Draft Memorandum for the Record
Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization Unified Planning Work Program Committee Meeting Summary
June 21, 2018 Meeting
9:15 AM–9:45 AM, State Transportation Building, Conference
Rooms 2 and 3,
10 Park Plaza, Boston
Bryan Pounds, Chair, representing Stephanie Pollack, Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)
The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) Committee agreed to the following:
Materials for this meeting included the following:
1. Final draft of the FFY 2019 UPWP
2. Handout showing public comment letters received concerning the FFY 2019 UPWP and proposed MPO responses
3. Updated memo covering Amendment 1 to the FFY 2018 UPWP
4. Meeting Summary of the April 12, 2018 meeting
5. Meeting Summary of the May 3, 2018 meeting
Bryan Pounds (UPWP Committee Chair/MassDOT) called the meeting to order and those present introduced themselves.
There were none.
Sandy Johnston (Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS)/UPWP Manager) introduced the committee to the final draft of the FFY 2019 UPWP. He showed the committee the hard copies of the draft and introduced the handout containing the three public comment letters received by staff and the proposed MPO response. The letters were generally quite supportive of the document. The commenters also expressed significant interest in tracking the results of studies and the implementation status of recommendations; S. Johnston explained that staff are in the process of rebooting their efforts to finalize the UPWP Study Recommendations Tracking Database and overcoming significant technical barriers.
B. Pounds asked how staff are going about tracking outcomes. S. Johnston explained that staff have built a database including all CTPS and some Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) studies funded through the UPWP since at least 2012, and in some cases further back, and breaking down their recommendations by municipality. S. Johnston explained that the database work had been set aside as its own budget line in the FFY 2017 UPWP but has since been incorporated into the general UPWP work scope. B. Pounds expressed that the MPO is interested in tracking the results of work scopes it approves. Eric Bourassa (MAPC) mentioned that MAPC is engaging in similar efforts and there is some potential to coordinate efforts.
S. Johnston mentioned one more element to the final draft of the FFY 2019 UPWP: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5303 funding final allocation came in somewhat higher than had been estimated, so CTPS has allocated the additional funding to Federal Recertification, and MAPC has allocated it to Community Transportation Technical Assistance. B. Pounds explained the process of developing the 5303 allocation estimates.
B. Pounds explained that as chair he typically does not comment on the final UPWP draft, but that it is a good document. He asked for a motion to recommend the final draft of the FFY 2019 UPWP to the MPO for endorsement. The motion was made by E. Bourassa and seconded by another member. The motion passed unanimously.
S. Johnston introduced a new version of the Amendment 1 memo with updated language. He told the committee that no public comments had been received during the public comment period that are concurrent with the FFY 2019 UPWP public comment period. S. Johnston briefly recapped the purpose of Amendment 1: to shift funding from the programmed Potential Impacts of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles study to Federal Certification Review in FFY 2018 ($40,000) and MPO Support ($10,000). B. Pounds asked for a motion to recommend the amendment to the MPO for approval. The motion was made by a member and seconded by another member, and passed unanimously
E. Bourassa made a motion to approve the meeting summary. The motion was seconded by another member and passed unanimously.
A member made a motion to approve the meeting summary. The motion was seconded by another member and passed unanimously.
There was a discussion between B. Pounds and E. Bourassa about the status of certain contracts between MAPC and MassDOT.
S. Johnston noted that staff are still interested in moving Appendix A of the UPWP—which documents transportation-related studies not executed by the MPO around the Boston region—online in some format, and that this might be a topic for a fall UPWP Committee meeting. B. Pounds remarked that he would be interested in holding a fall UPWP Committee meeting to discuss the outreach process.
There was some further discussion on a variety of topics, including the interest of various parties in following up on the results of studies and planning efforts. Particular interest focused on the long-term potential to make the study database public facing in some way.
S. Johnston proposed sometime in the fall for the next meeting. B. Pounds said it would be good to hold a meeting before kicking off fall outreach.
A motion to adjourn was made by a member and seconded another member. The motion carried unanimously.
|
Members |
Representatives
and
Alternates |
|
At-Large City (City of Newton) |
David Koses |
|
City of Boston (BPDA) |
Tom Kadzis |
|
Massachusetts Department of Transportation |
Bryan Pounds |
|
Metropolitan Area Planning Council |
Eric Bourassa |
|
Regional Transportation Advisory Council |
Tegin Teich |
|
Three Rivers Interlocal Council (Town of
Norwood/Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce) |
Tom O’Rourke |
|
Three Rivers Interlocal Council (Town of Westwood/Alternate) |
Steve Olanoff |
|
MPO
Staff/Central Transportation Planning Staff |
|
Annette Demchur, Director of Policy and Planning |
|
Scott Peterson, Director of Technical
Services Ali Kleyman, Certification Activities
Group Manager |
|
Sandy Johnston, UPWP Manager |
|
Jen Rowe, Public Participation Manager |