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 2020-29 adopting the City of Sanger's 2020-21 Transportation Development Act claims totaling $1,421,668.

Approve Resolution 2020-31 adopting the City of Kerman's 2020-21 Transportation Development Act claims totaling $814,731.

Approve Resolution 2020-32 adopting the City of Orange Cove's 2020-21 Transportation Development Act claims totaling $531,787.

Approve Resolution 2020-33 adopting the City of Mendota's 2020-21 Transportation Development Act claims totaling $513,058.

Summary:  Fresno COG leases EcoInteractive's web-based software FresnoTrak to manage millions of dollars of federal aid construction projects in Fresno County.  FresnoTrak provides online interactive coordination between member agency project sponsors and Fresno COG staff to ensure federal requirements are met.

Staff renegotiated a more beneficial contract term than was presented originally in June 2020. The new contract term allows for a cost-savings of at least $48,000 over a three-year term.

Action:  Staff requests that TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board authorize the executive director to revise the renewed Ecointeractive contract for an amount not to exceed $190,060 for a three-year term starting July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023.

Summary: The Environmental Justice Subcommittee supports Fresno COG’s Transportation Technical Committee (TTC). This subcommittee assists Fresno COG staff in setting thresholds for environmental justice populations for the Environmental Justice Report within each Regional Transportation Plan. 

The subcommittee includes 11 positions to provide a full, diverse and equitable representation of the region's environmental justice populations.

 The current positions include:

• Local agency-urban
• East side local agency-rural
• West side local agency-rural
• Fresno County
• A representative from each of the four major minority populations in Fresno County:
• Hispanic
• African American
• Asian
• American Indian
• Low income
• Senior (65 or older)
• Persons with disabilities

At the June Policy Board meeting, the Board requested a position representing the youth community be added to the EJ Subcommittee. The application to the subcommittee is attached, and any participants wishing to apply may submit an application by October 9 to traih@fresnocog.org.

Action: Staff requests that the TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board add one seat to the EJ Subcommittee representing the youth community.

Summary: This is an update on tasks underway through Fresno COG's Circuit Planner and Engineer Program, which provides technical assistance to the small cities in Fresno County. Such assistance may include, but is not limited to: planning studies, delivering projects, grant applications, environmental documents, engineering services, etc.

Zoning Evaluation Tool and Model Zoning Ordinance

Several jurisdictions requested updates to their zoning code to comply with recent State laws and numerous new State zoning requirements in the last few years. Cities may have also adopted a new General Plan or amendments that create inconsistencies with their zoning ordinance, or their codes are just out of date, not user friendly, or are not accomplishing city goals.

Rincon Consultants, the Circuit Planner, developed an online tool that allows cities to assess their zoning ordinance and provide a list of sections that need to be updated. The tool is being further refined, but is available as of September 9, 2020, at the link below. The circuit planner is available for any questions or comments about the tool or zoning ordinances.

ZONING EVALUATION TOOL: https://forms.gle/MAJzyneqAxxSvS5LA

Rincon and Collins & Schoettler are also developing model zoning code sections for cities to update their zoning code based on evaluation results. These two tools are to work together to first identify needed areas for update, and then provide templates for updating those sections that can be customized to fit the individual cities.

Please contact Meg Prince at mprince@fresnocog.org for any project assistance needs or questions about the program.

Action: Information. This Committee may provide additional direction at its discretion.

Summary: Fresno COG initially designated funding in WE 148 from FY 19/20 SB 1 Formula Planning Grant funds to conduct a Transit On-board Survey. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, transit ridership significantly decreased and would be too low for a statistically valid on-board survey. Therefore, the project advisory committee recommended terminating the project.

Following Caltrans' direction, Fresno COG is reallocating the remaining funds from the Transit On-board Survey to develop a Regional Transportation Safety Improvement Plan. To address safety issues and reduce collisions, injuries and fatalities, the four "Es" of safety countermeasures are used: engineering, education, enforcement and emergency response. Through discussions with Fresno COG's member agencies and other partners, it’s clear there is concern over regional traffic safety and a need for a more detailed analysis of incident causes and locations. During the 2018 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) development, traffic safety was a large concern for Fresno County residents. Fresno COG's Safety Target Subcommittee meets a few times each year to discuss regional traffic safety and sets federal safety performance targets. The safety plan will assist in reducing fatalities and serious injuries, as well as achieving a safer transportation system for all motorized and non-motorized users in Fresno County. The safety plan will also support California's Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), and in meeting the Strategic Highway Safety Plan's (SHSP) vision and goals.

The plan will include a spatial analysis of road traffic accidents by incident type for the Fresno County region, as well as provide a multi-modal safety report (motor vehicle, bike and pedestrian). It will include a comprehensive analysis of historical collision data in Fresno County, and identify trends, location characteristics, and contributing factors in each of the SHSP's challenge areas. The plan will identify countermeasures for urban and rural areas by mode and develop implementation strategies for the countermeasures. This process will include a robust public outreach component to engage disadvantage and hard to reach communities to collect input on safety concerns and recommendations for potential improvement and develop a Traffic Safety Education Program.

This project will be divided into two phases for a total of $210,000. Under WE 148, $174,959 will fund phase one. WE 140 is a new work element and would fund phase two with $35,041 from the 2020/21 SB1 Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program.

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

Summary: The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) is hosting a virtual workshop on 9/17 from 1 - 2:30 pm for San Joaquin Valley local government staff and other interested stakeholders to gain familiarity with the state’s 2020 Adaptation Planning Guide (APG) and regulations, region-specific resources such as examples of agricultural adaptation strategies and water/hydrology projection tools, state extreme heat and public health tools, and more resources housed on the Adaptation Clearinghouse. OPR will also provide participants the opportunity to give feedback on the draft online, interactive version of the APG. 

Register for the workshop today and spread the word! Don’t forget to download the PDF version of the APG and explore the Beta version of the online, interactive APG.

An additional opportunity to engage and learn about additional resources is to attend OPR’s introductory webinar on Equitable Adaptation Resources on September 9. 

Action: Information. This Committee may provide additional direction at its discretion.

1.

RTP 2022 Public Opinion Survey Report (Brenda Veenendaal) [ACCEPT]

2.

2022 RTP Project Scoring Criteria (Suzanne Martinez) [APPROVE]

3.

2020 Transportation Needs Survey Outreach (Brenda Veenendaal) [INFORMATION]

4.

Consultant Selection for Legal Services for the Development of the 2022 RTP/SCS, Program Environmental Impact Report, and Regional Housing Needs Allocation Plan (Meg Prince) [APPROVE]

Summary: Fresno COG is proposing a draft 2019 Federal Transportation Improvement Program Amendment No. 12, a draft 2018 Regional Transportation Plan Amendment No. 3, and the draft Corresponding Conformity Analysis.

While developing this amendment, Fresno COG staff and its air quality consultant worked to solve conformity analysis issues that arose from the SAFE Vehicle Rule adjustment factors. Staff ultimately achieved a passing result, but after a considerable delay, which put Fresno COG behind schedule with the other SJV MPOs, which are also processing type 5 amendments.

Consequently, staff is requesting that the Board grant delegated authority that authorizes the Executive Director to approve the upcoming formal Type 5 FTIP/RTP amendment and its corresponding air quality conformity analysis. Staff has already released the amendment for a 30-day public review period earlier this month (September 3, 2020 through October 2, 2020), with a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, September 16. The draft package is attached to the agenda. Once all public comments are sufficiently addressed, this action would give the executive director the authority to approve the documents and submit to Caltrans/FHWA directly for state/federal approval.

Delegated authority would accelerate the approval time by about a month, considering staff would not be delayed until October’s regularly scheduled COG Policy Board Meeting. This would help keep the original schedule on track with the other SJV MPOs and speed up state/federal approval. It would also alleviate any further delays for projects awaiting amendment approval to proceed.

If recommended for approval today, staff will bring the director-approved formal Type 5 amendment to the TTC, PAC, and Board as an informational item in October 2020.

Action: Staff requests that the TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board grant delegated authority authorizing the executive director to approve the upcoming formal Type 5 FTIP/RTP amendment and corresponding conformity analysis that was released for public comment on September 3, 2020.

Summary:  Fresno COG released the Measure C 2020 application for New Technology funding on April 10, 2020. Staff received four applications requesting approximately $8.2 million against an available $5.38 million.  On August 21, the scoring committee met to interview the applicants and discuss the applications. The following is a list of the applications and the funding recommendations:

For more information and links to the applications, please click HERE

The scoring committee included:

Action: Staff requests that TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board approve the New Technology scoring committee recommendations for funding and forward to the Fresno County Transportation Authority to enter into contracts with the applicants in the amounts recommended.

Summary: The Blackstone/Shaw Activity Center (BSAC) Project was funded by federal planning dollars and was requested by the City of Fresno to identify and assess transportation improvements in service of mixed-use development in the project area as envisioned in the City of Fresno General Plan. 

To complement the envisioned land use changes and built environment, the Blackstone/Shaw Activity Center Project identified and analyzed transportation projects that would:

• Increase access and safety along the corridor for all travel modes and users, including the elderly, disabled, low-income, students and youth;
• Address deficiencies in the existing street design that are incompatible with the planned land uses outlined in the General Plan and impact business opportunities and performance in the project area;

It also recommended projects that would:

• Improve multi-modal access and safety for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as transit riders;
• Enhance potential sidewalk and streetscape to support pedestrian comfort, access to transit, and access to businesses and services.

In addition, the project evaluated 11 intersections in the vicinity and assessed the following transportation improvements:

• New traffic signals at the following intersections:
• Blackstone Avenue & the Yosemite Falls Driveway
• Blackstone Avenue & Santa Ana Avenue
• Shaw Avenue & Effie Street – This intersection was not recommended by Caltrans because the traffic study showed possible queueing backing up on the SR 41 mainline during peak hour traffic
• Pedestrian half-signal at Shaw Avenue & Glenn Avenue
• Converting the outside motor vehicle lanes on Blackstone Avenue in each direction to business access and transit (BAT) lanes
• Leading pedestrian intervals for signalized intersections of Blackstone Avenue between San Jose Avenue and Santa Ana Avenue

The BSAC project provided the City of Fresno with several sidewalk widening alternatives, each with various funding scenarios. Also included are alternatives for providing a separated bikeway along Blackstone with several specific suggestions on how these bikeways could be constructed in conjunction with the BRT stations.

The project also included an opinion of probable costs, a funding matrix and an estimate of right of way necessary to complete projects that will help the City with future grant applications.

Attached is the Final Summary Report for the BSAC project.

Action: Staff requests that TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board accept the Blackstone/Shaw Activity Center Project final summary report.

Summary: 

BACKGROUND

Fresno COG is required to develop a methodology and allocation plan to distribute the housing need determined by the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to jurisdictions within the region (Government Code Section 65584). Each local jurisdiction must then update the Housing Element of its General Plan in accordance with the community’s housing needs.

Senate Bill 375 (Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008) strengthened the coordination between housing and transportation planning and amended the RHNA schedule and methodology to align with Regional Transportation Plans and Sustainable Communities Strategies (RTP/SCS). Fresno COG’s 2022 RTP/SCS development will happen in tandem with the sixth cycle RHNA process.

The next RHNA Plan for Fresno County is due to the State in August 2022. Historically, Fresno COG has prepared the RHNA plan in-house via coordination with its member jurisdictions and HCD. For the sixth cycle RHNA plan update, however, Fresno COG is seeking a qualified consultant to complete the project, because new State requirements have made the RHNA plan development more complex, and new funding is available for RHNA development from HCD through the Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) grants program.

CONSULTANT SELECTION

Fresno COG released a request for proposals in June for the RHNA process and received two proposals. A consultant selection committee comprising representatives from the County, Clovis, Fresno, Kerman, Reedley, and Fresno COG conducted consultant interviews on August 21.

The consultant selection committee unanimously chose PlaceWorks as the preferred consultant to assist with the sixth cycle RHNA process. PlaceWorks is a leader in housing planning in California, has experience developing RHNA plans, and has a strong track record of building consensus among agencies and stakeholders.

PlaceWorks’ original bid was for $186,400; however, Fresno COG requested that PlaceWorks add an optional $12,118 task if any appeals are filed regarding a local jurisdiction’s allocation. If no appeals are filed, the funds will not be spent. The cost estimate including the optional task is $199,748.

RHNA SUBCOMMITTEE

Staff will convene a RHNA subcommittee comprising local government representatives and key stakeholders to advise Fresno COG in developing an allocation methodology. It’s anticipated that the RHNA subcommittee will meet seven times, with the first meeting in October 2020. Fresno COG will reach out to potential subcommittee members once the contract with PlaceWorks is executed and will keep the website up to date with relevant information for those interested in the process.

Action: Staff requests that TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board authorize the executive director to enter into an agreement with PlaceWorks to produce the sixth cycle RHNA Plan for an amount not to exceed $199,748.

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 three minutes.