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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-17-2021 Policy Board Meeting Minutes Franklin County Planning Department 218 North Second Street Chambersburg, PA 17201 Phone: 717-261-3855 Fax: 717-264-8667 Email: planning@franklincountypa.gov FRANKLIN COUNTY METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION POLICY BOARD MEETING February 17, 2021 – 10am Meeting Minutes I. Welcome and Introduction Sam Cressler welcomed attendees and called the meeting to order at 10:04 AM. Introductions were made through the Google Hangouts chat box. II. Meeting Minutes A motion to approve and adopt the November 18, 2020 meeting minutes was made by Beth Raves and seconded by Dave Keller. There were no objections. III. Old Business a. SR 75 Comments Recap Jeffery Puher addressed comments and questions brought up in November’s MPO meeting. SR 75 was last resurfaced in 1992. The Average Daily Traffic is less than 2,000. Resurfacing is scheduled for 2023 as 409 maintenance funding; therefore it will not be found on the TIP. COVID-19 may impact the 2023 let date. b. Exit 12 Update PennDOT received environmental clearance in October and moved into the final design process. The project is working its way through the approval process with PennDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The estimated let date is Oct 19, 2023. Dave Mackley asked what does a let date mean for the project, Nate Walker responded this is when contractors are allowed to bid on the projects. Sam C. asked what the timeframe is after the let date; Nate Walker said 2-3 years of construction. Weather impacts this timeframe. IV. New Business a. PennDOT Performance Measures Adoption Nate Walker explained that each state sets performance measures (PM) and the planning region establishes them. A letter from PennDOT was provided for Policy Board members to review. Each planning region has the choice to agree to the set performance measure or set their own. Responses are due March 29, 2021. A motion to approve and adopt the PM2 and PM3 was made by David Keller and seconded by John Flannery. There were no objections. b. Office of Management and Budget Proposal to Change Population Threshold for Designating Metropolitan Statistical Areas Steve Thomas updated the MPO that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed to update the threshold to designation. This is strictly for statistical purposes. Beth Raves says PennDOT Central Office has created a work group to gather internal feedback. A call will be scheduled with planning partners soon to discuss the OMB changes. MPO comments are recommended in 60 days but the end of the comment period is before the next MPO Policy Board meeting. Beth Raves recommends MPO staff sending in comments on behalf of MPO. Steve concurs. A motion to allow staff to prepare comments was made by Jason Stains and seconded by Bob Ziobrowski. There were no objections. c. Transit Report: rabbitransit and Commuter Services Beth Nidam from rabbitransit stated that the group is offering free transportation services to the community for COVID-19 vaccinations. Please see the forwarded press release for more information. Matt Boyer gave an update for Commuter Services. Recent outreach activities include a “Battle of Careers” in December and a “Battle of Chambers” in January/February which involved employees of regional chambers of commerce tracking their “Green Trips” and competing against one another. Stats from Commute PA in January 2021 are as follows: 55 new participants/6389 trips tracked/177,141 miles removed from roads/$101,857 cost savings to commuters. V. Administrative Business a. Director’s Report Steve T. said Chambersburg Borough is working on new scope of work for the Signal Project and a definitive update will be provided in the May MPO meeting. The Planning Department is starting the comprehensive plan in early March, and transportation will be a component in this plan. The Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) is due May 2023. Michael Baker is now the MPO’s on-call consultant and will be preparing a scope of work as our next step. The LRTP is expected to be an 18-month long process. VI. Exit 5 Presentation – Ben Singer, PennDOT Ben Singer from PennDOT and Greg Frisby from WRA gave a presentation on the study and potential improvements on Exit 5 located in Greencastle. Ben S. said there are several options available to fix the interchange, but it comes down to funding. A discussion amongst the Policy Board members in regard to current and future conditions and funding of Exit 5 occurred. A motion for staff to begin legislative outreach on behalf of the MPO for infrastructure spending and future legislation was made by Sam Cressler and seconded by David Mackley. Jennifer Crobak from FHWA said the LRTP discussion was good and is a good way to address the Exit 5 study. The Senate confirmed Pete Buttigieg as the new US Department of Transportation Secretary. Congress signed the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 which will result in approximately $407 million in relief funding to Pennsylvania for transportation. PennDOT is currently discussing how best to utilize the relief funding. VII. Future Meetings April 15, 2021 – FCMPO TAC Meeting May 19, 2021 – FCMPO Policy Board Meeting VIII. Public Comment There was no public comment. IX. Adjournment A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Beth Raves and seconded by Allen Coffman. There were no objections.