North County Subregional Planning Committee

Transcription

1 North County Subregional Planning Committee Wednesday, April 06, :00 am 10:30 AM Buellton Recreation Center, Room A 301 Second Street, Buellton, CA Members Present: Chair, Joni Gray Supervisor Fourth District Doreen Farr Supervisor Third District Larry Lavagnino Mayor City of Santa Maria Jim Richardson Mayor City of Solvang John Linn Mayor City of Lompoc Holly Sierra Councilmember City of Buellton Ex-Officio Members Present: Larry Newland Caltrans District 5 SBCAG Staff Members Present: Jim Kemp Steve VanDenburgh Gregg Hart Aubrey Spilde Executive Director Deputy Director Public Information Officer Transportation Planner 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Gray called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM 2. PUBLIC COMMENT Chair Gray asked for public comment and there was none.

2 Page 2 3. MEETING SUMMARY Mayor Lavagnino made a motion to approve the October 6, 2010 meeting summary. The motion was seconded by Mayor Linn and approved unanimously with Mayor Linn and Mayor Richardson abstaining. 4. COMMITTEE CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR Supervisor Gray nominated Supervisor Lavagnino to serve as Chair of the committee. Mayor Linn seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously. Supervisor Gray nominated Mayor Richardson to serve as Vice-Chair of the committee. The motion was seconded by Mayor Linn and approved unanimously. Vice Chair Richardson took over as Chair of the meeting. 5. PROJECT FUNDING PLANS Steve VanDenburgh made the staff presentation. Supervisor Farr joined the meeting at 9:05 AM. Mayor Lavagnino asked if the staff report to the Board can be amended to delete reference to after right of way has been completed. Steve VanDenburgh replied that staff would make that change. Supervisor Gray asked if the State and Local Partnership funds will be available given the state budget problem. Steve VanDenburgh said he would check with the state to determine the status of the funds and report back at the SBCAG Board meeting. Mayor Linn asked if eminent domain is an option for acquiring the needed right of way. Steve VanDenburgh replied that the City of Santa Maria was handling right of way acquisition for the project. Mayor Lavagnino added that condemnation was an option. Mayor Lavagnino asked if the sidewalk was less expensive than the originally proposed pedestrian tunnel for the Cabrillo pedestrian improvement. Steve VanDenburgh said the construction cost was approximately the same as the original estimate for the tunnel but much less expensive than replacing the entire bridge.

3 Page 3 Supervisor Gray asked if there were any issues with south county Boardmembers regarding the Cabrillo pedestrian tunnel. Jim Kemp said this item was also on the South Coast Subregional Committee agenda today. Mayor Lavagnino asked what would happen if the Board could not reach a two-thirds majority to amend the UVP Arterial project into the Measure D Program. Jim Kemp said the Measure D funds would not be available, but that he did not expect there to be an issue with using Measure D funds on the arterial project based on the comments received to date by board members and staff, and a two-thirds majority vote was expected. Supervisor Gray asked if G12 funds could be used on the UVP project rather than the State and Local Partnership funds. Steve VanDenburgh said no, the G12 funds are only available for cost overruns on current state funded projects and cannot be transferred to other projects. Mayor Linn asked if there were any other Measure D projects that were not delivered. Jim Kemp replied the 101 widening project was the only project left unfinished from the original Measure D Expenditure Plan project list. Projects have also been added to the original list, such as the Route 154 Group II project. Mayor Richardson asked if there was any public comment and there was none Mayor Linn made a motion to support the staff recommendation. The motion was seconded by Mayor Lavagnino and approved unanimously. 6. UNMET TRANSIT NEEDS Jim Kemp introduced this item and Aubrey Spilde made the staff presentation. Supervisor Gray asked for a definition of TDA funds. Supervisor Farr asked how much TDA do Lompoc and the County of Santa Barbara divert to streets and roads. Aubrey Spilde referred committee members to the staff report and replied the City of Lompoc spends approximately $344,000 and the County of Santa Barbara spends approximately $237,000 in TDA funds on streets and roads.

4 Page 4 Mayor Richardson asked if there was an unmet transit need identified would other local jurisdictions that have already spent all their TDA funds on transit have to reallocate their TDA funds to an identified unmet transit need. Jim Kemp replied no, only the local agencies that spend TDA funds on streets and roads could be required to address an identified unmet transit needs. Supervisor Farr said she disagreed with the staff recommendation because it is very important for the Santa Ynez Valley to have an integrated transit system. In addition weekend service that connects the entire valley and links to Lompoc and Santa Maria is essential to reducing tourist traffic. Mayor Lavagnino said if money is diverted from roads to transit then unincorporated county roads will suffer. Supervisor Farr said she was getting a large number of complaints from Valley residents about increasing traffic that will not be solved easily with capital projects. Supervisor Farr asked if there were other transit funding sources available to address this issue besides TDA funds. Supervisor Farr clarified that her primary concern is about weekend service that could alleviate tourist traffic. Jim Kemp replied that even if the SBCAG process did not identify an unmet transit needs under the definition adopted by SBCAG, the County of Santa Barbara could still use its TDA funds to address a transportation need like the one Supervisor Farr is concerned about. Supervisor Gray asked if any Valley hotels offer transportation to tourist destinations. Mayor Richardson said the Chumash Casino offers transportation for employees and customers. He said a model to consider is the transit service that serves the island of Oahu in the state of Hawaii. Mayor Linn asked if the County has a transit service. He said the County should consider funding this type of service on its own. Councilmember Sierra asked if the Santa Ynez Valley Transit operates on Saturdays. She suggested a greater promotional effort of the existing service be considered. Mayor Richardson asked if there was any public comment and there was none. EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS REPORT Jim Kemp said Caltrans would make a presentation to the North County Subregional Committee in May to discuss high speed roundabouts that are proposed for two locations in the Santa Ynez Valley. Supervisor Farr said she was disappointed about Caltrans lack of communication with the public regarding the proposed roundabout at the intersection of Highway 246 and Highway 154.

5 Page 5 Mayor Linn said Caltrans is likely not interested in additional public meetings because of their difficult experience with the public meeting regarding the proposed roundabout at Purisima Road and Highway 246. Mayor Linn said he had met with Rich Krumholz on this issue and was disappointed that Caltrans was planning to proceed with the roundabout despite strong opposition to the project. Supervisor Gray said at the meeting with Rich Krumholz she asked for an example of another high speed roundabout that exists in the State of California and the accident statistics for this facility. She was disappointed that this information has not been provided to date. Mayor Linn said he could not understand why this roundabout was being considered given the fact the problem could be solved much more simply and at far less cost. The traffic engineer hired by the City of Lompoc for its General Plan update did not believe this roundabout was an appropriate solution for that intersection. Supervisor Farr said, at a minimum, Caltrans should hold a public meeting in the Valley to discuss the proposed roundabout at Highway 154 and 246. Jim Kemp shared the current status of the Santa Maria River Bridge project which will be advertised for construction bids in May and construction could begin in August or September. He cautioned that the state budget crisis could impact the ability of the state to sell additional bonds that might impact this project s schedule. Jim Kemp gave an update on the status of the Valley Express reintegration plan. The existing service will be continued until mid August when delivery of the replacement bus is expected. Supervisor Farr asked if the increasing price of gas could increase ridership that would necessitate additional service in the future. Jim Kemp replied there will still be capacity on the newly configured service to accommodate some growth in ridership. Jim Kemp explained that staff will be recommending to the SBCAG Board that an application for CMIA cost savings to fund replacement of the Linden and Casitas Pass Interchanges be submitted to the California Transportation Commission. Mayor Lavagnino asked if the Highway 166 widening project could also be a candidate for CMIA cost savings. Supervisor Gray asked if Caltrans had plans to address the safety issue on Highway 166. Councilmember Sierra asked if there are any local projects that might be a better fit for the CMIA cost savings. Jim Kemp replied the Highway 166 widening project was not eligible for CMIA cost savings because it was not on the original list of CMIA projects. The only project in Santa Barbara County that might be eligible for CMIA cost savings is the Linden and Casitas Pass Interchange project because it is an extension of the CMIA funded 101 widening project from Mussel Shoals to Carpinteria Creek.

6 Page 6 Jim Kemp said an RFP for a feasibility study of the Highway 246 Santa Ynez River Bridge Project will be on this month s SBCAG board agenda. Mayor Linn said the Lompoc City Council will be addressing this issue in the near future. 7. ADJOURN Chair Richardson adjourned the meeting at 10:21 AM.