 Good morning like to call the Thursday, November 7th meeting of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission to order The please will please call the roll Commissioner Bertrand Commissioner Brown Commissioner Johnson Commissioner Kaufman Gomez present Commissioner Caput Commission alternate shifrin Commission alternate Merle herd Commissioner Leopold Commissioner McPherson here Commission alternate Lynn and Commissioner low about commissioner Gonzalez And commissioner Gonzalez Here Okay, we'll go to item number two oral communications Is there anyone in the audience would like to address us on an issue that is not On the agenda or if there is one on the agenda and you're not able to stay to listen to it I think we're gonna have a pretty quick meeting today, but come on up Please and state your name and your concerns. Thank you, sir Let's see. Wait a minute. Is that His mic will be on. I'll use my out. There you go. Yes. Okay. We can hear you now. Thank you All right My name is Barry Scott. I live in Aptos and I really just wanted to come in today to thank The staff and the commissioners for receiving the presentation from TIGM the battery electric streetcar Company on September 5th and the you know it we live in a in a In part of the tech Region of the nation of the world and this vehicle I did some studying on it and it's a remarkable cutting-edge technology Renewable energy powered very light Streetcar system and for it to come to this community for a demonstration of two weeks I think is just a remarkable opportunity and I want to thank all the commissioners for receiving So well that presentation and for RTC staff for working on the details of making this demonstration project to happen Related to that and in support of that. I'm also grateful to see budget items that Include working on drainage and vegetation management and track upkeep consistent with measure D and the 8% that Ostensibly is for rail corridor work along with some of the trail corridor, you know trail Percentage of measure D which goes I understand to some of the some of the maintenance of that corridor So I just really wanted to thank the staff and thank the commission and I look forward to seeing Seeing that demonstration occur and maybe other demonstrations. So thanks very much. You're welcome Michael saint with campaign for sustainable transportation You have a hand out there in front of you and it is basically the project called the high desert project that goes between the highways 14 and 15 in the high desert there by Palmdale and Victorville Presently that's the first new freeway that's being built in Los Angeles Southern, California area in 25 years and Basically the reason that they wanted to build a new freeway. This was going to be 8 to 10 lanes Is that they have squandered tens of billions of dollars widening existing highways That were predicted to solve congestion, but have just made the congestion worse I'm not going to read the specifics since you have that in front of you But basically from coast to San great Gabriel Valley They have been canceling expansion projects Consistently even though there are some continuing that had been on the books the goal is to not widen highways anymore I mentioned all this because we have an opportunity here in Santa Cruz County Because of our small population I think the situation going to transition from Single occupancy vehicles to mass transit would be a lot easier in a population of 270,000 people versus Southern, California's population of 24 million people Basically, I feel a Southern California's kind of passed no return I think they're scrambling to try to do whatever they can to get people to move It's just too many around there A smaller population as ours would be easier to transition to mass transit than waiting for a million or two people to show up here in the future I think it would be prudent and fiscally responsible to make choices that You move people and not cars If we jump on the correct modes of transportation mass transit walking biking carpooling telecommuting We can cut emissions immediate immediately and play a role in California's long-term emissions reductions Strategy and also helping our congestion problem If widening highways worked Los Angeles would have no traffic and Just a spoiler alert there on October 2nd 2019 Cal Trans settled an environmental lawsuit by canceling the high-desert project. Thank you Thank you Hi, Brian people's with executive executive leader Director of trail now My day job. I'm an engineer. I work for a very high-tech company Actually, the company I work for is very large But they're actually in Santa Cruz County as well and I'm you know the thing when we look at it as an engineer We do a lot of model engineering You know when we analyze the system we do modeling and and I want to kind of give you an analogy here of a Modeling example you would do on your transportation system in Santa Cruz County. You have three corridors that go down You have highway one So Cal and the rail corridor those are all if you look at them like water pipes If you do a fluid dynamics analysis water pipes and the people within those are water So how do you increase the capacity of highway one? Well, you deal with the surges in transportation congestion typically is during commute hour So you get a surge so you need to open up the pipe as much as possible to absorb those you also if you look at Transportation when traffic cars actually have space between them. It's air pockets So you want to reduce those air pockets? Technology is doing that today with autonomous cars even the cars you buy today have that adjustable cruise control Autonomous cars actually shows that the highway capacity can increase by 250% by taking the individuals and reducing those bubbles the density within the cars You increase the density of the cars with policies HOV lanes encourage people's to carpool Now let's look at so Cal drive. How do you do that? So Cal drive? You control the lights, right? You control the intersections make sure that you control that Now let's look at a rail line. Let's look at okay. How does a water pipe work? For a rail line where you take a container you fill it up with water you put it in the pipe and you shoot it You wait 15 minutes you fill up another container and you shoot it and actually for Santa Cruz You shoot it the other way because it's a single rail line and you continue to do that Basically, 99% of the time that pipe is empty So that's how you do an engineering model. You want to maximize the use of those corridors Does that make sense? You want to maximize those corridors rather than Thinking how can we get people in mass transit? Look at it from a systems engineering approach? how do I improve my flow and Right now two-thirds of our system is shut down One-third of our system is shut down the Santa Cruz Coastal Trail is shut down We're not using it. We need to use it. We need to open that third pipeline. Thank you very much Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address this in oral communications? Well, hello, mr. Hearst. Good morning commissioners. Thank you for being here My name is Lowell Hearst and I'm a councilman with the city of Watson though, you know when I woke up this morning I had several choices. I Could have gone back to bed. I Could have shaved I Could have spent a couple hours in a coffee shop with friends But I wanted to be here today Because I think that you always need encouragement and you always need thanks And I want to thank the staff for their hard work You brought many many resources to Watsonville and we want to say our appreciation for that Oh, there's lots more to do of course lots more to do, you know, there's connector lanes and Traffic improvements of all kinds blinking lights on the freeway More trails and rails more mass transit bus on shoulder all kinds of great things that can be done And I want to say thank you for the things that you have done our sidewalk improvements and bike lanes are enhancing our Pedestrian traffic a great deal and we want to continue along those lines but there is more to be done and Let's get moving and let's get stuff done. So today's a wonderful day to get stuff done, right? All right. Thank you very much. Yes, sir Anyone else want to cheerlead us? All right, we'll close the oral communications Going to item number three. Are there any additions or To the consent or a regular agenda anybody have any additions or a pulling thing from it? Okay Go to the consent agenda We have several items on that Anybody haven't want to make a comment on it or move to approve the consent agenda And moved and seconded all those in favor aye opposed sordid unanimously Okay, now we will move to item number 29 Oh, excuse me commissioner reports. Is there any commissioner item number 28 any commissioner have an oral report that they would like to comment on Seeing none, we'll go to the director executive directors report Thank you, sir I'll start today's report with RTC group crew crewments and capital project management delivery services as Mentioned at the last RTC meeting RTC is moving forward with permanently filling transportation planner and transportation planning technician positions These recruitments are to fill recent vacancies created by retirements and resignations Advertisements are located on the RTC website and recruitment is open to both internal and external applicants The closing date for the planning applicants is November 8th and for planning technician applicants It is November 22nd RTC has also issued a request for proposals for capital project delivery management consulting services These services would be to assist staff in the project delivery management of projects on the rail line and The state highway system including auxiliary lane projects storm damage capital maintenance projects MBS ST projects and other regional capital project delivery needs the closing date on that advertisement was Monday November 4th staff plans to interview select and recommend that the RTC enter into one or more contracts at Our next meeting on December 4th My next item is related to the strategic implementation plan for measure D in November 2016 Voters of Santa Cruz County approved measure D a half cent Transaction and use tax with a term of 30 years to Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is designated Administrator of measure D the ordinance requires that RTC Allocate administer and oversee the expenditure of all measure revenues, which are not directly allocated by formula annually to other agencies Consistent with an implementation plan, which will be updated at least every five years following a public hearing The purposes of an implementation plan are to define the scope cost and delivery schedule of Expenditure plan projects or programs Detailing the revenue projections and possible financing tools needed to deliver the expenditure plan within the 30 years promised to the voters and Describe the risk critical issues and opportunities that RTC as the local transportation authority should address to Expeditiously deliver the expenditure plan Over the last few months staff has been working on the development of an inaugural strategic implementation plan I expect to release a draft plan by the end of this year with a public hearing expected for either the January or February RTC meetings The focus of the plan will be on maximizing the delivery of all regional projects and programs identified in the expenditure plan with an emphasis on how best to leverage measure D to Funds to secure grants in order to fully fund and to deliver the plan My next item is related to the 2019 focus on the future conference. This is a self-help county with a transfer counties with transportation sales tax measures The RC is now a member of the California self-help counties coalition and the self-help Counties coalition will be holding its annual conference focus on the future Later this month in San Diego. I will be attending the conference with our engineer transportation engineer Sarah Christensen and We will be networking with other sales tax measure counties on how best to Deliver the expenditure plan here and in this county's based on the experiences that they've had in delivering theirs I have an announcement regarding segment 18 of the MBS ST project This is the section in Watsonville the city of Watsonville began advertisement for bids on October 23rd To construct the first section of the Watsonville Monterey Bay sanctuary scenic trail This section of trail will extend 1600 feet between Olani Parkway and the Watsonville slew trail head The bids will open on December 17th construction is planned to begin in the spring of 2020 This project has received funds from the active transportation program The gas tax the city of Watsonville the land trust of Santa Cruz County and friends of the rail and trail I've previously Spoken to you regarding the ENT TAC membership recruitment and that recruitment continues We have taken extensive effort to recruit and fill these vacant positions on the RTC's elderly and disabled transportation advisory committee This has included ads through print media and electronic media It has also included direct outreach to specific individuals as they have been suggested as potential candidates With invitations to attend meetings of the ENT TAC some of those potential members have attended and one of the next steps is to submit and receive individual commissioners names of potential candidates to positions representing specific Supervisory old districts for nomination by the Commission and finally in The 2019 San Lorenzo Valley environmental town hall Is an event that scheduled every year as in the past RTC staff will be participating in this event scheduled for November 23rd The event will include assembly member Mark Stone and will bring together a variety of nonprofit and public agencies to provide Information to the San Lorenzo Valley community and hear from the community about their concerns and that concludes my report Very well. Is there any commissioners that mr. Johnson? Thank You chair, so you brought up the term bids and you mentioned that Watsonville is doing that and I didn't bring it up, but during the Consent agenda there were massive numbers of engineering firms and so forth that we are now in contract with So speaking of bids When you sign those agreements with consultants, do you go through a bidding process? And if you don't Why not we go through a proposal process and for engineering services? most of those contracts are for architectural and engineering services and there is a provision in The law that does not allow you to select architectural and engineering services based on cost And that's done intentionally because you don't necessarily want the cheapest engineer. You really want the most qualified engineer So we do try to control a Scope schedule and budget on all of our contracts a lot of the the items on the consent calendar today were extensions of contracts due to Things that were outside the control of the consultants such as a The response time of the jurisdictional agencies issuing permits So so I understand the flexibility there But just giving the fact that you do have flexibility and even though cost is not really a Primary consideration How do you how do you determine so if in other words if if a qualified Architect comes in but you know through your experience is you know five times more expensive than you think it should be Do you have the flexibility of going somewhere else and trying to find an alternative if you we cannot a Negotiate cost with the most qualified firm. We do have an allowance to move on to the next Firm and negotiate with them one of the things we do do even though we can't look at necessarily their cost proposal we do ask for Proposers to provide a detailed estimate of the number of hours that they think it would be necessary to complete the work And we actually asked for their approach regarding the scope So we can clearly understand the level of effort that they think is needed to deliver the project and we control it in that way So it goes to their efficacy and efficiency Absolutely, and when we are able to to select consultants based on on that. All right. Thank you You're welcome. The other questions from commissioners With Following up on his question If if we had a bad history with somebody we hired before Can you just say we don't want to deal with them again or do you have to actually go through a process part of what? I'm getting out is a lawsuit that you know that happened years ago or whatever. We can ask questions regarding Whether or not they've had legal challenges on their work in the past we can certainly check references and Based part of our criteria and selecting firms As their past performance and so we do do that and we do consider those when we select firms Yes, sir. I have one question and it got by me what But it is in regards to the bids but it is bids for services janitorial service and the community tree services and reading through the language there's part of that contract that says that the For it to be bringing wage the commission has the initialist is that is that going to be a process is still followed or is that should have been addressed on consent agenda so if Prevailing wages is a requirement under the contract then when we execute that contract We make sure that the contractor in question is aware that they would need to pay prevailing wages on the contract And we make sure we do that at the administrative level when we execute the contract itself Okay. Yeah, because reading through the contract on the terms that they had it stated there is it's Only prevailing wage only if it's initialed by the commission and so that's just to clarify that that's correct. And so for the Prevailing wages is required for the tree service work and for the janitorial work It's actually not required to be for prevailing wages. So we'll be initialing the one For for tree services, but not for the one for the janitorial services Any other questions? Okay, we'll move on to the Caltrans report. Oh, oh, excuse me. I mr. People's I do Appreciate that of spying people's executive director of trail. No, I want to take a moment and Support our T. C. Staff on their effort to bring in the expertise having professional experience myself in dealing with contractors and engineering contractor forms Through a corporation. I think what I've seen it's very good The approach that they're taking So I want to take a moment though just to recognize that they're you know, they're in a situation now They're dealing with not being a transportation agency as much as a property management firm You know, they now have this corridor that goes across and they're basically coming outside of their normal realm of engineering Transportation planning they've moved to being a property management Organization as well So you have to step back and understand that that their requirements on the skills and the bill of the people within their staff Have to be able to deal with that Thank you very much Thank you. Any other comments from the public Director's report Okay, we'll move on to now the Caltrans report Thank You mr. Chair morning commissioners I mentioned last month that we had a new director at Caltrans and he was sworn in on October 23rd It was a proud moment and many of the staff watched the ceremony Over the internet. So that was a very that was an exciting day to to us to feel settled now with new leadership and going forward with What we have what the governor has set forward is the administration's priorities. I want to follow up on a Question from last month had to do with the applications for the 5310 program For your background the federal program for 5310 is a transit program to improve mobility for seniors and individuals with Disabilities by removing barriers to transportation services and expanding the transportation mobility options that are available to them the specific question had to do with the equipment type that was being purchased and the The request was for gas gas powered buses and the question was can electric vehicles be purchased and Sadba true it Electric vehicle buses cannot be acquired with a 5310 program currently and that is simply a matter of dollars the statewide budget for rural areas is 14 million and the Current cost for electric vehicle buses is so much higher than gas-fueled vehicles that would vastly limit the number of rural areas That could be served. So for the time being EVs are not an eligible purchase under that program However, there is an effort underway to change that and in time I think we would expect that because there's such a commitment to change over the fleet that we will eventually get there But for this round, it's it's not currently an option. So I did want to reply to you on that point You have our updated project information in your binder. There's a couple highlights that I want to touch on one project was removed because the construction is complete, but I wanted to make sure you knew that the ADA project to upgrade the to install sidewalks for ADA compliance near Watsonville was completed in September You also asked me about I guess I was going to do general things before specific things So going back to general things there was also a question asked about how long does it take to get a project from Basically initiation to construction such as what is happening on highway one right now so on highway one there's a very there's a project that's about seven point three miles long it includes Pavement preservation bridge rails ADA ramp upgrades and a variety of things that project Basically got its initiation about six years ago We start the initiation project and then once we program a project It's generally a four-year time frame to get it into construction. That's the general time frame for a shop project the exception There are exceptions one exception is for safety projects where we have a Collision concentration and a compelling need to address things on a very You know rapid time frame we're able to accelerate those and there there were features There is a feature of safety that was rolled into that project for construction So we're still able to achieve the efficiencies but a component of that was delivered in a probably a two or three year time frame and then And then on the other side of things we have what we call long-lead projects that take more than four Years and examples of that would be Bridge replacements over live streams sensitive habitat areas and things like that So we generally refer to the shop program as a four-year cycle four-year programming cycle for programming to construction and then the reference to highway 17 I think still is is something that This commission and Caltrans need to work together on to find Funding sources before we could initiate that project the initiation process That was that was the long answer to those two questions and then one more question back on specifics with your list is the the long-awaited Pedestrian enhancements that include the March and area near the high school Will go to construction anticipated in February of this year it it will be ready to list this month And then there's a contract advertisement award process We're expecting contract approval in February, and I want to point out that on that particular project that we were able to work with your staff to roll in Several locations of caught cross-rock enhancements from on Highway 9 that the RTC received funding Through another highway safety improvement program So we're also combining forces and doing more And we are also asking the contractor in the case of that project to prioritize the High school location and to others to you know ask them to do that first because generally when we issue a contract It's up to the contractor to determine the order of work, and so we've made that special request Any questions? Yes The question I have in it and it doesn't show up on this list here because it has to do with our downtown plan And since the downtown plan has been adopted and it goes to Caltrans to work with Caltrans We there's going to be an EIR process, and there's going to be a traffic study process. It takes place Who it would be responsible since this is a Caltrans corridor for those studies The the project sponsor usually would initiate those Cal Tran because Caltrans has the lead agency responsibility It would it would still come under our purview would potentially be an oversight project in some cases depending on the extent of the change whether an EIR was needed for the improvements on the state highway system could still be evaluated and Otherwise if it's if you're implementing the whole plan and doing an EIR that's city-wide There would be a piece of that but Caltrans does retain the agency authority for the most part on the state highway system but we can we're certainly interested in working with you to Streamline things to the extent that we have improvements that we can support and work with you to implement Thank you You know the question mr. Mr. Buck Bertrand Thank you very much for the grant and go ahead to work on Aligning all the lights on 41st So finally we could actually deal with the the bridge going over highway when thank you Caltrans for that. That should help tremendously Mr. Caput I want to thank you for on 30-2 The completion of the sidewalks from Wagner to Pretty much all the almost all the way to Hula hand. We call that East Lake Avenue, but it's highway 152 So good job. Thank you. And then the item number eight on the same page is the Pedestrian signal upgrades and I'm assuming that one of those would be the Marchant Street and East Beach which is To put in a pedestrian crossing right there by Watsonville High School Is that is that correct? I they're they're all kind of thrown together Yes, that will go to construction in February and we're we're just wrapping up the design plans this month to get it ready to list for Advertising contract. Yeah, I have the report Part of the report says it's going to go out to bid and then on item number eight. It says the project was awarded to Crosstown electrical and data does that mean they're going to do all of those projects or does that mean Project number eight if it's the same version. I'm looking at the pedestrian signal upgrades That project is already in construction. It'll be completed in January Okay, that's different than the Marchant Street, and I don't know if this is under your purview, but the The upgrade of the intersection right there at hula hand and 152 That's with Public works right now. Is that you're working with public works on that one? Yes, that's a the county is delivering that project. So maybe you want to get an update from them It would it be appropriate to ask Steve can you give a little update on that? It's a big project, and it's very complicated, but You're on top of it. I know that It is good morning The project actually is about 95% designed and we're in the right-of-way purchasing phase right now We still have a little bit more money to round out to the full construction financing Cal Trans is contributing 500,000 a minor a funding to towards that project And we've been working pretty actively with them, and we've got to be in construction by June 2021 So we're pretty confident that by that day we'll have all the construction funding we need and we'll be in construction that summer What's the total cost approximately in around three to four million? Okay, and how much do we have now? Somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.5. Okay. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Leopold Thank You chair. I just would Appreciate if we got regular updates on the questions of availability of bus funding You know, there's a state mandate that we that that we have to go to zero emission Vehicles our transit district has committed to doing that and so the clock is ticking and So it'd be nice if the if all the arms of the state Lined up correctly so we could access those funding because we're in a multi-year effort to replace our bus system And we want to be able to replace them with the buses that will be with us for a while Not with buses that will not be eligible at some point Any other comments from commissioners anybody from the public would like to address this on this issue Yes, Michael saying campaign for sustainable transportation. I want to thank Eileen and Caltrans. I also wanted to ask the question about the electric vehicles and Appreciate you with your answers. That was quick. Just just last month. So good job Would I do have a question about what is the cost difference between the gas and electric? Do you have that? Figure anywhere. I'm sorry. I don't Okay, I could I mean certainly certainly we can provide more information on this topic because I think it is relevant The 5310 program is a federal program But the arms of the state as as Commissioner Leopold pointed out Cal Trans works with DGS on the equipment types and and so I don't have that per The per unit cost difference. Okay, no no issue. I'm sure we can find that but basically has it been is this Something that you could do and find funding to make up that difference and join that grant program through some other sources Yes, yes through the chair that they're working On an EV purchase You know program for 5310 for future cycles, so I know they're it they're actively working on it But they didn't want to delay This programming cycle until that was resolved because I think there was a Commitment to serving the needs of the people. Yeah, I think that's an important commitment But it's also those vehicles last a long time in the environment and I understand these vans do about 1,600 miles a month So six event that's a lot of greenhouse gas emissions for six vehicles Maybe I agree with John Maybe there's something that we can do to get these cars to be electric before we put them on the road Thank you. I'm happy to follow up some more on that. Thank you Anyone else in the public who would like to address us on the state report? Okay, we'll move to item number 31 a request to begin environmental phase of the highway one Auxiliary lanes between State Park Drive and Freedom Boulevard Sarah Christensen Thank You Commissioner I'm Sarah Christensen of your staff Project manager for all of the highway one auxiliary lanes and bus on shoulder projects And I'm here to talk about getting another project started on our corridor. I Just want to put things in perspective The highway one projects we do traffic studies and our traffic studies Look at a six-hour peak period. That's extreme Projects I've worked on in the past over the hill on corridors like Highway 101 or 85 280 The peak period is only three hours. Maybe four hours if it's really extreme So keeping that in mind. This is one of the worst commutes in the state and we have an opportunity to relieve congestion Consider the statewide funding opportunities available for transfer to Sorry Transportation investments today. We can improve our competitive edge for these statewide funds By getting this project started soon Funding for transportation has become available as of late with the passing of Senate bill one in 2017 Which makes seven hundred million dollars available every two years statewide for projects like ours They're available on a competitive basis with project readiness being one of the main factors And we're fortunate to have local funds Available to advance our priority projects and compete for these funds The staff recommends starting the environmental phase of this project between State Park Drive and Freedom Boulevard Now to be ready for cycle three of these programs We are targeting the solutions for congested corridors program and the local partnership competitive program With the combined amount of seven hundred million every two years We have a unique transformational project on our highway one corridor that gives us a competitive edge over the other regions in the state Monterey and Santa Cruz County have legislation in place that allows us to operate buses on the shoulders of state highways Monterey has chosen not to move forward With their projects because they don't have a program of projects like we do on their highway That makes our bus on shoulder project The first and only bus on shoulder facility in the state Additionally, this specific project includes replacement of two railroad bridges With multimodal bridges that can accommodate both high capacity public transit and a trail That's going to improve our most multimodal travel through the County in My written staff report. I did not include a cost estimate for the environmental phase because we want to see What the proposals come in up? I've done an independent cost estimate and I anticipate the cost of the environmental phase to be between two million and five million dollars, which is quite a range This project is consistent with the preferred scenario of the unified corridor study Which this commission? unanimously approved earlier this year This project is included in the measure the expenditure plan highway corridors Category under the highway safety and congestion reduction program The budget administration and personnel committee earlier I'd say last month Recommended that staff move forward with this project We have an opportunity to relieve congestion if we invest our local funds now We could get the environmental phase underway early next year and Have environmental clearance in time for cycle three of the SB1 programs We can leverage our local funds to construct these projects and start experiencing congestion relief this project specifically Includes a constrained choke point of the two railroad bridges It's been called the Aptos Strangler if you remember the speaker series last year that makes this project That much more important because it's a life and safety issue if we were asked to evacuate in case of a natural disaster We would be constrained at that point Highway one truly is the lifeline of this county. So considering that Staff requests your approval to release an RFP to hire a consultant to get this project going and negotiate a cooperative agreement with Caltrans Thank you. Thank you Any questions? Mr. Johnson so give us a give us a timeline in terms of start date and Completion date just in broad terms so because it's one of the questions that I'm sure a lot of commissioners and including me Who get asked that question, you know when when is this going to start and when is when is it going to be done because? and I mentioned it again because you know part of the campaign literature the byline was get Santa Cruz County moving again and a big part of that perception was Doing what you're doing right now, and I want to thank you for your exemplary work. You've done a lot of good work on this Fighting to keep make sure it to the best of your ability to keep it on track. So thank you Thank you So the environmental phase if if we get the green light I can have the RFP out and we'll be back at the February Commission meeting with the negotiated contract That's the schedule that I think we can We can do for the environmental phase, and then we expect a two-year environmental clearance phase Which would line us up Right before cycle three of the funding applications So when you talk you talked about the funding possibilities and this County or this Region being eligible for Extraordinary funding from the state Help me understand what kind of funding maybe Numbers and what the sources of those fundings might be Sure, the two funding programs that we're targeting is the solutions for congested corridors program which 250 million dollars per year statewide and The way that they have these call for projects. They have them every two years So that sets aside 500 million dollars every two years for those solutions to congested corridors program and that program requires a Multi-modal corridor plan for for any project that asks for Those funds We have met that need through the unified corridor investment study We completed that and so we are eligible We check that box the one thing we don't have for these projects Which is why we can't apply this cycle is we don't have environmental clearance because we haven't we haven't even started on this project And so that's why you know project readiness is really one of the main factors The other program is a local partnership program that sets aside a hundred million dollars annually statewide So again every two years So that sets aside two hundred million every two years. So that's how you get the seven hundred million That program requires a fifty percent match of local funds and it's really the local partnership program is really Put in place to Reward self-help counties like us who have taken the initiative to pass the sales tax measure And that's why we get a formula share and we get a competitive pot that we can also compete for Does that match? Necessitate the need for bonding and they have actually having cash Equivalence or can you just say well we're going we have a stream of income that we're going to be able to apply to this I'm not quite sure maybe the executive director knows that So when we complete the environmental phase and we start to put together our application, we'll have to come up with a funding plan As part of that funding plan, we will have to show how much local money we're putting towards the job And how much state money we're requesting It doesn't require us to bond per se but Bonding might be a good strategy to consider because the more money that we show we're putting towards the project The more attractive it would look When the CTC is analyzing our application and deciding whether to fund it or not but that can be a discussion as we complete environmental how best to Advance these projects and strategize to get them all completed Chair just one last question. Sure. So This past you know measure D pass in 2016 and I've received questions about the environmental part of this equation Sarah If somebody was to ask why weren't we concurrently while we were talking about Rail lines and everything else. Why weren't we concurrently doing what we're doing now? In other words two and a half years ago or something like that And as far as the environmental studies, right? Why weren't we advancing projects to compete for this money? SB 1 was passed in 2017. So That really I get asked a lot why highway one hasn't been improved yet and Prior to having measure D and prior to SB 1 There was not a lot of transportation funding out there and that has always held this county back And now it's a completely different climate. We have our own sales tax measure and there's Big money at the state level for us to compete for Thank you And if I can add on one one point to is we have started environmental on three other sets of auxiliary lanes This is We're just doing kind of sequentially down the line. So we are we had already started the strategy This is just extending it to all the way up to freedom. Thank you I would also remind the Commission before Mr. Preston or Ms. Crispin joined the RTC our Commission made a decision after 12 or 13 years of putting together the EIR that we were going to have the tier one and tier two work where we were going to do a See if I get the names right the program level document for the six miles and the project level document For just the next segment in order to actually get it across the finish line And that was a decision that was made by the Commission And it meant that there still needed to be new needed to do project level work And since the these two have joined our staff, that's what they're starting to work on Thank you. Just one quick for on SB 1 for self-help counties. Is there a Pocket of money is it the total about 200 million statewide? Is that right? Is it about to be divided between those self-help counties in the state? It's a hundred million a year and in the competitive pot There's been some legislation right now about how to split it up whether to do it all by formula or make a portion of it competitive The bill that was put forward was actually not signed by the governor So now it's up to the CTC's discretion in the past. It was 50 percent competitive 50 percent Formula so we were getting about 300 thousand dollars a year in formula funds and we were able to compete for about a hundred million About two hundred million every two years and we think the CTC is going to continue with that But it's hard to say exactly what direction that they're going to go if they can make the entire pot competitive They could make the entire pot formula, but it seems like they would at least make 50 percent of it competitive Which is what they were doing before the governor vetoed the bill Hey, mr. Caput you over do you have a question? Mr. Mohan go ahead just very quickly. I just want to thank staff very much for this project when we first Came into office RTC Was clear that that this was just too much of a lift and that's why the UCS ends where it ends and doesn't Encompass this particular part of the the transportation infrastructure But I don't know if people notice driving in from the north today You can see that the Aftal strangler is the genesis of congestion during our morning commute that Congestion then filters out throughout the second Supervisorial district and directly affects all of our constituents And so I'm really happy to tell people about this project now And we've been getting a lot of very positive comments when we bring it up in our community meetings So thank you very much for your work. I'm looking forward to this move in Mr. Caput Our metering lights a part of this also They they seem to work. I don't know most people tell me that they do work and I and I believe them So the highway one quarter investment program includes Auxiliary lane projects it also includes on the longer-term Solution a vision for building HOV lanes which will require replacement of almost every bridge overcrossing at the interchanges And at the same time those interchanges may be reworked rearranged to operate better and We envision that the ramp metering improvements be a part of those Interchange reconfigurations and the ramp metering and the reason being that First off, you know, the if the main line isn't operating What's the use of even having ramp metering if you're metering into a congested freeway? So that's why we're prioritizing the auxiliary lanes first and then secondly our ramps cannot accommodate the storage and capacity needed to have Queuing vehicles for ramp metering so we envision that those improvements will come But not as part of these auxiliary lanes projects Okay, and then one last thing actually When mr. Peoples was talking I'm not an engineer, but you know you are he is and I'm thinking of That you know the capacity of the Of the freeway that we're working with and then what I'm driving it There's that accordion effect where it stops Then you go a little bit and then it stops again People think that on a freeway. We should be going 55 miles an hour 65 miles an hour and In flow right through but if we if we're able to what's making me believe this might work in The in that bad area if we can get cars just to move at 30 miles an hour that would cut the commute time in half and Is am I correct in that if we can just Keep it moving rather than stop go stop go We're gonna be able to do quite a bit Yeah, and that's what the auxiliary lanes projects do they improve the operations for weaving And safety and so it does it does improve the operations in the flow Okay, thank you. Thank you. Mr. Schifrin. Yes As commissioners will remember there that these projects are not without controversy so as I understand it there is a lawsuit challenging the EIR for the Program EIR for the HLV project and tier the Tier one projects or tier two project What's the status of that? Lawsuit has there been any decision is what's a timeline on it? because While we're talking about a later auxiliary lane project the first Priority for the commission is to move forward with the prior with the auxiliary lane project between Soquel and 44 First and that depends on that lawsuit or the the legality of that EIR and if that is overturned then That segment which would be the first segment that would be constructed Will be delayed so I'm just wondering what's what's going on with that lawsuit We met with Caltrans. I believe it was yesterday and they're almost done with the administrative record and And then they'll they'll be moving forward from there But we don't expect to receive any sort of injunction to stop work on that project So we are continuing with the design and we'll be moving forward with with that project and for the subsequent auxiliary lane projects on highway one. We are Preparing independent EIRs that do not rely on the programmatic They were not tearing off the programmatic document So they should have no effect on on our future environmental clearances on the corridor will the lawsuit be Heard in Santa Cruz County or somewhere else? Do I don't know the answer to that but I will I will investigate and report back given the importance that the commission has placed on Soquel to 41st project I think would be useful to get regular reports on how that's going because as we move forward with design Which and move towards going out to bid it would be important to know whether You know whether the court has decided that yes, it's acceptable. You know, the EIR is accept acceptable Understood and we'll do Miss Brown Thank you for your work on this and and all of our programmatic and project work. I have a question about the kind of overall I guess Relationship between the ox lanes and bus on shoulder. I know we've gone This has come up and we've talked about it, but I just want to try to get clear I mean, it's so what we're really talking about is bus on ox lane is the plan, right? From what I can tell and I know that the Metro feasibility study did suggest that bus on shoulder Could work that it could be realized much more quickly And I'm just wondering if this is indeed And it's good to hear that may not be as held up as it Could possibly be with the lawsuit But is there any feat possibility for bus on shoulder to happen in the meantime and or kind of in conjunction with the rest of this project given that Or It's something that seems to be like it, you know, it could possibly work, right? And or is it going to be It doesn't seem clear to me that it would be Really studied further in this process bus on shoulder only The sense of feasibility study we have advanced the engineering for the bus on shoulder We've had many conversations with Caltrans It is their facility. They own and operate highway one and so we really have to meet Their requirements and their needs another major stakeholder in the bus on shoulder is the CHP They're extremely influential on what the facility looks like because this is a facility that they're going to be the boots on the ground out there enforcing And so we're really restricted to what those two stakeholders are requiring of the project for example There was it, you know operationally an Inside bus on shoulder would be preferred because you skip all of those ramp movements and the bus doesn't have to merge at all It just Fast track down the highway. However, that is infeasible According to CHP that is something that they Will not allow to happen. And so the legislation that I mentioned earlier Requires Caltrans and CHP to approve The facility and so we're really constrained on that As the engineering has progressed we've gone through more of a detailed analysis of what can and cannot be done and for example if we have an existing Shoulder that's 10 feet wide We're okay with not replacing that shoulder, but if that shoulder is 9 feet wide We have to replace it with not a 10 foot shoulder, but we might as well do a 12 foot shoulder, right? And so the feasibility study Looked at it at a snapshot kind of 10,000 foot view We're getting into the nitty-gritty details and we're getting more detailed and the feasibility Given the constraints of the bridges on a long highway one In terms of return on investment. It really is the best bang for our county's buck To include these projects together and the other reason is You know the community would not like it if we went out to construction One year and then one year later we go to construction You know if we advanced bus on shoulder and we get maybe six months out of the year and then we have to take it out and As part of the auxiliary lanes construction later, I don't think the community would would dig that So we're keeping a lot of things in mind when we're moving forward and if there is a low-hanging fruit option we're definitely narrowing in on those but unfortunately this is The best path forward for this project. Thank you. You're welcome Yes, sir. Mr. Gonzalez Thank you chair. I just wanted to thank you staff for all your hard work And I know the residents of Wasville are gonna greatly appreciate it once we get this bus on shoulder and auxiliary lanes open and traffic moving Because they are kind of tired of sitting in an hour and a half traffic and waiting to get to work But one quick question though, and I know we're gonna have to replace the rail Bridges and and I'm hoping that it is going to be designed So because you had mentioned HOV possible lanes in the future that these bridges are going to be built to accommodate that expansion Absolutely any bridge that we replace over Highway 1 will accommodate future HOV lanes The other questions any questions from the public Michael saying again campaign for sustainable transportation I live at the Aptos Strangler and I am very glad we have something in common that we want to get this issue Done with I think our primary difference is we just want to do it with a different method Basically, if you refer to November 4th, 2019 letter from mr. Rick Longinati Concerning the Measured revisions expenditure plan revisions to that plan Measured requires that revisions to the expenditure plan follow a certain process Which is section 25 B Also section 1 8 0 2 0 7 of the public utilities code We don't see any money set aside for going this far in the ox lane project if you look at it It's not included in the Measured little pie situation So once you go through the measured section 25 B What came pick campaign for sustainable transportation requests is that the Commission not issue a request for proposals with intent to a higher engineering and environmental constraints Before undertaking the process outlined in this section of measured Also, we refer the request that you direct staff to undertake an examination of bus on shoulder options That do not require the construction of auxiliary lanes the bus shoulder on shoulder feasibility study which Commissioner Brown referred to examine such options and indicates that they would be substantially less expensive Then building auxiliary lanes just in general commissioners What we're asking is that you depart from the measured mandate and that a fair decision on a bus on shoulder is only valuable If you do a comparison of options without ox lanes. Thank you for your time Good morning commissioners, I'm David van Brink 30 a resident of Santa Cruz City and County So it sounds like you're considering some rearranging and reprioritization of the various projects and measured items The piece that jumps out at me, of course is new bridges to Aptos village and back and I think that this will appeal to trail enthusiasts in general That's the piece of the project that jumps out at me. Thank you Hi varying people's trail now executive director. We absolutely support moving forward with this RFP going out for design We'll add to that though is you know There's an opportunity Possibly and I'm not an expert on it But I believe staff has experts on this that if we look at toll roads as well as part of the equation for highway one That may add some additional opportunities for our community to find funding So I we'd ask that you include in your Ask staff to go and see how would toll roads as part of the equation Which of course would be a toll in HOV lane Now one of the things we want to do is backtrack and say hey toll roads aren't the luxury Lexus lanes really they're about opening up the corridor right Watsonville is suffering Aptos is suffering The years and years we wait for not opening up the highway corridor So we can have heavy traffic flow through that to reduce the congestion on our surfer streets to make them safer We need to do that so anything we can do to Incentitize the state and the feds to give us more money quicker is going to benefit us now Secondly, I want to talk about a specific detail Kim Schultz who was the engineer prior to Sarah I talked to him about tier one and In Aptos those rail to Braille bridges the actually took the Con the to do the widening you actually have to lower the highway because the rail corridor has to stay flat Right, so it actually adds like 40 million dollars to your project So what we're advocating for is look at keeping the rail corridor on the ocean side Only have one Pedestrian trestle come over and it's a pedestrian trestle. So it doesn't have to lower the highway Have it on the northern one and on the southern trestle where it goes towards Rio del Mar tennis club Is actually now we're not going over the highway actually divert it and have it go in between Soquel Drive and the highway as a dedicated bike lane that goes all the way to Aptos junior high and Aptos high school and that would be a protected lane it's a game changer for this for that community and you're addressing the Aptos strangler because you're immediately pulling off the rail line not going through the village and That curve you're making it more straight So I encourage you to look at that engineering design which we did talk to prior staff about So again, we do support moving forward with this. We believe that it's the right move. Thank you Mr. Schifrin one of the speakers indicated that the Commission would be violating a section of measure D by moving forward with this project At this time. Would you respond to that please? We've looked closely at the sales tax measure and we believe that the highway corridor Which is 25% of the overall sales tax measure includes a Category for highway safety and conjunction reduction programs That would allow additional auxiliary lanes to be built Thank you Mr. Johnson Yeah, also with respect to what certain speakers say When I hear words or phrases like depart from measure D mandate That's worrisome. There is a compact or or there was a compact or a covenant between this body and The voters when they approve measure D and and the you know, it's absolutely clear that You know a full 25 or I forget 30% is for the highway for that thoroughfare to be Widen to meet the congestion Needs of our community now, you know at some point there are gonna it was also alluded to the fact that at some point There are gonna be electric cars driving on this road. It might be 10 years. It might be 20 years It might be 30 years, but there it's so patently obvious To so many people especially those that sit in that traffic that there's a need for this and so to kind of blatantly Defy the the I think the will of the voters when they voted for this particular project at two-thirds and By the way, mr. Longinati. I think his name was predicted in Santa Cruz City Chambers That when the polling came back at 67% that that are 66% there was absolutely no chance that this would pass Well, it did pass So and a big part of that was the people who looked to get Santa Cruz County Moving again, and this is a big element or big part of that Has to be what we're discussing right now. Thank you Hey questions from mistress I'm entertaining a motion to accept The recommended action to begin an environmental phase of highway one ex over lanes and busts on shoulder project between State Park Drive and Freedom Boulevard I'll make a motion. All right. I'm not sure who did that but I'll second it though Okay, we'll have somebody from Mr. Cappy Johnson makes motion cap at second there we go Okay Bertrand make the motion cap at second although I clarify Since the motion was made very Quickly that the motion is to approve the staff recommendation on Page 31 dish one which in has two components to it fine Is that what the maker in the second? Okay, thank you. Yeah, sorry. Okay. All those in favor. I Opposed so ordered unanimously Okay, we'll go to item number 32 the Devon Davenport crossing project Grace Blake Blake's Lee and good morning commissioners grace Blake's Lee of your staff Staff was requested to bring some information back to the Commission about the Davenport crossing project And so we're at our September meeting in here. We are today Many of you know about the North Coast Rail Trail project It's the 7.5 miles of the Monterey Basin Exanctuary Trail Between Wilder Ranch and Davenport and the project has been divided into two phases the first phase spans 5.4 miles from Wilder Ranch to Panther Yellow Bank Beach Phase two spans two miles from Panther Yellow Bank Beach to a Davenport The project also includes improvements to three parking lots the Davenport parking lot Panther Yellow Bank Beach parking lot as well as Bonnie Dune It also includes access from the Davenport parking lot a pedestrian crossing to the community of Davenport on the inland side of Highway 1 I Wanted to note a correction in the staff report that I described the Crossing the crossing would connect from the Davenport parking lot to the north side of Ocean Street Right now the Dav at Davenport There is an overhead arm containing flashing beacons and pedestrian advanced warning signs and speedback Feedback signs as you enter the town of Davenport from both in north and south Pedestrians frequently cross between the unpaved parking area on the coastal side of Highway 1 To the down of Davenport on the inland side of Highway 1 and community members have expressed concerns about these pedestrian crossings Recently Caltrans did reduce the speed limit on Highway 1 in Davenport from 45 miles per hour to 40 miles per hour and Installed additional high visibility pedestrian signs in the area the environmental impact report for the RTC's Segment 5 North Coast Rail Trail project it did evaluate The Davenport parking lot as well as the pedestrian crossing that we are discussing today And the EIR for the project was approved by the Commission in March of 2019 a preliminary design for the parking lot and the pedestrian crosswalk Has been completed the central federal lands Design team did come to Santa Cruz in September to review the entire project including the pedestrian crossing Final design for the project again including the pedestrian pedestrian crossing which referred to you often as a Davenport crossing is scheduled to be complete in August 2020 And phase one of the North Coast Rail Trail project is scheduled to go to construction in August 2021 and is funded Phase two which is the part that Extends from Yellowbank Panther Beach north to Davenport as well as the three parking lot improvements and the pedestrian crossing Will be built at the same time if we can secure funding for that portion of the project RTC is seeking opportunities to construct phase one and recently submitted a grant for prop 68 funding to the California Natural Resources Agency the grant funding request was for four million, which was the maximum amount of funding allowed through this grant opportunity The grant opportunity would allow us to construct The the phase two components that I described but did not include funding for the pedestrian crossing RTC is seeking opportunities to fund the pedestrian crossing in coordination with the county of Santa Cruz and the county of Santa Cruz has Indicated and at a board action on Tuesday that they would commit 125,000 in regional surface transportation exchange project funds and 50,000 in developer P fees for the Davenport crossing RTC will consider programming some of The measure defunding at its December 2019 meeting at staff's or a staff's recommendation We provided a handout today of the Santa County of Santa Cruz staff report to their board You so you should have received that this morning RTC in Santa Cruz County's public work staff have been talking with Caltrans and trying to find a way to Advance this project at the request of the community We have determined that the best way to move forward is to provide a grant to the county of Santa Cruz Way to move forward with this project is to continue to include it in the north coast rail trail project One of the primary reasons we're doing this is that the parking lot improvements on the coastal side of Highway one in Davenport will provide a pedestrian landing For the pedestrian crossing which is something that Caltrans has expressed that it's very important for them to see that As part of the project So we are working with the county of Santa Cruz and Caltrans to continue to move this project forward as part of the Nose Coast Rail Trail project, and we will return to you to in December to request measure defunding be applied to this project Did you say December 29th? I'm sorry December 2019 2019 as if I said then I think the meeting is actually the fifth earlier it was mentioned it was the fourth But I think it's December 5th 2019. So let's get our date straight Mr. Schiffer, I'm sure you have some comments. Okay, I'll keep them very brief I want to thank staff for their work on this as well as the County Public Works Department The this is a complex project as I think the Commission knows in terms of the North Coast Rail Trail Commissioner Coonerty has been convinced that the approach proposed by staff is Appears to be at this point the most feasible and we appreciate the staff work on it We've Commissioner Coonerty has talked to Davenport residents who are very concerned that this project move forward based on the staff recommendation and to Reduce traffic on Highway 1. They didn't I don't think they showed up today But hopefully when this comes back in December there will be representatives from the community to support this recommendation and one point to you know Focus on if the Commission doesn't receive funding for phase 2 of the rail trail project the intention and one of the reasons it's also for having this set aside of County and Commission funding for just the crossing is that that project can move forward independently And not have to wait for God knows how many years till phase 2 can get funded So again, thank I want to thank the staff for their work on this you mr. Bertrand You know I want to echo Schifrin's comments on combining so they can move forward I think that's great, and he alluded to the fact that Ryan's already talking to constituents in the Davenport area I don't see any mention here of an actual Outreach maybe a community mean just to have that kind of review Is that being planned and we have talked about that internally we've been floating the idea just recently with the county of having a Public meeting in the springtime after the next set of design plans are complete and we would be discussing that also with Central federal lands at our next meeting to talk about the opportunities for sharing additional information and getting additional input Thank you The other comments from commissioners any comments from the public I move the staff recommendation Okay, it's been moved and seconded all those in favor aye opposed so ordered We will now go to item number 33 amendments to to fiscal year 1920 the budget and work program Nurse my name is Tracy new. I'm from RTC staff, and I have before you the proposed budget amendment Speak up a little speak up a little or if it's Mike on There you go Tracy new okay go ahead Speak right into the mic, please No Just speak up, please. All right. I'll speak up I have before you a proposed amended budget for fiscal year 1920 This is these this budget includes amendments to the previous budget adopted by the board I mean the commission apologies The format is quite different than in the past, but the information is similar most notably We have some carryover TDA revenue that we would like to disperse We're asking for additional amounts to fund the reserve to meet the 8% goal established by the RTC 55,000 of the TDA carryover funds or reserve surplus for RTC's countywide bike signage project 20,000 for improvements to the Santa Cruz County travel model and Apportion the remainder of the TDA to Santa Cruz Metro community bridges the volunteer center and the local jurisdictions in accordance with the formula established by the RTC those are the major requests in this proposed budget, but also wanted to point out a couple of Changes to the format that may be different to what you are previously seen and that would be for the administration budget Just wanted to make note that the administration budget is combining the measure D admin budget and the RTC admin budget Both budgets had previously been adopted and approved. They're just being combined and consolidated into one GL key As you know when we expend funds for any programs or projects for measure D Measure D reimburses RTC and so you will see those in the revenue line But the expenditures come out of RTC operating funds After TDA we have our RSTPX Proposed budget that includes all of the projects that are expected to be completed. It also includes Programming funds that are I'm sorry funds that have not been programmed yet for fiscal year 1819 and what we expect to receive in 1920 in September the Commission Made their intention to just allocate the funds by formula and That will be determined later. So you'll see a seven million dollar or seven point four million dollar funds not appropriated line That will be brought to the Commission at a later date After the RSTPX funds, there's the staffing budget Staffing budget includes actual true costs of the staff and all of the employee benefits and insurances we use this information for budgeting purposes to Make payroll and pay CalPERS All of the employee insurances But what we use this information for as well is there's a portion that is Directly allocated for programs and projects and what staff does is they track their time for each program and project and we Apport or allocate that cost to the program and project as well as an allocated overhead expenditure So you'll see throughout the budget. There's allocated Labor and allocated overhead. Those are the amounts that we are expecting staff to Dedicate to those programs and projects, but the staffing budget is the true cost of staff Okay Questions, Mr. Kaufman Gomez. Yes. Thank you. I notice here on item four The metro the bridges the volunteer center What is the volunteer center do or have to do with transportation or the purpose of giving them or any of the funds left over? Yes, the Transportation Commission provides funding to the Volunteer Center from the transportation Act funds because they provide specialized transportation services Part of it is or the main thing that they do is they they have volunteers that provide rides to Folks that cannot get rise to various needs that they have and some other means whether it be through regular transit or through The services provided by the community the lift line So lift line pair crews and the Volunteer Center So for example Jacob's heart They also help with transportation for some of their patients to get up to Stanford Would that be another entity since they would also be transporting that maybe a Service that wouldn't necessarily be available with the the community bridges or the the pair crews Yes, folks can ask the Volunteer Center and and With the Volunteer Center, however, it depends on the volunteers that they have available for for the rise to be that people request so, you know And they're always actually you know looking to have you know sufficient volunteers for all for all the requests that they have So then a lot of times they don't have sufficient volunteers And then I know that we see an allocation on these other items So this is like whatever would be left over. How much do you think that would be in the bucket for on that part of the allocation? The numbers are on page 33-12, okay, I see I'm looking at it from one. Thank you one more note to our Difference in the format is that the measure D budget is shown separately from RTC's operating programs and projects so measure D has a separate fiduciary fund and when money comes in we allocate directly to the Direct recipients and then the rest of the money is Apportion to the investment categories as outlined in the ordinance when there are programs and projects that are funded by measure D the local jurisdiction or RST or RTC Will request a reimbursement of those funds and that's why sometimes it'll look like they're budgeted twice because they are and we Present separate financial statements and they're audited separately This budget was presented to the budget administration and personnel committee on October 10th and I believe that we've incorporated all of their questions and comments into the staff report in the presentation Mr. Learble, I just want to thank you and the staff. I think this new format is Very accessible. It's easy to it's easier to understand and I think it'll help us be able to track the money as well As possible, so I just want to recognize you for that work. Thank you. Mr. Johnson. Thank you chair, so on Staffing resources page 5 it talks a little bit about adjustments through the timing of payments for CalPERS for the UAL So when you talk about separate fiduciary funds though and measure D funds Do you divert measure D funds for the purpose that I just described here? Oh? Is it or is this all just some of the STA and TDA and funds from that arena? It's from all the different funding sources with measure D. The only way we would Capture any of those types are through our indirect cost allocation plan So if we have let's say MBS ST and we have staff costs associated There are direct labor and then allocated overhead and in that allocated overhead are all the Agency-wide costs that we can include in our indirect cost allocation plan rate and that ICAP program is run through CalPERS. They audit it. They approve it and that's what we're allowed to recoup in the costs So measure D is not diverted for anything other than programs and projects to administer the ordinance All right. Thank you Any other questions from commissioners any questions from the public? Okay, we have a staff recommendation to I'll so move a movement seconded to approve to approve the amended fiscal year 19 or 2019-20 budget and work program all those in favor. Hi. Hi post so ordered We will go to item number 34 the Santa Cruz branch rail corridor environmental permitting contract award Grace Lakesley Good morning commissioners Through preservation efforts that have been underway on the Santa Cruz branch rail line staff identified in the need to procure an environmental services consultant We have we the need and identified The need identified services for tech to prepare technical studies to perform field surveys to prepare and submit permit applications to resource agencies and To perform associated monitoring work with environmental regulations and requirements for planned repairs and some preventative maintenance activities The short-term needs included project specific environmental permits for two remaining storm damage sites located north of Santa Cruz Sites five and six and high priority bridge repairs The longer term needs include a program at a pit permit to allow for some ongoing maintenance and repair activities as part as RTC's preventative maintenance program bridge management program and other future repairs as needed to preserve the rail corridor Four proposals were received in response to a request for proposal for these environmental services Based on the interview and evaluation criteria Harrison associates Harris and associates was identified to have the highest rank proposal Harrison associates has experienced permitting transportation projects preparing programmatic permits and conducting environmental analysis and monitoring The scope of work for the proposed contract with Harris and associates includes projects It's specific environmental permitting for storm damage sites five and six high priority bridge repairs and a programmatic permit for maintenance activities For example maintenance activities could include but wouldn't be limited to Colvert and ditch maintenance at grade roadway crossing maintenance Vegetation and control the complete scope of work is included as exhibit B of attachment one to accomplish the work The scope to accomplish the work required to obtain the resource agency permits The task would involve review of existing information and surveys to fill data gaps Detailed project descriptions for inclusion in the permit applications an analysis of how to identify permitting permits for all projects When in cases where they can be grouped and can be moved forward most efficiently based on the tasks involved in that particular Project the presence of sensitive resources near to that project and the timing for project delivery Technical studies will also need to be completed for the permit applications These would include wetland delineations biological assessment reports cultural and historic resources reports the agency coordination is a key component of this work and it involves Coordination with US Army Corps of Engineers US Fish and Wildlife Service the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Regional Water Control Board California Department Fish and Wildlife and the Coastal Commission The scope of work also includes monitoring for pre and post construction activities for the project specific permits The environmental resource permit applications for the storm damage sites five and six and the bridge repairs are planned to be submitted as Those project specific permit applications in order to complete these repairs sooner work to repair the applications for these projects and Will are expected to submit the applications to the resource agencies in May 2020 and be approved in March 2021 with construction and allowing and allowing for construction in summer fall 2021 of those projects The application for the programmatic permit will cover future routine repairs to bridges that are not included in the high priority bridge repairs Since many of the 29 bridges on the rail corridor our timber bridges require repairs every two to five years Once obtain the program permit will allow the RTC to make future repairs as I mentioned before over a period of a five years Items that will be included in that programmatic Permit again will be the vegetation control culvert clearing repair and bridge repair Every year under that programmatic permit RTC would be required to submit these Projects that were to be undertaken specifically for that one-year period But that is a much shorter review time Through the resource agencies and that's why there's the benefit of getting the programmatic permit for the complete five years instead of Submitting a project specific permit for each maintenance activity Harrison so excuse me Harrison associates will Can we'll work with RTC to streamline the permit process again by combining projects or moving them forward concurrently as project schedules may change or Input from resource agencies indicates that they would be more likely to approve a permit if projects were consolidated RTC staff has a negotiated cost with Harrison associates to complete the work required in the amount of $606,198 the portion of the contract work required to complete the storm Environmental permitting for the storm damage repair and the bridge repairs are funded through the measure D rail corridor funds From the 2017 storm damage repair and cleanup line and the railroad rehab line Environmental permitting for the maintenance activities under the programmatic permit are recommended to be funded through the measure D Active transportation funds line for corridor encroachment and maintenance Staff will seek reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA and the California offices of emergency services for cost associated with the 2017 storm damage repair sites including costs for environmental permitting services Staff recommends that the RTC approve the attached resolution attachment when authorizing the executive director to execute a contract with Harrison Associates in an amount not to exceed $606198 for environmental permitting analysis to secure the permits for the storm damage sites the high priority bridge repairs and the maintenance Activities also Wendy Young and Shannon Bain from Harrison Associates are here today if you have questions for them That concludes my report Six agencies of needed oversight so interesting Mr. Leopold well, I appreciate this this report because I didn't glean it from the The staff report the written staff report that this will actually help us for five years to do not only the the storm damage sites, but other sites along the corridor That will save us from having to go through all six agencies every time on every repair I think that's you know, it's it's frustrating to see how long it takes to get to that program And we know how long it takes from some of our other storm damage work in the county But be able to get this sort of larger Permission will really help us move things along after that So I appreciate the work and look forward to getting this done as quickly as possible And we think the storm damage sites repairs could five and six could fall into the programmatic permit But because the timeline for the program permit is longer We've pulled out those as project specific permits and the programmatic permit takes longer because there's additional Negotiation required with the resource agencies on the project description the concept of a project description might seem simple to some of us But it can be very detailed and it's very important that everyone agrees on all of the items that are included in that project description To make sure that they're covered for the construction. So in in the future. We expect that similar types of storm damage repairs could be Included under our programmatic permit and frankly we hope to prevent some of those washouts by doing the required maintenance on that We're talking about today Mr. Bertrand Yeah, you mentioned ongoing inspections dealing with other other things including Ridge repairs and capital has been waiting a long time for report on the status of the tressel Going across Soquel Creek and Since we have a new director. It's mentioned that we're going to be putting an overall Report on that. What's that anticipated? we've Decided that in terms of the capital of tressel To really do an analysis as to what needs to be done with it. We need to Consider what the use is going to be so Because we've just started the alternatives analysis for public transit on the rail line It really doesn't make sense to try to analyze whether or not this bridge should be retrofit for its current use When we're considering a potential different use So we expect the alternatives analysis to be completed by January 2021 and then at that point I think it would be appropriate to start looking at what what the options are for the the capitol the tressel Thank you I'd like that approach since we don't know what it's going to be used for we decide first-hand totally agree with that In terms of the ongoing inspection of the rail line trying to identify issues other than the ones We already know about that we're actually doing within this proposal. How are we actually carrying that out? Hi, Sarah Christensen again You're describing our preventative maintenance program for the Santa Cruz branch rail line So in order for it to be preventative and not just a reactive maintenance program Staff twice annually at a minimum inspects the entire line And that way we can pick up on things that could be problematic if we do not address them Such as a clogged culvert or a ditch that needs to be rerouted or regraded We try to catch those issues before we have a big storm and then it becomes a bigger issue on our hands and so That's our practice of the preventative maintenance program is to do regular inspections of the line Thank you very much as a follow-up if there's something that's major Would be nice to know about that I have time because the cost would be rather high absolutely. Yes We will be bringing any construction contracts to the commission to request awarding construction contracts Mr. Schifrin go ahead One of the things that wasn't clear to me in the reading the staff report was when the line is going to be usable is it Is it going to be the fall of 2021? Is that the anticipation when the various storm damage we Projects are completed and I guess I'm thinking in terms of the contract with progressive rail and the Excursion service that they're required to do there's a time lag that sort of holds that in the bayence While the commission does to work on the line So I just would like to see how I'll get a sense of what the timing of those Those issues are so the the storm damage job is five of the sites are located between Watsonville and Santa Cruz and those five sites should be going out to construction shortly two of those sites represent part of the harken slew washout and We'll likely have an environmental restrictive window to the fall of 2020 so if we can get those Projects out to construction and get that section of the rail line completed by the end of 2020 2021 would be when we would target Also concurrently getting the tracks up to great to snuff and then that section of the line would be open as stated and By by grace regarding the other two sites. That's what we're we're entering We're proposing to enter into a contract with today to get the environmental clearance for those sites That will take a little bit longer and would probably be about another year off And then we don't know what what windows would be associated with that but that would allow additional Excursion travel up to Davenport so you are correct in identifying that Progressive rail does have a requirement to come back with us with their excursion plan by March of 2020 and we won't have the line In condition that they could start that plan So I have discussed that with progressive rail and we're looking at options of When it would be a more appropriate time for them to come forward with that plan So you but you're expecting that the the line from Watsonville to Santa Cruz will be usable by the fall of 2020 We'll we'll be in construction by the fall of 2020 It should be operational as soon as that That storm damage is complete and then we will also have track upgrades and bridge repairs to complete Some of those bridge repairs we can do now. They don't require permits. They're pretty minor Some of the other track repairs will have to see if anything prevents us from moving forward with it But we're hoping that by early 2021 We should be able to get the entire track between Watsonville and Santa Cruz operational. Hey, thank you Mr. Johnson, well, yeah, you since you brought it up the whole progressive rail so I believe it was in this room where in July of 2018 We signed a contract with progressive rail. And so what I'm hearing is that three years later is When they're actually going to run that line. Is that a fair statement or? 2021 I Believe you guys entered into a contract with them. It was before my time in June 2028 2018 the board action was in June 2018 and the contract was executed in July as you said commissioner But but yes, there there has been But there were provisions in that contract that it would possibly take longer to get the storm damage job jobs completed It's as you can tell by the amount of work that went into the staff report and the negotiation Contracts and the number of agencies that we have to deal with it's quite challenging trying to predict how long it's going to take to get various permits, but we're now I think If this action as approved will be under contract to do all the work necessary to to complete our obligations that are Required as part of the ACL Since we're on the subject What? shared responsibilities does progressive rail have with the RTC in terms of what you just described whether it's maintenance whether whatever or does that completely fall upon the RTC to have a You know a rail a rail line that can accept their Train if you will so we're required to get the track between mileposts 7 to the end of the line at mileposts 30 To class 1 standards Including doing the bridge repairs and doing the storm damage jobs Once that is complete Then progressive rail would be responsible for the maintenance, but their responsibility for maintenance would be limited to their 20-foot easement because we own Significantly more right away than just 20 feet there will be sections outside of their Easement and their responsibility that RTC would continue to need to maintain All right. Thank you You know the questions from commissioners Any questions from the public Who's a staff recommendation? Move by shifrin seconded by Leopold staff recommendation all those in favor Post sorted unanimously Okay, and now we will go To close session. We have two items They're in closed session one with the save our big trees versus Santa Cruz City of Santa Cruz another one is the litigation case Do we Anticipate any the reports after closed session there? We do not anticipate any reportable action to the excuse me We do not anticipate you do not anticipate any action, okay? So we will go into closed session and our next meeting Will be December 5th at 9 a.m. At the County Board of Supervisors Chambers and Santa Cruz 701 Church Street December 5th 2019 at 8 or 9 a.m. Thank you