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 2017-40 adopting the City of Clovis' fiscal year 2016-17 Transportation Development Act claims for $5,523,638.

Action:  Approve Resolution 2017-41 adopting the City of Fowler fiscal year 2017-18 Transportation Development Act claims for $235,857.

Summary: Updating Resolution authorizing Fresno COG's Executive Director to execute and file applications with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

Action:  Staff recommends the TTC/PAC recommend adoption of Resolution 2017-39 authorizing Fresno COG's Executive Director to execute and file FTA applications for federal assistance authorized by 49 U.S.C. Chapter 53 or any other federal statutes authorizing activities that FTA administers.

Summary: As part of the performance-based planning requirement in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century Act (MAP-21) and the subsequent Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the Federal Transit Administration developed the Transit Assets Management (TAM) rules that became effective October 1, 2016. Four performance measures were established:

• Revenue Vehicle:  percentage of revenue vehicles (by type) that exceed the useful life benchmark (ULB)
• Non-Revenue Vehicle: percentage of non-revenue service vehicles (by type) that exceed the ULB
• Facilities: percentage of facilities (by group) that are rated less than 3.0 on the Transit Economic Requirements Model (TERM) Scale
• Infrastructure: percentage of track segments (by mode) that have performance restrictions.

Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) are required to establish annual TAM targets specific to the MPO planning area for the same performance measures for all public transit providers within 180 days after the providers establish their targets. MPOs are being asked to coordinate with transit providers to implement a performance-based planning process that prioritizes investments meeting regional performance targets for state of good repair. Fresno COG developed the FY 2018-19 regional TAM targets by weighting the targets Fresno Area Express (FAX) and Fresno County Rural Transit Agency (FCRTA) established. TAM targets do not apply to Clovis Transit because it does not receive federal dollars. The infrastructure performance measure does not apply to the Fresno region because it does not maintain fixed rail guideway with direct capital responsibility, which is defined as infrastructure in the TAM rules.

Action: Staff recommends the TTC/PAC approve the 2018 regional Transit Asset Management targets as presented.

Summary: In November 2016, the California Strategic Growth Council selected Fresno as one of three cities in the state to be a pilot for its new Transformative Climate Communities Program (TCC). 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 Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative includes a Community Steering Committee that met regularly from July through October 2017. The committee was tasked with making decisions about the final package of projects to be included in the City of Fresno’s proposal to the Strategic Growth Council for $70 million of funding. Anyone who lives, works or owns property in downtown, Chinatown or Southwest Fresno can join the Community Steering Committee.

On October 4, the Community Steering Committee chose a final package of projects to send to the Mayor for the $70 million grant. The final package was based on a fifth alternative created by 16 residents of West Fresno, who then sought and gained support from Chinatown and downtown Fresno leaders. The final package includes 25 projects and more than $200 million of investment in Downtown, Chinatown and Southwest Fresno.

The details of the selected and final package can be found here: http://transformfresno.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Final_TCC_Plan.pdf

The concept proposal was submitted to the Strategic Growth Council on October 18, 2017. Full applications are due on November 30, 2017.

Additional information can be found here:

http://sgc.ca.gov/Grant-Programs/Transformative-Climate-Communities-Program.html

http://transformfresno.com/

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

Summary: The California State Transportation Agency is now accepting applications for the next round of Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) awards and the first round of State Rail Assistance (SRA) Programs awards. These grants combined will provide about $2.5 billion over the next five years to transit and rail operators across the state.

By statute, the next round of TIRCP will be a five-year program. Eligible applicants include public agencies that operate: existing or planned intercity rail, commuter passenger rail, urban rail transit, bus, ferry or vanpool services. Applicants may also partner with other transit operators to provide better integrated service across two or more providers. All projects must demonstrate the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to be eligible. Grant recipients must also show benefits such as improved transit ridership, integration with other rail and transit systems (including high-speed rail) and improved rail safety.

TIRCP applications must be submitted electronically to tircpcomments@dot.ca.gov by January 12, 2018. The Transportation Agency will announce the grant recipients by April 30, 2018.

Senate Bill 1 created the SRA Program by directing a portion of new revenue specifically to intercity rail and commuter rail, estimated at $25 million in fiscal year (FY) 2017-18, $39 million in FY 2018-19 and $41 million in FY 2019-20. The majority of this funding is directed by statutory formula to rail operators, with guidelines defining process and timelines. The applications in this round will facilitate access to formula-determined funding levels.

SRA applications must be submitted electronically to SRA@calsta.ca.gov by December 15, 2017, to be considered for initial funding in February 2018. Applications received later will be considered on a rolling basis. The Transportation Agency will announce initial project approvals by January 31, 2018.

• Announcement: https://calsta.ca.gov/2017/10/13/apply-now-for-rebuilding-california-rail-and-transit-grants/
• TIRCP Website: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/MassTrans/tircp.html
• SRA Website: http://calsta.ca.gov/state-rail-assistance-program/

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

Summary:  The Department of Housing and Community Development (Department) has released a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) of approximately $50 million for the Infill Infrastructure Grant (IIG) Program. The IIG Program provides grants for capital improvement projects (CIP), in support of qualifying infill projects (QIP). Applications are due Tuesday, January 16, 2018. Ten percent of funding is allocated for the Central Valley. 

• Per the IIG Program guidelines (Guidelines), QIP grant limits have been increased from $4 million to $5 million.
• A funding commitment for the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Program will be considered an enforceable funding commitment if the IIG application includes an AHSC award letter or if the round 3 AHSC and round 5 IIG applications are awarded simultaneously.

The IIG Program application forms, guidelines and related program information are available at http://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/iigp.shtml. Questions may be directed to the IIG Program at (916) 263-2771 or DFAInfill@hcd.ca.gov.

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

Summary: On June 9, 2017, the Strategic Growth Council (SGC) announced awards for the fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Technical Assistance Program. Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. (Enterprise) was one of two non-profit lead organizations awarded funding to provide technical assistance for AHSC's third round. San Joaquin COG, Fresno COG and other organizations partnered with Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. to propose technical assistance for Valley AHSC applicants. The SGC awarded the SJV team $120,000 to provide assistance such as grant writing, project coordination and greenhouse gas emissions modeling in the AHSC application process. Fresno COG’s portion is $4,750.

As the lead agency, San Joaquin COG is requesting a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) be established for this collaborative effort. Attached is Resolution 2017-42, intended to allow Fresno COG to bill for its portion of program activities.

Action: Staff recommends the TTC/PAC approve entering into an MOU with San Joaquin COG by signing Resolution 2017-42, allowing for Fresno COG to participate in the AHSC Technical Assistance Program.

Summary: As part of the 2018 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) development process, Fresno COG is preparing an Environmental Justice (EJ) analysis report. The EJ report requires analysis of the RTP's impacts on low-income and minority populations. Consultant assistance is required to produce indicator analysis scripts for Fresno COG's travel demand model, which will be used to conduct the analysis.

The EJ modeling assistance scope of work is attached with the staff report.

Action: Staff recommends that TTC/PAC approve the contract with TJKM to provide assistance in the EJ analysis for the amount not to exceed $10,000.

Summary:  The RTP Roundtable received the draft 2018 RTP Action Element at its September meeting. On October 19, the Leadership Council and Community Equity Coalition partners delivered a comment letter on the Action Element.  Fresno COG staff did not have time to respond to the letter prior to the Roundtable meeting on October 25. 

The draft Action Element will be brought back to the Roundtable for approval in January 2018.

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

Summary: In April 2016, the Fresno COG Policy Board entered into a $3.7 million contract with Mark Thomas and Co. to design engineer the Golden State Boulevard project. Prior to that, Fresno COG had contracted with Quad Knopf, Inc. to develop the project's first phase. 

During this initial phase, Quad Knopf was tasked with reducing the budget and scope of construction from $65.3 million to $41.4 million to be consistent with the funding identified in the Measure C Expenditure Plan. Part of that scope reduction involved decreasing the northern end of the project by 1.3 miles. This eliminated the section from American Avenue to Lincoln Avenue. The County recently requested that the deleted section be restored. This makes sense from a regional perspective considering the upcoming projects to reconstruct the American Avenue/Golden State Boulevard intersection and the State Route (SR) 99/American Avenue Interchange Reconstruction Project. Mark Thomas estimates that restoring this section of the project will cause an increase of approximately $4.1 million in design and construction costs.  

Additionally, Mark Thomas reworked the 30 percent design at the request of participating cities and revised the cost estimates, resulting in approximately $1 million more for construction. The majority of this increase comes from the updated pavement strategy due to geotechnical recommendations. Other additions to the revised scope include:

• Realigning Stroud Avenue, including traffic signalization and railroad requirements
• Signalizing McCall Avenue instead of DeWolf Avenue
• A pedestrian bridge across the Fowler Switch Canal for the Class 1 shared-use path
• Decorative lighting in downtown areas
• City monument signs

The revised 30 percent design budget also includes a 20 percent contingency that will be distributed to project components or reduced as costs become clearer during later design phases. 

The total Golden State Boulevard project cost will increase $5.5 million, with approximately $5 million in construction cost increases and a $428,864 increase in the Mark Thomas contract for the design engineering necessary to cover the increased scope.

Action:  Staff recommends the TTC/PAC approve the $428,864 increase to the Mark Thomas and Company contract for design engineering of tasks that were not included in the original scope of the Golden State Boulevard contract.

Summary: At its September meeting, the Board approved Fresno COG's Regional Improvement Program component to the 2018 State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) allocation plan priorities:

1.  Veterans Boulevard as the highest priority 2018 STIP project.

2.  Designate State Route (SR) 99 North/Cedar Interchange as the second priority for 2018 STIP, Project Approval & Environmental Documentation (PA&ED) and plans, specifications and estimates (PS&E) programming.

3.  Right-of-way (ROW) for SR 41 Elkhorn to Kings County line.

For fiscal year (FY) 2019-20, the Veterans Boulevard project is recommended for $14.6 million in construction from STIP County shares. The region has invested $34.4 million in local funds to get this project ready to list and the City of Fresno has applied for a $44.1 million Federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant. If the INFRA grant is not successful, the region proposes the $116.7 million construction phase will be paid with a combination of STIP, Measure C, development impact fees and local contributions from the City of Fresno.

Meanwhile, $2 million is recommended for ROW on the SR 41 Elkhorn to Kings County line project. Caltrans has proposed reprogramming $8 million in the Interregional Transportation Improvement Program (ITIP) towards this project for PS&E and ROW to complete the six-mile gap remaining on SR 41 between Kings and Fresno Counties. Caltrans has agreed to propose that the project's $52.4 million construction phase receive future ITIP funds and has requested the region contribute another $4 million in STIP county shares when the construction funding is requested in FY 2024-25.  

This brings the total programming against the FY 2019-20 target to $16.6 million, in accordance with the California Transportation Commission recommended minimum target. 

The regional target for Planning, Programming and Monitoring (PPM), $1.197 million, will be programmed in $399,000 increments in FY 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23.

A new funding category -- Advanced Project Development Element (APDE) -- has been created to encourage shelf-ready projects.  The APDE target applies against the county share balance, but not against the region's FY 2019-20 target.  Fresno COG recommends programming $3 million for environmental clearance, PA&ED on the SR 99 North/Cedar Interchange project. This project is on the Measure C Tier I list. Once the environmental document is complete, design, ROW and construction will be programmed with a combination of STIP and Measure C funds. Caltrans expect this project to be ready to list for construction in FY 2023-24.

Action: Staff recommends adopting Resolution 2017-38 to submit Fresno COG's 2018 RTIP to the California Transportation Commission.

Summary:  In total, cost estimates for the Measure C Regional Transportation Program increased $650,000 from the prior plan. Revenues increased $3.5 million, reducing the total overall deficit in the 20 year plan to $267.7 million.

The urban program has estimated revenues of $729.3 million, projected expenses of $762.8 million, for a net deficit of $33.5 million. Net project costs decreased $6.3 million.

Approximately $4.1 million in increased funding is provided for three projects in fiscal year (FY) 2017-18: Willow – Shepherd to Copper; Herndon – Temperance to DeWolf and; Shaw – DeWolf to McCall. Staff anticipates the Willow project will be the initial candidate for the new Senate Bill 1 (SB1) Local Partnership Program. In addition, a $2 million contingency has been restored to the State Route (SR) 41, SR 180 and SR 168 braided ramps projects until the final costs come in.

Veterans Boulevard is anticipated to increase $6.9 million from the previous plan. The project is expected to be ready to list in FY 2018-19. The urban plan provides two options for delivering Veterans Boulevard.  The City of Fresno is applying for a $44.5 million federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant.  If the INFRA grant application is successful, the City intends to start construction in FY 2018-19, as required by the INFRA grant; however, if the grant is not successful, Measure C's Expenditure Plan provides an alternative to deliver the project in FY 2019-20 using State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), Measure C and Regional Transportation Mitigation Fee (RTMF) funds. Delivering Veterans Boulevard in FY 2019-20 includes a tentative plan for the City to borrow $13.4 million of its Measure C local allocation. 

SR 99 – North to Cedar is anticipated to cost $86 million, including 15 percent for environmental and design cost. About $3 million in STIP APDE funding is programmed in FY 2018-19 to start the environmental process. Caltrans anticipates environmental work will be complete by October 1, 2021. Another $43.4 million is programmed to start design and right-of-way in FY 2021-22. Finally, $50.7 million for construction is scheduled in FY 2023-24.

The rural program has $491.5 million in estimated revenues and $725.7 million in planned expenses for a net deficit of $234.2 million. Net project costs have increased $6.98 million.

Following requests from local jurisdictions and the County, Mark Thomas Engineering has updated its 30 percent design specifications for Golden State Avenue and revised various scopes. The revised specifications call for enhanced pavement requirements per geotechnical testing; a realignment for Stroud, including a traffic signal and rail road requirements; moving a traffic signal from DeWolf to McCall; replacing a deteriorated bridge and culvert on the Fowler Switch Canal; various lighting and; extending the project limits from Lincoln Avenue back to American Avenue. The scope changes add $5.5 million to the project, which is on schedule to begin construction in FY 2018-19. The plan carries 10 percent for construction engineering and a 20 percent contingency, which may be spread around to project components or reduced as design nears completion.

The next major project for the rural plan is SR 99 American Avenue interchange, one of five half interchanges that allow traffic to get on the freeway going one direction and off going the other direction. The others are located at North, Cedar, Central and Chestnut. Together, they provide complete access to a growing industrial area and the proposed High Speed Rail Heavy Maintenance facility.  Because Caltrans no longer uses the half-interchange structure, the network of access points will have to be adjusted, reducing the number to three complete interchanges. For this reason, economies of scale will be realized by environmentally clearing all three interchanges at the same time.

Approximately $350,000 is programmed in FY 2017-18 for a Project Study Report (PSR) for American Avenue, which will include Central/Chestnut – a Tier II project – and $3.3 million in FY 2018-19 for environmental work. This coincides with the $3 million APDE funding programmed for North/Cedar. Once the environmental is complete, Caltrans will better determine how construction should be phased; however, the plan joins the schedule for American with North\Cedar, programming $7.2 million in design and right-of-way for American in FY 2021-22 and $49.3 million in FY 2023-24 for construction. These estimates are based on very preliminary numbers that were devised in 2004 for the ballot. Actual costs will be better known once the PSR is complete.

Action:  Staff recommends the TTC/PAC approve the fiscal year 2017-18 update to the Measure C Regional Transportation Program.

1.

Sustainable Communities Strategy Fall 2017 Outreach and Responses (Brenda Veenendaal) [INFORMATION]

2.

Preferred Scenario Selection (Seth Scott) [APPROVE]

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.

Caltrans Report (CALTRANS) [INFORMATION]