Fresno COG Header

Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy Roundtable

Date:
Time:
Place:

Wednesday, April 26, 2017
2:00 PM

COG Sequoia Conference Room
2035 Tulare St., Suite 201, Fresno, CA


Toll Free Number: 888-398-2342 ~ Participant Code:  740166



Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Accommodations
The Fresno COG offices and restrooms are ADA accessible. Representatives or individuals with disabilities should contact Fresno COG at (559) 233-4148, at least 3 days in advance, to request auxiliary aids and/or translation services necessary to participate in the public meeting / public hearing. If Fresno COG is unable to accommodate an auxiliary aid or translation request for a public hearing, after receiving proper notice, the hearing will be continued on a specified date when accommodations are available.

I.WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS - Dave Fey

II. PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS

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.

III. FOLLOW UP ITEMS

A.
Nomination and Election of Vice Chair (David Fey)

B.
Growth Projection Changes (Seth Scott) [INFORMATION]

Summary: As previously discussed, Fresno COG has contracted with Applied Development Economics to create a demographic growth forecast to aid in the 2018 RTP/SCS planning effort.  Since the presentation presented to the Roundtable in February, a few minor adjustments have been made to account for updated data.  These changes do not affect any growth totals during the planning period of 2015-2050 -- however, there were some very minor adjustments made in the interim years.  The updated report and executive summary are included with this item.

In addition, the Department of Finance has just recently released their updated population projections, and they are somewhat lower than their previous projections as well as the current forecast.  Staff will report on the reason for the discrepancy, why it is believed that the current forecast is still valid, and what the implications are in the RTP planning process.

Action: Information and discussion.

C.
Important Farmland and Land Consumption Indicators (Kai Han) [ACTION/DISCUSSION]

Summary: Following last month Roundtable discussion, COG staff conducted further investigations regarding the two indicators--important farmland and land consumption.

Important farmland indicator is defined as total acres of important farmland (prime, unique and state-wide importance) consumed due to new growth.

Land consumption indicator is defined as acres of land consumed due to new development.

Considering Fresno has the richest agricultural land in the world, and the fact that the EIR for the RTP specifically analyzes the impact on important farmland, COG staff recommends using important farmland as one of the top 10 indicators.

Action: Staff recommends that Important Farmland as one of the top 10 indicators.

IV. NEW INFORMATION/DISCUSSION ITEMS

A.
Approve March 26. 2017 Meeting Summary
B.
Update on EJ Subcommittee (Trai Her-Cole) [INFORMATION]

Summary:  The Environmental Justice Subcommittee's 10 positions were approved by the Policy Board February 25, 2016. This committee will serve as a subcommittee of Fresno COG’s Transportation Technical Committee (TTC) and will meet when Fresno COG staff, the TTC, the Policy Advisory Committee or the Fresno COG Policy Board request recommendations on items involving Environmental Justice populations. They will also meet to assist Fresno COG staff in setting thresholds for Environmental Justice Populations for the Environmental Justice Report within each Regional Transportation Plan.  The subcommittee members would report all advisory actions to the TTC through an Environmental Justice Representative. Then the TTC’s recommendations would be referred to the Policy Advisory Committee and Fresno COG Policy Board as needed.

The subcommittee will have ten positions to provide full, diverse and equitable representation from designated Environmental Justice populations:

  • Local agency urban
  • East side local agency rural
  • West side local agency rural
  • 3 Minority representatives for the following nationalities with the highest population in Fresno County:
    • Hispanic
    • African American
    • Hmong
  • 2 Low Income
  • Senior (65 or older)
  • Persons with disabilities 

FCOG has received 4 applications from the following individuals:

Name

Agency

Representing

Email

Amanda Monaco

Leadership Counsel

Minority or Low-Income

amonaco@leadershipcounsel.org

Mariah Thompson

California Rural Legal Assistance

Minority or Low-Income

mthompson@crla.org

Jennifer Lekumberry

City of Mendota

West-side City

jennifer@cityofmendota.com

LeRoy Candler

Public

African American or Senior

papacandler@yahoo.com

The TTC and PAC approved the above applications to the subcommittee and authorized FCOG to provide tentative appointments to the EJ Subcommittee if they are deemed eligible with the understanding that final confirmation must be approved by the TTC.

The first EJ Subcommittee meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 3rd at 10 am in the Ash Room.

Action:  This item is informational only. Direction maybe provided at the discretion of the committee.

C.
EIR Notice of Preparation and Scoping Meeting (Meg Prince) [INFORMATION]

Summary: Fresno COG issued a Notice of Preparation (NOP) for the Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for the 2018 RTP/SCS on March 31, 2017. The NOP informs reviewers of the lead agency’s intent to prepare an EIR with a 30-day public comment period. A scoping meeting will be held on April 26, 2017 beginning at 10:00 AM in the Sequoia Conference Room of Fresno COG’s offices. The scoping meeting will provide a brief overview of the EIR process, the project and scope of the EIR, and an opportunity to obtain input from agencies and/or the public on the scope of the EIR.

 The NOP is available for download on Fresno COG’s RTP webpage: http://www.fresnocog.org/rtp.

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

D.
Financial Element - 1st Technical Work Group Meeting (Suzanne Martinez) [INFORMATION]

Summary:  The first meeting of the RTP Financial Element Technical Group for the review of the 2018 RTP Project Evaluation Criteria was held on Thursday, April 6, 2017, 1:30 p.m. Topics of discussion included an overview of the RTP Financial Element, a review of the previous project evaluation criteria, and a draft of the Financial Element timeline.  We received feedback which included addressing equality and coalition as recognized in the needs assessment, target regional and federal goals, include a broader selection for the definition of an activity center, and include the criteria “project serves a transportation disadvantaged population” to all evaluation criteria (bicycle and pedestrian, streets and roads, and transit projects).  We encourage this committee to provide feedback as we continue to update the criteria.  Next steps include approval of the evaluation criteria, funding forecasts, developing funding scenarios, and call for projects.  Our next technical advisory committee meeting will be held on May 3rd at Fresno COG from 1:30-3:30pm.

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

E.
GHG Target Recommendation (Kristine Cai) [APPROVE]

Summary: Senate Bill 375 (SB 375) requires that greenhouse (GHG) emission reduction targets be updated every 8 years. The California Air Resources Board (ARB) adopted the first sets of targets in 2010 for the 18 Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in the State, and is in the process of updating the targets. Targets are set for each region at a percent reduction of passenger vehicle related GHG emissions per person from 2005 level. The 8 MPOs in the San Joaquin Valley were given the targets of 5% reduction for 2020, and 10% reduction for 2035 in 2010.

SB375 is focused on GHG reduction from passenger vehicles from integrated transportation and land use planning.  MPOs are tasked with the implementation of SB375 through the development of a Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) in their Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). An SCS is a land use development pattern combined with transportation strategies, which if implemented, will meet or exceed the GHG reduction targets set by the ARB.

Due to the declining transportation revenues and the increased vehicle efficiencies, which reduces the cost of driving and thus increases the overall vehicle miles driven (VMT), MPOs are having challenges achieving the existing targets. However, in order to meet the State's aggressive GHG reduction goals, the ARB is looking for more enhanced targets from each region. MPOs across the State sent consistent messages that the State needs to explore more tools such as pricing and other revenue strategies to achieve the state's goal.

Fresno COG achieved 11% per capita GHG reduction in 2035 in the 2014 SCS, and is proposing to aim for 13% per capita reduction by 2035 for the 2017 target update. Based on the modeling that has been conducted, 13% is an ambitious target to the Fresno Region, but can be achieved with the implementation of the latest general plans from the cities/County, and more aggressive investment in transit, vanpool/carpool, active transportation, electric vehicle (EV) programs and other alternative transportation strategies. The 2035 target scenario consists of land use strategies such as mixed uses and increased density, infill development, growth concentration along the high capacity transit corridors, etc. Transportation strategies include more investment in transit, bike/ped, carpool/vanpool programs and other alternative transportation strategies such as EV charging stations. The latest growth forecast is applied in the target scenario, and the Model Improvement Plan (MIP) 2 model and EMFAC2014 are used in the quantification of the GHG reduction.

A more detailed report on the target recommendation is being prepared by staff for submittal to the ARB. The report will be made available to the Roundtable before the committee meeting on April 26th.

Action: Staff recommends that the Roundtable approve 13% per capita GHG reduction by 2035 as the new target for the Fresno region.

F.
Feedback from Public Workshop (Seth Scott) [DISCUSSION]

Summary: On April 25, Fresno COG hosted a public workshop at Hoover High School to promote the 2018 RTP and garner public input on the scenario development process.  Staff will present the public's response to the four draft scenario concepts, as well as their expressed priorities and values.  It is staff's hope that this information will help the RTP Roundtable in their selection of the four scenarios that will officially be analyzed as part of the RTP/SCS in May.

Furthermore, RTP Roundtable members are encouraged to contact Seth Scott (sscott@fresnocog.org) between now and the May Roundtable meeting if they are interested in presenting a scenario concept for consideration at that meeting.

Action: Information and discussion.

V.Other Items

A.
Items from Staff

B.
Items from Members

Next meeting date: May 24, 2017 from 2:00 – 4:00 PM.

AFTER MEETING: RTP Roundtable Member Spotlight - Moses Stites, General Manager for Fresno County Rural Transit Agency