H-GAC TPC

Meeting notes - April 24, 2009

Steve Hawley, Apr 24, 09.

Tagged with transportation, government, grand parkway, light rail, recovery plan, hgac, metro, texas legislature, hot lanes

PUBLIC MEETING NOTES

Houston-Galveston Area Council Transportation Policy Council
April 24, 2009, 9:30 am

Houston Tomorrow publishes notes from public meetings to help local governments in their mission to provide transparency and to allow a greater pool of Houstonians to participate in important policy discussions. These notes are not official meeting minutes, nor do they record every agenda item.

Agenda item #6A: Resolution for Approval of Amendments to the 2008-2011 TIP and 2035 RTP

After brief discussion, the Transportation Policy Council unanimously approved amendments to the 2008-2011 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and the 2035 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). One amendment would remove Fiscal Year 2009 air quality projects from the TIP in order to meet funding cap goals. This has no impact on the air quality projects themselves, because the projects have excess funding from previous years.

The other amendments would replace certain funding with stimulus funds and add projects in Upper Kirby, Galveston, and the East End for the purpose of receiving a Federal Transit Administration letter of no prejudice, which would not allocate any federal money, but would preserve the possibility of federal funds in the future.

Agenda item #6B: Administrative Amendments

The TPC also unanimously approved several administrative amendments to the TIP, which would delay a number of projects into 2010 and later years due to a severe funding shortfall originating at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). In Fiscal Year 2008, only 43 percent of scheduled projects were let to contract and only 35 percent of scheduled funds were obligated.

Agenda item #8: Update on SH99 Terms and Conditions

Judge Ed Emmett of Harris County provided the Council with information about the status of the Grand Parkway. All seven counties involved in negotiations have approved the terms and conditions and waived the market valuation, setting in motion a six-month clock in which the counties must determine whether or not to pursue the project locally. The six-month time period ends on September 25, according to Art Storey, executive director of the Harris County Public Infrastructure Department.

Emmett said that the next step would be a meeting of the seven county judges on May 21, to discuss whether or not to create a local entity to develop the project. He said that TxDOT is looking for a local developer, and that creating a new entity is the only proposal currently on the table.

Emmett said, “We either have to say yes or no by September 25. If the counties say yes, then we have a certain amount of time in which we must act [to begin construction]. If we say no, it’s back to TxDOT. But I wouldn’t prejudge what the counties will say.”

Agenda item #9: Legislative Update

Ashby Johnson of H-GAC presented information on active and high-profile transportation-related bills in the Texas legislature. Johnson said that a similar pattern has emerged in funding bills, particularly those related to ending so-called “diversions” or increasing fees. He said that those bills are typically passing the full Senate but are not moving in House committees, and he noted that the legislative session ends next month. Chairman James Patterson, a Fort Bend commissioner, asked for more information on land acquisition bills.

Judge Emmett clarified information about Senate Bill 855, the local-option funding bill that passed the Senate less than two weeks ago. The bill allows voters in most metropolitan counties in Texas to fund local transportation projects through taxes and fees, but it excludes Harris County. Emmett said that Harris County and the Greater Houston Partnership have been pushing for inclusion in the bill, but that the Houston senate delegation was not interested. “We’re not opposing Senator Carona’s bill,” he said, “it’s just that our senators don’t always do what we want.”

Emmett said that the county decided on Wednesday not to pursue the issue in the House of Representatives, and that the Greater Houston Partnership made the same decision. Chairman Patterson added that Fort Bend County, which had been hoping for inclusion as well, decided to drop the issue earlier this week.

Agenda item #10: Update on the Implementation of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act

Alan Clark of H-GAC told the Council that highway funding had proceeded rather smoothly, but that it was less clear what transit projects were eligible for stimulus money. John Sedlak, representing the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO), told the Council that METRO was proceeding with a plan to use its stimulus money to purchase new light rail vehicles and to convert high-occupancy vehicle lanes to high-occupancy toll lanes, in which solo drivers could use the lanes for a fee. Sedlak said that METRO has not received a final decision from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), but that it appeared that FTA would not allow any money to be used for the light rail expansion.

Sue Lovell, a Houston city council member, asked if the region could set aside some of its stimulus money for maintenance projects, like TxDOT did. Clark told her that he supports that idea, but that all of the money has already been allocated. He suggested that any maintenance projects would have to be added as contingency projects and said he would be happy to look into it and report back at the next TPC meeting in May. The Council instructed him to do so.

The original list of possible highway stimulus projects, presented to TPC in January, included 52 maintenance projects worth $228 million. However, the final list that TPC approved in February contained just one maintenance project worth $16 million at the local level.

Agenda item #11A: Appointment of Private Sector Representatives

At the March TPC meeting, an issue had been raised about whether or not private sector representatives could serve as voting members. After investigation, Clark said that private sector representation is not prohibited. However, in the process of the investigation, he said that H-GAC staff members uncovered legislation from 2007 requiring each policy board to adopt an ethics policy in order to prevent conflicts of interest. TPC bylaws do not contain that language, and he said the TPC bylaws committee, which was formed earlier this year, would have to formulate the new language.

Agenda item #11B: H-GAC Board of Directors Actions

Clark said that earlier in the month, the H-GAC Board of Directors approved several transportation-related projects, including a City of Houston Livable Centers study, a park-and-ride agreement with Fort Bend County, a teen DWI documentary, and an agreement to acquire new vehicles and retrofit older vehicles to reduce emissions.

The next TPC meeting is Friday, May 15.

Previous TPC notes (March 27, 2009)

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