Draft Memorandum for the Record

Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization Unified Planning Work Program Committee Meeting Summary

July 18, 2019 Meeting

9:15 AM–9:45 AM, State Transportation Building, Conference Rooms 2 and 3,
10 Park Plaza, Boston

Bryan Pounds, Chair, representing Stephanie Pollack, Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)

Decisions

The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) Committee agreed to the following:

Materials

Materials for this meeting included the following:

1.    Corrected Meeting Summary of the March 28, 2019, UPWP Committee Meeting

2.    Draft Meeting Summary of the May 16, 2019, UPWP Committee Meeting

3.    Final FFY 2020 UPWP

Meeting Agenda and Summary of Discussion

1.    Introductions

B. Pounds called the meeting to order and read the accessibility statement. Members introduced themselves.

2.    Public Comments

There were none.

 

3.    Action Items—Sandy Johnston, UPWP Manager

a) Approval of the Meeting Summary of the May 16, 2019, meeting

Eric Bourassa (Metropolitan Area Planning Council) moved to approve the meeting summary and several members seconded simultaneously. The motion to approve the minutes carried unanimously.

S. Johnston provided the committee with a handout of the corrected March 28 meeting summary, noting that the Committee had already voted to approve this meeting summary pending the corrections.

b) Committee approval of the Federal Fiscal Year 2020 UPWP

S. Johnston introduced the final draft of the FFY 2020 UPWP. He introduced the few minor changes made to the document from the draft version whose release the committee had approved for public comment in May, noting that several appendices had been completed and a few other corrections made. Members were provided with a handout containing the new material, and hard copies of the final document were available.

S. Johnston explained to the committee that staff had received five comments on the UPWP from the Regional Transportation Advisory Council, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Rider Oversight Committee, the 495/Metrowest Partnership, and individuals Diane Madden and Len Diggins. All were positive and had ideas for going forward into FFY 2020. S. Johnston has responded to all of the comments with an email noting receipt.

Steve Olanoff (Town of Westwood/Three Rivers Interlocal Council subregion alternate) noted that Diane Madden had asked for an easier way to access the list of new studies to be funded in FFY 2020 directly on the MPO website. S. Johnston responded that the point was well taken and that staff had made a quick change to the UPWP Development Page on the MPO website to provide a prominent link to the study list, and that they would consider how to highlight the studies in the document. There was some discussion of how to better highlight studies.

Daniel Amstutz (At-Large Town/Town of Arlington) noted a date-related typo in the document. There was some discussion of what changes had been made to the document in the interval between the public review and final drafts; S. Johnston explained that all budgets and descriptions were the same, unlike the previous year, when budgets had had to be adjusted to reflect changes in the MPO’s Federal Transit Administration Section 5303 funding allocation that had only been received during the review interval. E. Bourassa asked about the schedule for developing work scopes for the new discrete studies. Staff explained that work scopes would be presented in the fall, after the beginning of the new FFY, although for the first time the Traffic Analysis and Design Group would be selecting locations for its upcoming (FFY 2020) corridor studies at the end of FFY 2019. S. Johnston noted that staff were exploring the concept of doing public outreach to inform study work scope development before the scopes are presented to the MPO, but weren’t sure they would have the bandwidth this year. There was continued discussion about timing of study development.

B. Pounds asked for a motion for the Committee to sign off on the UPWP and forward it to the MPO for potential endorsement. S. Olanoff made the motion and D. Amstutz seconded. The motion passed unanimously. S. Johnston passed around the final vote record (see Attachment 1) and B. Pounds complimented staff on development of the UPWP.

4.    Members’ Items

Hiral Gandhi (Central Transportation Planning Staff [CTPS] Operations and Finance Manager) explained that the quarterly reports would be sent to the Committee by email. There was discussion of whether budget reallocations for the fourth quarter of FFY 2019 would require a committee action (and therefore another meeting), with the result that CTPS and MassDOT would continue to consult on this question.

5.    Next Meeting

The schedule for the next meeting was left undefined, pending further MPO discussions.

6.    Adjourn

A motion to adjourn was made by a member and seconded by several members. The motion carried.

 

 

Attendance

Members

Representatives

and Alternates

At-Large City (City of Newton)

David Koses

At-Large Town (Town of Arlington)

Daniel Amstutz

City of Boston (Boston Transportation Department)

Bill Conroy

Inner Core Committee (City of Somerville)

Tom Bent

Massachusetts Department of Transportation

Bryan Pounds

Metropolitan Area Planning Council

Eric Bourassa

Regional Transportation Advisory Council

Tegin Teich

Three Rivers Interlocal Council (Town of Norwood/Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce)

Steve Olanoff

 

 

MPO Staff/Central Transportation Planning Staff

Annette Demchur, Co-Interim Executive Director

Ali Kleyman

Sandy Johnston

Hiral Gandhi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attachment 1: Voting Record on Motion to Forward Draft UPWP Document to Full MPO for Endorsement