve Resolution 2017-32 adopting the fiscal year 2017-18 Transportation Development Act Claims for the City of Selma in the amount of $974,607.

Summary: To provide for a comprehensive understanding of transportation movements and effects between Fresno and Madera Counties, the Fresno Council of Governments (Fresno COG) and the Madera County Transportation Commission (MCTC) – in partnership with the Counties of Fresno and Madera, and the Cities of Fresno and Madera – conducted a joint study focusing on traffic movements along the entirety of the State Route (SR) 41 corridor running through both Fresno and Madera Counties, and the various impacts associated with such movements.

Part one of this study (completed in June 2016) consisted of an analysis of origin and destination traffic movements between the two counties, primarily along SR 99 and SR 41. Part two (completed in August 2017) provided a fiscal impact analysis of such movements on the local and regional economy. The results are intended to better inform local decision-making bodies regarding commuter patterns and their economic impacts as these agencies continue discussions relating to development patterns of interest to each jurisdiction, in-line with previous agreements to consider such activities and potential impacts.

The Fresno/Madera SR 99 & 41 Fiscal Analysis report (phase 2) was recently completed, which brings this project to a close. This report provides a fiscal impact analysis of the travel movements and related land uses within the study area. The analysis identifies employment industries for commuters in both directions between Madera and Fresno counties. These job destinations are then evaluated as land uses in the fiscal analysis, along with the residential units that house workers in their home communities. In addition, the analysis identifies retail market conditions in each jurisdiction and estimates the retail sales that occur from non-work trips within the study area.

The full Fresno/Madera SR 99 & 41 Fiscal Analysis report, as well as a two page summary, are provided as attachments. For further information, contact Meg Prince at mprince@fresnocog.org or 559-233-4148 Ext. 203.

Action: Staff recommends that the TTC and PAC accept the Fresno/Madera SR 99 & 41 Fiscal Analysis report.

Summary: Through the Strategic Growth Council’s (SGC) new Transformative Climate Communities Program, the State of California is proposing to invest $140 million of cap-and-trade money in three communities – $70 million in Fresno, $35 million in Los Angeles and $35 million in a third location. This program was created “to fund the development and implementation of neighborhood-level transformative climate community plans that include multiple coordinated greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects that provide local economic, environmental and health benefits to disadvantaged communities.”

The City of Fresno is in the process of engaging Fresno residents through a working group called the Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative (FTCCC). The FTCCC is a participatory process to identify a series of projects suitable for investment that will result in significant environmental and economic benefits for people who live or work in downtown, Chinatown, and southwest Fresno. The Collaborative will meet regularly July through October to establish a proposal that will be submitted to the state.

The FTCCC includes a Community Steering Committee. Anyone who lives, works or owns property in downtown, Chinatown or southwest Fresno can join the Community Steering Committee. A list of meeting dates is below. The Committee’s ultimate direction is advisory and will be considered by the Mayor and Fresno City Council for final approval.

IMPORTANT DATES (date, time, location, description)

• 7/20/17, 6-8 pm, The Californian, Community Steering Committee Meeting #1
• 8/2/17, 5-7:30 pm, Westside Church of God, Community Steering Committee Meeting #2
• 8/15/17, noon, Online, release call for project concepts
• 8/15/17, 5-7:30 pm, First Presbyterian Church of Fresno 1540 M Street, Proposal Kickoff Workshop #1
• 8/16/17, 5-7:30 pm, Westside Church of God 1422 West California Avenue, Proposal Kickoff Workshop #2
• 8/24/17, 10 am-1 pm, CalEPA, 1001 I St. Sacramento, CA, CA Strategic Growth Council adopts final program guidelines
• 8/30/17, 5-7:30 pm, Westside Church of God 1422 West California Avenue, Community Steering Committee Meeting #3
• 9/12/17, 8 pm, call for project concepts closes
• 9/20/17, 5-7:30 pm, TBD, Community Steering Committee Meeting #4
• 9/27/17, TBD, Project Review Day
• 10/4/17, 5-7:30 pm, TBD, Community Steering Committee Meeting #5
• 10/12/17, TBD, City Council Chambers, 2600 Fresno St., City Council Workshop on TCC
• 10/18/17, TBD, City submits concept proposal to SGC

For additional information:

• Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative (FTCCC): http://transformfresno.com/
• Strategic Growth Council Transformative Climate Communities webpage: http://sgc.ca.gov/Grant-Programs/Transformative-Climate-Communities-Program.html

For further information, contact Meg Prince at mprince@fresnocog.org or 559-233-4148 Ext. 203.

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

Summary:  Senate Bill (SB) 1 is a landmark transportation investment to rebuild California by fixing neighborhood streets, freeways and bridges in communities across California and targeting funds toward transit and congested trade and commute corridor improvements.  For SB 1 updates, implementations, and more visit the SB 1 webpage at http://rebuildingca.ca.gov/.

Local Streets & Roads – the California Transportation Commission (CTC) approved the 2017 Local Streets and Roads Funding Annual Reporting Guidelines on August 16^th.  The guidelines can be accessed on the Commission’s website at http://catc.ca.gov/activities/sb1/docs/sb1-lsr-program-reporting-guidelines-final-081717.pdf.  Many cities and counties are actively working to reflect/amend Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account (RMRA) funds and projects into their respective budgets. In addition to this action, jurisdictions will also need to submit a Proposed Project List form to the Commission by October 16^th pursuant to Streets and Highways Code Section 2034 and as outlined in Sections 9 and 10 of the adopted guidelines. Appendix A of the guidelines provides a general outline of the proposed project information that will need to be submitted to CTC.  A standard proposed project list Excel template is estimated to be available in early September to use when submitting to CTC.

For further information, please contact Jennifer Soliz at jsoliz@fresnocog.org or 559-233-4148 Ext. 223

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

Summary:  In order to guarantee Obligation Authority (OA) approval for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2016-17, Caltrans’ official deadline to submit E-76 requests and Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) transfers was July 28, 2017.  As of July 31, 2017, $17,695,444 of Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding has been obligated representing 81% project delivery.  This has reduced the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016-17 OA target balance to $4,158,481.  The Fresno region has $6.7 million in projects pending August redistribution which is anticipated to be funded in early September.  Assuming full redistribution, the region will deliver 112 percent of its FFY 2016-17 OA target.

For further information, please contact Jennifer Soliz at jsoliz@fresnocog.org or 559-233-4148 Ext. 223

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

Summary: The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has released its 2017 Draft Funding Guidelines, which include updated provisions to incorporate the legislative requirements of Assembly Bill 1550 for disadvantaged communities, low-income communities and low-income households. In addition, the draft Funding Guidelines include revisions to reflect “lessons learned” and feedback received from stakeholders during initial program implementation, such as improvements on reporting and transparency.

Proceeds from the cap-and-trade program auctions are deposited into the Greenhouse Gas reduction fund, which is then apportioned to programs such as Transformative Climate Communities (TCC), Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC), Sustainable Communities Planning Grant and Incentives and Urban Greening Grants (UGG).

The draft Funding Guidelines are intended to help administering agencies establish these programs and to provide consistency in designing and implementing California Climate Investments (CCI) programs that meet the State’s statutory and policy objectives for appropriations from the Fund.

Comments on the Draft Funding Guidelines will be accepted thru September 15, 2017. To download the full Draft Guidelines, see https://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/auctionproceeds/fundingguidelines.htm or contact Trai Her-Cole at traih@fresnocog.org. 

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

Summary: The Strategic Growth Council (SGC) along with the Department of Conservation (DOC) has released a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for approximately $1.5 million in planning grant funding for the Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) Program.

Eligible applicants include: cities, counties, metropolitan planning organizations, joint powers authorities, regional transportation planning agencies, councils of government or combinations thereof are eligible to apply.  The SGC strongly encourages proposals comprising meaningful, actionable, internal and external collaboration that demonstrate a commitment from multiple organizations.

There must be at least two joint partners on the project. Scoring priority will be given to applicants who are able to demonstrate strong and diverse partnerships, including with community-based organizations and other stakeholder groups.

The planning grants are intended to help communities successfully apply for and to implement future TCC Implementation Grant awards or other California Climate Investment programs. Planning activities should focus on responding to planning issues or priorities that directly benefit vulnerable communities and that are defined either within an existing regional or local plan or that further the development of an area eligible for a future TCC Implementation Grant.

Planning grant applications are due by on by 5:00 pm on Thursday, November 30, 2017.  Selection recommendations will be in January 2018.

The compete NOFA and TCC program guidelines are available at http://sgc.ca.gov/Grant-Programs/Transformative-Climate-Communities-Program.html.

For additional information, contact Trai Her-Cole at 559-233-4148.

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

Action: approve Resolution 2017-33 adopting the fiscal year 2017-18 Transportation Development Act Claims for the City of Sanger in the amount of $1,023,161.

1.

Regional Transportation Plan Draft Policy Element (Meg Prince/Jennifer Soliz) [APPROVE]

2.

Regional Transportation Plan Safety Performance Target (Lang Yu) [APPROVE]

Summary: The Fresno COG Programming Subcommittee met on March 1, 2017 and July 19, 2017 to finalize the procedures and selection criteria in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2017-18 Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) and Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (STBG) call for projects.  The Fresno COG Policy Board will be asked to issue the call for projects at its September 28, 2017 meeting.  The Programming Subcommittee received comments and approved changes to the CMAQ and STBG scoring criteria.  Both application packets were revised and resubmitted to Subcommittee members on July 19^th.  The suggested changes are in red, track-change format for easy review.  The full draft application packets can be found at www.fresnocog.org. 

For further information, please contact Jennifer Soliz at jsoliz@fresnocog.org or 559-233-4148 Ext. 223 or Suzanne Martinez at smartinez@fresnocog.org or 559-233-4148 Ext. 240.

Action: Staff and the Programming Subcommittee recommend the revised draft CMAQ and STBG application packets be approved as amended and the call for projects be initiated by the Policy Board on September 28, 2017.

Summary:  During the 2016 State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) the state was $750 million in deficit. Senate Bill 1 (SB1) appears to relieve that situation, and beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2020-21 the Fresno region should be seeing $13.9 million a year in new money; however, the state has to pay off its deficit first. That leaves $16 million of the $28.4 million county share balance that Fresno COG can program in FY 2019-20.  With the new money accumulating, the region may have $57 million to program by FY 2022-23. The STIP guidelines have also created a new category -- Advance Project Development Element (APDE) -- to encourage shelf ready projects. The $6.7 million in APDE available to this region will reduce our county shares but it won’t count against the $16 million target the region has available in FY 2019-20.

Fresno COG staff is updating the Measure C Regional Transportation Expenditure Plan.  Previously, the Policy Board has dedicated STIP county shares to major projects on the Measure C Tier I list to get maximum leverage from the local sales tax.   During the 2014 STIP, the Policy Board went through a series of public hearings to select between State Route (SR) 180 East Segment 3 and Veterans Boulevard. SR 180 East won that competition but now that it has been funded, Veterans Boulevard appears to be next in line for STIP funding, considering the region has invested $35 million in design and right of way. The project will be ready to list in FY 2018-19.

Meanwhile, the City of Fresno is applying for a $44.5 million federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant that, if successful, requires construction begin prior to STIP funding being available in FY 2019-20. If the INFRA grant is not approved, then Fresno COG should have a stand-by plan for delivering Veterans Boulevard with STIP funding.  The INFRA grant and STIP cycle run concurrently, staff won’t know if the INFRA grant is approved until after the 2018 STIP is submitted. Fresno COG staff is discussing Veterans Boulevard as a 2018 STIP candidate with the City of Fresno as part of updating the Expenditure Plan.

The North/Cedar Interchange on SR 99 ranks as the next major project on the Tier I urban list after Veterans Boulevard. This project is near a developing industrial center, and the City of Fresno has suggested this should be the next candidate after Veterans Boulevard and also requested Fresno COG begin programming APDE, plan, specific and estimate (PS&E) and right-of-way (ROW).  It makes sense to begin programming the PS&E with STIP APDE. This is an issue we will explore further during the Expenditure Plan update.

At the same time, Caltrans has proposed putting $9.5 million in the Interregional Transportation Improvement Program (ITIP) for PS&E & ROW for SR 41 – Elkhorn to Kings County line.  The original Measure built SR 41 out to Elkhorn, and Kings County officials have improved SR 41 on their side, leaving a 6 mile (24 lane miles) unimproved gap on the remaining segment in Fresno County. 

Caltrans initially had some money to get the environmental work done on this project in the ITIP; however, it was removed because of funding constraints.  Now Caltrans wants to add money back to get the project shelf ready for a potential $52.5 million construction job and have requested Fresno COG partner by contributing $2 million in STIP funding for ROW. 

Construction funding has not been identified yet but Caltrans anticipates that should SB1 or some new federal funding source become available, it makes sense to have shelf ready projects lined up.  Fresno COG staff will be meeting with Caltrans to see if potential construction funding can be identified.  If so, the proposal makes sense from a regional perspective; however, note that the project is not on either the Measure C Tier I or Tier II list, so there is no avenue for funding from the current Measure without amending it into the list.  The region has traditionally dedicated STIP funding to leveraging projects in the Expenditure Plan.

Action:  Staff recommends that the TTC and PAC:

1. Confirm Veterans Boulevard as the highest priority 2018 State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) project.

2. Designate the NorthCedar interchange as second priority for 2018 STIP for plans, specifications and estimate (PSE) programming.

3. Reserve $2 million in STIP Advance Project Development Element (APDE) for State Route (SR) 41 – Excelsior to Kings County Line, contingent on proposed construction funding being identified.

Summary: Senate Bill (SB) 1 appropriated $100 million a year from the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account (RMRA) for the Active Transportation Program (ATP) starting in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-18.  The 2017 ATP Augmentation Guidelines address the use of the ATP RMRA funds for FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19 and were adopted by the California Transportation Commission (CTC) on June 29, 2017.  The Statewide Call for Projects was open from June 30, 2017 through August 1, 2017.  Fresno COG will receive $1,047,000, for each FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19, to award local projects.  The regional augmentation announcement opened on September 1, 2017 and will close on October 2, 2017.

Funding for the 2017 ATP Augmentation will only be available to:

•         Projects programmed in the adopted 2017 ATP that can be delivered earlier than currently programmed, or

•         Projects that applied for funding in the 2017 ATP but were not selected for funding

Project eligibility requirements are detailed in the Guidelines referenced above and can be found on the CTC website at http://catc.ca.gov/activities/atp/ and on the Fresno COG website at: www.fresnocog.org. 

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

1.

Upgrade to Fresno COG Audio and Video Technology (Trai Her-Cole) [INFORMATION]

This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the Committee on items within its jurisdiction but not on this agenda.  Note:  Prior to action by the Committee on any item on this agenda, the public may comment on that item.  Unscheduled comments may be limited to 3 minutes.

1.

Fresno, Kings and Tulare Cross Valley Corridor Plan (QK, Inc.)

2.

Caltrans Report (CALTRANS) [INFORMATION]