PLANS AND PROGRAMS COMMITTEE packet agenda
Meeting Notice
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2015; 10:00 a.m.
Location: Committee Room 263, City Hall
Commissioners: Tang (Chair), Christensen (Vice Chair), Breed, Farrell, Yee and Wiener (Ex Officio)
Clerk: Steve Stamos
1. Roll Call
2. Citizens Advisory Committee Report – INFORMATION* attachment
Consent Calendar
3. Approve the Minutes of the September 15, 2015 Meeting – ACTION* attachment
4. Recommend Adopting San Francisco’s Project Priorities for the 2016 Regional Transportation Improvement Program – ACTION* attachment
As Congestion Management Agency (CMA) for San Francisco, every two years the Transportation Authority is responsible for establishing project priorities for San Francisco’s county share funds from the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), subject to approval by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) through its Regional Transportation Improvement Program (RTIP) process. Due to reduced revenues from fuel taxes, as well as the lack of an adequately funded multi-year federal transportation bill, the fund estimate for the 2016 STIP leaves no new programming capacity for CMAs. Still, CMAs must submit carryover projects and any associated changes from the 2014 STIP to MTC. As shown in Attachment 2, we recommend reprogramming $1.91 million from the San Francisco Public Works’ (SFPW’s) Broadway Chinatown IV streetscape project to its Lombard US-101 Corridor Improvement project since delays in STIP programming forced SFPW to use local funds to keep the Chinatown project on schedule. We also recommend carrying forward (essentially reconfirming) $207,000 and $1.114 million in existing Planning, Programming and Monitoring funds for MTC and the Transportation Authority, respectively.
5. Update on One Bay Area Grant Program Cycle 2 Proposal – INFORMATION* attachment
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s (MTC’s) One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) program directs federal Surface Transportation Program/Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program funding to projects and programs that support the transportation and land use goals of Plan Bay Area, the region’s Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy. OBAG is comprised of regional programs administered by MTC and local formula-based programs administered by the Congestion Management Agencies (CMAs), e.g. the Transportation Authority for San Francisco. MTC adopted the OBAG Cycle 1 framework in May 2012. Since we are nearing the end of the 5-year program MTC recently released a draft proposal for how to distribute OBAG Cycle 2 funds for Fiscal Years 2017/18 – 2021/22 (see Attachment 1). The current proposal would maintain the structure of the OBAG Cycle 1 program, adjust program shares to reflect a lower revenue estimate, and make other revisions. We propose to continue our strong support for the overall OBAG program, and for the following Cycle 2-specific points, we propose to: 1) support additional incentives for producing (vs. planning for) housing, in particular affordable housing as proposed by MTC staff; 2) support efforts to use OBAG to address displacement issues in a meaningful way; and 3) ask MTC to take a more transparent and inclusive approach for its regional operations programs, in particular freeway-related programs. These objectives are consistent with our draft Plan Bay Area advocacy goals and objectives, which are the subject of a separate item on the Plans and Programs Committee agenda. We will continue to work with our partner agencies, other San Francisco stakeholders, Bay Area CMAs, and MTC staff to advance our OBAG advocacy as MTC works to refine its proposal through its intended adoption in November 2015.
End of Consent Calendar
6. Recommend Appointment of One Member to the Geary Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Citizens Advisory Committee – ACTION* attachment enclosure
The Transportation Authority has a 13-member Geary Corridor Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Citizens Advisory Committee (GCAC). There is one vacant seat on the GCAC for a representative of at-large interests. The vacancy is due to the term expiration of Paul Chan, who is seeking reappointment. After issuing notices seeking applicants to the GCAC over the past year, we have received applications from 26 candidates. Any applicant may be appointed to fill an at-large seat. Staff provides information on applicants but does not make recommendations on GCAC appointments. Attachment 1 contains a summary table with information about current and prospective GCAC members, showing neighborhood of residence, neighborhood of employment, affiliation, and other information provided by the applicants.
7. Recommend Allocating $4,085,233 in Prop K funds, with Conditions, and Appropriating $54,225 in Prop K funds, Subject to the Attached Fiscal Year Cash Flow Distribution Schedules – ACTION* attachment enclosure
As summarized in Attachments 1 and 2, we have five requests totaling $4,139,458 in Prop K sales tax funds to present to the Plans and Programs Committee. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has requested $135,000 for pre-environmental phase analysis of a potential alignment for the Geneva-Harney Bus Rapid Transit project through the Recology property between US-101/Alanna Way and Tunnel Avenue. SFMTA is also requesting $80,000 to continue its youth bicycle safety education classes at nine middle and high schools during the 2015-16 school year; and $193,000 for the design of up to 1,200 bicycle wayfinding signs to be installed citywide on the bicycle network. San Francisco Public Works is requesting $3,677,233 to pave approximately 31 blocks of Ingalls and Industrial Streets, including sidewalk and curb repairs and curb ramps. We are requesting $54,225 to leverage a Kaiser HEAL Zone grant and contributions from several community based organizations for a van sharing pilot program in the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood, as recommended in the Transportation Authority’s BVHP Mobility Solutions Study (adopted in 2013).
8. Recommend Approving San Francisco’s Advocacy Goals and Objectives and Project List for Plan Bay Area 2040 – ACTION* attachment
In May, we issued a call for projects for San Francisco project priorities for Plan Bay Area 2040 (PBA 2040), led by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Association of Bay Area Governments. PBA is the region’s blueprint for transportation investment through 2040. Projects seeking federal funding or a federal action before 2021 must be included in PBA as a stand–alone project or be consistent with a programmatic category. Large capacity-changing or regionally significant projects that trigger air quality conformity analyses must be listed in PBA as individual projects. Concurrent with our call for projects, MTC is undertaking similar processes for transit, local roads, and state highway state of good repair needs and for projects from multi-county project sponsors such as BART. Together these efforts create the universe of projects that will be considered for inclusion in PBA. MTC has given us an initial local discretionary county budget of $8.4 billion to assign to projects and programmatic categories but ultimately we will need to meet a lower financially constrained budget. Even at the inflated initial target, San Francisco’s needs exceed projected available funds; therefore we have worked closely with project sponsors to ensure priority for those projects that need to be in PBA 2040 to avoid delay. The overall PBA process also includes opportunities to shape regional policies, fund programs, and new revenue advocacy. Our draft goals and objectives for PBA 2040 are shown in Attachment 1. In September, the Board reviewed a draft list of projects and draft goals and objectives. We have incorporated feedback from the Citizens Advisory Committee and Board and have worked with project sponsors to revise the draft project list, assign local discretionary funding, and determine our proposed requests for regional discretionary funding. We propose submitting the projects and funding assignments in Attachments 3 through 5 to MTC for consideration for inclusion in PBA 2040.
9. Recommend Adopting the Transportation Demand Management Partnership Project Final Report Factsheets – ACTION* attachment
For the past three years, the Transportation Authority, in partnership with the San Francisco Planning Department, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and the San Francisco Department of Environment, has led the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Partnership Project, funded by a grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Transportation Fund for Clean Air, and the Prop K half cent sales tax for transportation. The project’s main goals are to test pilot new methods of engaging with private sector employers around sustainable transportation and to improve the City and County of San Francisco’s capacity for delivering TDM programs in a coordinated manner. The project is now complete and the Transportation Authority has produced a series of factsheets summarizing the findings and recommendations from each of four focus areas: voluntary employer collaborations; employer parking management; a commuter shuttle pilot program; and a coordinated TDM Strategy. The employer collaborations focused primarily on using information, incentives, and technical assistance to support employers in pursuing sustainable transportation initiatives, and are informing next steps for employer-focused TDM programs. The project also resulted in an inter-agency TDM Strategy that identifies shared goals and priority activities for the coming five years to support a coordinated and effective approach to TDM among San Francisco’s TDM Partnership Project agencies.
10. Major Capital Projects Update – Van Ness Avenue Bus Rapid Transit Project – INFORMATION* attachment
The Van Ness Avenue Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project comprises a package of transit improvements along a two-mile corridor of Van Ness Avenue between Mission and Lombard Streets, including dedicated bus lanes, consolidated transit stops, and pedestrian safety enhancements. The Transportation Authority completed environmental review for the project in December 2013 and at that time transferred project lead to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). SFMTA began final design in May 2014 and reached 100% design in September 2015. SFMTA utilized the Construction Manager-General Contractor (CMGC) project delivery method as opposed to traditional design-bid-build, and awarded the contract for pre-construction services to Walsh Construction in July 2015. SFMTA also received Phase 2 approval from the San Francisco Arts Commission Civic Design Review in July 2015, retiring a significant project risk. Cost of the core BRT project is now estimated at $162.8 million and a total of $250 million when separate but related projects are included. SFMTA is currently finalizing several interagency agreements and remaining approvals, while the CMGC is conducting review of the design package, which may result in design changes that improve the value, constructability, and/or sequencing of the work. Under current assumptions, construction would begin in early 2016 and revenue service would begin in early 2019.
11. Introduction of New Items – INFORMATION
During this segment of the meeting, Committee members may make comments on items not specifically listed above, or introduce or request items for future consideration.
12. Public Comment
13. Adjournment
* Additional materials
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