ANCHORAGE METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING

Transcription

1 POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING Planning & Development Center, Main Conference Room 4700 Elmore Road, 1st Floor Anchorage, Alaska 1:30 PM Members Present: Name Representing Dave Kemp Alaska Dept. of Transportation & Public Facilities () Chris Schutte Executive Director, MOA Economic & Community Development Cindy Heil Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), Air Quality John Weddleton MOA/Municipal Assembly Chris Constant** MOA/Municipal Assembly Also in attendance: Name Craig Lyon Aaron Jongenelen Jim Amundsen Luke Bowland Fred Dyson Paige Livingston Barbara Karl Jessica Smith Wolfgang Junge* Jamie Acton* Representing MOA/Planning Department MOA/Assembly Member Mat-Su Borough Planning Manager MOA/Public Transportation Department (PTD) *AMATS Technical Advisory Committee Member **Designated Assembly Alternate 1. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL CHAIR KEMP called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. Chris Schutte, Executive Director, MOA Economic and Community Development, represented Mayor Berkowitz. Assembly Member Petersen was excused. A quorum was established. 2. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT CRAIG LYON encouraged public involvement in this meeting of the AMATS Policy Committee. He explained staff would first make their presentation, followed by any comments from Committee members, and the floor would then be open to public comment.

2 Page 2 of 5 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MR. SCHUTTE moved to approve the agenda. MS. HEIL seconded. Hearing no objections, the agenda was approved. 4. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES July 26, 2018 MR. SCHUTTE moved to approve the minutes. MR. WEDDLETON seconded. Hearing no objections, the minutes were approved. 5. BUSINESS ITEMS a Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) Administrative Modification #21 BACKGROUND: An administrative modification to the AMATS Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is needed to update Table 4 - Non-Motorized; Table 5 CMAQ; and Table 8 - Other Federal, State, and Local Funded Projects within the AMATS area. MR. LYON explained that all of the changes relate to the Public Transportation Department and are as follows: Tables 4 and 5 In March, a modification had moved some funding out of the Dimond Center Pedestrian project into the Bus Stop and Facility Improvements. It was later determined that this was not a correct use of those funds, so the funds are being moved back to their original tables. Table 8 The Transit Department is applying for another grant. This is a situation that in order to apply for the grant, the project has to be included in the TIP. MR. JONGENELEN added that in Administrative Modification #20 another change had taken place in Table 4 - Non-Motorized where some additional design funding had been added to the Anchorage Areawide Trails Rehabilitation Program. Upon further review, it was found that this design funding could not be obligated in time, so it is being moved to the Bicycle Plan Implementation project for additional design work ensuring that we can actually get that funding obligated. In response to Assembly Member Weddleton s question regarding funding and use availability for the Dimond Center, MS. ACTON explained that the current status for the Center is to get people out of the parking lot and into the sheltered area by October 1st. We are having challenges trying to get people into the small waiting area and the money is being spent. What happened was that we had started work on an area of the transfer facility that was not initially outlined in the funding request to FTA (Federal Transit

3 Page 3 of 5 Administration), so we are having to back up and review those costs and find an additional funding source in order to open it back up to the public. There were no public comments. MR. SCHUTTE moved to approve. MS. HEIL seconded. Hearing no objections, this motion passed. 6. Project and Plan Updates a Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) Update MR. LYON stated that there was no update, but he reminded the Committee that a joint work session with the TAC and the PC on the Fiscal Constraint Analysis is scheduled for August 30th here in the Planning and Development Center s main conference room. There were no comments. b. 3rd Quarter TIP Obligation Report MR. LYON and MR. JONGENELEN provided a brief presentation on the Obligation Report. CHAIR KEMP expressed his appreciation to staff for accomplishing their targets and keeping them less than the halfway mark of what is allowed. There were no public comments. 7. INFORMATIONAL REPORTS None 8. COMMITTEE COMMENTS ASSEMBLY MEMBER CONSTANT expressed that he had noted in the TIP that there was a substantial increase in the funding proposed for the Downtown - Glenn and Seward Highway Environmental Linkages. He thinks it is always incumbent upon someone who makes requests that might sometimes be perceived as demands, to say thank you when the work is followed through. He expressed gratitude on behalf of his neighbors, his community, and himself for the project being funded as such. CHAIR KEMP pointed out that, as he reviewed the minutes from the last meeting, there were a number of directives from this committee to staff. He is always concerned when something has been identified, but not followed through and suggested, for future meetings, to have staff track on a spread sheet what they had been directed to do that documents the date of the request, what the request was, who made the request, and when it is due. The

4 Page 4 of 5 previous meeting s report could be reviewed at the beginning of each meeting and any new directions could then be clarified before adjourning the current meeting. The Committee agreed to add these as agenda items. 9. PUBLIC COMMENTS ASSEMBLY MEMBER FRED DYSON informed the Committee that he is in the process of drafting a resolution for the Assembly regarding a possible crisis with having one of the northbound highways impassible and asked if the would be interested in being involved with this. Secondly, he is also making another attempt to get the military to reduce approximately a one-mile wide corridor of their land east of Muldoon. The City is in need of it to develop lower income housing and access to Chugach State Park, and for the possibility of a bypass for a Seward Highway connection. CHAIR KEMP appreciated the recognition that Assembly Member Dyson initiated with the Assembly regarding the infamous bridge incident as that meant a lot to and the contractor. MR. SCHUTTE asked if the Committee has the ability to serve in an environmental work session type of function as an advisory group for the items Assembly Member Dyson is proposing. It would not be an official AMATS action, but we would be able offer our perspectives as members. MS. HEIL thinks that is possible because a combination needs list had been done in the past with, local and state entities that attempts to determine the needs for a community versus a type of needs list per funding type. A lot of information goes into a needs list and AMATS has all of the different scoring criteria to assist in getting a project to score well and gain federal funding, and that is where this Committee could help. CHAIR KEMP noted that he had met with the Mayors in the Valley one month ago and asked if they would provide a staff member to attend AMATS meetings and provide input because a lot of the work we do affects those commuters every day, and he does not think they are being well-represented in our meetings. He does believe there would be significant support for this. MS. HEIL asked, since we are in the middle of a Metropolitan Transportation Plan and are looking at the Glenn Highway and all of the different alternatives, what analyses have been made that would be helpful on different scenarios with building the Glenn Highway. MR. JONGENELEN replied that in relation to the projects that are being looked at for the Glenn Highway, some major ones are improvements to the interchanges, a fourth lane, an HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) or HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lane, and frontage roads along the majority of the highway specifically for emergency situations. The Glenn Highway ICM (Integrated Corridor Management) project is receiving additional funding to look at emergency services and how it is impacted along the highway and what can be done to help mitigate it short-term and long-term. The current alternatives for a fourth lane and

5 Page 5 of 5 a frontage road would be outside of the existing right-of-way and would require a lot of input from the military. In response to Assembly Member Constant s question if a member from JBER is on the Technical Advisory Committee because it seems they are a team player in our transportation network, MR. LYON noted that a member from JBER is on the Freight Advisory Committee and the Citizens Advisory Committee, but not the TAC. ASSEMBLY MEMBER WEDDLETON stated that this is addressing two points. One, if the bridge were damaged on the Glenn Highway and the other is a bypass. He asked for clarification that there is a study, as part of the TIP, looking at the Glenn Highway. MR. JONGENELEN concurred that there is a Mid-Town Congestion Planning Environmental Linkages Study looking at 36th Avenue to 20th Avenue, and in the draft TIP there is a project for PEL (Planning Environmental Linkages) where the previous one ends to the Airport Heights area, but no specific alignment has been selected yet. It is in the general location of how to get the Seward and Glenn Highways connected. ASSEMBLY MEMBER DYSON agreed that someone from JBER should be involved. He would like to know if the Committee is interested in participating and, if so, how they could participate. MR. SCHUTTE noted that he had heard two issues being addressed. One is the emergency preparedness and he feels the Committee should be informed of it, but he is not sure if the PC is the best avenue for emergency preparedness discussions. The second was regarding access of the east property ramps and the possibility of transportation funding. Personally, he would like to be engaged in that effort and if there is a role that this Committee could play in an advisory capacity, we should do so. CHAIR KEMP expressed that it was informative to him because he works with former military and this was an eye-opener with the structure that is already there. It might be beneficial for the Assembly to have the safety experts involved and explain what they do and what they are prepared to deal with. Even with smaller incidents, initiates the Incident Command Structure, even though they do not really need it for that type of activity, just to understand what the relationships are. JESSICA SMITH introduced herself as the Mat-Su Borough Planning Manager and stated that she was directed by Borough Manager Moosey to attend AMATS meetings. The Borough is looking forward to being designated as an MPO and she is there on a learning capacity. 10. ADJOURNMENT Hearing no objections, the meeting adjourned at 2:06 p.m.