Agenda

Back to Calendar Return

TRANSPORTATION, WATER & INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	02/11/2016
Subject: RECEIVE update on the Status of the Alameda County and Regional Goods Movement Studies
Submitted For:	TRANSPORTATION, WATER & INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE
Department:	Conservation & Development
Referral No.:	14
Referral Name:	Freight transportation issues, including but not limited to potential increases in rail traffic such as that proposed by the Port of Oakland and other possible service increases...
Presenter:	John Cunningham, DCD	Contact:	John Cunningham (925)674-7833

Information

Referral History:

This particular issue, Alameda Countywide Goods Movement Plan and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's Regional Goods Movement Plan, has not yet been discussed at the Committee.

Referral Update:

The status of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's (MTC) Regional Goods Movement Plan (The Plan Introduction chapter is attached) is below:

Draft Final Plan Released in December (Comments Due end of Dec)
Plan goes to MTC Planning Commission on February 11
Plan goes to MTC Commission at their February Meeting

Rich Seithel, Department of Conservation and Development has been monitoring freight and goods movement issues relative to the Northern Waterfront Initiative.

Michael Kent, Hazardous Materials Ombudsman from the Health Services Department, represented Contra Costa Health Services on the Technical Advisory Committee for the Regional Goods Movement Plan. He also provided technical support to the Alameda County Health Department and other members of the Ditching Dirty Diesel Collaborative in the development of a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of the Alameda County Goods Movement Plan.

In discussing the Regional Goods Movement Plan with Mr. Seithel and Mr. Kent, the impression is that the plan, despite the name, is focused on the Port of Oakland with little attention paid to the outlying ports and infrastructure.

In addition, and related to the Alameda County/Oakland focus, the comment was made at the recent Freight/Goods Movement Collaborative Workshop that without addressing land use the regional plan is incomplete. County staff agrees with this comment and understands that this may not be an issue for Alameda County, whose land use in the port area is stable relative to other, "niche" or outlying ports.

Land use is a potential issue for Contra Costa County; unless some effort is made to preserve and develop industrial lands around the outlying ports the region will:
• lose industrial land (to other, incompatible uses) that make the ports functional,
• become overly dependent on the port of Oakland,
• this dependency drastically limits expansive opportunities for the region as a whole,
• this dependency also results in a much more fragile freight movement infrastructure which again, does not improve goods movement for the region but rather serves to compromise it.
• these changes are effectively permanent, and as such warrants attention in the regional plan and action with the appropriate level of urgency.

MTC should expand the regional goods movement dialog to more substantially include outlying ports, and related land use issues. More specifically, MTC should accelerate the development and funding of Priority Industrial Areas (PIA) in order to diversify the region’s goods movement infrastructure portfolio.

A plan with a more regional focus is also likely to highlight the benefits of goods movement supportive infrastructure in Contra Costa such as state route 239 and Northern Waterfront related projects.

These changes would support a truly regional goods movement plan and system. Staff will bring a draft letter to MTC for review by the Committee.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

RECEIVE update on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's Regional Goods Movement Plan and take ACTION as appropriate.

Fiscal Impact (if any):

None.

Attachments
Introduction: MTC Regional Goods Movement Plan