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Study Session Staff ReportN� N a sit COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT DATE: JANUARY 27, 2016 TO: MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL FROM: LAUREL PREVETTI, TOWN MANAGER MEETING DATE: 02/02/16 STUDY SESSION SUBJECT: STUDY SESSION TO REVIEW AND DISCUSS REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION EFFORTS BACKGROUND: Representatives for the Town regularly participate in meetings related to regional transportation efforts. These meetings include official standing committees as well as less formal meetings put together for short term specific purposes. The study session will review the various entities, committees, and meetings involved with regional transportation efforts, and how these are interconnected. A number of documents are attached providing explanation of terms, graphical representations of relationships, and other relevant documents. The Term Sheet (Attachment 1) may be especially helpful in providing information on key terms in this report and discussion, including who represents the Town on various bodies. Additionally, Attachment 2 demonstrates the various bodies and their relationships graphically. This report provides an overview of current activities within these bodies that are relevant to the Town of Los Gatos. DISCUSSION: Long Range Planning The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is currently updating the long term transportation plan called Plan Bay Area. The MTC receives input on this plan from entities throughout the Bay Area with the Valley Transportation Agency (VTA), as the local Congestion Management Agency (CMA), holding that role for the greater Santa Clara County. The VTA plan is called the Valley Transportation Plan 2040 (VTP 2040), an effort to look forward to the needs of the county between now and 2040 that feeds into Plan Bay Area. Last year the VTA issued a call for projects for the VTP 2040 and Council PREPARED BY: MATE MORLEY DIRECTOR OF PARKS AND PUBLIC WORKS Reviewed by: Assistant Town Manager Town Attorney Finance PAGE MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL SUBJECT: STUDY SESSION TO REVIEW AND DISCUSS REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION EFFORTS JANUARY 27, 2016 DISCUSSION (cont'd): approved a list of projects for Los Gatos (Attachment 3). Several projects made the final VTA adopted list that was provided by other agencies, such as VTA, the County, or Caltrans. Those projects are identified on the second page of Attachment 3. In parallel with the VTP 2040, there is an effort for a ballot initiative referred to as Envision Silicon Valley. The list of projects submitted for the VTP 2040 will also serve as the basis for projects within Envision Silicon Valley. The ballot initiative is currently structured as a'/2 cent sales tax increase for transportation related maintenance and improvements and, if it achieves a 2/3 affirmative vote, would provide an estimated $6 billion over thirty years. VTA has identified additional funding over thirty years of $12 billion from various sources, including State and Federal funds, for total estimated available funds of $18 billion. The list of projects submitted through the call for projects totals $49 billion. The VTA Board (Attachment 4) developed a series of criteria and priorities for these projects (Attachment 5) and has designated the VTA Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) the role of applying these criteria to the project list. The TAC has established a working committee to coordinate this effort with VTA staff. At this point, many projects will be grouped into categories with funding set aside for the category and specific project awards to come at a later date through a competitive process. Additionally, street maintenance funds will be set aside in proportion to population and allocated by formula equally. Larger projects, most specifically, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) will have a dedicated allocation. With the understanding that staff members, through their role on the TAC, will need to provide input on dollar allocations and project ratings, a group of nine North and West Valley cities have come together in a series of Regional Transportation Meetings to work towards agreement on these allocations and priorities. This will in tum serve as direction for staff in their efforts. The draft allocation from this group is provided as Attachment 6 and the Council is considering a position on this allocation through a separate item on the regular Council agenda this evening. Supporting the allocation provides Town's input should the ballot initiative pass and is not and endorsement of the ballot initiative. This group has also sent correspondence to the VTA requesting a regional transportation study, maintaining that the current VTP 2040 process simply gathers lists of priority projects from the jurisdictions and does not look at the subject collectively or holistically. Understanding how the allocations and prioritizations affect Los Gatos directly is unclear at this point. Based on current discussions on road maintenance, Los Gatos would receive 1.5% of the allocation, which is the Town's fair share based on population. Some discussion occurred regarding an alternative allocation based on road miles. This TAC determined this is not a preferred alternative as it benefits the City of San Jose at the expense of the other jurisdictions. Some of the items benefit Los Gatos residents indirectly. For example, improving Caltrain would take drivers off of the road, lessening the commute for Los Gatos residents who work elsewhere in the Bay Area. Similarly, a region wide corridor study a proposed through the Regional Transportation Meetings, could benefit Los Gatos residents PAGE MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL SUBJECT: STUDY SESSION TO REVIEW AND DISCUSS REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION EFFORTS JANUARY 27, 2016 DISCUSSION (cont'd): tremendously if alternative transportation solutions result. The outcome of the study is more than a year away and funding for resulting projects is not determined. The VTA will be the entity placing the ballot initiative on the ballot. The board is expected to vote on the language, including the allocation of funds across project categories in early August 2016. The VTA, not the cities, will be responsible for the costs of placing the initiative on the ballot through the Registrar of Voters. In addition to the needs of the local jurisdictions, public opinion plays a large role in the structure of ballot initiative. VTA is working closely with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) on this element. The SVLG conducts polling approximately every quarter to test different nuances and projects for the initiative. Highway 85 Recently VTA and Caltrans proposed a project to convert the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) or Carpool lanes on Highway 85 to Express Lanes and to add an additional Express Lane in the center median island. Express Lanes are carpool lanes with pay -to -use dynamic pricing for single occupancy vehicles. The project phasing included an environmental study that resulted in a finding of no impact as a result of the project. Los Gatos and the cities of Cupertino and Saratoga challenged the environmental document in court. This case is in currently in the discovery phase. Acknowledging the need to broaden the input into the Route 85 corridor, the VTA has established a State Route (SR) Highway 85 Corridor Policy Advisory Board. This Board has set bylaws (Attachment 7) that include a mission as follows: The SR 85 Corridor Policy Advisory Board studies the long-term transit and transportation plans to serve the SR 85 Corridor and advises the VTA Board of Directors on the scope, funding and construction of both near- and long-term transit and transportation improvement projects for this corridor. In addition to this work, the VTA has begun a Highway 85 noise study. The noise study will identify areas along the corridor with elevated noise levels and pilot solutions to reduce the noise. The study and pilot projects are being paid for and conducted by VTA in consultation with PPW staff. Funding for solutions outside the pilot has not been identified. Several jurisdictions have agreements with the Santa Clara County Traffic Authority (the predecessor to the VTA) and Caltrans specific to the development of Highway 85 circa 1990. The Los Gatos agreements (Attachments 8 and 9) have the most advantageous language to the local jurisdictions with respect to future development of the median island. Specifically, the agreement with the Santa Clara County Traffic Authority provides approval authority to the Town Council for any additional lanes in PAGE 4 MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL SUBJECT: STUDY SESSION TO REVIEW AND DISCUSS REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION EFFORTS JANUARY 27, 2016 DISCUSSION (cont'd): the median or on the shoulder of Route 85. The language in agreements with other jurisdictions does not provide for those jurisdictions' approvals. The Council has taken no action with respect to this agreement and therefore the agreement does not currently play a part in Envision Silicon Valley, VTP 2040, or Highway 85 Express Lanes. CONCLUSION: "'1 The purpose of this meeting is to review the activities related to regional transportation efforts including the various assignments that staff and Council members perform. COORDINATION: This report has been coordinated with the Town Attorney. Attachments: I. Transportation Term Sheet 2. Regional Transportation Relationships 3. Plan Bay Area 2040 Project List for Los Gatos 4. Valley Transportation Agency Description and Board 5. Envision Silicon Valley Goals and Strategies 6. Draft Preferred Allocation of 2016 Transportation Sales Tax Measure Funds 7. Bylaws for the State Route 85 Corridor Policy Advisory Board 8. Route 85 Performance Agreement with Santa Clara County Traffic Authority 9. Route 85 Freeway Agreement with Caltrans IR '1