MINUTES OF MEETING OF THE A/GFTC TAC May 19, 2009
Attendees Agency Phone Fax
Members
Stu Baker Town of Queensbury 761-8222 745-4437
Brian Brockway Town of Fort Edward 747-5501 746-1071
Chris DeBolt Wash. County Planning 746-2290 746-2293
Mike Fiorillo Village of Hudson Falls 747-5426 747-5597
Willy Grimmke Wash. County DPW 746-2442 746-2441
Bob Hansen NYSDOT-Region 1 388-0456 388-0430
Preston Jenkins Town of Moreau 792-1802 792-1062
Jim Lindsay Town of Kingsbury 747-2188 747-9115
Scott Sopczyk GGFT 792-1086 792-7952
Joe Sullivan City of Glens Falls, DPW 761-3834
Steven Sweeney NYS Canal Corp. 471-5033 471-5035
Others
Mary Anne Mariotti NYSDOT-Region 1 388-0439 388-0430
Jeff Tennyson Warren County DPW 761-6556 623-2772
Staff
Aaron Frankenfeld A/GFTC 746-2199 746-2441
Sarah Gebbie-Measeck A/GFTC 746-2199 746-2441
Monika Bulman A/GFTC 746-2199 746-2441
Minutes of the Meeting
1. Welcome & Introductions –TAC Vice Chair Willy Grimmke called the meeting
to order at 1:03 pm.
2. Visitor Issues – None
3. Administrative Items –
A. Approval of last meeting’s minutes
A motion was made to approve the January 5
th meeting minutes
MOVED BY: Joe Sullivan SECONDED BY: Stu Baker MOTION CARRIED
B. NYSDEC nonattainment designation recommendation, Aaron:
Warren and Washington County have been proposed for ozone nonattainment
designation based upon a monitor reading located in Stillwater. Aaron drafted
technical arguments to oppose this recommendation especially since we have an
almost rural population density. The Census data being used to designate
nonattainment areas also appears to be misapplied.
Adirondack / Glens Falls Transportation Council
Washington County Municipal Center
383 Broadway, Room A-231 Fort Edward, New York 12828
phone: (518) 746-2199 fax: (518) 746-2441
www.a
gftc.org info@agftc.org
TAC Minutes
May 19, 2009
Page 2
The designation recommendation goes into effect next year and until then Corinth
Road and the Quaker Road projects that had once been proposed are exempt.
Washington County passed a resolution opposing the recommendation and sent it to
the congressional delegation. Warren County indicated they would follow the path
Washington County has taken and a motion was made to present to the Policy
Committee for approval the opposition of the NYSDEC nonattainment designation
recommendation.
MOVED BY: Stu Baker SECONDED BY: Chris DeBolt MOTION CARRIED
4. Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP)
A. Transit
1. GGFT Update, Scott Sopczyk
Mr. Sopczyk received a call from the FTA Regional Office with a grant
number for a stimulus project so funds can start to be obligated. There is a
meeting tonight to discuss the physical relocation of the GGFT terminal to a
nearby location on Ridge St just south of the existing terminal.
2. Transit Development Plan, Scott Sopczyk
Very close to developing and producing a draft recommendation.
Conceptually what we want to accomplish is the elimination or reduction of
unproductive feeder routes and increase the service on Glen St., Corinth
Rd., So. Glens Falls, Bay Rd., Ft. Edward runs. The hope is to increase
service without increased cost. There has been reasonable public input and
the TDP is moving along.
3. CDTA/GGFT service connection (NX), Nothing new on this
4. 5316/5317 solicitation, Aaron
The application deadline for FTA for program 521/5317 was last Thursday.
GGFT submitted an application for $43K for sustaining some of the evening
services that had been utilizing another funding source that has since run
out. Also some of the money will go towards the coordination service
initiative on Bay Road. A motion was made to endorse GGFT’s application.
MOVED BY: Stu Baker SECONDED BY: Jeff Tennyson MOTION CARRIED
5. Ridesharing software demonstration – Sarah:
For Earth Day a new web site was launched called iPoolNorth.org and it
coordinates with the Capital District car pooling web site, iPool2. The
objective of this site is to allow people interested in ridesharing to log into
the site and find a commute partner. It is very easy to use and to date 37
users have signed up and the monthly report given to A/GFTC indicates the
site is averaging one match per search. Seven users are in
communication. Hopefully the planned advertising blitz will result in more
users/matches. Mr. Sopczyk asked if this would be useful for patients
getting to medical office visits.
B. Consultant / Staff Activities
1.
GIS Services, Aaron
Fountains Spatial, the consultant we hired, is updating and improving our
in-house data system, developing desktop data tracker, getting some
handheld data collection to repeat the FTA passenger survey and to
establish a web based application we can use to share data with the public.
TAC Minutes
May 19, 2009
Page 3
Hope to have three web google maps available on our web site. One will
deal with data, one will deal with conditions (bridges, pavement), one will
deal with TIP projects.
Mr. Hansen asked what the background for the database was – Aaron said
it was satellite imagery. We were encouraged by our consultant to go with
Google Maps because it is an interface that many web users are familiar
with. Ms. Mariotti expressed her concerns with the compatibility of this
program with public and private use.
2. Exit 20 Corridor Management Plan, Aaron
A committee meeting is scheduled for May 22
nd at 10 am at the Warren
County Municipal Center, Room 6-103 to review the draft final report
prepared by Creighton Manning Engineering. Some recommendations:
Access management; back access off of Exit 20 north bound; interchange
modification; improvements with signalized intersections. After the
meeting on the 22nd a third public meeting will be held to present the
findings of the study.
3. Abe Wing / Big Cross Pedestrian Circulation Assessments, Aaron
These projects were selected through our on-call consulting services
agreement with Resource Systems Group, Inc. A request for letter of
interest was sent to our consultants and RSG had the most appealing
approach. They have a certified Safe Routes to School trainer on their
staff and will engage the public during a regularly scheduled school
meeting. Abe Wing had an interest in having some of the pedestrian
circulation issues reviewed (drop off zones, speed, bike facilities, traffic
signal operations. Data collection will be done at Abe Wing on May 21st.
Big Cross also expressed an interest in using our on-call engineering
consultant. The local match previously needed for these types of projects
has been waived.
5. TIP
A. Amendments and Modifications (handout), Aaron
DOT requested that we list two enhancement projects: West Brook
Conservation Initiative and Dix Bridge Rehabilitation. Adding these requires
no committee action.
ARRA (Stimulus) Projects
A new request is the Batten Kill RR over NYS 372 (picture handout-illustrates
a clearance issue with the structure); Mr. Hansen pointed out that the
Governor passed these stimulus projects down to the Regional Office for
consideration only. The projects need to be ready to go. Mr. Grimmke
explained how he came up with the cost for this project and after some
discussion it was decided to increase the cost to $3M. The motion was made to
present to the Policy Committee this project for addition to the TIP after a 30
day comment period is completed. Doing so does not guarantee that this
project will receive ARRA funding.
MOVED BY: Joe Sullivan SECONDED BY: Scott Sopczyk MOTION CARRIED
TAC Minutes
May 19, 2009
Page 4
1R Paving Projects were previously approved and require no formal
amendment. Mr. Hansen distributed a handout.
Safety Projects: County Rte. 12, Granville was added to the TIP via
administrative modification, having been derived from a regional setaside.
Spier Falls Road/Rte. 9
Mr. Hansen said that the main office has been pushing for the use of SHIP
funds. Everyone appears to be having difficulty finding candidates for this
funding source. There are safety needs out there but no clear local candidates
other than County Route 12 project (noted above)have emerged. This project
includes a state to federal shift of funding, so this needs a public comment
period, Policy Committee approval and an amendment.
A motion was made to release the proposed Spier Falls Road/Route 9 Project
amendment for public comment.
MOVED BY: Mike Fiorillo SECONDED BY: Stu Baker MOTION CARRIED
NYSDOT Bridge 5-7 Repairs letter was distributed and a motion was made to
release the proposed amendment for public comment.
MOVED BY: Scott Sopczyk SECONDED BY: Mike Fiorillo MOTION CARRIED
B. Project Updates, It was proposed to forego project updates, but
1. Warren County, Jeff Tennyson did want to report the following to the
Committee: There are almost weekly meetings now with the Town of
Queensbury regarding Corinth Road; the utility issues are still being worked
out; have concerns about being ready for the September deadline for funding;
should know by July if the September deadline will be met.
6. Other Items
– Annual MPO Conference June 4-5, Aaron relayed the information about the
conference to the Committee
– Mr. Sopczyk announced there would be a NYPTA meeting at the Queensbury
Hotel June 10-12.
7. Next meeting and adjourn, the next meeting TBA; adjournment took place at
2:40 pm