Draft Memorandum for the Record
Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization
Unified Planning Work Program Committee Meeting
9:00 AM to 10:00 AM, Central Transportation Planning
Staff (CTPS)—10 Park Plaza, Suite 2150, Large Conference Room, Boston, MA
Bryan Pounds, Chair, representing the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)
The Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) Committee agreed to the following:
• Approve the summary of UPWP Committee meeting of July 28, 2016
Materials for this meeting included:
1. July 28 UPWP Committee Meeting Summary
2. Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2018 UPWP Document-Development Schedule
3. 2016−2017 Outreach Schedule
4. UPWP Brainstorm and Discussion Guide
5. FFY 2016 Fourth-Quarter Status Report
Bryan Pounds, Chair of the UPWP Committee, called the meeting to order at approximately 9:00 AM. UPWP Committee members and MPO staff introduced themselves. (For attendance list, see page 6.)
A motion to approve the UPWP Committee meeting summary of July 28, 2016, was made by Tom O’Rourke, Three Rivers Interlocal Council (TRIC) (Town of Norwood), and seconded by Eric Bourassa, Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). The motion carried unanimously.
Karl Quackenbush and Robin Mannion, of CTPS, presented the quarterly status reports from September 30, 2016. Karl’s report was printed on legal-sized paper. There was a note to print these reports as 11”x17” size in the future.
Ali Kleyman led a discussion of the proposed development schedule for the FFY 2018 UPWP, as well as key UPWP Committee actions and meetings. Potential improvements to the UPWP development process were discussed. The points below present key aspects of the discussion:
· October and November were spent preparing for and conducting outreach to the MAPC subregions.
o The goals for UPWP outreach include:
§ Educating municipalities and subregions
§ Gathering ideas and input for studies and transportation needs
· In December and January, staff will begin compiling a new draft of the Universe of Studies. Staff also will meet internally to discuss UPWP priorities, including which ideas to consider and which to put on hold for a future year. In addition, initial project scopes and budgets will be discussed.
·
At the January 19 meeting, the committee will
review the first-quarter status reports and the new draft Universe of Studies.
Another possible topic for discussion at this meeting is an analysis of UPWP
spending in order to examine how funding programmed through the UPWP allows the
MPO to reach its goals in the Long-Range Transportation Plan. Note: This January 19 meeting was re-scheduled
for February 16. The topic of analyzing UPWP spending was begun by Ali Kleyman,
so would need to be continued by Sandy Johnston, the new UPWP Manager.
· In February, the Universe of Studies will be refined and the initial budget developed. At the February 16 meeting, the committee will review the Universe of Studies. One improvement that could be made at this meeting is to have the committee review the current budget. This would provide an opportunity for people to remember what the budget looks like, to understand the different line items, and to ask MPO staff questions about specific items of interest.
· In March, MPO staff and the committee will vote on study priorities and rank all of the studies. This likely will be done with a Google survey, as we did last year.
· In April, MPO staff will compile and write the remaining UPWP document and the second-quarter status reports. There likely will be one or two meetings in April. Meanwhile, the committee will be developing their recommendation for the FFY 2018 UPWP.
· In May, the committee will vote to recommend presenting the draft UPWP to the full MPO to be voted out for public review and comment.
· June and July will be comprised of responding to comments received during the public review period, finalizing the draft UPWP, and presenting the final document to the full MPO.
· There was a discussion about MPO staff’s current outreach and whether staff could take specific actions to improve stakeholders’ understanding of the UPWP, and further their involvement in the development process. Comments and ideas from the committee included the following:
o In the past year, MPO staff has had closer coordination with MAPC subregional coordinators to guide their groups through the MPO’s transportation-planning and funding processes, including understanding what the most appropriate comment times are.
o Bryan Pounds mentioned including the Advisory Council in the process, and making sure that they are aware of what is going on with UPWP and TIP development as well as MPO decision making.
o Bryan also discussed keeping Regional Transit Agencies (RTAs) abreast of the Boston Region MPO’s schedule, process, and work. It could be good for MPO staff to share our schedule with the RTAs.
o Steve Olanoff asked about whether there is a need to coordinate more closely with other MPOs regarding the studies that we undertake. Both Eric Bourassa (MAPC) and Karl Quackenbush commented that the Boston Region MPO is unique in its ability to undertake broad-based transportation-planning studies. Staff do share this information with other MPOs in the state and coordinate with other MPOs on corridor studies and technical-assistance projects that address roadways that span multiple MPOs. While coordination between MPOs does occur, this is an area that we should continue to monitor.
o Tom O’Rourke, TRIC (Town of Norwood), thinks that people in the TRIC subregion are kept current about the MPO’s planning and processes and generally know what is going on.
o Tom mentioned that Chambers of Commerce (CoC) could be a useful group to engage; they could have valuable insights on transportation priorities in their communities and ideas for areas of study. Eric mentioned that the South Shore CoC is active and plays a role in setting transportation priorities. Tom said that he could help identify beneficial CoCs for MPO staff to contact.
o David Koses, At-Large (City of Newton) asked about the point of conducting more outreach. Every year, MPO staff and the UPWP committee get more ideas for studies than can be conducted. David was concerned that by conducting more outreach and generating more interest and ideas, we are simply gathering input on which we do not have the resources to act.
o Tom Bent, Inner Core (City of Somerville), commented that he thinks reaching out to businesses might be very important. This could provide new insight into our work, as essentially, many things that businesses do—for example, trucking or employees commuting to work—involve transportation.
o The consensus from this conversation was that the UPWP manager would contact Tom O’Rourke to explore outreach to CoCs.
o We hope that year we will get more comments during the public review period by using Office Hours.
· Eric mentioned that there are a couple of issues he thinks would require staff time in the coming months, including:
o The MPO consolidation rule: This rule likely will be approved in the coming weeks, so staff may need to spend time figuring how it would affect the region and the MPOs.
o President Trump’s plans for infrastructure investment: It is not clear what infrastructure investment under the new administration will look like, so, it would be useful to dedicate staff time to understand potential opportunities.
Ali Kleyman led a brief discussion about the UPWP brainstorming and discussion guide. MPO staff may want to revisit this next year, as the current year’s guide has not generated much input from communities and stakeholders.
There were none.
The next meeting was scheduled for January 19, 2017.
Note: As of February 10, 2017, the January 19 UPWP Committee meeting was rescheduled for February 16, and will include discussion of the draft FFY 2018 Universe of Studies.
A motion to adjourn was made by Eric Bourassa, MAPC, and seconded by Tom O’Rourke, TRIC (Town of Norwood). The motion carried unanimously.
|
Organization |
Name |
|
Massachusetts Department of Transportation |
Bryan Pounds |
|
At-Large Cities (Town of Arlington) |
Laura Wiener |
|
Inner Core Committee (City of Somerville) |
Tom Bent |
|
Three Rivers Interlocal Council (Town of Norwood/Neponset Valley Chamber
of Commerce) |
Steve Olanoff |
|
At-Large Cities (City of Newton) |
David Koses |
|
Three Rivers Interlocal Council (Town of Norwood/Neponset Valley
Chamber of Commerce) |
Tom O’Rourke |
|
MPO
Staff/Central Transportation Planning Staff |
|
Karl Quackenbush, Executive Director |
|
Robin Mannion, Deputy Executive Director |
|
Elizabeth Moore, Director of Policy and Planning |
|
Lourenço Dantas, Certification Activities Group Manager |
|
Jen Rowe, Public Participation Program Manager |
|
Ali Kleyman, UPWP Manager |