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Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy Roundtable

Date:
Time:
Place:

Wednesday, August 26, 2020
2:00 PM

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



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.

OUT OF AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION REGARDING THE COVID-19 VIRUS THE AUGUST 26, 2020, RTP ROUNDTABLE MEETING AT 2:00 A.M. WILL BE HELD VIA ZOOM.

 

Join Zoom Meeting:

https://zoom.us/j/92003751048?pwd=akNoVmNIcTlHZmpza25jNTl3cTNsUT09

Meeting ID: 920 0375 1048

Passcode: 831140

 

If you wish to address Roundtable during the public comment portion of the agenda, click on the icon labeled “Participants” at the bottom center of your PC or Mac screen. At the bottom of the window on the right side of the screen, click the icon labeled “RaiseHand”. Your digital hand will now be raised.

 

Join by Phone:

(669) 900 6833 US

Meeting ID: 920 0375 1048

Passcode: 831140

 

If you wish to address the Roundtable during the public comment portion of the agenda, Press *9 to “RaiseHand” and we will select you from the meeting cue.  Use *6 to Unmute yourself before speaking.

 

Those addressing the Roundtable must state their first and last name and agency for the record.

 

To facilitate electronic access, no person shall speak until recognized by the Chair.

RTP/SCS Roundtable Meeting Agenda and Annotated Agenda in PDF

I.WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS (Rob Terry)

A.
ROLL CALL (Jeaneen Cervantes)

II.NEW INFORMATION/DISCUSSION ITEMS

A.
RTP/SCS Roundtable Meeting Minutes of July 22, 2020 [APPROVE]
B.
RTP 2020 Public Opinion Survey Report (Brenda Veenendaal) [ACCEPT]

Summary:  Early in 2020, the Fresno Council of Governments sought to contract with a research consultant to conduct an opinion survey for which participants were to be reflective of Fresno County’s demographics, including the Spanish speaking population and adequate rural representation.

Rea & Parker Research was selected to be the consultant and was tasked to survey the ranking of defined community values and transportation funding priorities from the sample population.   Along with these value and funding priority questions, the survey was planned to include population demographics and trip/travel characteristics.

Ten “community values” and nine “transportation funding priorities” were agreed upon by Rea & Parker Research and Fresno COG.

A telephone survey was conducted by Rea & Parker and 650 people responded to the survey.  The telephone sample was supplemented by 300 respondents to an online survey such that, when added to the telephone sample, the overall survey margin of error would be +/- 3.2 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. 

A report summarizing the survey results is attached for review. The survey consultant will provide a brief presentation during the RTP Roundtable meeting. 

Action: Information only. Direction could be provided at the discretion of the Roundtable.

C.
Project Scoring Criteria (Suzanne Martinez) [APPROVE]

Summary: The RTP Programming Technical Working Group has developed draft project scoring criteria for the 2022 RTP.  The attached document represents the result of three meetings, where participants reviewed the guidelines from the 2018 plan and updated them for this round.  Substantive changes were made, including the addition and removal of criteria, points awarded per question, how criteria apply to the various project modes, and general verbiage updates throughout.

One significant change from the last plan's criteria is how submitted projects will be categorized.  In the previous plan, each project belonged to only one of five modes (bike & pedestrian, capacity increasing, maintenance, operations, or transit), and each project was evaluated strictly by the criteria applicable to the chosen mode.  This round, the approach was taken to allow multi-modal projects to be evaluated by all applicable criteria, which allows for more flexibility in how projects are scored and funded.

COG staff is grateful to those who participated in the working group for their focused and detailed engagement in this highly technical process.

Staff will present the draft scoring criteria for discussion and approval for incorporation into the 2022 RTP.

Action: Approval.

D.
RTP Mapping Capabilities (Seth Scott) [INFORMATION]

Summary: In order to help tell the story of the RTP, COG staff has added mapping data to all the projects from the 2018 RTP constrained list.  Furthermore, in the 2022 plan and beyond, COG will be asking its member agencies to verify or update location information for each project they submit in the call for projects. This means that COG staff will be able to view, publish, and analyze all future submitted projects by spatial location, which addresses suggestions and appeals from stakeholders to include this functionality in past plans.

COG staff is pleased to showcase some of the ways these new data can be analyzed and presented.  It is staff's hope that the examples presented will help educate the Roundtable on the types of information now available, as well as spark the imagination of those who might suggest further analyses and reports as may be useful or informative as work on the plan continues.

Action: Information only. Direction could be provided at the discretion of the Roundtable.

E.
Request for Proposals for Legal Services for the Development of the 2022 RTP/SCS, Program Environmental Impact Report, and Regional Housing Needs Allocation Plan (Meg Prince) [INFORMATION]

Summary: Fresno COG released a request for proposals on August 10 for qualified consultants or firms to provide legal assistance with three planning efforts over the next couple of years – the 2022 RTP/SCS, the Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for the RTP/SCS, and the 6th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) Plan.

In the last RTP cycle, the attorney that was on the PEIR contract also provided legal advice for the development of the RTP/SCS as well. Fresno COG felt it was beneficial to have an experienced attorney available to help with questions regarding procedures, review documents and public notices, and help respond to comment letters.

The 2022 RTP/SCS cycle is occurring in tandem with the development of the state-mandated 6th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Allocation Plan. The RHNA Plan will identify the number of housing units that each local government must accommodate in the Housing Element of its General Plan. Fresno COG staff feels that it would be beneficial to have legal assistance with this effort as well.

Proposals are due on Monday, August 31, and it is anticipated that consultant interviews would take place on Wednesday, September 8. The contract amount is not to exceed $75,000 and is expected to kick off in October.

Fresno COG is seeking representatives of member agencies and the RTP Roundtable to participate in the consultant selection process. If you are interested, please contact Meg Prince at mprince@fresnocog.org.

More information is included in the RFP posted on Fresno COG’s website: https://www.fresnocog.org/business-fresno-cog/

Action: Information only. Direction could be provided at the discretion of the Roundtable.

F.
Regional Transportation Plan Project Suggestions Virtual Public Workshops for Online Input (Brenda Veenendaal) [INFORMATION]

Fresno COG staff, working with the three Regional Transportation Plan Mini-Grant recipient organizations, will be hosting virtual community workshops and soliciting public input throughout the month of September and into early October, 2020.  To date, the outreach will be conducted in English, Spanish and Punjabi, with translation and interpretation services provided by the mini grant groups.

Fresno COG is developing an online survey for the outreach, allowing community members opportunity to provide transportation project suggestions that could be submitted by local agencies in response to the RTP Call for Projects scheduled on November 1, 2020. The workshops will be advertised through various means by Mini-Grant organizations and Fresno COG. Invitations and requests for project suggestions will be posted to websites, emailed to databases and shared through social media posts and advertising.

The online survey being developed for project suggestions will request that participants open the map of Fresno County and drop a dot or draw a line showing where their suggested project is located. Then they will be asked to describe the improvement , and indicate which of the following categories it fits most closely within as described below:

1. Streets and Roads – Repairing roads, adding lanes, improving intersections, improving safety, reducing congestion or “other”

2. Transit – Adding bus stops or new service, improving service, improving safety, repairing assets or “other”

3. Active Transportation – Adding bike lanes, adding or repairing sidewalks or trails, improving safety, adding bike racks, or “other”

4. New Technology – electric charging stations, traffic signal improvements, bike or car sharing locations, etc.

In early October, Fresno COG staff will process the submitted transportation suggestions and forward all of them to local agencies for consideration. Staff plans to launch the online survey by September 8, 2020 and will be looking for outreach opportunities through the RTP Roundtable membership. All such opportunties should be communicated to Brenda Veenendaal at brendav@fresnocog.org.  Staff will provide a brief presentation to the RTP Roundtable.

Action: Information only. Direction could be provided at the discretion of the Roundtable.

III.OTHER ITEMS

A.
Items from Staff

B.
Items from Members

IV.PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS

This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the Roundtable on items within its jurisdiction but not on this agenda.

Note:  Prior to action by the Roundtable on any item on this agenda, the public may comment on that item. Unscheduled comments may be limited to 3 minutes.

Upcoming meeting dates:

September 23, 2020 from 2-4 p.m.

October 28, 2020 from 2-4 p.m.

November 18, 2020 from 2-4 p.m. (Third Thursday)