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.

Approve Resolution 2019-32, adopting the City of Selma's 2019-20 Transportation Development Act claims totaling $1,183,468.

Summary: Fresno COG received a Caltrans Sustainable Communities Planning Grant to develop a Fresno County Regional Transportation Network Vulnerability Assessment, which will identify aspects of the transportation network that are vulnerable to potential impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat, changes in precipitation, and wildfire.

One of the project deliverables is a memo to the Vulnerability Assessment Working Group and other interested stakeholders summarizing the transportation network's exposure and vulnerabilities.

The attached draft Vulnerability Assessment Summary Memo includes: historical context and future projections for extreme weather and climate in Fresno County; findings from public outreach; transportation system analysis findings, including scoring of assets; as well as additional analyses.

Next steps include developing adaptation strategies, which will also be summarized in a memo, along with a final report for adoption in February 2020.

Any questions or feedback can be directed to Meg Prince, Associate Regional Planner, at mprince@fresnocog.org or (559) 233-4148 x203.

Action: Information/discussion. The Committee may provide additional direction at its discretion.

Summary:  The FTA Section 5310 Program provides grants aimed at serving elderly persons and persons with disabilities where public mass transportation services are otherwise unavailable, insufficient, or inappropriate.  In its state-designated role as the Regional Transportation Planning Agency (RTPA) for Fresno County, Fresno COG serves as the Regional Evaluation Committee for Small Urban and Rural Section 5310 applications that Caltrans receives from its statewide call for projects. 

Eligible applicants include private nonprofit corporations, public agencies where no non-profit corporations are readily available to provide the proposed service, and public agencies that have been approved by the state to coordinate services.

On July 1, 2019, Caltrans opened a call for projects for Small Urban and Rural Projects. Caltrans received one application from a Fresno County agency. Central California United Cerebral Palsy applied for $255,310 in Caltrans funding for three buses and one van to support its services in the Coalinga area. Caltrans has requested a resolution supporting the request. The resolution is attached to this item.

Action: Staff requests that TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board approve the resolution supporting the Central California United Cerebral Palsy project. 

Summary:  Fresno COG and the Fresno State Transportation Institute are planning the 2019 Fresno Regional Transportation Innovations Summit to be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019.  This joint venture will provide an opportunity for hundreds of residents, professionals and stakeholders to become familiar with the latest in advanced, clean transportation technology through an up-close and personal experience. It also brings together businesses and individuals that have invested in cleaner transportation technology, to share their successes and challenges with the community.

Summit topics include the latest on:

• Transportation technology
• Electric vehicles, chargers and incentives
• Autonomous vehicles
• Electric aviation
• High-speed rail impacts
• Housing/transportation connection
• Public health & transportation
• Transit innovations
• New technology studies
• SB 743
• Transportation safety

Other summit activities include tours, nine breakout sessions, informational and vehicle displays, a Summit "After-Party" and the 2019 Fresno Regional Transportation Innovations Summit Awards presentation.

2019 Fresno Regional Transportation Innovations Summit Awards

The Fresno State Transportation Institute and Fresno Council of Governments are looking for nominations of local transportation projects and transportation engineers/planners for the 2019 awards consideration. The 12 awards will be presented to winning firms/individuals at the awards luncheon following the keynote speaker.

Have you been involved in an exciting project? Do you work with or for a transportation professional who deserves recognition? This is your chance. 

Summit Award Announcement

Project Nomination Form

Individual Nomination Form

Fresno COG and the Fresno State Transportation Institute are also soliciting sponsorship support. To date, the following sponsorships have been confirmed:

• Mark Thomas
• Fresno County Transportation Authority - Measure C
• Envision Solar
• Creative Bus Sales
• LG Electric
• Sigala, Inc.
• Martens Chevrolet
• Renew Auto
• RCOM
• Safety Vision

View the benefits of SPONSORSHIP:

Summit Sponsorship Packet

Summit sponsorship investment shows your company cares about the San Joaquin Valley’s future mobility and prosperity.  while bringing high-profile attention and recognition to each sponsoring partner.

Action:  Information/discussion. The Committee may provide additional direction at its discretion.

Summary: Fresno COG allocated SB 1 formula planning funds to develop a Multi-Jurisdictional Pavement Management Program for nine local cities within the region that do not have such a program in place. These cities are: Firebaugh, Mendota, San Joaquin, Coalinga, Huron, Orange Cove, Selma, Fowler and Kingsburg. A Pavement Management Program is designed to provide objective information and useful data for analysis so local governments can make more consistent, cost-effective and defensible decisions about preserving a pavement network. With the Pavement Management Program, the cities will be able to prioritize roadway improvements and better manage their roadway repair and maintenance.

The Multi-Jurisdictional Pavement Management Program provided each of the nine cities with a free year of StreetSaver software. The consultant also: conducted a pavement condition assessment, set up the program, calculated the pavement condition index (PCI), provided cost estimates for different maintenance treatments, trained local staff, and conducted budget scenarios analysis for all the nice cities. A report for each of the individual cities and can be found at: https://www.fresnocog.org/multi-jurisdictional-pavement-management-system/. Finally, the consultant conducted a regional pavement analysis to help us understand pavement conditions in general, as well as funding needs for roadway maintenance in Fresno County.

NCE, the consultant selected to develop the Multi-Jurisdictional Pavement Management Program, will make a short presentation regarding the program.

Action: Staff requests that TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board accept the final report for the Fresno County Multi-Jurisdictional Pavement Management Program.

Summary:  The Fresno County Transportation Authority levies the Regional Transportation Mitigation Fee (RTMF) countywide per the 2007 Measure C extension, which Fresno COG administers. Fresno COG is performing a statutory update to the program, which could change the fee structure. WSP (formerly Parsons Brinkerhoff) is providing the technical expertise for this update.

Both the Transportation Authority and Mitigation Fee Agency (Fresno COG) Boards must adopt the update by January 1, 2020, to continue the fee. To meet that deadline, the first committee meeting was convened on January 17, 2019, to give the consultant direction. A subcommittee meeting was convened on July 3, 2019, to review WSP's initial recommendations, which were conveyed to the Board in September. A follow-up subcommittee was held on October 3, 2019, to finalize the recommendations.

The first recommendation was to extend the planning horizon for the fee program to 2035 in order to be consistent with Fresno COG’s normal planning horizon and the legal and financial environment which which the mitigation fees exist. By expanding the planning horizon early, development is not unnecessarily burdened by high project costs that will benefit future development.

The second recommendation is to use the software platform Synchro for intersection-specific analysis and to include the City of Fresno’s estimates for the South Industrial Priority Area instead of the Sustainable Communities Strategy's land use assumptions. Fresno COG’s traffic model is not designed to perform intersection-specific analysis and Synchro is a standard engineering tool for most common traffic analysis situations. This recommendation makes the State Route 99 North/Cedar interchange eligible for the fee calculation.

The third recommendation is to continue using ITE floor-space ratios. The ITE method has been standard industry practice and is consistent with the original nexus and 2015 update.

Including State Route 99 North/Cedar in the fee calculation increases eligible project costs 40 percent; however, the average fee increases 34 percent because the composition of various fee categories has changed and trip generation varies among categories. In addition, the residential rate increases 32 percent from $1,637 to $2,159, which is significantly lower than the five other mitigation fees in the San Joaquin Valley. The second-lowest residential fee in the Valley is not quite double Fresno’s proposed fee and the highest fee is over six times greater.

Action:  Adopt Resolution 2019-01 updating the Regional Transportation Mitigation Fee Nexus.

Summary: Earlier this year, Fresno COG's Board and Committees were notified of the upcoming Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule, which has now been partly finalized as of September 19, 2019.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have decided to withdraw the 2013 California Clean Act waiver, which invalidates the statewide EMFAC (emissions factors) model.  EMFAC is the air quality model developed and used exclusively in California. The EPA and NHTSA are still working on the second part of the SAFE Vehicles Rule, which would roll back the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) and greenhouse gas vehicle emissions standards established under the Obama Administration. This is due to be finalized before the end of the year. California, 22 other states, the District of Columbia, and the cities of Los Angeles and New York have filed a lawsuit for permanent injunctive relief, and the lawsuit is forecasted to work its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court on an undetermined timeline.

The final rule regarding California's waiver will take effect on November 26, 2019, with no grace period for transportation conformity. The final rule will have severe impact on California’s ability to deliver transportation projects. The EMFAC model makes assumptions about cleaner cars traveling on our transportation system. Once the SAFE rule is implemented, the EMFAC model could not take credits for such assumptions, and the California Air Resources Board will have to redevelop the model.

\Without a valid air quality model, local transportation agencies such as Fresno COG would not be able to demonstrate air quality conformity, which is required under the Clean Air Act. As a result, transportation agencies will not be able to update their Regional Transportation Plans (RTP) or Federal Transportation Improvement Programs (FTIP) if any new capacity-increasing projects are proposed.

This will affect member agencies' ability to specifically add new capacity-increasing projects that are not already included in the 2018 RTP/2019 FTIP project listings, nor will Fresno COG be able to modify any projects on the 2018 RTP/2019 FTIP lists that require a scope change or updated “open to traffic” date.

Fresno COG is closely following the SAFE Vehicles Rule and its impacts, and staff will share the latest information with our committees and policy board as necessary. For questions related to the SAFE Rule, please reach out to Kristine Cai or Braden Duran, and for its impact to project delivery, please reach out to Suzanne Martinez or Jennifer Soliz.

Action: Information/discussion. The Committee may provide further direction at its discretion.  

1.

October Policy Board Meeting (Jeaneen Cervantes)

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.