Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTrans 2012-04-16 Item 3A - SCATBd - 4/4/12 Meeting Agenda and SummarySouth County Area Transportation Board RAMP SCATBd Joint Meeting AGENDA April 4, 2012 The Fabulich Center 3600 Port of Tacoma Road; 98424 8:00 Welcome Self- Introductions Tom Pierson, RAMP Co- Chair, Tacoma Pierce County Chamber President CEO Dave Hill, SCATBd Chair, Mayor of the City of Algona 8:05 RAMP Background Priorities Pat McCarthy, RAMP Co- Chair, Pierce County Executive 8:10 SCATBd Background Priorities Dave Hill, SCATBd Chair, Mayor of the City of Algona/ Pete Lewis, SCATBd Vice Chair, Mayor of the City of Auburn 8:15 The Future of Transportation in the South Puget Sound Region Jay Inslee, former US Representative Candidate for Governor 8:35 Candidate Inslee Q &A John Wolfe, RAMP Co- Chair, Port of Tacoma CEO 8:45 Round Robin Pierce Transit WSDOT Legislative Update Metro Transit Others... 9:00 Closing Remarks Adjourn John Wolfe, RAMP Co- Chair, Port of Tacoma CEO Another Joint RAMP SCATBd Mta: Wednesday, May 2nd 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. TBD RAMP is a regional coalition including business, labor, public and private organizations and citizens dedicated to improved mobility in the South Sound and Washington State. Our mission is to ensure a healthy regional economy associated with the development of an effective, efficient transportation system and the resources to sustain it. RAMP is co- chaired by Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy, Port of Tacoma CEO John Wolfe and Tacoma- Pierce County Chamber President CEO Tom Pierson. The South County Area Transportation Board (SCATBd) is a collaborative effort of local elected officials and agency representatives who are committed to improving the regional transportation system. SCATBd represents an area that encompasses: 16 cites, portions of two counties, three transit agencies, the Port of Seattle, and nine legislative districts. 39 Joint SCATBd/RAMP MeetinLy Summary April 4, 2012 At the May 4 joint SCATBd/Regional Access Mobility Partnership (RAMP) meeting, gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee was the invited guest speaker. Piece County Executive McCarthy, Mayor Hill, and Mayor Lewis welcomed Jay Inslee to the joint RAMP /SCATBd meeting. Their welcoming message to Mr. Inslee noted that transportation issues don't stop at the county line, and both RAMP and SCATBd had an integrated, regional view on transportation issues in the South Puget Sound region. They noted the importance of the region to state's economy, and talked about the need to integrate transportation modes to support freight mobility. They said that the completion of SR 509 and SR 167 was important to both groups, and noted the decreasing federal support for preservation projects. They also said without the "last mile freight can't move between the warehouses /manufacturing centers and the ports. Both RAMP and SCATBd recognized preserving of our local arterials was important io saving jobs as well as to creating jobs in the region. Mr. Inslee said it was great to see the. two groups working together, and agreed that that link between transportation and job creation could not be overstated. Mr. Inslee identified three principals that he said would guide him when addressing transportation issues: 1) transportation projects should provide choices for the public; 2) freight mobility is important for the region, and noted the South Puget Sound area is the economic engine for the state and, 3) there should be integration in terms of working together to solve problems and integration between transportation modes. He said he supported projects that would solve Joint Base Lewis McChord congestion problems in I -5 corridor. Solving congestion in this part of the I -5 corridor is related to job growth through out state. He also said that completing the SR 167 corridor is also important to economic development to state. He also mentioned the Columbia River crossing, SR 520, the Stampede Pass project, Cross Base as other important projects. Mr. Inslee said the region needs to be united in order to move forward in solving congestion. He also acknowledges that cities are having tough budget issues and he is willing to listen to the cities to help identify appropriate local funding mechanisms. Mr. Inslee said he supports a vigorous public transportation system. He said that the region needs to increase capacity in our major corridor and this can be done through increasing public transportation options in the corridors. This, he said, will give commuters options other than cars. He said he supported expanding the light rail in King County, both to the south and east, across Lake Washington. This he said will help improve the economic outlook in region. Mr. Inslee was asked on his views on when he thought a revenue package was coming, and what will it look like. He said before those questions can answered we need to: 1) don't take existing local revenue tools off the table; 2) develop project priorities for a statewide package of transportation improvements and; 3) we have to build trust with public, and bring efficiencies to state government in order to use public money wisely. 40 Councilmember Barry Ladenburg mentioned that completing the SR 509 corridor was important to the region, and that it helped improve freight mobility and also supported the SR 167 corridor. He also noted that this corridor would support light rail and improve connections to the airport. Mr. Inslee was asked if he saw other similar groups in eastern Washington support freight mobility projects in the Puget Sound. Mr. Inslee said he has seen support for our projects, he also said he sees a future for our state in clean energy. He said he saw a future in high tech industries such as in the production of bio fuels. He named Targeted Growth as a company developing bio fuels in eastern Washington, and said that SR 167 was critical to moving their products to the market place. Councilmember Rich Wagner noted that the Federal Government did not give a lot of attention to preservation projects. He said this was important to keeping the "last mile" of the arterial system open to the movement of freight. He asked Mr. Inslee what he would do to raise preservation awareness in the Federal government. Mr. Inslee said that he would use our state's legislative delegation to raise preservation awareness at the federal level. Mr. Inslee was asked the question of what type of alternative revenue sources he would recommend to fill our funding holes. Mr. Inslee said that he was not ready to make any recommendations. He did say that any revenue decisions he makes will have to be done with transparency, it should be equitable, and they should actually work to solve our transportation problems. Mr. Inslee said he was open to any suggestions on how to indentify new revenue tools for local government, and mentioned the street maintenance utility as an example that should be investigated. Executive McCarthy noted that Washington State will be completing with Mexico, Canada, South Carolina, and rest of the world on freight and we need the improve our transportation infrastructure to stay competitive. She said groups are trying to distill our message to folks that snake funding decisions. Mr. Inslee closed his comments by saying we need to also pay attention on our region's air quality, he said there is concern that we could be designated as a non attainment area and that would affect federal funding to our area. He said we need to work together to address our air quality issues. Mayor Hill announced that SCATBd will be hosting the next joint SCATBd /RAMP scheduled for May 2. He also said that SCATBd was inviting representatives from the Port of Tacoma and the South Sound Cambers of Commerce Legislative Coalition to joint SCATBd at its regular meetings. He also said that RAMP is welcomed to attend SCATBd meeting, he said that SCATBd and RAMP had much more in common regarding transportation priorities. Mayor Hill also said that as far as having to prioritize projects, the region should approach the region's transportation problems by looking at it as an integrated system rather than having to choose to fund a single project. Mayor Lewis said the region should not have to prioritize one project over another but should rather, come together to support a group of integrated projects. He said that both SR 167 and SR 509 project are important and both need to get done, we should not have to choose one over the other. He said the Freight Action Strategy for the Seattle- Tacoma 2 41 Corridor (FAST) group's partnership approach was the reason why they were successful in getting funding for their freight mobility projects. The ability to pull together a similar FAST like group to develop project partnerships with consistent priorities, and agreements to support each projects is a better approach. Mayor Lewis said the federal government wants to see partnerships; projects with partners will have a better chance to get funded. About 70 people attended the meeting. The next joint SCATBd /RAMP meeting will be held in Auburn on May 2 from 8 to 10 a.m. SCATBd will host the meeting and Rob McKenna is scheduled to speak to the group during the first hour. The meeting will be at the Truitt Building, Rainier Room 102 West Main Street in Auburn. I will send out an agenda and a meeting location map for the May 2 meeting. This Mav 2 meetinLy will replace the regularly scheduled Mav 15 SCATBd meeting. Please contact me if you have any questions, thanks. 42