HomeMy WebLinkAboutTrans 2011-06-20 item 3C - SCATBd - May 17 Meeting Summary SOUTH COUNTY AREA TRANSPORTATION BOARD (SCATBd)
May 17, 2011
MEETING SUMMARY
Members
Councilmember Wayne Snoey City of Covington (Chair)
Mayor Dave Hill City of Algona (Vice- Chair)
Steve Gorcester Washington State TIB
Councilmember Ralph Shape City of SeaTac
Councilmember Bill Boston City of Black Diamond
Stacy Trussler WSDOT Urban Planning Office
Elizabeth Leavett Port of Seattle
Dennis Dowdy City of Auburn (Alternate)
Councilmember Clarke Brant City of Normandy Park
Councilmember Gordon Shaw City of Burien
Kelly McGourty PSRC (Alternate)
Councilmember Julia Patterson King County Council
Chris Arkills King County Executive (Alternate)
Councilmember Marcie Palmer City of Renton
Councilmember Les Thomas City of Kent
Councilmember Jeannie Burbidge City of Federal Way
Grant Fredricks City of Des Moines (Alternate)
I. April 19, 2011 Meeting Summary
The April 19, 2011 meeting summary was approved.
II. Reports:
Chair Snoey reported that the FHWA was soliciting applications for 11 grant programs
totaling an estimated $430 million. These grants will support projects that work to
improve safety, maintain a state of good repair, and make communities more livable.
The grant applications had a tight deadline and were due to the PSRC by May 20. Chair
Snoey also reported that the Washington State Department of Transportation WSDOT)
is providing more flexibility on the opening the new SR 520 bridge to traffic by July
2015. WSDOT heard that the level of risk associated with the contract schedule could
result in higher bids for building the project. WSDOT is extending the date for opening
the bridge to traffic to July 31, 2015, as well as providing financial incentives of up to
$2.5 million for completing bridge work as early as Dec. 1, 2014. All remaining work on
the project still must be completed in 2016.
Chair Snoey reported on the Governor's plans to form a Transportation Advisory Group
that will be tasked with developing a 10 -year investment and funding strategy for the
state's transportation system. The advisory group will review statewide transportation
program needs and recommend the most promising investment options and revenue
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sources to address top priorities. The advisory group's recommendations are due to the
Legislature in 2012. The advisory group will include the chairs and ranking minority
members of the House and Senate Transportation committees; the chair of the State
Transportation Commission; local officials; the Secretary of Transportation; a
representative from the Governor's Office; and transportation stakeholders, including
representatives from labor, business and environmental groups.
Kelly McGourty gave a brief update on PSRC's work on developing a prioritization
process that would be applied to projects and programs within Transportation 2040 or
those seeking admittance into the plan. She said that they will soon be doing a
prioritizing beta test on a group of projects using measures that are currently under
development. She also reported on a sub committee meeting held to discuss how to
address the preservation, maintenance, and operations component of Transportation 2040
in the project priority process. The subcommittee agreed that preservation, maintenance,
and operations of the existing transportation infrastructure should be acknowledged as the
region's highest priority in terms of ranking of projects and funding opportunities.
Karen Goroski reported on the PSRC's Operating Committee on the Policy Board
representation discussions. She reported that the Operations Committee was reviewing a
proposal by Snohomish County Councilmember Dave Gossett which increased the King
County Other Cities and Towns membership from 2 to 3 and keeping all the other
jurisdiction representatives the same. Ms. Goroski noted that the Committee had a
favorable response to his recommendations and will be making a final recommendation
to the Executive Board at their June meeting.
Chair Snoey informed the Board that Washington State Representative Judy Clibborn
will be attending SCATBd's July 19 meeting. She will be briefing the Board on the
possible consideration of a funding package in the next legislative session. She will also
be talking about the Street Maintenance Utility (SMU) legislation and what SCATBd can
do to help address some of the concerns raised by legislators and business groups
regarding the SMU legislation.
Stacy Trussler updated the Board on the SR 167 /SR 509 funding situation. She clarified
the language in the adopted transportation budge that provided $1 million towards
continued work on a comprehensive tolling study of the state route number 167 corridor
and as funding allows, the department shall also continue work on a comprehensive
tolling study of the state route number 509 corridor. She said that the study area for SR
167 tolling analysis that will be expanded to include the SR 509 corridor. Because the
SR 509 alternative and tolling analysis is ahead of the SR 167 traffic and tolling study,
the SR 509 study schedule will be adjusted to line -up with the SR 167 study.
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II. Transportation Improvement Board Update:
Steve Gorcester, Executive Director for the Washington Transportation Investment Board
(TIB), provided the Board with an update on the TIB funding program. He began his
report by noting that the TIB was the granting agency for local government's street and
sidewalk programs. Since 1990, the TIB has granted over $500 million to Washington
state cities. This averaged about $70 to $80 million a year to local cities, and he said that
this year it would be about $85 million. He also said that there was a possibility of
increasing this amount because of House Bill 2053. House Bill 2053 would provide an
additional $25 million per year for TIB funding through increases in various license and
permit fees.
Mr. Gorcester noted that June 1 was the beginning of the next grant cycle, and announced
that the TIB will be conducting funding workshops throughout the state in June. The
TIB's funding workshops provide complete information on the application process for all
TIB funding programs, and are intended to increase the probability of a successful project
application. He reminded Boardmembers to select projects that meet the criteria, he
noted that the sustainability criteria was important and gave examples of projects that
included sustainable materials, and low impact design. He also stressed that importance
of cities providing sufficient matching funds for projects seeking TIB grants, noting that
local projects with matching federal funds will score well in the grant competition
process.
Mr. Gorcester reported on the formation of a TIB Visioning Committee that will be
tasked to improve on the effectiveness of the TIB's grant program. The Visioning
Committee (Steve Gorcester, Commissioner Greg Partch and Mayor Jim Irish) will review
and confirm or recommend revisions and new approaches to TIB funding programs,
program intent, structure of program accounts, associated project selection criteria,
regional distribution of program funding, project eligibility, matching ratio for agency
participation, application processes, and project delivery expectations and administrative
requirements. He noted that the same amount of funds were being awarded every year
since 1990 and this beginning to hamper TIB's efforts to make a difference with their
grants because project costs are increasing every year. He said that visioning discussions
will look at supporting projects that are shovel- ready. TIB wants to preserve existing
funding levels for small cities, and to also investigate the possibility of extending
stormwater mitigation criteria to areas beyond the immediate roadway.
Boardmember Hill asked Mr. Gorcester if he knew of other funding sources that were
available for small cities. Mr. Gorcester noted that a typical small city project included
95% TIB funds and 5% local funds.
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III. South King County Sound Transit Update:
Rachel Smith, Sound Transit Government and Community Relations, provided an update
on Sound Transit's (ST) current revenue forecast for the South County subarea. She
reported that revenue collections for the subarea were down about $851 million and the
Pierce County subarea was down about $692 million. This shortfall was a result of the
recent economic recession and the current slow recovery from that recession. Total ST
revenues were down by $3.9 billion in all the subareas. She reported that because of this
shortfall, there were insufficient funds to deliver the planned extension of Light Rail to
South 272 Street in Federal Way in the 2023 timeframe.
The Sound Transit Board directed staff to develop a work plan to re- evaluate proposed
ST south county projects, including how far light rail can be extended with current
revenues, how long ST must collect taxes to complete the plan, and what would be the
best combination of ST projects. Ms. Smith reported that analysis showed that affordable
scenarios within the 2023 timeframe included:
Light rail to Highline Community College (HCC) plus express bus projects, and
no Sounder projects; or
Light rail to HCC plus Sounder projects, and no express bus projects; or
Sounder projects plus express bus projects, and no light rail extension.
Affordable projects outside the 2023 timeframe included:
Light rail to HCC, plus Sounder projects, plus express bus projects by 2027 or;
Light rail to HCC and S. 272 and no Sounder /express bus projects, by 2034;
Full south county ST2 program by 2040.
Ms. Smith reported that based on current revenue projects, the ST staff originally thought
light rail could only get as far as South 200th Street, but the analysis showed that ST
could get to HCC by 2023.
King County Council Board Julia Patterson reported that the ST Board has purchased an
easement in the abandoned BNSF rail corridor. She said that this was significant to
South King County because it will complete a missing link between the Tukwila and the
BNSF corridor to the eastside.
Federal Way Council Boardmember Jeannie Burbidge noted that not extending light rail
to South 272 Street would affect about 110,000 people in the Federal Way area. She
said that the South 272 Street extension was on the ST 2 ballot, and that Federal Way
residents were not getting what they were promised. She asked that future light rail plans
continue to include the South 272' connection just in case the economy rebounds. Ms.
Smith reported that the Sound Transit Board will make a decision on the light rail
extension to HCC at their July meeting.
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IV. RTC Metro Transit Discussion
Chair Snoey passed out copies of the Suburban Cities Association (SCA) policy position
on the proposed Metro Strategic Plan and service guidelines. The Board discussion
focused on the following two SCA policy positions, the first SCA position discussed was:
That the plan includes performance measures and service guidelines that reflect
the land use, growth, and travel patterns that characterize suburban and rural areas
of King County, rapid growth and changing demographics of suburban and rural
communities as evidenced in the most recent Census data, and system design
elements that effectively link suburban and rural city residents to bus transit, such
as park -n -ride facilities.
Boardmember Julia Patterson said that the work on a reconfiguring the transit system was
based on the three values of productivity, social justice, and geographic equity. She said
that she did not understand why "growth" was being supported as a service guidelines
value. She said that based on review of her staff, the South King County would stand to
lose more transit service if this criterion was used. Karen Goroski, Suburban Cities
Association, clarified that the SCA's position was to use "where growth occurs" as a
service guideline criteria. John Resha, King County Legislative Analyst, said that based
on his reading of the SCA policy statement, the growth criteria would supersede the three
proposed service guideline criteria that would be used to determine transit service
allocations or reductions. Boardmember Patterson recommended that the SCA work with
Metro staff on the language to make sure the intent is clear.
Boardmember Patterson also asked for clarification on the following SCA position
statement:
That the plan represents balanced prioritization of productivity, geographic value,
and social equity in the guidelines for providing transit service fairly throughout
the county. Weighted factors for the reduction of services of specific percentages
for productivity, geographic value, and social equity shall be clearly stated in the
strategic plan. Weighted factors for the addition of services of specific
percentages for productivity, geographic value, and social equity shall be clearly
stated in the strategic plan.
SCATBd Vice -Chair Dave Hill said that this recommendation intended tp memorialize in
the plan the factors that will be used to determine transit service reductions. He said that
interested parties would be able to go back to the plan and replicate the decision making
process used in making the service adjustments and cuts.
Boardmember Gordon Shaw did not support the SCA position statement on including
growth as one of the criteria for service adjustments and reduction. He noted that six
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jurisdictions were impacted by the airport, and the region agreed to compensate the cities
for the impacts of airport. The area around the airport included low income populations
and the proximity of the airport depressed land values. He felt the existing criteria of
social justice, productivity, and geographic equity would benefit his area.
Chris Arkills and John Resha noted that the Strategic Plan and the transit service
guidelines are intended to be a "living document" and the RTC work program calls for
the revisiting of the process over the next five years. They noted that there would be
deeper discussions regarding future transit service. John Resha noted that a proposed
Striking Amendment is being prepared to include annual reporting requirements
regarding the Strategic Plan. Boardmember Patterson thanked the SCA for the
conversation and said that their interests were aligned but noted that the two items
discussed would not be beneficial for South King County. Boardmember Patterson said
that she could not support the two SCA position statements as written.
Burien Mayor Joan McGilton joined the Board discussion and reported Regional Transit
Committee, during the last three months, has been working very hard reviewing the
proposed strategic plan and the transit service guidelines, and that understanding the
service guidelines was a complicated task.
Other Attendees:
Steve Mullen, City of Kent Larry Blanchard, City of Burien
Tom Gut, City of SeaTac Rick Perez, City of Federal Way
Karen Goroski, SCA Rachel Smith, Sound Transit
Jim Seitz, City of Renton David Hull, King County Metro
Ed Conyers, WSDOT John Resha, King County Council
Eric Chipps, Sound Transit Paul Takamine, King County DOT
Emiko Atherton, King County Council
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