AMATS (Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions) Technical Advisory Committee

ANCHORAGE METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Planning & Development Center Main Conference Room, 1st Floor 4700 Elmore Road Anchorage, Alaska December 3, 2020 2:30 PM Due to COVID-19, this meeting was conducted virtually. With the expected absence of Chair John Crapps, Todd Vanhove acted as Chair. Technical Advisory Committee Members Present: Name Representing Todd Vanhove Alaska Dept. of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF), Central Region Planning John Linnell DOT&PF Adeyemi Alimi Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) Matt Stichick MOA/Anchorage Health Department (AHD) Jamie Acton MOA/Public Transportation Department (PTD) Shaina Kilcoyne MOA/Energy and Sustainability Michelle McNulty MOA/Planning Department Steve Ribuffo MOA/Port of Alaska Brian Lindamood Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC) Also in attendance: Name Representing Craig Lyon MOA/Planning Christine Schuette MOA/Planning Aaron Jongenelen MOA/Planning Jon Cecil MOA/Planning Joni Wilm MOA/Planning Wolfgang Junge* DOT&PF Jim Amundsen DOT&PF James Starzec DOT&PF Bart Rudolph MOA/PTD John Weddleton* MOA/Assembly Member *Policy Committee Member 1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL  ANCHORAGE METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS Technical Advisory Committee December 3, 2020 Page 2 of 6 ACTING CHAIR VANHOVE called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m. John Crapps was excused. Kent Kohlhase was absent. A quorum was established prior to Ms. McNulty’s arrival at 2:32 p.m. 2. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT CRAIG LYON encouraged public involvement in this meeting of the AMATS Policy Committee. He explained staff would first make their presentation, followed by any comments from Committee members, and the floor would then be open to public comment. As a result of the virtual meetings, the public has been asked to submit an email request providing their name, phone number, and agenda item to AMATS by 6:30 p.m. the day prior to the meeting, but can also participate via Teams and provide testimony when the item is opened to the public for comments. 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MR. LINDAMOOD moved to approve the agenda. MR. RIBUFFO seconded. Hearing no objections, the agenda was approved. Ms. McNulty arrived at 2:32 p.m. 4. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES – November 5, 2020 MR. ALIMI moved to approve the minutes. MS. MCNULTY seconded Hearing no objections, the minutes were approved. 5. BUSINESS ITEMS a. Non-motorized Plan – Public Review Draft BACKGROUND: The Non-motorized Plan (NMP) provides the vision for a non-motorized network within the Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions (AMATS) Metropolitan Planning Area that when implemented, and will help residents travel more safely and efficiently throughout the AMATS Planning area without the need of a motor vehicle in all seasons. The NMP merges bicycle, pedestrian, and shared-use pathway planning efforts simultaneously. By addressing these topics together, a more comprehensive framework and vision for active transportation in the AMATS Planning area is developed. The 2020 NMP  ANCHORAGE METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS Technical Advisory Committee December 3, 2020 Page 3 of 6 will supersede the existing bicycle and pedestrian and trail plans. When the trail GIS data has been updated and expanded to include new and planned facilities, it will include a broad overview of trails that will be amended with finer details in 2021. This plan represents over three years of work within the AMATS planning area to study Non-motorized facilities. A series of public involvement opportunities helped shape the development of the AMATS NMP. Residents, visitors, and other stakeholders were invited to provide feedback through a variety of formats, including workshops, presentations, mobile meetings, stakeholder interviews, field data collection, and an online community survey. An Agency Advisory Group (AAG) and Community Advisory Group (CAG) provided additional oversight throughout the process by reviewing key deliverables, informing plan goals and objectives, and guiding the regulatory and implementation component of the plan. In addition, this plan has undergone extensive internal agency review, including two AMATS TAC work sessions, resulting in over 400 comments logged from various transportation related agencies. Funding for this project came from the Municipality’s AMATS federal grant program as an AMATS Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) action item. MS. WILM provided a PowerPoint Presentation explaining the Non-motorized Plan in detail and responded to questions. MR. LINDAMOOD referred to the proposed bicycle network noting that items shown in the non- motorized elements of the Spenard Area Plan were not shown in this plan. Specifically, a proposed trail along the right-of-way between Tudor and Minnesota and the Coastal Trail. MS. WILM expressed that it must have been an oversight, as Alta Planning Design is also the consultant on the Spenard Corridor Plan, but she will make sure it is corrected. MR. LINDAMOOD pointed out, in addition to other issues with the map, that the old bicycle plan had both Chester and Campbell Creek trails as part of their network, but the proposed network in Chapter 4 or 5 of this plan does not show them. It does show the pedestrian plans, but the priority bicycle network does not. MS. WILM displayed the map showing that it was included, but they noticed that the gray- colored area had blended with the green making it difficult to see when Mr. Lindamood had printed the document. She added that, in looking at this map, it does not show high on the priority network because it is already such a comfortable trail. Improvements are referred to as priorities with regard to where we need to spend our dollars to make the most impact for safety and the other criteria. There were no public comments. WOLFGANG JUNGE, AMATS Policy Committee Chair, noted that the Policy Committee adopted moving forward the safety study for the Anchorage area. He asked how that will be incorporated into non-motorized plans in the future.  ANCHORAGE METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS Technical Advisory Committee December 3, 2020 Page 4 of 6 MR. LYON replied that it is in the TIP as a proposed amendment to add a safety plan, which would be worked on sometime next year. He is sure there will be additional proposals that will include safety for the non-motorized traveling public. When we get an opportunity to update this Non-motorized Plan in the future, we would want to take that into account, but there will be specific projects and policies in the safety plan that will address non-motorized travel. MS. WILM added that should there be any significant safety updates, an amendment to this plan can always be done and retrofit it to reflect any safety improvements and policies. MR. STICHICK moved to recommend approval of the Non-motorized Plan for a 60-day public review period to the Policy Committee. MR. LINDAMOOD seconded. Hearing no objections, this motion passed. b. Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) Seat Nomination BACKGROUND: The AMATS Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee is the citizen’s forum for bicycle and pedestrian issues affecting the AMATS area. This group serves to make recommendations about bicycle and pedestrian planning issues to the AMATS Technical Advisory Committee. Members of this committee serve rotating three-year terms. Committee bylaws limit members to two consecutive terms. After spending 30 years in the construction industry, CB Brady changed careers to become the Executive Director of the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Twenty years ago, CB learned he had a degenerative eye disease that would lead to blindness. While he still has some vision, CB is now legally blind and no longer drives. For the past two years he has used walking and public transportation as his main means of travel. CB feels that his experience with pedestrian site planning and, now as a walking pedestrian, would add a good perspective to the BPAC Committee. MR. LYON presented the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee nomination recommendation of CB Brady. There were no comments. MR. LINNELL moved to forward the nomination of CB Brady to the Policy Committee for approval. MR. ALIMI seconded. Hearing no objections, this motion passed. c. Seward Highway to Glenn Highway PEL Resolution  ANCHORAGE METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS Technical Advisory Committee December 3, 2020 Page 5 of 6 MR. LYON briefed the Committee on PEL Resolution 2020-02 noting that it was before the TAC last month and had, originally, been before the Policy Committee, but the TAC tabled the matter in order to schedule a joint work session for discussion. The joint work session was held, and the resolution is now back before the TAC for action. ACTING CHAIR VANHOVE informed the Committee that this resolution was initially forwarded to the Policy Committee, which was procedurally incorrect. Because of that, the Policy Committee referred it back to the TAC for additional information and review. That information was provided in both the form of a white paper and a joint work session. In both the white paper and the joint work session, it was pointed out that there were procedural flaws, as well as some difficulties in meeting the request of the resolution. The resolution requests that some of the leftover funding from the PEL project be used to initiate a tiered Environment Impact Study (EIS). At this time, there is no leftover funding. In fact, the PEL RFP is still in negotiations and the potential of needing additional funding is being looked at in order to award that RFP. The latest estimate is approximately $5.3 million. Also, to initiate environmental actions it takes a project that is in either the TIP or the STIP, which is another difficulty because, currently, there are no projects in either of those two plans. He reiterated that resolutions of this nature should come before the TAC prior to being presented to the PC, so that discussions, such as this, for review and technical work can be done, and then recommended to the PC for future happenings. There were no committee or public comments. ASSEMBLY MEMBER WEDDLETON noted that his intent is to provide an “S” version of the resolution, which would be more in line with the realities learned during the work session, but still make the fundamental point that we really need to get as much clarity as possible soon for the sake of the property owners and residents of that particular corridor. He will have something prepared to bring to the PC in December that, certainly, will be referred back the TAC. He added that the resolution presented today could be rejected, or recommended to be revised. MR. LINNELL moved, based on the information provided by Assembly Member Weddleton, to recommend waiting for a revised version to come back before the TAC. MR. ALIMI seconded. Hearing no objections, this motion passed. d. Policy Committee Resolution #2020-03 on the SFY2021 Alaska Mental Health Trust Grant MR. LYON explained that the Public Transportation Department is submitting a grant application and a resolution of the AMATS Policy Committee is required as part of a Coordinated Transportation Plan and the AMHT grant application by PTD. He added that the Policy Committee is being asked to support their grant application in hopes of receiving the grant.  ANCHORAGE METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS Technical Advisory Committee December 3, 2020 Page 6 of 6 MS. ACTON further explained that this is an Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority Grant that is run through the Juneau State Transit Office. We apply for this grant annually. She noted a typographical error on the resolution that should read SFY2022, not SFY2021. $1 million is available statewide for this funding and allows us to provide transportation services via AnchorRides for beneficiaries of the trust. Trust beneficiaries are identified as people with mental illness, developmental disabilities, Alzheimer’s and other dementias, chronic alcoholism, and traumatic brain injuries. We provide, roughly, 50,000 trips annually to these beneficiaries. Total project grants asked for this year is $300,000 and it comes with a 20 percent match of local funds, which we have already identified, so our total project cost in order to provide this service to the community is $360,000. We are asking for the Letter of Support to be passed to the Policy Committee allowing us to submit our grant application with the required elements. The deadline is Monday, December 21. There were no comments. MR. STICHICK moved to recommend forwarding to the Policy Committee a corrected Resolution 2020-03 supporting the application for the Alaska Mental Health Trust funds for the Public Transportation Department. MR. LINDAMOOD seconded. Hearing no objections, this motion passed. 6. PROJECT AND PLAN UPDATES – None 7. GENERAL INFORMATION a. AMATS FFY20 4th Quarter Project Obligation Report MR. LYON presented the FFY20 report noting that AMATS is required to be either plus or minus within a certain percentage of their allocation and at zero obligation by the end of the fourth quarter. AMATS has obligated all funds expected. There were no comments. 8. COMMITTEE COMMENTS - None 9. ADJOURNMENT Hearing no objections, the meeting adjourned at 3:24p