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Caltrans Report (CALTRANS) [INFORMATION]

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 2018-38 adopting the City of Clovis' 2018-19 Transportation Development Act claims for $5,459,217.

Summary: The Strategic Growth Council (SGC) has released its Round 4 Affordable Housing Sustainable Communities (ASHC) Technical Assistance (TA) Program. The AHSC TA program provides direct application assistance and capacity building services for potential applicants to the FY 2017-2018 AHSC Program.

These services are offered at no cost to the TA recipient and are available statewide to ensure that disadvantaged, low-income communities and AHSC applicants with limited capacity to complete a rigorous application process have access to the resources and tools to successfully compete in the AHSC program. The SGC will be responsible for allocating TA resources and services.

If interested in receiving TA for a potential AHSC project, please complete the form at the link below by Wednesday, November 21, 2018.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P8PYRVT

The information will help determine overall statewide technical assistance need. SGC Staff will assess the collected information and allocate TA resources according to the following criteria:

• TA needs: Estimate the level of assistance and specific services necessary to help the TA recipient submit a competitive application.
• Project viability & AHSC threshold requirements: Likelihood that the proposed project will meet the AHSC guidelines’ threshold requirements by the time of submission.
• Geographic diversity: Consider the geographic diversity of interested TA recipients, being cognizant of the split between urban, suburban, and rural projects, as well as the proportion of funding that has gone to different regions of the State in the first three rounds.
• Value add: Consider whether the potential applicant is accessing other TA or consultant-based resources and the unique value add that SGC’s TA resources can bring.
• Disadvantaged, low-income, and/or tribal community: Priority may be given to applicants serving these communities.

Based on the above criteria, the SGC will determine if the potential AHSC applicant will receive services in preparation for the upcoming funding round (October 2018 – February 2019), or longer-term capacity-building services to prepare for a future AHSC funding round.

SGC anticipates beginning services with TA recipients in late November. The Round 4 NOFA is expected to be released October 31, 2018 and will be due February 11, 2019. The final program guidelines are now available at the link below. 

http://sgc.ca.gov/meetings/council/2018/docs/20181029-Item_6_Attachment_1_AHSC_17-18_Guidelines.pdf   

Inquiries can be directed to either Meg Prince at mprince@fresnocog.org or (559) 233-4148 x203 or Trai Her-Cole at traih@fresnocog.org or (559) 233-4148 x205.

Action: Information only. The committee may provide further direction at its discretion.

Summary: The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations and published guidance for the new Opportunity Zone tax incentive. A map of all qualifying census tracts in Fresno County is attached.

Opportunity Zones, created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, were designed to spur investment in distressed communities throughout the country through tax benefits. Under a nomination process completed in June 2018, 8,761 communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories were designated as qualified Opportunity Zones. Opportunity Zones retain their designation for 10 years. Investors may defer tax on almost any capital gain up to Dec. 31, 2026 by making an appropriate investment in a zone, making an election after December 21, 2017, and meeting other requirements.

For more information, visit the following links: Full Notice of Proposed Rule Making and public hearing; full revenue ruling; Treasury press release; IRS press release; Economic Innovation Group; Ways and Means Committee; and Senator Tim Scott statement.

Action: Information only. The committee may provide further direction at its discretion.

Summary: Fresno COG's rideshare program staff released an RFP August 28, 2018, for a Valleyrides website redesign and rideshare/ridematch development services. The Valleyrides website will serve as a one-stop commuter resource, including carpool and vanpool ridematching, information on Measure C carpool and vanpool incentive programs, Senior Scrip Program, trip planning, transit resources, Amtrak and YARTS connectivity and available bike mapping. Though Fresno COG hosts a website with much of this information, the database that conducts ridematching has become antiquated and dysfunctional.

Fresno COG received proposals from two Rideshare/Web consultant firms. After interviewing both firms, staff chose to award Ride Amigos with the website contract.  Ride Amigos also developed websites for several other COGs and transportation authorities, such as San Luis Obispo, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara and Napa Valley.

The Initial cost of the Ride Amigos redevelopment is $34,985 with an annual licensing and support cost of $27,985.

Action: Staff requests that the committee recommend the Board authorize the executive director to enter into a contract with Ride Amigos for the Valleyrides website redesign and database maintenance.

Summary: The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century (MAP-21) and the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) requires Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to set targets for a series of transportation performance measures. Last year, safety targets (PM1) were established and approved, which were then included in the 2018 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). Targets for pavement and bridge performance measures (PM2), and system performance/freight/CMAQ performance measures (PM3) are due to Caltrans by Nov.16^th, 2018. The specific performance measures for PM 2 & PM 3 are listed as follows:

Pavement and Bridge (PM2) performance measures:

• Percentage of interstate pavements in good condition
• Percentage of interstate pavements in poor condition
• Percentage of non-interstate NHS pavements in good condition
• Percentage of non-interstate NHS pavements in poor condition
• Percentage of NHS bridges in good condition
• Percentage of NHS bridges in poor condition

Performance Management (PM3) performance measures:

• Percent of reliable person-miles traveled on the interstate
• Percent of reliable person-miles traveled on the non-interstate NHS
• Truck travel time reliability index
• Total emissions reductions by applicable pollutants under the CMAQ program

Fresno COG will have the option of either supporting the State of California's overall targets or setting its own regional targets for one or more performance measures. Performance targets are required to be documented in the Regional Transportation Plan and the Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) when they are updated to demonstrate that MPOs are taking efforts to achieve the targets. Should an MPO miss a target, there is no penalty imposed on the region. The State DOT must obligate and set aside National Highway Performance Program (NHPP) funds for eligible projects on the National Highway System (NHS) if it does not meet the targets (except CMAQ).

Upon analysis of existing conditions and considering the statewide target, staff recommends supporting the statewide targets for both PM2 and PM3. Staff will make a short presentation to demonstrate the baseline conditions and analysis results.

Action: Staff requests the TTC and PAC recommend to the Board that Fresno COG support the statewide two-year and four-year targets for pavement and bridge (PM2) and system performance/freight/CMAQ (PM3).

Summary:  Governor Brown signed AB 617 into law in July 2017 with a focus on reducing harmful air pollution in California’s most impacted disadvantaged communities. The program is “community focused” in that the program will heavily rely on community-specific monitoring to create a community-level action framework for air protection. The California Air Resources Board (ARB), air pollution control districts, and local communities are the main parties  implementing AB 617.

As part of the air protection program, ten communities were selected statewide this year for initial action. In the San Joaquin Valley, Shafter and South Central Fresno (please refer to the attached maps for South Central Fresno) were chosen due to their disadvantaged status and the severity of air pollution. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution District is responsible for developing a community emissions reduction plan in consultation with ARB, community residents, affected sources, and local governments. The plan may include strategies that target stationary/mobile sources, and also those that address transportation/land use issues. The timeframe for developing the plan is within one year of selecting priority communities, which is fall 2019. A steering committee is being formed to direct and create reduction plans for the South Central Fresno community in the Fresno region, with the initial community meeting being held this week. Fresno COG will monitor the process for South Central Fresno and the implications it has for transportation and land-use planning in the region, and will update the committee as necessary.

Action: Information only. The committee may provide further direction at its discretion.

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: Gov. Jerry Brown signed a series of bills during the last month of the 2018 California legislative session that will impact member agencies and Fresno COG programs related to housing elements, the Regional Housing Needs Allocation Plan, transit funds and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Staff will provide a brief overview of the implications for the bills listed below. 

AB 686: Housing Discrimination: Further Fair Housing (Santiago)

Requires a public agency, as defined, to administer its programs and activities relating to housing and community development in a manner to affirmatively further fair housing, and to not take any action that is materially inconsistent with this obligation. The bill requires the goals and objectives of the housing element to affirmatively further fair housing, and for revisions to the housing element that occur on and after January 1, 2021 to include an assessment of fair housing within the jurisdiction.

AB 1771: Planning and Zoning: Regional Housing Needs Assessment (Bloom)

Amends the Planning and Zoning Law. Authorizes citizens to make an electronic request for the proposed methodology that furthers the objectives by a Regional Housing Needs Allocation Plan. Authorizes a local government to appeal to the Council of Governments for a revision of the share of the proposed regional housing need. Specifies criteria for the appeal. Requires the local Council of Governments to notify all other governments of all appeals.

SB 828: Land use: Housing Element ( Wiener)

Makes changes to the regional housing needs allocation process, such as: requires inclusion of the overcrowding rate, the vacancy rate for a healthy housing market (no less than 5%), and percentage of households that are cost burdened. Prohibits COGs from using prior underproduction of housing, or stable population numbers, in a city or county as justification for a determination or reduction in a city’s or county’s share of the RHNA.

AB 2162: Planning and Zoning: Supportive Housing (Chiu)

Requires that supportive housing be a use-by-right in zones where multifamily and mixed uses are permitted, including nonresidential zones, if the proposed housing development meets specified criteria. Requires a local government to approve a supportive housing development that complies with these requirements. Prohibits the local government from imposing any minimum parking requirement for units occupied by supportive housing residents under certain circumstances.

AB 1804 California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: residential or mixed-use housing projects (Berman)

Revises the CEQA categorical exemption for infill development projects within cities to include residential and mixed-use housing projects in unincorporated areas, on sites of no more than five acres substantially surrounded by urban uses. Must be multifamily housing and at least six units per acre. 

SB 1000: Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (Lara)

Requires the Energy Commission and State Air Resources Board, as part of the investment plan's deployment, to assess whether charging station infrastructure is disproportionately deployed. Authorizes the Commission to use moneys from the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund, as well as other mechanisms, including incentives, to more proportionately deploy new charging station infrastructure, with exceptions. Authorizes cities and counties to adopt zoning requirements that regulate land use, including, but not limited to, the location and size of buildings, the size and use of lots, and requirements for off-street parking and loading. Prohibits cities and counties from restricting which types of electric vehicles, including, but not limited to, plug-in hybrid vehicles, may access an electric vehicle charging station that is both publicly accessible and was at least partly funded by ratepayer or state monies. 

SB 1119:  Low Carbon Transit Operations Program (Beale)

Waives a requirement that transit agencies whose service areas include disadvantaged communities expend a specified amount of funds received from the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program on projects or services that benefit those communities if the recipient transit agencies expend the funding provided on certain transit activities. 

Action: Information only. The committee may provide further direction at its discretion.

Summary: Freeway Service Patrol (FSP) operator Patrick Bartlett, owner of Budget Towing in Fresno, has abruptly resigned his company's contract with Fresno COG to run four "beats" along state routes 41, 99, 168 and 180 during peak hours. The service is intended to quickly move stranded motorists off of freeways and allow traffic to resume normal flows.

The action follows a negative evaluation recommending termination that Budget Towing received from the California Highway Patrol, which is charged with enforcing FSP contracts by the State of California, including provisions that dictate operating hours; equipment and uniform requirements; and staffing, among other issues.

Budget Towing was in the second year of a five-year contract. Fresno COG's standard FSP contract provides for penalties in the event of non-performance, which will be assessed against any of the operator's outstanding and final invoices.

Under the circumstances, CHP officials have acknowledged the necessity for service interruptions potentially totaling several months while Fresno COG circulates an RFP to secure a new operator. CHP will still be able to access towing services from multiple operators in Fresno; however, wait times may be substantially affected.

Action: Information only.  The committee may provide further direction at its discretion.

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.