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Home My WebLink About2020-11-30 City Council Agendas (9) City of Palo Alto (ID # 11825) City Council Staff Report Report Type: Consent Calendar Meeting Date: 11/30/2020 City of Palo Alto Page 1 Council Priority: Grade Separations, Transportation and Traffic Summary Title: VTA Measure B Funding Comment Letter Title: City Council Endorsement of the Letter Expressing Concerns and Objection to the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Measure B Funding Proposal From: City Manager Lead Department: City Manager Recommendation Staff recommends that Council endorse the letter submitted by Mayor Fine expressing concern and opposition to the Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA’s) proposed cash flow limiting the availability of Measure B transportation funds. Background Over the past few weeks, VTA staff circulated a proposed 10-year Expenditure Outlook1 that provides a “Base Scenario” with no funding for Local Street & Roads, nor for railroad grade separations, Caltrain Corridor Capacity, and several other programs are either partially funded or not funded at all, while providing the bulk of designated funding to the extension of BART to downtown San Jose. Such a funding scheme would break faith with cities across Santa Clara County that supported the ballot measure on the basis of a balanced countywide program. On November 12, Mayor Fine sent the attached letter to VTA expressing concern and opposition to the proposal. On November 23, Supervisor Simitian convened a meeting to discuss cities’ response to this proposal. Nearly all cities were represented, and all expressed significant concerns. Supervisor Simitian suggested that each city obtain an official position from its city council, such that this message can be conveyed to the VTA Board of Directors. 1 http://santaclaravta.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=3261&MediaPosition=&ID=7503 &CssClass= City of Palo Alto Page 2 This item is recommended for approval on the City Council’s November 30 consent calendar, in order to confirm the City of Palo Alto’s position to VTA prior to the December 3 VTA Board of Directors meeting. At that meeting, the VTA General Manager is expected to provide the Board with a status report on this issue. No action is expected at that time, and VTA staff has indicated that the Board may begin detailed discussions in March. Council endorsement of the Mayor’s letter would confirm the City Council’s support for clearly and immediately communicating the unacceptability of VTA’s proposal. Staff will return to Council for further direction as needed over the coming months. Environmental Review Not a project. Attachments: • Attachment A: Measure B Funding Letter_.docx CITY OF PALO ALTO | 250 HAMILTON AVENUE, PALO ALTO, CA. 94301 | 650-329-2100 November 12, 2020 Office of the Board Secretary Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street San Jose, California 95134-1906 Dear Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board of Directors, On behalf of the City of Palo Alto and my colleagues on the City Council, I am writing to express serious concerns regarding the Measure B agenda item presented this week that if approved would be a major shift in funding away from investing in local streets and roads and grade separation infrastructure needs prioritized by your member cities. Specifically, the 2016 Measure B FY2022 to FY2032 10-year Expenditure Outlook, which provided the ten-year Measure B funding outlook from FY22 to FY32, and includes a “Base Scenario” with no funding for Local Street & Roads, nor for grade separation. In fact, it appears that all of the projects that both North County and West Valley cities had supported during the development of the ballot measure, are removed from the ten-year horizon. This is unacceptable, and I urge the Board of Directors to prioritize your member cities and projects, particularly ongoing projects supporting Caltrain grade separations. Budget Proposal Leaves No Funding for Cities Local Streets and Roads Investment Local Streets & Roads funding, as defined in Resolution No. 2016.06.17, is “To be returned to cities and the County on a formula basis”. Thus, Palo Alto and all of your member cities are depending on this funding in order to continue with planned work. The Base Scenario directs no funding to cities and the County in the ten years of this scenario. For the City of Palo Alto, which maintains a current Pavement Condition Index (PCI) of 82, the funding is planned for use on a congestion relief project (Connecting Palo Alto – Rail Grade Separation). The proposed halt of this program amounts to a $1.27 million per year hit to the City of Palo Alto, in a time when all cities are faced with severe economic challenges as a result of the ongoing pandemic. Budget Proposal Impacts Local Safety and Increases Traffic Congestion In addition to the Local Streets & Roads funding elimination, funding for Caltrain Grade Separation projects is also not shown in the ten-year Base Scenario, which indicates elimination of this funding source to local communities like Palo Alto for the next ten years. This is concerning as Palo Alto nears the conclusion of a public input process and is working towards moving into the next phase of grade separation design. These existing at-grade separated locations in Palo Alto are already near or at capacity during peak hours with significant delays due to the gate downtime. This will only increase with Caltrain electrification and the expanded service plan. Increased Caltrain service will also pose significant safety concerns for these at-grade crossings on the railroad corridor. Furthermore, California High Speed Rail is also planning to use the same corridor and as a result will amplify the safety and traffic impacts at these grade crossings for our community and surrounding communities. DocuSign Envelope ID: DFFFB5E7-7985-41FA-B853-ED13729B2C56 CITY OF PALO ALTO | 250 HAMILTON AVENUE, PALO ALTO, CA. 94301 | 650-329-2100 Palo Alto Invested $2.6 M to Date on Grade Separation Alternatives and Set to Move to Design in Early 2021 The ongoing community planning effort in the City of Palo Alto has spanned several years with a community panel (the Expanded Community Advisory Panel, or XCAP) which is comprised of members of the public that have been tasked with providing a report on preferred alternatives to the Palo Alto City Council. The City, consultant and this panel have reviewed nearly 50 different possible alternatives for grade separation. It has also included coordination with Caltrain and several community Town Hall meetings, with the most recent Town Hall having over 1,000 unique visitors. The XCAP is currently preparing a final report for the City Council, which will lead us into the next phase of preliminary design. The City has already invested approximately $2.6 million on this project since July of 2017. You can learn more about this ongoing community process at ConnectingPaloAlto.com. Member Cities Rely on VTA Funds to Further Grade Separation Projects Apart from this community-driven process, the funding plan is being coordinated with Mountain View, and Sunnyvale and together with VTA staff we have been reviewing possible options for sequencing projects in a timeline so that the projects do not overlap in construction and the funding is shared and available to support our combined community’s needs. While the three cities seeking this grade separation funding plan have reviewed several funding scenarios, none of these scenarios involved postponing construction for the next ten years, and Mountain View was already initiating preliminary design. As grade separation projects involve long term planning and design efforts, the Measure B funding is essential to keep these projects moving forward in the north county region to address significant regional traffic congestion issues. Any delays to this funding will cause significant delays to these projects and lead to long term traffic and safety impacts in the region. Funding BART Phase II At the Expense of Member Cities is Unacceptable and Urge Reconsideration Along with the Local Streets & Roads and the Caltrain Grade Separation programs, Caltrain Corridor Capacity, the SR 85 Corridor, County Expressways, and Highway Interchanges are all outside of the ten- year Base Scenario window. The Transit Operations formula program ends its formula funding receipt in 2023. Instead, BART Phase II is fully funded, and although it was estimated at $1.5 billion of program tax revenues, the proposed scenario has nearly $2 billion programmed for the project. Additionally, VTA Resolution No. 2016.06.17 caps the BART Phase II funding at a maximum of 25% of program tax revenues, yet the base scenario has the BART project exceeding this. This 25% cap was an important component to achieving an agreement among cities to support this measure. Caltrain electrification will severely impact North and West Valley cities with at-grade crossings. Removing crucial support for grade separation projects at this time will delay relief from these impacts for a decade or more. The City of Palo Alto urges you to reconsider this ten-year Base Scenario outlook, and instead of prioritizing BART Phase II, prioritize your member cities and projects, particularly ongoing projects supporting Caltrain grade separations. Thank you for your consideration of the City of Palo Alto’s views and concerns. Sincerely, Adrian Fine Mayor DocuSign Envelope ID: DFFFB5E7-7985-41FA-B853-ED13729B2C56 CITY OF PALO ALTO | 250 HAMILTON AVENUE, PALO ALTO, CA. 94301 | 650-329-2100 CC: Palo Alto City Council Nuria Fernandez, General Manager, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors VTA Policy Advisory Committee Mountain View City Council Sunnyvale City Council Ed Shikada, City Manager, City of Palo Alto Philip Kamhi, Chief Transportation Official, City of Palo Alto DocuSign Envelope ID: DFFFB5E7-7985-41FA-B853-ED13729B2C56