TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES

November 19, 2020

            Present:          

                Gordon Gaste                           City of Brawley

            Abraham Campos                     City of El Centro

            Veronica Atondo                       County of Imperial

            Isabel Garcia                             City of Imperial

            Lily Falomir                             City of Calexico

            Jeorge Galvan                           City of Calipatria

            Joel Hamby                              City of Westmorland

            Frank Fiorenza                          IID

            Others:

            Virginia Mendoza                     ICTC   

            Marlene Flores                          ICTC

            David Salgado                           SCAG

            Hannah Brunnell                       SCAG

            Tyler Salcido                            City of Brawley

            Manuel Cabrera                        City of Brawley

            Andres Miramontes                   City of Brawley

            Ana Gutierrez                           City of Brawley

            Francisco Barba                        City of Brawley

            Christian Rodriguez                   City of El Centro

            Felix DeLeon                            City of El Centro

            Adriana Amezcua                      City of Holtville

            Jesus Villegas                           City of Imperial                        

            Bryan Ott                                 Caltrans

            Denise Marin                            The Holt Group

            Lexi Journey                             Consultant

            Poonam Boparai                        Consultant

            Andrew Beecher                       Consultant

            Brenda Hom                             Consultant

            Dan Krekelberg                         Consultant

Due to the COVID-19 and Executive Order N-25-20, teleconferencing is recommended for the public, however measures will be taken to have access for those who wish to participate in person while still abiding by local, state and federal mandates. Following is teleconference information.

            The meeting was called to order at 10:05 a.m. A quorum was present, and introductions were made. There were no public comments made.

1.       Introductions

2.       A motion was made to adopt the minutes for October 22, 2020 (Falomir/Campos) Motion Carried.

3.       Regional Climate Action Plan Presentation: (Presented by: Poonam Boparai from Ascent Environment and Team)

A presentation was provided by Ascent in regards to the Regional Climate Action Plan. The consultant team provided an update on the GHG Reduction Strategies when it comes to transportation, energy, water and waste. How can we promote carbon sequestration and land conservation and how each local agency can develop and enforce landscape tree requirement for new developments and other strategies. TAC members had the opportunity to provide feedback and ask questions.  

Next steps in the CAP: 

November/December 2020: Select Final GHG Reduction Strategies

February 2021: Draft Climate Action Plan Community Presentation

March 2021: Public Review Period of the DRAFT CAP and Community Workshop

April-May 2021: Final Climate Action Plan Review/Completion

4.       ICTC Updates / Announcements

(Presented by ICTC Staff)

a.       Transit Planning Updates- No updates

b.       Transportation Planning Updates (by Virginia Mendoza):

-          CMAQ and STBG Call for Projects- Virginia provided a brief highlight on the upcoming Call for projects for the CMAQ and STBG programs. In the December TAC meeting ICTC will be sharing the DRAFT guidelines. It will be a three-year call por projects. These federal programs fund surface transportation projects that improve transit, traffic, bicycle facilities, freight, safety and alternative fuel vehicles and equipment. More information will be provided on the next TAC meeting.

c.       FFY 2019-20 Programmed Project Updates

-          Beginning October 1, 2020 agencies are allowed to move forward with request for authorization (RFA) for CMAQ, STBG and ATP programmed in FY2020/2021. A list of projects is part of the agenda. Agencies provided a quick update on their projects.

d.       LTA Bond Updates: 2012 and 2018

          -       Brawley completed the process to submit.                       

5.       SCAG Updates / Announcements (by David Salgado & Hannah Brunell from SCAG)

-          Information Item: 2020-2021 Sustainable Community Program:

Active Transportation & Safety (ATS) Call for Applications, and Housing & Sustainable Development (HSD) Call open now.

The application deadline is December 1, 2020

The 2020 Sustainable Communities Program goals are:

Prioritize historically disinvested and communities of color, which comprise the majority of the Regional High Injury Network to strategically invest resources;

Increase the proportion of trips accomplished by biking, walking, and rolling;

Increase safety and mobility of people walking, biking, and rolling;

Continue to foster jurisdictional support and promote implementation of the goals, objectives, and strategies of Connect SoCal;

Seed active transportation concepts and produce plans that provide local agencies with the project prioritization, conceptual renderings, and cost estimates required for future ATP applications;

Prioritize alignment and integration of Key Connections outlined in Connect SoCal, including Shared Mobility and Mobility as a Service, Smart Cities and Job Centers, Accelerated Electrification, Go Zones, and Housing Supportive Infrastructure;

Integrate multiple funding streams to increase the overall budget for active transportation planning and capacity building projects.

-          SCAG Aerial Imagery Project 2020 Update: The County of Imperial has agreed to facilitate a public procurement process. This will allow for more funds to be applied to the project to support the procurement. SCAG has set aside $250,000 for the project and will increase the support by $50,000 for a total of $300,000. Th County of Imperial has received proposals and will be moving forward with recommendations to the Board of Supervisors this month.

6.       Cities and County Planning / Public Works Updates:

-          Local agencies gave an update on their local projects in progress.

7.       Caltrans Updates / Announcements (By: Bryan Ott)

Local Assistance: Bryan Ott provided updates on local assistance.

Inactive Projects- As of November 6, 2020, the INACTIVE and Future Inactive list was updated. Action is required by the Imperial County Transportation Commission, as well as these cities: Brawley and El Centro. November 20, 2020 is the deadline to submit Inactive invoices. District 11 must receive accurate and complete invoices to prevent de-obligation of federal funds! Verify on the “Inactive” link shown below for Inactive Project dates.

November 2020 – New Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) Call for Projects (due in April 2021) An announcement calling for new Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) projects is anticipated in November 2020. The deadline for “FLAPplications” is expected to be in April 2021. The outreach plan is to schedule webinars that assist tribal and local agencies, as well as Caltrans, with this process.

At-Risk Preliminary Engineering (PE) – Office Bulletin (OB) 20-03

Caltrans Division of Local Assistance released OB 20-03 on August 11, 2020, with these policy changes:

Except for projects with federal funds that require California Transportation Commission (CTC) allocation (Active Transportation Program, Trade Corridor Enhancement Program, State Transportation Improvement Program, etc.), local agencies may begin reimbursable Preliminary Engineering (PE) work prior to receiving federal authorization for such work, assuming the project and PE phase are included in a federally-approved Federal Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (FSTIP) document or an FSTIP amendment prior to incurring costs. Programming projects in the FSTIP or starting reimbursed work prior to authorization does not necessarily ensure a project is eligible for federal aid reimbursement.

National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) approval will not occur until subsequent Right of Way and Construction phases are identified as fully funded and programmed in the FTIP.

FHWA Virtual Tradeshow Resources- The Tribal, Rural and Local Road Safety Virtual Tradeshow is available via this FHWA website.

This Virtual Booth links to many safety resources (reports, brochures, videos, etc.) on the FHWA Safety website.

Local Roadway Safety Plan (LRSP) Requirement- Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) Cycle 11 (around April 2022) will require a mandatory Local Roadway Safety Plan (or the equivalent) from any agency applying for HSIP project funds.

Quality Assurance Program (QAP) – Renewals for 2021- An updated list of QAP was provided by Caltrans. The List will be updated to project changes and renewals for the 2021 Year.

New Caltrans Architectural & Engineering (A&E) Oversight Videos Online- Now available are short videos about key topics on the A&E Resources.

Federal Aid Series Recordings Now Available for Project Contract Administration- Recording of a recently delivered class is now available online. Training focuses on both State and federal aid highway projects.

8.       General Discussion / New Business

- A brief update for next TAC meeting.

- TAC member Veronica Atondo proposed to go dark in the month of December. Virginia Mendoza mentioned the CMAQ and STBG DRAFT Guidelines need to be presented in December. The idea of having a short meeting was proposed to TAC members.  TAC members decided on having a short TAC meeting to address two items:

·         SR-78 Glamis Multiuse Grade Separated Crossing Feasibility Study

·         CMAQ & STBG Draft Guidelines

             The amended motion is to have a short TAC meeting in December only presenting the Glamis     project and Guidelines. There will be no updates from SCAG and Caltrans. Virginia Mendoza did     roll call to amend this motion. Motion was carried. 

- Next TAC meeting will be on December 17, 2020 via Zoom.

9.       Meeting adjourned at 11:48 a.m.