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C. 53

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	John Kopchik, Director, Conservation & Development Department
Date:	October 17, 2017

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

2017-18 Caltrans Sustainable Communities Grant: Accessible Transportation Strategic Plan

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 10/17/2017

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:

John Cunningham (925) 674-7833

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: October 17, 2017
David Twa,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

AUTHORIZE the Chair of the Board of Supervisors to send a letter to the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) expressing support for the Contra Costa Transportation Authority's grant application, "Accessible Transportation Strategic Plan".

FISCAL IMPACT:

No Impact.

BACKGROUND:

The subject project addressed in the attached draft letter, the Accessible Transportation Strategic (ATS) Plan, is a culmination of both the 2016 Measure X Transportation Expenditure Plan (TEP) effort and the 2017 Countywide Transportation Plan (CTP). Both plans were developed under the leadership of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (Authority). This particular activity, accessible transportation(1), was the subject of several comment letters from the Board of Supervisors and numerous conversations between County and Authority staff. During the TEP and CTP development, both the Authority Board and Staff were responsive and supportive of County comments relative to the ATS Plan.

BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)

With the failure of Measure X, the draft CTP was amended in its final version (adopted in September 2017) to include the ATS Plan as an implementation task:

Initiate the Accessible Transportation Service Strategic Plan
To further support mobility opportunities for seniors and people with disabilities, the Authority will develop an Accessible Transportation Service (ATS) Strategic Plan. The plan will evaluate how accessible services are delivered by all agencies and where appropriate coordination can improve transportation services. The ATS Strategic Plan will also determine the investments and oversight of funding and identify timing, projects, service delivery options, administrative structure, and fund leverage opportunities.

As expressed in the September 19, 2017 report to the Board of Supervisors ("ACCEPT the "Accessible Transit in Contra Costa County white paper") County staff began outreach efforts to responsible agencies to discuss initiation of the ATS Plan. During a meeting with Authority staff, the subject grant opportunity was discussed and staff from both agencies agreed to initiate a collaborative effort to seek grant funds to pay for the study.

Both County and Authority staff agree that the Authority is best positioned to be the lead on the ATS Strategic Plan. The County will act in a support capacity to the Authority and be an active participant in the ATS Strategic Plan an grant application.

The objective of this grant program is (excerpted from the attached grant program brochure):

The grant specific objective of the Sustainable Communities Grants is to encourage local and regional multimodal transportation and land use planning that furthers the region’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP)/Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) (where applicable), contributes to the State’s greenhouse gas reduction targets and other State goals, including but not limited to, the goals and best practices cited in the 2017 RTP Guidelines, addresses the needs of disadvantaged communities, and also assists in achieving the Caltrans Mission and Grant Program Overarching Objectives.

Additional information on this grant program can be found in the grant guide available here:
http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tpp/grants/1718/1_14SEP17_FinalSustainableCommunitiesGrantGuideFY2017-18.pdf


(1) Accessible transportation, for the purposes of the grant, is defined as a range of transportation/transit and supportive services such as; Americans with Disabilities Act mandated public paratransit service, city/community programs, transportation provided by private non-profits, mobility management programs, volunteer based transportation programs, etc.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

If authorization is not provided it may compromise the attractiveness of the application and result in a missed opportunity to receive funds under this grant program.