Fresno COG Staff will give a brief presentation on who/what Fresno COG is and does, and what a Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) consists of. We will be asking the Environmental Justice (EJ) Task Force to weigh in on issues related to the development of the RTP over the next year.

Staff will explain Fresno COG's role in Environmental Justice issues, the key players, and what is involved in developing or updating an Environmental Justice Plan such as Fresno COG's. Staff will also discuss the Task Force's roles and responsibilities during the update process.

Fresno COG staff developed the Draft 2014 Fresno COG RTP Public Outreach Strategy which is a detailed public outreach strategy outlining specific public engagement tools Fresno COG plans to implement during the development of the 2014 Fresno COG RTP. The Strategy includes a public participation plan for the Fresno County Sustainable Communities Strategy. This Draft 2014 Fresno COG RTP Public Outreach Strategy expands upon what was approved in Fresno COG’s Public Participation Plan, the overarching outline of how and when Fresno COG will conduct public outreach, that was approved by the Policy Board in March 2012.

The Draft 2014 Fresno COG RTP Public Outreach Strategy was released for review and comment on August 28, 2012. No comments have been received as of the publication of this agenda. Supplemental to this strategy is the Draft Valleywide SCS Public Outreach Strategy also out for review and comment at this time.

Staff requests the committee's review and feedback on the Draft RTP Public Outreach Strategy.

The purpose of the RTP Roundtable is to support the Fresno COG staff and COG standing committees in their development and preparation of the 2014 Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy.  It is therefore vital to the success of the process that the RTP Roundtable consider issues that support development of the 2014 RTP/SCS and provide comments and community-based consensus that support the final decision on the RTP by the Fresno Council of Governments’ Policy Board. There are 35 seats on the Roundtable – 16 seats that allow for one staff person from each member agency; 16 seats open to a variety of interest groups and 3 “at large” seats. In June, the Board approved the “membership categories” from which to recruit.

There is one seat on the Roundtable for a representative from the Fresno COG Environmental Justice Task Force. It will be this representative's responsibility to keep the Task Force aprised of what issues are arising at Roundtable meetings, and to represent the interests of "Underrepresented populations" as a member of the Roundtable. Staff will ask for self-nominations from the Task Force membership, and a representative will be selected by vote of Task Force members.